Wilmette Voters Beware
**Updated with new information on November 6, 2006 - scroll down **
Want to be a star and end up with a video of you posted on the Internet when you vote? Well, I didn't think so, but if a few left left-wing outfits proceed with a plan that I just discovered via Youtube, pictures of you on Election Day going to and from your polling place, and maybe standing in line, may be available on the Internet from Sweden to Sri Lanka to Somelia for the viewing pleasure of others.
A new website, http://www.videothevote.org, is being set up to organize volunteers nationwide to take video footage of polling locations and post the videos to Youtube. Hey, what about laws against invasion of privacy, a non-public person's right to privacy when in public, and a person's freedom from having his photo used by others?
I am stunned to read that one of the partners in this effort is the Lawyer's Committe for Civil Rights Under the Law. They, of all people, should be sensitive to the gross violation of individual civil rights and the threat to civil liberties that this initiative would entail. Voter intimidation at its worst!
Don't tell me about good intentions to document polling-place irregularities; eyewitnesses are capable of doing that without posting pictures of voters for all the world to see.
**UPDATE: 9:31 pm** Just viewed a few videos. Not much there. Lots of "I was told" etc. Go to http://www.videothevote.org/ and see for youself. You could get pretty bored, though.
**UPDATE: Thanks to continuing coverage from Michelle Malkin, We've found this 50-state quick legal guide to photographing and video taping election activities. You should check the details for your state--it's an excellent resource. Also: don't forget that the laws vary from state to state, so check the state in which you are voting.
Note: In Illinois the election judges remain in firm control of the polling place. All complaints should be directed to them. Theoretically, each polling place has judges from both parties which should result in fair hearing. If the judges fail to take action and they are not administering election law subject to their oath of office (and not just because you didn't like their ruling), then the police or states attorney should be contacted. Also in Illinois, the facts and circumstances surrounding the video recoring can be taken into account, so its probably fair to say that taping might be appropriate to document illegal activities, but should not be done to record photographically an orderly election process. Whatever the case, you cannot be photographed while you vote.
Want to be a star and end up with a video of you posted on the Internet when you vote? Well, I didn't think so, but if a few left left-wing outfits proceed with a plan that I just discovered via Youtube, pictures of you on Election Day going to and from your polling place, and maybe standing in line, may be available on the Internet from Sweden to Sri Lanka to Somelia for the viewing pleasure of others.
A new website, http://www.videothevote.org, is being set up to organize volunteers nationwide to take video footage of polling locations and post the videos to Youtube. Hey, what about laws against invasion of privacy, a non-public person's right to privacy when in public, and a person's freedom from having his photo used by others?
I am stunned to read that one of the partners in this effort is the Lawyer's Committe for Civil Rights Under the Law. They, of all people, should be sensitive to the gross violation of individual civil rights and the threat to civil liberties that this initiative would entail. Voter intimidation at its worst!
Don't tell me about good intentions to document polling-place irregularities; eyewitnesses are capable of doing that without posting pictures of voters for all the world to see.
**UPDATE: 9:31 pm** Just viewed a few videos. Not much there. Lots of "I was told" etc. Go to http://www.videothevote.org/ and see for youself. You could get pretty bored, though.
**UPDATE: Thanks to continuing coverage from Michelle Malkin, We've found this 50-state quick legal guide to photographing and video taping election activities. You should check the details for your state--it's an excellent resource. Also: don't forget that the laws vary from state to state, so check the state in which you are voting.
Note: In Illinois the election judges remain in firm control of the polling place. All complaints should be directed to them. Theoretically, each polling place has judges from both parties which should result in fair hearing. If the judges fail to take action and they are not administering election law subject to their oath of office (and not just because you didn't like their ruling), then the police or states attorney should be contacted. Also in Illinois, the facts and circumstances surrounding the video recoring can be taken into account, so its probably fair to say that taping might be appropriate to document illegal activities, but should not be done to record photographically an orderly election process. Whatever the case, you cannot be photographed while you vote.
posted by Publia at 11:56 AM
4 Comments:
This was my first response to news of this; aren't some people going to feel intimidated by having videographers in polling places? Where is the outcry of privacy for individuals? For the many who always decry outrage at "big-brother", they seem to be reversing course to move their own agenda forward; that of monitoring so-called election fraud - when allegations of such are always thoroughly investigated anyway.
Hi John,
Thanks for stopping by.
I actually think the Video the Vote people (or most of them) have good intentions but they haven't thought it through. They seem to be so excited about the concept that traditional privacy concerns just haven't entered their mind.
For many years we have let the left worry about individual liberties. It's time we worried, too. We can't afford to be lazy any longer, because clearly the people interested into individaul rights and liberties are getting very, very sloppy.
I am not so sure that a thorough investigation occurs in all places, however. In Wilmette, the Cook County States Attorney has an excellent track record of sending States Attorneys into the polling places on Election Day.
its seems like some people ignoring other persons right by that case.if we are involve on this,so have no privacies anymore.
New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters http://www.e-us-visa.com
its seems like some people ignoring other persons right by that case.if we are involve on this,so have no privacies anymore.
New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters http://www.e-us-visa.com
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