Data is collected for California state-wide elections held in November of even-numbered years. This data consists of lists of registered voters, precinct maps, and election results for state-wide and state offices. The data is merged to the census block level.
A complete statewide database at the block level has been constructed for both the 1990 and 1992 General elections. The data can be classified as either SOR (Statement of Registration), SOV (Statement of Vote), or Census. All data used in the construction of this database is publicly available through the sources noted throughout this document.
SOR information consists of information about registered voters. Organized at the level of the individual, this data is available from individual county registrars and from the Secretary of State's Office in Sacramento. Formats of the data from the several counties tend to be different, though some standardization has occurred in recent years as software vendors have begun providing software. The data from the Secretary of State comes in a uniform format and is available for every county in the state, though its file does not contain all information that is available on the county tapes. The information for a voter typically contains his or her date of birth, sex, address, marital status, affidavit number (the number by which the Secretary of State keeps track of registered voters), registration precinct, partisan affiliation, and sometimes other information such as occupation. Not all of this information may be present for every voter.
SOV information consists of information pertaining to election results. This information is organized at the level of the election precinct, which is the unit by which electoral results are reported. There are three types of statewide elections, primary, general, and special. Primary elections are held in June of every even-numbered year (though in 1996 this election will be held in March) while general elections are held in November of every even-numbered year, with special elections being (rarely) held at other times. Presidential races (both primary and general) are held every four years and in the alternate even-year (the off-year) state-wide constitutional officers are elected. State offices are Assembly and State Senate. Federal offices are Congress and the United States Senate. On every ballot, there are various initiatives, ballot measures, constitutional amendments, and (rarely) referenda. Additionally, each county or municipality may put other measures on the ballot.
Census information consists of information describing population, ethnicity, housing, and other demographic data obtained by the decennial census conducted by the Federal government. This data is tabulated at various levels of the census geography, with some data (PL94-171 and STF1) at the census block level and other data at the block group level (STF3).
Mergers are made to the census block as follow. For each individual voter, the registration tapes contain, among other things, both the voter's registration precinct the voter's address. Using geocoding, the process of matching an address to its corresponding census geography, it is possible to create an (incomplete) conversion table between registration precincts and census geography. Since election precincts are made up of registration precincts, this allows the creation of a conversion file of election precinct to census geography.
Since merges are organized by Assembly district, the files going into a merge are organized by the level of the Assembly District (the merged data by block is at the county level, however). Assembly District 00 consists of those absentee precincts which could not be allocated to an Assembly District.
| Copyright © 1997-2004 | [ROAD Home] | Questions? Contact the ROAD webmaster. |