Why
The How to Vote design (see the epic) has a registration row that today can only
say "we can't check this for you." To say anything more it needs facts no
ingested source provides.
Concretely, a first-time voter's actual question is "am I already registered,
and how would I know?" — in California many people are registered
automatically at the DMV, or activated at 18 after pre-registering at 16/17.
Billion cannot state that without a source, and hardcoding it is wrong because
it is state statute that changes.
What to ingest
Per state (California first):
registrationDeadline by channel — online, by mail (postmark vs receipt),
in person. These differ and cannot be collapsed to one date.sameDayRegistration — whether it exists, where it is available (county
office only vs any vote center), and what it is called locally
(California: Conditional Voter Registration).automaticRegistration — whether the state registers eligible people through
the DMV, and whether it is opt-out.preRegistration — minimum age and whether activation at 18 is automatic.reRegistrationTriggers — moved, changed name, changed party.registrationStatusUrl — the official lookup tool.
Explicitly not derivable
ElectionHero and KeyDatesSection previously computed the registration
deadline as electionDay - 15. That is a plausible California number and wrong
elsewhere and in any year the rules shift. No offset arithmetic.
Google Civic supplies electionRegistrationUrl and
electionRegistrationConfirmationUrl — links only, no rules, and not reliably
populated.
Done when
Why
The How to Vote design (see the epic) has a registration row that today can only
say "we can't check this for you." To say anything more it needs facts no
ingested source provides.
Concretely, a first-time voter's actual question is "am I already registered,
and how would I know?" — in California many people are registered
automatically at the DMV, or activated at 18 after pre-registering at 16/17.
Billion cannot state that without a source, and hardcoding it is wrong because
it is state statute that changes.
What to ingest
Per state (California first):
registrationDeadlineby channel — online, by mail (postmark vs receipt),in person. These differ and cannot be collapsed to one date.
sameDayRegistration— whether it exists, where it is available (countyoffice only vs any vote center), and what it is called locally
(California: Conditional Voter Registration).
automaticRegistration— whether the state registers eligible people throughthe DMV, and whether it is opt-out.
preRegistration— minimum age and whether activation at 18 is automatic.reRegistrationTriggers— moved, changed name, changed party.registrationStatusUrl— the official lookup tool.Explicitly not derivable
ElectionHeroandKeyDatesSectionpreviously computed the registrationdeadline as
electionDay - 15. That is a plausible California number and wrongelsewhere and in any year the rules shift. No offset arithmetic.
Google Civic supplies
electionRegistrationUrlandelectionRegistrationConfirmationUrl— links only, no rules, and not reliablypopulated.
Done when
authority name, and fetch timestamp
distinguish "no same-day registration" from "we don't know"