I have been trying--in vain--to locate shape files for election precincts (not census VTDs) for the state of Arkansas. If anyone can direct me to a free or commercial source for these, please reply.
Do the shapefiles exist, and how do election precincts and VTDs differ in Arkansas?
If elections in Arkansas are conducted by counties, a rural county could easily get by with a printed map. If a voter shows up at the wrong polling place, the voter and the election judge could look at the map and figure out which side of Boggy Creek the voter lives on and whether that is east of county road 3 or not.
The only reason they would have to a digital form, would be if the SOS told them to, and then they would create VTD's because they are easy to tie to census data.
Precincts and VTD's don't always match because precincts have a practical use, which is convenience of voters. Voters live along roads, and precincts are drawn to let them drive to the polling place. Census blocks are areas bounded by roads, but it might not be possible to easily drive from one side of the block to the other and voters might be in different precincts.
Larger counties, such as Pulaski and Washington might have GIS systems with the actual precinct boundaries, but you might have to go to each county to get shapefiles.
