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We have a long day of GOTV, voting and Twitter tracking ahead before we know who won what, where and how. To keep you entertained while waiting, I complied some election facts. Enjoy!
The 6% - The only people allowed to vote in the first U.S. election in 1789 were white men who owned property. They made up only 6% of the entire population.
An Awkward Consolation Prize - Until the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1804, the second place finisher in the Presidential election became the vice president. Major issues in the elections of 1796 and 1800 led to the changes that still guide our Presidential elections today.
Am I registered? - 17 states and D.C. allow Election Day Registration, also known as same-day voter registration. Our neighbors to the north are allowed to register at the polls while in France, you are automatically registered when you turn 18.
Ground Control to Major Tom - How far away from home can you be and still cast an absentee ballot? If you're an astronaut living in Texas, you can vote from space. I'm not so sure about astro-newts, though.
Let's Move to New Zealand - No, not for the Hobbits, but for a quieter, less exhausting election experience. Turns out, it's illegal to say or do anything in public on election day that could influence other voters. No talking heads, no Facebook posts, nothing. Finally, some peace! (Bonus kiwi fact: In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to vote.)
Your Vote Counts ... and Counts and Counts - Charles D. B. King was elected president of Liberia in a hotly contested race in 1927. He won with 234,000 votes. It was an impressive victory, especially since Liberia only had 15,000 registered voters at the time. Remarkably, he remained in office. For three years. He resigned in 1930, not because of what the Guinness Book of Records calls the most fraudulent election ever, but due to a forced labor and slavery scandal.
The Origins of Jim Crow? - The 1876 U.S. Presidential election was something to behold. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote over Republican Rutherford B. Hayes by nearly 250,000 votes. But he failed to reach the required 184 electoral votes by one. Hayes had 165. In dispute where the 20 combined electoral votes from Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and, of course, Florida. Republicans controlled the southern electoral boards, but Democrats had won those states' elections (mostly in violent and fraudulent ways). A few months later, the Democrats would agree to a Hayes victory in exchange for increased funding for the South and an end to Reconstruction.
And finally, let's end this with a smile. Not his, yours ...
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