Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Here is a last-minute tech solution to help you protect your ballot

cell phone users

A new website allows voters to document their experiences at polling locations.

SDI Productions/Getty Images
Baird is a corporate and political communications and policy consultant. He was chairman of two subcommittees of the Science and Technology Committee while a Democratic congressman representing southwestern Washington from 1999 through 2010 .

With voters across the nation worried about whether their mail-in ballots will be counted or if they will face obstruction at the polls, two unique and easy-to-use new technology tools have emerged just in time to put unprecedented power in the hands of the electorate.

The first has been rolled out only in recent days — the result of a crash effort this fall by an astonishing team of high-tech and political experts.

We have dubbed it DFWMV.org — with a tagline explaining how the acronym stands for "Don't F*** with my vote," and helpfully including nine family-friendly options for what else could be in place of those asterisks.

It is a free, easy to use and mobile-optimized website. It lets voters use their smartphones or other devices to directly report and record when and where they voted (geolocated or entered by hand), describe any problems they encountered, and take a photo showing themselves mailing their ballot, outside the polls, or any problems they experienced. The whole process takes less than a minute.

Until now, voters returning their absentee ballots using a drop box or the Postal Service have had no way of proving they voted if they find out that election officials have not recorded their votes. While most states have at least some tracking mechanisms to record when ballots reach the post office and the elections offices, such a service is not comprehensive or even universally available in several big states.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Knowing when a ballot reaches landmarks along its journey toward tabulation is valuable, but it doesn't tell when the ballot was actually mailed or dropped off to begin with. And trackers cannot reveal what may have happened to ballots that were sent or dropped off properly but never got recorded or counted. There has also been no way of knowing or getting in touch with voters who may have been tricked by fake ballot boxes, such as those being placed by the Republican Party in several purple parts of California in recent days.

The new website solves those problems and enables voters and election officials for the first time to do several things that are valuable for protecting our electoral democracy:

  • Track how long it takes to process remotely cast ballots.
  • Reveal if any of those ballots have not made it to the desired destination.
  • Identify and locate those who may have been tricked by bogus ballot boxes.
  • Rapidly contact voters directly if problems are identified.

DFWMV can also enable in-person voters to report when and where they voted and make a record, including photos, of any obstructions or other problems.

Until now, voter protection efforts at the polls have relied on toll-free telephone hotlines — useful but somewhat cumbersome efforts dependent on teams of volunteers answering calls, taking down aggrieved voters' information, then passing that up the chain for further legal or other action. As important as such systems are, they can be overwhelmed by a large number of legitimate calls coming in simultaneously — such as when the polls close at 8 pm Eastern this Nov. 3 in all or parts of 21 states, including the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas and much of Florida.

Volunteer operators can also be easily swamped by even a relatively small number of malevolent callers tying up the lines with fake cries for help in order to prevent legitimate complaints from getting through. Here, again, our new site solves those problems with the capacity to handle up to 10,000 data entries per second and with no need to wait on hold or go through operators on the phone.

I was privileged to lead the team of volunteers who worked practically round the clock to get this site launched in time, for the sole purpose of making sure this election is fair and every vote is counted.

For those who prefer to use text messaging instead of a website, an alternative is ResistBot. To access this a voter simply texts to 50409 and then enters the word Protect. A sequence of interactive texts collects their voting address and the date, time and location where they voted or tried to vote — then gives space to report problems. Voters are also encouraged to take photos on their own and to call the election protection hotline (866-Our-Vote) if they have an immediate problem.

More than 33 million Americans have already voted, but the vast majority of votes have still yet to be cast. So there is still time for voters, even those who have already cast ballots, to make a record of where and when they cast their ballots.

One can hope that taking such precautions will not prove necessary. But hope is not a very good protection for the most important election of our lifetimes. Evidence and data are far more effective legal resources.

With DFWMV and ResistBot, voters now have easy and rapid ways of creating such evidence in case it is needed. That should help voters sleep a little easier. And it just might make those who would steal or disrupt the election lose a little sleep.

Read More

Business professional watching stocks go down.
Getty Images, Bartolome Ozonas

The White House Is Booming, the Boardroom Is Panicking

The Confidence Collapse

Consumer confidence is plummeting—and that was before the latest Wall Street selloffs.

Keep ReadingShow less
Drain—More Than Fight—Authoritarianism and Censorship
Getty Images, Mykyta Ivanov

Drain—More Than Fight—Authoritarianism and Censorship

The current approaches to proactively counteracting authoritarianism and censorship fall into two main categories, which we call “fighting” and “Constitution-defending.” While Constitution-defending in particular has some value, this article advocates for a third major method: draining interest in authoritarianism and censorship.

“Draining” refers to sapping interest in these extreme possibilities of authoritarianism and censorship. In practical terms, it comes from reducing an overblown sense of threat of fellow Americans across the political spectrum. When there is less to fear about each other, there is less desire for authoritarianism or censorship.

Keep ReadingShow less
"Vote" pin.
Getty Images, William Whitehurst

Most Americans’ Votes Don’t Matter in Deciding Elections

New research from the Unite America Institute confirms a stark reality: Most ballots cast in American elections don’t matter in deciding the outcome. In 2024, just 14% of eligible voters cast a meaningful vote that actually influenced the outcome of a U.S. House race. For state house races, on average across all 50 states, just 13% cast meaningful votes.

“Too many Americans have no real say in their democracy,” said Unite America Executive Director Nick Troiano. “Every voter deserves a ballot that not only counts, but that truly matters. We should demand better than ‘elections in name only.’”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hands outside of bars.
Getty Images, stevanovicigor

Double Standard: Investing in Animal Redemption While Ignoring Human Rehabilitation

America and countries abroad have mastered the art of taming wild animals—training the most vicious killers, honing killer instincts, and even domesticating animals born for the hunt. Wild animals in this country receive extensive resources to facilitate their reintegration into society.

Americans spent more than $150 billion on their pets in 2024, with an estimated spending projection of $200 million by 2030. Millions of dollars are poured into shelters, rehabilitation programs, and veterinary care, as shown by industry statistics on animal welfare spending. Television ads and commercials plead for their adoption. Stray animal hotlines operate 24/7, ensuring immediate rescue services. Pet parks, relief stations in airports, and pageant shows showcase animals as celebrities.

Keep ReadingShow less