Sample ballot for the 2008 Presidential election
date: label: Date
content: 2008
name: label: Printed by
content: New York Board of Elections
label: Subject of
content: President Barack Obama, American, born 1961
label: Subject of
content: President Joseph R. Biden Jr, American, born 1942
label: Subject of
content: John McCain, American, 1936 - 2018
label: Subject of
content: Sarah Palin, American, born 1964
label: Subject of
content: Democratic Party, American, founded 1828
label: Subject of
content: Republican Party, American, founded 1854
notes: label: Caption
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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: label: Place printed
content: Manhattan, New York, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: Government
label: Topic
content: Multilingual communication
label: Topic
content: Politics
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 2001-
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Memorabilia and Ephemera - Political and Activist Ephemera
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Karen J. Greene, Ph.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2019.103.2
objectType: label: Type
content: documents
label: Type
content: ballots
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper (fiber product) cardboard
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 36 × 43 3/8 in. (91.5 × 110.1 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (partly rolled): 36 × 43 3/8 × 7 1/16 in. (91.5 × 110.1 × 18 cm)