ELECTION
2008
Election Night: Color by the Numbers
•
WA
MT
•
OR
It’s finally here, Election Day. Soon, we’ll know who the 44th president of the United States will be: Democratic
MCCAIN
VT
ND
ID
UT
CA
CO
AZ
IL
IN
MO
OK
NM
PA
IA
AR
Montana
3
• Red states and blue states
This is where the colored pencils
come in. You’ll see on this page
a small map of the United States
with most of the states colored
in either red or blue. Red states
are ones that McCain is expected
to win. Blue states are ones that
Obama is expected to win. As
you watch election results
come in, color in states
Obama wins with blue and
states McCain wins with red
on the large map. If a state
Obama was expected to win
goes to McCain, for example,
that could be important. Some
states aren’t colored in because
surveys have shown they are too
close to call. Who wins those
states will be very important,
too.
Oregon
7
Idaho
4
Wyoming
3
Nevada
5
Utah
5
California
55
North Dakota
3
Nebraska
5
Colorado
9
Kansas
6
Illinois
21
Missouri
11
New Mexico
5
Texas
34
• Electoral votes
When people vote, they are really
selecting electors to the electoral college,
which then decides who is president.
Each state gets a number of electoral
votes based on its population. That’s
why states with a lot of electoral votes
are so important. In most cases when a
candidate wins a state’s popular vote,
he also wins that state’s electoral votes.
A candidate could win Virginia’s popular
vote by a single ballot, but he would get
all 13 of its electoral votes. There are 538
electoral votes. Use the table on the right
side of this page to keep track of them.
Oklahoma
7
Alaska
3
Hawaii
4
Indiana
11
Pennsylvania
21
Ohio
20
W.V.
5 Virginia
13
Kentucky 8
Tennessee 11
Arkansas
6
Mis
sis
si
6 ppi
Arizona
10
New
York
31
Michigan
17
Iowa
7
• Popular vote
This is the total number of votes
cast across the country. In the 2000
presidential election, Democrat Al Gore
won more than 500,000 more popular
votes than Republican George W. Bush. If
you’re scratching your head, wondering,
“So why don’t we have a President Gore?”
read on.
New
Hampshire
4
Minnesota
10
Wisconsin
10
Alabama
9
NC
SC
GA
FL
Vermont
3
South Dakota
3
VA
LA
TX
Georgia
15
RI
CT
NJ
WV
TN
MS AL
HI
Washington
11
OH
KY
AK
• Poll closing times
The first election polls will close at 6
p.m. Eastern time (in parts of Indiana and
Kentucky); the last state’s polls close (in
Alaska) at 1 a.m. No, we’re not suggesting
you stay up that late.
NY
MI
KS
OBAMA
ME
MA
WI
NE
NV
NH
MN
SD
WY
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois or Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona. • Sometimes the winner of a presidential
election is known relatively early in the night, but sometimes it takes days — or even weeks — to declare a winner.
• Never let it be said that KidsPost is encouraging you to scam your parents. But if you’d like to stay up a bit past your
usual bedtime tonight to see who wins the election, may we suggest using the line “But, Dad, it’s history”? • If it works,
then get out your colored pencils or markers and keep track of the results using our handy electoral college map (don’t
worry, we’ll explain). Here are some things you need to know:
270
How the states are expected to vote
DE
MD
DC
Republican
Leaning Republican
Democratic
Leaning Democratic
Too close to call
Maine
4
Massachusetts
12
Rhode Island
4
Connecticut
7
New Jersey
15
Delaware
3
Maryland
10
South
Carolina
8
D.C.
3
• Your vote counts to KidsPost! •
Go to www.kidspost.com to cast your ballot for either:
Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois)
You can vote until 8 p.m., and we’ll report the winner —
and whether KidsPost readers agreed with the rest of the
nation — in Thursday’s paper.
ELECTORAL
VOTE TOTALS
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
North Carolina
15
Louisiana
9
That’s the number of electoral votes a
candidate needs to win the presidency. In
the 2000 election, Bush got 271 electoral
votes to Gore’s 266. (One elector didn’t
vote.) As a candidate wins a state, put
that number of electoral votes in his
column. It’s a race: First one to 270 wins!
Florida
27
illustration by edel rodriguez for the washington post
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
TOTALS
JOHN
MCCAIN
BARACK
OBAMA