Developed by the Center for Inclusive Democracy (CID) at USC, formerly the California Civic Engagement Project, this mapping tool is designed to provide assistance to county election offices in the placement of voting locations. The Voting Location Siting Tool was initially released m for California in February 2018. Currently, the Siting Tool is available for Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Texas. Additional states will be added in the fall of 2020.
The Voting Location Siting Tool’s user-friendly interactive web-based mapping system identifies areas within a half mile in diameter where voting locations have the most success in serving voters. Areas are identified through a facility allocation model, incorporating local demographic and voting data. County election officials are able to find specific locations for consideration within these half-mile diameter areas using local knowledge of their county’s needs.
The Voting Location Siting Tool is Expanding To Ten States!
The Voting Location Siting Tool is expanding to serve a total of ten states representing 43% of the U.S. population: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. Currently, the Siting Tool is available for Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Texas. The Siting Tool will be launched in Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in early fall of 2020.
CID notes that there are many factors that go into the decision-making process for site selection. Due to the limitations of data and the need to incorporate local on-the-ground knowledge by election officials and community members, the Voting Location Siting Tool does not identify exact voting locations to be sited.