Bay Area Voter Registration Push to Go High Tech
n a story on using high-tech for voter registration, the Oakland Tribune, the San Mateo Times and the Tri Valley Herald talk about the GIS-based Get Out the Vote drive for San Mateo County developed with Farallon.
“On the Peninsula, San Mateo County worked with Farallon Geographics, Inc. of San Francisco to create a GIS system pinpointing disenfranchised minority communities, particularly Latino and Asian neighborhoods. The maps they developed allowed the county’s registrar of voters to target foreign-language pamphlets and personnel to areas of greatest need.
“The technical capabilities are significantly improved as compared to even four years ago,” he said, describing how voter GIS analyses are becoming simpler and less costly. “It’s so much more efficient, what used to take weeks to do can be done in minutes now.”
