Lily Grills
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Research Mentor(s): Allen Hicken, Professor
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Political Science, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 3 (1pm-1:50pm)
Breakout Room: Room 9
Presenter: 7
Abstract
Throughout the world, there are various countries that have constituency-level elections, and there is endless data coming from these elections. Elections in many countries go back hundreds of years in history, and though all of this data already exists and is recorded, it can be very fragmented, and can be difficult to use for research. Through the Constituency Level Elections Archive (CLEA), a comprehensive election database with election data from all around the world, we strive to establish a centralized database that contains reliable and consistent election data. CLEA’s first election dataset release was in 2008, and has been updated every year since its inception. CLEA data is collected and preserved meticulously through collaboration of professors, graduate students, undergraduate students, and other research associates. The data is consolidated through collecting election data directly from repositories of different countries, and then recording the data necessary for our research purposes – region, country, constituency information, number of seats and who gets elected to them, votes and names for each candidate, each party, as well as information about voter turnout. Through collecting, consolidating, and preserving this election data, CLEA is able to make it publicly available to anyone who needs it at no cost. Through this easily accessible public good, multitudes of audiences will be able to use the data for research, education, and policy-making to understand important topics and create change in global society.
Authors: Lily Grills, Allen Hicken
Research Method: Library/Archival/Internet Research
