1. BLACK BOX VOTING expects CITIZEN PARTICIPATION. Your country is not a spectator sport. Get involved! Ask questions, share documents, and make use of the information and perspectives you find here for meetings, letters to the editor, and other actions to exercise citizen control over your democratic republic.

2. POPULAR SHORTCUTS:

- HOW TO, WHERE CAN I FIND, I THINK I SAW A PROBLEM: You can post any question or personal first-hand report in the FRONT LINES section, and the Black Box Voting community will help provide tools, sources, and perspectives. More information on how to do things can be found in the Black Box Voting Citizens Tool Kit

- MOST RECENT ADDITIONS: For a quick check of everything new here, go to the top of the Black Box Voting Home Page for the link that will take you to headings of every item added by anyone within the past 24 hours, organized by topic and subject heading. You can also find this link in the left column of the forums area.

- YOUR STATE OR COUNTY: Click Forums and scroll down for a listing of every state in the US. Click your state for listings for each local elections jurisdiction in your state, including a description of the voting system used in each.

- I NEED A SUMMARY OR A HANDOUT FOR... Voting rights include a broad range of multidisciplinary fields, from vote suppression to fairness to vote counting, and the information you need may vary from something on computerized systems to Constitutional rights to addressing the town council. Post what you need in the FRONT LINES section and we'll try to point you towards materials that help. There is no one-size-fits-all document for every need, so before you do this, give some thought to what you want to focus on or your ultimate goal for the piece.

- AUTOMATIC E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS: You can receive automatic e-mail notifications for every new comment or submission, choosing the specific topics that most interest you. Just REGISTER or, if you are already registered, Edit your Profile to opt in for automatic e-mails in the topics that interest you. For example, if you live in Florida, you may want to opt in for automatic e-mails related to Florida. Every new submission in that topic will automatically forward to your e-mail. If volume gets too heavy (sometimes it does during election season or specific controversies): You can always edit your profile to remove notifications. Warning: volume fluctuates considerably, but can become VERY heavy at times.

- VIDEO: If you prefer to receive your information visually, click the video camera at the top of the home page for an index of short (2-10 minute) video clips.

- LATEST NEWS: Click the NEWS topic to review the latest news about voting rights and election integrity issues. News headlines pop to the front page when they are posted.

- LEAD STORY: This is the main blog item, which appears in the main part of the home page. Only the admin can start a new blog item. These items include original research and important new findings. Anyone can comment on the lead story.

3. ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST PROVIDE REAL FIRST AND LAST NAME Here are the guidelines for submitting comments or other information: http://www.bbvdocs.org/policies.html

- You may request a privacy waiver by sending an e-mail to us. Please include your reason for requesting a waiver along with your full contact information

4. HOW DO I GET STARTED?
- If you came here for a specific reason, just post what you need in the FRONT LINES section. This pops your post to the left column of the front page, where it usually gets attention. Please contribute your own insights to the Front Lines section as well.

5. DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS DEPEND ON YOUR ABILITY TO EXERCISE YOUR CRITICAL THINKING ABILITIES

- You are encouraged to evaluate the evidence and perspectives of others, and to weigh in with your own.

- If you want specific advice from Bev Harris, the founder and director of Black Box Voting, address her by name in your post and ask for a response. She will try to respond personally (sometimes if she is out doing field work it may take some time to get a response.

- Black Box Voting also has some participants who are especially qualified to provide input. Look to the left of each article, document posting, or comment. You will see the real name of the individual who posted it. Some of the all-stars here include Jim March, Catherine Ansbro, Christine Reid, V. Kurt Bellman, Jody Holder, Mary Ann Gould, and several others.

- We encourage you to sift through information and think for yourself. Real democracy is not about following the leader in lockstep. Please do think, disagree, evaluate. Then share your perspectives with others, both on this Web site and out in the real world.

- Do not speculate about the motives of other participants, or discuss people's personalities. Stick to issues, rights, and evidence.

6. Enjoy your participation here. Black Box Voting provides the liveliest, most informative, and most participatory online voting rights workspaces you'll find anywhere!