Presidential Series

Description

The Presidential Series is an on-going mapping project at the Statewide Database. The voting returns for the three major candidates in the presidential election of 1992 (Bush, Clinton and Perot) are mapped to the census block level. The maps are broken down first by Assembly District (AD), and then further detailed in slices of the AD by county (and in most cases, those county slices are further detailed with 'zooms' of highly populated regions...Be sure to scroll down under each map for links to detail maps).

The project started out as a check of our geography and label files, and to make sure that our data are complete and mapable for the 2001 redistricting. Breaking down the Statement of Vote (SOV) from the precinct level on which results are reported to the smaller block level also exemplifies one of the unique features of this database. The presidential series is created with an in-house geographical information system named DGX or Demographix. For each map, the geography is loaded, and the street labels are individually placed. Then, the data are mapped into the geography, using the same color file for each map. The entire process of creating one map takes on average about two hours.

We quickly realized that the presidential series had other applications in addition to those outlined above. Students, for example, use these maps to study voting behavior and as a baseline for research projects, and we are able to respond to many requests for maps quicker now that label files for the districts have been created.

Currently, about 80 percent of this project has been completed and each district is uploaded whenever all parts, including the detailed maps, are finished. We always appreciate feedback, so please let us know if you find this project useful.