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Guide · Glossary
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Guide · 15

Glossary

The terms you'll meet on the map and in this guide.

Precinct
The smallest area elections are run and counted by. Each voter is assigned to one precinct, which decides their ballot and where they vote.
VTD
Voting Tabulation District. The Census and the Texas Legislative Council's name for a precinct as a mapped shape. In Texas, VTDs line up with county election precincts.
County edition
A county loaded in full: precincts, vote centres, chairs, events, districts and every race. Today Collin and Dallas.
Two-party share
One party's votes divided by the two major parties' combined votes. Used for the red–blue colour ramp.
Margin
The gap between the two leading candidates, shown as R +9.6 or D +4.2 percentage points.
Primary lean
How a precinct's primary voters split between the Republican and Democratic primaries (March 2024 in Texas). It's a sign of party loyalty where voters don't register by party.
Primary voters
People who voted in a party's primary, counted per precinct. Texas doesn't register voters by party, so primary participation is the main public party signal.
Turnout
Votes cast divided by registered voters in the precinct.
VAP
Voting-age population: residents 18 and over, from the 2020 Census (PL 94-171). The demographic bars on precinct cards use VAP.
CVAP
Citizen voting-age population: adult U.S. citizens. From the Census CVAP special tabulation. Better than VAP for estimating who can vote, but published only down to block group.
Spanish surname
The share of registered voters whose surname the Census classes as Hispanic, from the 2010 Census surname list. It's a precinct total, never a label on a person. In Texas it's 4,623,746 voters, 24.7% of registered.
Precinct chair
A party's elected officer for one precinct, chosen on the primary ballot in Texas. Chairs sit on the county executive committee. A ring on the map means the seat is open.
Vote centre
A polling place where any voter in the county can vote, rather than only at their own precinct's site. Both Collin and Dallas counties use vote centres.
Early voting
In-person voting in the days before Election Day, at the hours listed on each vote-centre card.
CD / SD / HD
Congressional District, State Senate District, State House District. Shown on the Districts layer, with county commissioner precincts.
Political file
The FCC's public record where broadcast stations log requests to buy political ad time. Station cards link to it.
Callout
A card that floats beside the place it describes, joined by a leader line.
Party view
The Everyone, Republican or Democratic setting at the top of the screen. It decides which party-owned layers you can see.
Scene
A saved sequence of camera moves and layer changes that plays back on screen.
A paid, labelled location card with a “Paid for by” disclaimer, open to both parties on equal terms.
CC0, CC BY, MIT
Open licences. CC0 waives all rights. CC BY allows any use, with credit. MIT is a permissive software licence that also requires credit.
MEDSL
The MIT Election Data + Science Lab, which publishes national election returns under CC0.
TLC
The Texas Legislative Council, which publishes Texas VTDs and election data under CC BY.