Resources and Further Information
AIGA’s Design for Democracy Project
Established in 1998, AIGA Design for Democracy applies design tools and thinking to increase civic participation by making interactions between the U.S. government and its citizens more understandable, efficient and trustworthy. Independent, pragmatic and committed to the public good, Design for Democracy collaborates with researchers, designers and policy-makers, from professional, governmental and academic communities, in service of public sector clients on a nonprofit basis. Design for Democracy has focused on election design since the 2000 presidential election, publishing both national ballot design guidelines on behalf of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and Marcia Lausen' Design for Democracy: Ballot and Election Design (jointly with University of Chicago Press) in 2007
Center for Citizen Media
Welcome to Principles of Citizen Journalism. In this special outline of principles, the goal is to detail the bedrock foundations of journalism to help citizen reporters grasp the fundamentals of the craft in a networked age. This website is a project by the Center for Citizen Media for the Knight Foundation's new Citizen News Network.
Citizen Media Law Project
The Citizen Media Law Project is jointly affiliated with Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Center for Citizen Media, and has extensive resources specifically on documentation of election processes (photography and video included) and state-by-state guidelines.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a Massachusetts-chartered 501©(3) tax-exempt charitable corporation. Creative Commons uses private rights to create public goods: creative works set free for certain uses. Like the free software and open-source movements, Creative Commons’ ends are cooperative and community-minded. Specific information about Creative Commons Licenses can be found here.
New Voters Project
The New Voters Project is a nonpartisan effort to register young people and get them to the polls on Election Day. The site includes many resources, including a list of state election offices.
State Registration & Voting Resources
The National Associate of Secretaries of State publishes information on voter registration, polling place locations and ID requirements for the 2008 elections.
Video The Vote
Video the Vote is a non-partisan project of citizen journalists strengthening democracy by observing elections and sharing the results through video.
Photography of polling places is governed by state and local law-there is no one answer for what is permissible. Every state has different election laws, some which allow photos of polling stations and others that do not. It is important to check your states' procedures to find out what is and isn't acceptable. Most states have laws prohibiting loitering or congregation around the polling place, as well as laws prohibiting any type of intimidation or interruption of voters. We require participants in this Project to follow all applicable local, state and federal laws. Additional information can be found in our Resources section.
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About the Project
The Polling Place Photo Project is a program of AIGA, the professional association for design, and Winterhouse Institute. William Drenttel of Design Observer initiated the project in 2006. Thirdwave is AIGA's development partner and responsible for supporting the technology of the Polling Place Photo Project. The About page details the many participants who have contributed to this project.
In the spirit of public access and broad dissemination, this was an open-source project. All photographs are contributed under an "Attribution No Derivatives" Creative Commons license. It is understood that all photographs may be shared with other sites, including designobserver.com, pollingplacephotoproject.org, aiga.org, and designfordemocracy.org. Further, photographs may be distributed to other sites, commercial and non-commercial, which share the goal of encouraging voter participation in America. Photographs may be used by any news media, including online blogs, that credit the project and the photographer under the terms of the Creative Commons license. Photographs will not be sold individually for personal profit by any participant. It is our goal that these photographs be used, researched and broadly disseminated, and all contributors willingly (and cheerfully) acknowledge that their photographs are a part of this public initiative.