Elections and Voting Data Guide: United States (U.S.) and International

Replication data from Amlani, Sharif & Carlos Algara. 2021. "Partisanship & Nationalization in American Elections: Evidence from Presidential, Senatorial, & Gubernatorial Elections in the U.S. Counties, 1872-2020." Electoral Studies 73: 102387 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102387. Data sourced from CQ Press and ICPSR United States Historical Election Returns and includes county FIPS, seat status, and two party vote totals. Data in R format.

Presidential returns by state (1976-2020) and county (2000-2020). Also includes precinct-level returns for 2016-2020. Free.

• Presidential general election data at the state and county (1916+) and New England town level (1992+)
• Presidential primary elections data at the state, county, and New England town level (2000+)
• Voter registration and turnout data for all 50 states, counties, and New England towns (1992+)

Data in Excel. In addition the web version contains maps and tables of all this data plus Presidential general results back to 1789. Note: Democrats are represented in red and Republicans in blue contrary to the more recent practice.

Presidential general election returns and some statewide returns (e.g., governor, senator, state attorney general, etc.) broken down by congressional district (2000-present), state legislative district (2012-present), and by media market (pres. only, 1960-present). Also, various other election-related datasets. Excellent methodology document explains sourcing and calculation methods and well illustrates the complexities of electoral geographies. Data in Google sheets.

• By congressional district (103rd–116th Congress [1992-2018])
• By county (1976–2004)

Results available in .csv.

ICPSR data collection of county-level electoral returns for all parties and candidates. Data are most complete from 1824 on. 1950–1990 are available as election year files; 1824–1950 are multi-year state files. (Also includes congressional and gubernatorial elections.)

County-level returns for general elections to the presidency. The variables for the presidential vote include the percentages of ballots cast for major and "significant" minor party candidates, and estimates of voter turnout. Congressional district numbers are also reported for each county for every election. In Stata, SAS, and SPSS formats.

Wide range of statistics on presidential selection and elections, including:

• primary and party convention results (1968–2012)
• nomination methods by state (1968–2012)
• popular and electoral votes by state (1789–2012)
• presidential and Congressional party alignment (1824–2012)
• turnout by state (1824–2012)
• vote share by demographic group, national (1952–2012)

Tables in Excel or .csv format

See United States presidential primary elections: a handbook of election statistics / Rhodes Cook, a two volume set. Located at JK522 .C66 (Trustee Reading Room Reference, Firestone Library).

See America at the polls: a handbook of American presidential election statistics, a two volume set. Also includes general elections by state and county. Located at JK524 .A73 and JK524 .M33 (Trustee Reading Room Ready Reference, Firestone Library).

At JK524 .D778 2002 Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library

Wikipedia table with links to each state's election division and official returns. Includes coverage dates for available returns.

USA.gov maintains a database with links to each official state election commission or division website.

• U.S. House of Representative general elections data by state, congressional district, county, and New England towns (1992–present)
• Senate general elections data at the state and county level (1990–present)
• Voter registration and turnout data for all 50 states, counties, and New England towns (1992–present)

Data in Excel. In addition the web version contains maps and tables of all this data plus Presidential general results back to 1789. Note: Democrats are represented in red and Republicans in blue contrary to the more recent practice.

House and Senate returns by constituency (state or district), 1976-2020. Also includes precinct-level returns for 2016-2020. Free.

Replication data from Amlani, Sharif & Carlos Algara. 2021. "Partisanship & Nationalization in American Elections: Evidence from Presidential, Senatorial, & Gubernatorial Elections in the U.S. Counties, 1872-2020." Electoral Studies 73: 102387 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102387. Data sourced from CQ Press and ICPSR United States Historical Election Returns and includes county FIPS, seat status, and two party vote totals. Data in R format.

Contains election returns for elections to the United States House of Representatives from 1898 to 1992. Votes from each biennial election are tallied by Democratic and Republican candidate and are further grouped by state and congressional district. The party of the incumbent is also indicated. These data are arranged by election year in 48 separate files. Data come from CQ publications which were based on corrected ICPSR collections.

ICPSR data collection of county-level electoral returns for all parties and candidates. Data are most complete from 1824 on. 1950–1990 are available as election year files; 1824–1950 are multi-year state files. (Also includes presidential and gubernatorial elections.)

Major archive of legislative election data at the constituency level. For the US, you can easily get all House and Senate elections in multiple formats (Stata, SPSS, R, Excel) ready for analysis. Use the subsetting tool to just get US elections or specific years (accessed separately through the lower chamber and upper chamber archive links).

Primary election returns from all Democratic and Republican primaries for the US House of Representatives for 1956-2010 at the Congressional District level. (Compiled from the America Votes series.) Also includes district-specific variables, as well as data about candidate backgrounds and gender for recent years. There's an update for 2012-2018.

Wikipedia table with links to each state's election division and official returns. Includes coverage dates for available returns.

County-level returns for elections to the United States presidency and to the United States House of Representatives for the years 1840 to 1972. The variables for the presidential vote include the percentages of ballots cast for major and "significant" minor party candidates, and estimates of voter turnout in the presidential elections. There are similar variables for the congressional vote except that returns are reported for parties and not for candidates. Congressional district numbers are also reported for each county for every election.

Time-series statistics on American elections, including:

• party competition, by region (1860–2010)
• popular vote and seats in House elections, by Party (1896–2010)
• divided government, by Congress (1861–2013)
• mean turnover in the House, by decade (1789–2010)
• incumbent re-election rates (1960–2010)
• losses by president's party in midterm elections (1862–2010)
• minority elected officials (various years)

Tables in Excel or .csv format. For tables that report only one or a small number of years, consult previous editions (click Browse Previous Editions or view in print at JK274 .V58 Firestone).

Data pertaining to voting, politics and demography in the twentieth-century U.S. South, mostly 1950s-2010 in three broad categories of variables: (a) political outcomes, (b) policy outcomes, and (c) demographic variables. Data is available in .csv and .dta format. Data covers US counties with separate files for Congressional districts and states.

Replication data from Amlani, Sharif & Carlos Algara. 2021. "Partisanship & Nationalization in American Elections: Evidence from Presidential, Senatorial, & Gubernatorial Elections in the U.S. Counties, 1872-2020." Electoral Studies 73: 102387 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102387. Data sourced from CQ Press and ICPSR United States Historical Election Returns and includes county FIPS, seat status, and two party vote totals. Data in R format.

• Gubernatorial (governor) general elections data at the state and county level (1990–present)

Data in Excel. In addition the web version contains maps and tables of this data. Note: Democrats are represented in red and Republicans in blue contrary to the more recent practice.

• Governor (1788–1990)

ICPSR data collection of county-level electoral returns for all parties and candidates covering approx. 90% of all elections. Also includes presidential and congressional elections.

Wikipedia table with links to each state's election division and official returns. Includes coverage dates for available returns.

• Governor—general (1776–1860, by county)

Also in print at JK2447 .D83 2003 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

• Governor—general (1861–1911, by county)

Also in print at JK2447 .D83 2010 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

• Governor—general (1912–1931, by county)

Located at JK2447 .D835 2013 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

Data pertaining to voting, politics and demography in the twentieth-century U.S. South, mostly 1950s-2010 in three broad categories of variables: (a) political outcomes, (b) policy outcomes, and (c) demographic variables. Data is available in .csv and .dta format. Data covers US counties with separate files for Congressional districts and states.

State legislative election returns 1967-2022. Each of the more than 400,000 observations provides general election return totals for an individual candidate who ran for state legislative office (with some observations for primaries and special election returns in various years). Candidates are uniquely identified and names are standardized. The data includes numerous district, election, and candidate variables, including type of district, redistricting status, incumbency status, vote share, uncontested elections, chamber details, prior experience, tenure, and term length. There is also a version of the dataset that has been reshaped so that the unit of analysis is an individual election contest, which is useful for analyzing the proportion of the two-party vote going to Democrats/Republicans. This updates the public version of SLERs 1967-2016.

Covers presidential, Congressional, state, and local elections by precinct, 2016-2022 (2020 local elections are at https://github.com/MEDSL/2020-elections-official). The team also has a nice write-up of the challenges in acquiring, cleaning, and standardizing precinct election data: Baltz, S., Agadjanian, A., Chin, D. et al. American election results at the precinct level. Scientific Data 9, 651 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01745-0.

Presidential general election returns and some statewide returns (e.g., governor, senator, state attorney general, etc.) broken down by congressional district and state legislative district (including different vintages). Excellent methodology document explains sourcing and calculation methods and well illustrates the complexities of electoral geographies. Data in Google sheets.

Harvard Election Data Archive dataset with election returns for state legislative candidates prior to 1970 (start date varies widely by state, but earliest is 1871). Returns by district; available in multiple formats.

Data on state supreme court elections 1946-2023 for all states using elections (and going back earlier for selected states). Collected by Herbert Kritzer for his book Justices on the Ballot: Continuity and Change in State Supreme Court Elections and subsequently updated. Data in Excel.

Elections to state supreme courts or courts of last resort (1990–2010). Variables cover the races, the states, and the candidates. Also includes a dataset on contestation rates in elections for general jurisdiction trial courts.

Searchable collection of early American election returns, including elections for state House and Senate, governor, sheriffs, commissioners, city councils, mayors, and much more. Narrow by state, year, office, jurisdiction, party, and election type. Full datasets for each state can also be downloaded.

Contains all U.S. state ballot measures attempted from 1902– 2016 compiled directly from the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) “Ballot Measures Database” (see NCSL's up-to-date database). The database includes all types of ballot measures (e.g., legislative referendum, initiative, popular referendum), type of election (e.g., general, primary, special), whether a measure passed or failed, the percentage yes votes for the measure, and the category of topic area (as coded by NCSL). Data in Excel, .csv, and Stata formats.

Primary and general elections returns for more than 4000 statewide referenda, constitutional amendments, state House and Senate joint resolutions, and initiatives (all states, 1968–1990, by county and state)

Site with election results for a variety of statewide offices, including governor, in many cases covering much of the 20th century. Results are in HTML tables. Data are contributed by volunteers and often have source links.

Non-partisan "digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections." Not set up as a data repository per se, but does have good coverage of state and local elections with lots of information about government forms, candidates, election regulations, etc.

My American Politics guide has data sources on state legislation, partisanship, ideology, legislators & elected officials, and policies & spending.

The most comprehensive database of local elections in the United States. Includes election returns on more than 57,000 contests and ~78,000 unique candidates from 1989–2021 across most medium and large-sized cities, counties, prosecutor districts, and school districts with a population over 50,000. Offices covered: mayors, city councils, county executives, county legislatures, sheriffs, prosecutors, and school boards. Also includes partisan and demographic information about candidates (largely modeled), demographic data on constituencies, and recent presidential election results and ideological preference (modeled) for most cities and counties. For more detail, see the data descriptor paper. Data in .csv and R formats.

Data on 9,131 mayoral elections in which approx. 10,000 unique candidates ran in 1,016 cities of all sizes, 1950-2014. Replication data for Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, "Off-Cycle and Out of Office: Election Timing and the Incumbency Advantage," The Journal of Politics 80, no. 1 (January 2018): 119-132, https://doi.org/10.1086/694396.

Data on county legislative elections and fiscal policy in medium and large counties with partisan elections and with a population of more than 150,000 people in 2010. Replication Data for Warshaw and de Benedictis-Kessner, 2020, "Politics in Forgotten Governments: The Partisan Composition of County Legislatures and County Fiscal Policies," Journal of Politics, https://doi.org/10.1086/706458.

Data for 1264 elections in any American city larger than 133,000 people between 1990 and 2011. Replication data from Hopkins, Daniel, 2016, "Retrospective Voting in Big-City U.S. Mayoral Elections", Political Science Research and Methods https://doi-org/10.1017/psrm.2016.54.

Non-partisan "digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections." Not set up as a data repository per se, but does have good coverage of state and local elections with lots of information about government forms, candidates, election regulations, etc. For example, coverage of mayoral elections".

Site with election results for a variety of local (county and municipal) offices. Results are in HTML tables. Data are contributed by volunteers and typically have source links. From the "United States" heading, navigate into individual states and then to counties/cities.

CEDA summarizes candidate and ballot measure results for county, city, community college and school district elections. Reports in PDF and data in Excel. 1995–

Includes elections to a wide variety of county and city offices. Covers jurisdictions across more than 20 states with some temporal coverage back to 1970. LEAP is not fully operational yet, but interested academic users may contact the PIs directly for access to data.

Searchable collection of early American election returns, including elections for state House and Senate, governor, sheriffs, commissioners, city councils, mayors, and much more. Narrow by state, year, office, jurisdiction, party, and election type. Full datasets for each state can also be downloaded.

This handy tool by Carl Klarner provides a simple csv or Stata file for merging to your data to easily assign Census county FIPS codes to variously presented county names. County names collected from various sources, such as election returns, frequently present county names in a variety of ways and often have misspellings. This will make the process much easier. There are roughly 3000 counties, and this tool provides more than 70,000 variations for matching.

Covers presidential, Congressional, state, and local elections by precinct, 2016-2022 (2020 local elections are at https://github.com/MEDSL/2020-elections-official). The team also has a nice write-up of the challenges in acquiring, cleaning, and standardizing precinct election data: Baltz, S., Agadjanian, A., Chin, D. et al. American election results at the precinct level. Scientific Data 9, 651 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01745-0.

• Presidential, Congressional, and Statewide office elections by precinct, 2002–2012 (for most states; some states have earlier data and most also have 2014 data). Usually includes gubernatorial elections and some other statewide offices as well.

Geo-referenced to US Census Voting Tabulation Districts for comparison to Census data at low levels. Data can be downloaded to a variety of formats. Also includes GIS shapefiles. For more information on the challenges of merging election geographies with Census geographies, see the Public Mapping Project.

Includes general, primary, and special elections to federal, gubernatorial, and state legislative office (by county and precinct, generally 2000–present). The project is continually in process, so data for many states is in various levels of completeness (raw, pre-processed, cleaned). Data in .csv. The team has published about the immense challenges in acquiring official precinct-level data due to the lack of standardization in formats and processes: Willis, Derek, Thessalia Merivaki, and Ioannis Ziogas. 2022. “Election Data Transparency: Obtaining Precinct-Level Election Returns.” Public Integrity 24 (2): 162–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2021.1883854.

• Presidential and Congressional election returns for all states plus D.C.

Many states have an additional file with results matched to racial data from the 2000 Census, and some include returns for various statewide offices or initiatives. Results are in Excel.

• All elections at and above State House, along with party registration and other variables, in each state for the roughly 170,000 precincts nationwide.

Data has also been merged with many demographic and socioeconomic variables from Census data. Data can be downloaded to a variety of formats.

Provides numerous datasets for use in redistricting projects (both creating maps and understanding the process). Re-hosts precinct election results from various partners that is merged and validated to precinct and Census GIS boundaries. 2016-present.

Prof. Michael McDonald's Voting and Election Science Team compiles state-by-state GIS/shapefile data of US general election precinct results, 2015-present.

The Algorithm-Assisted Redistricting Methodology (ALARM) Project provides precinct-level demographic and election data from the 2020 decennial census and the Voting and Election Science Team which have been tidied and joined together using 2020 precinct boundaries. Code to generate the data from these sources is included; the entire workflow is open-source and reproducible. Final files are at Census VTD level (where available; also available through RDH), but files projected to 2010 blocks (vest-2010 folder) and then crosswalked to 2020 blocks (crosswalks folder) are available.

This site provides digital boundary definitions for every U.S. Congressional District in use between 1789 and 2012. Produced by Jeffrey Lewis at UCLA. Boundaries are available as shapefiles or GeoJSON definitions. Includes extensive documentation of how boundaries for districts were constructed. These have been incorporated into the GeoReferenced Electoral Districts (GRED) dataset, which merges them with CLEA constituencies for the US. They have also been utilized in the Spatiotemporal Congressional District Data project by Levi Wolf creating a fully georeferenced dataset of election results and district boundaries (see the write-up in Nature). For CD boundaries 2016-present, see the United States Districts project.

"Provides crosswalks that allow researchers i) to harmonize U.S. county boundaries over time across Census decades and ii) to generate congressional district level variables from county-level data. The crosswalks include an area-based approach as in Hornbeck (2010), as well as the new population-based methods from Ferrara, Testa, and Zhou (2021), which are based on granular sub-county population information." Also provides slides demonstrating the utility of the crosswalks. The crosswalks can be used for a simple mapping of congressional districts to counties based on Census apportionment cycles.

This tool from the Missouri Census Data Center lets you generate geographic correspondence files showing how geographic areas overlap (e.g. how ZIP codes relate with counties or counties to Congressional districts.) MCDC also maintains earlier versions of the application for Census geography back to 1990.

The New York Times created this very detailed map, using precinct-level data matched to precinct boundaries. Data is incomplete and a number of caveats apply; see https://github.com/TheUpshot/presidential-precinct-map-2020 to download the data in geoJSON format.

Featured on the New York Times, this map uses precinct-level data matched to voting precinct boundaries.

Interactive map displaying vote totals for McCain and Obama by voting precinct with additional overlays of race and income data from the Census. Vote totals by precinct without the Census overlays can also be viewed as an ArcGIS map.

Examines patterns in presidential election politics over time as well as some patterns in recent congressional election politics. Site offers numerous animated and interactive visualizations of voting in the U.S. Project out of the University of Richmond.

Provides interactive maps and visualizations of Congressional and state legislative elections in the early Republic. Makes available the electoral returns (from the New Nation Votes project) and spatial data underlying the maps. As of early 2018, content is still being built out.

National map showing electoral college votes color coded by party for each presidential election back to 1789. For current election cycle, it includes state polling and forecasts.

Features multicolor maps showing election results at the county level. In print at Oversize JK524 .D47 2010q (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

Explores voter turnout in the most recent municipal elections in America's 30 largest cities. Series of charts and map visualizations; map layers can be downloaded in JSON to create custom GIS maps.