Precincts change from one election to the next
(infrequently, but they do so we must assume they will) . For a given
event they are static for all elections in that event; at least every place I
have seen does it that way (if you asked a voter to go to 5 different places to
vote on the same day you wouldn't last long).
From: John Borras
[mailto:]
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 10:01
AM
To: Zelechoski, Peter
Cc: EML TC
Subject: Re:
[election-services] Fw: VIP/EML CONVERGENCE?
Peter
If the precinct was static for all elections, (which I believe
you have said previously that they are?), then fine but as you know
wards here in UK, which I interpret as the same as precincts, vary
from election to election. Having said that if we produce a USA
localisation of EML we can make the specific link of voter
to precinct.
Regards
John
M. +44 (0)7976 157745
Skype: gov3john
-----
Original Message ----
From: "Zelechoski, Peter"
<>
To: John Borras
<>
Cc: EML TC
<>
Sent: Friday, 25 July, 2008
3:41:36 PM
Subject: RE: [election-services] Fw: VIP/EML CONVERGENCE?
John -
A list of polling locations, and a list of precincts (possibly with
reference to polling location) are things that would be
useful.
For the voter, it might be simplest
to add the precinct to the voter roll so that the mapping doesn't rely on
anyone's interpretation or knowledge (lack thereof) of exceptions to map a
domicile address to the precinct.
- Peter
From: John Borras
[mailto:]
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 8:52
AM
To: EML TC
Subject: [election-services] Fw: VIP/EML
CONVERGENCE?
This recent exchange seems to confirm to me that we will need some new EML
message(s) to handle the linkage between voter address and precinct, and
precinct and polling station. What say you?
Regards
John
M. +44 (0)7976 157745
Skype: gov3john
-----
Forwarded Message ----
From: Aaron B Strauss <>
To:
John <>
Sent: Friday, 25 July, 2008 2:24:22
PM
Subject: Re: VIP/EML CONVERGENCE?
VIP: only from state EMS's, but
not all states have street segment
info. To come up with a complete,
50-state solution, other third
parties (e.g., Google, Vote411) must rely on
other sources such as
public voter files.
Yes, voters input their
address -- sorry that I didn't make that clear
in the previous
email.
Aaron
On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 9:17 AM, John <>
wrote:
> Aaron
>
> Where do you collect this additional data
from - the State EMS or from
> other sources?
>
> Having got
this additional data how would it be used by the third
> party to answer a
voter who didn't know their precinct? Would the
> voter input their
address and the system then have the necessary
> functionality to match
that address to a precinct?
>
> John
>
> On Jul 25, 2:04
pm, "Aaron B Strauss" <> wrote:
>>
Most of this is absolutely correct. However, third-party solutions
>>
never rely on (potential) voters knowing their precinct in order to
>>
find their polling location. VIP's solution to this is to collect
>>
three things:
>>
>> 1) A mapping of street segments into
precincts.
>> 2) A mapping of precincts into polling
locations
>> 3) Information about the polling locations (i.e., address,
directions)
>>
>> Other third-parties collect
publicly-available voter files (laws on
>> how public vary from state
to state) and use the addresses in the
>> voter file to match addresses
to precincts to polling locations.
>>
>>
Aaron
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at
5:22 AM, John <>
wrote:
>>
>> > Aaron/Doug
>>
>> >
Following our recent telecon we've been having a few internal
>> >
discussions about how we would manipulate EML to meet your needs,
>>
> particulary the handling of addresses and geography. Daivd Webber
is
>> > working on a demo solution and we hope to be able to show
you that in
>> > the near future. In the meantime can you
clarify some aspects of the
>> > VIP functionality for my benefit at
least please.
>>
>> > As I understand it States will
provide a subset of data from their EMS
>> > systems to third
parties to use in their outlets to the public. These
>> >
subsets of data will not hold any voter information and will only
>>
> provide a basic set of functionality to enable the third parties
to
>> > answer straight-forward questions or direct voters to the
correct
>> > locations for accurate and specific
information.
>>
>> > For example to answer the voter's
enquiry of " Am I registered to
>> > vote" the third party's system
will only provide the URL of the
>> > State's website where that
particular question can be answered using
>> > specifc voter
credentials. The third party system will not answer the
>> >
question directly as it doesn't hold the voter registration
data.
>>
>> > To answer the question "Which polling station
do I use" the third
>> > party system will provide a list of polling
station(s) for each
>> > precinct and will assume the voter knows
which precinct they belong
>> > to. Basic data about polling
station open times will be provided with
>> > the address
information. The third party's system will not provide an
>> >
enquiry system that matches the voter's address with the appropriate
>>
> polling station. If the voter doesn't know their precinct they
would
>> > be referred to the State's website where that information
can be
>> > obtained by an address matching process again using some
form of
>> > credential.
>>
>> > Other
questions about absentee voting etc will be answered with the
>> >
URL of the State's website where that information is
avialable.
>>
>> > So am I right to assume that the third
parties will only provide basic
>> > data and pointers to
authorative sources rather than sophisticated
>> > functionality to
do address matching and voter matching?
>>
>> >
John
>>
>> >
Not happy with your email address?
Get the one you really want -
millions of new email addresses available now at Yahoo!
Not happy with your email address?
Get the one you really want -
millions of new email addresses available now at Yahoo!
