Feb 21, 2008

Can Google Street Views Be Used to Find Registered Voters at Empty Lots in Wyandotte County?

Shown below are a number of Google Street Views of sites visited in Nov 2005 for the earlier article, where registered voters appeared to live at empty lots, as well as a few additional empty lots/registered voters that were not previously reported.

In general, addresses from Google Street Views are NOT accurate enough to search for voters registered at empty lots. [Google Street View addresses are precise, but they are not always accurate.]  "Ground Truth" -- an actual visit to an address -- is necessary.  Google's approximate addresses were not accurate enough to discern the  platting of lots accurately enough to compare to addresses of voters in the voter registration list from the Kansas Secretary of State (from Jan 28, 2008).   However, once "ground truth" was available from visiting the various sites, Google Street Views can be used to document the problem of voters at empty lots in Kansas City, KS.  See below.

Google's approximate address is not accurate.  The empty lot above is 1716 Greeley Ave.

This is a view to the north from Greeley street.  The house to the right of the tree in the picture at the left is 1712 Greeley (house number "seventeen twelve" is spelled out on the house), so Google's approximate address is not quite right. 

The empty lot is 1716 Greeley, which is the address of a registered voter JB, who has been registered to vote since 1984.  A Google search says this voter was in the Wyandotte High School Class of 1983.   The voter at this empty lot, a registered Republican, has never cast a ballot.

 
Feb 15, 2008, 1725 Greeley Ave, KCK

The view above and to the to left is a view to the south, as shown by the figure on the map to the left.

The house at the right in both pictures is 1729 Greeley, as shown by this house number on the front of the house:. 

Google's approximate address was to a house across the street to the north and a few houses to the west.

The empty lot is 1725 Greeley, which is the address of a registered voter EJM, a Democrat, who has been registered to vote since 1998, but has never voted.

Photo from Nov 2005 from earlier Meadowlark article:

Google's approximate address is not accurate.  The empty lot above is 525/527 Everett Ave.  The house at the left is 523 Everett and the house at the right is 529 Everett.

Feb 15, 2008, 527 Everett Ave, KCK

The empty lot is 527 Everett Ave, which is the address of registered voter DJL, an unaffiliated voter.  DJL has voted in November general elections in 2002, 2004, and 2006.

Photo from Nov 2005 from earlier Meadowlark article:

Google's approximate address is not accurate.  The house at the left above is 3065 Cissna, so 3064 Cissna should be roughly across the the street on the right.

There are NO houses on the west side of Cissna in this area where 3064 Cissna should be.

Feb 15, 2008, 3064 Cissna St, KCK

The empty lot is 3064 Cissna, which is the address of a registered Democratic Party voter, MS, who last voted in 2004.

Photo from Nov 2005 from earlier Meadowlark article:

Here, Google's approximate address is correct, since the house at the left is 2946 Cissna St.

Feb 15, 2008, 2950 Cissna, KCK

The house at the left above is 2946 Cissna as shown by the house number:

The house at 2950 Cissna apparently was torn down after Google Streets captured the picture at the left.  The chain link fence and gate survived the demolition of the house.

The empty lot is at 2950 Cissna, which is the address of a 26-year old "unaffiliated" voter, TAW, who has been registered to vote for four years, but has never voted.

Google's approximate address is not accurate.  This is 1724 Yecker Ave, not 1740 Yecker Ave.  Address numbers east of Cissna on Yecker were correct, but were only approximate west of Cissna on Yecker.

Feb 15, 2008,
Corner of Yecker and Cissna,
1724 Yecker, KCK

The above address was verified with the local U.S. postman, who was delivering mail.  The postman said a house had been at that address but had been demolished in the last year or two.

Oddly, just before this picture was taken, a couple was observed using a hammer to attempt access to the building near the alley.

Registered Democrat LCK at the address 1724 Yecker last voted in 2002.

Google's approximate address is not accurate. 

Feb 15, 2008, 1929 Stewart Ave, KCK

The house at the right of the empty lot (above or to the left) has this number on Stewart Ave:  

The empty lot above is 1929 Stewart, which is the address of the Democratic Party registered voter, VJH, who last voted in 2000.

Feb 15, 2008, 2200 Stewart Ave, KCK

The house to the left (west) of this empty lot was at 2206 Stewart.  To the right (east) of this house, there were at least three empty lots, which should include 2200 Stewart.

The Democrat registered voter at 2200 Stewart Ave, the address of the empty lot above, voted in 2002, 2004 and 2006 November general elections.  

Google's approximate address is misleading since an even number would be on the west side of the street, and the view above is on the east side of the street, which should be an odd number.

Feb 15, 2008, ~3007 N. 18th St, KCK

There was no house on the east side of N. 18th Street near where 3007 N. 18th should have been.

3007 N. 18th, which appears to be an empty lot now, is the address of FIVE registered voters:  3 Democrats, 1 Republican, 1 Unaffiliated.  Two of these voters have never voted, two voted in 2004 and one voted in 2006.

Photo from Nov 2005 from earlier Meadowlark article:

• With the current generation of images, Google Street Views in general cannot be used to inspect house numbers to verify addresses. 
• Google Street View addresses typically only give numbers from one side of the street, like north and west, which are even numbers.
• Generally, Kansas City, KS street addresses are odd numbers on the south and east sides of streets, and even on the north and west sides of streets.

One easy solution to improve the integrity of elections and to avoid voter fraud, and to make sure voters are voting in the correct contests, would be to require a photo ID with a current address that matches voter registration records. 

However, this research indicates that at least some of the voters at empty lots in KCK may be due to people moving and demolition of houses, which is part of the urban decay in Kansas City, KS.  Similar problems of voters at empty lots likely could be found where homes are destroyed, such as from fires, or other disasters such as tornados.

K a n s a s M e a d o w l a r k @ g m a i l . c o m