Category Archives: Coffee Break Ballot

Coffee Break Ballot, June 28: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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The way that Twitter behaved today might leave readers to think there was some kind of ground-breaking, presidential-election related piece of news that broke this morning.

(We kid; we’re well aware of the Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.)

Because of that news today, our usual sources for breaking voting rights news are relatively calm. Politicos and political reporters everywhere appear fixated on reactions and press conferences surrounding the 5-4 decision upholding the the landmark health care law.

In a way, this is convenient because we are busy drafting and editing our main stories – not to mention that yesterday was a considerable day in voting rights updates.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Ruling on provisional ballots issue expected by August,” (Laura A. Bischoff, 06/27, Dayton Daily News)

“Florida voter purge may restart after ruling,” (Gary Fineout, 06/27, Associated Press)

“Blood in the Water: Mike Turzai’s Voter ID Remarks,” (Stephen Colbert, 06/27, The Colbert Report)

“The Roberts Court is Born,” (Adam Winkler, 06/28, Huffington Post)

“AALDEF and APABA-PA Hold Press Conference to Explain new PA Voter ID Law’s Impact on Asian-Americans,” (Press Release, 06/28, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund)

Twitter Trends

The most noticeable shift among our four key search terms on social media search engine Topsy.com is that dozens of Twitter users have started to “ask” Florida Gov. Rick Scott to stop removing voters from state rolls.

Those tweets were very popular late last month when the controversial vote removal made headlines, but they died after the U.S. Department of Justice halted implementing the law. Yesterday, after District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that the purge could continue under federal law, the tweets resurfaced.

Does social media activism make a difference?

Plenty of users have tried to spread political and social issues across Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other widely used sites. Because individual social media participation serves a largely self-selected audience, it is highly possible that most social activism tweets only get bounced among friends and acquaintances who already agree and have little political clout.

For more voting rights news and updates, follow us @WhoCanVote.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 27: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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Journalists are apt to think every day is a big news day; today really qualifies.

A federal appeals court judge in  Florida — the same judge who blocked the state requirement that voter registrations be submitted within 48 hours – has ruled that the U.S. Department of Justice cannot stop the voter purge. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said the 90-day provision, which DOJ attorneys cited as too close to an election to purge rolls, did not apply to removing non-citizens from the rolls. Hinkle did say there were “some problems” with the program.

In New Hampshire, the state Senate voted to override Gov. John Lynch’s veto of a voter registration bill and passed a modified version of a photo-identification bill. And The Nation published a new rundown of the political questions at the heart of the current voting rights fight.

These stories aren’t causing as much of an uproar as the Pennsylvania House Republican leader’s comments Monday on voter identification or the furious reaction to U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s assertion of Republican voter suppression, but they are definitely trending.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Make Voting Mandatory,” (Peter R. Orszag, 06/19, BloombergView)

“Last-minute voter ID changes facing Senate, House action today,” (Ted Siefer, 06/26, New Hampshire Union Leader)

“Federal judge rejects DOJ request to stop voter purge,” (Kathleen Haughney, 06/27, Orlando Sentinel)

“GOP: Obama planning to ‘Steal’ the Election,” (Ari Berman, 06/27, The Nation)

“Angry Twitter Birds: Unhappy NYC Voter Demonstrates Power, Reach of Social Media,” (Doug Chapin, 06/27, The Election Academy)

Twitter Trends

The big-ticket stories this morning haven’t really buzzed as much as other controversial voting rights stories this summer. They are mostly policy-oriented, and social media users — and the public  — aren’t interested in stories on the slow process of judicial review and legal adjustment.

But the last article in our list brings up a curious and potentially lasting phenomenon. It’s an exploration of how voter anger and engagement is more possible through directed media campaigns.

Here at News21, we’ve followed directed campaigns by many secretaries of state and “get out the vote” accounts on Twitter and have enjoyed watching the way these accounts try to encourage voter participation and education. Secretaries aren’t followed nearly as often as national organizations like Rock The Vote or the League of Women Voters. As a whole, these accounts demonstrate the fledgling possibilities inherent in social media voter conversations.

It’s the kind of thing that drives this daily post (and our Twitter account), and it’s worth a read for any voting policy wonk, public opinion specialist or voter in general.

Remember to follow us @WhoCanVote.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 26: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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All it takes is one buzzy story for mentions of one of our key search terms to increase ninefold.

That term is voter ID, and that story comes to us today from Pennsylvania. At a Pennsylvania Republican Committee meeting this weekend, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai said that the new voter ID law would help Gov. Mitt Romney win the state.

The comment was reported by a Pennsylvania political blog Monday afternoon, and exploded across the Internet as progressive Twitter users reacted. Top-flight news organizations as diverse as CNN, Politico and even The New York Times have covered the story, and a tweet from Sandra Fluke, Georgetown law student and progressive activist, has been retweeted more than 100 times as of this blog post.

The resulting social media firestorm has pushed mentions of voter ID on Twitter to nearly 9,300 in the last 24 hours, the most seen in our regular searches on Topsy.com.

More on the Twitter explosion later, but first, some links.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Casting ballots on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border,” (Catherine E. Shoichet, 06/26, CNN)

“Pennsylvania’s Voter ID Law Spurs Debate,” (Michael Cooper, 06/25, New York Times)

“No voter ID measure expected this session,” (John Frank, 06/26, Raleigh News & Observer)

“Pay Those Bills On Time Or Forefeit Right To Vote,” (Ed Kilgore, 06/26, Washington Monthly)

“Gilchrist indicted for voter fraud,” (Kaylee Remington, 06/26, The Morning Journal)

“Detroit activists protest Gov. Rick Snyder over ‘voter suppression’ bills, bridge project,” (Jonathan Oosting, 06/26, MLIVE)

Twitter Trends

We could tell you again about how many times “voter ID” has been mentioned in the last 24 hours, or we could just direct you to this helpful analytics chart from Topsy.com.

That steep climb in mentions, and the buzz-worthy item in Pennsylvania has a lot of features that make stories like it popular on social media sites.

It features a prominent but nationally unknown state politician making politically tricky comments at a party-sponsored event. The tone and implications of Turzai’s comments lend credence to those who oppose voter ID laws and believe Republicans are trying to suppress Democrat voters. And the story has been tossed around a variety of news sites, exposing it to a wide audience and giving it the appearance of a major news event.

The furor over Turzai’s comments may die soon. We’re already seeing conservative pushback against this progressive anger, alleging that voter ID does intentionally suppress illegal or fraudulent Democrat voters and is therefore required and welcomed.

But know this: even the most inane political comment is no longer safe from the 24-hour hyper news cycle of Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the Internet, as Turzai now clearly knows.

For more news and links, follow us @WhoCanVote.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 25: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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The weekend has a funny way of slowing social media.

It’s not as if news doesn’t happen on Saturday or Sunday — this weekend saw the dramatic conclusion of Egypt’s hotly contested presidential election — but the kinds of workaday, event-specific incidents that often drive our reporting project here at News21 definitely die down when the clock hits 5 on Friday afternoons.

A great example of this is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s controversial press conference Friday, when she accused the House Republicans’ vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt as proof of the party’s support of voter suppression.

The press conference pushed mentions of voter suppression on Twitter well above its traditionally low market share — as mentioned in our Friday blog post — but the term is back to its low numbers this morning.

Did the weekend defuse the anger of conservative Twitter users, thereby diluting the comments’ shelf life in the media buzz cycle?

We’ll keep you posted on those trends throughout the week. In other news, our reporters @MichaelCiaglo, @CFStraumsheim and @AndreaRumbaugh will be traveling to Tennessee and Florida to report on restoring voting rights for felons in each state. Be sure to follow them for updates and on the ground reporting.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Few Iowa Felons Pursue Voting Rights,” (Ryan J. Foley, 06/24, AP)

“State was warned that voter purge was based on bad data,” (Kathleen Haughney, 06/22, South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

“Voter ID Cases Unlikely to be Decided by Election Day,” (Ann-Elise Henzi, 06/25, WUWM)

“Voting Problems During the Wisconsin Recall Election — A Preview of November,” (Dara Lindebaum, 06/22, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy)

“Pelosi: Contempt, voter suppression linked,” (06/21, UPI)

“Suddenly, elections supervisor becomes a tempting job,” (Jeremy Wallace, 06/21, Sarasota-Manistee Herald-Tribune)

Twitter Trends

As we wrote, the weekend is usually a damper on social media activity surrounding our key search terms. This weekend was no different, although a mention of voter ID on ABC’s “This Week” political roundtable Sunday has garnered buzz among conservative Twitter users. Several conservative blogs have used video of Washington Post columnist George Will “taking down” Democratic Party strategist Hillary Rosen’s concern over alleged voter suppression efforts by the Republican Party.

Videos like this are sure to get heavy play on social media networks; they are short, quote-heavy examples of a controversial issue.

In general, we’re seeing a broad stabilization across our four key search terms (voting rights, voter ID, voter fraud and voter suppression) on social media search engine Topsy.com

It’d be easy to say that we’ve reached a pre-election lull, but all we need is another buzz-happy story to shoot social media activity up.

We’ll be the first to tell you when that happens. Follow @WhoCanVote for the latest links, news and trends in voting rights news.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 22: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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We suggested earlier this month that the Florida voter list chaos had the potential to move voting rights issues to the forefront of major news media.

That moment might have arrived, judging by the reaction to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s statement yesterday that House Republicans are investigating Attorney General Eric Holder to distract from his legal pursuit of state laws that  suppress voting.

If Politico says the time has come, we are inclined to agree. It’s also highly possible that the anger — on both sides of the proverbial aisle — could fade just as quickly. Attention spans on complicated issues like these tend to be short, especially during the constantly changing landscape of an election year.

For now, our four key search terms are raging on the Twitters, and points and counterpoints are bouncing around the web. We’re excited about the implications.

Stay with us — these issues are important, and we’ve got big things on the way soon.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Voter ID Bill Still On Table, Thanks to Procedural Rule,” (Aaron Keck and Anne Brenner, 06/21, WCHL)

“Another Look at Voter Photo ID Myths and F.A.Q.’s,” (Alex Rector, 06/22, Civitas Institute)

“PA to launch $5 million voter ID campaign with robocalls,” (James McGinnis, 06/22, PhillyBurbs.com)

“Election Fraud: California Union Official Voted in WI Recall,” (Brian Sikma, 06/22, BigGovernment)

“Rep. Gowdy on Pelosi claim: ‘Stupid’,” (Kevin Robillard, 06/22, Politico)

“Republicans’ Voter Suppression Project Grinds On,” (Jonathan Alter, 06/21, BloombergView)

Twitter Trends

Twitter mentions of voter suppression have skyrocketed in the last 24 hours, and you can tell from this helpful chart from social media search engine Topsy.com.

After the contentious recall election in Wisconsin earlier this month, we remarked how  charged terms like “voter suppression” and “voter fraud” are usually only active during elections, when people discussed the process.

But Pelosi’s unexpected comments on voting — and the media explosion covering them — have boosted mentions of voter suppression more than we’ve seen in a while. Sure, Pelosi isn’t especially popular among conservative circles of the electorate, but the manner in which her unexpected comments on the U.S. Department of Justice’s voting rights preservation efforts have been torn apart is surprising.

We imagine the season leading up to the early voting and general election this fall will see similar spikes in our key search terms.

For more, be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote.

Coffee Break Ballot June 21: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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You may not have noticed, but Twitter broke today.

Three times.

That doesn’t mean we weren’t busy reporting, reading the news and building our project, but it does mean that our usual analysis of social media trends in voting rights is a little sparse today.

Still, a Virginia house cat named Scampers did receive voter registration material today, which fits with our post from Tuesday on the dead dog in Virginia. The story didn’t get as much bounce online this morning. That could be related to the Twitter outage and the inclusion of a quote from the Voter Participation Center president who said that stories like the cat and dog items distracted from the center’s real mission.

More on the Twitter outage after these stories.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Walter Mondale, Arne Carlson: Reject voter ID measure,” (Walter Mondale and Arne Carlson, 06/20, Minneapolis Star-Trbune)

“Pelosi: GOP’s contempt move vs. Holder about suppressing voter rights,” (Jake Sherman, 06/21, Politico)

“UPDATE: Governor vetoes four bills, including voter ID,” (Mike Cousineau, 06/20, New Hampshire Union Leader)

“Why sloppy drafting will kill the photo ID amendment,” (David Schultz, 06/21, MinnPost.com)

“The Real Crisis: 35% of Americans Not Registered to Vote,” (Voter Participation Center, 06/21)

“The Supreme Court Speaks, Yet DOJ Won’t Listen,” (David Almasi, 06/21, National Center for Public Policy Research)

Twitter Trends

As mentioned above, Twitter had some technical troubles today. The hour-long outage wreaked havoc on our normal Topsy.com searches, but we were able to notice an interesting spike in mentions of “voter suppression” – which is directly correlated to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s press conference on the Republican opposition to Attorney General Eric Holder.

The California representative accused the Republican Party of using a contempt vote to distract Holder from his attempt to battle voter suppression. Voter suppression is used more infrequently than our more general search terms (“voting rights,” “voter ID” and the charged “voter fraud”), so it was fascinating to see the sharp spike in mentions.

We’ll keep tabs on how long that mention lasts, so follow @WhoCanVote.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 20: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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Hey, happy summer solstice, folks!

Today is a much slower day in voting rights news. As the standoff between the U.S. House Oversight Committee, the Department of Justice and the White House sucks all of the energy out of the traditional digital-political commentary, it seems that all the usual fever surrounding some of our regular search terms has faded.

Even yesterday’s incredibly popular story about the voter registration forms mailed to a dead dog in Virginia has slowed, which probably says just as much about the limited attention span of the 24-news cycle as it does about the story’s merit — or lack thereof.

We’ve still got some good reads for you here, and the surprising return of an April poll about voter ID and disenfranchisement.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Florida Voters Back Voter Purge, Stand Your Ground, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Gov. Scott’s Job Approval Still Very Low,” (Quinnipiac University, 06/20)

“Voter ID groups release first fundraising numbers,” (Catharine Richert, 06/20, MPRNews)

“The Public Eye: Capital-area voter fraud suspects have criminal histories,” Brad Branan, 05/13, Sacramento Bee)

“The Voice of New Rochelle: A League of Their Own,” (Bob Marrone, 06/20, NewRochellePatch)

“Young People, Minorities, Unmarried Women and Dead Dogs,” (Ed Kilgore, 06/19, Washington Monthly)

Twitter Trends

The most curious trend today regarding voting rights and voter ID on social media search engine Topsy.com is the inexplicable tweeting and retweeting of a Rasmussen Report poll from April 2012 that shows 73 percent of likely U.S. voters think that voter ID requirements do not discriminate and that 64 percent think voter fraud is a somewhat serious problem.

An interesting poll, to be sure, but it’s from more than two months ago, and it’s being retweeted by a lot of Spanish-language accounts. We’re not certain where this trend is coming from, but it could have something  to do with the announcement Tuesday of a federal voter ID law introduced by Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill.

The “Mitt Romney voting rights” tweet continues to surface here and there, and we’re still waiting on a Twitter response from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

To see if Romney ever does respond to the demands of the anonymous Twitter hordes  — and for the latest in voting rights news — be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 19: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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We’ve noticed in the News21 newsroom how certain stories in our search fields stay hot. Part of this is probably the naturally viral nature of Internet news, but we’ve enjoyed seeing which stories pop up and keep buzzing.

Today, that story is a minor item from the Roanoke, Va., NBC affilate, WSLS. It’s a story about voter registration and dead dogs. Or, more specifically, one particular dead dog whose owner received forms inviting the pet to register to vote.

The story went viral for a variety of reasons, and it was picked up by such diverse sources as conservative blog RedAlert Politics and political news site, Politico. It also is a story about supposed voter fraud — even though this actually is an example of registration fraud, and not voter fraud — which gets a wide segment of the conservative Twittersphere riled.

It is also a story about a cute dog with a cute name, and nothing goes viral like stories about small animals, especially when those animals are given anthropomorphic qualities and get all mixed up in human activities like voting.

A coalition of civil rights organizations also filed a lawsuit against Florida this afternoon, alleging that the state’s removing voters from rolls violates section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but wouldn’t you rather read about the cute dog who would have been eligible to vote in Virginia if he was a human and hadn’t died two years ago?

What We’ve Been Reading

“Citizenship mandate challenged,” (Lyle Denniston, 06/19, SCOTUSBlog)

“Voter Purges,” (Myrna Pérez, 09/30/08, Brennan Center for Justice)

“Civil Rights Groups Sue Florida Over Voter Purging Lists,” (Brentin Mock, 06/19, The Nation / Colorlines)

“E-Voting: Trust but Verify,” (Steve Schneider and Alan Woodward, 06/19, Scientific American)

“St. Paul jumps in to VoterID fray,” (Patrick Thornton, 06/19, MinnLawyerBlog)

“JW Sues Obama Justice Department for Records Regarding South Carolina’s Voter ID Law,” (Tom Fitton, 06/19, Breitbart.com / BigGovernment)

“Punch-Card Voting in Idaho,” (Pew Center on the States, 06/19)

“Joe Walsh, GOP Congressman, Introduces New Federal Voter ID Bill,” (Nick Wing, 06/19, The Huffington Post)

Twitter Trends

As mentioned above, that story about the voting-age eligible dog in Virginia bounced around Twitter this morning, particularly after Politico picked it up. At that point, several journalists released a collective Twitter yell complaining about the item’s lack of news value.

(While we wrote this post, North Carolina’s conservative Civitas Institute wrote a blog post warning about the dangers of pet voting. The story has legs, apparently.)

There are still some latecomers to the Mitt Romney/#VotingRights party, as users continue to ask the GOP presidential candidate what he thinks about the Florida voter roll removal.

The #voterID hashtag also has spiked on social media search engine Topsy.com, as users mention a recently introduced federal voter ID bill by U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., and the aforementioned voting-eligble dog.

We’ll be sure to tell you if Mitt Romney replies to all these tweets, and if the dog is ever enfranchised. Follow us at @WhoCanVote.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 18: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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The most notable change in voting rights trends after this weekend is perhaps the very term itself. Friday saw the complete dominance of the term #VotingRights by progressive Twitter users asking where Gov. Mitt Romney stood on Florida’s controversial voter purge, but the hashtag mostly has been passed on to other stories.

But that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been looking for new stories. Happy Monday reading.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Voter Suppression Returns,” (Alexander Keyssar, Harvard Magazine July/August)

“Lawsuit planned over Pennsylvania’s voter ID law,” (Len Barcousky, 06/16, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

“Voter ID bill resisted by town, city clerks,” (Kevin Landrigan, 06/17, Nashua Telegraph)

“Allen West to feds: Let states purge voters,” (MJ Lee, 06/18, Politico)

“Ensuring access to the ballot for American Indians and Alaska Natives,” (Tova Andrea Wang, 06/18, Demos)

Twitter Trends

Besides the aforementioned shift in the #VotingRights hashtag, the most notable trend in our top four Topsy.com search terms (#VoterID, #VoterSuppression, #VoterFraud and #VotingRights) is the back and forth between conservative allegations of fraud and progressive allegations of suppression.

We’ll keep tabs to see whether #VotingRights ever rests at “normal” in the Twittersphere, but for more of the latest trends, be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote.

 

Coffee Break Ballot, June 15: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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As if voting rights and voter ID weren’t already contentious and highly partisan issues, the latest readings from Twitterverse tea leaves suggest the issue has the potential to vault into the chaos of election-year politics.

President Obama’s surprise announcement Friday of a revised administration policy on youth deportation and immigrant rights caused U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., to openly wonder — on FOX News and in a statement on his Facebook page — if the policy was a back-door approach to granting voting rights to illegal immigrants in swing states like his.

The #VotingRights hashtag was taken over yesterday by progressive Twitter users questioning GOP candidate Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with copies of the following tweet:

@MittRomney, where do you stand on the FL voter purge? #p2 #votingrights

The increasing presence of voting rights activists on both sides of the political divide at campaign events and in policy discussions suggests we might see these issues become key electoral questions. Indeed, in potential presidential swing states with contentious tickets for November — states such as North Carolina and Missouri — questions of voter ID laws and the expansion of the franchise have become wedge issues for gubernatorial and secretary of state candidates.

Will this change the digital conversation around voting rights? We’ll be the first to tell you when and if those changes happen.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Florida’s voting standoff deja vu?” (Halimah Abdullah, 06/13, CNN)

“Gov. Scott says he ‘feels your pain,’ will continue purge anyway,” (The Ed Show, 06/14, MSNBC.com)

“Rep. Allen West Alleges New Obama Policy On DREAMers Is Voter Fraud Conspiracy For 2012 Election,” (Adam Peck, 06/15, ThinkProgressJustice)

“On the Administration’s announcement today to grant certain citizenship rights to young illegal immigrants,” (Rep. Allen West, 06/15, Facebook)

“Indianapolis Meeting Compares Voting Machine Standards,” (Network Indiana, 06/15, Indiana Public Media)

“NOTES FROM NARBERTH: Don’t believe the rhetoric: Voter ID law is fair to all,” (Rosemary McDonough, 06/14, Mainline Times)

“The Missing Right To Vote,” (Heather Gerken, 06/13, Slate)

Twitter Trends

As we mentioned earlier, the #VotingRights hashtag has been largely dominated by progressive opponents of Florida’s controversial voter removal. Liberal political action committee MoveOn.org posted a digital call to action yesterday, asking readers to tweet and post Facebook comments inquiring where Romney stands on the voting rights controversy in Florida.

Social media search engine Topsy.com suggests the hashtag dominance hasn’t been enough to produce a major spike in the term when compared to recent high points — the June 5 Wisconsin recall election and the eruption of election lawsuits in Florida June 12 — but it has increased mentions and taken over our Tweet Deck column.

There may not be another contentious election or primary before November for us to test the admittedly elementary theory that ballot access only receives widespread attention when everyone is actively voting (or not voting), but we’ll keep our eyes open for better ways to chart the mention trends of #VotingRights, #VoterID, #VoterFraud and #VoterSuppression.

Be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote, and stay tuned for more from our team next week!