Portal:Election Protection Wiki/Things you can do

The Election Protection Wiki's success depends on the contributions of volunteer editors - no experience is necessary, if only because so many of the problems with elections in the U.S. today are mind-bogglingly simple.

Below are several projects or types of tasks you can pitch in on. If you need help, you can post a question on the EP Wiki Google Group and someone will be right back with you. Or, email [mailto:davej@nuthouse.com Dave Johnson], [mailto:mclombardi2008@gmail.com Molly Lombardi], or [mailto:nancydrives@gmail.com Nancy Weinberg], or leave a note at User_talk:AlanF to reach a member of the EP Wiki staff directly. We're also looking for people interested in election protection who might like to be more involved in helping us set up and build out the wiki, recruit more volunteers, publicize the site, or help the newbies. If you're interested, please contact Dave, Molly, Nancy, or Alan.

Before you add anything to the Election Protection Wiki, you'll need to quickly create a login name. We've done this to deter spammers and vandals. You can register under your own name or pick a screen name, all you need to do is confirm with a valid email address (which we will never reveal to anyone or add to any list). Create a login name

Visit the example pages
We have populated the Colorado voting issues and the Colorado election threats articles with information and incident reports to serve as examples for entering information.

Join the Google Group

 * Join the EP Wiki Google Group and participate in the conversation about what is needed in the EP Wiki.

Tell others about the EP Wiki
The fastest and easiest way to promote SourceWatch and the Election Protection Wiki is to talk to people you already know. If you're here, chances are pretty good you're interested in politics, and you may be involved in other ways. So the first step is to invite others!

You can:


 * Send out an email invite. The Election Protection Wiki is new, and right now not that many people know that it's here. Just send out a short email letting people know about the project, and they may either be interested in helping or know others who might be.


 * Become a fan of the Facebook page.


 * Share the "How You Can Help" page everywhere -- on your web page, on Facebook, Digg, Google Reader...


 * Blog about it! The reason you've got a blog is to tell people things they should know, right? Well, they need to know about this project if they care about keeping elections clean, fair, and open.

Collect voter suppression reports from the Voter Suppression Wiki
The Voter Suppression Wiki, which collaborates with us, is located at http://votersuppressionwiki.wetpaint.com/. We need to add their incident reports to the Election Protection Wiki.

Please refer to Help:Adding a Voter Suppression Wiki item to EP Wiki for full instructions and help.

Add election threat reports
There are several websites that are collecting reports submitted by users, and we need to bring them into the Election Protection Wiki. Check out any of the sources below, look for any incidents that aren't already included, and post them on the appropriate page. (Feel free to post a question on the Google group if you aren't sure where an item should go.)


 * VotersUnite! has a substantial log of reports of voter suppression and other threats to election integrity. (Please refer to Help:Adding a VotersUnite item to EP Wiki for full instructions.)


 * Vote Watch 2004. (Please refer to Help:Adding a Vote Watch 2004 item to EP Wiki for full instructions.)


 * DKosopedia Voting Rights Page.

Collect Watch List reports from Black Box Voting
The Black Box Voting forums have state sections, and those have "Watch List Locations" reports. We need to add Watch List reports to the Election Protection Wiki to help people prepare for the election.

Cleaning up and integrating existing election protection articles on SourceWatch into the EP Wiki
Check the list of articles related to election protection that existed on SourceWatch prior to the launch of the election protection wiki. They need to be gone through, checked, and added to the Election Protection Wiki project. Please add them to the EP Wiki index and remove them from the list of existing articles as you check them off.

Add a news report of an election threat
Please refer to Help:Adding a news report to EP Wiki for full instructions and help.

Add items from the dKosopedia "Voting Rights" pages
Merge relevant information from the dKosopedia voting rights pages into these pages. Sourcing and formatting may need to be modified.

Help add Brennan Center student voting rights information

 * The Brennan Center Student Voting Rights website includes a map addressing different levels of voting rights restrictions in different states. The items labeled yellow or red need to be entered into the associated EP Wiki state threat pages.  An example can be found in Michigan election threats.

Keep an eye on recent changes in the Election Protection Wiki
Here is a link that will track all the recent changes to Election Protection Wiki pages. Keep an eye on the changes - in addition to the odd vandal or spammer, newbies often need a little cleaning up afterwards.