Matching voters with their ballots using shapefiles

Introduction

How do shapefiles and data mapping relate to you as a voter this election season?

Answers are found through USAFacts’ midterm map, a staggering visualization of America’s voting districts and election positions. USAFacts used BallotReady’s latest GIS data to map out every single district boundary for federal, state, local, and municipal levels showing the complexity and volume of this data.

By overlaying voting community boundaries with data from other areas such as education and environment, the map helps you visualize where your votes counts and explore how communities are faring.

BallotReady’s comprehensive GIS data (updating following the recent 2020 redistricting) powers tools like this that enable exploration of election patterns and trends that occur over time within these digital boundaries—including election coverage for the smallest county in the US by population.

Let’s outline the application of shapefiles this election season.

Explaining shapefiles and our coverage

A shapefile is a common format for storing vector data used in GIS (geographic information system) mapping. Shapefiles as digital boundaries can be used in determining recent election results, measures, and voting precinct coverage.

In 2020, following the census, districts were redrawn and shapefiles had to be recollected and implemented to reflect updated ballots for voters.

Interactive visualizations like USAFacts’ midterm map demonstrate the scope of this work and are useful for examining patterns in election politics, vote totals, turnout, ballot measures, as well as connecting voters with their elected officials.

This year, our ballot matching is so detailed that 90% of voters have access to their precise county and city commissioner subdistricts when they access BallotReady’s data.

Insanely impressive data work.

The extent of down-ballot position data

Edge cases and more edge cases

An example of the complexity of geofences in BallotReady’s database is found in an Illinois edge case concerning judgeships:

As it turns out, during redistricting years Illinois retention judges can choose to run for either their original district, or the district they're moving to.

In the upcoming Midterm election, Judge Joseph Birkett is running for retention in district 2, but will be appear on the ballot for district 3 in Illinois due to changes in redistricting. This discrepancy was flagged by a local Illinois customer and was confirmed both by the county clerk office and staff research into the state statues.

Edge cases like these challenge BallotReady’s data experts to find solutions to present as accurate a ballot as possible for Illinois voters.

Conclusion

As digital boundaries, shapefiles can be used in determining recent election results, measures, and voting precinct coverage
BallotReady’s down-ballot positions data is comprehensive—consider Loving County, Texas
Our experts navigate the complexity of geofences in our database to present voters with highly accurate information

This 2022 midterm election, vote informed on your entire ballot. Check your voter registration at ballotready.org and schedule a discovery call to learn more about how our tools turn out voters.

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Matching voters with their ballots