Using Public Data to Improve Voter Turnout
VoteWithMe is designed to help people urge their friends to vote, and to harness public information so that they can best target their efforts. Now that we are less than a week from election day, we’ve seen a huge uptick in people using VoteWithMe. Some people have expressed hesitation about using the app because it reveals to them public information about their friends’ voter registration and voting history. We hear the word “creepy” a lot. And how it’s not great to shame people for not voting. We have thought extensively about these issues and have done our best to design VoteWithMe to protect your privacy and avoid people being shamed, so we wanted to share more of our thinking with you here.
The New Data Project developed the VoteWithMe app with privacy front and center. We agree with the views of users who are not interested in using an app that sells or shares their friends’ contact information. We will not sell or share your data, and we delete it within seven days of receiving it. We don’t send messages to your friends either — that would totally defeat the purpose of the app, which is to encourage conversations about voting between people who already know each other. We’re a nonprofit and not in this for any kind of data harvesting or monetization. You can check out our privacy policy and the FAQs on our website, which provide more detail.
VoteWithMe shows you information from the public voter file about whether your friends have missed past elections, and helps you get those friends out to vote in 2018. The public voter files of each state have been used for decades by campaigns and political organizations to shape the electorate. Campaigns and political groups have decided, based on that data, who should get messages about issues and candidates. We are democratizing that data and putting it in the hands of regular people, so that you can work with your friends and communities more effectively to shape the policies that will benefit you. We cannot emphasize strongly enough that this data is already public — we are simply making it more accessible to everyday voters.
We think encouragement from a friend can play a critical role in overcoming the barriers to voting. But it is not our intention to make your friends feel shame for not voting. Based on the research we’ve done in the past 18 months developing the app, we have found that positive messages to your friends that encourage them to vote in the upcoming election are more effective than messages that chastise people for not voting in the past.
And we’ve heard some great stories so far. One woman texted her mom and they discovered that she’d been inadvertently removed from the voter rolls, and now she is sorting it out. Another friend who got a VoteWithMe text got off her couch and went down and early-voted immediately, sending a selfie back to her friend that reminded her. And two days ago at a Halloween gathering, my friend told me that he used the app and discovered that his 85-year-old mother hasn’t been voting in recent elections. When he raised the issue with her, he learned that it was because it is hard for her to get to the polls and she didn’t want to bother anyone about it. Because of their conversation, my friend is going to drive her on Tuesday.
The data these folks used to help people vote was less available to the public at large before, so we understand that seeing this information is surprising to some — similar to how real estate sales data was always public, but hard for you to get, before Zillow and Redfin. We think that the trade-off for improved and increased civic participation is worth it. Our Executive Director, Mikey Dickerson, has written more about the foundation of our work on this project in this thoughtful essay.
Voting is not easy in this country. There’s lots of understandable reasons why someone might miss an election. The political right has been doing everything it can to make it hard. I did work on voter protection in 2016 in North Carolina and saw firsthand how people who hold two jobs and have childcare responsibilities sometimes just can’t make it to the polls on election day. Those who don’t have government-issued IDs may not even try to vote for fear that they’ll be turned away. I talked to a woman in Raleigh who forgot to re-register when she moved to a new address and she was not permitted to vote at the polling place near her new apartment. I totally related to the situation — it’s hard enough to remember to change your address for mail or magazines or other everyday purposes and really easy to forget to change your voting registration, which you use infrequently. Making voting something you have to do in person on a specific day and at a specific place is a terrible way to get everyone to vote.
Some states have made good strides through automatic registration, vote by mail, early vote, same day registration, and the like. We need real election reform in this country to make voting easier. Until then, we are trying to help friends give each other the support and resources to overcome the many barriers to voting. We hope that friends will help their friends vote this year by sending a reminder, offering a ride, suggesting that they go together, offering to watch their kids while they go vote, etc. The idea behind the app is to put some positive civic engagement energy into the world. Give the app a try — you’ll be surprised at how many people you can help vote.
We’re so grateful for our amazing partners and everyone who has helped us spread the word and improve progressive voter turnout this year. If you’d like to partner with us, there’s still time! Send me a note at dmatties@newdataproject.us.
Debbie is Partnerships Director for the New Data Project, which makes the VoteWithMe app. She is also President of Herd on the Hill, a progressive advocacy organization in DC that helps people all around the country amplify their voices in their Member of Congress’s DC offices. During the first term of the Obama Administration, Debbie worked at the Federal Trade Commission as an attorney advisor for the Chairman of the agency, handling consumer privacy and data security issues.
In the current climate, causes and campaigns too often lack the time, expertise, and flexibility to work beyond immediate deadlines. The New Data Project (NDP) is a new 501(c)(4) organization built to address this gap by testing new approaches, looking beyond the current cycle, and serving as an advanced technology research lab for progressives.
