2008 Official Voting Results released
As previously mentioned, the Official Voting Results for the (2008) 40th General Election are now available for searching and/or downloading at the Elections Canada website.
They represent the 3rd stage in the reporting of election results (after the "preliminary" and "validated" stages, occasionally also involving the post-judicial recount stage; see the Pundit Metrics page description).
They are accompanied by an Election Results Map found here (WARNING: large PDF).
The Chief Electoral Officer's report on the election was also tabled today, but I haven't been through it yet.
Back to the official voting results: the main items of interest that number-crunchers will be most interested in are (WARNING: they are large files, especially the PDFs):
If you're just interested in searching, stick to their Official Voting Results web application found here, or give me a day or so, and I'll have them incorporated into the Pundits' Guide.
Now, permit me to repeat one grumble. Elections Canada publishes poll-by-poll results, but does not make poll boundary information available for free download, nor is it possible to even purchase boundary files (used by GIS/mapping programs) that describe the poll boundaries. Elections Canada prides itself on its commitment to making elections information open and accessible, and even points out that it has won awards for its website and the way it makes such information available. However, more than one reader has written to me and said that this is the major remaining gap in information. It's all very nice to have the poll-by-poll data, but without the maps, or downloadable street indexes and poll keys, or the boundary files, that data is meaningless. You can purchase some of it here, however, and it is provided for free to candidates, Members of Parliament and the political parties.
OK, I've got that rant out of my system. Now back to enjoying your number-crunching, folks.
They represent the 3rd stage in the reporting of election results (after the "preliminary" and "validated" stages, occasionally also involving the post-judicial recount stage; see the Pundit Metrics page description).
They are accompanied by an Election Results Map found here (WARNING: large PDF).
The Chief Electoral Officer's report on the election was also tabled today, but I haven't been through it yet.
Back to the official voting results: the main items of interest that number-crunchers will be most interested in are (WARNING: they are large files, especially the PDFs):
- Table 11 - Voting results by Electoral District (PDF version; downloadable CSV version)
- Table 12 - List of candidates by electoral district and individual results (PDF version; downloadable CSV version)
- Poll-by-poll results for your Electoral District - you'll have to go to the raw data page, and pick your riding from the drop-down list to download them
If you're just interested in searching, stick to their Official Voting Results web application found here, or give me a day or so, and I'll have them incorporated into the Pundits' Guide.
Now, permit me to repeat one grumble. Elections Canada publishes poll-by-poll results, but does not make poll boundary information available for free download, nor is it possible to even purchase boundary files (used by GIS/mapping programs) that describe the poll boundaries. Elections Canada prides itself on its commitment to making elections information open and accessible, and even points out that it has won awards for its website and the way it makes such information available. However, more than one reader has written to me and said that this is the major remaining gap in information. It's all very nice to have the poll-by-poll data, but without the maps, or downloadable street indexes and poll keys, or the boundary files, that data is meaningless. You can purchase some of it here, however, and it is provided for free to candidates, Members of Parliament and the political parties.
OK, I've got that rant out of my system. Now back to enjoying your number-crunching, folks.
posted by The Pundits' Guide at
8:37 AM
6 Comments:
Hello,
you may still be able to use the 2006 Federal Electoral Districts GIS file:
http://geogratis.ca/geogratis/en/option/select.do?id=1169
I don't believe they have changed much.
Yes, but what about the polling divisions ... i.e., down to the poll-by-poll level. I didn't believe those were included in this file, or am I totally wrong Stephen?
I've seen the free sources for Electoral District boundary files, but not for Polling Division ones (the focus of the rant in this blogpost), but I'll scour the link you sent me to see if I can't find them there.
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Doh, you're right. Teaches me to read the whole post more slowly.
No worries, Stephen, I always appreciate the second set of eyes.
The only source I'm aware of that uses polling division boundary files (he probably created them himself) is the 2006 Federal Electoral Atlas prepared by Graham P. Murray Research Associates of Toronto, which sold for $750.
Here is his sample in Google Maps format for the riding of Guelph, ON.
The lack of GIS shapefiles is a major impediment to good analysis.
Hi Anonymous,
I'm attending a usability testing session for a new Elections Canada website tomorrow. Will be passing all this feedback along, for sure.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
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