GEO 101 World Human Geography
Discussions Spring 2011
Discussion 11: The Geography of Voting

Reading to Be Done Before This Discussion: Material below.

Things to Bring to Discussion:  Colored Pencils

Due in Discussion This Week: Nothing

Due in Discussion Next Week: Completed maps (started in discussion); answers to questions below and answers to the questions for next week's discussion.

How is This Discussion Connected to Lecture?  Your text includes a short discussion of electoral geography and in lecture we briefly explored the degree to which there are “political cultures” in the United States – that is regional social formations that tend to vote in particular ways.  The discussion is designed to get you to think through these issues of geopolitics and “political culture” in greater detail by examining the voting patterns associated with the most recent presidential election. 

To Prepare for Discussion:  The purpose of this discussion is to help you map and understand voting patterns in the United States.  Most of the class period will be given over to learning to divide and sort data, and to discussing these data’s implications. 

In this discussion, you will be asked to map the 2008 Presidential vote in the State of Indiana. A map and data will be provided to you in class. During class, you will study this data and decide how you want to represent it on the map: by absolute vote, percentage, or some other means.  You will also need to decide how best to divide up the data: how should you make categories to best display the results of the data?  In class you will turn the numbers into graphic representations.  The second half of the hour will be spent discussing the meaning of the patterns you create.  We will also take a look at some of the maps from past elections (see below) and our most recent election and see how things might have changed since the election we map today.

Maps from Previous Elections

2000 Indiana Election Maps | Data
2004 Indiana Election Maps | Data

 For next week, based on the map you made, you will need to answer the questions below.

Name: Honor Code:
Questions to be Turned in at the Beginning of Next Discussion 

1.   Can Indiana be regionalized on the basis of the vote?  What kind of regions are these?

2.   Can you hypothesize as to why the vote is so variable between counties?  What sort of factors might explain the patterns you see?

3.   In what regions does the majority of the state's population live?

4.     If you were interested in running for governor in what region(s) would you target your money and effort?  How come?

5.   What is one issue about electoral geography and voting that you would you like to see discussed in class?