US ELECTIONS.
The OpenElections project obtains and standardizes precinct-level results from US elections, including the 2020 US Presidential Election. To access the data, search OpenElections’ GitHub page (https://github.com/openelections) and click on a link to a data repository for the state of your choosing. Select the 2020 folder and find a file that ends in .csv. Some notes:
Each state uses a different format, so click through a couple states’ repositories until you find one that will allow you to study voting patterns at the precinct-level.
To read the csv file into R, you will need to point R to the raw version of the data set. To view the raw csv you will either click the button that says “Raw” at the top right of the data frame on GitHub or click the link that says “View Raw Data”. When you are looking at the raw csv file, the url in your browser is the one you can use to access the file from within R.
There may be strange extra rows in your data, such as a row tallying total overall votes. Visually inspect the data to see if anything jumps out and be sure to take this into consideration when doing your analysis.
QUESTION 11
What state did you choose to study? What is the unit of observation in your state’s data frame? What are the dimensions?
QUESTION 12
Use this data to create a plot of that state’s first digit distribution by precinct. Use the number of votes cast for Joseph Biden in each precinct.
QUESTION 13
Does the election you chose appear to fit Benford’s distribution better or worse than the Iran election?