The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year’s primaries, caucuses and general election. It was originally a joint effort of AIGA and Design Observer, but now it lives at The New York Times.
Frank
on 05 Feb 08Is this legal?
For some reason, it just doesn’t seem legal to photograph someone else while they are voting.
Seems like a privacy thing.
Kenn Wilson
on 05 Feb 08You could photograph the outside of the polling place without capturing the face of anyone inside. Or go with a friend or family member and photograph them. Or have them photograph you!
Nathan Clark
on 05 Feb 08Right now, it’s my photo of my wife on the main page of the Polling Place Photo Project. The laws vary from state to state. I found out after the fact that it was actually illegal to take a picture in the polling place in Florida. But ultimately having your photo taking whilst voting doesn’t breach any sort of privacy, unless you believe you have an unalienable right to forfeit the democracy so many have fought to preserve. (Which you do.) I love the notion of capturing democracy in action, and I love the notion of ensuring the integrity of voting through documentation. Having lived in Florida through multiple voting fiascos, it’s a good habit to document when you can to discourage voter fraud.
Manuel Martensen
on 05 Feb 08Why do you talk like that? Your readers are international. It is weird for us to read those local news without any info that they are local. We expect different stuff here.
IMO
Alex
on 05 Feb 08@Manuel: the inherent danger in reading someone elses thoughts is that they don’t meet your expectations
Living in Europe I find the post quite interesting :-)
Free Business Model
on 05 Feb 08So, on Twitter I see this posting about a photo of Obama in Boston. It’s kind of cool but then again, it’s like, Where’s Waldo?
Speaking to the concerns above about voter privacy, what about organized pollsters? For years they have harassed voters going in and coming out of buildings.
Oh, and who says that the photos have to be of voters? It could simply be a call to capture meetings with candidates, perhaps at places like town halls and universities. Maybe I’m missing something there.
Tom G
on 05 Feb 08I chickened out and couldn’t bring myself to try when I saw neighbors at the polling place…
I have to say the electronic voting machine worked extremely well – way better than the dumb punch thing in the past.
Michael Hugos
on 05 Feb 08Tom G. – I live in Chicago and this morning my polling place was using big paper ballots where we had to use a black pen and fill in arrows that pointed to the candidates we voted for.
It was a bit clunky but it provides a real good audit trail. For something as important as registering the voice of “we the people” I would rather use a low tech and highly auditable method like paper ballots.
What audit trail does the electronic voting machine you used provide? It is way too easy to rig the vote when there is no hardcopy audit trail. In some activities I want low tech and lots of people involved and voting and vote counting is one of those activities. I trust people (even with all our flaws) more than computers in this instance.
Chris Corcoran
on 06 Feb 08I tried to have someone take my picture at my south side polling place this morning, but it didn’t work. Then this evening when I tried, this person working the machine said there were no photos. And I was talking specifically about having my photo taken. So annoying. The person said that her precinct captain said there could be no photos.
Chris Corcoran
on 06 Feb 08That was the south side of Chicago.
Bette
on 07 Feb 08This may not follow your subject but I don’t know where to go. The polling place in my precinct is in someone’s basement. No, really, right off the laundry room. It gives me the creeps to the walk to the back of this two flat, down the stairs and into someones basement. There is a broken storm window by my feet as I walk back. There is all sorts of family junk stored next to the stairs leading down to the basement. The basement is dark and oppresive. I am not insulting the people that offer their basement or how they live. I just think it is so wrong, in this day and age, for me to have to go in some strangers house to vote. Do you know of anything that can be done? I have written to a couple of city offices but got form e-mails back. +-
This discussion is closed.