Living a stone's throw from the mecca of the digerati, I'm sure the question of how to locally deploy a multi-channel crisis response system like Ushahidi has been answered by much smarter and wiser folks then myself...
For my humble pair of pennies, the best application wouldn't be our life or death emergencies (fire, earthquake, flooding), but rather the emergent challenge of voter education. Oakland and several other local cities are beginning to use Instant Run Off Voting, which I hope will be part of a big push for electoral and political reform. The systems are hard to use, though, and represent a big learning curve... And we've already been through about 5 different voting systems in the last 10 elections. Right now, the Alameda County Registrar conducts day-of-voting trouble shooting by drop-in inspections and cell phone relay systems. A comprehensive approach to allowing anyone to raise a red flag, and for volunteers to coordinate responses, might make a big difference in reducing confusion.
In the 2008 Presidential primary, I helped a man cast a provisional ballot for McCain, that wouldn't be counted, but would result in him being re-registered for the Republican party... and I know that's not what he wanted, or what he thought would happen, but I had no way of translating into Chinese the explanations I wanted to give him. Democracy is a pretty ridiculous way to make decisions (except compared to all the others).
I'm not sure how Ushahidi could be directly adopted by the County (although the price would be a big draw) but it might be used just as well by a poll-advocacy group. With our upcoming mayoral election due to have at least 3 major candidates, and ballots in 5 or 6 or more languages, it would be a big help...
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