The Current Development of Open Election Data in Taiwan

Abstract

This study reviews election records and introduces the development of open election data in Taiwan over the past seven decades. The study reports the frequencies of each previous election and current data formats using a 5-star open data deployment scheme. Currently, the earliest open election data for Taiwan is the election data from 1990. This election data is composed of election data and electoral bulletins. The open electoral results were in CSV formatted files, which fitted the definition of 3-star open data. The open electoral bulletins were in the format of PDF files, which were considered only 1-star open data based on the open data format definition. Improvements to the open election data include the following aspects: raise the open data to a 4-star format for linkage to other databases; open more election data, especially for elections held before 1990. The improvement will increase the usage of the open election data in the future.