The idea is to present the results in a way that allows you to explore in interesting ways. The data presented is pretty straightforward, with a group of coloured blobs representing the votes for each candidate in a riding.

I added one extra feature, a black ring that shows the votes for candidates other than the winner in each riding. This seemed particularly relevant for this election, where less than 38% of the popular vote went to the Conservatives yet they get to form the government.

You can explore the results:

• as an image (non interactive, but quick)
• through an applet (may not work on all browsers. I’m working on it)
• or as a downloadable application Windows, Mac or Linux

If you have suggestions, thoughts or what have you feel free to leave a comment or get in touch.

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions… [It] is developed by artists and designers as an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.

The plan was to put together a data visualisation to explore the votes data intuitively, not just the same old percentages and charts. I think I had some success and it was definitely a good way to dive into Processing, even though it took about 500% longer than I anticipated spending. I’m actually using the 2003 election data here, but plan to update once the complete 2007 results are downloadable.

You can play with the online tools, see what you think. Comments, questions, offers all welcome. Leave a comment or email me.