Voter File Data will Enhance Political Analysis and Reporting on All NBC News Platforms

August 31, 2015 — As part of its in-depth Decision 2016 reporting and analysis, the NBCUniversal News Group will enter into an exclusive partnership with leading political data firm TargetSmart to enhance election coverage and study the voting process in America in depth.  This groundbreaking relationship is the first of its kind, enabling a national news organization to use the same powerful data that has been available to candidates and campaigns.

Through the partnership, TargetSmart will provide its market-leading national voter file and database to NBC News, allowing its Decision 2016 data analytics team to perform non-partisan analysis, research voting habits, and identify voting trends at the state and local levels.

“This partnership will enable our NBC News team of election experts and data scientists to better understand how Americans are thinking and voting,” said NBC News Elections Director John Lapinski.  “And we hope to learn more about how the nation’s patchwork of local voting laws and regulations are impacting American citizens’ participation in democracy.”

“For years we’ve been able to see how campaigns have innovated with our voter data, and that has led to a new kind of political campaigning.  We believe there are also innovations that can occur with election coverage and analysis, and we’re excited to see that NBC News is leading the way,” said Tom Bonier, CEO of TargetSmart.

The project will be directed by John Lapinski at NBC News and Tom Bonier at TargetSmart.

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John Lapinski (PhD) heads the Elections Unit and the Analytics Lab at NBC News and is an associate professor in the department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.  Prior to joining the faculty at Penn, he was an assistant professor in political science at Yale University.  His research appears in top academic journals and he has authored two books with Princeton University Press. In addition, he is the Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES), which has assembled a team of data scientists and political science experts to support the research and reporting of NBC News.

Tom Bonier has spent the better part of the last two decades working with campaigns in all 50 states on electoral targeting and strategic integration. Joining the National Committee for an Effective Congress (NCEC) in 1994 as an intern and leaving in 2012 as COO, Tom has worked with campaigns, organizations and initiatives at all levels of the ballot, from local to national. In May 2012 Tom co-founded Clarity Campaign Labs, helping position the company as an innovator and leader in the field of political analytics and consulting. Tom was recently named one of Campaigns & Election’s Influencers 50 for 2014 and assumed the role of CEO of TargetSmart in January, 2015.

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About NBC News

NBC News is a global leader in news across all broadcast and digital platforms. Its leading and award-winning television news broadcasts include NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, TODAY, Meet the Press and Dateline, as well as primetime specials and breaking news reports. The rapidly-growing NBC News Digital Group provides continuous content to consumers wherever they are, whenever they want it. NBC News also operates Peacock Productions, an award-winning in-house production company, and the NBC NewsChannel affiliate news service. NBC News is part of the NBCUniversal News Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corporation.

About TargetSmart

TargetSmart Communications, LLC is a political data company specializing in providing high-quality data and services to organizations that communicate directly with large numbers of people. TargetSmart provides a robust set of data products and services that support a variety of purposes, including fundraising, voter targeting and contact, voter registration, GOTV and constituent management.

Learn more about TargetSmart at http://www.targetsmart.com or https://www.facebook.com/targetsmartcommunications or http://twitter.com/_targetsmart

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For NBC News:
Erika Masonhall
erika.masonhall@nbcuni.com

For TargetSmart:
Matt Brighton
Matt.brighton@targetsmart.com

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