Presidential Election ‘08 Online Maps: Poll Closing Times Map
Posted by Aaron VanWieren on 04 Nov 2008 at 07:55 am | Tagged as: 2008 Election Maps, Cartography And GIS
Election day is finally here. Yay! In my blog I have tried to provide access and perspective on a wide variety of election related cartographic content, primarily looking at how the related information as well as the maps themselves are composed. This year has seen a flood of content driven maps offered to explain a wide range of topics and concerns(see related posts below). Tonight it all draws to a close and I know I will be glued to my television and laptop computer to follow it through to its conclusion. I have been like an addict the past couple of months, watching CNN and news more often than prime time television. As well, I have discovered some great maps along the way that provide keen visualization to campaign issues. In light of tonight’s presidential election conclusion, I figured poll closing times would be a great focus for this Election Day posting.

This map simply shows a color coated map of poll closing times, all in Eastern Time. One of the most important factors in tonight’s conclusion, poll closing times indicates the end of a states voting indicating the trickle of results. This map comes from the following site[^] which contains a state by state breakdown of poll closing times.
I am looking forward to following along and comparing results to the early polling. If you have not voted yet, get out and vote. I don’t care who you are voting for, it is your duty to vote and make your voice heard. So, who are you watching tonight as poll results come in? Please leave your answers in the comments, and please check back as I will be adding conclusion maps to this series soon.
You beat me to it! I just wrote a similar post. I’m excited too. It’s incredibly surreal to be abroad: having to remind my Spanish friends that a new US president will be elected today, turning to the international page of the newspaper to read about the election, brushing up my election-specific grammar (”polls” = “las urnas”)…etc.
At the moment I’m just scrambling to keep in touch via a multitude of RSS feeds, streaming radio, facebook, gtalk, and so on. I’ll be “Skyping-in” to my friends’ living room for the results while my flatmates sleep. And of course, looking at a lot of maps.