Course roadmap

Welcome to Data Analysis for Policy Making: Voting & Redistricting in Georgia.

This course is designed for organizers, policy staff, civic researchers, and advocates who want to use data to make sharper, more defensible arguments about voting rights and redistricting. You do not need a statistics degree. You need a real policy question, access to public data, and a willingness to follow the evidence wherever it leads.

The course follows a single thread: Georgia. Georgia's voter file, Georgia's precinct data, Georgia's redistricting maps, and the legal landscape that changed dramatically on April 29, 2026, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Callais v. Landry—a ruling that fundamentally reframed how data analysts must approach Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

By the end of the course, you will produce a Policy Data Brief: a one-page document with a research question, a data source, a key finding, and a policy recommendation. Each module adds one section to that brief.

The course moves through six modules:

1. The Data-Driven Policy Cycle — what it is and why it matters.
2. Reading Voting & Registration Data — understanding Georgia's voter file.
3. Redistricting Data — What Changed with Callais — the post-2026 legal and data landscape.
4. Disparate Impact Analysis — tracking effects on communities.
5. Building Your Policy Finding — synthesizing data into a defensible claim.
6. Writing the Policy Data Brief — the final artifact.