Potential Data Sources

The 2018 MinneMUDAC Challenge requires participants to obtain their own data. The data sources listed here are a reasonable place to start for the collection of your data.  This list is by no means a definitive list and we encourage participants to use other relevant data throughout this challenge, e.g. polling data, social media data, etc. Data sources must be referenced when presenting outcomes to competition judges.

Office of the Minnesota Secretary of the State:  https://www.sos.state.mn.us/

• See Elections Results under Elections and Voting for outcomes from recent elections
• See Data & Maps under Election Administration & Campaigns for Historical Statistics, GIS  Data for mapping, etc.

Comment:  Registered voters lists — which may include a historical record of voting for an individual can be requested from the the State of Minnesota for a small fee.  However, the 2018 MinneMUDAC Challenge does *not* meet the criteria specified by Minnesota Statutes 201.091 . The 2018 MinneMUDAC Challenge is focused on voter turnout at the Congressional District level and individual level data should not be used.

American Fact Finder:  https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml

• Widely available Census Data from the United States Census Bureau
• Select Advanced Search to build a query to obtain desired Census Data
  • Census Data at the Congressional District level may be obtained by specifying Congressional District under Geographies
  • More specific census data can be obtained by selecting County, Census Tract, or Block Group levels under Geographies.  If data at this level is used, then crosswalk files will likely be necessary to relate this census data to the congressional districts / voting districts / precincts in the State of Minnesota.  For example, the following link provides a crosswalk file to relate Census Blocks to Congressional Districts or Voting Districts for a particular state – https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/baf.html

Other Potential Data Sources

Library of Congress – U.S. Election Statistics: A Resource Guide: https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/elections/statistics.html

• See Section titled Election Studies and Data, Exit Polling, Voting and Registration for a variety of resources centered around election data and statistics

Minnesota State Demographic Center:  https://mn.gov/admin/demography/

• Select Data by Topic to obtain data on population, age, ethnicity, education, income, etc.
• See Map & Viz Gallery for various visualizations of demographic data for the State of Minnesota

Basic Demographics by Congressional District for the State of Minnesota: https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=27

• Easy to use tool for gathering basic demographic information for each Congressional District in Minnesota.

Pew Research Center – Publications on Voter Demographics: http://www.pewresearch.org/topics/voter-demography/

• Publications centered on the trends in voting over the past 15 years

Minnesota’s own American Public Media Research:
https://www.apmresearchlab.org/stories/2018/06/26/representing-us#h2.data_sources_and_notes

Community Suggestions:

The US Government: https://www.data.gov

• The US Government pledged last year to make all government data available freely online. This site is the first stage and acts as a portal to all sorts of amazing information on everything from climate to crime.

Datacatalogs: http://Datacatalogs.org (You can get to https://gisdata.mn.gov from here.)

• Offers open government data from US, EU, Canada, CKAN, and more.

The CIA World Factbook Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook

• Data on history, population, economy, government, infrastructure and military of 267 countries.

Forbes 33 Brilliant And Free Data Sources Anyone Can Use: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/02/12/big-data-35-brilliant-and-free-data-sources-for-2016/#222d572b54db

MPC (Minnesota Poplulations Center) Presenting on IPUMS Census and Survey Data

• The MPC presented on Oct 17 & 18 on the following data. Stream a recording of the presentation or view presentation slides
• An introduction to IPUMS NHGIS, a data product that provide access to decennial census and American Community Survey data for small areas. NHGIS provides both population/housing data and GIS boundary files for mapping purposes.
• In addition, an introduction to IPUMS CPS, a web-based system that streamlines and simplifies access to microdata from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of households fielded by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Labor Statistics. The Voting and Registration supplement to the CPS, fielded from 1976 to 2016 (even years only), contains individual-level information on registering to vote, voting, and method of voting.
• Link to IPUMS: https://www.ipums.org/
  

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