Today is Election Day 2008! If you haven’t already done so, be sure to get to the polls and cast your ballot! Myself, having moved yet again, find myself in my fifth different voting precinct in the City of Newton – now in W3P2 (FYI, I’ve been in W2P1, W1P1, W2P2, W7P2, and now in W3P3). Once again, the ballots are optical scan ovals (I prefer this balloting technology – paper trail with fast computer high-accuracy scanning). The precinct location is at the Peirce Elementary School – with all the action I have come to expect – the place is active with the children attending class, the bake sale, and the citizens packing into the gymnasium to vote. There were more people in line this year relative to my past experience (Massachusetts, not being a swing state, doesn’t usually attract quite the crowds that are reported in states that are more competitive). Voting went off without a hitch. So, make your way to the polls!
Predictions, Endorsements, & Mock Election
Predictions, Endorsements, and the Mock Election will wrap-up at 4pm on Election Day (Eastern Standard Time). Please complete your updates by then as the scripts will be closed. And for those of you whom are eligible, don’t forget to cast your real ballots (if you haven’t already done so)
UUorld GIS Software & Atlas Data
The Atlas is partnering with UUorld (pronounced “World”) GIS software developer to provide election data in formats capable of being imported to the UUorld application. A link has been added to your myatlas page to the UUorld Export Script. All data sets purchased from the Atlas are available to you for export.
The application’s primary feature is the ability to extrude shapes in a three dimensional projection providing a geographic visual representation of relative data. 2-D mapping options are also available. One particular feature is the ability to produce animated time-series movies such the percent vote for Democratic Party Presidential candidates for the general elections between 1980 and 2004 (shown in this post). See some more examples of the Atlas data here. More data export options will be developed in the coming months. User feedback welcome.
*Update* UUorld is offering a $50 Rebate on the commercial version of UUorld with a receipt for an Atlas data purchase.
Election Night 2008 Timeline
The 2008 Election Night Timeline is now available. Included are a national color-coded map of poll closing times and a table of the timeline for closing/call times for each state. Follow along on Election night as the states are called!
2008 Senatorial & Gubernatorial Endorsements
The Atlas feature to create user endorsements for 2008 Senatorial and Gubernatorial contests are now available. Endorse the candidates you support!
2008 Mock General Election
The Mock 2008 Presidential Election is now available. 
This year’s contest includes a feature that allows visitors to treat their vote as an endorsement. With this option selected, a small banner appears below the state avatar in Forum Posts. Click on over and cast your ballot!
Primary Timelines
The site has a new feature – timelines for the 2008 Republican and Democratic Primaries. These pages show a summary of all the contests in chronological order, including vote percentages, estimated delegates, winning candidates, summary national map, pie charts, and county-map icons. Links are provided for each state summary results page. The timelines will automatically update following each event.
Test Post for National Map Widget
New Blog Interactive Election Map Widgets
I have created a new method for posting election results in Blogs – an interactive election map “widget” – a small snipet that can be placed in the code section of a blog post. The map has mouse-over interactivity, including a county-level imagemap with the floating text box of results plus links to more detailed returns. Below is an example comparing the 2004 General Election Result in South Carolina to the 2008 Republican Primary in South Carolina.
The link for this code may be seen by clicking on the link titled “Blog Interactive Map Widget Code for this Contest” in the “Election Tools” section of any state (or national) summary page. The code can then be placed in an uselectionatlas.org weblog post (note in order to use this widget, you need to enable the pageview plugin on the “Plugins” tab in the admin section of you weblog. At this time, this widget can’t be used on other weblogs since iframes are generally not permitted using most blogging software.
Primary Predictions 2008
The Primary Predictions for the GOP and Democratic nomination contests have been up for a few weeks. Although these features greatly simplify the (very complex) process, they provide an interesting excercise in running scenarios in the present dynamic environment. The prediction for the state of Iowa is closing at noon (EST) on January 3 – so, if you want to get complete primary predictions in, be sure to do prior to that time. Predictions for contests held in other states will close at noon (Eastern) of the day in which the respective election or caucus is held.