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https://github.com/cjerdonek/sf-base-election-data

Basic open data about San Francisco elections
https://github.com/cjerdonek/sf-base-election-data

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Basic open data about San Francisco elections

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# SF Base Election Data (SFBED)



SFBED is an open data project to provide baseline information about

San Francisco elections in an open, machine-readable, documented, and

structured form.



The end product of the project is a single, static, publicly available

[JSON][json] file (maintained at [`data/sf.json`](data/sf.json)), along

with supporting documentation.  This file is placed in the public domain.

See the [License](#license) section below for details.



The JSON file provides in a structured format information about San

Francisco elections that tends to remain the same from election to election.

This includes things like information about the offices and government

bodies that appear on the ballot, and what precincts and districts they

cover.



Anyone can use this information, for example by [mashing it up][mash_up]

with other election data for your own purposes (e.g. media pieces, research

projects, campaign finance reports, election results, ballot information,

etc.).  The project eliminates the need to manually compile this

information on your own.



See [here][SFBED_gh_page] for a sample web page created from this data.

If you notice any issues with the data or have any other project suggestions,

please file an issue in the [issue tracker][issue_tracker].



SFBED is a project of the [SF Elections Data][sf_elections_data] group

of [Code for San Francisco][code_for_sf].



## Overview



The data is provided as a single JSON file included in this repository:

[`data/sf.json`](data/sf.json).



Examples of the type of information that the project aims to provide include--



* all local, state, and federal offices that appear on San Francisco ballots,

* links to the official web site of each office or office body,

* the lengths of the terms of each office, and

* district information for each office (e.g. list of precincts).



The project focus is on the information that tends to remain the

same from election to election.  Thus, the project does not provide

information about candidates, election results, or current office holders.



To permit a higher guarantee of quality and accuracy, the focus of the

project is on the information that tends to remain the same from election

to election (or that changes infrequently).



## Languages



The project has partial support for [internationalization][i18n] (aka "i18n"),

which means support for multiple languages.  The data provides

translations of some English phrases into the following languages:



* Chinese

* Spanish

* Filipino/Tagalog (limited)



The [San Francisco Department of Elections][SFDOE] currently prints official

ballots in English, Chinese, and Spanish.  In November 2015, the

Department will begin printing official ballots in Filipino (see

[here](http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?recordid=543&page=998) for

information on the San Francisco [Language Access Ordinance][SFLAO], or LAO).



The project would also like to add translations in the following languages--



* Japanese

* Korean

* Vietnamese



In the November 2014 election, in addition to Chinese and Spanish, the

Department of Elections also made translations of election materials

available in the three languages above, as well as Filipino.  Translated

materials included ballots and related instructions, State Voter

Information Guides, and Voter Bill of Rights posters.  Thus, official

San Francisco translations already exist in some form, but just need

to be added to the data.



## Use Cases



Possible uses of the data include "[mashing up][mash_up]" with or otherwise

supplementing presentations of--



* what is on the ballot,

* election results, or

* campaign finance information.



## The Data



For how to interpret the JSON file, see [this page](docs/json.md).



## Sources



See Article XIII: ELECTIONS, SEC. 13.101. TERMS OF ELECTIVE OFFICE. of the

San Francisco Charter for information about terms of offices, etc.



Resources:



* [List of Local Elected Officials](http://www.sfgov2.org/index.aspx?page=832)

* [List of State Elected Officials](http://www.sfgov2.org/index.aspx?page=833)



## Contributors



Contributors should refer to the [contributor documentation](docs/develop.md)

for additional information.



## License



This project (with the exception of the JSON file as described below) is

licensed under the BSD 3-clause license.  See the [`LICENSE`](LICENSE) file

for details.



The database consisting of the JSON file located at

[`data/sf.json`](data/sf.json) in this repository is made available under

the Public Domain Dedication and License v1.0 whose full text can be

found at the file [`data/LICENSE.txt`](data/LICENSE.txt) in this repository,

as well as at the following location:

[http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/1.0/](http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/1.0/).



## Author



Chris Jerdonek ()



[code_for_sf]: http://codeforsanfrancisco.org/

[i18n]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization

[issue_tracker]: https://github.com/cjerdonek/sf-base-election-data/issues

[json]: http://json.org/

[mash_up]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_%28web_application_hybrid%29

[pddl_v1.0]: http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/1.0/

[sf_elections_data]: http://cjerdonek.github.io/sf-elections-data/

[SFBED_gh_page]: http://cjerdonek.github.io/sf-base-election-data

[SFDOE]: http://sfelections.org

[SFLAO]: http://sfgsa.org/index.aspx?page=4450