pvsR (version 0.1.1)

Candidates.getByDistrict: Get a list of candidates according to the district they represent

Description

This function is a wrapper for the Candidates.getByDistrict() method of the PVS API Candidates class which grabs a list of candidates according to the district they represent for each district and election year. The function sends a request with this method to the PVS API for all district IDs and election years given as a function input, extracts the XML values from the returned XML file(s) and returns them arranged in one data frame.

Usage

Candidates.getByDistrict(districtId, electionYear=NULL)

Arguments

districtId

a character string or list of character strings with the district ID(s) (see references for details)

electionYear

(optional) a character string or list of character strings with the election year(s) (Default: >= current year)

Value

• A data frame with a row for each candidate and year and columns with variables describing the candidate. The returned data frame contains a row for each candidate and columns with the following variables describing the candidate: candidateList.candidate*.candidateId, candidateList.candidate*.firstName, candidateList.candidate*.nickName, candidateList.candidate*.middleName, candidateList.candidate*.preferredName, candidateList.candidate*.lastName, candidateList.candidate*.suffix, candidateList.candidate*.title, candidateList.candidate*.ballotName, candidateList.candidate*.electionParties, candidateList.candidate*.electionStatus, candidateList.candidate*.electionStage, candidateList.candidate*.electionDistrictId, candidateList.candidate*.electionDistrictName, candidateList.candidate*.electionOffice, candidateList.candidate*.electionOfficeId, candidateList.candidate*.electionStateId, candidateList.candidate*.electionOfficeTypeId, candidateList.candidate*.electionYear, candidateList.candidate*.electionSpecial, candidateList.candidate*.electionDate, candidateList.candidate*.officeParties, candidateList.candidate*.officeStatus, candidateList.candidate*.officeDistrictId, candidateList.candidate*.officeDistrictName, candidateList.candidate*.officeStateId, candidateList.candidate*.officeId, candidateList.candidate*.officeName, candidateList.candidate*.officeTypeId, candidateList.candidate*.runningMateId, candidateList.candidate*.runningMateName.

References

http://api.votesmart.org/docs/Candidates.html Use District.getByOfficeState() or District.getByZip() to get a list of district ID(s).

Examples

# First, make sure your personal PVS API key is saved as character string in the pvs.key variable:
pvs.key <- "yourkey"
# get a list of candidates of certain districts
district <- Candidates.getByDistrict(list(25157,25155),2012)
district