Exit Voices is a Vermont blogging experiment.  In November of 2006, Vermont Community Access Media and the CCTV Center for Media and Democracy joined forces to create an online public forum where Vermonters could discuss the issues and candidates on the ballot in that election cycle.  The result was Exit Voices, a moderated community blog specifically designed to be a sounding board for voters who had more to say than just speaking with their votes.  The blog featured posts by prominent Vermont bloggers, video interviews with voters exiting their polling places and comments by anyone who cared to participate.

For Town Meeting Day 2007, Exit Voices expanded its geographic scope and featured guest posts from bloggers in the Northeast Kingdom, southern Vermont and central Vermont as well.  Despite being a relatively quiet election (no major statewide or national candidates running), the Exit Voices blog was quite active, with dozens of commenters participating in the discussions from all over Vermont.

March 4, 2008 is likely to be a big day in Vermont.  Along with the usual excitement of Town Meeting Day, it’s the Vermont presidential primary as well.  With the looming possibility of a brokered Democratic convention, Vermont’s 15 delegates could actually make a difference in helping to pick the Democratic nominee.  Voter turnout is likely to be higher than average and hopefully that excitement will spill over to the Exit Voices blog.

On the evening of the 4th, CCTV (Comcast and Burlington Telecom channel 17 in the greater Burlington area) will include comments and video posts from the blog in its live election night coverage.  CCTV’s coverage will also be streamed live online at cctv.org.

3 Responses to “Welcome to Exit Voices!”

This is a test comment. Testing out the new blog. Here is a link to my site.

This is a great idea…thanx for doing it!

“1. What motivates you to go to your town meeting or polling station and vote?”

To be honest, I rarely participate in VT’s Town Meeting Day. The place where I’ve lived in VT for years really doesn’t have much a “meeting” per se, and I’m not a big fan at all of direct democracy. As a result, I think I’ve only voted in election years where there was a primary of some kind (state or national). I do strongly believe in voting…just not Town Meeting Day…it’s an oddity that’s truly an “Old Vermont” tradition. I don’t claim to understand it either.

“2. If you could add a comment on your Ballot for your elected officials to read, what would you say?”

Stop the legalized bribery that is allowed to occur in our political process! Too much money in politics has ruined things & turned off way too many people I think.

I’ve heard quite a few funny stories from friends in other towns across VT about Town Meeting Day, but I don’t feel that the entertainment value of the event justifies its existence. I believe in representative democracy, not direct democracy. Why pay all those politicians all that money and then not give them any responsibility? I would extend this criticism to votes on school/town budgets and most bond initiatives. I know that this probably isn’t a majority position in this state…maybe I’m just a stupid flatlander. :)

ekibastos…

ekibastos…

Something to say?