Every four years, some things happen like clockwork – leap year, the summer and winter Olympic games, U.S. presidential elections, and with it, 7-Eleven®'s 7-Election™ Presidential Coffee Cup Poll.

In past years, millions of everyday Americans have participated in the 7-Election vote as they go about their daily routines. While many states offer early voting that typically begins a few days before Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 6), the 2012 7-Election voting starts really early – Thursday, Sept. 6. The convenience retailer returned to the Charlotte market with 55 stores earlier this year, so this will be the first time customers can participate in North Carolina.

Billed as unabashedly unofficial and unscientific, 7-Election invites customers to vote by selecting specially marked coffee cups, blue for President Barack Obama and red for former Gov. Mitt Romney. 7-Eleven's regular "nonpartisan" cups are also available for undecided customers or those who would rather not publicize their presidential preference. Patriotic coffee-drinkers can vote at participating 7-Eleven stores in Charlotte as early and as often as they want in the two months leading up to the national election.

7-Election cups are instantly tabulated at the register when the sale is made. National, state and major market results will be posted daily on http://www.7-eleven.com/7-election, a website created especially for the coffee-cup poll. Poll tallies will reflect the percentage of candidate cups sold to date, not including 7-Eleven's regular ("undecided") cups. Participating 7-Eleven stores are encouraged to post their stores' latest race results at the hot beverage islands.

"Each day, almost 7 million Americans visit our neighborhood stores on their way to work, after school or while they're out and about. Around 1 million of those purchase a cup of 7-Eleven coffee," said Doug Doyle, market manager for 7-Eleven's Charlotte region. "While we have never billed 7-Election as scientific or statistically valid, it is astounding just how accurate this simple count-the-cups poll has been – election after election. It's exciting that people can participate in 7-Election at our Charlotte area stores. And, I hope it encourages local customers to vote in the real election."

7-Eleven has added several new elements to perk up the company's 2012 campaign including its second annual CofFREE Day, Friday, Sept. 28. As a nod to National Coffee Day (officially on Saturday, Sept. 29), which occurs during the 7-Election campaign, 7-Eleven encourages people to stop by stores and vote their choices. Between 6 and 10 a.m. that day, customers can vote by selecting a free large cup of coffee in their preferred blue or red cup. During that same time period, nonpartisan large-size 7-Eleven cups also are available for free. This is the first CofFREE Day held during 7-Election, and voter turnout is expected to be strong – as is the coffee.

New this year, 7-Eleven has partnered with The Onion, a popular, Peabody award-winning news satire organization, to help get out the vote. The retailer is sponsoring The Onion's "War for the White House" news coverage, which includes four exclusive news vignettes that can be seen on Onion News and the 7-Election website.

Since 2000, 7-Eleven "coffee cup-voters" have successfully predicted the winner in each presidential election, giving 7-Election a better track record than some well-known statistically valid polls. Past 7-Election results compared to actual vote tallies were:

2000 Election / 7-Election / U.S. Voters

George W. Bush* / 21 percent** / 48.4 percent

Al Gore / 20 percent** / 47.9 percent

2004 Election / 7-Election / U.S. Voters

George W. Bush* / 51 percent / 50.7 percent

John Kerry / 49 percent / 48.3 percent

2008 Election / 7-Election / U.S. Voters

John McCain / 46 percent / 45.7 percent

Barack Obama* / 52 percent / 52.9 percent

*Elected.

**In the 2000 7-Election, all cup sales, including unmarked "nonpartisan" cups, were tallied. In subsequent years, only the candidate cups were included in the results.

7-Eleven customers also will see the return of vanilla-flavored "Purple for the People" Slurpee® drinks at participating 7-Eleven stores, billed as a "peace-maker" beverage to unite the country. During the contentious mid-term 2010 elections, 7-Eleven created the unifying purple drink to symbolically unite the red and blue sides of the political spectrum.

7-Eleven was the first U.S. retailer to offer fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups back in the mid 1960s. It proved an instant success. Customers liked fixing their coffee the way they wanted it – choosing cup size, regular or decaffeinated, and adding sweeteners and creamers to suit their tastes. Today, 7-Eleven sells more fresh-brewed coffee than anything else – 1 million cups per day. In each of the past 7-Election polls, more than 6 million candidate cups were cast.

For more information, please visit: www.7-election.com