2008 Precinct-Level Results Posted for 30 States
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  2008 Precinct-Level Results Posted for 30 States
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Author Topic: 2008 Precinct-Level Results Posted for 30 States  (Read 20381 times)
DavidNYC
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« on: June 17, 2009, 03:35:56 AM »
« edited: June 18, 2009, 06:34:31 AM by DavidNYC »

As sort of a companion to Alcon's project, and a followup to the Swing State Project's own Presidential Results by CD project, I wanted to see which states make their precinct-level election data available at the state level. In other words, where can you get this data from the Secretary of State or state Board of Elections, and where do you have to go grubbing county-by-county?

I already knew, thanks to the Pres-by-CD project, that the latter category was frustratingly large. Fortunately, though, it turns out that 34 states (or dedicated folks) have posted 2008 election results by precinct. However, there's a wide variety of ways in which this data is offered. Some states make it easily available in a single spreadsheet for the whole state (eg, Wisconsin). Others force you to look at inconsistently formatted PDFs on a county-by-county basis (eg, Iowa). I therefore decided to download everything I could get my hands on, compile it as best I could, and upload the results. (Sorry, I haven't converted the PDFs into Excel files, but I have done a lot of compiling and organizing.)

Below are the 30 states which make some form of precinct file available. (The files for a 31st state, California, are too extensive to re-post.) The first link is to the compiled file(s) I've uploaded to a hosting service. In parens is the type of file (most of the ZIPs are collections of text files, except for IA, which is a very large PDF). The second link is to the source I used for the docs. In all cases, the files include at least the presidential numbers, though usually there is a lot more (such as governor, Senate, House, state lege, etc.) Without further ado:

AK (PDF) - Source
AZ (ZIP) - Source
AR (XLS) - Source
CA (DBF)
DE (TXT) - Source
GA (PDF) - Source
HI (XLS) - Source
ID (XLS) - Source
IA (ZIP) - Source
KS (XLS) - Source
LA (XLS) - Source
ME (XLS) - Source
MD (XLS) - Source
MI (ZIP) - Source
MN (ZIP) - Source
MS (PDF) - Source
MT (XLS) - Source
NH (XLS) - Source
NM (PDF) - Source
ND (XLS) - Source
OH (XLS) - Source
OK (XLS) - Source
PA (ZIP) - Source
RI (XLS) - Source
SD (XLS) - Source
TN (PDF) - Source
TX (CSV) - Source
VT (XLS) - Source
WA (ZIP) - Source
WI (XLS) - Source
WY (PDF) - Source


Three states make precinct-level results available through database-driven web interfaces, but I couldn't find a reasonable way to download the data. If you can figure out how to tap the following three states, please let me know.

North Carolina
South Carolina
Virginia


And finally, Alabama has claimed they will upload precinct results (and has in past years), but they have not yet done so for 2008 (or even 2006). If they ever do, I would expect the file(s) to appear on this page.

The remaining states (listed below) don't appear to offer precinct results at the state level anywhere that I've been able to find, though I've heard tell that Colorado offers something like this for somewhere in the vicinity of $300. Anyhow, if I'm wrong about any of these states, please post links to data sources:

Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
Oregon
Utah
West Virginia

I hope this is helpful to someone out there!

UPDATE: Links to new sources for CA, OK & WA added.
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Alcon
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« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2009, 03:42:09 AM »

Colorado has an under-advertised central file available for order.

Washington compiles all the results here:

http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/PreviousElections/Pages/2008GeneralElection.aspx

Only anomaly I've noted is that Kitsap's CD/LD numbers don't resolve to listed totals.  I'm posting an updated version of the spreadsheet I previously sent you, with CD/LD information that matches official totals instead of whatever the county auditors say.  Should be done once I figure out what Kitsap is doing.  Smiley

Edit: Pretty sure that California also has centralized data.  Let me do some digging.  As for Oklahoma, West Virginia, etc. -- Maybe by the time we're dead and buried Tongue
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Shilly
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« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2009, 10:16:19 AM »

There is precinct data for California at the Statewide Database. http://swdb.berkeley.edu/d00/g08.html
It is missing a few counties but that should be updated.

Also, after some searching, I found a Oklahoma Spreadsheet linked here.
http://blog.newsok.com/datawatch/2008/11/25/precinct-voting-results-for-president/
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Verily
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« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2009, 11:44:58 AM »

New Jersey does not publish its precinct data statewide online, although you could get a full list of the data in Trenton. The individual county clerks' websites do generally have data by municipality, though, and as I recall every county clerk except Warren has a website.

As an example, 2008 results by precinct from Bergen County, NJ, on the county clerk's website: http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/countyclerk/subpages/general%202008.pdf
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DavidNYC
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« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2009, 01:27:11 PM »

Wow, terrific, everyone - keep `em coming!

Verily, when you say "get a full list of the data in Trenton," do you mean from the NJ Division of Elections?
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ElectionAtlas
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« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2009, 05:27:22 PM »

Hi,
Just FYI in terms of status on the Atlas of these data (I compile the data into my custom spreadsheets and work to reconcile the data against official sources, correct errors, and fill in missing data.  I also compile data by municipality/township/city/legislative district/congressional district from the precinct (where possible) and collect data on ballots cast, under votes, over votes, and registered voters (where I can find them)):

AK (PDF) - √
AZ (ZIP) - Filling in missing data
AR (XLS) - Not started
DE (TXT) - √
DC - √
GA (PDF) - In Process
HI (XLS) - √
ID (XLS) - √ (working to fill in some missing data)
IA (ZIP) - Not started
KS (XLS) - Not started
LA (XLS) - √
ME (XLS) - Complete, but not uploaded (some discrepancies I'm working on)
MD (XLS) - not started
MI (ZIP) - filling in missing data, correcting errors
MN (ZIP) - √
MS (PDF) - not started
MT (XLS) - √
NH (XLS) - √
NM (PDF) - vote data complete, but haven't imported reg data.
ND (XLS) - √
OH (XLS) - in process - filling in missing data, correcting errors
PA (ZIP) - in process - filling in missing data, correcting errors
RI (XLS) - √
SD (XLS) - √
TN (PDF) - Not Started
TX (CSV) - Not Started
VT (XLS) - √
WI (XLS) - √
WY (PDF) - √

Database:
North Carolina - Not Started
South Carolina - √
Virginia - √

County-by-county
New York - √
Indiana - Not Started
Illinois - in process
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DavidNYC
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« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2009, 05:38:48 PM »

Thanks for the update, Dave! Out of curiosity, how were you able to pull down the data from VA and SC? I couldn't see any way to get the data on those sites apart from laboriously going page by page. If you did that, my hat is off to you!

Also, it looks like folks have identified three more statewide data sources:

California
Oklahoma
Washington
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DavidNYC
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« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2009, 09:45:11 PM »

OH (XLS) - in process - filling in missing data, correcting errors

Two things I noticed in early versions of that Ohio file:

a) Butler County was missing US House data

b) Montgomery County was missing Obama data

I just checked it out again and it looks like that missing data is now included. So just a word of caution in case you have an old file.
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ElectionAtlas
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« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2009, 10:38:56 PM »

Thanks -
I noticed a number of issues with the file.  PA is actually worse - some of the data is attributed to the wrong precincts.  in the end, I've contacted almost all the counties in OH to clean it up (and I'm not done yet).

BTW, how about using the Atlas WIKI to host the documents?  I tried it out with a sample, I'm sure we can make it look nice too - without all the glaring ads.

Dave
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DavidNYC
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« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2009, 03:39:06 AM »

I'd be happy to give it a shot (though as you note, these files are largely not up to Atlas snuff). Some of the files are very large - esp. GA and WA. As long as you're okay with that, I'll give it a whirl.
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DavidNYC
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« Reply #10 on: June 18, 2009, 06:39:11 AM »

Actually, it looks like either you or Alcon needs to create an account for me at the wiki before I can do anything over there. Thanks.
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ElectionAtlas
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« Reply #11 on: June 18, 2009, 07:13:35 AM »

Actually, it looks like either you or Alcon needs to create an account for me at the wiki before I can do anything over there. Thanks.

Yeah, I forgot to create one for you last night.  Your account is the same as your atlas login.

Thanks -
Dave
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DavidNYC
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« Reply #12 on: June 18, 2009, 09:50:32 AM »

Thanks. Would there be any way to gain FTP access? That would be easier than trying to upload each file one at a time.
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DavidNYC
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« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2009, 03:24:26 PM »

At Dave's request, I have uploaded all of the precinct files to the Atlas Wiki. To save on everyone's bandwidth, I have ZIPped each file, so they are a lot smaller now. You can find them all here:

https://uselectionatlas.org/WIKI/index.php/2008_U.S._General_Election

One bit of good news: We now have a downloadable file for North Carolina. We still do not have files for the following states:

Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
New York (√)
Oregon
South Carolina (web only, √)
Utah
West Virginia
Virginia (web only, √)

√ = state which Dave has prepared himself

I also know that Alcon is working on a few files on this list. Hopefully he will upload them to the wiki when he is ready.
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ElectionAtlas
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« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2009, 09:34:30 PM »

Great Job!
Thanks,
Dave
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FLRedistricting
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« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2011, 12:05:54 PM »

Florida is currently in the process of collecting the data for precinct-level election results in preparations for redistricting, which will occur in 2012.

If you follow us on twitter (@MyDistrictBuilder) or like us on Facebook (MyDistrictBuilder), you will be amongst the first to know what that project is complete.

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homelycooking
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« Reply #16 on: January 12, 2011, 12:37:50 PM »

I don't think it's possible to get precinct results from Connecticut without going town-by-town. The best results feasibly available are from each individual city and town.
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