pvsR (version 0.1.1)

Candidates.getByLevenshtein: Get a list of candidates according to an approximate lastname match

Description

This function is a wrapper for the Candidates.getByLevenshtein() method of the PVS API Candidates class which grabs a list of candidates according to an approximate lastname match. The function sends a request with this method to the PVS API for all last names 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.getByLevenshtein(lastName, electionYear=NULL)

Arguments

lastName

a character string or list of character strings with the last name(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 year 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 CandidateBio.getBio(), Candidates.getByOfficeState(), Candidates.getByOfficeTypeState(), Candidates.getByElection(), Candidates.getByDistrict(), Candidates.getByZip(), Committee.getCommitteeMembers(), Election.getStageCandidates(), Leadership.getOfficials(), Local.getOfficials(), Officials.getStatewide(), Officials.getByOfficeState(), Officials.getByOfficeTypeState(), Officials.getByDistrict() or Officials.getByZip() to get last name(s).

Examples

# First, make sure your personal PVS API key is saved as character string in the pvs.key variable:
pvs.key <- "yourkey"
# get candidates with similar last names
names <- Candidates.getByLevenshtein(list("Obama","Romney"),2012)
names