Election Day is Here

The Digital & Social Voice

Millions of Americans have already voted before November 8th, but that doesn’t mean you’ll tune out of the election just yet.

News outlets are using Facebook Live, Snapchat, YouTube and other tools to offer live coverage of Election Day in ways not possible four years ago.

It’s a fitting close to an election season that has played out on Twitter and Facebook as much as it has on the nightly news, with debates live-streamed online and candidates sparring on social media.

CNN will have live coverage with reporters in battleground states, as well as drone shots of voting locations and international reaction throughout the day. Each hour from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. will be streamed from a different location. After 6 p.m., the network will continue Facebook Live streams from various locations, including watch parties and, again, battleground states.

The Washington Post is planning live programming on its Facebook page beginning at 7 p.m. The show will include commentary and updates from Post reporters, including those at campaign headquarters for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

The New York Times will also stream election coverage on its Facebook page, beginning at 4:30 p.m., from locations such as polling stations, college campuses and election viewing parties.

Other news outlets with live streaming plans include Univision, PBS NewsHour, the Daily Caller, ABC News and Vox.

‘Big Data’ for a big day.

Election Day  inevitably brings issues that can prevent some people from casting their ballots.

To help track where some of those issues may be most prevalent, Google News Lab and Pitch Interactive — a data visualization studio — built an interactive map as part of ProPublica’s Electionland project. Electionland is made up of 650 journalism students, 450 journalists, 250 media outlets, two nonprofits, and seven tech companies looking into what’s happening at polling places nationwide.

The map tracks searches around five issues:

• Provisional ballots, which voters may be asked to fill out if their eligibility is called into question.
• Long wait times at the polls.
• Inactive voter status, which voters can be placed under if there are issues delivering election-related mail.
• Voting machine problems.
• Voter intimidation.