So, I am not so calm.  Votecastr in conjunction with Slate will be using voter profiles and other profiling data to track the results of the election as it unfolds during the day and publishing it in real time.  This breaks a tradition where many news organizations refrain from publishing exit poll data about the likely winners in a state until a majority of polls there have closed.

It is hard to see how this will not influence turnout, especially on the West Coast.  Especially if Hillary is shown to be leading significantly, West Coast Dems will be less likely to vote.  Hillary may win, but what impact does that have on down ballot races? We have many close races in Oregon. State and local races may not motivate  people to vote on their own, but we have worked to urge them to vote down ticket.  If they don’t drop their ballot at the last minute, those races are at risk.  Votecastr will start telling them who is winning in eight swing states at 8 am our time.

And who is doing this commercial venture?  Political data experts who worked for Barack Obama and George W Bush.  And where did they get the expertise to do it?  By crunching the numbers that we worked as volunteers to gather, calling hundreds of people, knocking on doors, and entering data.  At the end of Obama’s last campaign, the data disappeared.  Profiles of who was willing to work, who came in to work, voter preferences, and other information was no longer available.  I understand that campaign financing regs tie up the availability of data in some instances, but it also seems that at least the technology that was developed using that data left with the data experts.  It is now being used to put parts of our election at risk.

Do I think voters are influenced by such data?  Do I think an “innocuous” letter from Comey to major players in Congress might change Hillary’s lead?  In this election, the very volatility of the numbers shows that anything might make a difference.

I apologize for the rant.  I have been concerned for awhile that we work to gather data that then disappears instead of being available for the next election round.  To see the technology (and maybe the data) used for commercial ends that have the possibility of impacting the very turnout we are working for is disheartening.