This morning I armed myself with reading material and bundled
up in long underwear, sweatshirt, and mittens for my first voting experience in
the District of Columbia,
fearing that higher-than-average voter turnout could mean long lines in the chilly
fall air. Luckily, my trip to the polls turned out to quick, painless, and
entirely indoors. But after months of anticipation I was prepared to exercise
my civic duty—whatever the circumstances.

Now that the historic night is finally here, we hope you’ll follow
along with an eye toward geography as the state-by-state electoral map turns
shades of red and blue. First, keep a close watch on the battleground states. You
may even want to try a hand at CNN’s electoral calculator to
see if you can beat the experts at predicting which way the states will swing!

With so much emphasis on the presidential race, it’s easy to
forget the many other contests and issues at stake; like those ballot questions
on the docket in 33 of 50 states.

Will gay marriage be overturned in California? Will Massachusetts ban dog racing?

Learn more the ballot measures with these resources from CBS
News, the National
Conference of State Legislatures, and CNN News.
CNN also features a ballot measure scoreboard
with town by town results and maps, a comprehensive guide to the issues and a “Track Your Race”
tool to help stay on top of the issues and contests most important to you.

Of course, not everyone’s voting
experience will go quite as smoothly as my own. Experiences with past problems
(who could forget the 2000 election snafu?) and this year’s high voter
turnout are adding to the concerns of many. Check out this map of complaints
that have already been filed. Of course, you savvy geographers will want to
carefully compare this with the map of battleground states. Fingers crossed
that any excitement tomorrow will follow from the final results, and not from closer
analysis of these dynamics!

Finally, our friend Danielle Williams, employee
with the National Geographic Research, Conservation, and Exploration group, is “feeling the excitement” this
week from a somewhat less conventional setting. Read
about her experience below!

Continue reading “Election Fever Sweeps the Nation”