Technical Disenfranchisement of VU Voters?

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WARNING: Deer In Headlights Syndrome may occur. If you notice symptoms of DIHS, do not panic. Read slowly, and keep your breathing steady.

Several people have told me that they're still unable to vote on the BlogLuxe Award Site because of technical issues. The usual description is that the voting button just isn't there at all. And I've done my due diligence to make sure that everybody's looking in the right place, so I'm convinced that there's a browser-specific issue or possibly a setting within the browser that's causing the problem. Unfortunately, SocialLuxeLounge isn't my blog, nor do I have admin rights to it so regardless of what the problem is I can't fix it myself. There is another alternative, and I'll get to that in a minute. First let's examine the actual problem and see if there's a solution that will allow you to rock your vote.

First thing, check the steps in the Handy Illustrated Guide To Voting For The BlogLuxe Awards and make sure you're looking in the right place. The BlogLuxe page isn't the friendliest interface I've ever seen, so it might be that you're just expecting it to be somewhere and it's actually somewhere else.

Second, if you've got a horizontal scroll bar across the bottom of the window, the HTML may not be rendering the way it should and the voting button may actually be way off to the east of where you are. Scroll on over there and see if it's just out back grazing or really AWOL.

If none of that solves the problem, and you have the option available, try a different browser. Despite all the industry standardization, not all browsers render things in the same way. I use Mozilla Firefox (3.07), and have had no problems with the technical functioning of the page. Usually Firefox, IE, Safari and Opera all behave pretty much the same way, but this is not guaranteed. If that's not an option for you (or didn't solve the problem), then read on.

Your browser may also be set up to block "active content", though the voting form is pretty standard HTML so I doubt that's the problem unless you have security set very, very tight on your browser and/or network. If this is the problem, Internet Explorer and Firefox will both display a bar across the top of the browser window telling you they've blocked some of the content on the page. This bar will usually offer a way to allow the blocked content too. So if you see the obnoxious bar at the top, find the button/link/widget that says "Options" or something similar and see what it can do for ya. You might also check your security settings (where those are depends on the browser you're using but you'll usually find them under "Tools" or "Options" or something similar). If you're on a network and the firewall is blocking this content, you're pretty well schtupped unless you're the network admin. And if you are the network admin, then you probably know more about this than me and you should be answering these questions.

Finally, if you're still stuck in disenfranchised voterland, my suggestion would be to email SocialLuxLounge at buzz@socialluxelounge.com and tell them you're having a problem. The more people they hear from (a) the more likely they are to pay attention and (b) the easier it will be to troubleshoot.

If you decide to do this be sure you include the following information:

1. The browser you're using and the version (you can find this information under "Help -> About..."
2. The operating system you're on (Windows XP, Vista, MacOS, Linux etc.)
3. How you're connecting i.e.: through a local area network, via cable modem, DSL, dialup (seriously??)
4. The symptoms you're seeing, as precisely as you can describe them. For example, I expected to see the rectangular "Vote" button underneath the blue box with the name in it and it simply wasn't there.
5. Any error message that might have appeared as the page was loading. these aren't always obvious. IE, for example, is famous for very quietly telling you at the bottom of the window that the page is "Done, but with errors on page" or it may tell you even worse than that. The absence of an error message doesn't mean that there wasn't an error, just that the browser didn't tell you about it if there was one. But if it does tell you something like this, that's important information for somebody trying to troubleshoot the problem. Also, watch the status bar at the bottom of the window as the page is loading. It will normally only tell you a bunch of useless stuff like "Transferring from yada-yada.com, but occasionally it'll slip in something useful that you might need to know.

And now for the part I said I'd get to later. While you're waiting patiently for SocialLuxeLounge to answer your cry for help, here's my offer to you ('cause I'm just a rock star that way and besides that I have no life). I'll cast your vote by proxy. All I need is a name (your real name, your first name, your Blogger ID, your initials, whatever... they don't really care, they just want something) and an email address (which probably should be yours okay?) to plug into the fields in the voting form. I can't tell you what -- if anything -- SocialLuxeLounge does with this information other than use it to keep track of who's voted in a given day. But I will only use this information to fill out a voting form. In other words, I'm not mining email addresses to sell to spammers. And believe me, I'd much rather have you voting for you than me voting for you, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes. What's a few seconds and a couple of clicks in the grand scheme of my life, right? So if it comes to that, you can send your proxy information to me at jbengel [at] brandenburg3 [dot] com and I'll take care of ya.

Peace, yo.

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Rockin' the BlogLuxe Vote: An Illustrated Guide

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In case you're looking at this wondering WTF? you can get all the details and motivational speeches in this post. In a nutshell, Violence UnSilenced has been nominated for the BlogLuxe 2009 Most Inspiring Blog award. Voting has already opened and will run through July 6th. There are lots of good reasons for voting for VU and its contributors, but that's in the other post. this one is just the nuts and bolts of how to get around BlogLuxe. Which can a bit of a challenge.

Apparently the voting page at BlogLuxe was designed by a former employee of the Florida Board of Elections (Chad Something I believe he said his name was). Anyway, the point is that several people have emailed me saying they couldn't find the link when they got to the page. And it's really not the most intuitive path to take, which is why I've prepared this Handy Voting Guide. Together we will make your voice heard!

Step 1. Go to the Category Page. (The link will open in a new window, so you can keep me here for guidance.)

Step 2. This is the part that seems to bite most folks. When the page loads, all it gives you is the list of categories. And until you click one of the category banners, you won't see any of the nominees. This is an improvement over the original page which opened with the "Cleanest Blog" category already selected and open. You might have assumed that this was where all the votes were cast, and not even seen the other categories. The one you want is in blue -- Most Inspiring Blog.

Step 3. Once the category is open, locate the button for Violence UnSilenced. This might be a little tricky too since sometimes the category takes you to the bottom of the list when it opens. As of this writing, VU is in the #2 spot -- so scroll back up until you find it. It'll look like the illustration below -- only hopefully with lots more votes.

Step 4. This is the easy part. From here on it's pretty intuitive, but if I'm gonna do this may as well do it right, na? Here's where you fill in a name (doesn't have to be your real name, but you should probably use the same one every time you vote. Just sayin'. This is Florida after all.) And fill in an email address so they an keep track of how many times you voted today. It has to be a valid email address. It should probably be your email address, but I don't think they're checking. (Just sayin'.) If you have more than one, vote them all. And your kids, your parents, your dog -- hey don't laugh -- whoever you have proxy for.

Step 5. If everything went according to plan, you should get a confirmation that says your vote was recorded. so click the OK button and feel good about what you've just done. Then repeat for each email address and remind yourself to come back tomorrow and do it all again!

And THANK YOU for your support!

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My Vote is Rocked - How About Yours?

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Took me 35 minutes total including an (average) 12-minute walk in each direction. The State Board of Elections office is six blocks from where I work, seven blocks from where I park. And let me tell ya, the BOE has got one tight operation going on there. Or maybe "smooth" is a better word. They had a guy out front to give you directions, and whatever other assistance you might need. He even had someone's dog he was watching for her when I came out. No, I'm not kidding.

Inside, it couldn't have been easier. I didn't even have to show the voter registration card I kept trying to show them or the freshly minted driver's license I got two days ago just so I wouldn't get hassled over having an unreadable ID. That was a little bit confusing, but in a good way. They printed out a signature form, gave me a ballot and I studiously copied my carefully researched sample ballot -- which took longer than everything else combined.

When they handed me my ballot, they gave me a verbal and printed notice that voting a straight party ticket did not include the presidential race, so even if I voted a straight party, I still needed to fill in the race for President. (Not that I needed this information since I've never voted straight party in my life).

This couldn't have been much easier. At least not unless I could beam in my vote by telepathy.

So go vote now. It'll make you feel big and strong.

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How I Spent My Wednesday

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In case you weren't here in my hometown yesterday morning and early afternoon, I thought I'd share with you what I got to do. A few of you have already seen this slide show (click below), but I've added a couple of things since I initially told you about it.

And by 1:00 pm yesterday I had learned three new things:

1. Barack Obama is one helluva orator who connects with his audience in a way I don't think I've ever seen.
2. If you get the chance to hear/see him speak live, do it!
3. If you ever feel the urge to photograph Secret Service agents, do not do it.

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"Change We Need"
Raleigh, NC - October 2008 (Click for Slideshow)

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Educate Yourself - Vote Smart

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So up comes November in a leap year and there you are in the voting booth. You've been watching the debates, keeping up with the news, you may have even kept an eye on the legislators from your district to see if their votes resemble what yours would have been. Good for you! You're an educated voter.

Or are you?

Let's see...
President - check. Everybody's pretty well informed on this race.
US Senate - check. Maybe you're not quite as in tune with this one as the Presidential election, but you know who your Senators are.
US House - check? Who's your Representative in the US House? Do you know how they've voted for the last 2 years?
Governor - Umm... yeah, check.

But how many times have you gotten past these "headliners" and found yourself asking "Who are these people?" Or, "Commissioner of Agriculture? What's he do?" County commissioners, city council members, judges, commissioners, the list is dizzying.

And yet, these elections are as important to your day-to-day life as any of the big ones. Because it's these people who will impact you and those around you the most directly every single day. But these "opening acts" in the election circus are more often than not won on simple name recognition. The candidate with the most yard signs in place wins. And that's a little scary, because this is the foot of the ladder of power in this country. This is where the next John McCain or Barack Obama will come from.

The good news is that you don't have to toss a coin. You can almost certainly obtain a sample ballot for the next election with all of the races and all of the candidates. And once you know who's running for what, you can research the candidates for all of the offices.

If you're one of my neighbors here in North Carolina, I've already done the first step for you. (If you live in one of the other 49 states, you're on your own.) The NC State Board of Elections has a complete sample ballot for the 2008 General Election in PDF format available on the web here. There's a sample ballot for each Congressional District, so you'll need to know which district is yours. (Psst. Its on your voter registration card.) If you don't know which district you're in and can't find your voter registration card, you can find that information on the SBOE site too.

And now that you know who's running for what, there's a good starting point for researching the candidates available from PBS affiliate WUNC-TV's website. This isn't a comprehensive site detailing the careers of all the candidates, but it's a good introduction to all of them. What I like about this site is that there's no opponent bashing allowed. The candidates are allowed a brief statement about why they feel they're the best qualified applicant. And you can learn a lot about where a candidate stands just from these. With this limited space, they're forced to distill all the rhetoric into a simple statement about what's important to them. What tidbits were important enough to make the cut? Whose names are they dropping? Once you have this information in hand, you can figure out if the record matches the rhetoric.

There are still a few weeks left to figure it all out. But take the time. This may very well be the most important election of my generation's lifetime. And by extension, that makes it important to the next generation. And at the risk of sounding alarmist, it may actually determine if there's a generation after that one.

This is important stuff people. So educate yourself. Vote Smart.

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