VIP Expands Election Support
The Voting
Information Project (VIP) is significantly expanding
its support of state and local elections in 2016. In addition to the Nov. 8 general
election, the project will provide critical information, such as polling place
locations and ballot summaries, for voters in more than 70 elections, starting
in January. The races include presidential primaries in 32 states and statewide
primaries in 41 states, as well as runoffs where applicable, and dozens of
local and municipal elections, including fire district and school board races across
the country. VIP will not provide information for caucuses.
Although some states are able to quickly and easily provide VIP with the necessary information, many others do not have the infrastructure to efficiently collect and share the data, particularly for local and municipal elections. To address this, VIP worked in Arizona, California, Idaho, New Jersey, Ohio, and West Virginia in 2014 and 2015 to build systems to automate the collection of polling place and ballot information for all elections.
VIP data is available at no cost through customizable tools and apps as well as Get to the Polls, a website developed by Pew in collaboration with the Internet Association that allows voters to enter their addresses and find ballot and candidate information and the location and hours of their polling places. Developers can use the Google Civic Information API to include VIP data in their applications.
This post was previously featured on Pew’s Election Data Dispatches. The Data Dispatches provide data, research, and analysis about election administration in the U.S. Follow future Data Dispatches on Twitter using #electiondata and get the latest data dispatches, research, and news by subscribing today.
To participate in VIP, states must provide at least polling location information. States with an asterisk (*) are providing statewide ballot information (all federal or statewide offices); states with a caret (^) are providing down ballot information. All information below is subject to change and is specific to the listed election.
| Dates (2016) | State(s) | Election Type |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 5 | Rhode Island^ | Special election |
| Jan. 26 | New Jersey |
Special election |
| Feb. 2 | Rhode Island^ | Special election |
| Feb. 9 | Washington^ | Special election |
| Feb. 20 | South Carolina* |
Presidential primary (R) |
| Feb. 27 | South Carolina* | Presidential primary (D) |
| March 1 | Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Virginia* | Presidential primary (R) and (D) |
| March 5 | Louisiana | Presidential primary (R) and (D) |
| March 8 | Arizona^ | Local elections |
| Idaho^ | Presidential primary (R), local elections | |
| Michigan* |
Presidential primary (R) and (D) |
|
| Mississippi^ |
Presidential primary (R) and (D), statewide primary |
|
| New Jersey^ |
Special school board election |
|
| March 15 | Florida, Missouri | Presidential primary (R) and (D) |
| Illinois, North Carolina^, Ohio^ |
Presidential primary (R) and (D), statewide primary |
|
| March 22 | Arizona* | Presidential primary (R) and (D) |
| April 5 | Wisconsin | Presidential primary (R) and (D), non-partisan elections |
| April 9 | Louisiana | Municipal elections |
| April 19 | New York | Presidential primary (R) and (D) |
| New Jersey^ | Special school election | |
| April 26 | Connecticut*, Delaware*, Rhode Island | Presidential primary (R) and (D) |
| Maryland, Pennsylvania |
Presidential primary (R) and (D), statewide primary |
|
| Washington^ |
Special election |
|
| May 3 | Indiana^ | Presidential primary (R) and (D), statewide primary |
| Michigan^ | Consolidated elections | |
| Virginia^ | Local elections | |
| May 10 | Nebraska | Presidential primary (R), statewide primary |
| New Jersey^ |
Municipal nonpartisan election |
|
| West Virginia^ | Presidential primary (R) and (D), statewide primary | |
| May 14 | Louisiana | Municipal elections |
| May 17 | Arizona^ | Special election |
| Idaho | Statewide primary | |
| Kentucky, Oregon |
Presidential primary (D), statewide primary |
|
| May 24 | Washington* | Presidential primary (R) and (D) |
| June 7 | California^, Montana^, New Jersey^, New Mexico | Presidential primary (R) and (D), statewide primary |
| Iowa^ |
Statewide primary |
|
| Ohio^ | 8th Congressional District special general election | |
| North Carolina* | Congressional primary | |
| June 14 | District of Columbia^ | Presidential primary (D), districtwide primary |
| Nevada, North Dakota^, South Carolina^ |
Statewide primary |
|
| Virginia^ |
Primary in select districts |
|
| June 28 | Colorado, Oklahoma | Statewide primary |
| Utah^ |
Statewide primary |
|
| Aug. 2 | Kansas, Michigan^, Missouri, Washington^ | Statewide primary |
| Aug. 9 | Connecticut, Minnesota^, Vermont, Wisconsin^ | Statewide primary |
| Aug. 13 | Hawaii^ | Statewide primary |
| Aug. 16 | Alaska^, Wyoming^ | Statewide primary |
| Aug. 30 | Arizona^, Florida | Statewide primary |
| Idaho^ | Local elections | |
| Sept. 13 | Delaware^, New York, Rhode Island^ | Statewide primary |
| Sept. 27 | New Jersey^ | Special school board election |
| Nov. 29 | Mississippi^ | Runoff election |
| Dec. 10 | Louisiana | Runoff election |
| Dec. 13 | New Jersey^ | Special school board election |
Calendar updated July 6, 2016