What to Think, Ep. 28: the tech & data Democrats use to win elections

Many Democratic and progressive political campaigns are using technology from a company called NGP VAN to improve their chances of victory. The company points out that its applications worked for President Obama’s campaigns, and now the tools are available for candidates running for any level of office.

VentureBeat’s Mark Sullivan and Jordan Novet got a taste for the sorts of technologies campaigns are using in 2014 by speaking with NGP VAN’s chief operating officer, Bryan Whitaker, on What to Think on Election Day this week.

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One of NGP VAN’s apps provides a predictive dialer that automatically punches in voter phone numbers for staff members to call. Once a voter has been called, the platform takes them out of the list so that they don’t get another call.

Whitaker says political campaigns in Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Serbia, and elsewhere are using NGP VAN’s data platform to provide campaign staff with lists of targeted voters.

With all of this going on, things were certainly busy at the company’s Washington, D.C. office when we spoke to Whitaker.

“I’m in our boiler room right now, and frankly it’s an insane amount of call campaigns that are happening right now,” Whitaker said. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed it in California, but if you’re trying to make a phone call right now, you’re probably having a hard time getting a line.”

In addition to talking about data-driven techniques for getting out the vote, we tell you what to think about:

• LinkedIn’s new organizational structure for data scientists
• Microsoft, new $199 health wearable, the Band
• A contentious leaked proposal for Net neutrality

You can subscribe to “What to Think” on iTunes. Or you can listen to Episode 28 right here:

In addition, you can listen to us on Stitcher or get the What to Think RSS feed for the podcast player of your choice.

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Or download the MP3 of Episode 28 here.

Enjoy the show!