Let’s be realistic: For political junkies out there, today is bigger than the start of March Madness. Work, if it’s done at all, will be completed between furtive refreshing of favorite political websites. But which sites offer the best analysis, the surest returns? PaperTrail has put together a list of our favorite stops (with commentary by our far-flung staff), to help guide your Election Day reading.

Results:
State Board of Election sites, especially for swing states — “These are what the pros monitor. Check by county in real time.”

Political Wire — “He’s pretty tied in and does a great job of finding stories other people have missed.”

Polls and Projections:
FiveThirtyEight — “Provides excellent analysis of the overall picture of the country.”

Real Clear Politics — “Great polling data, good maps, broad commentary.”

Electoral-vote.com — “Good visuals on how each poll is trending and whether the trends are strong or weak.”

Pollster — “Most user-friendly map out of all the projection sites.”

News and Analysis:
CNN — “Mostly because I only have to type three keys in order to get there.”

The Atlantic’s Voices — “It’s almost all I read due to the quality of its staff.”

Swing State Project — “Highlights the most competitive races.”

Politico — “Frequent updates and comprehensive coverage — Ben Smith in particular.”

The Daily Beast — “The new kid on the block.”

Talking Points Memo — “TPM’s results map refreshes automatically, which means I can nervously click the reload button on another site at the same time.”

MSNBC’s First Read — “Real reporting on real problems. And Chuck Todd.”

Election Updates — “Really, really smart election experts.”

CQ Politics — “Takes the election jitters down a notch with calm authority.”

Miscellaneous:
Election widgets and calculators galore.

Twitter Vote Report & Twist (Twitter Trends) — “Chaotic and probably politically unrepresentative, but the quickest way to hear about the voting experiences of, you know, actual people.”

And check which states offer paid time off to voters and what time polls close.

Next entry: ELECTION ’08: Lines at the Polls: A Tale of Two Neighborhoods
Previous entry: ELECTION ’08: As America Votes, It Ain’t Pretty