I am looking at the project from Financial Times: Biden v. Trump: live results 2020.
I like this project because its website is very tidy and there is not much text. Through the pictures and data they have compiled, people can quickly know which states Biden/Trump has won and which states have not been called yet. I like a part of the website, which is “Which states have flipped?”. The website lists “states won by Joe Biden that Donald Trump won in 2016” and “states won by Donald Trump that Hillary Clinton won in 2016”.(No states have been) I think it is such significant data because state voting changes can represent many issues, such as if the state has a faithless elector? And did citizens change their preferred political party or presidential candidate? Why did they change?
The website also provides a brief explanation of how to win the presidency (Joe Biden and Donald Trump each need 270 electoral votes to win the presidency), which is especially helpful for people who do not know so much about the electoral system. I also like the interactive mode of this website so much. It shows the states that have not been called; moreover, people can have the chance to guess which presidential candidate will win the state. For example, if we guess that Biden will win Nevada, we can click on the Biden option under Nevada, and then, Biden’s total votes will be added six votes, which are all from Nevada. This kind of interaction is very helpful for the early stage of the election. Because it can help people better think about which states the presidential candidate needs to win to get the final victory.
However, this project also has a shortcoming, which is that it cannot report the actual data in real-time. For example, if I search for “election 2020” on Google, I can clearly know the state’s current data that has not been called. This website will only update the information that has been called.
Shiyun Li (Sharon) 