New Jersey Notes

Kyle Dropp

Overall, nearly all cases in the two files were matched. 6,341 out of 6,344 Census Voting Districts were matched with a 2008 voting precinct. 5,696 out of 5,718 vote precincts were matched successfully with a geographic identifier. Due to precinct renaming and renumbering, the matching process including a significant amount of consolidation. For instance, vote total precincts or wards in numerous cities were consolidated and allocated to Census voting districts by their voting age population. Each instance of consolidation is noted in the Appendix (below).

Files:
nj_geo_0620.csv - Dimensions 6344 by 28

• 
  This is the Census voting district file
  

nj_steve_0620.csv" 5718 by 101

• 
  This is the vote total file. The raw file contained more than 6,000 rows. When precinct numbering differed between municipalities in the vote file and the Census file, the vote total precincts were summed into a single row and the totals were allocated to voting districts based on the voting age population in each Census voting district. This reduced the number of rows.
  

nj_geo_merge_0517.csv" 6344 by 111

• 
  This is the Census voting district file with vote totals merged. It is sorted by the Census geographic identifier. All percentage variables have been recalculated.
  

Variable Names:

-nj_geo_id - row identifier from raw Census VTD file

-nj_vote_id - row identifier from raw vote total file

-Cty.VTD - County and VTD combined

-VAP - Voting Age Population from Census FTP

-Pop100 - full population from Census FTP

-STATEFP10 - state code from census

-COUNTYFP10 - county code from census

-VTDST10 - voting district code from census

-GEOID10 - geo identifier from census

-VTDI10 - voting code from census

-Name10 - voting district string - best description

-Town - town name

-NameLSAD10 - voting district string, with ``voting district at end

-ALAND10 - land

-AWATER10 - water

-INTPLAT10 - latitude

-INTPTLON10 - longitude

-LogRecNo - Census FTP identifier

-state_senate - NJ senate district

-state_house - NJ state house district

-usp_dv_00 - 2000 Dem Presidential votes

-usp_rv_00 - 2000 Rep Presidential votes

-usp_dv_04 - 2004 Dem Presidential votes

-usp_rv_04 - 2004 Rep Presidential votes

-usp_dv_08 - 2008 Dem Presidential votes

-usp_rv_08 - 2008 Rep Presidential votes

-uss_dv_00 - 2000 Dem U.S. Senate votes

-uss_rv_00 - 2000 Rep U.S. Senate votes

-uss_dv_02 - 2002 Dem U.S. Senate votes

-uss_rv_02 - 2002 Rep U.S. Senate votes

-uss_dv_06 - 2006 Dem U.S. Senate votes

-uss_rv_06 - 2006 Rep U.S. Senate votes

-uss_dv_08 - 2008 Dem U.S. Senate votes

-uss_rv_08 - 2008 Rep U.S. Senate votes

-gov_dv_01 - 2001 Dem Governor votes

-gov_rv_01 - 2001 Rep Governor votes

-gov_dv_05 - 2005 Dem Governor votes

-gov_rv_05 - 2005 Rep Governor votes

-gov_dv_09 - 2009 Dem Governor votes

-gov_rv_09 - 2009 Rep Governor votes

-usp_00 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-usp_04 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-usp_08 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-uss_00 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-uss_02 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-uss_06 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-uss_08 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-gov_01 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-gov_05 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-gov_09 - Democratic percent of two party vote

-av - Average Democratic percent for 10 contests

-votes - 2008 total votes

-county_name - county name

-market_name - media market name

-us_house - house district

-VAP_cumulative - cumulative VAP for precincts where totals were summed and allocated by VAP to VTDs

-fraction - VAP/VAP_cumulative

-ndv – Normal Democratic vote = av*votes

-nrv – Normal Republican vote = (1-av)*votes

Appendix: modifications to the raw data files

• 
  Franklin 15 and 17
  

Township Name Changes:

• 
  toms river to dover township
  
• 
  robbinsville to washington township
  
• 
  lake como to south belmar
  

Consolidation and allocation by VAP to VTD:

• 
  In Belleville Ward 2, eight vote totals were summed and allocated across seven VTDs.
  
• 
  Burlington Ward 1 - three votes totals to 2 VTDs
  

• 
  In Burlington, 19 vote totals were summed and allocated across 14 VTDs.
  

• 
  In Cliffside Park, 15 vote totals were summed and allocated across 13 VTDs.
  

• 
  In Collingswood, 13 vote totals were summed and allocated across 15 VTDs.
  

• 
  In Delanco, six vote totals were summed and allocated across five VTDs.
  

• 
  In Delran, seven vote totals were summed and allocated across six VTDs.
  

• 
  In East Greenwich, 11 vote totals were summed and allocated across nine VTDs.
  

• 
  East Orange Ward 2 - 7 to 12
  
• 
  East Orange Ward 4 - 8 to 12
  
• 
  East Orange Ward 5 - 8 to 12
  

• 
  In Edgewater, four vote totals were summed and allocated across three VTDs.
  
• 
  In Elizabeth city, there are significant problems. Votes were summed by each of six wards and allocated
  

• 
  In Evesham, 32 vote totals were summed and allocated across 29 VTDs.
  

• 
  In Evesham, 20 vote totals were summed and allocated across 18 VTDs.
  

• 
  In Fairfield boro, five vote totals were summed and allocated across four VTDs.
  
• 
  In Florence, three vote totals were summed and allocated.
  

• 
  In Franklin, 11 vote totals were summed and allocated across nine VTDs.
  

• 
  In Galloway, 14 vote totals were summed and allocated across 11 VTDs.
  

• 
  Glen Ridge, precinct 2 allocated to VTDs 2 and 7.
  

• 
  In Hamilton, 12 vote totals were summed and allocated across nine VTDs.
  

• 
  In Hammonton, eight vote totals were summed and allocated across 9 VTDs.
  

• 
  Harristown ward 1 vote totals 1-2 summed and allocated across three VTDs
  
• 
  In Irvington, there were significant differences in precinct numbering in the 2008 and 2010 datasets. Therefore, precinct vote totals were summed by ward and allocated to Census VTDs based on their voting age population. Vote totals were summed and allocated in wards one through four.
  
• 
  In Lakewood, 38 vote totals were summed and allocated
  

• 
  In Linden ward 9, five vote totals were summed and allocated across four VTDs.
  

• 
  In Linden ward 8, four vote totals were summed and allocated across three VTDs.
  

• 
  In Livingston, 26 vote totals were summed and allocated across 22 VTDs.
  

• 
  In Mahwah, 14 vote totals were summed and allocated across six VTDs.
  

• 
  In Manalapan, combine 1, 25, 26 and 27.
  

• 
  Maplewood, precinct 19 in vote total allocated to VTDs 18 and 19.
  

• 
  In Morris, 23 vote totals were summed and allocated across 20 VTDs.
  

• 
  In Mount Arlington, precincts three and four were summed.
  

• 
  In Newark, there were significant differences in precinct numbering in the 2008 and 2010 datasets. Therefore, precinct vote totals were summed by ward and allocated to Census VTDs based on their voting age population. Most precincts vote 90\%+ Democratic. Precincts 1-47 were summed in Newark Central; precincts 1-30 were summed in Newark East; precincts 1-49 were summed in Newark North; precincts 1-46 in Newark South were summed; and precincts 6-47 were summed in Newark West.
  

• 
  In North Bergen, combine 1-4 and 1-5, combine 2-3 and 2-33, 2-4 and 2-44, 2-6 and 2-66
  

• 
  In North Caldwell, four vote totals were summed and allocated across three VTDs.
  

• 
  In Oaklyn, four vote totals were summed and allocated across five VTDs.
  

• 
  City of Orange - East, precinct 4 in vote total allocated to VTDs 3 and 4.
  

• 
  City of Orange West - 4 to 6
  

• 
  In Palisades Park, nine vote totals were summed and allocated across 10 VTDs.
  

• 
  Passaic City Ward 1 - 4 to 6
  

• 
  In Paterson ward 2, 13 vote totals were summed and allocated across 14 VTDs. In ward 5, eight vote totals were summed and allocated across nine VTDs. In ward 6, 11 vote totals were summed and allocated across 12 VTDs. In the other wards, vote totals did not match with VAP by precincts. Thus, precinct level ward votes were summed and allocated by VAP to VTDs.
  

• 
  In Pennsauken, there were significant differences in precinct numbering in the 2008 and 2010 datasets. Therefore, precinct vote totals were summed across the city and allocated to Census VTDs based on their voting age population. There were 23 vote precincts in the 2008 dataset and 27 in the Census VTD dataset.
  

• 
  In Riverdale, three vote totals were summed and allocated across two VTDs.
  

• 
  Roseland - 6 to 3
  

• 
  In Salem County, there are many more VTDs than vote totals. I summed vote totals and allocated by voting age population for the following townships: alloway 2 to 3, carneys point 5 to 10, oldmans 2 to 3, penns grove 3 to 4, pennsville 9 to 19, quinton 2 to 3, salem east 2 to 4, salem west 2 to 4, woodstown 2 to 4.
  

• 
  In Scotch Plains, 21 and 22 combined.
  
• 
  South Amboy ward 2 vote totals 1-3 summed and allocated across four VTDs
  
• 
  Tinton Falls 15 vote totals were summed and allocated
  

• 
  In Upper Freehold, four vote totals were summed and allocated across three VTDs.
  
• 
  In Wanaque, eight vote totals were summed and allocated
  
• 
  In West Orange Ward 1, nine vote totals were summed and allocated to VTDs by VAP.
  

• 
  Woodlynne- 2 to 3
  

Unmatched Census VTDs:

• 
  Bloomfield 1-1; all other vote totals and VTDs in that ward appear to match.
  
• 
  Bloomfield 3-3; all other vote totals and VTDs in that ward appear to match.
  
• 
  East Orange 1-8; all other vote totals and VTDs in that ward appear to match.
  
• 
  East Orange 3-13; all other vote totals and VTDs in that ward appear to match.
  
• 
  Montclair 3-9 \& 3-11 - combined VAP of 78
  
• 
  South Orange 5; all other vote totals and VTDs in that ward appear to match.
  
• 
  Clifton ward 4; all other vote totals and VTDs in that ward appear to match.
  
• 
  Linden 10-5; all other vote totals and VTDs in that ward appear to match.
  
• 
  summit 1-13; all other vote totals and VTDs in that ward appear to match.
  
• 
  Jersey City b-35 and c-32 - no voters
  

Precincts with higher vote total than VAP;