Just a quick note on election coverage here in the Yukon. CBC Yukon will be airing coverage after the polls close at 7 pm PDT and will also be airing comments posted to their Facebook page (@cbcyukonforum).
Don’t forget that desseminating election results using social media before all of the polls in the country are closed is an offence under the Canada Elections Act.
My assumption is that everyone has their code phrases down… e.g., the trout flies at midnight or Egg Management Fee!
Doug Rutherford 
People are way to blase about this issue of reporting early results. Social media or not that law was put there for a reason.
I mean think about it, here is an example: What if BC didn’t vote until the next day? What if the results across Canada were a dead heat between two parties, or a total landslide for one party? If everyone in BC could wake up in the morning, read the full coverage from across Canada, then use that information I am positive it would have a huge impact, both in terms of voter turnout and also how people vote.
I think the principle is sound… We need to come up with something that reflects the different ways people get information now. Maybe having the same polling hours (not adjusted for time zones) across the country is the only option.
Anthony, I don’t understand why the results back East would affect the way you vote. Never mind the Big Brother crap – if I decide for some reason that I care about what’s going on before I cast my vote, I (and most other Yukoners, I’m sure) have people I can phone.
From http://apr.sagepub.com/content/9/4/479.abstract regarding that issue in the States:
“The years in which the news media make early projections for the Presidential contest are characterized by cries of outrage from losers of lower offices as well as from academics and other interested observers of the political process. Their concern seems to be that if West Coast residents who have not been to the polls learn of the outcome of the Presidential race before their polls close, they will be less likely to vote than if the outcome is still in doubt. The analysis here shows, however, that attributing a decline in Western turnout to information conveyed by the media ignores the inescapable fact that the decision to vote— on the West Coast or anywhere else—is the result of a complicated combination of factors, none of which is related to information received on election day. “
They don’t affect how I vote, but for people who are voting “strategically” or based on polls I can’t help but think it would make a difference.
You don’t think a big primary win (or underwhelming showing) in New Hampshire affects voting in the rest of the primaries? Or that, if only the people in Florida were asked to re-vote in 2000, they would have voted the same regardless of what they now knew?
Given that it is only a few hours window I doubt many people are sitting at home waiting for the East Coast results before they vote, but I think on principle everyone should vote with the same information.
PS – Read your book recently and really enjoyed it. Tried to send you a note but contact form on your website didn’t work.