Lian Bunny – Voting Wars: Rights | Power | Privilege https://votingwars.news21.com/blog/ Voting Wars: Rights | Power | Privilege Tue, 26 Jul 2016 23:12:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.7 Can you speak any Asian languages? We want to hear from you https://votingwars.news21.com/blog/2016/07/21/can-you-speak-any-asian-languages-we-want-to-hear-from-you/ Thu, 21 Jul 2016 22:21:39 +0000 https://votingwars.news21.com/blog/?p=642 PHOENIX – As part of a News21 investigation into Asian-American voting rights, we plan to show the diversity of Asian languages.  As we traveled, we asked bilingual Asian-Americans to say the following phrase in English and their Asian languages:

My name is [insert your name], and I am an American.

We would love to hear more. If you are an Asian American and speak an Asian language, send us the audio recording along with a photo. You can email them to lian.bunny@news21.com.

Here are the instructions:

1. Record yourself saying “My name is [insert your name], and I am an American” in English and your Asian language, using the voice memo app on your cell phone.  Please record the audio in a quiet place, such as a closet or a car, and hold the phone close to your mouth when you speak. Here’s an example:

2. Take a photo of yourself to go with the audio. Use an area with light and a clean background. Here’s an example:

blog23. Send the voice memos and photo to lian.bunny@news21.com.

If you speak multiple Asian languages, please feel free to include multiple recordings. Don’t forget to include your name, ethnicity and the name of your recorded languages.

]]> The future of voting? Some counties text voters when they mail, receive ballots https://votingwars.news21.com/blog/2016/07/19/the-future-of-voting-some-counties-text-voters-when-they-mail-receive-ballots/ Tue, 19 Jul 2016 16:51:06 +0000 https://votingwars.news21.com/blog/?p=613 PHOENIX – Two texts. That’s all it takes to erase the uncertainty in the voting process, 82-year-old Colorado resident Charles Blackwell said.

Blackwell lives in Boulder County, where a voter services team sends him a text when it mails his ballot. The county sends another text after it receives his ballot and records his vote in the county database.

“I know when (my ballot) is coming so I can watch out for it and let someone know if it hasn’t arrived. And I know I’ve voted,” said Blackwell, a Longmont resident.

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Charles Blackwell. (Photo courtesy of Charles Blackwell)

Colorado conducts its elections entirely by mail.

Mircalla Wozniak, communications specialist for the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, said voters who mail in their ballots can sign up to receive text messages, phone messages or emails.

Boulder County partners with a company called BallotTrax. BallotTrax has helped track ballots since summer 2009 and assists about 25 counties in Colorado, Ohio and Oregon, according to Steve Wolffis, vice president of the company.

The cost of the system varies depending on the number of ballots tracked. Wozniak said Boulder County spends about 3 cents per message.  The service is free to voters.

The county started the program last fall and has about 1,600 participants. The preferred method of communication is email, Wozniak wrote in an email.

“I think this is a very good service,” Blackwell said. “I think it will eventually be ubiquitous over the country.”

This story was informed by a source in the Public Insight Network.

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