Two years ago, a graduate student in economics named Seth Stephens-Davidowitz discovered that Google searches including the word “vote” or “voting” could help predict turnout. In places where searches for those terms were more common, turnout was higher, even after controlling for other factors, like voter-registration rates and early-vote volume.

You can understand why this might be true. In the days leading up to an election, people planning to vote may look up where their polling place is and what hours it will be open. If they are so-called marginal voters — people who vote in some elections and not others — they would have all the more reason to need such information.