Lifehacker: Quickly Understand Complicated Ballot Initiatives in Your State Using This Site. “If the past few years have taught us as a nation nothing, it’s that we all should not only vote, but be informed about what we’re voting about. With all the information out there, figuring out what every item on the ballot means can be a daunting proposition.”
politics
The Daily Beast: Reps. Greg Walden and Kevin McCarthy Get Tons of Money From Big Pharma
The Daily Beast: Reps. Greg Walden and Kevin McCarthy Get Tons of Money From Big Pharma. “As voters prepare to go to the polls, they can use a new database, ‘Pharma Cash to Congress,’ tracking up to 10 years of pharmaceutical company contributions to any or all members of Congress, illuminating drugmakers’ efforts to influence legislation.”
WTNH: New website highlights candidate stances on local government
WTNH: New website highlights candidate stances on local government. “The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities has launched its new ‘2018 Election Central’ website , where voters can find the candidates’ answers to a host of questions about key state-local issues affecting Connecticut’s 169 municipalities.”
CT Mirror: Sniff around campaign finances with our new database
CT Mirror: Sniff around campaign finances with our new database. “By the end of August, candidates for offices ranging from state representative to governor reported raising more than $40 million and spending around $30 million in the 2018 election cycle. CT Mirror today is launching CT Campaign Cash, a database tool to ease inspection of those receipts and expenditures.”
Made and Distributed in the U.S.A.: Online Disinformation (New York Times)
New York Times: Made and Distributed in the U.S.A.: Online Disinformation. “Politics has always involved shadings of the truth via whisper campaigns, direct-mail operations and negative ads bordering on untrue. What is different this time is how domestic sites are emulating the Russian strategy of 2016 by aggressively creating networks of Facebook pages and accounts — many of them fake — that make it appear as if the ideas they are promoting enjoy widespread popularity, researchers said. The activity is also happening on Twitter, they said.”
BuzzFeed News: No One Knows How Bad Fake News Is On WhatsApp, But If Brazil’s Election Is Any Indication, It’s Bad
BuzzFeed News: No One Knows How Bad Fake News Is On WhatsApp, But If Brazil’s Election Is Any Indication, It’s Bad. “A rumor circulating across WhatsApp this weekend had a warning for supporters of Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro: Show up to the polling stations wearing any sort of merchandise with his name or face on it, and you will be turned away and unable to vote. This, you see, was part of a coup organized by Brazil’s electoral commission, which doesn’t want Bolsonaro to win. Of course, none of this was true, but that didn’t stop it from being one of the most shared pieces of content in public groups on WhatsApp in Brazil.”
ZDNet: Shut Facebook and Twitter down for 6 weeks before elections
ZDNet: Shut Facebook and Twitter down for 6 weeks before elections. “We’re living in times where draconian solutions are popular. So I have one. How about shutting down Facebook and Twitter for 6 weeks before elections? Some countries, such as New Zealand, have all sorts of rules about election day itself. Some countries limit the length of election campaigns to as little as six weeks. In India, there can be no public meetings or election processions 48 hours before an election.”
