Pennsylvania Election Statistics: 1682-2004
The Wilkes University Election Statistics Project
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The Wilkes University Election Statistics Project
Recent Additions and Revisions
3 February 2005
Twenty Colonial Assembly tables revised to show legislators replaced during sessions. Index revised to include additional entries.
10 January 2005
Additional early Senatorial elections posted. The following elections are currently posted: 1788-1818, 1821, 1863, 1867, 1885, 1887, 1891, 1893, 1901-1911
29 December 2004
Complete list and index of the members of the Colonial Assembly posted.
15 December 2004
Complete index of the members of the State House posted.
11 November 2004
1800 Presidential election maps posted in a belated response to a request.
4 November 2004
2004 Presidential Election Returns (preliminary) posted.
Pennsylvania State Senate and House member lists for 2005-2006 posted.
Current Activity
What does it cover?
The project was originally started in 1996 in order to provide a readily accessible source of county level election returns for major political offices. At that time there was no single source where this aspect of Pennsylvania's political history could be examined in detail. Various studies were published over the years but these did not cover the period before 1824, and did not provide county level coverage of elections in the nineteenth century. There have been a number of databases developed, primarily by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan. Unfortunately, access to these studies are restricted to institutions of higher education who are members of the Consortium, although individual reports can be purchased from the ICPSR for restricted use.
The information included in this report has been compiled from public sources, all of which are cited for each individual election. There are no restrictions on their use, nor is there any charge. While this information is being placed in the public domain, it is requested that any use of this information in published materials be acknowledged as originating with "The Wilkes University Election Statistics Project, Dr. Harold E. Cox, Director," together with a citation of the web address: http://wilkes-fs1.wilkes.edu/~hcox/
Currently, the website includes the following tabulations:
- Presidential county-level election returns for all parties, with calculated percentages and maps -1789-2004.
- Senatorial county-level election returns for all parties, with calculated percentages and maps - 1912-2004.
- Gubernatorial county-level election returns for all parties, with calculated percentages and maps - 1790-2002.
- Directory of Pennsylvania Colonial Legislators - 1682-1775.
- Directory of Pennsylvania State Legislators - 1776-2006.
- Legislative votes for U. S. Senator 1787-1911. (Under Construction)
What plans are there for future expansion?
Other tabulations under construction are:
- Congressional election returns and maps.
- Legislative reapportionments - 1789 to 2002.
- County boundary maps showing changes.
Comments, corrections, and contributions.
Comments on the materials presented, as well as suggestions for improvements or inclusions are welcomed. Since earlier election returns are subject to considerable debate due to errors in reporting and the disappearance of most of the early official records, individuals who can fill in gaps in the tabulations are invited to contribute information with cited source. The information included in this website has been derived from varied sources, many of which conflict with one another. The returns reported here are based upon an analysis of the conflicting reports and a judgement on which figure is the most logical, given the evidence. We invite anyone disputing these statistics to provide citations and arguments in favor of their view so that we can recover as accurate and complete a record as possible.