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

Registration and turnout data for voting in U.S. presidential and congressional general elections by state, county, and New England town (1992, 1996, 2000–present). Data in Excel.

Contains counts of voter registration and voter turnout (using the Citizen Voting Age Population, CVAP) for all counties in the United States for the years 2004-2018. It also contains measures of each county's Democratic and Republican partisanship, including six-year longitudinal partisan indices for 2006-2016, based on the share of each county's votes for Democratic and Republican presidential and Senate candidates (calculated separately and then averaged to produce the partisan index).

November supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) provides results on reported voting and registration in presidential and congressional elections broken down by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics down to the state level. Does not include reported partisan vote. Detailed tables in Excel or .csv, including historical time series from 1960s–. Data extracts from the VRS can also be made through IPUMS-CPS (1994–).

National and state turnout rates for the voting-eligible population (VEP) and voting age population (VAP) for the 1980-present November general elections. Also, national turnout rates for presidential and midterm general elections, 1787-2012. Data in Excel format. Some years have primary figures as well. Compiled by Prof. Michael McDonald of the University of Florida.

Comprehensive turnout statistics for general and primary elections for presidential, congressional, and state gubernatorial races. Extensive tables provide state level figures (including partisan turnout) grouped by office or election type in 20 year chunks. Also includes chronologies of major events and election law changes affecting turnout. Data in Excel or .csv.

• Also in print at JK1965 .V68 2011 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

My political opinion guide lists major election surveys that are good sources for estimating turnout based on demographic and socioeconomic variables as well as by different geographies, depending on the size of the survey.

A major work on the electoral history of African American voters from the Colonial era to the present. Includes both essays analyzing data collections and historical context as well as numerous tables on African American voting, registration, turnout, and other measures both nationally and in various states. Tables in Excel or .csv.

Contains numerous tables on suffrage, voting, participation, and voter behavior, 1788–2000. JK1967 .R87 2001 (Trustee Reading Room Reference)

Annotated bibliography covering political science research on the causes and consequences of polarization in the American electorate.

• 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.

Tabulates the number of registered voters who were eligible to cast ballots in biennial national elections in the United States between 1968 and 1988. Totals of registered voters are presented for all counties in 48 states. If available, county-level totals are also presented for registration by race, major or minor political party, or other category (e.g., declined to state). Data in ascii format.

See my public opinion guide for major surveys and polls that can be used to study US electoral attitudes.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) provides 50-state research on many election law and procedural issues dealing with all aspects of elections. Highlights include:

• a collection of state elections-related legislation databases:
  • the administration of elections 2011-present
  • ballot measures 1892-present
  • campaign finance legislation 2015-present (and an archived 1999-2013)
• the process for completing and certifying elections
• voting outside the polling place
• initiative and referendum processes

Tables and charts from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) that describe the title, method of selection, and appointing authorities for Chief Election Officials at the state and local level.

EAVS is the only nationwide census of basic data concerning election administration and policy. Covers voter registration, uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting, domestic civilian absentee ballots, provisional ballots, and Election Day activities. Reports at county and municipality level (where municipalities administer the elections). Data in multiple formats. Also includes responses from the Statutory Overview, which allows for comparison across states of election administration legal requirements and practices. 2004–present (2004-2010 are linked at the top to a separate Archives page).

Project at MIT (formerly at Pew Research) to track how efficient and effective states are in administering elections. Ranks and measures the states on 17 indicators (e.g., voter registration rate, turnout %, voting wait time, provisional ballots rejected, etc.). Data available in .csv and as an interactive report; 2008-2020.

Survey of the Performance of American Elections (SPAE) 2008–2022. Asked after federal elections, SPAE surveys 10,000 people (200 from each state) about their experience with and attitudes toward their voting experience. For example, it provides data for comparing the time waiting in line to vote between states.

50 state list providing details on voter registration list data availability, permitted uses, cost, and links to state election sites for requesting. Also see NCSL's 50 state table.

Report analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the major commercial national voter files. Doesn't identify vendors by name; rather discusses the strengths and limitations of this category of data.

Verified Voting (a non-partisan organization focused technology in election administration) provides a comprehensive dataset of voting equipment down to the precinct level, 2006-present. Includes the type of voting equipment, makes and models, accessibility, and whether there is a voter-verified paper audit trail. Data in Excel, .csv, and JSON.

Project by the Center for Public Integrity and Stateline to collect and standardize data on polling locations that were used in each election cycle since 2012 for 30+ states. Lists each polling place’s county, precinct, name, and address. Data in .csv.

"Brings together academics and election administration experts to assess and promote best practices to ensure the election can proceed with integrity, safety, and equal access." Features state profiles/reports on election administration and mail balloting, a tracker of covid-related election litigation, and data visualizations and open data (on Github) of state election administration metrics.

"This book focuses on how the tools of public management and policy evaluation can be used to give election officials the data they need to improve elections." In print at JK1976 .A68 2013 (Firestone Library).

Directory of county and some city election officials with website, phone, fax, email, and mailing address compiled by the U.S. Vote Foundation. Also provides statewide voter information (eligibility and ID requirements, dates, registration info, state elections websites, etc.). For a similar list of local election officials for all counties in a table format, see the Federal Voting Assistance Program's Local Election Office Directory.

Post-election surveys with extensive set of questions on voting experience of voters residing outside the US (active duty military and spouses, overseas citizens). Generally 2000–present.

In the presidential election of November 2000, approximately 180,000 ballots in Florida's 67 counties were uncertified because they failed to register a "valid" vote for president. These ballots included those in which no vote was recorded (undervotes) and those in which people voted for more than one candidate (overvotes). The 2000 Florida Ballots Project examined the undervotes and overvotes. The goal of the project was not to declare a "winner," but rather to carefully examine the ballots to assess the relative reliability of the three major types of ballot systems used in Florida.

Provides numerous datasets for use in redistricting projects (both creating maps and understanding the process).

• merges precinct election data to precinct GIS boundaries (extensively validated from partner providers)
• aggregates national voter file data from L2 to Census block for 2010 and 2020 (including with commercial fields) and to VTDs for 2020
• projects 2016-2020 election results to VTDs with Census-derived race and population data from the Algorithm-Assisted Redistricting Methodology (ALARM) Project
• provides Census redistricting (PL 94-171) data at various Census geography levels and matched to Census shapefiles
• provides ACS 5 year race and population data at block group up to state levels in SHP and CSV formats
• provides Citizen Voting Age Population data at various Census geographies (including block level using a specially developed methodology) and modified to match OMB race categories as used in voting rights analysis (in CSV and SHP formats)

Provides details on the redistricting process, including a comprehensive table on who draws the lines for various districts across the states for the 2000-2020 cycles. Table can be downloaded as .csv.

Provides updates on current cycle redistricting proposals, including a Redistricting Report Card, which grades each state’s proposed maps during the redistricting process. In addition to scoring maps on competitiveness and geographic features, PGP's algorithm "generates around one million potential districting plans for each state, providing us with a baseline of what’s possible to draw in a state given its political landscape and redistricting rules."

Large collection of U.S. election-related websites, including official candidate, party, polling, news, and other sites. Crawled and archived by the Library of Congress. This is an ongoing project.

Preserves campaign websites of declared candidates running for state elective offices. Beginning in 2018, the initiative preserved state legislative campaign content and websites for candidates in states with an Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation institution — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island — with the hope of adding additional states and / or other subnational elective offices as resources permit.

Replication data for Kifer, Parkin, and Druckman content analysis of over 1000 House and Senate candidates' Web sites over multiple election cycles (2002, 2004, 2006). Data include information on candidate and district characteristics. Data is in multiple formats.

Chapter 4 on the State Executive Branch includes an annual article on gubernatorial elections that discusses key campaigns and has tables of statistics on the cost of campaigns, 1970–present.

Nonpartisan project based at GWU documenting the presidential campaigns from 2000-2016. Especially useful for extensive information about general election and primary campaign organizations for the major candidates. Basis for a dataset coding field offices by county for 2004–2008 (Democrat) and 2012 (Democrat and Republican).

The Cook Political Report's Congressional District Election Handicapping Data from James Campbell's website (SUNY Buffalo). The reports were usually those that were the latest available before Labor Day. They range from late July to very early September. Most are from late August. Data in Excel. Race ratings from 2012-present available at https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings.

Traces the evolution of political campaigns in America and analyzes other key aspects of campaigns—laws and regulations; party identification; campaign organization; political parties, interest groups, and the media; campaign strategy; polling; and more.

• Also in print at JK2265 .G84 2005 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library)

Annotated bibliography covering major books, articles, and data sources on numerous aspects of U.S. election campaigns with emphasis on political advertising.

Guide to key resources on campaign finance, lobbying, and politicians' personal wealth.

FNS contains White House briefings & statements by the President, Congressional hearings, National Press Club speeches (when discussing major topics or remarks by key U.S. or foreign figures), special briefings whether on record or not for attribution in addition to remarks of top ranking officials, 1988+. CQ contains transcripts of 4 to 5 complete congressional hearings per day as well as press briefings from the State, Justice, and Defense departments, presidential news conferences and press briefings, and speeches and press conferences by national newsmakers, 1995+. If searching for speeches, try something like: (HEADLINE(mccain w/8 (remarks OR speech))).

Full text of Republican and Democrat party platforms. Includes third party platforms for years in which they received electoral votes. From the American Presidency Project at UCSB.

Contains transcripts of speeches, TV ads and debates of 12 US general election Presidential compaigns from 1952 though 1996. In .doc, .txt, and json formats.

Full text of campaign platforms of major and minor political parties in the United States for each presidential election. In print at JK2255 .J64 1978 and JK2255 .J643 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

Presents brief biographical accounts of presidential candidates and historical information about presidential elections from 1789–1992. Most useful for its coverage of minor party candidates and platforms. In print at JK528 .H38 1996 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

Provides useful insight into the personalities and passions that have shaped each presidential election campaign from 1788 to 2008. First volume provides A–Z entries covering slogans and issues, while the second and third volumes cover the elections chronologically. In print at JK524 .R58 2012 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

Presents and briefly analyzes primary source documents—including laws, regulations, and court rulings—that contextualize the evolution of U.S. election campaigns. Chronologically arranged for five periods from the 19th century to today. In print at JK2281 .U34 2011 (Firestone Library).

This dataset contains demographic, electoral and endorsement data for Senate, House and governor candidates in the 2022 primary elections (except Louisiana’s). Originally collected by FiveThirtyEight from state election officials, organization websites, social media, and other sources. Re-hosted by Redistricting Data Hub, which made minor corrections and combined into a single national file. Data in .csv.

File containing endorsements in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Includes name, state (and CD when applicable), position of endorser, date of announcement, source, and a weighting factor based on category of endorser's importance.

Data on endorsements only by members of Congress and governors. Data is weighted by type of endorser.

Over 8200 public endorsements for presidential candidates during the 2016 election scraped and classified from Wikipedia. Data in .csv.

Endorsements by members of Congress and governors with date of announcement and linked announcement text when available.

Endorsements by members of Congress and governors with date of announcement and linked announcement text when available.

Data from Marty Cohen's book, The Party Decides.

Presents an examination of U.S. presidential nominating conventions, including descriptions of the convention system and its evolution, the relation to primaries, in-depth information on specific conventions and political parties, and balloting totals for key convention ballots for the two major parties.

• Also in print at JK2255 .N373 2010 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library)

Full text of the nomination acceptance speeches with links to video for some speeches. From the American Presidency Project at UCSB.

This collection includes the proceedings of the Democratic National Conventions (1832–1988) and the Republican National Conventions (1856–1988), providing "gavel to gavel coverage, including speeches, debates, votes, and party platforms. Also included are lists of names of convention delegates and alternates." Once in Archives Unbound, click "Browse Collections, then click the Categories tab and look under "Law & Legal History".

Congressional Research Service compilation of federal and state laws, party rules, court decisions, Federal Election Commission regulation revisions, and statistical materials on presidential and vice presidential nominations and elections. Printed every 4 years, excepting 1996 and 2004.

Full video coverage of the Democratic and Republican parties' national conventions, 2000–present. Includes some coverage from 1984 and 1996 as well as some third party conventions (e.g., Reform Party in 2000, Libertarian in 2016).

Explanation of different types of primary voting systems together with a list showing what kind of primary is currently used in each of the 50 states.

Major reference from CQ Press discussing the evolution of elections in America, the development of political parties and the party system, and presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial elections. Includes many tables and indexes covering election returns, timelines, candidates, and more.

• Also in print at JK1967 .C662 2010 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library); older editions at same call number in the stacks

Good place to begin for brief overviews of hundreds of topics related to U.S. elections and voting.

• Also in print at JK2281 .E53 2008 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library)

Articles from top scholars reviewing research on various approaches and issues in research design, political participation, vote choice, presidential and non-presidential elections, and the influence of issues, interests, and elites on individual political behavior. Each article includes a useful bibliography.

• Also in print at JK1976 .O97 2010 (Firestone Library and Stokes Library)

A-to-Z reference guide covering the people, events, and terms involved in the electoral process. In print at JK2261 .S218 2006 (Trustee Reading Room, Firestone Library).

Analyzes various procedural controversies involving the U.S. electoral system, including the Electoral College debate and reform proposals, voter registration and voter ID, provisional and absentee ballots, redistricting, and computerized voting systems. In print at JK1976 .H28 2008 (Firestone Library).

Provides daily trading data, including session open, high, low, closing price, and trading volume.

Provides daily price and volume data for numerous political prediction markets, both current and historical.

Project of the Victoria University of Wellington makes data available to members of the academic community at no cost.