JacobWeinbren / Israel-Data

Israel-Data

Mapping Israel's Elections 1992-2021

Scripts

These are the scripts required to recreate the project.

Preparation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/JacobWeinbren/Israel-Data/

2. Create venv and enter to scripts

#Create the venv
python3 -m venv israel_env
#Enter the venv
source israel_env/bin/activate
#Enter scripts
cd scripts

3. Create folders

python setup.py

Stations

Collects location for all polling stations

1. Enter Station Scripts

cd stations

2. The 19th Knesset election is a PDF. Convert it to an xlsx, stored in output/meta.

python 19.py

3. Reads the data from the station addresses and stores in output/stations.

python process.py

4. The 19th Knesset election has an incorrect value. This script runs a backup and fixes the error (previously, this was designed to fix more values).

python fix.py

5. Get a complete list of every polling station and booth and it's respective location, placing it in output/locations.

python positions.py

Geocoding

This is not necessary to the replication of the project. These scripts tabulate the locations of all avaliable station addresses and calculate their distants between Knesset elections.

1. Enter Station Scripts

cd stations

2. Geocode every address and store in output/locations

python geocode.py

3. Calculate the distances between station locations in each Knesset election and store in output/analysis

python analysis.py

You can see the completed version of this analysis on this Google Sheet. The main finding is that there is very little variation of polling station locations between Knesset elections.

Helper Scripts

• geocode_arcgis.py and geocode_google.py take key.py (in .gitignore) and run a process function. The function takes the address and returns a latitude and longitude in Israel.
  • geocode_test.py tests the google script works
• variables.py includes variables common the geocoding scripts

Map creation

The scripts create a geojson hexagonal map, containing all knesset election data. This map can be served on a web server.

1. Create a tessellated geojson file.

2. Create a new ArcGIS project and load map of Israel, West Bank and Gaza (you can use the one below)

3. Run Generate Tesselation with the following settings - Shape Hexagon - Extent of Israel Map - Size 5km (squared) - Spatial reference Current Map (Web Coordinates)

4. Run Features to JSON with WGS_1984 to output/maps/base.geojson.

5. Now we need to add data to the map

6. Enter Map Scripts

cd maps

2. Add stations to on base.geojson to produce output/maps/stations.geojson

python stations.py

3. Collect election results from all Knesset elections

python politics.py

3. Apply tallied data to map

python data.py

3. Afterwards, we need to convert the hexagons to points (to save space)

4. Run JSON to Features with WGS_1984 on output/maps/stations.geojson

5. Run Features to Point (calculates centroids)

6. Run Features to JSON as with WGS_1984to output/maps/points.geojson

7. Collect election results to produce election data files in elections.

python csv_writer.py

You can find the published map here

Notes

• Double Envelopes (Military Ballots) are coded seperately, as they have no location data
• 13th, 16th and 17th Knesset requires dividing by 10 to keep ballot numbers consistent
• Decimal points suggest multiple booths at one polling station. Though sometimes multiple stations can also be at one address.
• Default blocs are based on the IDI, the Historic Israeli Elections Project and consideration from myself and those who provided feedback on this project.
• The 13th Knesset election required some extra transcription of the notes in CBS Series '926', entered on this sheet and saved in 13_Corrected.

Sources

Stations geocoded using ArcGIS, credits provided by Exeter University.

Polling Stations

A small number of polling stations are missing - if you have the addresses to polling stations in the crossed out elections, please let me know.

Knesset	Year	Polling Stations	Station Notes
13th	1992	❌
14th	1996	Knesset
15th	1999	❌
16th	2003	❌
17th	2006	Knesset
18th	2009	❌
19th	2013	Knesset	Adobe Converted
20th	2015	Knesset
21st	2019	Knesset	Ballot Report
22nd	2019	Knesset	Ballot Report
23rd	2020	Knesset	Ballot Report
24th	2021	Knesset	Ballot Report

Results

Results can generally be found through the most recent Knesset Site.

Knesset Election	Year	Results	Results Notes
13th	1992	Bureau of Statistics	This was a request to the ISDC
14th	1996	Knesset
15th	1999	Knesset
16th	2003	Knesset
17th	2006	Knesset
18th	2009	Knesset
19th	2013	Knesset
20th	2015	Knesset
21st	2019	Knesset	By Polls
22nd	2019	Knesset	By Polls
23nd	2020	Knesset	By Polls
24th	2021	Knesset	By Polls

Map

Initial map of Israel from Open Source Natural Earth, extracted using Data -> Export Features. Wurman Dots inspired by ArcGIS blog post.

Blocs

I have categorised default blocs for all the Knesset elections in this spreadsheet. This was stored in data/blocs.tsv. This is based on my subjective opinion - feel welcome to offer suggestions or changes.

Thanks

Thanks to the Israeli Election Commision for data and support. And many thanks my relatives in particular Gidi and Michal for helping to retrieve data and explaining how elections worked.

Thank you Hovav Dror at Quantitative and Lior Kaplan at Open Source Consulting for providing location data under CC and much needed advice.

Many thanks to my friends, in particular Chris Terry and T.S. Kovak, for help along the way.

Sources

Hebrew Wikipedia provides the Hebrew symbols for ballots and common English names.

Isael Democracy Institute provided the 12th Knesset Election results (in aggregate).

License

GNU