Yesterday, the Atlas operating system software and core services were upgraded. This included the core OS, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Please submit a bug if you happen to find that any of the site features were broken by this upgrade. Many thanks and enjoy!

The Atlas Server was replaced today with a new motherboard, faster processor, and more memory. Enjoy the improved performance!

Election data and maps from the 2006 General Election for U.S. Senate and Governor for most states have been uploaded to the site. A few states remain to release their official data, including my home state of Massachusetts. The expectation is for these data to be available within the next couple of weeks. The detailed county and town-level spreadsheets have also been updated with the most recently-available information.

Preliminary, unofficial election results (data and maps) for the 2006 Senate and Governor’s races are on-line. These data will be updated as election agencies across the country finalize and post official tallies. A final official compilation of data for all states is expected in early January. Population data for 2006 will be added when these data are released by the Census Bureau. Preliminary detailed spreadsheet files for these contests are available at the store. As always, once purchased, updates to spreadsheets are free.

The site has recently added state-level (and some county-level) data for the Presidential Elections of 1876, 1880, 1884, and 1888 to the database. The total figures for some states have changed slightly from the original html files due to differing figures between the primary sources referenced and the source used to create the original html tables (see What was the Real Popular Vote? entry for some additional information with regard to why popular vote figures for older elections are so variable.). Work continues to add data from older elections (state-level data, county-level data, county-boundary accuracy and image-mapping, etc.).

The new Wiki in addition to the continued growth of the Atlas Forum had caused the server to bog down on occasion. This performance issue has been addressed today with a memory upgrade (1.5GB from 750MB). Please continue to enjoy the site!

The New York Time published a number of articles on the polital geography of the battleground states during the 2000 campaign and election cycle. The articles included county maps and past election data that cited the Atlas as the source. I have asked for and have been granted permission to republish the articles on this site. They can be found on the Election Information page.

Yesterday, the Atlas was migrated to a new dedicated server using the same host provider. The content (web pages, images, databases, etc.) are now co-located on a 1.7GHz Celeron with 768MB or RAM running BSD UNIX. The move interrupted service for about 15-20 minutes during the day. The site (and particularly the forum) has grown in size and popularity. This move is expected to improve site performance, decrease response time, and reduce the number of failed database connects. Thanks to all for your patience and help through the transition.

Data and Maps have been uploaded to reflect the preliminary unofficial results of the 2004 Presidential Election. The site survived the massive traffic spike of the last two days - and although performance was slow from time-to-time, the site appeared to respond (at least the times I tried it). Site featurs will be re-enabled as traffic subsides. Thanks to everyone for the encouraging emails. Look soon for the county-level national map and the availability of the 2004 Election Data Spreadsheet.

I have modified the deluxe edition of the Electoral College Calculator to include the complexity of choosing Presidential Electors by Congressional District for the States of Maine and Nebraska. So far to date, the voters of these states have always awarded all Presidential Electors to one candidate. However, the possibility exists (particularly in Maine CD2) for a split result. The calculatore now supports this possibility.