HomeWorldData[OC] The relative difficulty of voting in the most restrictive, accessible, and battleground states. Cost of Voting Index, initial rankings tracked over time, 1996-2024.
[OC] The relative difficulty of voting in the most restrictive, accessible, and battleground states. Cost of Voting Index, initial rankings tracked over time, 1996-2024.
October 3, 2024
[OC] The relative difficulty of voting in the most restrictive, accessible, and battleground states. Cost of Voting Index, initial rankings tracked over time, 1996-2024.
Posted by ptrdo
5 comments
The Cost of Voting Index (COVI) examines election laws and policies and calculates a single measure of the relative difficulty of voting for each state. States with smaller values make voting more accessible than states with larger values. These three plots trace the Initial COVI rankings from 1996 to 2024. Initial values and rankings are calculated in the months preceding an election. Additionally, Final values and rankings are calculated in the months following an election, incorporating evaluation of actual election practices. For data and more information about COVI, visit: [https://costofvotingindex.com](https://costofvotingindex.com)
Data was structured in R and outputs generated via ggplot (geom_line), then plotted to SVG for import to Adobe Illustrator for annotations and final assembly.
With the exception of Vermont the common theme is it’s easier to vote out West.
Is the source info just ranking or is it a distinct numerical value per state? It might be a better visual if it was clear that there are clusters and outliers that ranking removes.
It‘s crazy to me that such a chart can even exist..
How to fix democracy when it comes to US presidential elections: 4 weeks prior to election day polling stations open, whenever you want you show up to the station and present your photo id, your id gets logged, you cast your ballot. After election day all votes are counted, the candidate that more people voted for becomes president-elect.
It is so simple really, yet instead we have whatever this mess is with voter registration, electoral college votes, faithless electors and all that nonsense. Wtf honestly
Data isn’t beautiful if I can’t read any of it. Nowhere are the state abbreviations explained for an international audience.
Also, I thought Pensylvania was the main battleground state this year but none of the acronyms seem to come from it? Edit: Nvm I guess it is PensylvaniA for some reason
5 comments
The Cost of Voting Index (COVI) examines election laws and policies and calculates a single measure of the relative difficulty of voting for each state. States with smaller values make voting more accessible than states with larger values. These three plots trace the Initial COVI rankings from 1996 to 2024. Initial values and rankings are calculated in the months preceding an election. Additionally, Final values and rankings are calculated in the months following an election, incorporating evaluation of actual election practices. For data and more information about COVI, visit: [https://costofvotingindex.com](https://costofvotingindex.com)
A summary of the methodology is available on a Wikipedia page:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_Voting_Index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_Voting_Index)
A chart of the current (2024, initial) rankings can be viewed here:
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/16gF2AsIgg1s_5OPM60TY7AjwVWuy87oM/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/16gF2AsIgg1s_5OPM60TY7AjwVWuy87oM/view?usp=sharing)
Data was structured in R and outputs generated via ggplot (geom_line), then plotted to SVG for import to Adobe Illustrator for annotations and final assembly.
With the exception of Vermont the common theme is it’s easier to vote out West.
Is the source info just ranking or is it a distinct numerical value per state? It might be a better visual if it was clear that there are clusters and outliers that ranking removes.
It‘s crazy to me that such a chart can even exist..
How to fix democracy when it comes to US presidential elections: 4 weeks prior to election day polling stations open, whenever you want you show up to the station and present your photo id, your id gets logged, you cast your ballot. After election day all votes are counted, the candidate that more people voted for becomes president-elect.
It is so simple really, yet instead we have whatever this mess is with voter registration, electoral college votes, faithless electors and all that nonsense. Wtf honestly
Data isn’t beautiful if I can’t read any of it. Nowhere are the state abbreviations explained for an international audience.
Also, I thought Pensylvania was the main battleground state this year but none of the acronyms seem to come from it?
Edit: Nvm I guess it is PensylvaniA for some reason