The US election is an event with global resonance. While voters in the US turn out in record numbers, those of us living nearby sit on the edge of our seats with bated breath waiting to see who the new commander in chief will be.
While I don’t want to get into the actual politics of the election (poor taste and all that), I wanted to take a moment to point out some great resources for following the US election. There’s a whole lot of coverage going on right now, and thankfully – you don’t have to miss a minute of it.
Keep up-to-date on the 2008 election with Google Maps. There are some pretty cool maps here, including an ‘up-to-the-minute’ map reflecting results from polling stations across the US. Alongside this map you’ll also find mashups with search queries, predictions, primary results and fundraising amounts.
YouTube in partnership with PBS has published a Video Your Vote channel that allows users to post various videos covering several angles of the voting process from voters’ perspectives to problems at the polling stations.
270 to win is covering results of the election (the number here, 270, is the number of electoral votes needed to win the presidential election).
For up to the minute news coverage, your best bet is to visit CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. I personally like my news with a healthy dose of satire, so after I visit the big three I’m likely to hop on over to the Indecision 2008 blog for a taste of John Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s news-like comedic rantings (incidentally, Hosting Nation is no relation to the Colbert Nation – though we think he’s a pretty funny guy and would appreciate some wrist-strong bracelets up here). While you’re at it, check out Twitter’s election channel for all the tweets on the current election.
The (other) big three (I mean Google, Yahoo and MSN) are covering the results in their own way. Yahoo’s home page has great coverage with a ton of useful links and resources to help you follow along including this link to NPR’s 2008 Election Map and Electoral Vote Map. Google doesn’t seem to offer much coverage, but as always you can sign up for a Google Alert to get the latest news or simply visit Google News for ongoing coverage. MSN (as always) falls somewhere in between.
Whoever wins, I think we’re pretty lucky to have the depth of coverage that we do – I know I’ve barely scratched the surface. If you have an elections resource that offers a special insight not listed here, please post it in the comments.
DISCLAIMER: Hosting Nation does not support or endorse any particular candidate in the current election. This post is simply meant to inform and hopefully educate you about some of the tools and resources available for tracking the election results.