Meet the Team: Declan Chin

Before MEDSL I was working on finishing my undergraduate degree. I graduated from UC Berkeley in December 2020 with a major in Economics and a minor in Data Science. During my undergrad, I did research in the Graduate School of Education studying the distribution of pre-K quality in New York City. I also worked in the Mayor of LA's Innovation Team as a Data Fellow, helping to produce daily COVID-19 data reports during the onset of the pandemic.
 

I've always been interested in politics and public policy, but my interest in elections specifically was mainly born out of witnessing the 2020 Election cycle and the aftermath. The era of misinformation contributed to bringing political polarization to new heights and even led many to question the integrity of our most fundamental democratic process. Furthermore, 2020 saw the beginning to the redistricting process; I am also interested in understanding how partisan gerrymandering can reduce the voting power of minority communities and how the Voting Rights Act can be used to combat such partisan efforts. With 2020 being such a critical moment in election history, getting involved in a non-partisan research lab to provide trustworthy data and information to the public at large was an opportunity I could not turn down.

It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose (!)

Leading up to the 2022 midterm election, we hope to take a comprehensive looks at states' election audit processes. Efforts to delegitimize elections are likely not going away, so analyzing states' data and the official processes used to validate election results should be of the utmost interest and importance.