GhostFinder Team
About
The Wisconsin GhostFinder Team is a small ad-hoc group with backgrounds in Military Ops, War Gaming, Intelligence, Innovation, Legal, Law Enforcement, Psychology, HR and IT Development. We have a nonpartisan concern for empowering members of the Public to ensure their voter’s rights are respected and counted fairly in partnership with their County and local Municipal Clerks.
History
Online search tools for voter names and addresses is nothing new. In our research, we had found many States already provided this search function, but allowed the public to only search on a single name, and usually required additional data such as a DoB. The ability for anyone to search for ALL names affiliated with a specific address was restricted from the public, making people completely unaware that there were many other names associated with their address in the voter rolls. This issue was identified after voter experts analyzed the 2016 and later the 2020 elections and found many more ballots were cast then were registered voters, which led to other voter integrity organizations developing web sites that provided the ability to search on address using derivative voter data that likely predates GhostFinder.
The GhostFinder Self Canvassing Voter Challenge Tool SM was conceived as an online self help voter reference tool at Oshkosh WI in Fall of 2021 as “Operation Avalanche”. Its strategic goal was to establish an online search tool that would create and motivate an army of voters to identify and challenge “ghost voter” names associated with their personal home address. Although similar voter search databases existed in different states, none of these provided a method for an average person an easy way to petition to remove Ghost Voters found in their home, which can be a complicated legal challenge. The net result unfortunately contributed to a feeling of surprise, anger, then helplessness on the part of the person doing the search. After all, what can one person do to make a difference if the legal challenge is too hard? It can actually be counterproductive to the goal.
To address this critical shortcoming and help achieve public critical mass, the GhostFinder Team developed a unique Challenge Letter “Easy Button” voter challenge process much like an on-line legal form web site. This would capitalize on a voter’s initial motivation by giving them an immediate avenue to challenge, print and submit the correct tailored form to their Clerk in accordance with State rules, thus achieving a sense of satisfaction as to having made a difference. And even if the Clerk was unable to legally remove the names in the Challenge Letter, if enough people did it and also sent copies to Legislative representatives and other authorities, it could to force change. And that is what is starting to happen now in Wisconsin in the LRB-0760/1 Bill proposed in January 2023. See Wisconsin Lawmakers Introduce Common Sense Legislation.
The team successfully prototyped and tested its first identification and challenge site using 2020 WEC data in Winnebago County in December 2021 using the first generation web search engine with auto-generated Challenge letter. This resulted in success with the local Clerk’s office to get the WEC to purge at least one ghost found haunting a specific Oshkosh address, thus proving the viability of this concept.
However, lack of access to updated WEC data, work commitments and a bout with COVID by several team members, coupled with the unexpected loss and loss/deletion of the original development site, had shelved the project until July 2022. This is when updated Wisconsin voter data was obtained and the first generation prototype GhostFinder code resurrected and spun off with the team’s original database administrator as Ghostfinder.Net. That site obtained third party funding and was able to populate all counties in the State of Wisconsins and has led to thousands of searches and challenges. This is just one of what will hopefully be many derivatives of the original Wisconsin GhostFinder Team’s voter self canvassing search and challenge generation tool.
This second generation GhostFinder.Org site was created in September of 2022 to establish a professional user friendly Google-like search engine and interface with an architecture scalable for incorporation in other states across the Nation. Although this GhostFinder demonstrator is only available with one county of Wisconsin WEC data, GhostFinder.Org can be quickly scaled using other State’s data and rules to cover any State or Country using following local rules and laws. A copy of the code for this site is available for any interested voter integrity organization free of charge. Our goal is to propagate the GhostFinder concept across the Country and across the globe so that only legitimate votes and candidates are enabled, and the will of the People truly represented.
Free Use Public Domain
This tool is established as a prototype to demonstrate a unique approach to voter self canvassing. Any concerned individuals or organizations are encouraged to copy its format and approach to establish similar voter self canvassing tools in their own States and Countries free of charge. Since more than a year has elapsed since we first published the novel, useful and non-obvious nature of GhostFinder, its functionality is now Public Domain. In the spirit of Benjamin Franklin when he refused to patent the lightening rod, the Wisconsin GhostFinder Team is offering this website as a teaching tool free of charge as a gift to voters across the globe in the spirit of enabling free elections.
Note: Using this site as an inspiration for new voter integrity efforts is highly encouraged. A copy of the code for this site is available for any interested voter integrity organization free of charge. Technical support may also be requested from the site’s third party IT developer on a contract basis to stand up your page and integrate your State’s voter data. Navigate to Contact and submit a request.
- Attribution –waived — In order to promote this concept of far as possible, the GhostFinder Team has waived attribution, though a shout-out and success story would be greatly appreciated.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
GhostFinder Self Canvassing Voter Challenge Tool by Wisconsin Ghost Finder Team is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://ghostfinder.org.
If you are an organization who would like a free copy of the database structure of this web page to replicate in your state, please reach out below.
Examples of other online voter search sites is below:
VoterRecords.com
Florida4America.org
PublicRecords.site
Ghostfinder.net
Myvotertool.com
Contact
GhostFinder’s development has been the result of many hours of the Team’s volunteer efforts with primary funding provided by the team leader. Thank you for your interest in Ghost Finder and for being part of a movement where ordinary citizens take responsibility to help verify voters in their own homes. In this way everyone can help make the voting process secure and safe!
” Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it “
George Santayana 1912
