Tracking early Massachusetts turnout for the 2020 election

Tracking early Massachusetts turnout for the 2020 election

One unexpected outcome of our intensive COVID-19 coverage is that the lessons learned from managing the daily data about the pandemic has enabled us to quickly and efficiently handle other data sources.

My most recent example is the almost daily report from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which provides details on the number of mail-in ballots and early in-person ballots cast for the upcoming election.

As of today’s report, more than one-third of registered Massachusetts voters have already cast a ballot.

Following the workflows my team and I have developed over the past 8 months, I created a spreadsheet where we can add each new dataset and have formulas spit out the updated charts. By archiving the data from each report, we will also eventually be able to chart when voters made up their minds and how they felt safest voting.

In addition to the embeddable turnout tracker below, I’ve also used lessons from pandemic coverage to funnel the data into social media graphics.