getRollCalls {washex}

Get roll call votes

Description

Get an XML containing roll call information for all recorded votes on a bill

Usage

getRollCalls.xml(biennium, billNumber, paired = TRUE)

getRollCalls.summary(
  biennium,
  billNumber,
  paired = TRUE,
  type = c("df", "list")
)

getRollCalls.votes(biennium, billNumber, paired = TRUE, type = c("df", "list"))

Arguments

biennium

Character vector representing the biennium(s) to be searched. Each argument should take the form "XXXX-YY"

billNumber

Character or numeric vector containing the bill number(s) to be retrieved.

paired

If TRUE, will assume that equal length vectors represent paired data. Set to FALSE to generate an NxN grid of input arguments. Applies to equal length vector inputs only.

type

One of "df", "list", or "xml". Specifies the format for the output.

Value

getRollCalls.xml returns a list of XML objects for each bill. getRollCalls.summary and getRollCalls.votes return objects of type equal to the type argument (defaults to dataframe)

Note

Due to the nested nature of the resulting document, we provide various functions to present simplified views of the data that are compatible with more parsimonious data structures. To see the full, original data, use getRollCalls.xml instead.

Examples

votes <- getRollCalls.summary("2007-08", "1001") # get roll call votes
if(!is.null(votes)) {
  length(votes) # total number of roll call votes recorded
  votes$CountYeas[3] # number of yea votes on roll call vote #3
}

## example: get member id's for all representatives voting against the bill
## on final passage
votes <- getRollCalls.votes("2007-08", "1001")
if(!is.null(votes)) {
  nay_votesFP <- subset(votes, (Motion == "Final Passage" & Vote == "Nay"))
  print(nay_votesFP$MemberId)
}