source: NY Times

House of Representatives Election Results:

• New York Times
• CNN
• Fox
• Politico

source: NY Times

Senate Election Results:

• New York Times
• CNN
• Fox
• Politico

                         Electoral Votes*               Popular Vote**
Barack Obama (D) – 303/332           59,584,661 – 51.1%
Mitt Romney    (R) – 206                   56,959,312 – 48.8%
*270 Electoral Votes Needed to Win
**Votes still coming in

More maps to come in the coming hours and days Please share any interesting maps in the comments

The New York Times

Robert J. Vanderbei @ Princeton

Mark Newman @ University of Michiga

The states are colored red or blue to indicate whether a majority of their voters voted for the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, or the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, respectively. Looking at this map it gives the impression that the Republican won the election handily, since there is rather more red on the map than there is blue. In fact, however, the reverse is true – it was the Democrats who won the election. The explanation for this apparent paradox, as pointed out by many people, is that the map fails to take account of the population distribution. It fails to allow for the fact that the population of the red states is on average significantly lower than that of the blue ones. The blue may be small in area, but they represent a large number of voters, which is what matters in an election.

We can correct for this by making use of a cartogram, a map in which the sizes of states are rescaled according to their population. That is, states are drawn with size proportional not to their acreage but to the number of their inhabitants, states with more people appearing larger than states with fewer, regardless of their actual area on the ground. On such a map, for example, the state of Rhode Island, with its 1.1 million inhabitants, would appear about twice the size of Wyoming, which has half a million, even though Wyoming has 60 times the acreage of Rhode Island.

Map created on 270toWin.com

Presidential Election Results:

• New York Times
• CNN
• Fox
• Politico
• MSNBC

Source: NY Times

Source: NY Times

• Virginia’s Voting History from 1980 to 2008
• In Virginia, It’s Tradition Versus Change
• Local Newspapers: Roanoke, Richmond, Hampton Roads and The Washington Post

Nate Silver at 538 calls out Montgomery County as a bellwether for the state:

Montgomery County has been an almost perfect barometer of Virginia’s statewide political orientation. Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, is Montgomery County’s stand-in for left-leaning Northern Virginia, while the area around the university is more Old Virginia, Mr. Skelley said.

In the past three presidential elections, Montgomery County has never been more than one percentage point off of the statewide vote shares of the two parties.

source: 538

source:USA Today

source:roanoke.com

Source: NY Times

Source: NY Times

Like 2004, the 2012 Presidential election may come down to who wins Ohio. Polls show Obama with a slight lead over Romney.

• What to watch for as Ohio counts votes
• In Case of a Recount, a Long Wait for Ohio
• Understanding the politics of Ohio — in 3 maps and 1 chart
• Live Election Results (starting at 7:30)
• Ohio Newspapers: Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati and Toledo

Nate Silver at 538 speculates it is due to the auto bailout:

Historically, Ohio has been slightly Republican-leaning relative to the nation. But this year polls suggest that Ohio is slightly Democratic-leaning. That divergence — driven by the auto rescue and the state’s improved economy, local analysts said — may prove determinative. Ohio ranks first on FiveThirtyEight’s tipping point index. The model estimates there is roughly a 50 percent chance that the Buckeye State’s 18 electoral votes will carry the winning candidate past the 270 mark.

He also highlights Stark County as as the bellwether for the statewide vote:

Stark County, anchored by Canton, has been an almost perfect bellwether for the statewide vote in Ohio in the past three presidential elections. Canton tends to vote Democratic, but Stark County also has more rural areas that lean Republican. Stark County was one percentage point more Republican-leaning that Ohio over all in 2008 and 2000 and two points more Republican-leaning in 2004.

What the Deuce is Gerrymandering?
Gerrymandering is the practice of carving up representative districts in a…creative fashion to benefit one party or another. The early ideal for carving up our new nation into representative districts was relative compactness. In 1812 Elbridge Gerry (sounds like “jerry”), governor of Massachusetts, carved up his state into curious districts that would benefit his party, causing political commentators of the time to lampoon the districting as looking like a salamander. The Boston Gazette ran a cartoon of the “Gerrymander” and the rest is history. By the way, this original gerrymander seems to me pretty tame compared to some you are likely to see today.

view the interactive tool by clicking on the map

Some of the more extreme examples of Gerrymandering:

What to watch for:

• Rothenberg Political Report: One Page Election Night Guide (PDF)
• 8 Questions for Election Day
• The Fix’s Election Night Viewer’s Guide
• 10 Legal Stories to Watch on Election Night
• A definitive guide to the ten key US Senate races
• A definitive guide to the eight swing states that will decide the 2012 election
• BuzzFeed’s Simplified Viewers Guide to Who Is Winning
• State By State Run Down of Races
• What to Watch for—and Ignore—on Election Day
• Election Day 2012: The Voters, The Map And The Math
• 7 most Important Counties to Watch
• Slate’s Election Day Viewer’s Guide

Presidential Election Results:

• New York Times
• CNN
• Fox
• Politico
• MSNBC

Senate Election Results:

• New York Times
• CNN
• Fox
• Politico

House of Representatives Election Results:

• New York Times
• CNN
• Fox
• Politico

Gubernatorial Election Results:

• New York Times
• CNN
• Fox
• Politico

Poll Closing Times (EST):

• 7:00 pm: GA, IN, KY, SC, VT, VA
• 7:30 pm: NC, OH, WV
• 8:00 pm: AL, CT, DE, DC, FL, IL, ME, MD, MA, MS, MO, NH, NJ, OK, PA, RI, TN
• 8:30 pm: AR
• 9:00 pm: AZ, CO, KS, LA, MI, MN, NE, NM, NY, ND, SD, TX, WI, WY
• 10:00 pm: IA, MT, NV, UT
• 11:00 pm: CA, HI, ID, OR, WA
• 1:00 am: AK

Five Thirty Eight – NY Times

Votamatic.org

FrontLoading HQ

Wang – princeton.edu

ElectionProjection.com

electoral-vote.com

DeSart – uvu.edu

Talking Points Memo

Real Clear Politics

Huffington Post

PoliticalMaps.org

The Denver Post has compiled eight people predicting a Romney win, however, it is worth noting that all eight are conservative activist, commentators or have been affiliated with conservative campaigns.

The average electoral vote represents 436,000 people, but that number rises and falls per state depending on that state’s population over 18 years of age. (The map above shows the population 18 years and older per electoral vote by state.) The states with the fewest people per electoral vote, and therefore the highest “vote power,” are Wyoming, Vermont, and North Dakota. In Wyoming, there are 143,000 people for each of its three electoral votes. The states with the weakest votes are New York, Florida, and California. These states each have around 500,000 people for each electoral vote.
In other words, one Wyoming voter has roughly the same vote power as four New York voters.

More on the Electoral College from Wikipedia: The Electoral College is the institution that officially elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. The electors are chosen by each state of the United States and by the District of Columbia, but not by other territorial possessions of the United States (such as Puerto Rico). The number of electors is 538, based on the total voting membership of the United States Congress (435 Representatives and 100 Senators) and three electors from the District of Columbia.[1] Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifies the number of electors to which each state is entitled and state legislatures decide how they are chosen.
Voters in each state and the District of Columbia cast ballots selecting electors pledged to presidential and vice presidential candidates. In nearly all states, electors are awarded on a winner-take-all basis to the candidate who wins the most votes in that state. Although no elector is required by federal law to honor a pledge, in the overwhelming majority of cases each elector votes as pledged.[2][3] The Twelfth Amendment provides for each elector to cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. It also specifies how a President and Vice President are elected. The Twenty-third Amendment specifies how many electors the District of Columbia is entitled to have.
Critics argue that the Electoral College is inherently undemocratic and gives swing states disproportionate influence in electing the President and Vice President. Proponents argue that the Electoral College is an important, distinguishing feature of federalism in the United States and that it protects the rights of smaller states. Numerous constitutional amendments have been introduced in the Congress seeking to alter the Electoral College or replace it with a direct popular vote.

• 2012 Election Results: NY Times and CNN
• 5 Things That Can Go Wrong in Florida
• Political Geography of Florida
• Tampa is essential to Romney’s election hopes
• Local Newspapers: Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel and Tampa Tribune

2008 Election Maps for background
source: USA Today

source google

Important: You must be registered in order to vote. Voting locations shown are for the November 4 election only (not for early voting), and it is only for voters registered at the home address entered. Please verify this voting location with your local election officials to ensure that it is correct.

• Washington Post
• Slate
• NPR
• National Journal

Campaign Fundraising Maps

• Huffington Post – Fund Race
• Federal Election Commission
• New York Times
• LA Times

from Stanford.edu Each dot represents a precinct, but as you zoom in, you will notice differences in the sizes of the dots, with larger dots corresponding to more votes. Precincts in which Obama received more than 50 percent of the vote are colored blue, and precincts with McCain majorities are colored red. In order to illuminate the marginal precincts, we have outlined the dots in white for precincts where the winner’s margin of victory was less than 5 percent. The white dots only begin to appear as you zoom in on a state or region.

New Hampshire Primary Results – Washington Post

More maps:
(NY Times)

• NY Times
• Washington Post 

Washington Post’s Interactive campaign tracker shows Rick Santourum has made the most campaign stops.

Iowa Caucuses – Tuesday, January 3rd (NY Times and Washington Post )

Iowa Candidate Visits:  (Des Moines Register)

2012 Republican Primary News Coverage:

• New York Times
• Washington Post 
• CNN
• Front loading HQ
• 538