Where Do I Vote? Google Maps Shows The Way

I live in a purely Vote-by-Mail county; in fact, most of Washington state is Vote-by-Mail. But in this year of heightened political interest, you can imagine a lot of U.S. citizens wanting to go to the polls … but not knowing exactly where to go.

UPDATE: For 2008 election results, please see Election Results From The Search Engines & Beyond, published on November 4, 2008.

Enter Google to help answer the question, “Where do I vote?” The screenshot above shows a new Google shortcut to help people find their polling station on Google Maps. (It also shows up on similar queries like “How do I vote?” and “voting locations.”)

You can also go to this special site and enter your address.

According to today’s announcement, Google has partnered with state and local elections officials, and groups such as the League of Women Voters, Pew Charitable Trusts, and others involved in the Voting Information Project to make this information available.

It’s easy to use: type your home address, and Google Maps returns both where you live and where you should go to vote. Here’s how it looks if you happened to live at the White House:

On a related note, Loren Baker pointed out yesterday that Google is also encouraging AdWords users to get out and vote this year.