Elections

Elections departments that have adopted GIS are beginning to realize that GIS can help them all year long with the myriad of tasks associated with elections. The voting process is all about geography. To get the correct ballot to the appropriate voter, elections departments must resolve the spatial relationship between the voter's address and political districts, precinct boundaries, and water and school districts. Mapping the Electoral Process Creating Reports and Intelligent Maps with GIS Geographic information systems can be used during the electoral process to create valuable reports and map presentations that reveal county, state, and national level voter demographics for Age Gender Race Education Job Income Spending Health Political party The latest Census data provides the best source of national demographic data. Census data is available in many formats and can be used in many software applications. Locating Polling Places Online GIS-based applications give voters access to current, accurate polling place information 24 hours a day.

Supporting Election Day
GIS enhances time sensitive tasks on Election Day, whether it is assigning personnel or routing materials to and from polling places.

Analyzing Election Results
Voter turnout by provine or territory, party, demographics, or other factors can easily be analyzed using GIS. Address matching helps ensure accuracy and meets HAVA requirements.

Educating Voters
Education encourages participation. The new emphasis on inclusion and increasing voter turnout is driving the collection of geocoded voter information on a provincewide basis.

Redistricting
Keeping accurate voter counts by precinct is a continuous process due to growing communities, new developments, and areas where populations are rapidly fluctuating.

Maintaining balance in the voting process requires realigning districts and ensuring equity before each vote. Using GIS mapping technology and the latest available Census data, all levels of government can prototype multiple redistricting scenarios quickly and easily before finalizing new boundaries.