Public salaries, divorce records, registered gun owners and more

By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing

Technology often is a very helpful tool. This is definitely the case when it comes to compiling or retrieving large amounts of data, and then spotting patterns and trends within the records. For a few years now, the Advocate has ...

DOCUMENTS: What does Victoria's future look like?

By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing

For a story I'm working on that looks at Victoria's lack of zoning, I came across a 184-page report: "Victoria 2025: A Comprehensive Plan." The plan provides the mayor, city council, planning commission and residents with "a long-range guide for ...

LAND USE MAP: What do you think of Victoria's lack of zoning?

By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing

I'm working on a story about Victoria, and its lack of zoning. Victoria is the second largest Texas city, behind only Houston, to lack zoning. Is that a good or a bad thing? Victoria Land Use Map * MAP PROVIDED ...

NEW DOCUMENT: View Victoria County precinct election results

By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing

The Victoria County Elections Office gave us an Excel spreadsheet of the final precinct-by-precinct results from Tuesday. On Wednesday, I posted a blog that included those results -- but admittedly the form was tough to read and scroll through. Advocate ...

DOCUMENT: View Victoria County precinct results for all races

By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing

I'm trying out a pretty cool web tool here to display documents, in this case an Excel spreadsheet detailing the county's master election results. Because this is the first time I've used it, I'm not sure how it'll work. Kudos ...

UPDATED W/ DOCUMENT: What election follow-up stories should we pursue?

By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing

NEW: Since I first posted the brief blog below, I was able to embed in this blog a PDF of Tuesday's election results. For quick reference, I highlighted the straight-party voting numbers. I recommend using the zoom tool in the ...

Here's where you vote

By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing

We've received a number of phone calls from Victoria County residents who want to know where they should vote. If you have questions about the precinct in which you reside, check your voter registration card. If you still have questions, ...

VIDEO: Why should you vote Tuesday?

By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing

I visited the Victoria County Elections Office on Monday for a story about the office's last-minute preparations headed into Tuesday's General Election. The story publishes Tuesday. During my visit, I asked George Matthews, the elections administrator, to talk about why ...