Crowdsourcing Pres-by-CD: Dialing for Data

The good news: We’ve scrounged up precinct-level election results for about twenty counties that were on our list in order to complete the presidential results by CD. The bad news: We still need data from another ninety.

The bottom line is that we’ve downloaded from every website that lets you download, and we’ve emailed every county that lets you email. The remaining counties either don’t have websites or email address, or just haven’t responded to emails. So we need to start making phone calls.

I think the netroots – and really, we’re just talking about a single small blog here – could make a big impact by releasing a complete set of data. Before we started, I never thought that doing so would be possible, but now I believe it’s in our grasp. Finishing this would demonstrate that a dedicated band of volunteers can tackle a project most would assume would require a bunch of professionals and a lot of money.

It would also demonstrate that when it comes to data analysis, the Internet really has ushered in a new era of openness, transparency and accessibility. Indeed, our work has already been favorably cited in places like the Guardian and Roll Call, and in local newspapers as well. We’re breaking barriers, people!

Alright, enough with the attempts at rousing exhortations. There are still phone calls to make – the full list is here. If you have some free time during the day and can make a few calls, this short list of “high value” municipalities is a good place to start:

Getting precinct-level data for these counties/cities/towns (especially those toward the top of the list) is key, but all are important. If you want to try another route, start with your home state. If your home state is not on the list, then just pick some counties at random.

Remember that when you call, you need to ask for precinct-level results for both the presidential race and any United States House races within the county in question. (Without the latter data set, we can’t figure out which precincts are assigned to which CD.)

Also note that if you see a notation in the “Data Requested” column, or a price listed in the “Cost” column, that means we’ve already made contact with that county, so there’s no need to call them. (Mostly we’re waiting to figure out if we can find a sugar daddy to pay for the data from the counties which charge – grr! The nerve of them!)

If you do make a phone call and request the data, please make a note of it in the proper column. If the county emails it to you, great – just upload it to Scribd or Google Docs and post the URL in the spreadsheet. If they offer to mail it to you, please make a note of your request date (along with your name or user name) so that we can follow up if need be. And if they quote you a price, hold off on ordering – just note the price in the proper column.

Again, the full list of counties we need data for is right here. Let’s do this thing!