Elections: How to be an Informed Voter
The links on this page are to non-partisan resources. Use your favorite search engine to find additional sources with a particular point of view.
Register and Vote!
- Find your ballot – download a copy of your ballot, by zip code.
- Find your polling place - polling places are listed about a month before an election.
- How to vote - the Easy Voters Guide for new voters.
- Register to vote - at YourVoteMatters.
- Request an absentee ballot - if you are unable to vote in person.
National Candidates & Parties (President, Senate, House of Representatives)
Websites:
- Project Vote Smart - covers candidates and elected officials in five basic categories: biographical information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings.
- California Online Voter Guide – (California Voter Foundation) Links to presidential and congressional candidates websites and campaign finance reports.
- National Political Parties - comprehensive list provided by National Political Index.
- The Electoral College - The National Archive explains all about how the Electoral College works.
News & Analysis:
- e-democracy - Political news from major media sources (US) in a wiki.
- Issue Coverage Tracker - from the Washington Post
- CampaignSearch.com - CampaignSearch.com has gathered campaign-related video and audio files from a number of Web sites: George Bush's and John Kerry's campaign Web sites, C-SPAN, PBS, NPR and more.
- Presidential Rhetoric.com - information relating to American presidents, political communication, and rhetorical criticism. There is also an archive of Presidential speeches dating back to George Washington and a Top 100 speeches archive with text and streaming audio.
- The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2004
- Transcripts of Presidential Debates - maintained by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
- Who Votes, Who Doesn't, and Why (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press)
Public Opinion Polls & Statistics
- Gallup: Election 2008 - Collection of polling results related to the 2008 U.S. presidential election, covering candidates, parties, issues, and voting.
- Polling Report.com - An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion. Data are from national surveys of the American public.
- New America Media - comprehensive inter-ethnic news site from Pacific News Service. Includes polling data from non-English speaking and ethnic minority populations.
- Atlas of U. S. Presidential Elections - Dave Liep's collection of U. S. election statistics, electoral college calculator and polling statistics.
- Election Statistics - official vote counts for federal elections from the official sources, provided by the Clerk of the House.
- NES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior - The 1948-2002 National Election Studies provides tables and graphs that display the ebb and flow of public opinion and electoral behavior and choice in American politics since 1948.
- Roper Center Polling 101 - POLLING 101 provides definitions, examples, and explanations that serve to introduce interested students to the field of public opinion research.
State Candidates & Initiatives (Propositions, State Senate & Assembly)
Websites:
- Project Vote Smart - national, non-partisan, non-profit gateway to U.S. federal and state election, candidate and campaign information. Project Vote Smart covers candidates and elected officials in five basic categories: biographical information,,issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings.
- Smart Voter – (League of Women Voters of California) links to comprehensive nonpartisan information on national, state and local candidates & measures, as well as provide a means for candidates to publish information about themselves and their candidacy.
- California Ballot Measures – Database covers all prepositions from 1911 to present.
- Cal-Access – (Calif. Secretary of State) provides financial information supplied by state candidates, donors, lobbyists, and others
- Institute of Governmental Studies Library - California special elections with procedures, history, analysis of the November election, editorials and more.
News & Analysis:
- The California Voter Foundation - nonprofit, nonpartisan organization promoting and applying the responsible use of technology to improve the democratic process.
- e-democracy - Political news from major media sources (US) in a wiki.
- New America Media - comprehensive inter-ethnic news site from Pacific News Service. Includes polling data from non-English speaking and ethnic minority populations.
- Rough & Tumble - Public Policy Institute of California's daily snapshot of statewide policy and politics.
Local (School Boards, Judges, Special Districts (e.g. fire), local measures)
Websites:
- Smart Voter – (League of Women Voters of California) links to comprehensive nonpartisan information on national, state and local candidates & measures, as well as provide a means for candidates to publish information about themselves and their candidacy.
- Sonoma County Election and Voting Information - Find your polling place, how to get an absentee ballot, election results back to 1998.
- Directory of Counties -- Voter Information Sites
News & Analysis:
- Press Democrat
- Other area newspapers
Campaign Finance & Election Reform
- Cal-Access – (Calif. Secretary of State) provides financial information supplied by state candidates, donors, lobbyists, and others
- Common Cause – includes investigative studies on the effects of money in politics and reports on a variety of ethics and integrity-in-government issues.
- Fair Elections – goal is “to achieve full public funding of elections (PFE) at the federal level, for Congress by 2006 and for the Presidency by 2008, and to ensure that our voting mechanisms are secure against political manipulation and fraud.”
- Open Secrets - Center for Responsive Politics' site on campaign financing. Who's donating to whom, PACs, soft money; look candidates up by name or zip code to see where their campaign money is coming from.
- Verified Voting - provides background information to the issues regarding electronic voting.
Evaluating Campaign & Election Materials
- Fact Check – Annenberg Public Policy Center's "Consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.
- By the People : PBS's The Savvy Voter series:
Other Websites of Interest
- Declare Yourself - a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to energize and empower a new movement of young voters to participate in the national elections.
- Electionline.org - Election Reform Information Project
- National Technical Assistance Center for Voting and Cognitive Access - Make Voting Accessible for ALL!
- Rock the Vote - empower young people to create change in their communities and take action on the issues they care about.
- Election humor
International Elections:
- Election Resources on the Internet
- Political Parties - political parties, interest groups, and other movements around the world.
Past Election Information
- Join California -- includes all candidates and election results (with a total of over twenty-three thousand) since California Statehood in 1898
- California Initiatives Project - direct democracy (initiatives, referenda, and recalls)
- California Official Elections & Voter Information – Official ballot information from Secretary of State's office.
- California Online Voter Guide – from the California Voter Foundation. Links to pro and con websites for propositions, official proposition ballot statements, candidates for State Assembly and State Senate.
- The 2004 Presidential Election - facts & figures compiled by the census bureau.
- Election 2004 Video Archive - from debate footage to politically themed rap videos...and lots and lots of campaign advertising
- 2003 California Recall Election 2003 - Use this resource to learn more about the background of the recall, the candidates, campaign finance, political opinions, news, humor sites, and information for voters.
- Special Coverage: California Recall Election, October 7, 2003 - Legal news and information related to the California gubernatorial recall election. Features orders, briefs, opinions, and other legal documents from cases filed in federal and California courts.
- 1998 General Election - November 3, 1998 - from the Secretary of State.
- 1998 California General Election - from the California Voter Foundation.
- Sonoma County Election Results – from the County Clerk.
