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This past Tuesday 119.5 million Americans lined up to cast a vote for the President of the United States. It was a tight race leaving many pollsters arguing until 11:16PM ET when it was finally announced that Barak Obama had won re-election. Whether you are a Romney or an Obama supporter – or frankly do not see the point in following another countries’ presidency – we can all agree that this election was unprecedented and had some major impacts on the United States and the World. Here is a look at some of the memorable moments or decisions from Election Day and how they affect Canadians.
Twitter Frenzy
With more than 31 million election-related tweets on Tuesday, this election hit a level of social media activity unseen before. When results started rolling in twitter hit, an unseen before surge of 15,107 tweets-per-second at 8:20PM PT were being published, this translated in an average of 9,965 TPS over the hour. To put this into perspective, previous records include the end of the FIFA Women’s Final in July 2011 that saw 7,196 TPS and only sustained as a spike for a few minutes. Over 500,000 Obama supporters retweeted this celebratory message:
International leaders from across the world tweeted their congratulations, including this very short and to the point tweet from Prime Minister Harper that contained a link to the official PMO statement:
Others, such as Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom sent a more personal tweet:
An interesting development was the hashtag #USvoteCBC making the list of worldwide trending hashtags during the final election results and Obama’s victory speech. Many Canadians were indeed actively following these elections.
Problems at the Polls
No election goes without some trouble at the polls, however it is rare that we see voters waiting in line for up to two hours in order to cast their ballot! Florida, in particular, experienced massive wait times and its results have yet to be officially determined. Other interested developments were the problems citizens affected by Sandy encountered when voting. There was a decrease of voting in those areas, particularly New Jersey as it was impossible for some to make it to a poll. Voters in these regions were actually allowed to email or fax in votes and many polls were set in unorthodox locations in NYC so that people could still vote.
Record of 20 Women Elected to the Senate
This past year was infamously known as the “War on Women” in US politics. In the face of the rhetoric over abortion, contraceptives, rape, and “binders full of women,” this historical election saw 20 women elected to the Senate and New Hampshire holding not only an all female congressional delegation but also a newly elected female governor!
First Openly Gay Elected Senator
In addition to a record number of women being elected, Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin became not only the first Wisconsin women elected to the senate, but the first openly gay senator in US history. In a country that still experiences heated discussion over homosexual issues, this could have a real impact on debate. While these discussions are less tense in Canada and many federal politicians rumoured to be gay, Scott Brison from Nova Scotia was Canada’s first openly gay Cabinet Minister when he “came out” in 2002.
Same-Sex Marriage
On the topic of homosexuality and equality, Americans showed a changing shift in attitude this year when previously attempts to legalise same-sex marriage on the ballot failed dozens of times. Gay marriage rights passed, mind you very narrowly, in Maine, Maryland and Washington. Legal recognition of same-sex marriage in Canada came about in 2005 with the Civil Marriage Act after a series of constitutional challenges and debate.
Marijuana
One of the most talked about results, other then Obama of course, was the legalisation of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington. Canadians had generally positive things to say about this development including our Prince of Pot –Mark Emery’s wife who was especially ecstatic. However the legalisation could have dramatic effects on the British Columbia pot industry that is valued at an estimated 8$ billion and provides Canada with 60% of its marijuana. Retail stores in Washington State will most likely not be open for business until late 2013 early 2014 so time will tell if this indeed affects BC’s industry. The Canadian Federal Justice Ministry was quick to deny any changes in Canada’s drug policies regarding recreational marijuana.
The Future for Canada
Mixed reactions occurred after President Obama’s re-election Tuesday night, most revolving around the Canadian fallout from the ongoing US financial crisis. The truth is we won’t know how Obama’s win will in reality affect Canadians until we feel, or don’t, the shock. Could Romney have really changed economic relations and situations? That is a debate for another day.
Canadians will always mock America and its elections (see #22USAVotes for some of the funniest Canadian tweets), but the truth is, Canadians are fascinated with the oh-so-glamorous and overwhelmingly polarized and volatile American Presidential elections. Some have even argued that Canadians care more about what happens to our Southern neighbour, than our own politics. While with this I strongly disagree, I would encourage more Canadians to take a lesson from the passion filled Americans who waited hours in line to cast their vote.
The American political system may be broken in the eyes of many, but its people have an extraordinary faith in freedom and democracy, unfound elsewhere in the world. Only in America do you see a man die at the polls and the first thing that escapes his mouth after he is revived is – “did I vote?”.
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