Election.org Public Data API Local Candidates API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Election.org Public Data Local Candidates API
  version: '2026-09-12'
  description: Source-first public election data. Public beta coverage is explicit; null and omitted values are never silently converted to zeroes or inferred facts.
  contact:
    email: data@election.org
servers:
- url: https://election.org/api/v1
tags:
- name: Local Candidates
paths:
  /local-candidates:
    get:
      summary: Search source-backed Los Angeles or San Diego 2026 general-election candidates
      description: Los Angeles is the default locality. San Diego nominees come from the official Notice of Nominees and separate City Clerk candidate log. Candidate-submitted materials remain distinct from certified identity and contest fields. Unsupported localities return an error, not candidates from another city.
      parameters:
      - name: locality
        in: query
        description: Trimmed, case-insensitive city slug; omitted or empty selects Los Angeles.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - los-angeles
          - san-diego
          default: los-angeles
      - name: id
        in: query
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: q
        in: query
        schema:
          type: string
          maxLength: 100
      - name: contest
        in: query
        description: Contest slug or ID, such as mayor or la-2026-general-mayor.
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: office
        in: query
        description: Permanent local office slug, such as city-attorney.
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: limit
        in: query
        schema:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 250
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Certified candidates, candidate-provided contact fields, permanent page links, source boundaries, and local coverage limits
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/PublicDataResponse'
        '422':
          description: Unsupported locality; error.code=unsupported_locality with supported_localities. No substituted city records.
      tags:
      - Local Candidates
      operationId: getLocalCandidates
      x-operation-id-source: derived
components:
  schemas:
    Citation:
      type: object
      description: Suggested attribution, not a forced backlink or new license. Collection sources are not necessarily evidence for every returned record. Dates are not request generation times.
      required:
      - suggested_credit
      - record_url
      - record_urls
      - credit_url
      - original_sources
      - updated_at
      - verified_at
      - guidance_url
      - rights_note
      properties:
        suggested_credit:
          type: string
        record_url:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
          format: uri
        record_urls:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
            format: uri
        credit_url:
          type: string
          format: uri
        original_sources:
          type: array
          description: 'Returned-data source references. References explicitly marked applies_to_returned_records: false remain in response sources but are excluded here.'
          items:
            type: object
            properties:
              name:
                type: string
              url:
                type: string
                format: uri
              updated_at:
                type:
                - string
                - 'null'
              verified_at:
                type:
                - string
                - 'null'
              record_date:
                type:
                - string
                - 'null'
                description: Date on the cited record, not a source check or dataset update
        updated_at:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
          description: Explicit dataset update date, or null when unspecified
        verified_at:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
          description: Latest stated source check; does not establish freshness of every record
        dates_note:
          type: string
        source_scope:
          type: string
        source_summary_truncated:
          type: boolean
        guidance_url:
          type: string
          format: uri
        rights_note:
          type: string
    PublicDataResponse:
      type: object
      required:
      - data
      - citation
      properties:
        data: {}
        citation:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Citation'
      additionalProperties: true
externalDocs:
  description: Citation and reuse guidance
  url: https://election.org/data/api#attribution