Library & Cultural Services: Politics: Elections. Voting. Political Parties

Global

ACE Electoral Knowledge Network
Launched in2006 by a consortium of institutions. Free access to resources on election administration, including country fact files.
Comparative National Elections Project
Comprises national election surveys in 24 nations since 1990. Users can download many examples of datasets and questionnaires. Countries covered include Germany, Britain, the United States, Japan; Chile, Greece, Indonesia; South Africa; Spain and Uruguay. There is also a bibliography of associated publications and articles.
Comparative Study of Election Systems (CSES)
Major collaborative international project which makes freely available the data from participating countries (1996-)
Constituency Level Elections Archive (CLEA)
Michigan University sponsored project collating data covering elections to the lower house/legislative chamber for 163 countries, earliest data from 1788. Data for upper chamber added more recently.
Democratic Electoral Systems dataset
Golder & Bormann's DES version 3.0 covers all of the legislative and presidential elections in democratic states from 1946 through 2016.
Electoral Integrity Project
The Perceptions of Electoral Integrity dataset is based on a rolling survey collecting the views of election experts. Covers around 80% of countries holding elections from 2012 onwards. Coordinated by Pippa Norris (Harvard University)
Global Elections Database
Project coordinated by Dawn Brancati and formerly known as the Constituency-Level Elections (CLE) dataset. An online collection of election data which provides detail down to constituency level for 60 nations worldwide. It currently covers the period 1944-2007 providing information on legislative elections for upper and lower chambers as well as some sub-national elections. Compilation uses publicly available resources such as government departments and election commission. Datasets may be downloaded.
Global Party Survey
GPS is an independent academic research project based at Harvard University, and uses an expert survey to document how political parties worldwide differ in their ideological values, policy positions and rhetoric. The first survey took place in 2019, covering 1043 political parties in 163 countries, data can be downloaded via Harvard Dataverse. A follow-up survey took place in 2022
Index of Electoral Malpractice
Constructed by Professor Sarah Birch. Comprises data on malpractice in elections held between 1995 and 2006 in 57 countries from Latin America, Eastern Europe & the Former Soviet Union, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
International Foundation for Electoral Systems
The world's premier electoral assistance organisation, which provides news and lists of national level parliamentary & presidential elections worldwide, with results (including voter turnout where available) of elections from 1998 onwards, as well as details of forthcoming elections. Especially useful is its Election Guide.
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)
Free access to publications and a number of databases at: https://www.idea.int/data-tools - including: Direct Democracy ; Electoral Justice ; Electoral Management ; Electoral System Design ; Gender Quotas ; ICT in Elections ; Political Finance ; State of Democracy Assessments ; Voter Turnout ; Voting From Abroad.
International Republican Institute
Non-partisan organisation committed to advancing democracy. Some useful reports on public opinion & elections around the world
Manifesto Project (MARPOR)
Continues the work of the Comparative Manifestos Project and the Manifesto Research Group. Important source of data, especially for policy preferences - covers over 1000 parties in over 50 countries, from 1945 onwards. Includes coded and un-coded election manifestos, links to publications, etc.
ParlGov
ParlGov is based at University of Bremen and contains information (voting data & party positions) for all EU and most OECD democracies (37 countries). The database combines approximately 1700 parties, 1000 elections and 1600 cabinets.
Party Facts
Party Facts is a German-led project, a gateway to empirical data about political parties and a modern online platform about parties and their history as recorded in social science datasets
Queer Politics at Princeton (QP@P)
Searchable map and database includes all out LGBTQI+ elected officials since 1976 (national & state level) for selected countries around the world

Africa. Asia. Middle East. Oceania

African Elections Project
Asian Network for Free Elections
Australian Election Database Dataverse
Summary data at national and state level for elections to the House of Representatives, 1901-
Australian Election Study
Commenced 1987, with some older survey data also available
Elections India
Commercial site, but provides access to some useful free high quality data
Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA)
See the encyclopaedia for data by country.
India Votes
India's largest public elections resource, covering all Lok Sabha elections since 1952 and all State elections since 1977
Iran Data Portal
Parliamentary & presidential election results 1980- (in English & Farsi) plus other political & social science data.
Israel National Election Studies
Data, reports & bibliography from 1969- onwards.

Europe

Europe Elects
Useful new site that collates public opinion polls on voting intentions across EU countries. Data from 2018- onwards
European Election Studies (EES)
The European Election Research Group has been studying European parliamentary elections since 1979. Some data & publications are freely accessible through the GESIS website.
European Voter Database (European Voter Project)
Based on the ICORE Election Studies, offers free access to electoral data from Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway & Sweden. Data from 1956-2001 via GESIS.
Observatoire des Elections en Europe (European Elections Monitor)
Handy website from the Robert Schumann Centre (France), with analysis, roundup & results of national elections for European countries since 2002
ParlGov
ParlGov is based at University of Bremen and contains information (voting data & party positions) for all EU and most OECD democracies (37 countries). The database combines approximately 1700 parties, 1000 elections and 1600 cabinets.
VoteWatch Europe
Independent site offering information on decision-making by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. Detailed statistical tables relating to the European Parliament from 2004, including voting patterns of individual MEPs, political parties, coalitions and nation states.

France

Archives electorales de CEVIPOF digital library of leaflets and ephemera 1958-

Centre de donnees socio-politiques (SciencesPo) electoral data back to 1965 for presidential elections, and from 1979 for European elections, 1997- for Assemblee national & Senat, and 1998- for regional elections

Germany

Der Bundeswahlleiter Office of the Federal Returning Officer with election news & results

German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) data available for German federal elections 2009-

GESIS Wahlstudien portal to election resources & data from Leibniz-Institut fur Sozialwissenschaften. Federal elections 1949-

Politbarometer polls undertaken by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen (Institute for Election Research) covering German political parties and issues, 1977-

Ireland

Elections Ireland provides listings & some analysis of general & by-election election results in the Republic and N. Ireland since 1918. Also European Parliament elections (1999-) and Irish presidential elections (1938-)

Irish National Election Study (INES) survey data on the 2002 & 2007 general elections, plus the 2004 European and local elections

Italy

Archivio Storico delle Elezioni data for national (with local detail) and European elections from Ministry of Interior. Some data from 1948-

Associazione ITANES (Italian National Election Studies) conducts election studies & analysis of electoral behaviour (parliamentary and presidential elections). Register for free download of data relating to elections 1968-

Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali (CISE)

Russia

Russia Votes maintained by Richard Rose at the Centre for the Study of Public Policy, Strathclyde University

Sweden

Swedish National Election Studies

United Kingdom

ARK
Social policy hub for N. Ireland, maintained by Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University. Includes survey and election data as well as publications
BBC History - Elections
Audio & visual archive charting the BBCs election coverage since 1922.
Britain Elects
Poll aggregating service, fairly recently established (2013)
British Election Study
Currently managed by a consortium of three UK universities. Includes access to BES data from 1964 onwards.
Eighteenth Century Political Participation & Electoral Culture (ECPPEC)
AHRC project looking at how people participated in parliamentary elections in England 1695-1832. It also presents polling data for nineteen English constituencies & a directory of surviving poll books for the period, corresponding to 11676 separate elections. Information about where the books are held is provided, as well as case studies & essays.
Election Analysis UK
Website from the PSA, Centre for Politics & Media Research and CSJCC (both at Bournemouth University). Highly useful publications on media & elections 2015-
ElectionLeaflets.org
Great potential resource of digitised election leaflets (2010-) from around the country.
Elections Centre
Thrasher & Rallings led centre, notable for its data & research on local elections. Flagship publication Local elections handbook held on floor 4 at JS 3215 (1988-). Council results are available for local authorities (regions, counties, districts, boroughs) from 1974 (1964 for London boroughs) until 2011/12 here https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=2393
Historical data (1889-1998) for London county & boroughs is available in the 3 volume work by John Woollard and Alan Willis "Twentieth Century Local Election results", held in print format by the library, and digitised here:
vol. 1 https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Twentieth-Century-Local-Election-Results-Volume-1.pdf
vol. 2 https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Twentieth-Century-Local-Election-Results-Volume-2.pdf
vol. 3 https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Twentieth-Century-Local-Election-Results-Volume-3.pdf
Electoral Calculus
Website using opinion polls & quantitative analysis to predict election results.
Ordnance Survey Election Maps
Free access to official maps of current UK electoral districts.
Scottish Election Study
The source for a data driven understanding of Scottish elections, public opinion & voting behaviour
UK Web Archive
Coordinated by the British Library, archives numerous websites connected with elections since 2005-
University of Bristol Special Collections
The University of Bristol Special Collections holds the largest UK collection of election addresses (over 30,000) and campaign literature from all British Parliamentary Elections since 1892. Also leaflets from the European Elections, along with campaign literature from other important national plebiscites such as the 1975 and 2016 referendums on membership of the European Union
Women's Suffrage Collection (LSE Digital Library)
Selection of material from The Women’s Library collection, derived from the London Society for Women’s Suffrage (1867)

United States

270toWin.com
Independent & nonpartisan site started in 2004. Aggregates polls and professional election projections, complementing that with relevant news and original content. Visitors to the site use this information to create and share their own election forecasts via interactive mapping tools
American National Election Studies (ANES)
Census Bureau Voting & Registration Data
Voting data from 1964 for various variables, including race, sex & age groups.
Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES)
National stratified sample survey by YouGov/Polimetrix, with pre- and post- surveys in election years.
Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections
The library subscribes to files offering state & county presidential election data 1960-2012.
Election Fraud in America Database
Project covers 2000-2012
Federal Election Commission
Great source of official data on campaign finance for Presidential & Congressional elections 1976- onwards
Library of Congress US Election Statistics : a Resource Guide
A good starting point for research in this area. See also it's detailed guides to historical elections (Presidential Elections 1789-1920), and Princeton University's Elections and Voting website.
Library of Congress US Elections Web Archive
Amazing resource, archiving websites from 2000-
See also its Data Package covering electoral data 2000-2016 - https://data.labs.loc.gov/us-elections/?loclr=blogsig
New Nation Votes
Historical data for 1787-1825
Office of the Clerk Election Statistics
Official vote counts for federal elections from the various states and territories, 1920- onwards

TV Advertising

A number of useful websites, including:

The Living Room Candidate
Film archive of presidential campaign commercials, 1952-2012.
Political Communication Lab
Stanford University selection of presidential, senate & gubernatorial ads, 1994- onwards. Includes primaries
Political TV Ad Archive
Project of the Internet Archive to capture 2016 election ads
Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey
CMPS is a national survey of voters and non-voters on political and social issues conducted post-election (2008-).