Here in the United States, we are two weeks and some days away from the 2012 United States Presidential Election. Or, to be complete, we are that far from a general election that includes a Presidential Election. It also includes the election of nine governors, thirty-three senators, four hundred and thirty eight representatives, four delegates, and one resident commissioner. It will also include the election of countless (seriously, I don't want to count them) mayors, state legislators, state executive offices, city and county councilpeople, sheriffs, soil and water district commissioners, as well as voting on (again, I don't want to count them) many many state, city and local measures and laws.

I want your help recording this election. I am going to make an informal quest. Informal because I don't have time to organize shiny stars, but I will offer encouragement and a promise to read everything that anyone has to write about this election. I will also make a node linking to each and every writeup that someone wants to write about this election. Multiple writeups in a node are encouraged, especially for high profile and momentous contests.

The format I usually use for node titles is (Year) (Locality) (Office) Election. This can get a bit wordy if you actually want to node (for a fictitious example) the Baltimore Maryland 7th Sewer District Director Election, but such is the nature of the beast.

There has been a lot written on electoral politics already. Much of it has two problems: it is either too dry, or too...wet. Wikipedia and uselectionatlas.com will both give us the numbers of who won and by how much. The rest of the internet will give us lines about plutocracy and/or socialism. What I want to read is what this site can give us: journalism that has some context, and that will last longer than a blog post or yahoo comments section rant. Tell me who was running, and tell me what the issues and narrative were. Tell me what happened, and what it means. Let me know things that only someone with local knowledge will know. Write something that, despite the temporary nature of writing about an event, will be helpful for people reading in the future. Some of the details you write about now will be very interesting to someone reading in the future.

I don't know who will join me for this, but I would encourage people to try, both for the good of this site, and for the good of our democracy.

Oh, and incidentally, I know that this all sounds a bit Americentric. I don't expect everyone to view this election as a momentous occasion, but I would encourage people living outside of the United States to read and write along as well.

Pre-Election Writeups: Campaigning, Parties, and Other Such Things.

Daylogs for the time around the election, which will probably contain some election material:

Descriptions of Races and Outcomes:

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.