Abstract

Election Day Incident Mapping and Automated Analysis
Track: State and Local Government
Author(s): Jonathan David, Megan Heckert

The Committee of Seventy is a non-partisan group that for several decades has focused on monitoring Election Day activities to ensure that all citizens are able to exercise their right to vote. On Election Day, The Committee of Seventy fields calls from voters, polling officials, and field volunteers reporting election irregularities that range from problems with the voting machine to voters being turned away from the polls. During Philadelphia's 2007 general election, volunteers turned to GIS to help record, map, and analyze these irregularities. This presentation will highlight how Esri's ArcView and ModelBuilder enabled non-GIS experts to produce timely maps of incident locations and types, providing up-to-the-minute information to field volunteers and media outlets, and identifying areas of particular concern.

Jonathan David
Committee of Seventy
1628 JFK Blvd.
Suite 1002
Philadelphia , Pennsylvania 19103
United States
Phone: 215-557-3600
E-mail: jdavid@seventy.org

Megan Heckert
Avencia Incorporated
340 N. 12th St.
Suite 402
Philadelphia , Pennsylvania 19107
United States
Phone: 215-701-7712
E-mail: mheckert@avencia.com