News sources, pundits, entertaining commentators, irritating commentators, restoration rallies, and $3.5 billion in spending have all been leading up to this day. You’ve probably made up your mind and/or cast your votes, or you will be doing both in the next few hours. We want to join in the chorus to Get Out The Vote, and MKCREATIVE recently tweeted the latest video/Facebook/political/future-past parody mashup by MoveOn.org’s CNNBC ‘network’ (Disclaimer: the resulting video implicates you in the fate of nation in 2050 and is not bipartisan). But we realize that we’re likely preaching to the choir. What to do between casting your vote and hearing the analysts telling you what your vote means?
- If you are closely involved with a nonprofit, you might want to consider Susanne Perry’s article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy about how the election likely will steer the government’s roles with nonprofits:
With Sen. Charles E. Grassley, [Congress’s] leading nonprofit watchdog, expected to take on a new role, they predict a less aggressive approach to charity regulation in the Senate. But with Republicans projected to win a majority in the House, charities could nonetheless face heightened scrutiny in some areas.
And, in an aggressive effort to close the country’s ballooning budget deficit, a Republican-led House could take aim at pet projects of the Obama administration that affect nonprofit groups or the tax exemption of nonprofit hospitals.
- You might consider whether all the punditry about poll numbers over the last eighteen-plus months will be proven correct. Or not. Or not as correct as was assumed. A particularly interesting challenge to the traditional polls involves the use of cellphones and social media, that might give Democrats better numbers than we have been told to expect. Nate Silver of the NewYorkTimes.com describes the phenomenon thusly:
The cellphone effect. This one is pretty simple, really: a lot of American adults (now about one-quarter of them) have ditched landlines and rely exclusively on mobile phones, and a lot of pollsters don’t call mobile phones. Cellphone-only voters tend to be younger, more urban, and less white — all Democratic demographics — and a study by Pew Research suggests that the failure to include them might bias the polls by about 4 points against Democrats, even after demographic weighting is applied.
- It can also be fun to handicap both the close races and the pundits who call them. Given my failure on the World Series, I am keeping my own mouth shut on that score.
- A number of smartphone apps have been made to keep track of the results, too. And Lord knows there are plenty of apps and games to enjoy while waiting in line (If your polling station has a line – If you are allowed to have one: many states require cell phones to be shut off while in the room where voting takes place).
- If you need a bit of comic relief (as if politics weren’t enough), you might enjoy some motivational political e-cards from SomeECards.com. The Huffington Post has aggregated 10 of its favorites.
- You might also enjoy a fine election-day primer and pre-analysis from The Onion, including helpful material to help you decide which sandwich to order while waiting for the e-voting booth to come back on line.
Finally, you might want to start planning for the 2012 elections, given the fact that campaigning for them begins on tomorrow morning’s talk shows.