❮ Projects page IMPACT, Inc.

Spatial Analysis Project:

Research suggests that locations of polling places influence voter turnout likely due to availability of transportation and the ability to search for a location. In Wisconsin, with the voter ID law being enforced this year, the ability to obtain a valid ID could also influence voter turnout. Groups such as Citizens Action of Wisconsin have gone door-to-door in parts of Milwaukee providing voters without transportation a ride to their polling place. However, less data-driven methods have been used to identify specific neighborhoods in the City of Milwaukee that experience challenges to voting.

The purpose of this project is to describe and visualize challenges to voting in the City of Milwaukee for advocacy groups. This project is an opportunity for fellows to conduct sophisticated analyses while being innovative and thoughtful with data visualization. The fellow will receive an enriching, high-quality professional experience working with IMPACT on an intriguing and timely project.

Data available:

Several datasets will be provided to conduct this project. For this project, fellows will not need to collect or gather any data. Demographic data from the United States 2010 Census for the City of Milwaukee will be provided. Data on location of voting wards and polling places will be retrieved from the City of Milwaukee. Data on registered voters, those who meet voting age requirements by ward, and voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election are available. Ideally, data on eligible voters taking into account citizenship and felony status will be ascertained by the start of the fellowship and used in lieu of data on those meeting voting age requirements. Locations of Department of Transportation Service Centers are available from Milwaukee County. Finally, GIS files for roads are available, but we are still searching for bus routes and stops.

Maps and Reports that will be created:

Deliverables of the fellow will be:

1. A map to describe the demographics for the City of Milwaukee by voting ward
2. A map to visualize polling places and voting wards in relation to population density of eligible voters. Analysis will include buffers around each polling place to capture the density of eligible voters within that buffer.
3. A map using roads, bus routes, and bus stops data to perform a network analysis to determine service area of each polling place.
4. A map to show polling places and voting wards coupled with voter turnout data from the 2012 presidential election. This map will include the same buffers as the second map.
5. A map to display Department of Transportation Service Centers with network analysis done to calculate service area.
6. A PowerPoint to present observations, other potential barriers or things to consider, and recommendations for next steps.

How the maps and reports will be used:

The maps and reports will be used for learning around challenges to voting in the City of Milwaukee and, to improve the impact other nonprofits and advocacy groups can have. It will be important to observe if any racial disparities to voting exist given Milwaukee’s history of segregation and racial tension. If it is discovered that there are challenges to voting, the findings could help identify residents, groups, programs, and agencies at the neighborhood level that could work on them. Other members of the NNIP, which consists of local government agencies, nonprofits, and academic institutions among others, have expressed interest in voter turnout, voter rights, and barriers to voting, and this would be an opportunity to bring more attention to voting at the neighborhood level and to share our methodology and findings with other cities looking at the same issue.