Candidate Name and Constituency Totals, 1788-1990 (ICPSR 2)

Version Date: May 27, 2025

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Principal Investigator(s):
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR00002.v6

Version V6 ()

  • V6 [2025-05-27]
  • V5 [1995-06-05] unpublished
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Summary

The United States Historical Election Returns Series consists of several datasets, the major files are the United States Historical Election Returns, 1788-1968 (ICPSR 00001) and General Election Data for the United States, 1950-1990 (ICPSR 00013). ICPSR 00001 includes county-level returns for over 90 percent of all elections to the offices of president, governor, United States representative (1824-1990), and United States senator (1912-1990).The dataset also includes returns for approximately two-thirds of all elections to the offices of president, governor, and United States representative for the period 1788-1823. Study ICPSR 00013 contains county-level returns for all elections to the same national and state offices, plus one additional state-wide office, usually attorney general or secretary of state.

This data collection provides summary information about candidates contesting elections and special elections anywhere in the nation, political party name and ICPSR party ID code, and the number of votes received by each candidate in the constituency for elections between 1788 and 1990. The information also include election for which returns are available solely at the constituency level and not found in the country-level files of elections returns described above. For detailed information about candidates and contests, please refer to study Constituency Statistics of Elections in the United States, 1788-1990 (ICPSR 7757).

This release further include 1990 data from the District of Columbia election for United States senator and United States representative. The offices of two senators and one representative were created by the "District of Columbia Statehood Constitutional Convention Initiative," which was approved by District voters in 1980. Elections for these offices were postponed until the 1990 general election. The three offices are currently local District positions, which will turn into federal offices if the District becomes a state.

Citation

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Candidate Name and Constituency Totals, 1788-1990. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-05-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR00002.v6

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Funding

National Science Foundation (RO-5637-72-464), National Endowment for the Humanities

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

1788 -- 1990

Data Collection Notes

  1. The primary election is held to nominate candidates from the major political parties (Democratic, Republican, and D.C. Statehood) to the general election ballot. In the general election, each party nominee will appear on the ballot, along with any independent and minor party candidates who qualify for the ballot directly by obtaining the required number of voter signatures on nominating petitions.

    To have appeared on the ballot in a primary election, a candidate for Senator or Representative needed to collect the signatures of one percent of the voters registered within his or her party, or 2,000 signatures, whichever is less. To have appeared on the ballot in the general election (as an independent or minor party candidate), the candidate needed to collect signatures of 3,000 registered voters.

  2. This collection is part of the United States Historical Election Returns Series.

  3. ICPSR has not confirmed the accuracy of the provided data. Further review of candidates' names and FIPS codes may be recommended.

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Universe

Candidates who ran for the offices of president, governor, and United States representative (1788-1823; 1824-1990), United States senator (1912-1990), and one additionally statewide office, usually attorney general or secretary of state (1968-1990).

Data Source

Official election returns provided by state governments.

Data Type(s)

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Original Release Date

1984-06-19

Version History

2025-05-27 This study was updated to convert the previously released data into multiple file formats and standardized documentation.

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:

  • Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Candidate Name and Constituency Totals, 1788-1990. ICPSR00002-v6. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-05-27. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR00002.v6

1984-06-19 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Performed consistency checks.
  • Standardized missing values.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

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Notes