pvsR (version 0.1.1)

Election.getElectionByZip: Get district basic election data according to the ZIP code

Description

This function is a wrapper for the Election.getElectionByZip() method of the PVS API Election class which grabs district basic election data according to the ZIP code. If another year than the current year is chosen, all election data from that year up to the current year is returned. The function sends a request with this method to the PVS API for all ZIP codes 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.getElectionByZip(zip5, zip4=NULL, year)

Arguments

zip5

a character string or list of character strings with the five-digit ZIP code

zip4

(optional) a character string or list of character strings with the expanded ZIP+4 code (default: NULL)

year

a character string or list of character strings with the year

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.

References

http://api.votesmart.org/docs/Election.html

Examples

# First, make sure your personal PVS API key is saved as character string in the pvs.key variable:
pvs.key <- "yourkey"
# get election data by ZIP code
election <- Election.getElectionByZip(zip5=list(10001,10002), year="2012")
election