Twitter Vote Report Needs Volunteers

To continue on the election theme, here's a fantastic project that's just sprung up in the past three weeks. Twitter Vote Report uses Twitter to compile and report on problems at voting sites. The application tracks everything from long lines and clerical mishaps to more serious problems like malfunctioning machines and voter intimidation. Using a simple set of hashtags, users can report locations, wait times, mechanical problems, and more. On Election Day, reports will be posted using Google Maps, making it easy for anyone to see problem areas. Serious problems are reported to the appropriate branch of the Election Protection Coalition. Some early voters have already started using Twitter Vote Report, so you can see it in action right now.

The project is supported by numerous nonprofits and for-profit companies , but what most excites me is how quickly volunteers transformed the project from an idea into a reality. From the looks of their Google Group, this relatively small group of coders is working around the clock.

Twitter Vote Report is still looking for volunteers. According to the Twitter feed, experts in Ruby on Rails or the Google Maps API are in high demand, as well as people who can translate the Web site into Spanish and other languages. If you have the know-how, why not get in touch with them and help out? You can make a big difference in just six days.

For another example of how nonprofits are using Twitter, check out my recent post on Social Actions' Twitter application. For more information on Twitter and what it can do for your cause, don't miss our recent community event and webinar.