With the Republican National Convention still over five months away, today could prove to be the most pivotal moment yet for the Republican presidential candidates vying for their party’s nomination. Super Tuesday, as you’ve no doubt heard the punditry refer to today’s primaries, represents the biggest piñata of delegates so far in the party’s primary race. Many pots will be stirring today as ten different states in four different time zones go to the polls to cast their votes in order to determine which candidate shall receive the delegates from their respective states.
To help keep track of today’s busy election activity, Google has launched an interactive map of the United States that will help the country follow the results as they come in. The map contains election information about each of the fifty states as provided by the Associated Press, whom Google partnered with in order to compile the data for each state.
The map shows the results of primary elections and caucuses that have already happened, the real-time results of states’ primary contests as they’re announced by the Associated Press (which should be useful as results come in this evening), and the date of future primaries of states yet to vote.
By clicking on the individual states, users can view a county-by-county breakdown of how states voted as well as total amounts of votes cast for each of the candidates. Or, if you’re more light-hearted about it, use the map to reflect on candidates of primaries past who didn’t make it this far into the election.
While other major news outlets like the New York Times or CNN have provided similar information-rich interactive maps to allow people to follow election results, this is Google’s first foray into Google+LatLong%29″>political landscaping. As the presidential election moves beyond the primary stage and into the general election this fall, expect more updates and, I’d imagine, more Google integration to the election map to make it stand out.
