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The hi-tech election

• Maggie Shiels
• 4 Nov 08, 09:00 GMT

This election has relied on technology like never before to campaign, to get the vote out, to raise money, to harness volunteers and hopefully to return results as quickly as possible.

But it also seems that voters themselves are using technology as a way to ensure their vote is counted and their voices are heard. Yes even eight years on from the hanging chad debacle in Florida that left the 2000 election on a knife edge, people refuse to place their trust in the system.

The two services that are really being put to the test are the video sharing site YouTube and the microblogging service Twitter.

Already Twitter, which has had its share of problems with downed service times, seems to be performing well ahead of d-day on election.twitter.com. A stream of comments and observations from users are flooding in so fast there isn't time to read them properly. Think ticker tape on speed.

"Just received my fourth call from the Obama campaign. Yes we can," tweets one user while another notes; "John McCain doesn't run for history. He is history." And yet another tweet says: "Lonely McCain supporters getting shouted down in Times Square," to "Gotta go walk my dog. Be uncool but American Vote McCain."

Over at twittervotereport.com, there's the chance to see voting in action and get real time feeds from people across the country.

Nick Bergus tweets that: "There is a huge early-voting line at the North Liberty Community Centre (in Iowa City), and has been since voting opened."

While Sarah Braun says: "I voted at my kitchen table weeks ago, dropped my ballot at the Library, Oregon is awesome." And libertyisforme tweets: "Florida drama: election documents found on junction of 1-4, 1-275."

These tweets give an insight into the mood of the country and the voter and a view that makes you feel at the heart of things. Of course it's a view from a certain kind of voter in a certain part of the country, and sure it's hard to imagine the potato farmer from Idaho tweeting their comments.

Likewise, YouTube will also only present a certain point of view but it will probably turn out to be one of the biggest outlets for voters to have their say and even show themselves casting their ballot through the site's "Video your Vote" partnership. Collaborators include everyone from Rock the Vote to Voto Latino and from Citizen Media Law to the Centre for Governmental Studies.

Another major partner is PBS, the equivalent of the BBC stateside, where TV anchor Judy Woodruff explains some of the thinking behind the project.

"We are looking for videos that documents the excitement, energy and last second campaigning on Nov 4th in addition to the issues you find at voting places like long lines, broken machines and any other roadblocks to casting a ballot. Elections have never been perfect."

The site shows a map of the country and offers videos shot by voters themselves on their phones, their cameras and by various interested groups and organisations. They cover early voting, notable voter, voting perspectives, voter intimidation, polling place problems and registration problems and mostly they give a personal view of what it's like voting in what has been billed as one of the most historical elections ever.

And let's not forget all those mobile applications out there to keep voters in touch with every twist and turn of the election and polling day itself.

And while it certainly seems that technology is putting power back into the hands of the voter, take note because all these tools will be coming to an election near you.

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