LED display reveals election results in New York

The US Presidential Election has had everyone talking, irrespective of whether or not the people involved in the discussion have a chance to influence its outcome.

Across the world, people stayed up all night to see Barack Obama secure four more years in the White House with relative ease, in spite of the apparent closeness of the competition prior to the closing of the polls.

In New York, the iconic Empire State Building was decked out in red white and blue illuminations, which were set to go off, once the result was confirmed.

In addition, a new LED display was erected on the building to showcase just how many electoral votes had been secured by each candidate, giving those in the vicinity and those watching CNN an idea of how things were progressing throughout the night.

Here in the UK, we are of course used to the green screen, CGI approach to election coverage, which is often provided by the BBC, although this real time physical representation taken in the US certainly had a powerful visual impact and could be seen for miles, thanks to the highly visible LED display technology that was in use.

After Obama’s victory was secured, the whole crown of the Empire State Building was set off in a bright blue glow, with LED illuminations helping to spread the message of his victory to the tiny percentage of people who were not glued to their TVs or smartphones.

It will be interesting to see whether this new LED display will be rolled out again for the next Presidential election in 2016, by which point Barack Obama will have completed his allotted two terms and a new person will be ready to take over the world’s most powerful job.