The election Metadata API provides programmatic access to information gathered as part of the OpenElections Metadata process, including details about the types of elections held and the scope of results available. This API is likely to change, although not substantially, as the project proceeds.
Currently the API returns JSON, although CSV will be on the way and XML is likely. You can follow along on work on our wiki.
The API currently has a single response, but others are possible, and the elections response is subject to change.
This response returns a list of elections for a given state and year. The state parameter is a valid postal code for the 50 states and the year parameter is a four-digit year from 2000 to 2012 inclusive. A sample url looks like this:
http://openelections.net/api/v1/election/?format=json&limit=0&state__postal=MD&start_date__year=2012
A state and year for which no elections have occurred will return a 404 response from the server.