Circle Voting

Yummy Treats (i.e. New Features) for All the Kids on the Block

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:39:00 -0700

Here are some delicious treats for all you kids on the block who are following VoteSF:

If you are logged in, we now highlight comments from your friends and display only those comments in Friends view. This makes it much easier to focus in on opinions and ideas from people you know — the main point of the site!
We added some general discussion pages: basically just a few broad topics with the Facebook social plugin for commenting. This is great if you want to sound off about the election, give us feedback on our work or get help using the site.
VoteSF now works with more browsers! We're now allowing browsers down to IE 8 and Firefox 3.6. Safari and Chrome >= 4 should work great too.

Hope you enjoy all this neat new stuff. More to follow =)

jesse

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Four More Weeks -- So Many Friends Have Yet to Decide

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:06:00 -0700

With early voting beginning this Monday, you might be really surprised how many people in your circle are still undecided. Putting your ideas out during this critical period can have more impact that you might imagine.

There is no public poll showing the level of indecision; however, we do know this from exit polls:

In 2008, 25% of voters decided their vote for the President during the last month.
In 2006, 35% of voters chose their vote for the House of Representatives during the last month.

These were highly publicized campaigns that went on all year and were highly polarized by party. The S.F. Municipal Election is much more complex with sixteen candidates, no party designations, and rank choice voting, a process far more involved than deciding between a Republican and a Democrat. On top of that, voters must form opinions about Sheriff, District Attorney and the propositions.

VoteSF is a way for you to increase your influence by sharing with your friends during his critical period. It is not the typical ‘in your face’ style campaigning, but a way to offer your views to help your community decide.

Take this opportunity to share your opinions and your strategy for rank choice voting in every race.

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Announcing VoteSF, San Francisco's Grassroots Voter Guide

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:32:02 -0700

We have some very special news to share: our newest site, votesf.com, is now live and has been generating more and more traffic. This morning, mayoral candidate Jeff Adachi pulled into the lead after posting the site to his Facebook wall.

VoteSF is a grassroots voter guide for San Francisco, covering all the races in the November 8 municipal election. It's written by individual San Franciscans, people like you.

Since you can go through arguments from everyone, or just your Facebook friends, it's a powerful tool for making voting decisions with aid from people you trust, not campaign slogans and advertising.

If nothing else, the Occupy Wall Street movement demonstrates there is widespread concern about corporate power and the effects of money in politics. It's a time when it's more important than ever to find better ways of holding our elected officials accountable. VoteSF is our contribution to this wider movement.

Will you help us engage the San Francisco public about this election and achieve more responsible, democratic governance?

Here's what you can do:

1) Check out the site at www.votesf.com.

2) "Like" us on Facebook or mention us in a wall post. If you aren't in San Francisco, mention the site to your Facebook friends who are.

3) Indicate all the candidates of whom you approve or disapprove, and tell us why. Help improve the quality of the debate by explaining your strategy or linking to good sources.

4) "Star" the comments you like and help move them to the top.

5) Let your friends know you're interested in their point of view, and that they can share it on www.votesf.com.

By contributing to VoteSF, you'll increase your influence and help your friends decide how to vote. We urge you to share your views as soon as possible for the greatest reach before the election.

And, of course, you'll be supporting our efforts to create a new kind of grassroots voter guide.

Thanks for all your help,

Jesse and Murray

P.S. We're interested in your feedback, too, and we'd love to help out if you have any trouble using the site. Reach the team at info@circlevoting.com.

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Circle Voting 2011 Reception Tuesday 6/21 @ the Hub, SF

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:49:00 -0700

Hi friends,

Murray and I are doing a small drop-in reception for discussion about Circle Voting. We'll be breaking into some wine and cheese and discussing our vision and our development plans for this summer. It's an opportunity to say hi to Murray while he's in town, and if you haven't seen the amazing Hub (in the SF Chronicle building) it's a great excuse to come down and check it out. Please join us!

What: Drop-in discussion on Circle Voting and social ballot organizing.
Where: "Lighthouse Room" @ The Hub, 901 Mission Street (at 5th), ground floor
When: Tuesday, 21 June 2011, 4pm--6pm.
Why: Help reclaim US politics from mass media campaign advertising, and drink some wine.

Circle Voting is a project that encourages people to share their voting plans and ideas about politics in a nonconfrontational way. We believe grassroots social networking can provide an alternative to the dominance and influence of money and mass-media advertising in politics.

Here's a brief video about our vision: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12487471/Circle%20Voting.mov

Circle Voting is working on a new round of organizing and development focused on the San Francisco municipal election November 8, 2011. In 2010, we created two websites, circlevoting.com and sfmayorvote.com, that put our idea into practice for over 1000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's time to take it to the next level.

Please join us as we share some of our ideas for this year, ask for your feedback, and drink some wine.

We'll be in the Lighthouse Room at the Hub in the Chronicle building at 5th and Mission (901 Mission Street). If you're not a Hub member, the friendly folks at the door will hook you up with a guest pass if you say you're visiting me at the Hub. It's all good.

Happy Summer!

--
Jesse Oliver Sanford <jesse@circlevoting.com>
Circle Voting Organizer / Developer
415-794-4393

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Now everyone has a voice: sfmayorvote.com

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:07:43 -0800

Hey, everyone, this is exciting! In collaboration with the brilliant James and Ben of Participant Labs I'm delighted to announce a special gift for folks who care about San Francisco politics. Check it out now at sfmayorvote.com!

On January 4, 2011, current San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom becomes California Lieutenant Governor. The Board of Supervisors gets to choose his replacement, and YOU DON'T GET TO VOTE — until now! sfmayorvote.com allows anyone with a Twitter account to register public support for one of the interim mayor contenders (and it only takes two clicks). We tabulate the votes and make sure the Board of Supervisors hears what you think.

There's also a special surprise when you enter your vote. This shit is cool — you have got to check it out!

Visit sfmayorvote.com and choose your next mayor now!

Tell the board how you'd vote for San Francisco's interim mayor and help open up the political process in the city. Here's a screenshot in case you need a sneak preview. Happy Holidays, San Francisco! xo jesse

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Interesting (and enjoyable) view on money in politics

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 23:40:43 -0700

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/118650/october-18-2007/hail-to-the-cheese---campaign-coverage-finance

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Circle Voting on KPFA

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 10:38:57 -0700

This Sunday, October 24th, our co-founder, Murray Edelman, will be interviewed on the Phillip Maldari show on KPFA, 94.1 FM.

He will be on for the full hour form 9 to 10 AM (PT) along with Matt Rothchild, editor of the Progressive Magazine

There will take call-ins during the show. The on-air studio line is: 510-848-4425

The show will be focused on the election and will include a discussion of Circle Voting.

This would be a great time to call in with questions about it.

You can also hear the show in real time or as a recording afterwords at:

http://www.kpfa.org/archive/show/58293

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Jon Stewart's Take on the Citizens United Decision

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:23:26 -0700

This is pretty hilarious, but it does make you think about the ridiculousness of putting a large corporation on the same level as individual people for First Amendment protection. Check it out through the link below.

http://videosift.com/video/Jon-Stewart-Reports-on-Citizens-United-Decision

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The Campaign Finance Reform Debate in the Supreme Court

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:08:08 -0700

Check out this site to familiarize yourself with a brief overview of the history of campaign finance reform in the Supreme Court. Note the evolution over time of this issue.

http://www.campaignfinancesite.org/court.html

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Found This Interesting

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:41:27 -0700

This is the page when you type in "California Ballot" in google images

Notice all the marijuana! It is important to remember that this Nov. 2nd election is much more about Prop. 19, but also contains many other important measures, such as Prop 25, which will change the percentage needed to pass the budget from 2/3's to a simple majority. This may help clear up the annual mess that is passing the California Budget!

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Money talks louder than words

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:07:34 -0700

Check out this article in the New York Times about the presence of money in the midterms... very intriguing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/politics/08donate.html

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Circle Voting Video -A way to end the power of money in politics

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:40:43 -0700

This 2 minute video makes the connection between the expensive campaigns that divide us and the government policies that favor banks, big oil, ..... and how our social networks can end the power of money in politics.

It has been an amazing experience for me to boil down my analysis into these bite size chunks, but as long as it just theory and analysis, it isn't going any where.

Murray

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How to Reduce the Power of Money in Politics

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 10:12:35 -0700

This comic really captures what Circle Voting is all about!

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Circle Voting Q+A

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 12:04:03 -0700

Eric Nguyen just posted a Q+A dialogue with me over at Mind Tangle (mindtangle.net). Here's the link to his post:

http://mindtangle.net/2010/10/11/qa-with-circlevoting-com/

Thanks for your interest, Eric! Hoping to release the privacy stuff later today, too. It's really basic ("one big switch") but should address the main concerns we've heard people express.

jesse

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Frank Rich: Here's how social networking can change politics

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 21:40:00 -0700

Dear Frank Rich,

I’d like to call your attention to our new website, www.circlevoting.com, because it may be an answer to your critique that the internet and social networking “have done little, if anything, to hobble those with such traditional means as big lies and big money” [1].

We believe the best defense against big lies and big money is our circle of friends and family. For example, bad movies with big stars and expensive marketing campaigns often do well the first week but then die because of “word of mouth.” We’ve taken this one step further.

At our website we give users access to the opinions of their Facebook friends organized by their own individual ballot. As on Twitter, each visitor may choose to follow only the friends whose opinions and knowledge they respect.

We’ve made it easy to vote wisely with the help of your friends. And smart voting is the best defense against big lies and big money.

We have started in California, so I encourage you to check out our California material.

Murray Edelman

Distinguished Scholar, Rutgers University

Co-founder, Circle Voting

[1] Frank Rich, "Facebook Politicians are Not Your Friends" New York Times 10/9/2010.

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Circle Voting is looking for political engagement interns! (Paid, part-time, hiring ASAP!)

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:56:00 -0700

We're less than a month and a half away from the Nov. 2 midterm elections, and the Circle Voting team is working at breakneck speed to ready the application for use by voters across the country come October. In the meantime, we're looking to hire a bevy of student interns to help us grow the community outreach and engagement portion of the project which is, of course, absolutely central to our effort's success!

If you or anyone you know is interested, please forward along this job description. We're looking for a 10 hour/week commitment, we'll pay a fair hourly rate, and you get to work from campus! We currently are focusing on outreach efforts throughout California and Massachusetts, but interested folks from elsewhere in the country should write to us anyway.

Move fast, because the elections are nearing!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/37455075/Political-Engagement-Intern-Job-Descriptio...

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You make me love my Mondays.

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:04:06 -0700

This project rocks. It’s so rare to find a project that combines innovative web software design with a relevant mission.

Circle Voting’s hypothesis is that grassroots, community-based voting recommendations can help us vote wisely and produce election outcomes less susceptible to mass advertising. The website we’re building empowers ordinary citizens to make and receive those recommendations while respecting their privacy. Like our prototype (which you can see now at circlevoting.com) it presents the information in the system according to the actual issues on the next ballot you can expect to see at your polling booth — but unlike our prototype, we’re aiming to include national coverage, integration with Facebook and Twitter, and a much more elegant design.

Please check out our stuff and consider getting involved by signing up on www.circlevoting.com.

And, if you’d like to help with testing and giving feedback on our new site, or promoting Circle Voting in your community, we have a Google Group for you. I will personally be overjoyed if you join it. About 1-2x a week, we’ll send the group a link to our work-in-progress and invite you to try it out and offer feedback. You can join at http://groups.google.com/group/circle-voting. See you there!

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Privacy and Voting — another closet?

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:23:00 -0700

Many people are private around their voting, even some who are vocal about their political opinions. They don't talk about voting and certainly don't tell other people how they vote, or even whether they vote.

This privacy reminds me of the silence around homosexuality in the 1960s. "It's nobody's business what we do in bed." This silence kept lesbians and gays cut off from each other and allowed the police to arrest and control them. The power in the early gay liberation was in finding common purpose in "coming out" and coming together. It was not an accident that the beginning of the movement was marked by resisting a police raid.

How many of us talk about our own voting choices with friends? Or whether we even vote, especially in the low turnout primaries and local elections? Through our silence we give up our power as voters.

Our silence allows our politicians to remain addicted to campaign money. The wealthiest campaigns develop strategies that include distorted, negative attack ads and wedge issues that divide us. Monied interests fund these campaigns to buy influence and access. Their connections lead to favorable regulation and tax benefits.

The politicians won't break their addiction themselves. Let's find our common purpose in stopping this type of corporate welfare. Let's break our silence carefully and together.

— Send our website link to your circle of friends.

— Engage in discussions about how money in politics really works.

— Encourage your politically vocal friends to spread their views through Circle Voting.

— Consider sharing your opinions and recommending sources.

As the November election approaches, we can all take small steps together toward being more connected and more powerful voters. Visit our website, click "like" on our Facebook page or send us an email to get involved.

www.circlevoting.com

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