pvsR (version 0.1.1)

Election.getElection: Get district basic election data

Description

This function is a wrapper for the Election.getElection() method of the PVS API Election class which grabs district basic election data according to the election ID. The function sends a request with this method to the PVS API for all election IDs given as a function input, extracts the XML values from the returned XML file(s) and returns them arranged in one data frame.

Usage

Election.getElection(electionId)

Arguments

electionId

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

Value

• A data frame with a row for each election and columns with variables describing the election. The returned data frame contains a row for each election and columns with the following variables describing the election: elections.election*.electionId, elections.election*.name, elections.election*.stateId, elections.election*.officeTypeId, elections.election*.special, elections.election*.electionYear. For each stage the following variables are jointly (as one string) in a column: elections.election*.stage*.stageId, elections.election*.stage*.name, elections.election*.stage*.stateId, elections.election*.stage*.electionDate, elections.election*.stage*.filingDeadline, elections.election*.stage*.npatMailed.

References

http://api.votesmart.org/docs/Election.html Use Election.getElectionByYearState() or Election.getElectionByZip() to get election 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 data of a certain election
election <- Election.getElection(as.list(2595:2607))
election