2008 Nationwide Precinct Map Project - (Mostly) Complete!
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  2008 Nationwide Precinct Map Project - (Mostly) Complete!
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Author Topic: 2008 Nationwide Precinct Map Project - (Mostly) Complete!  (Read 25675 times)
cinyc
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« Reply #50 on: January 25, 2015, 12:41:21 AM »
« edited: January 25, 2015, 12:46:27 AM by cinyc »

The bad news is that I haven't had any success in further combining the shapefiles, even when using a program to simplify the shapefiles.  Nor have I had success making even regional maps on Google Fusion.  Again, the files are probably too large.

The good news is that I was able to do is convert the regional shapefiles into 11 .kml files that can be viewed together or separately on Google Earth.  If I have set the Google Drive permissions right, they should be available for download here, if you're interested.  Please let me know if you can't download them.

There are 8 CONUS regional .kml files, plus one each for Alaska and Hawaii, and a US Water file to put on top if you don't like precincts bleeding into the ocean.
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cinyc
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« Reply #51 on: January 25, 2015, 01:11:29 AM »

Finally, here are maps of the 2008 Presidential results in Alaska and Hawaii (Click on the picture for a larger view):

Alaska:


Hawaii:
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cinyc
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« Reply #52 on: January 27, 2015, 12:06:10 AM »
« Edited: January 28, 2015, 12:18:49 AM by cinyc »

I've put the maps onto Google Fusion Tables, using the Atlas Color Scheme.  Because of the limitations of Google's mapping software, they are really only good when zoomed in, to various levels depending on the size of the geography.   NYC and LA need to be fairly zoomed in; other areas not so much.  Unfortunately, I have to divide the maps into sections because the software really doesn't like it when you have more than 40,000 shapes.  Click on the name of the region below to get the regional map:

Northeast
Southeast
Great Lakes
Great Plains
West
Alaska & Hawaii

Because I went over 40,000 shapes in the West map, Seattle might not show up.  If it doesn't, you can click here for an alternative West Map that should include Seattle but doesn't have clickable percentage data.
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Flake
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« Reply #53 on: January 27, 2015, 12:44:53 AM »

^ That's amazing.
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Bandit3 the Worker
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« Reply #54 on: January 27, 2015, 12:53:30 AM »

Well this was interesting. I draw maps of neighborhoods in my area, and I try to show which candidate won each precinct - in addition to other features, such as roads, bike routes, major buildings, elevations, parks, etc. I have noticed that there's nowhere to find Kentucky precinct shapefiles, so I've had to use QGIS to create and edit my own shapefile. I just use a purple dotted line for the precinct lines.
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cinyc
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« Reply #55 on: January 27, 2015, 12:58:13 AM »

Well this was interesting. I draw maps of neighborhoods in my area, and I try to show which candidate won each precinct - in addition to other features, such as roads, bike routes, major buildings, elevations, parks, etc. I have noticed that there's nowhere to find Kentucky precinct shapefiles, so I've had to use QGIS to create and edit my own shapefile. I just use a purple dotted line for the precinct lines.

Yeah, we couldn't find the Kentucky VTD lines, either.  Census used to have them (and Dave Bradlee included them in Dave's Redistricting App), but for some strange reason, Census' website doesn't have them any more.  Adam Griffin has a request into the relevant Kentucky authorities for the shapefile, which appear to be some state secret.  It's unclear whether they will provide us with it.
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Bandit3 the Worker
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« Reply #56 on: January 27, 2015, 01:06:12 AM »

I know the Kentucky precinct lines have changed just since 2008. In my county, for example, they carved out a new precinct called Fort Thomas T, which is uninhabited. This was so the Democratic parts of the county could be linked along precinct lines, allowing the Republican parts of the county to poke up between them.
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cinyc
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« Reply #57 on: January 27, 2015, 01:10:13 AM »

I know the Kentucky precinct lines have changed just since 2008. In my county, for example, they carved out a new precinct called Fort Thomas T, which is uninhabited. This was so the Democratic parts of the county could be linked along precinct lines, allowing the Republican parts of the county to poke up between them.

Precinct lines shift election to election, more in some states than others.  It's not clear to what extent the 2010 VTD lines were actually used in 2008 in any state.  I still don't know how the professors who aggregated the data used on Dave's Redistricting App and these maps did it.
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homelycooking
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« Reply #58 on: January 27, 2015, 08:42:11 AM »

A terrific idea well executed. It's such a shame that this sort of information is so difficult and expensive to acquire. Short of a well-financed Herculean effort, it will take an effort on the part of many more states to make their election data accessible before a future election is similarly map-able. cinyc, Adam, congratulations and well done.
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cinyc
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« Reply #59 on: January 27, 2015, 01:56:26 PM »

Good news!  Adam Griffin successfully obtained the missing KY shapefile from the relevant KY authority.  So I can add KY to the maps.  Would you prefer I add KY to the Southeast regional Google Maps (where it probably belongs) or the Great Lakes map so that we can see the Cincinnati metro in full?

I shouid have new maps posted tonight.
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Bandit3 the Worker
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« Reply #60 on: January 27, 2015, 02:00:20 PM »

Good news!  Adam Griffin successfully obtained the missing KY shapefile from the relevant KY authority.  So I can add KY to the maps.  Would you prefer I add KY to the Southeast regional Google Maps (where it probably belongs) or the Great Lakes map so that we can see the Cincinnati metro in full?

I consider Kentucky part of the Midwest, not the South.

But the neo-Confederates like Jamie Comer, Matt Bevin, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell who are trying to take over may beg to differ.
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Stephen Wolf
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« Reply #61 on: January 27, 2015, 04:53:24 PM »

Hello everyone, new forum user here, I write occasionally for the Daily Kos Elections front page.

Do any of you happen to have or know where I might find 2012 precinct boundary shapefiles for Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Washington state (preferably statewide but select counties help too)? I'm working on a project for DKE and some of these shapefiles have been impossible to track down or county clerks want to charge and arm and a leg for them. Thanks

Also on this thread's subject topic, a long while back I made a simple cut and paste map of all 48 states plus DC where DRA has 2008 presidential data. It doesn't look as good as a GIS-rendered map of course, but it uses the old-DRA color scheme and was 10,000px wide (zoom level 8). Maybe Miles will post it for me since the Atlas won't let me include linked images yet.
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cinyc
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« Reply #62 on: January 27, 2015, 05:07:30 PM »

Hello everyone, new forum user here, I write occasionally for the Daily Kos Elections front page.

Do any of you happen to have or know where I might find 2012 precinct boundary shapefiles for Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Washington state (preferably statewide but select counties help too)? I'm working on a project for DKE and some of these shapefiles have been impossible to track down or county clerks want to charge and arm and a leg for them. Thanks

Also on this thread's subject topic, a long while back I made a simple cut and paste map of all 48 states plus DC where DRA has 2008 presidential data. It doesn't look as good as a GIS-rendered map of course, but it uses the old-DRA color scheme and was 10,000px wide (zoom level Cool. Maybe Miles will post it for me since the Atlas won't let me include linked images yet.

Did you try the Harvard Election Data Archive or Aaron Strauss' Github page?  They might have what you're looking for. 
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Stephen Wolf
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« Reply #63 on: January 27, 2015, 05:28:52 PM »

Yes, the Harvard archive appeared to be almost all pre-2012 maps while Strauss' collection, while helpful, is missing the remaining states I need (and his MD file had issues when I tried to use it).
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cinyc
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« Reply #64 on: January 27, 2015, 05:48:04 PM »

Yes, the Harvard archive appeared to be almost all pre-2012 maps while Strauss' collection, while helpful, is missing the remaining states I need (and his MD file had issues when I tried to use it).

There is a little Colorado data on the Open Colorado website - just Denver, Boulder and Gilpin Counties.

You might be able to ask WNYC radio where they got their NYC shapefiles.  They have been putting real-time NYC precinct-level results up on election night.
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Stephen Wolf
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« Reply #65 on: January 27, 2015, 06:18:42 PM »

Thanks, I'll look into that for NY, although I don't need those particular Colorado counties. Full list of ones I need are:
Colorado - Adams, Douglas, Eagle, Jefferson
Illinois - Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will
Maryland - Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, Montgomery, Prince George's
Missouri - St. Charles, St. Louis County
New York - Statewide, too many to count
Ohio - Cuyahoga, Franklin
Washington - King, Pierce, Snohomish (these clerks wanted non-trivial $ for shapefiles)

As you guys probably could have guessed, this is redistricting related. Also while I have a statewide Mississippi file from Aaron Strauss and some other sources, the precinct names in some counties don't seem to match up with the precinct results published by the SoS that I obtained via Open Elections. Does anyone else have familiarity with Mississippi's 2012 precincts and results and encountered this issue?
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muon2
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« Reply #66 on: January 27, 2015, 10:00:14 PM »

In IL counties can adjust their precincts as frequently as every two years. A new 2014 IL state law requires all counties to submit their precinct maps in electronic form to the State Board of Elections. The larger counties will probably use shapefiles, though the law doesn't say that since some small counties don't have that format. Hopefully the BoE will use the data to create master shapefiles for the public, but that will take some time.
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cinyc
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« Reply #67 on: January 27, 2015, 11:49:12 PM »
« Edited: January 28, 2015, 12:18:05 AM by cinyc »

Here are revised images with Kentucky (Click on the image for a larger view):

Nationwide:


Mid-South:


Mid-South couldn't be hosted in our gallery because the picture size is too large.

Here is a link to the new Southeast Google Fusion Tables Map, which includes Kentucky:
Southeast

I am also going to make the shapefiles available for those who want to download them and use a GIS program to view later tonight or tomorrow.  I'm not sure if we can include Kentucky in the download for legal reasons, though.  Adam Griffin has asked for clarification.
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cinyc
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« Reply #68 on: January 28, 2015, 02:22:25 AM »
« Edited: April 09, 2015, 07:35:50 PM by cinyc »

I uploaded the relevant shapefiles here, if anyone is interested.  PM me if you need specific info on how to use them in MapWindow GIS.  I use MapWindow GIS 4.7.5, an older version, because later versions don't support saved color schemes. 

Edited to add: I've updated the download link because of an issue with the PCT McCain and PCT Obama data in some Western states.  If you've downloaded this before, that data issue has been fixed in the new zip file.

I've also been able to make a nationwide map using Google Fusion Tables.  That is available here:
Nationwide
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Fuzzybigfoot
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« Reply #69 on: January 28, 2015, 02:30:02 AM »

Epic work!  Thank you! 
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Adam Griffin
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« Reply #70 on: January 28, 2015, 06:19:46 AM »

Alright, so I've put all of this together into a tentative webpage that makes it a bit more aesthetically-pleasing to access the content.

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shua
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« Reply #71 on: January 29, 2015, 03:29:08 PM »


It looks like we've been affected by some major sea level rise here in Coastal VA/NC. Tongue  I'm wondering if there is an issue with the coastal shapefiles.

anyway, great work. That website will be very useful.
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cinyc
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« Reply #72 on: January 29, 2015, 05:22:19 PM »

It looks like we've been affected by some major sea level rise here in Coastal VA/NC. Tongue  I'm wondering if there is an issue with the coastal shapefiles.

anyway, great work. That website will be very useful.

The water shapefiles are directly from the Census Bureau' s 2009 shapefiles for coastal counties and counties with significant lakes and rivers, filtered to remove smaller water features.  Areas like the Florida Keys and Cape Hatteras don't show up on the regional maps because the islands themselves are too small to show up on the large maps.  They appear on MapWindow GIS when properly zoomed in.
 
I'm not sure if Census considers swamps as water features, which might explain why parts of Louisiana and North Carolina get swamped in Light Cyan.
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Fuzzybigfoot
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« Reply #73 on: January 29, 2015, 06:08:48 PM »

I wish Dave's redistricting app had stuff for Oregon.  Sad 
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Stephen Wolf
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« Reply #74 on: January 29, 2015, 06:30:16 PM »

I wish Dave's redistricting app had stuff for Oregon.  Sad 

You should ask user James Allen on Daily Kos about that. He has a data set he's been adapting to Oregon's DRA file for some time, though I don't think it's complete yet.
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