Using Python to Get Out the Vote
summary
Uses Python, CSV, regex and datetime plus SQLite + SQLAlchemy + Alembic to fuse state voter CSVs (Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Elections) with school directories and PTA lists, normalizing addresses and de-duplicating households. Builds ingestion scripts, automated migrations, and reports (mailing lists, per-school call sheets, absentee-return and a “shame” list). Targets 4,279 households for mail — near the budgeted ~4,500 — and tracks absentee status; claims saved ~$15,000 by avoiding consultants and shows the system works for producing actionable lists.
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chapters (16)
- 0:00Project background
- 1:59Defining goals
- 3:21Data sources
- 4:34Tech stack
- 5:54Data modeling
- 9:03Implementing models
- 15:05Managing migrations
- 18:46Database ingestion
- 22:13Parsing CSV files
- 24:23Processing ballot data
- 27:19Data normalization
- 32:12Updating records
- 33:42Report generation
- 37:38Targeting strategies
- 42:09Special reports
- 47:21Lessons learned
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