2% of voters nationwide believe Romney would "favor the poor" as president. I'm just going to leave this here. [via]

The results aren't in yet, but it's becoming increasingly clear from the exit poll data and the glum mood on Fox News that Barack Obama is probably going to win re-election tonight. And the excuse-making from Red America has begun, and it basically comes down to: The Whites lost.

The third election night since Gawker's inception is upon us. Read through this dusty collection of aged Gawker posts, beginning with the election in 2004, and delve into a simpler, sweeter time. A time when there was hope and change and Nate Silver was nothing more than a baseball stats obsessive. And now there's this.

This story is just about perfect: A West Boca Raton voter was barred from entering her polling place because she was wearing an MIT shirt.

This is it, America's first "social media election." But how do you filter out all of the noise on Twitter from the real juicy data points? We have assembled a list of 12 crucial hashtags to follow for the best source of up-to-date election news on Twitter:

When I tell people my father is a black Republican, many of them look at me curiously, as if I've just told them I was raised by mermaids. I assume they're surprised not only because much of my personal politics sit decidedly left of center, but also because black Republicans, who made up only 2 percent of the delegation at this year's Republican National Convention, have become somewhat of an urban legend, a phenomenon you might hear about on the news from time to time but will never encounter yourself in real life. On top of their rarity, America's black Republicans must also contend with the fact that some of their most notable comrades come off as either unserious or downright unhinged. For every levelheaded Colin Powell in the public eye, there is a man like Herman Cain, whose bid for the GOP's presidential nomination earlier this year was more circus sideshow than political campaign.

Barack Obama must be very confident in his reelection prospects because he spent some time on his last day of campaigning ever to leave a post on social news site Reddit, most recently in the news for its coddling of creepy racist Violentacrez.

Drudge is breathless about the exit polls rolling in. He says Obama is up in Ohio and Virginia is a "toss up."

Knowing his response could have a significant impact on the outcome of the presidential race, President Obama held off until Election Day to finally weigh in on the "Gangnam Style" phenomenon, and, more importantly, his ability to pull off the world-famous move.

Democracy is not very hard to understand. Its simplicity is a big part of its appeal. One citizen, one vote. Even representative democracy, necessary for unwieldy, far-flung populous nations like ours, is pretty easy: the candidate who gets the most votes wins. Representatives represent the will of the people.

Breaking: The Lord herself has called today's election for Barack Obama—and thrown her support behind gay marriage!—with these totally badass double rainbows over Honolulu polling place Hokulani Elementary, a school only a mile or two from where President Obama grew up. You should probably still vote if you haven't already, just in case, but this one's pretty much in the bag, bro.

'Dying to vote' became a literal reality for one elderly Michigan man who temporarily expired while filling out his absentee ballot yesterday afternoon.

It is Election Day! Time for Americans to come together after months and months of vindictive, divisive, hateful caterwauling about politics and finally put all the barking to a vote. Instagram user outmouth voted for "a gay dog" for president, as you can see above. That was probably not a wise decision, especially if he or she lives in Ohio. But that's the beauty of democracy: Every clown and madman gets to do it as long as they're over 18 and haven't committed a felony.

CNN released a statement today saying it has commandeered the Empire State Building's "state-of-the-art dynamic lighting system" for the purposes of transforming the skyscraper into a building-size election results meter that will display "CNN's running tally of the race to 270."

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone don't need no stinkin' election results to call a winner.

Election Day is the absolute worst day to be on the internet. (The Onion agrees.) If it's not the friends — "friends" — you disagree with saying stupid stuff, it's the friends you agree with saying even stupider stuff, wall-to-metaphorical-wall across every social network you belong to.

Galicia Malone's water had just broken and she was on her way to the hospital to give birth to a baby girl when the 21-year-old decided to stop over at a nearby church and cast her very first vote.

We've heard a fair bit of anecdotal evidence (meaning "from multiple sources that work in our office") that some people who requested absentee ballots did not receive them. Did you order an absentee ballot? Did you get it? If not, have you asked why? Today is the election, for Chrissake!

It is difficult to have a rational conversation about reelecting Barack Obama. The right still likes to believe the left considers him "Obamessiah." Progressives seem to salivate at how pristinely their principles appear next to his shortcomings. And those young enough to not have experienced the soulfucker that was Clinton's second term almost revel in their worldly contempt after seeing their 2008 dreams brought low. Look, ma, I got my political disenchantment badge!

When we asked people to share their stories of voting irregularity earlier today, dozens of people shared this video — currently on the Reddit front page with nearly 20,000 up-votes — of a Pennsylvania voting machine seemingly altering a man's vote from Obama to Romney. We reached out to Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Senior Staff Technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology, to ask his opinion; here's what he told us: