Interview with the Creator of Election Day

Pundit Press is proud to present our 7th interview in our new series. Today we are interviewing John Gastil, the creator of the free video game Election Day. Election Day is an excellent concept game which I have played. Try it out-- it's a free download.

1. When and why was Election Day Created?

It slowly emerged from my keyboard from 1994-2000. Development on the project went on hiatus after 2004.

2. How has the game affected public knowledge of the election cycle?

It's hard to say. I've used the game with middle school students, who enjoyed the game and got a better sense of the Electoral College and the importance of fundraising. I haven't done a user study, partly because my primary concern has been debugging--not audience research.

3. What has been your favorite part of working on the project?

Writing the original code for the game required making precise mathematical assumptions about voter behavior and the efficacy of different campaign strategies. When the math didn't work, it was interesting to see how it needed to be revised. There are still a few "substantive bugs" in the game--that is, code that works as written but produces silly results. Most of the bugs that remain in the game are of the "broken software" variety; that is, they make the game crash.

4. What has been frustrating about developing Election Day?

The bugs. I'm not a programmer by trade, and I never found a volunteer programmer who was interested in polishing the project and making it hum. 

5. Any plans for 5.0?

I need to find either a volunteer programmer or someone who's willing to work for a meager salary to bug detect and squash. When that happens, we'll make a big fuss about having a version 5.0. It'd be nice to have that up-and-running in time for the next Presidential election. Anyone interested in helping the project should contact me at jgastil@uw.edu.

6. Have you used the game to conduct simulation of past or upcoming races?

Yes. It's quite entertaining to do that. I once had an army of middle schoolers try to get Ralph Nader to win a single state. One of them managed to win Connecticut, but it took a lot of tries.

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