How to crowdsource election monitoring in 30

days

(the mexican experience)

how it started?(sorted chronologically)

@osalazar(technologist / activist - NYC)

@andreslajous(activist - Boston)

@afromusing(Ushahidi - Chicago)

@joviedo(developer - Mexico)

@smjorge22(SMS Guru - Mexico)

@blackalller(Designer - Boston) @maggit

(developer - NYC)

@damog(developer - NYC)

@maiteazuela(activist - Mexico)

*YES, we all use twitter

the team

*As we love democracy, the name was democratically chosen using the voting platform selectricity.org

why a luchador?

+ + =*designer: Luis Blackaller @blackaller

how does it work?

citizen reports

official reports(NGOs)

*to be approved reports must be violations to the Federal Code of Electoral Institutions and Procedures

trip to Mexico city

*racoon in Mexican slang: refers to a person who steals votes in an election

capacity building

Cuidemos el voto team presented the platform to NGOs and provided free training

this was key to assure the adoption and speed up the learning process.

capacity building is an important piece of the recruiting strategy

our partners

NGOslocal

entrepreneurs

academia

government

100 dollar media campaign

*hi5 is a popular social network in Mexico among the young

•use your social graph

•identify and use popular social networks

•engage local bloggers

•engage social network users

it’s not easy but it is possible

new media campaign

(the strategy)

identify and engagelocal bloggers, activists, journalists, and influencers

use blogs and twitterto build and maitainmomentum

=more followers andsupporters

=spill over into mainstream media

create and use widgets, badgets, andiframes

=spread the word easily

#cuidemoselvoto

spreading the news

journalistmainstream

mediatwitter

cuidemos teambloggers & influencers

high relevance blogs

iframethird party

sitessymbiotic

integration

common electoral fraud(in Mexico)

alteration of

the polls

retention ofcredentials

coercion withsocial programs

falsification ofresults

campaigns inpolling stations

vote buying

coercion withsocial programs

violence

e-day

offical observers

citizen observers

NGO admin(analyses and approves

reports)officials reports are

automatically approved and mapped

Cuidemos admins(analyze and approve

reports)

*cuidemos admins were @andreslajous and @osalazar

citizen reports areanalyzed before approval

reports

report # 1: party gives cans of pickled jalapeño with political marketing (vote buying)city: Puebla

report # 2: teacher’s union using forms to engage people to vote for a specific political party (union coercion)city: San Luis Potosí

reports (cont’d)

report # 3: party gives food to buy votes(vote buying)city: Durango

report # 4: candidate stabs other candidatein the polling station (violence)city: Colima

reports distribution

YES 1% SMS. Apparently Mexican NGOs prefer twitter and web over SMS

web analytics

• pages/visit: 3.63• average time on site: 5.09 minutes• percentage of new visits: 68.63%

11,1527,697 1,059

40,444

spin off

turning protests into proposals

(twitter campaign against Mexican Internet Tax)

next stepsCuidemos el Voto Puebla !(local elections, governor)

what: the biggest crowd sourced election monitoring in Mexican history (and maybe the world?)

who: COPARMEX (Mexican Employer’s Confederation),Universities and Colleges, NGOs, official electoral observers, and volunteers (students).

when: e-day July 4th. stay tuned !

¡ gracias !