UVA student creates a road map to the polls

“One of my class partners, Vicky Salazar – she’s a fourth-year – presented the idea to me. She said she didn’t know where to vote last year and had so much trouble trying to find it. I was like, ‘I feel that can be solved.’ I knew websites I could take data from to figure it out.”

Scraping data from public websites, Patel created the database for Transit to Turnout, including precinct lines, poll locations, bus lines and stops and even links to Lyft, Uber and taxi services. The site also includes voting options for out-of-state students.

“Creating the website wasn’t too horribly difficult because most of it was a matter of doing the research and combining it all into one,” she said. “The most difficult part was the locating aspect: When you click each button, it takes you to the specific location, and taking it to the coordinates took a while to perfect. But now I think we’re there, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

So is her instructor, Carah Ong Whaley, a lecturer in the Department of Politics and executive director of Better Choices for Democracy.

Website creator Aleena Patel is a second-year Echols Scholar majoring in global commerce and politics. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

“We have already heard from Charlottesville community members that this is an incredibly helpful tool.  Site visitors can find not only when and where to vote, but also how to get there. It also shows where transportation gaps may exist,” Whaley said. “Civic engagement isn’t just something we study in books; we develop civic knowledge, skills and values by applying what we learn to addressing public issues.”

Whaley credited Salazar and Patel for recognizing an obstacle for voters and addressing it.

“Vicky identified a problem through her own experience. She and Aleena helped turn that experience into a practical resource. And now, through collaboration with local election officials, their tool is helping students and community members,” she said. “I’m proud of Vicky and Aleena for demonstrating how students can make a tangible difference in their communities.”

Although she’d never built a site as complex as Transit to Turnout before, Patel didn’t go into the project a rank beginner.

“This is my first official rodeo, but it’s definitely not my first time doing something like this,” she said. “I’m treasurer for Course Forum, sort of UVA’s Rate My Professor, and I watch the other executive members and learn from them. I made little sites before, for projects and stuff, but never anything to the scale where I’m updating it and own a domain URL and all that.”

An Echols Scholar, Patel enjoys her global studies major and hopes to attend law school. That’s a different trajectory than the one she traveled when she arrived for her first year.

“I came in wanting to be the typical McIntire School of Commerce kid. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go into investment banking and private equity and this and that,’” she said, adding that she took Foundations of Commerce and Principles of Economics and discovered she was wrong. “I was freaking out because those were my two majors, and I didn’t want to do either of them.”

Then she discovered global studies.

“I absolutely love it. I love the people. I feel happy. I feel like I belong. My future ambition was to go to law school and be a lawyer, and I feel as though this fits into what I want to do,” she said. “It’s a reminder to not be afraid to try out new majors and new options. That’s what college is all about.”