Romney’s Get Out the Vote Fiasco [A Revealing Read! "Monumental Failure"]

Commentary Magazine ^ | November 09, 2012 | Bethany Mandel

[Steelfish]

Romney’s Get Out the Vote Fiasco Bethany Mandel 11.09.2012

The Wednesday before the election, Mitt Romney sent a special message to volunteers about a special project his campaign was working on: “With state of the art technology and an extremely dedicated group of volunteers, our campaign will have an unprecedented advantage on election day.” What is it they say about something that sounds too good to be true? It probably is. That was the case with the Romney campaign’s “Project ORCA.”

The idea behind Project ORCA was simple, albeit far too complex in execution. Romney’s Boston headquarters wanted a way to track who had been to the polls in swing states, and who had not. It was the most complicated GOTV (get out the vote) effort in GOP history. Volunteers in swing states would be assigned polling places. They would be given lists of every registered voter assigned to that polling location.

Those voters would be reported on to Boston via a web application when they arrived to vote, and if that failed, via phone or, as a last resort, voice. Volunteers were to log in to the application, use their assigned pin number and password, and begin reporting on voters who had come through their polling place by ID number. A source familiar with the campaign told me that Boston would initiate calls and visits to those who had not yet gotten to the polls.

The story of how monumental a failure Project ORCA was on Election Day was first reported by a volunteer, John Ekdahl, on the Ace of Spades blog. After tweeting the article, I was contacted by several other volunteers who were eager to explain in greater detail just how many things went wrong with Project Orca on Tuesday.

[Wuli]

if you write nothing in html

and you write the text of the link all by itself on its own line and not in quotes

it should come out as a link

[Wuli]

what exactly did Axelrod steal

http://www.registeredvoterlists.com/Home.html

[manc]

agree with that

[Tennessee Nana]

Why does the lazy Willard not wipe his own shoes ???

Oh thats right he was never in the military so he never learnt how to in basic...

Well if a guy doesnt know how to clean his own shoes and needs help to do something so basic how did you expect him to know how to lead our country ???

[carton253]

Your posts in the past have revealed you to be a classless ass. You are what’s wrong with Free Republic. I’m sure that you will have some more vile to vomit all over this thread... so have it at it.

[alstewartfan]

Well, if Ann had anything to do with running the campaign, SHE is to blame for the disaster. Laura Bush’s nauseating liberalism is responsible for W. becoming a terrible President as well. Bob

[Tennessee Nana]

Ann was blamed for Willards defeat against Ted Kennedy in 1994...

[Tennessee Nana]

I think its classless for Willard or you to expect someome else to be responsible for the state of your shoes...

but then what would I know ???

Im not an elitist like Willard...

or maybe you ...

[colorado tanker]

Good example of why Republicans are so well liked and effective at winning over supporters.

[colorado tanker]

Are you serious?

[dirtboy]

Just asking. I have used Voter Vault for a campaign. It tracks what elections you have voted in. If you voted in primaries, the GOP nowadays usually assumes you will show up for the general without prodding.

[iopscusa]

I did not vote for your buddy Mitt in the primary but I did manage to struggle to vote for the loser in the general. Did you wipe Mitt’s shoes in Ohio or just sit at your keyboard spewing insults to FReepers?