HowWeCollectCandidates: PVSWiki

Project Vote Smart’s Methods of Maintaining Candidate Database
as of 11/04/08

Obtaining Data:

Project Vote Smart currently covers all candidates that will appear on the official ballot for the offices of: President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Governor, Justices of the highest court(s) in each state, State Senate, and State House/Assembly. For the office of President, we also cover: all write-in candidates that have registered with a state (we do not cover write-ins for those states that do not require write-ins to register); those that have formed or announced a Presidential exploratory or campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission; and those who have publicly expressed an interest in a Presidential campaign or their interest has been suggested by the media. We follow all primary elections, general elections, runoffs, and Congressional and Gubernatorial special elections.
Project Vote Smart's database is built from primary source candidate listings furnished by Secretary of States' offices and the Federal Election Commission. We draw from all available lists of candidate filings for major parties, third parties, Independents, and write-ins, as well as any withdrawals or removals. While we do seek information on ballot changes from other sources, we always verify these changes with the most up-to-date information from the Secretary of State’s office. On a daily basis, we check various news sources and candidate tracking websites (including politics1.com and ballot-access.org) for updates on individuals' candidacy. Citizens and candidates themselves will also notify us of necessary changes to the lists on our website.
As candidate lists are frequently changing, we run periodic updates for each state. At the bare minimum, for each state we will run nine updates per election cycle: the entering of primary candidates, an update of primary candidates, entering unofficial results of the primary, an update with certified primary results, entering general election candidates including third party and Independent candidates, an update of general election candidates, entering unofficial results of the general election, an update with certified general election results, and an update using a list of current officials. Well before primary season, we create a calendar of all relevant deadlines for each state, including those for major party filing, third party filing, Independent filing, write-in filing, withdrawals, certifications of candidacy, and certifications of election results. These deadlines, along with the dates of elections, organizational mailings, and press releases, guide the schedule of our statewide candidate list updates. If we come across any new deadlines, such as those for recounts, or updated lists in the course of our work, we run additional updates. Starting a month before the General Election we run two updates of all 50 states if new lists are available.
To provide a complete picture of each state’s situation, we maintain a spreadsheet of relevant election laws, any special situations, what types of candidates will be appearing on the ballot (unopposed, third parties, independents, and write-ins), the offices and districts up for election, and the number of seats per district.

Entering and Checking Data:

To ensure the accuracy of our data entry, we abide by a series of strict procedures and formatting rules. Each time we enter or check a candidate list, it goes through three rounds of checks by three different employees who then date and initial list activity logs. To minimize mistakes, a step-by-step check-off sheet is attached to each list. We keep a filing system of all lists we have processed for easy reference. We also keep detailed records tracking each state’s progress, noting the dates each list update was retrieved, as well as when it was made available.
In performing an update of a candidate list, we compare the names, districts, and parties on our website to that of the updated list. A staff member then adds or removes candidates and their contact information as necessary. Another person then checks on our database all information for those candidates that have been changed. Finally, these changes are checked by someone else on our live website.

Election Processing:

We obtain unofficial election results from either Secretary of States’ offices or reliable news media sources as soon as possible after each election- typically the following day. In the event that the available election results only cover contested races, we highlight all declared winners and unopposed candidates on the most up-to-date candidate list. If an inadequate percentage of precincts are reporting, a majority is necessary but not reached, or the race is very close, we would mark these candidates as Too Close To Call. These candidates’ statuses are then resolved once we receive certified election results. After these results are entered, a staff member checks the data entry on our database, followed by a check on our live website. Finally, an incumbent check is performed to make sure all offices up for election are accounted for. After a primary election, we would make sure that there is one candidate per party, per seat up for election. After the general election, we would make sure that there is one winner for each seat up for election. Once we process election results, these candidates are automatically advanced to the next stage of the election. Primary winners are thus designated as general election candidates, while general election winners are designated as elected to office.

PVSWiki : HowWeCollectCandidates