With the Iowa Caucuses only one day away, Google is promoting a new website that is exclusively dedicated to elections. The election site, which allows Google users to easily locate stories and information on the basis of candidates or issues, is an updated version of the site that Google launched in late November related to the Egyptian parliamentary election.
The Politics & Elections center, which is entirely focused on elections and related topics, is designed to be an easy to use informational source for potential voters. A Google spokesperson told Mashable the following:
“As Nov. 6, 2012, draws closer, the site will evolve into a robust election hub where citizens can watch, learn, discuss, participate — and perhaps even make an impact on — the digital campaign trail as it blazes forward to the election of the next President of the United States.”
The Trends section of the site allows users to easily select a date range and see how a specific candidate is performing relative to his or her political opponents. In this section, Google provides site visitors with a visual display of the candidates’ search volume, news mentions, and YouTube video views. To see specific data, a user can click any of the trend graphs to see exact numbers or visit the referenced channel.
The “On the Ground” section, displays an interactive map that allows users to click a location to access geographical specific election information. For example, when a user that clicks on Fort Dodge, Iowa, they will see a video of Newt Gingrich campaign event that occurred in that town. In addition to videos, clicking on a city allows users to easily access local news articles and blogs.
In addition to the online tools and resources, Google is planning to increase its offline presence in Iowa by sponsoring a section of the Media Filing Center, coordinating live hangouts with journalists, and providing catering from local restaurants.
