A comprehensive, easy-to-use precinct management solution for ArcGIS (ESRI)
PRECIS® is geographic information system (GIS) that Election Data Services developed to provide election administrators with a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution for managing voting precincts and assigning voters to precincts and districts.
PRECIS uses an enhanced Census TIGER base map and data from a jurisdiction’s Registered Voter File to pinpoint voters on a digital map. This allows users to see where voters reside and to monitor dynamically-updated voter counts as they use the PRECIS mapping tools to draw new precincts or to split, consolidate, or adjust the boundaries of existing precincts. A simple click of a button generates a Street Index File that can be exported to a voter registration system to update voter assignments to precincts and districts.
To create the Street File, PRECIS analyzes user-defined precinct boundaries with overlays of current electoral districts to create a Ballot Style. The Ballot style is then applied to information on the TIGER base map to assign ranges of house numbers on a street to the appropriate precincts and districts. These assignments are more accurate than those generated by conventional voter registration systems because the assignments are based on the actual spatial locations of voter addresses.
PRECIS provides tools for displaying overlays of electoral district boundaries and local geographic files, such as street centerlines. PRECIS provides geographic editing tools for splitting census polygons and for adding new streets to the base map. This includes tools for updating street names and address ranges. Preformatted layouts and templates facilitate the production of maps and reports to inform voters about precinct assignments and to analyze precinct and district data to simplify election administration.
The feature that pinpoints and displays voter addresses on the digital map, the Voter Points Layer, also allows users to crosscheck the accuracy of precinct assignments in a Registered Voter File. The Voter Points Layer is created by geocoding address records in a Registered Voter File (i.e., attaching latitude and longitude coordinates to the addresses) and then matching the geocoded addresses to information on the Census TIGER base map. Voter Points are color-coded according to their precinct assignments in the voter file. Contrasting colors and point styles identify points with invalid precinct assignment codes, which can be resolved by correcting errors in the Voter File and updating the Voter Points layer to ensure that all voter points are correctly coded.
Election Data Services provides PRECIS to election jurisdictions with a complete data set that includes an enhanced Census TIGER base map, a plan of current voting precincts, overlays of electoral district boundaries (e.g., current congressional and state legislative districts), and a Voter Points layer representing address data in a jurisdiction’s Registered Voter File. The system also includes a run-time version of the companion software, ArcView® GIS, the most widely used desktop mapping software in the world, from ESRI. The run-time version of ArcView and be upgraded to a regular license for users with more GIS expertise. ArcView is at the core of ArcGIS, an integrated collection of GIS software products from ESRI. State and local governments are among the many users of ESRI technology in various sectors, including elections, planning, law enforcement, and economic development.
Pricing for PRECIS is based on several factors that include the number of voting precincts and registered voters in a jurisdiction and the size of a jurisdiction’s Census TIGER file. To obtain a price estimate for PRECIS or more information about the capabilities this ArcView-based Precinct Information System, please contactsales@electiondataservices.com or call Kimball Brace at 202–789–2004. Please include with your PRECIS inquiry, your contact information and information on the number of voting precincts and registered voters in your jurisdiction.
View a PRECIS demo (Microsoft PowerPoint presentation). NOTE: If you download the PowerPoint file (PRECIS_1a.ppt) to view the demo, click the ESC key to stop the demo. If you open the PowerPoint file to view the demo on your Internet browser, click the BACK arrow to stop the demo.