Election Resources on the Internet: Federal Elections in the U.S.A., Part I

The United States of America held a general election on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Voters selected presidential electors to choose the successor of President George W. Bush, who's constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in office; voters also elected members of the nation's bicameral Congress.

In the election, U.S. Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic Party nominee, made history by becoming the first African-American elected to the presidency, defeating fellow U.S. Senator John McCain, the Republican Party presidential candidate. Barack Obama won 28 states, the District of Columbia and Nebraska's 2^nd Congressional District with a total of 365 presidential electors, while John McCain prevailed in 22 states with 173 electors. (In Maine and Nebraska, the ticket with the largest number of votes in each of the congressional districts of the two states receives a presidential elector for that district, while the remaining two electors in each state go to the ticket with the largest number of votes at the statewide level.)

Nationwide and state-level results are available here for the following general elections:

	President

November 4, 2008	Results	Election Map	Election Map	Election Map

November 7, 2006			Election Map	Election Map

November 2, 2004	Results	Election Map	Election Map	Election Map

November 5, 2002			Election Map	Election Map

November 7, 2000	Results	Election Map	Election Map	Election Map

November 3, 1998			Election Map	Election Map

November 5, 1996	Results	Election Map	Election Map	Election Map

The 1996 to 2004 election statistics presented in this space come from reports and data files issued by the Federal Election Commission, while the 2008 figures come from official results published by the electoral agencies of the fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Part II of this presentation will describe the electoral system used to choose the President of the U.S. and members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.