VOTER REGISTRATION CENTRES

OBJECTIVES

• To map 1150 voter registration centres• Assign a unique code to a VRC• VRC Database• Spatially linked table data to map elements• List of uniquely coded VRC’s. • Also to investigate methods of maximizing

the capacity of each VRC to hold electronic voter registration (EVR).

DATASETS

• Fiji Topographical Map used as backdrop - SOPAC

• BOS Enumeration Area Map – 2007 Census• 11 yr old population data – 2007 Census• VRC Database – Elections• VRC Field Survey Reports - Elections

RAW DATA

CONVERT TO ACCESS

MapInfo

• Database opened in MapInfo• Assigned x and y coordinates• Table to be mappable• Digitised on point symbol.

Assigned x & y

COMPLETE PLOTTING

LIST OF VRC IN UNIQUE INDEX

CRC 0001 – Annesley Sch C –CENTRAL DIVISION

RC – REGISTRATION CENTRE0001 – 1ST VRC nearest to Elections

Office

Voter Population

CREATING

THIESSEN

/ VORO

NO

I POLYG

ON

S FOR

VOTER REG

ISTRATION

CENTRES, FIJI

INTRODUCTION:

Organizing national events such as a General

Election requires enormous efforts by both the

general public and the office of Elections. Cost

and time effective methods are often needed to

maneuver and ensure the smooth running of the

election process, and with ArcGIS this is possible.

One such method is creating Thiessen Polygons.

These polygons boundaries define the area that

is closest to each point relative to all other points

and are defined by bisecting of the lines between

all points (in this case points will be Voter

Registration Centres- VRC). Creating zones using

the Thiessen (Voronoi) polygon from VRC points

will ensure that each centre is being used to its

capacity (or lack thereof).

OBJECTIVE:

To investigating methods of maximising capacity

of Voter Registration Centres in Fiji using ArcGIS

and Spatial Analysis.METHODS:

From the point shapefile that represented the

VRCs, a Voronoi polygon was created.

The output was then clipped with the coast

shapefile and intersected with the Enumeration

Area for Census 2007. From the attribute table in

the 2007 Census, several fields were created so

calculating the number of people within these

intersected area:

• TotalEA_Area

• Int_Area:

•Int_Pop:

•Prop_Area

RESULTS:

CONCLUSION:

After the completion of this project, the method of creating Thiessen/ Voronoi polygons to determine how to maximize the capacity of voting registration centers by

coupling it with enumeration area data was understood better.

Special Thanks to Fiji Elections Office and John Lowry, Conway Pene of University of the South Pacific

DISCUSSION:

From the map, one was able to determine the number of people

that each voting centre can accommodate, according to the 2007

Census. This would benefit the elections office as it would help

prepare each individual centre according to the number of people

that it can accommodate. However, it should also be noted that the

results shown are susceptible to change considering the changing

population of the nation.

Nem

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Koto

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r II:

2011

- USP

FIELD SURVEY on VRC• Visit VRC on site• Collect data• Analyze• Reporting

FUTURE• Network Analysis to show distance of VRC to

another – Roads etc• Ongoing/updated GIS database for

VRC/Polling Station

Special Thanks:

• SOPAC Team (Wolfe & Edwin).• USP ( Conway Pene and student Nemia Koto)• Elections Office ( EVR Team)