Election Day Coverage Online

If you’re like me and would prefer to catch tonight’s election day coverage online instead of from your TV or Radio, then you’re in luck, because there’s no shortage of online coverage for today’s historic election. Black online media properties are no exception either. We have compiled a small listing of just some of the online coverage from both black media sites, mainstream sites, as well as some mobile coverage.

BlackVoices’ Obama Watch 08, has a few interesting articles, and some discussion board comments from readers, but what is most striking about their coverage is the interactive Flash based map that shows each candidates electoral vote count by State.

theRoot.com has created a segment called My Voter Story, which allows their readers to write a brief essay, (400 words or less), discussing their voter experience as well as what this election means to them. TheRoot will be publishing these stories today and throughout the remainder of this week. If your interesting in participating, submit your story to submissions@theroot.com with the subject line: “My Voter Story.”

RushmoreDrive has partnered with NSNews and is offering a live streaming a “Watch the Vote” event streaming live from the campus of Johnson C. Smith University.  The application is powered by Kyte:

Rushmore Drive’s Kyte application also allows users to view and share player as Facebook app.

RushmoreDrive will also have a “Voice Your Vote” section where the students of JCSU will have the opportunity to sound of on a number of different election topics.

BET has put together a litany of strong interactive components and election day content. They have added a new strip of election related coverage on their homepage, as well as a brand new segment called Be Heard. Be heard has a very interesting interactive widget which includes up-to-date election information, and tips to help ensure that your vote counts. BET also has a live video stream of election day coverage starting at 8:00EST, as well as a user generated component allowing users to upload video of their voting experience.

NewsOne is covering the election through their election day blog, and has included include the CBS News’ live election results widget.

Essence has given readers the chance to be featured on Essence.com in a new segment called “I Voted”. The “I Voted” segment is asking readers to share their election day stories, thoughts, and photos. Selected stories will be featured on Essence.com homepage in the “I Voted” section.

BlackBottom.com, the Black news and entertainment video website, will be streaming live video from Barack Obama’s Election Rally in Chicago starting at 3:00pm EST.

General Tech Sites Coverage

Current TV is hosting an online party incorporating Digg, Twitter, and 12seconds. Bringing together some of the best in social media, the CurrentTV party will have a  Live DJ set by Diplo, and real-time broadcast of the most important results, facts and information .
Social Median has collaborated with  the Washington Post and The Guardian, allowing users to import their election day content from Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Blog, and other feeds into socialmedian. Your election updates from those sites will automatically appear on socialmedian.com, on washingtonpost.com, and other participating sites.

Google News has included a Google Map component with a view of the presidential race broken down by the number of electoral votes. Google News has also included graphs and date showing the Senate and House of Represitivite races, as well as Congressional races from each state. Google News has also released a very nice mobile page for those of you looking for full coverage on the go.

Another good source of coverage is Google Hot Trends. Which updates ranks, every 30 seconds, the most searched terms in Google. Google Hot Trends can be delivered via an RSS feed, and it will be interesting to see what people are searching as the election progresses. Side note: Tom Joyner was ranked #20 during the writing of this post. I guess its because of his coverage of the Election live from Barack Obama’s headquarters in Chicago.

As for us, you will see this post today, all day while we Rock the Vote   However, no need to open another tab or window to stay current with the election results – take a quick look to your right and you will see the CNN Results widget that will keep you in the know.