How a Crowdsourced Spreadsheet Called the Boston Mayoral Election in Minutes

By Lucia Maffei • Published November 8, 2021 • Updated on November 8, 2021 at 7:12 am

Minutes after the polls closed on Election Night, Will MacArthur sat in his bedroom in North Cambridge. The junior research consultant at Rivera Consulting, the Boston political consulting firm led by Wilnelia Rivera, was in for a long night of tracking the results.

The polls closed at 8 p.m. After 15 minutes, with about 4% of precincts reported, MacArthur reviewed the numbers he started collecting from precincts on Excel and messaged with his colleagues on Slack predicting an easy victory for City Councilor Michelle Wu over fellow City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George.

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