Election Data: One Picture is Worth…
Tech professionals who work at election offices have pretty full calendars these days; but Albert Grimes, CIO at the Massachusetts Office of Campaign & Political Finance, took time out of his busy schedule to chat about how the office handles the flood of political contribution data that comes in shortly before Election Day. Grimes spoke at Boston University’s Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering along with Paul Clark, a data analyst and disclosure business architect with the Federal Elections Commission.
Commenting on this event, ComputerWorld Sharon Machlis notes:
One key, he says, is making sure that people who want to know who’s financing the various candidates have easy access to that data. That constituency includes voters, the media and political enthusiasts, as well as candidates and their organizations.
What’s the most interesting thing he and his team are working on? Data visualization, Grimes said, so it’s easier for people to understand trends in where money is coming from to back various politicians and policies. It’s one thing to get a whole series of reports back on who’s contributed to a politician or political committee, he noted.