Pennsylvania launches voter data dashboard

Pennsylvania election officials on Monday launched a new data dashboard designed to make the state’s voter registration data easier for the public to access and track ahead of the November election.

The dashboard provides visual representations of voter registration totals and changes, based on data from Pennsylvania’s Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors system, known as SURE. The state’s 67 county boards of elections maintain voter registration records through the system and conduct list maintenance throughout the year using information including death records, U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data and interstate registration information.

Users can view registration totals by political party, county and district, as well as year-to-date changes in registration at the statewide, county and district levels. The dashboard will be updated on the first business day of each week, according to a press release.

Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said the tool is intended to give Pennsylvanians a clearer picture of how the rolls change as residents register, move, die or update their information.

“Publishing this information on a continuing basis is part of our ongoing commitment to providing the public with important data and giving them a clear and transparent view of how Pennsylvania’s voter registration rolls change over time,” Schmidt said in the press release.

The dashboard is the latest effort by Pennsylvania election officials to expand public access to election data and provide voters with more information about how elections are administered. The state also provides online election resources and tools aimed at countering misinformation and explaining election procedures.

The new tool arrives as election officials face continued scrutiny over voter registration rolls and list maintenance by the Trump administration. Trump issued an executive order in March instructing the Department of Homeland Security to compile “citizenship lists,” and filed 31 lawsuits against states that have not complied. Twenty-three of those lawsuits have been dismissed.