How to Watch the Results

By Ben Trott

Almost 21 months after Barack Obama launched his campaign for the presidency in Springfield, Illinois, election day has finally arrived.

For those of you planning on spending this evening (or the night, depending on which time zone you are in) reading, watching or listening for results, the following links might come in handy. For those of you happy to simply pick up a paper tomorrow morning (or tune in the radio, or go online), you need read no further.

To get an overview of the most recent polls, and which states are going to be key battle grounds in today’s election, the following three websites are worth taking a look at: Pollster.com; FiveThirtyEight.com; and RealClearPolitics.com. The Guardian have also produced a handy pull-out showing how many electoral college votes are at stake in each state and whether they’re leaning towards Obama, McCain or currently too close to call.

As for tracking the results as and when they come in, obviously TV and radio stations around the world will be offering coverage. The closing times of polling stations can be found here (CNN interactive map) and here (Guardian website). In summary, however: the first polls close at 7pm Eastern Time (11pm GMT) and the last at 1am ET (or 5am GMT). For those of you without access to a television, CNN will also be broadcasting online here, and BBC World Service radio will be offering extensive coverage too (also available online). CNN will be posting results to their online map here, as soon as they call a state.

As for blogs to keep an eye on, I would recommend the Guardian’s Campaign Diary by Oliver Burkman, as well as the Huffington Post whose contributors are going to be providing commentary throughout the night.

Also, the Political Editor of the Huffington Post, Thomas Edsall, has put together a ‘Guide for Watching Election Night Results’, and Guardian America editor, Michael Tomasky, also has some useful tips in this short video. Both are worth taking a look at.

And finally, for a more leftwing slant, Democracy Now! will also be providing extensive live coverage of tonight’s events. They will be broadcasting a live video and audio stream online here between 7pm and 12am ET (11pm and 4am GMT) tonight, followed by a further two hours on Wednesday between 8am and 10am ET (12pm and 2pm GMT). The show will feature coverage of the results, combined with analysis and comment from around the world.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back after the results!