This product has been in the works for a while. How have you been explaining what Sightline is?
I’m so excited for people to see it! CNN Sightline translates complex election results into an easy-to-understand indicator that shows where we think key races are heading and why.
To build the tool, we started by asking the same questions my team of CNN Decision Desk analysts ask ourselves: what do we know about a race, and what does that tell us about where it’s going? We then took those questions and developed a range of models and indicators that help show the answers to each of them.
The result shows who we think has an edge in the race and what the data tells us about why, broken down across five key areas: what’s left to count, what we know about where the votes have come from, how it compares to past elections, how much statistical confidence we might have in a candidate’s lead in the vote count and what we know based on method of vote. Each of those angles tells us something a little bit different about what the vote count says, and Sightline brings it all together.
Turning a great idea into a great product is always challenging. What about Sightline made everyone realize this needed to be made?
A lot of the tools that exist out there to interpret election results are designed for the real political junkies – using terminology and techniques that sometimes don’t resonate with the average person. At the same time, I don’t think they really show you why the models point in whichever direction they do.
We wanted to build something that gives a little bit more information than just saying who’s ahead, and that is also easy to interpret. By breaking down the overall assessment of the race into five categories, Sightline can show how we at the CNN Decision Desk come to the conclusions we do and serve as a helpful guide on what to watch as the night unfolds.
Creating a product that looks great, feels easy to use and simplifies real-time data requires a lot of collaboration. What was it like working with different teams?
This one brought together so many people at CNN! My CNN Decision Desk colleague Ed Wu and I worked on the underlying theory of the whole thing and what the right interpretations of the data would be. We then spent a good chunk of time working closely with the team of developers who build and maintain our internal election analysis tools to translate our spreadsheets and messy attempts at code into a feed that can drive both web and TV graphics.
We worked closely with CNN's Visuals & Design team, including Anna Brand and Janie Boschma and their wonderful team of designers and developers, to think through the overall storytelling approach. That meant figuring out how to turn incredibly complex, real-time election data into something intuitive and meaningful for audiences, how to surface the most important insights as key races unfold and how Sightline could fit into the broader Election Center experience while also complementing our Election Night graphics on TV.
It was truly a collaboration drawing on the strengths of so many people in our newsroom.
How do you hope Sightline helps people follow races in the midterms and in future election cycles?
My hope is that it will shed some light on what can be a very confusing process. What we’re doing at the Decision Desk isn’t magic; it’s math, and I hope that launching tools like Sightline for CNN’s readers and viewers helps tell that part of the election night story in a clear way.
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