Supporting Data

Note

When you see a checkmark (✔) in a table cell in the sections below it means you need records but there aren't any specific required values for the calculation beyond their connections to each other data (candidates, parties, ridings).

When you see a specific field name like Seats or Votes then it's important that the records have correct values for those fields in addition to the their connections to each other.

Historical Data

While the election is primarily about the new results, being able to compare the incoming results with past results creates very compelling content. To be able to do the analysis with previous results the system needs to know the previous results. If you are starting with a blank slate and do not have a full set of previous results you can still fill in some summary data to give you some of the analysis results.

Review Your Historical Data

Be sure to review the historical data you have to make sure it's accurate and complete so the analysis based on it will be correct.

Party Codes (datafeedChar)

Party codes also sometimes called Datafeed ID values need to be consistent across election dates.

Party Code are Required Data for Everything

For any of the historical data analysis methods used you will need:

  1. Previous election party records

  2. Previous candidates with vote counts.

  3. Dissolution party records

Depending on the data available to you, the candidates can be a complete list or single candidate-per-party summary value.

Overall Party Results - Essential

To generate the basic overall results summary with overall seat change and overall vote percent change you need:

Date

Party

Riding

Candidate

Reason

Example

Date

Party

Riding

Candidate

Reason

Example

Dissolution

Seats (leading)





seat +/-

Previous



Votes

vote% +/-

Used By

  • BLADE 

    • Party Results - All

      • api/party/result/overall/(mains)/json/

  • Flow Header - party seat counts

    • via blade request above

  • Overall Race module

    • Seats graph for All Regions selection

    • Vote % graph for All Regions selection

  • Riding Detail Results module

    • Seats graph

    • Vote % graph

Tips

If you are starting with no previous data then you can enter summary records to enable this level of analysis

  1. Add all the parties with their total seat count for the previous election date

  2. Create a single candidate for each party and assign the party's total votes

    1. the name of this candidate doesn't really matter - it could be the party name or the party leader name if you prefer

Overall Party Seats Graph - Essential

This graph is found in the Overall Race module and is the main graph presented. It can be organized by year or by party. 

Date

Party

Riding

Candidate

Reason

Date

Party

Riding

Candidate

Reason

Dissolution

Seats (leading)





seat count

Previous

Seats (leading)





seat count

Regional Party Results

To generate the overall party results summary with overall seat change and overall vote percent change for a specific region you need:

Date

Region

Party

Riding

Candidate

Reason

Example

Date

Region

Party

Riding

Candidate

Reason

Example

Dissolution

Ridings

Elected Party



seat +/-

Previous

Ridings

Votes

vote% +/-

Used By 

  • Overall Race module

    • Seats graph for a specific region

    • Vote % graph for a specific region

Tips

  • Clone the previous election ridings into the dissolution date.

    • requires setting the dissolution date as active

    • use the Clone feature

    • set current election date back to active

Regional Party Gain/Loss

To generate the more specific gains and losses analysis we need a riding-by-riding level of analysis to know when a party lost a riding and when they gained one.

This method uses the Incumbent Party field of the current election riding records.

Date

Region

Party

Riding

Candidate

Reason

Example

Date

Region

Party

Riding

Candidate

Reason

Example

Previous

Ridings

Votes

vote% +/-



"votesPercentChange":-12.1

Current

Ridings

Incumbent Party

Votes

Gains &
Losses

"gains":2 "losses":8

Used By

  • BLADE

    • Party Results for a region with Gain-Loss analysis

      • api/party/result/region/Vancouver/(mains)/json/gainloss/