Beware computer vote switching & how best to track election results

Just as there are many different ways for voters this year to get information about all the candidates, there are also many ways to get election results! Gone are the days when one had to sit in front of the TV all night waiting for results to trickle in so we didn't miss anything.

Today social media and the Internet provide a world of options. One good option for on-the-fly and when-you-need-it results is Google's 2008 Elections Gallery, which includes maps of historic races, visuals of how each state could effect the electoral college results, and even a map of Sarah Palin's road to national candidate stardom.

Live results begins this afternoon, at which time the map will track real-time as election results come in. By selecting a state on the map you will see county-by-county results and view House and Senate races in each state.

There's also a search query map in which you can search trends by state from the 2008 race. The visual graph is clickable so you can select a specific date of search trends.

For on-the-fly information about how well each state is doing at the polls, watch the Twitter Vote Report Wiki. I will be helping the site parse and clean data that will be submitted to users throughout the day. And of course after this year, no election will be complete without Twitter. You can watch reports from on-the-ground voters across America @votereport.

Of course we wouldn't want to forget that mainstream media provides coverage throughout the day My favorte network for watching political events is CNN. CNN also has a Political Ticker that is tracking events on the ground as they happen.

Of all the stations I watch (many, as you might imagine) I enjoy their coverage for the wide perspectives and their panel approach, where several individuals weigh in at the same time from all spectrums of the political continumum.

And for during and after the election, find personal voter responses of election results and Election Day events from across the globe on allvoices.com.

No matter how you plan to keep track of results today, be sure you check your ballot submission BEFORE you leave the polling place. Results are indicating that electronic equipment is already responsible for several incidences of vote switching, so make sure your vote gets counted correctly!

Oh and just in case you've forgotten exactly how that darned Electoral College works, I've attached one of my favorite SchoolHouse Rocks episodes. Even if you already know, the video is too much fun not to watch!

So off to the show, may the best man win!!