Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The Senate voted on Sept. 21, 2010, on whether or not to repeal the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The Senate rejected it, and a main factor in it's rejection is that no Republicans voted to repeal it.

This is a strong graphic because the map shows exactly how each state senator voted. It also gives a legend that tells the reader the exact number of how many senators voted which way.


There is also a bar chart above the map (shown above) that gave another view of how many senators from each party voted in a certain way. It makes it visually evident that Democrats wanted to repeal the policy while Republicans did not.

Below both of these graphics is a list that specifically states how each senator, with their state listed, voted.

All this information in different formats allows the reader to analyze how their state senator voted and how that compares to the rest of the country. This is a good graphic because of all the different presentations. It would be stronger if the specific list could be combined with the map by letting the reader scroll over or click on the state and see how both senators voted.