If you live in the U.S. — and maybe even if you don't! — the 2016 presidential election is on everyone's mind. If you want to keep track of early predictions, exit polls, and final results, you can do so without having to sit in front of your television set for 10 hours straight. Instead, take these iPhone apps with you where ever you go and you can follow the election while having a nice dinner at a restaurant, playing a quick game of basketball, or drinking yourself into oblivion because you are worried that the country is doomed!
CNN Politics
CNN is probably the best-known channel to cover the U.S. presidential election and the company's Politics app sticks to the subject. You can get regularly-updated analyst insights on how both candidates are doing, latest news on the campaign trail and what Clinton and Trump are up to during the last few hours of the day, and CNN poll results for who is winning. The news organization's "Road to 270" electoral collage map is a great reference for getting an idea of how the country is leaning leading up to the official day. You can check in with the mobile app whenever you want updates about every minutia of the presidential election.
CBSNews
CBS lets you live stream news broadcasts without requiring a cable sign-in. So, if you are a cable cutter, you can still watch regular coverage of the U.S. presidential election from your mobile device. You also don't have to stay with the live stream. You can catch up with segments you've missed by checking out trending clips, reading up on in-depth stories, or even just switching over to some entertainment news for a break.
Twitter Moments
Leading up to November 8, you can keep track of all-things-presidential with Twitter's Election 2016 feed. You can keep up on trending sentiment about each candidate, big news about the election in the Twitter-verse, and more. Come election day, BuzzFeed will live-stream coverage on Twitter with staff analyzing the events as they unfold. If you get your daily dose of news from organizations like BuzzFeed, and express your opinion on social platforms like Twitter, this is a marriage made in heaven for you. You can cover all of your bases in one place.
Politico
Politico is a powerhouse of election coverage, almost on par with CNN, but with a lot less high-production gloss. Some of the most helpful bits of content the media outlet has in its app are the Key Race Results tools. You can watch how the electoral votes count up from the real-time grid (hint: If you tap the segmented bar, you'll see how many electoral votes each state is designated). You can track which states voted republican, democrat, or another party, plus keep track of which country's votes aren't in yet. With the Election Countdown coverage, you can see which way people are leaning based on different organization's polling data.
The Guardian
If you just want the facts and none of the details, you can get a notification from The Guardian that updates, live. When you sign in to the mobile app and allow notifications, you will receive one mobile alert that will automatically update throughout the day on election day. The notification will include electoral votes won and states called. You'll also see which swing states have been called and a popular vote breakdown. You don't have to open the Guardian app to read this information. It is all updated via the one notification you will receive on your iPhone on November 8.
Showtime
You may have heard already that Stephen Colbert's election night Late Show is being preempted by actual news coverage of the event. Instead, the comedian will host a live, show on Showtime during the election. He is promising surprise cameo appearances, non-stop jokes, and nudity, though he won't reveal who will be full-frontal. If the stress of following election coverage gets to be too much for you, you can switch over to the SHOWTIME app if you don't have cable, or the Showtime Anytime app if you do, and soak up some levity for an hour.
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NPR One
If you'd rather listen to news than watch it, you can listen to coverage of the presidential election from the NPR One app. When you allow the app to know your current location, it will suggest your local public broadcasting station. You can always switch to a different station manually. The coverage will start at 8PM ET/ 5PM PT and will continue throughout the night.
How are you following the election?
Do you have a plan to stay up to date with everything relating to the U.S. presidential election on November 8? How are you going to stay connected while mobile? Let us know in the comments.
