Introducing Alloy Protect
In the early months of 2020, the Alloy team met to discuss the roadmap for how our data could best serve the groups and organizations serving voter protection efforts this cycle. While we knew Americans would face the same anti-democratic voter suppression tactics seen every election cycle — improper purging of voters from files, closing of polling locations in black and brown communities, and sending out incorrect information on an election, to name a few — we feared that this year the tactics would be more severe, made on a scale much larger, and done without sufficient oversight and protection for the individual voter.
However, we also knew that Alloy data could play an important role in protecting voters’ democratic rights, and that we had an opportunity to equip our partners with insights and data on voter roll activity. So we got to work.
A month later, the pandemic hit. Then frustration erupted with protests across our country as ongoing systemic racism continued to claim the lives of more and more Black Americans.
Now, the United States Postal Service has been targeted, with political attacks from the current administration intended to make it harder for Americans to vote by mail. And, just last night, we saw the first night of the RNC focus on an apocalyptic vision of America and baseless claims of a “rigged” election that are clearly meant to set the stage for GOP voter suppression efforts to come.
Voter protection is front and center of the national conversation. And, with the official launching of our new product Alloy Protect, we’re doubling down on our commitment to protecting our most fundamental democratic right.
How we got here.
In April, under the shadow of the COVID-ridden Wisconsin Primary, we worked alongside voter rights practitioners and organizations to understand how data organizations like Alloy could join the fight against voter suppression. We learned some sobering facts:
- Anomaly detection in voter data is currently difficult and time-consuming
- Identifying plaintiffs is fraught with time-consuming challenges in situations where speed is of the utmost importance
And, most of all:
- A lack of early insight for key data keeps Voter Protection groups in the dark until the last moment
We left these conversations energized and inspired. Through further user research and iterative prototyping, we have developed and tested a product with a select group of voter protection practitioners. Today, we’re expanding and making it more broadly available: Alloy Protect.
Alloy Protect
We believe that transparent, timely access to voter file data is key to ensuring fair elections. We also know that chasing down SoS data is a drain on precious time and resources for voter rights groups. Alloy Protect provides voter protection groups with quick summary insights on the voter file, accompanied with SoS data in a format you can quickly analyze.
With Alloy Protect, you:
- Receive email updates on changes to the voter files in key states
- Access raw, anonymized data on voters who have been dropped from and added to the most recent voter file
- Scan summary insights on voter changes by county and by SoS demographics, such as registration status, race, age, gender, and party affiliation
How Alloy Protect can help
Alloy Protect is the first step to help you:
- Detect anomalies in voter files before Election Day
- Understand which dropped voters are high value targets for re-registration
- Quantify the impact of policy changes on certain demographic groups
- Identify plaintiffs from disenfranchised communities
At a time when the country finds itself in one of its darkest hours, the power of the vote matters more than ever.
Join us on this journey: get the details and subscribe to Alloy Protect at https://alloy.us/protect/.
