Replication Data for: Different Rules, Different Legislators?: Direct and Indirect Elections to the U.S. Congress

I examine whether indirect and direct elections lead to the selection of different types of legislators. My research design, which compares senators to representatives who were elected from statewide districts, takes advantage of two unique features of the nineteenth century congressional districting process. First, some states elected their entire congressional delegation in at-large districts. Second, many states that gained a seat during reapportionment would elect the new representative in a statewide contest rather than redrawing district lines. As a result, there are not only more representatives elected statewide, but they also come from a more diverse set of states than in contemporary elections. Overall, I find that indirectly elected legislators were more comparable to directly elected legislators on some dimensions than prior studies suggest.

我研究了间接选举与直接选举是否会选出不同类型的立法者。我的研究设计通过对比参议员与从全州选区选出的众议员，利用了19世纪国会选区划分过程的两个独特特征。首先，部分州在全州选区（at-large districts）中选举其全部国会代表团成员。其次，许多在重新分配席位时获得新增席位的州，会通过全州范围的选举选出新任众议员，而非重新划分选区边界。因此，与当代选举相比，不仅有更多众议员通过全州选举产生，而且这些众议员来自的州也更为多样化。总体而言，我发现间接选举产生的立法者在某些维度上与直接选举产生的立法者的相似性，比先前研究指出的更高。