Election ballot drop box analysis

[eneemann]

Benefit

Improves LGO Elections Office's understanding of where ballot drop boxes are located, what regions are more than a 60-minute drive from a drop box, and could potentially drive changes to serve more voters within a hour's drive.

Acceptance Criteria

• Geocode/locate ballot drop boxes from LGO spreadsheet (clean up addresses, as needed)
• Build 60-minute drive time service areas for each drop box
• Coordinate with LGO to determine specific requirements
• Clean up and format data
• Generate map/web map based on inputs from LGO

Notes

• Will need to geocode locations, run python code to build service areas, then determine if data/stats need to be aggregated and how. Address points might need be used a proxy instead of "voters" to calculate coverage numbers.

Risks

• Bad addresses lead to too many geocoding failures
• Statewide road network fails to accurately capture 60-min drive time service areas
• Might not be able to adequately capture location of "voters", which is a constantly moving target

Issue Reference

[eneemann]

On 1/27/2025, I sent the LGO Elections Office a link to the Ballot Drop Box Analysis web application that I created.

They are happy with the initial web app and that might be last activity at this time. If the related bills change during the legistlative session, they may reach out for additional analysis or adjustments.

[eneemann]

Closing for now, will reopen if changes or re-analysis is requested.