How #vicvotes 2014 became Victoria’s most Tweeted election ever

Saturday, 29 November 2014

@VictorianLabor emerged victorious last night after a tightly contested #vicvotes State election campaign that saw five times as many Tweets sent on election day as during the entire 2010 campaign.



The hashtags #vicvotes, #springst, #vicpol and the controversial #ewlink got politicians, reporters, news organisations and the electorate buzzing from early yesterday until the polls closed and well after counting got underway.

Victorian politicians continued their impressive efforts to engage voters on Twitter and take them behind the scenes of the campaign, Tweeting regularly through the day and delivering reporters hungry for news plenty of content.

Denis Napthine (@denisvnapthine) took to Twitter in the morning to remind voters of what a vote for him meant before casting his vote and continuing a great Australian tradition by hitting the #sausagesizzle (sources suggest he ate more than one).



Daniel Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) had his first snag early and stopped for a selfie with a Liberal volunteer handing out how to vote cards, which he then presumably ignored before casting his vote with wife and campaign partner @CathLAndrews by his side. The pair had documented their journey through the campaign using #bigredbus.



Other candidates were also active on Twitter throughout the day, taking the time out to thank family and busy volunteers and asking for voters’ support.



High profile party supporters also Tweeted their support on election day:



In one of the day’s most controversial moments, not every voting booth had a sausage sizzle, drawing the ire of voters and hungry journalists.



Journalists on the beat used Vine in creative ways to illustrate the scenes as people queued in the sun to cast their votes.

 

Major parties joined in with a last minute push to get voters over the line.



And despite the importance of the day to Victoria, there were many lighthearted moments during the day.



As part of their coverage, @SkyNewsAus used SnappyTV to capture key moments of their live broadcast and share them on Twitter: including the moment that Bruce Hawker called the election early for Labor and explained his reasoning.


Further incorporating Twitter, reporters live Tweeted from the scene at parties all over Melbourne as results started to flow in and seats were called.


As the election result became clear, the parties live Tweeted their candidates’ victory speeches.



Congratulations also flowed in from high-profile political figures:



There was even a surprise announcement from the former Premier

While the main race has been run and won, vote counting is still underway. It will be a while before full official results are in, so spare a thought for the busy electoral commission staff still counting the ballots!