The Shame on You GOTV effort that was going to send information to citizens about their neighbors’ voting habits as a way of motivating people to cast a ballot this year has been abruptly cancelled.
Bill Sizemore of the Virginian Pilot broke the story and followed it up yesterday evening with some excellent reporting, noting that there are questions about the legality of how the voting lists were obtained from the State Board of Elections.
Sizemore quotes State Board Secretary Nancy Rodrigues saing that she was “shocked” at what had supposedly occurred in the acquisition of the voting lists.
I think that the rapidity with which concern about the Shame on You (my name for the effort) initiative was expressed is an example of how the viral speed associated with the new media environment can occasionally be helpful.
We’ve heard an awful lot about how “speed kills” good journalism, turning the best reporters into bloggers and undermining the kind of investigative journalism that takes time to germinate.
It’s an accurate criticism.
But it was exactly what was needed in this case and “speed killed” a misbegotten effort that would have just angered Virginians.
Sizemore did great work in writing the original story for Wednesday’s paper on Tuesday evening.
By Wednesday morning, this site, Shaun Kenney’s, Norm Leahy’s and other blogs were raising questions about the proposed effort and the anonymous donor that was reportedly funding it. (Leahy is still raising interesting questions about the acquisition and current status of the data.)
By mid-day, Rodrigues and the State Board were considering the legal implications of what might be happening.
And by Wednesday afternoon, Shame on You had been cancelled.
Not bad for a 24 hour news cycle.
This only raises more questions…where did they get the data…where is that data now?
If this was meant to hit mailboxes before Tuesday, I suspect they have the file or it’s at a mail production house.