The place have been the most effective electoral maps to be discovered through the 2020 U.S. presidential election?

(Clay Banks/Unsplash)

Because the world awaited a winner within the U.S. presidential election, individuals have been glued to screens huge and small for the most recent outcomes to be flashed on electoral maps. However not all maps are created equal.

I tracked 10 election maps from Canadian and U.S. information retailers such because the CBC, Maclean’s, the Globe and Mail, Fox Information and the New York Instances. Whereas maps have lengthy been used for political propaganda, even maps from sources and not using a partisan bent “lie.” They’re, at finest, partial representations of actuality — statistical and design decisions about what as an example and the way.

So what did this yr’s election maps rightly or wrongly inform us?

Mapping on the internet

Since so many people eat the information on-line, it was interactive maps embedded in web sites that supplied a very powerful home windows onto the vote. Skilled mapmakers — cartographers — know these instruments are each promising and restricted.

In contrast to print maps, internet maps usually enable their customers to customise design. As an example, internet maps would possibly enable “re-symbolization” to indicate the info another way. Some interactive maps additionally let customers drill deeper to get “particulars on demand” — to see county stage somewhat than simply nationwide stage outcomes.

“Affordances” akin to legends that seem when customers hover over components of the map additionally assist put extra info on the map and into readers’ arms. Net maps can robotically reload with contemporary knowledge, however such updates could also be misunderstood if care isn’t taken to contextualize them.

With all this in thoughts, we must always ask ourselves two questions after we take a look at any U.S. election map.

How full is the info?

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented mail-in voting and delays in poll counting. We knew that many states would take days to totally report their outcomes.

Cartographers use a wide range of “visible variables,” akin to texture and brightness, with a view to signify this type of info. As an example, Fox Information modified the brightness of its map’s reds and blues as an example the estimated variety of votes counted, with darker colors representing areas that had reported extra of their ballots.

The New York Instances used a number of approaches to characterize uncertainties in election outcomes. Some states seem textured, or hatched, as a result of it wasn’t doable to say who had gained but. The proportion of votes counted is indicated in textual content, in addition to in a legend obtainable when customers hover over the map. Map readers may click on on the state to see which counties have been nonetheless processing ballots, and the remainder of the web page supplied much more element.

The New York Instances map of the U.S. election as of the morning of Nov. 5, 2020. It makes use of texture — hatches — as an example the place the vote continues to be undetermined.

(The New York Instances)

However what does the map really present?

The commonest American election maps overstate outcomes from rural areas as a result of these consist of enormous however comparatively unpopulated counties and states. Probably the most notorious instance is that this map of the 2016 election that Trump supporters dropped at his defence throughout his impeachment, and which the president reportedly framed for the Oval Workplace:

It exhibits 2016’s outcomes by shading counties in line with the celebration that gained them, illustrating that the overwhelming majority voted for Trump. It’s indicator that his assist in 2016 was widespread in a geographic sense, however it doesn’t really present that he was well-liked, as a result of the map doesn’t account for the way few individuals voted in these counties. It’s individuals who vote, not land.

Fox Information view of 2020 election outcomes by county as of the morning of Nov. 5, 2020.

(Fox Information)

Within the 2020 election, the conservative Fox Information was the one outlet I reviewed that allowed its readers to see outcomes on this method. Much less deceptive approaches confirmed county-level outcomes utilizing circles colored by the vote winner and sized in line with the variety of voters or margin of victory.

However a presidential election map depicting county-level outcomes provides the incorrect impression anyway, since this isn’t how U.S. elections are determined. Trump wasn’t elected in 2016 as a result of he gained extra ballots than Hillary Clinton, however as a result of he earned extra electoral school votes.

Learn extra:

How is the American President elected?

Every state has two electoral school votes, plus extra primarily based on its share of the entire inhabitants. What issues is who wins essentially the most votes throughout the whole thing of every state, not in particular person counties (although vote-rich counties can definitely sway a state’s ultimate consequence).

A cartogram that appeared in The Globe and Mail of U.S. election outcomes as of the morning of Nov. 5, 2020.

The Globe and Mail

Many election internet maps — such because the Globe and Mail’s and Maclean’s (however not CBC’s) — allowed readers to toggle between a extra commonplace view of the U.S. and a view of the states sized by their weight within the Electoral Faculty. These “cartograms” present essentially the most informative view of who’s forward within the election, even when they aren’t essentially the most intuitive.

Interactive internet maps supply readers a way of commanding ends in actual time. However they don’t all the time inform their readers a lot concerning the veracity of these outcomes or methods to perceive them.

Net maps — whether or not of elections or pandemics — usually are not going away, so we’d do properly to higher perceive methods to make and skim them.

Eric Nost doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or group that may profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.