TargetSmart Creates a Comprehensive National Voter Profiling Database Using Data Blending in Alteryx

TargetSmart Communications, a political data firm, was tasked with building voter propensity models and scoring national files for political fundraising campaigns for the Obama for America Campaign. The company needed to process millions of records of data from dozens of data sources, including national, state, county, and city records, to identify voters, track their tendencies, and accurately count and call upon unregistered voters prior to an election. The company was using open source software solutions to merge multiple databases, two of which consisted of 200 million voters each. However, the lack of a universal format for government data for various voter categories and the need for continuous data aggregation, updating, cleansing, and enhancement with demographic profiling data presented significant challenges. The company's choice of data processing tools was leading to a troubling lack of efficiency, accuracy, and reliability.

TargetSmart Communications is a political data firm that specializes in providing leading information resources, database services, and communications solutions. The Washington, D.C.-based company supports a variety of political activities for campaigns and political organizations, including national party committees and the Obama for America Campaign. These applications include fundraising, voter registration drives, polling and political research, grassroots advocacy, and a variety of voter targeting and outreach services. TargetSmart operates as a small business, relying primarily upon three employees to handle data compilation and business intelligence needs.