house election district to county conversion

[Tariq Abdullah]

Hi,

I've the data set for house election ranging from 1996-2020. I want to convert the district variable of each state to different us counties in respective year from 1996-2020. Is there conversion file to do so from the following data and information ?

Can anyone guide me to any online resource or any already existing conversion coding ? The main data is uploaded on MIT election lab which is a public source ( https://electionlab.mit.edu/data )

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input int year byte(state_fips state_cen district)
1996 6 93  1
1996 6 93  1
1996 6 93  1
1996 6 93  2
1996 6 93  2
1996 6 93  2
1996 6 93  2
1996 6 93  3
1996 6 93  3
1996 6 93  3
1996 6 93  3
1996 6 93  4
1996 6 93  4
1996 6 93  4
1996 6 93  5
1996 6 93 24
1996 6 93 24
1996 6 93 24
1996 6 93 24
1996 6 93 24
1996 6 93 25
1996 6 93 25
2018 6 93  8
2018 6 93  9
2018 6 93  9
2018 6 93 10
2018 6 93 10
2018 6 93 11
2018 6 93 11
2018 6 93 12
2018 6 93 12
2018 6 93 13
2018 6 93 13
1996 48 74  1
1996 48 74  2
1996 48 74  2
1996 48 74  2
1996 48 74  3
2016 48 74 31
2016 48 74 31
2016 48 74 32
2016 48 74 32
2016 48 74 32
2016 48 74 33
2016 48 74 33
2016 48 74 34
2016 48 74 34
2016 48 74 35
2016 48 74 35
end

[Clyde Schechter]

This is out of my field, and I would not have an in-depth knowledge of what data sets might be available to help you with this kind of work. But as a US voter, I can tell you that this task will prove complicated at best, if it is even possible. Congressional districts may include or extend into more than one county, and any one county might contain, or overlap with, several districts. There is no simple correspondence between counties and congressional districts in the US.

[Tariq Abdullah]

Mr. Schechter,

Honestly, I'm also scared since my estimation method relies on having this conversion, and as you pointed out it'll be quite tricky from the beginning. I'll try my best to look out online. If I come across anything, I'll post here.

Thanks for guiding me again. Appreciate your time !

[William Lisowski]

Perhaps this Census data organized by the Census Bureau to align with congressional districts will help you.

https://www.census.gov/mycd/

If you are using Election Data from 1996 through 2020, you have at a minimum two rounds of post-Census redistricting (2000 and 2010), along with potential re-redistricting between Censuses such as the one in Texas in 2003 to replace an earlier court-ordered redistricting.

I would not tackle this unless it were possible to obtain Census data by congressional district for each election year, using the district boundaries in effect for that year's elections.

[Tariq Abdullah]

Perhaps this Census data organized by the Census Bureau to align with congressional districts will help you.

https://www.census.gov/mycd/

If you are using Election Data from 1996 through 2020, you have at a minimum two rounds of post-Census redistricting (2000 and 2010), along with potential re-redistricting between Censuses such as the one in Texas in 2003 to replace an earlier court-ordered redistricting.

I would not tackle this unless it were possible to obtain Census data by congressional district for each election year, using the district boundaries in effect for that year's elections.

This is the best help I have had so far to take some steps further ahead. As Mr. Schechter and you have graciously pointed out this is very much on the borderline of a cumbersome task, I've slowly come to realization that it'd be in my best interest not to expire this further unless I've no other option.

Nonetheless, can't appreciate all of you for letting me know the best resource available regarding the issue I'm having, and at the same time informing me how difficult it might get. Much obliged !