Empower Engine Helps the DFL Drive Election Strategy

The 2016 election was defined by a challenging political environment that led to Democrats losing ground in their traditional strongholds. Paying attention to detail and identifying key precincts and concentration of voters was key to any success. During the campaign we were proud to team with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) in Minnesota to help the state party preserve Democratic support in a year where other midwestern states fell to the Republicans.

The work that was done and the success of the campaign demonstrates the power of the Empower Engine platform.

Identifying Pockets of Voters

Empower Engine allows our customers to truly visualize their data, enabling them to see things on a map that don’t come through on a spreadsheet. Facing a difficult political environment, the DFL turned to Empower Engine help identify key precincts and pockets of voters who were essential to victory. Creating maps based on voter density helped identify areas that had been previously overlooked, and proved essential to some very narrow victory margins in the state.

“I love how you can customize a map for every level, you only have to build a set of maps one time, and you can distribute it to any level. Saves so much time”

— SARAH BLACK, DATA & TARGETING DIRECTOR

Candidates such as Former Congressman Keith Ellison used to Empower Engine to drive efforts to increase voter turnout, locating certain neighborhoods of low propensity voters to focus on, in order to help to enhance turnout for key statewide offices.

According to DFL Voter File Manager Collin Murray, “Empower Engine is a great GIS tool for people who don’t do GIS. Anyone can make a map that means something to them, it was a big help for our team.”