Google Earth offers US election info

Software update lets users view over 400 races.

Google has added information on the forthcoming November 7th US congressional races to its Google Earth application.

The company said that it has included a feature in the Google Earth sidebar that will have 'place marks' for 435 races around the country.

According to Google, the feature was first conceived of by Google Earth programmers who could not find adequate nationwide election coverage.

The place marks will allow users to view candidate images and news from Google's Web, image, and news search engines. Users can also find campaign finance information from the Federal Election Commission and the Centre for Responsive Politics. The program will also include voter registration information for every state.

This year's congressional race is of particular interest in the US, as many experts are predicting that it is the first real chance for the Democratic party to regain control of congress from the Republican party for the first time since 1994. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as 33 of 100 seats in the Senate are up for election.

The Google Earth application is available as a free download for Windows, MacOS X, and Linux from Google's website.