This site likes to be sparing with its pleas for contributions, with posts like this one normally appearing at the end of every second month. A federal election, however, is a moment of sunshine in which hay must be made, so this mid-campaign entry is here to supplement the one that would fall due on election eve in any case. To make the case that I’ve been earning my keep, I need only point to the fact that I have thus far met my performance indicator of one fresh federal election post each day since the campaign began a fortnight ago, as well as promptly updating the BludgerTrack poll aggregate as new results come to hand.
Naturally there will be no let-up over the next three weeks, culminating in the live results feature that will run on election night and beyond — some sense of which can be gleaned from the corresponding effort for the Western Australian election. This encompasses a three-candidate prediction model that will come into its own in seats where support for Labor, Liberal and Greens and/or independent candidates is finely balanced, of which there are now more than ever. Another new feature added late in the game during the WA count is a live results map that will start out white and then colour in as seats report, in lighter or darker shades to indicate who’s ahead and which seats have been called. I hope to develop further features for this in time for May 3.
If any of that sounds worthy of a contribution, these can be made through the “become a supporter” buttons that appear at the top of the site and at the bottom of each post.
