Today is Election Day, and I’m sure I’m not alone when I say the majority of my social media streams are filled with posts surrounding this historic day in American history. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are platforms in which every citizen can exercise their right of free speech and let everyone know their opinions on the election of 2012.

One of the big controversies of this day came from Mashable posting an article that it is ILLEGAL to post photos of your ballot online. Myself having been one of the thousands who Instagrammed my ballot, I didn’t take it down because Illinois wasn’t listed in that article (and I really liked the photo!). Later today, NBC Chicago posted an article that stated it was in fact a class 4 felony in Illinois – which finally made me take it down.

With so much flying around on our streams today, one can only imagine how social media will used during the election of 2016. According to Forbes, 39% of US adults use social media to discuss politics. Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention alone sparked 2.5 million online conversations, and during the record-breaking first presidential debate, more than 10 million tweets were sent.

Social media activity has skyrocketed since 2008, when according to OpenSite 1.8 million tweets were sent on election day. Today, 1.8 million tweets are sent every six seconds. That’s crazy.

Facebook also had a tab at the top of the newsfeed that allowed users to find their polling place and announce the fact that they voted on the most popular social network in the world.

The impact of social media on this year’s election cannot be overlooked. I’m definitely looking forward to some funny memes that are sure to pop up as the results are announced tonight.