Election 2008: Interactive and Cinematic Voting Maps

September 15th, 2008 By: Diane Trim in Articles, Social Studies Teaching Strategies, Technology in the Classroom

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Voting America, a site from the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond, has put together interactive and cinematic maps that illustrate how the states voted in each presidential election from 1840 – 2004.

Cinematic maps. The cinematic maps play like a movie and show how the states have changed in population and politics from the 19th through the 21st centuries. When you select a map series, you can pause, rewind, or fast forward the player. Clicking on the year opens up the Wikipedia entry for that year’s election in a new window.

Elections 1840 – 2004 is a series of cinematic maps that illustrate the changes in voting trends over time. It’s fascinating to watch the changing politics in the South, especially in 1864, when those states disappear. Most of them reappear in the 1868 presidential election, but the colors after Reconstruction are interesting to watch, too. The maps tie in both the presidential candidates and the major news event of the time like the Stock Market Crash, Reconstruction, or World War II.

Voting America also has cinematic population maps that show how the white and black populations have stretched across America to the West and have gathered around cities.

Interactive maps. The interactive map shows voting and population trends across the country and county by county. Voting America tells you up front that the interactive map is processor- and memory-intensive. In other words, it takes a long time to load and it might not show up well on your classroom computer. It’s wise to test the feature first and give your computer person a heads-up that you’re thinking of using the site in class.

The interactive map allows users to overlay demographic information, total votes, voter turn out, margins of victory, and political parties.

Video experts. The last feature of the site is probably the most useful. Experts analyze maps and provide insight into America’s changing population and voting trends. You’ll find professors who use the maps to illustrate the coming of the Civil War, the role of third parties in presidential elections, political party realignment, and close elections. Again, this is a resource-intensive feature that might not play well on all computers. It’s a good idea to test it and to have a word with your computer person before you plan a lesson around the features.

Tags: election, interactive, voting

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