[jplahn]

A 100% increase in searches for "voter intimidation" in my city (Seattle) is interesting. I'd love additional context on who is searching for that (i.e. is it the intimidators or the fearful?)

Nonetheless, this seems like the beginning of an interesting tool. What would it take to do some sort of fuzzy matching on related searches, like broken voting machines for voting machine problems? I suppose you could wait for a related term to breach a threshold and begin tracking it with related terms.

[deckiedan]

It could also be people who had a /wonderful/ easy voting experience, and heard from some guy who reads HN that 'voter intimidation' was a trending search term, so decided to search and see what the fuss was about...

[pc86]

This greatly overestimates the importance of HN as a source of news.

[perfectfire]

I'm pretty sure he meant HN as a just an example. You could easily replace HN with reddit or HuffPo or CNN or [name of some political blog].

[girzel]

Given that Washington State is all mail-in, I doubt we're seeing a lot of actual voter intimidation! I'm also in Seattle, and dropped my ballot off at one of three drop-off points. There were some nice people in smocks there who thanked me for voting.

[cwilkes]

This. I don't understand the whole going to a location to vote on two dozen things that I probably don't know well enough versus reading a pamphlet and taking an hour or so to fill it out at my leisure.

Seriously why do we have voting places anymore? Just do it all by mail.

[mikestew]

I don't understand the whole going to a location to vote on two dozen things that I probably don't know well enough versus reading a pamphlet and taking an hour or so to fill it out at my leisure.

You're doing it wrong. Before you go to vote, do all of that stuff you listed after the word "versus". Instead of marking a ballot, just write it down on a piece of paper. Bring that paper with you when you vote. Worked well for me during 30 years of going to a polling place.

Me, as a Washington resident, I miss going to the polling place. I dunno, I just liked the whole physical process of going to our designated place, mingling with my neighbors and fellow citizens...and going into work late because you wouldn't dare ding me for voting. Because you don't hate democracy...do you? Now voting is just more paperwork I have to do, along with rebalancing my 401K and filling out those insurance forms I've been putting off.

[dominotw]

To weed out people with jobs and responsibilities.

[hairofadog]

Voter suppression has been a big news topic in this election. For example:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/07/magazine/the-supreme-court...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/01/opinion/voting...

People may be expressing an interest or searching for information even if they're not experiencing it directly.

[DicksenZuider]

"Rural Right Wing Nuts Challenging Voter Credentials" , "Urban Left Wing Maniacs Handing out Booze for Votes" and "Voting Machines Problems" are staple news stories on Election Day in America.

[dominotw]

>is it the intimidators or the fearful?

Just regular people scared by media propaganda. That would be my guess. Exactly like the other items in the list. 'Long lines' doesn't mean people forming long lines are searching for it.

[simonh]

Come on, Trump very deliberately made voter fraud, of which voter intimidation is a big component, a major campaign issue.

[whybroke]

Along with a sign-up form on his web site for 'volunteers' to drive over into 'suspicious' neighborhoods in blue counties.

And the mere threat of intimidation will be enough to keep people home googling instead of voting.

At any rate, Oregon provides the perfect control for any theoretical 'googling out of idle curiosity' crowd.

[dominotw]

>And the mere threat of intimidation will be enough to keep people home googling

What does 'intimidation' mean though? what are they going to do?

[wiredfool]

Yeah, I was noticing that too. 150% spike in voting machine problems at 8:30 EST in Seattle.

[ComteDeLaFere]

Burlington, PA has been the biggest red dot on the map for the past 20 minutes or so. That's another story I'd like to learn about.

[dimino]

A minor point, but keep in mind a "100% increase" of 1 is 2.