Google has been highly involved with connecting U.S. voters to timely information throughout this election cycle, by offering everything from voter registration assistance to polling place information in its search result pages. Today, the company announced plans to display the results of the U.S. election directly in search, in over 30 languages, as soon as the polls close.
Web searchers who query for “election results” will be able to view detailed information on the Presidential, Senatorial, Congressional, Gubernatorial races as well as state-level referenda and ballot propositions, says Google.
The results will be updated continuously – every 30 seconds, as indicated by a screenshot shared by the company on its official blog post detailing the new features. Tabs across the top will let you switch to between the various races, like President, House, and Senate, for example. The results will also include information like how many more electoral votes a presidential candidate needs to win, how many seats are up for grabs in the House and Senate, and how many Gubernatorial races are underway, among other things.
This data is presented in an easy-to-read format, with Democrats in blue, Republicans in red, and simple graphs, alongside the key numbers.
While Google has offered voter assistance tools for years in past elections, the company has really stepped up its game in this most recent cycle, with the rollout of web and mobile tools that helped people figure out how to register, how to vote or vote early, where to find their polls, who’s on the ballot, and more. It also made those guides available in Spanish.
And Google heavily pushed voters to get involved with home page ads on its usually sparse Google.com site. In addition, it’s today running a banner at the top of Gmail that offers to show you where to vote – something it hasn’t done in years past. The Google Doodle is also being used to remind people of the election.
The increased efforts come at a time when more people are turning to the web to get information about the elections. The company says it has seen a 233 percent increase in search traffic for the phrase “how to vote” compared with the 2012 elections, for example.
The election results will be made available as soon as the polls close on Election Day, says Google. The company also notes it will be live streaming election news on YouTube via the channels offered by NBC, PBS, MTV, Bloomberg, Telemundo, The Young Turks, and others. Already, viewers spent over 20 million hours watching and rewatching the debate live streams on the site, the company added.
Featured Image: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP