Greg's Corner

Tagged: voting Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Geebo 9:18 am on November 8, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Election ( 20 ), Google ( 29 ), lyft ( 15 ), politics ( 15 ), Uber ( 24 ), voting   

  Get out and vote! 

  

  It’s finally here. Today is election day in what is possibly the most important and controversial election in decades. While we’re not here to tell you who to vote for, we do have some information to help you along with the voting process.

  NBC News has a guide to some helpful tech tips for the election including some helpful apps and how to find your voting place with your smart phone. Speaking of technical tips, Google is claiming that they will have election results as soon as the respective polls are closed.

  In case you need a ride to the polls, ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft are offering either free or discounted rides.

  If you’re thinking about foregoing voting today because you’re afraid the election will be hacked, you can put that thought out of your head. Not only is the government on high alert for such an attack, the real threat to hacking the election is good old-fashioned misinformation and misdirection.

  Lastly, please don’t forget that if you’re in line to vote when the polls close they still have to let you vote.

  Now you have no excuses, get out and vote as every vote really does count, especially in this crucial election.

   

  Leave a ReplyCancel reply
• 

  Geebo 10:09 am on October 13, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Election ( 20 ), Facebook ( 173 ), politics ( 15 ), voting   

  Facebook gives rise to new voters, but are they informed? 

  

  Facebook is being credited with sparking a spike in voter registration thanks to their campaign to get their US users to vote. It really should come as no surprise as Facebook has become a daily utility that has almost become a public service. Providing easy access to state voter registration resources more than likely encouraged many people who may have not registered otherwise.

  While this is encouraging that more people are registering to vote in such a pivotal election that could have repercussions for generations, Facebook is not really the ideal environment for political discourse and learning. When it comes to discussing politics on Facebook, it’s usually nothing more than the reposting of meme, shouting into the echo chamber, or the sharing of misinformed or even completely fake articles.

  While mostly everyone has the right to vote are we raising a generation of misinformed voters? While the internet gives us access to much of the world’s information it also allows us to engage in our biases and surround ourselves in comfortable lies rather than inconvenient truths.

   
• 

  Geebo 9:29 am on April 29, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: politics ( 15 ), selfies, voting   

  Off Topic Friday: Ballot Box Selfies 

  

  Love’ em or hate ‘em selfies are here to stay. They are a way of expression that almost an entire generation of young adults uses. A lot of these young adults are now registered voters and want to show their civic pride by taking a selfie in the voting booth or by the ballot box. While a number of states do allow these selfies many still do not. For example New York does allow the practice while neighboring New Jersey does not.  Many laws enacted to prevent photography in the polling place were made in order to discourage voter fraud but those were written decades ago. Do they still apply in today’s ‘photograph everything’ society?

  Mobile video sharing app Snapchat says no. Recently they filed a 28-page friend of the court brief in New Hampshire asking the Granite State to repeal their photography ban claiming it is a First Amendment right.

  What do you think? Are ballot box or voting booth selfies a protected form of expression or is it trivializing the voting process? Please leave your response.