Election Lab board game displayed with a digital device for keeping score.

Election Lab

where STEM meets Civics

Election Lab board game detail showing red dice over a map of Midwestern states.
Election Lab board game detail, a closeup of Southern states with red campaign resources
see the election as campaigns do

Swing States

You take on the role of campaign strategist with only a few weeks before the election for the next U.S. President.
Through game play, you will discover the importance of key swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio or Florida to the campaigns—and you will never see a presidential election the same way again.
Elections change through time: each map is different. The strategies change too. Play them all, and be the smartest person in the room on election night.

Electoral College Confusion

Every four years, searches for “Electoral College” peak on the Wednesday after Election Day. In a close election, the world wonders, will the Electoral Vote agree with the popular vote?
This convoluted system has reliably produced a new president, except on four occasions where it threw the country into crisis.

Swing-State Strategy

You may debate why the United States still has an Electoral College to elect its president, but the fact remains, that campaigns win or lose by their ability to win votes in the states that count.
Play Election Lab, and you will see the electoral map as campaigns do.

Plot of search-term activity on Google for the term "electoral college" from 2004-2021. There are sharp peaks every four years on the day after the U.S. General Election.

Voters—not just students—struggle to understand the Electoral College.

Quinn Mulkey, PTA president