Stand up and be counted: Using traffic cameras to assess voting behavior in real time

Abstract

Despite their ubiquity, few have used traffic camera networks for social science research. Using 1,312,977 images collected from 768 London-based cameras leading up to the 2015 UK general election, this study not only demonstrates how traffic camera data can be used to effectively measure same-day turnout, but we also provide ways such data can be used to assess political behavior more broadly. Such automated enumeration is especially important in countries where official results are only returned for the current election, making it difficult for those interested in assessing turnout at lower levels of aggregation, even when those elections are next on the calendar. Although we are not the first to suggest the value of images-as-data, this study hopes to underline the importance of video-as-data, while simultaneously offering an important foundation for future research.