Election Links - Constitutional Rights Foundation

Commission on Presidential Debates Non-profit group that has sponsored the presidential and vice-presidential debates since 1988. Current and past information, including transcripts.

New York Times Topics: Presidential Debates Archive of news stories and transcripts of the presidential debates.

CNN: Debates History Summaries of all the presidential debates with links to further information.

Museum of Broadcast Communication: Great Debate & Beyond A history of televised presidential debates from 1960–2000.

Election Results

National Conference of State Legislatures: StateVote

270toWin An interactive U.S. map geared for presidential, House, and Senate elections.

Election Predictions

Five Thirty Eight: Nate Silver’s Political Calculus This New York Times blog run by statistician Silver has a great track record in forecasting the winners in federal and governor races.

Daily Beast: Election Oracle Predicts the outcomes of all federal and governor races.

Electoral-Vote.com Election results, poll predictions of outcomes displayed on U.S. maps, poll data, news, and commentary.

Iowa Electronic Markets: Current Markets Real-money futures markets, which follow elections in election years. Contract payoffs are determined by the vote cast. The markets are used by others to predict the election outcome.

Election Projections

Election Predictions Contest A contest (with no prize) to name the winning ticket and percentages in the 2008 presidential election.

CQ Politics: Maps & Ratings

Cook Political Report Well-respected political predictions.

Sabato’s Chrystal Ball Run by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, the site features frequently updated analysis for elections across the country.

Blogs

Memeorandum Political news summaries with links to bloggers discussing these issues.

Tailrank: Politics It tracks the hottest political stories on blogs.

Blog Report A snapshot of the latest news, views, and online buzz from leading blogs, message boards, news outlets, and independent websites from across the political spectrum. From Salon.

Technorati: Politics A breakdown of what is circulating in political blogs.

RealClearPolitics Commentary, news, polling data, and links to important resources from all points of the political compass and covering all the important issues of the day.

WatchBlog A multiple-editor blog divided into three major political affiliations, each with its own blog: the Democrats, the Republicans, and the Third Party (covering everything outside the two major parties). Each blog has an archive and links to affiliated online resources.

Talking Points Memo: DC Liberal blog.

InstaPundit Conservative blog.

TechPresident A group blog on how candidates are using the web, and vice versa, how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign.

Political Wire A political column constantly updated with news, buzz and commentary.

Political Party Blogs:

Republican National Committee Blog

National Republican Congressional Committee Blog

Democratic Party’s Blog

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Blog

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Blog

PoliticsOnline U.S. and international political news.

The Truth Laid Bear: Ecosystem A ranking of the 100 most popular political blogs.

BlogPulse: Top Blogs A ranking of the most-linked-to blogs.

Opinion Polls

American Research Group Its latest polls and an electoral vote calculator.

Gallup: Politics

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press Polls, surveys, research, and reports.

PollingReport.com: Elections The latest and historic polls from many sources on presidential and congressional campaigns.

Pollster.com Polls on the presidential, congressional, gubernatorial, and other races.

Rasmussen Reports: Politics Polls on the presidential, congressional, gubernatorial, and other races.

RealClearPolitics: Polls A compilation of several polls.

Roper: U.S. Elections Current election and past election poll data.

Zogby International

Opinion Polls A listing of many polls. From Constitutional Rights Foundation.

Humor & Satire

Comedy Central: Indecision Forever

Onion: Politics

Professional Cartoonists Index Hundreds of editorial cartoons.

Cartoonist Group: Election Cartoons Still more editorial cartoons.

CSL News Cartoons: USA Elections Even more editorial cartoons.

American Association of Editorial Cartoonists: Election Yet more editorial cartoons.

CartoonBank Type election in the search box to find New Yorker cartoons on this subject.

About.com: Political Humor Archive of jokes.

Government

America.gov: U.S.A. Elections in Brief A guide to the U.S. electoral system, from federal, state, local, and primary elections to related topics such as polling and the role of parties and media.

USA.gov: Voting & Elections How to contact elected officials, learn about elections and voting, register to vote and vote, and volunteer and contribute to the election process.

U.S. Department of State: Key Topics Around election time, one key topic will be the election. Click on it for information on the U.S. electoral process and other links.

U.S. Senate: Elections Links to information on elections and data from past elections.

Federal Election Commission The body in charge of administering and enforcing federal campaign finance laws.

Law

Election Law Blog A blog on election law, campaign finance, legislation, voting rights, initiatives, redistricting, and the Supreme Court nomination process. From Rick Hasen, Loyola Law School.

Legal Information Institute: Elections Articles and statutes on elections.

Library of Congress: Election Law An annotated guide to sources of information on election law.

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/maps/index.php Information and insight on election laws from Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law.

Edward Still: Election Law Information about all aspects of election, voting, and campaign finance law.

Internet Law Library: Election Law Links to laws, court cases, and other information on election law.

Campaign Legal Center A non-partisan, non-profit organization that works on campaign finance and elections, political communication and government ethics.

U.S. Department of Justice: Voting Section The part of the Justice Department that enforces federal election laws.

Political Parties

Democratic PartyOfficial site of the Democratic National Committee.

Green Party

Libertarian Party

Republican National Committee Official site of the Republican Party.

Yahoo Directory: U.S. Political Parties Links to official party sites.

Candidate Sites & Information on Candidates

Politics1: The 50 State PagesA listing of all the candidates from each state with links to their web sites.

Judgepedia This wiki encyclopedia tells about America’s courts and judges, including information on those judges who run for office in some states.

Project Vote Smart Information on candidates and elected officials (president, Congress, governor, and state legislature). It includes voting records, biographical & contact information, issue positions, interest group ratings, public statements, and campaign finances. It also includes voter registration, polling place and absentee ballot information by state, and contact information for state and local election offices.

Washington Post: Congress Votes Database This site lets you browse every vote in the U.S. Congress since 1991.

Congressional Report Card Reports on members of Congress and candidates showing how closely their position on legislation matched the positions of advocacy groups.

Congress.org: Election A guide to candidates running in this year’s federal and state races, with links to their official campaign web sites and e-mail addresses.

National Governors Association: Governors List of upcoming elections, the governor of each state, and other information on governors.

U.S. Conference of Mayors: Mayoral Elections Center A complete listing of recent mayoral races throughout the United States.

Candidate Selectors

GlassboothFor presidential elections, take a quiz to see which candidate holds views similar to yours.

SelectSmart: Politics Mainly for presidential elections, it ranks candidates based upon user preferences on proposed policy positions on a variety of election-year issues.

Issues

About.com: U.S. PoliticsCurrent news and analysis about election-related issues.

Grist: Environmental News & Commentary: Politics Environmental issues.

Kaiser Family Foundation: Health Reform Source Resources and information about health policy issues.

E-Democracy An organization that sponsors online “town halls” for communities.

On the Issues Non-partisan resource offering voters information on candidates’ positions on issues. Information is gathered from newspapers, speeches, press releases, and the Internet.

ProCon.org The pros and cons on many issues.

Vote-USA Information on every public election including, primary elections, special elections, at the national, state, and local levels. Also guides to candidates’ views on the issues.

Fact Checking

Annenberg Political Fact CheckNon-partisan site offering reports and commentary on the accuracy of what is said by major political players in the media.

PolitiFact Campaign fact checking by the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly.

Rhetorica Analysis and commentary about the rhetoric, propaganda, and spin of journalism and politics.

SourceWatch A wiki documenting the activities of public relations firms and professionals engaged in managing and manipulating public perception, opinion, and policy.

Snopes: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics Urban legends circulating in rumors and e-mails.

Media Watchdogs

Accuracy in Media Conservative group pushing for fairer and more balanced coverage in the media.

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Liberal media watch group that offers criticism of media bias and censorship and advocates for greater diversity in the press.

Media Matters A progressive center dedicated to monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

Media Research Center Conservative media group that documents liberal media bias.

NPR: On the Media: Elections Radio programs examining media issues.

News Hounds A liberal group that covers Fox News.

Tyndall Report The site monitors the weekday nightly newscasts of the three American broadcast television networks on ABC, CBS, and NBC.

Think Tanks

Annenberg Public Policy Center: Political Communication

American Enterprise Institute: Political Corner

Brookings Institution: U.S. Politics

Cato Institute: Government & Politics

Center for American Progress

Council on Foreign Relations: U.S. Strategy & Politics

Foreign Policy in Focus: Issues

Heritage Foundation: Issues

New America Foundation: Programs & Issues

Progressive Policy Institute

Project for the New American Century Foreign policy issues.

Project on Defense Alternatives Defense and foreign policy issues.

Rand: Research Areas

Direct Democracy: Initiatives, Referendums, & Recalls

Encyclopedia Articles:

Wikipedia: Referendum, Initiative, Recall Election, and Direct Democracy

Columbia Encyclopedia: Referendum and Initiative

Answers.com: Referendum, Initiative, Recall, and Direct Democracy

1911 Britannica: Referendum

National Council of State Legislatures: Initiative, Referendum, & Recall A brief overview of each.

USC School of Law: Initiative & Referendum Institute Information on and history of each state’s initiative process and ballot measures, particularly at Ballotwatch.

Ballotpedia A collaborative encyclopedia (like Wikipedia) about state politics, particularly including elections, state legislatures, ballot measures (including ballot measure law, school bond and tax elections, recall elections and local ballot measures), governors, state secretaries of state and state attorneys general.

Ballot Initiative Strategy Center A liberal group that serves as a resource for grassroots advocates and uses the ballot measures to achieve policy goals and political gains.

Youth Vote & Voter Turnout

Kids Voting USANational non-profit organization devoted to getting young people involved in our democracy.

Declare Yourself A non-partisan campaign to encourage 18-year-olds to register and vote. Information on candidates, voter registration, and news reports.

MTV: Politics Resources for getting involved in the election.

Rock the Vote The site engages youth in the political process by incorporating the entertainment community and youth culture into its activities.

Election & Voting Information

League of Women Voters: Register to Vote Online Process for registering online plus information on registering. The League’s Smart Voter site provides information from candidates & government elections departments. Plus its Vote411site offers information on absentee voting, ballot measures, candidates, early voting, election dates, eligibility & ID requirements, polling places, provisional voting, state contacts, voter registration, and voting machines.

Official State Election Sites Links to each state’s election site, with information on voting and results of elections. From Constitutional Rights Foundation.

Federal Voting Assistance Program Voting information for U.S. citizens living overseas.

Historical Data & Material

American National Election Studies Data on voting, public opinion, and political participation in American elections.

Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections

U.S. House of Representatives: Election Statistics Statistics on all federal elections from 1920 to the present.

National Turnout in Federal Elections1960–1996 From the Federal Elections Commission.

Living Room Candidate Presidential campaign commercials from 1952 to the present.

Ease History Another site offering presidential ads from1952 to the present.

4President Candidates’ brochures, campaign announcements, acceptance speeches, and campaign logos plus popular vote and electoral college data for every election since 1960.

New York Times Learning Network: Presidential Elections 1896–1996 Historic articles, editorials, trivia quizzes, facts about the U.S. presidents and more.

U.S. Census Bureau: Voting & Registration and Statistical Abstract: Elections Detailed information and statistics from recent surveys and historical trends in selected areas.

HarpWeek: Presidential Elections 1860–1912

University of Virginia Library: U.S. Presidential Election Maps: 1860–1996

UCSB: The American Presidency Project: Election Data Data and election maps from 1828 to the present.

Electoral Vote Calculator Allows you to keep track of electoral vote on election day and also posts the results of all presidential elections in U.S. history.

Tufts University: A New Nation Votes Election returns from 1787 to 1825.

Duke University Library: America Votes Presidential campaign memorabilia from 1796 to the present.

Cornell Library: Get Out the Vote! Campaigning for the U.S. Presidency A collection of material from elections from 1840–1960.

Northern Illinois University Digital Library: Getting the message out! National campaign materials from 1840–1860.

Wikipedia: U.S. presidential election Historical overview of American presidential elections, with a brief summary of the electoral process, results from every presidential race since 1789, and voter turnout since 1960. Also includes external links to other online resources.

Wikipedia: List of Elections in the United States With links to the party compositions of each house of Congress before and after the election.

NationalAtlas.gov: Printable Maps Maps of the electoral votes won, by political party, for the 54 presidential elections from 1789 to the present.

Vote: The Machinery of Democracy Exhibition looking at the history of U.S. voting methods, how they have evolved over the years, and how they vary in states and localities.

The Election & Campaign Process

How Stuff Works

How do caucuses work?

How the Electoral College Works

How the Swing States Work

What are superdelegates?

Why is the Iowa caucus so important?

Elections Library More topics.

Fact Monster: Step-by-Step on the Campaign Trail The steps of the presidential election, with historical consideration of how the process has evolved. Includes links to other articles on American elections.

Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids: Election Process

Library of Congress: Elections . . . The American Way Information about how candidates, voters, the party system, election process, and issues operate in the American political system.

Electoral College

Encyclopedia Articles on the Electoral College:

Wikipedia: U.S. Electoral College

Columbia Encyclopedia: Electoral College

Answers.com: Electoral College

Citizendium: U.S. Electoral College

U.S. National Archives & Records Administration: U.S. Electoral College Information on the electoral college and presidential elections, past and present.

Everything you wanted to know about the Electoral College but were afraid to ask A video explaining the Electoral College and its issues by Michael White, director of Legal Affairs for the Office of the Federal Register.

Options for Electoral College Reform A review of the options and each’s pros and cons.

Electoral College Pros & Cons

Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government: Primer on the Electoral College Overview of the system, its pros and cons, proposals for change, and major election laws.

NPR: Debating the Merits of the Electoral College Two professors debate the value of the Electoral College.

What is your Electoral College I.Q.? A trivia quiz on the Electoral College.

Links on the Electoral College:

Google Directory: Electoral College

Open Directory Project: Electoral College

Yahoo Directory: Electoral College

Campaign Financing & Reform

Federal Election Commission Official website of the agency that discloses campaign finance information, enforces the provisions of the law such as the limits of prohibition on contributions, and oversees the public funding of presidential elections.

Jurist: Campaign Finance Legal news on campaign finance.

Fundrace Search by name, address, city, or occupation to see which presidential candidates people are contributing to.

CQ Money Line: Campaign Finance News Searchable database tracking and analyzing the movement of political money to and from the national level. It includes individual donor look-up and Political Action Committee (PAC) profiles, and fund contribution history.

OpenSecrets Another database for tracking money in politics and a guide for examining its effect on elections and public policy.

Follow the Money Research on campaign finance at the state level. Features searchable databases and analyses to determine how campaign money affects public-policy debates in the states. From the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Cal-Access Interactive guide to campaign finance and lobbying at the California state government level. Financial information on state candidates, donors, lobbyists, and others. From the office of California Secretary of State.

Campaign Finance Institute Think tank that conducts research, empanels task forces, and makes recommendations for policy change in the field of campaign finance.

Hoover Institution: Campaign Finance Overview of the history and current structure of federal and state campaign financing programs, highlighting five proposed reform strategies.

Common Cause Non-partisan organization devoted to examining money in politics and promoting election reform, campaign finance reform, and government accountability.

Public Campaign: Clean Money, Clean Elections A non-profit group dedicated to reducing the role of special interest money in American politics. In-depth coverage of campaign reform policy and legislation and links.

Center for Public Integrity Non-profit that investigates issues to promote government accountability and transparency.

CampaignMoney A database with the names of financial donors to federal political campaigns.

Brookings Institute: Campaign Finance A directory of campaign finance and related media law resources online.

Other Electoral Reform

AEI-Brookings Election Reform ProjectA synthesis of election-reform research from two major think tanks.

Century Foundation: Reform Elections Resource guides, policy developments, and the latest research from the election-reform community.

ElectionLine A non-partisan, non-advocacy website providing up-to-the-minute news and analysis on election reform.

FairVote An organization advocating a national popular vote for president, instant runoff voting for executive elections, and proportional voting for legislative elections.

League of Women Voters Non-partisan organization aiming to improve systems of government, including electoral processes, through education and advocacy. Includes up-to-date information on election and campaign finance reforms, voter registration, and other issues.

International Elections

Wikipedia: List of Election Results By Country

Psephos A comprehensive, up-to-date archive of electoral information, with election statistics from 168 countries. By Adam Carr.

Lijphart Elections Archive A research collection of district level election results for approximately 350 national legislative elections in 26 countries. From UCSD.

Richard Kimber: Elections Around the World or Elections and Electoral Systems Around the World Links to sites on international elections.

Election Resources on the Internet Links to sites around the world that provide national and local election statistics and other election resources.

Electoral Geography 2.0 Maps, data, and socio-political analysis of voting trends in the world’s 192 countries.

IFES: Election Guide A comprehensive and timely source of verified election information and results around the world.

Link Collections

Open Directory Project: Elections

Yahoo Directory: Elections

Intute: U.S. Elections

GODORT: Elections

University of Michigan Documents Center: Election

Internet Public Library: Election & Voting Resources

IPL2: Elections, Election Law, Electoral College, Campaign Funds, Politics, Voter Registration, Voting, and Voting Machines. High-quality web sites selected by a team of librarians.

Vanderbilt University Library: Elections & Voting

The Green Papers Site dedicated to the dissemination of facts, figures, tidbits and commentary on the election campaigns.