sms and politics

The American press yesterday was filled with news covering the Connecticut Senatorial democratic primary race between incumbent Joseph Lieberman and fellow democratic challenger Ned Lamont. The big news was that Liebermans website suddenly went down the night before and during the day of the election which Lieberman campaign workers said kept volunteers from doing their GOTV (Get Out The Vote) work. WIth the website down, the campaign could not access its email database nor send emails to their supporters. Some say the site was hacked, some say it was the Lamont crew that did it, others say that the fault lies with the Lieberman team not paying their bills).

Read More >>

Politicians using mobile phones is not groundbreaking news. In fact, mobile phones have been pivotal to elections around the world. In South Korea many credit President Roh Moo Hyun’s election win with the mass SMS and email messages his supporters sent out in the days before the election urging people to vote. In its most recent election, India cracked down on campaigners’ use of wall graffiti and posters, so candidates found another way to spread their messages – via text messages. Spain’s election was tipped in favor of current president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero when flash mobs organized through SMS messages took to the streets to protest the other political party. Thailand’s Election Commission sent 25 million text messages out to remind people to vote, and the Philippines is practically synonymous with mobile politics.

But the United States has lagged behind, that is until now. Hotline reports that two prominent U.S. politicians have launched their own SMS campaigns. Senator John Edwards, who is planning a 2008 presidential run, now lets his supporters sign up to receive SMS messages from him. Senator Rick Santorum, who is in the midst of a tough re-election campaign, similarly is encouraging people to sign up to receive text messages from him about his stance on the issues. His website even has directions on how to send and receive text messages, something that could be very important since many Americans still don’t text message.

Read More >>

On May 21 the National Democratic Institute (NDI) provided technical assistance to a Montegrin NGO called the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) that successfully monitored their country's independence referendum using SMS as the primary observer reporting tool. We believe this is the first time an election monitoring group has employed text messaging to meet all election day reporting requirements. Details about the program follow.

General Information:

• Election monitors from the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) in Montenegro conducted the first ever election monitoring project where SMS was used as the primary tool for reporting election information with NDI technical assistance.
• 200 observers reported approximately 11 times each throughout the day including voter turnout and results data, transferring over 2000 reports to the reporting center in Podgorica. All reports were automatically entered into the reporting database where they were immediately included in analysis reports.

 

Read More >>

With the expansion of cell phone access and text messaging use, it was only a matter of time before it started – the SMS joke. And not surprisingly, few subjects are poked fun at more than local politics and of course the politicians.

"Da Vinci Code to be totally banned in the Philippines. GMA [Gloria Macapagal Arroyo] has been informed by Dan Brown that she is a direct descendant of Judas."

That’s one of the many SMS jokes being circulated throughout the Philippines making fun of the current president and her restrictive policies, among other things. Tonyo Cruz from TXTPower, and a MobileActive, passed on a bunch of the jokes that he’s seen sent around the country. You can read them all at the bottom of this post – thanks Tonyo!

The Philippines has been ahead of the curve in using cell phones for activism (remember the 2001 revolution and the Hello Garci ring tones), but SMS political jokes are spreading to other countries too. In Tamil Nadu, India, residents are sending out SMS jokes to make fun of the candidates from a recent election and their policies. One message circulating the region is an image of a candidate crying – supposedly showing her dismay at her party’s poor performance in the election. Another criticizes one party’s idea to give out “freebies,” saying that these practices will hurt businesses and make people lazy.

Read More >>

TXTPower brings gospel of mobile activism to Hong Kong's anti-WTO protests - On Dec. 16 at Victoria Park in Hong Kong, amid anti-globalization forums and protests left and right, convenors of TXTPower successfully mounted a meeting of mobile activists.

Nineteen souls gathered for the meeting, coming from Africa, North America and Asia. The meeting focused more on sharing the telecommunications situation on our respective countries and the challenges facing the individuals and movements using mobile technology for social activism.

Read More >>