Printed by
New York Board of Elections
Subject of
President Barack Obama, American, born 1961
President Biden, Joseph R. Jr, American, born 1942
John McCain, American, 1936 - 2018
Palin, Sarah, American, born 1964
Democratic Party, American, founded 1828
Republican Party, American, founded 1854
Date
2008
Medium
ink on paper (fiber product) cardboard
Dimensions
H x W: 36 × 43 3/8 in. (91.5 × 110.1 cm)
H x W x D (partly rolled): 36 × 43 3/8 × 7 1/16 in. (91.5 × 110.1 × 18 cm)
Caption
New York’s 31 Electoral Votes helped to secure the Presidential victory for Obama. In New York, then-Democratic nominee Barack Obama took 62.9% of the vote, defeating Republican nominee John McCain with a 26.9% margin. At the time, this was the highest Democratic vote share in New York since Johnson’s Victory over Goldwater in 1964. Four years later, Obama would defeat his own New York state record with 63.35% of the vote in 2012.
Description
A sample ballot for the United States 2008 Presidential election in New York, New York. Printed in black ink on large off-white cardboard paper, the hyper visual ballot is designed with 11 top to bottom voting columns; voting machine instructions; voting party/group options from A to K, and an amendment proposal. Extensive voting machine instructions on the far left of the board are presented first in English, then again, in Spanish. To the right of the machine instructions, twenty rows of horizontal voting choices, A to K, list political parties and their candidates: Barack Obama/Joe Biden; John McCain/Sarah Palin; Roger Calero/Alsyon Kennedy; Gloria La Riva/Eugene Puryear; Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez; Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente; Bob Barr/Wayne A Root; Martin Schoenfeld; Marcy L. Kahn; Judith J. Gische; Shirley Werner Kornreich; Nora S. Anderson; Nancy M. Bannon, Charles B. Rangel; Bill Perkins; Adam Clayton Powell; Edward Daniels; Norma Soriano; George L. Espada, Sr.; Martin Koppel and Craig Schley. The last voting column on the far right, with the number one inside, offers “yes” or “no” in English and Spanish, on a proposed amendment to Article 5, section 6 of the Constitution. A blue ink stamp from the Board of Elections [SAMPLE BALLOT] features towards the lower half of the board, and at the bottom of the of the last column are Chinese and Korean characters, instructing the use of the voting machine lever. There are no markings on the reverse of the ballot.
Place printed
Manhattan, New York, United States, North and Central America
Classification
Memorabilia and Ephemera-Political and Activist Ephemera
Type
documents
ballots
Topic
Activism
Government
Multilingual communication
Politics
U.S. History, 2001-
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Karen J. Greene, Ph.D.
Object number
2019.103.2
Restrictions & Rights
No Known Copyright Restrictions
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd58d5f446f-6c7d-4aeb-9ccd-8a455296359e

Cataloging is an ongoing process and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. If you have more information about this object, please contact us at NMAAHCDigiTeam@si.edu

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