SPEAK UP AND BE COUNTED

THE ELECTION IS TOMORROW!!!

It's the night before the big day and you're biting your nails at home, and glued to MSNBCNNABC-SPAN. Got the computer on and your browser already set to track? Here are a few other things you can do while-U-wait.

• Text message your friends in swing states--Make sure they vote!
  
• Call your friends, especially the ones who always leave stuff to the last minute. You know who they are. GET THEM OUT OF BED and TELL THEM TO VOTE
• Remind everyone to CHECK THE ADDRESS OF THEIR POLLING PLACE. Sometimes it changes from year to year. Maybe they didn't get their voter information booklet, or they lost it. Have them visit Vote411.org to look up their polling place BEFORE they leave the house.
  
• Add the Facebook "Causes" application to donate your "status" to update automatically and remind everyone to vote.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!!!!

First of all, of course, if you haven't already, get out there and VOTE! Now everyone, I don't want to make too much of this, but my friend Becca reported that the line for early voting was two hours long yesterday-- this is at City Hall in San Francisco-- and we're not exactly experiencing swing state frenzy here.If you're joining in that great American pastime of standing in line, as the Scouts of America like to say, Be Prepared:

• Call some friends in your neighborhood and go together.
  
• Take a book or magazine with you.
• Take a sandwich and maybe a bottle of water with you.
  
• Take your cell phone and call friends to remind them to vote while you wait.
  

SPEAK UP AND BE COUNTED

• Are you seeing problems or have YOU had trouble voting? Call the free hotlines: 1-866-MYVOTE1, 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español).
• If you have been PURGED from the rolls
• If you get there and they tell you you can't vote even though you know you're registered
• If they tell you your address was wrong
• That you have parking tickets so you can't vote
• Don't take NO for an answer. THEY MUST ALLOW YOU TO CAST A PROVISIONAL BALLOT. Do it, then call 1-866-MYVOTE1, 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español).
  

• CHECK YOUR VOTE. Ballot problems, voting machine errors are expected to plague the polls. "About a fourth of voters will still use electronic machines that offer no paper record to verify that their choice was accurately recorded, even though these machines are vulnerable to hacking and crashes that drop votes. The machines will be used by most voters in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Eight other states, including Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey and South Carolina, will use touch-screen machines with paper trails." Even Oprah Winfrey had trouble when she went to vote. As my Algebra teacher used to say, CHECK your work! And if your ballot doesn't record your vote correctly, flag down a pollworker, SPEAK UP.
  

• Are you on Twitter? Send your tweets on the voting process and how the lines are doing to Twitter's voting reports. If you haven't already, set up your mobile phone, (I advise turning OFF "Device Updates" immediately unless you want all those twitter updates coming to your phone!) Then text your reports to "40404." Here are some codes to use:
  
• #zip code to indicate the zip code where you're voting, for example, "#20002"
• L:address or city to drill down your exact location. Example: "L:1600 Pennsylvania Ave. D.C."
• #machine for machine problems, Example: "#machine broken, using prov. ballot"
• #reg for registration troubles. Ex.: "#reg I wasn't on the rolls"
• #wait:minutes for long lines. Example: "#wait:120 and I'm coming back later"
• #early if you're voting before Nov. 4
• #good or #bad to give a quick sense of your overall experience

PLEASE feel free to forward this on to everyone!