According to statistics from Google web searches, Philadelphia is experiencing an increase in search volume for the phrase “Inactive Voter Status.”
Electionland, a website built by the Google News Lab and data visualization studio Pitch Interactive, conglomerates data from Google Trends to insert pinpoints on an interactive map of the country. These pinpoints are color-coded by search phrases such as “Long Wait Times,” “Provisional Ballots,” “Voter Intimidation,” and “Voting Machine Problems."
Although “Inactive Voter Status” was the most searched phrase as of mid-afternoon Tuesday, “Voter Intimidation” had an 11 percent increase in search volume in the morning, around 7:45 a.m. By 10 a.m., “Voting Machine Problems” had a 35 percent increase in searches, and by noon this search had reached a 93 percent increase.
In more rural areas of Pennsylvania, search phrases experienced different trends. In Brighton, a township of 8,000 people in the western part of the state, “Voter Intimidation” experienced a 201 percent increase. Meanwhile, State College experienced an increased search volume for “Provisional Ballots.”
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