Election Information

Jump to: California | Ballot Propositions | Los Angeles | United States

This page suggests some of the best sites to find election information. Emphasis is on California (especially Los Angeles) and United States elections/candidates/issues of interest to Californians, including Presidential Elections.

California

California Election Information

• California State Election information (California Secretary of State) California Voter Information Guide, state ballot propositions, how to register to vote, election results, etc.
• California Voter Foundation's Election Information includes:
  • Voter information guides such as the February 2008 California Online Voter Guide and the June 2008 California Online Voter Guide.
  • Archive of Campaign Promises
  • Archived Election Information on previous California elections, top donors to previous California initiatives/propositions, etc.
  • California Map Series with maps of political districts (Congressional districts in California plus California state legislative districts), regions and counties.
• Easy Voter (easyvoter.org)
• California Smart Voter (League of Women Voters of California)
• Project Vote Smart has information about issues and candidates at United States national and state levels.
• FollowTheMoney.org (National Institute on Money in State Politics) offers information on the influence of money in state politics.
• UCLA Library Online Campaign Literature Archive

California Ballot Initiatives/ Propositions:

• Research Databases (University of California, Hastings) includes the free, nonsubscription California Ballot Propositions Database and the California Ballot Initiatives Database which give information on California ballot propositions from 1911 to the present, including the full text of the propositions, accompanying material contained in the voters' pamphlets, related legal and legislative history, and digital images of the voters' pamphlets.
• Initiative Update (California Secretary of State) Initiative updates. Includes complete text of propositions on the current ballot and those from recent California elections.
• How to Qualify an Initiative (California Secretary of State)
• Active Initiative Measures (California Attorney General) gives the status and text of proposed measures that have not yet qualified to be on the ballot.
• The Secretary of State's Cal-Access web site section on Campaign Finance Activity for
  Propositions & Ballot Measures provides details on committees formed to support or oppose specific propositions and who donated money to these groups.
• Archived Election Information (California Voter Foundation) includes Top Ten Donors to California Propositions for a number of past elections and other information about who contributed money to campaigns for specific propositions.
• Additional current information available from :
  • Politics (Sacramento Bee)
  • News on the Web (links to online news sources)
  • Information Sources: News and Current Issues (many of these sources are Oviatt Library subscriptions)

Los Angeles City and County

• Los Angeles County Election Information (Los Angeles County Recorder-Register's Office)
• Los Angeles City Election Information
• Los Angeles City Ethics Commission provides information on campaign finances of city candidates.
• UCLA Library Online Campaign Literature Archive

United States

Presidential/Congressional Elections

Election Information

• Project Vote Smart includes information/links on candidates, issues, voting records.
• FactCheck.org. Nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based at the University of Pennsylvania that monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases so that voters can "check the facts". See also PolitiFact, another site intended to help viewers sort out truth from fiction in campaign rhetoric.
• Commission on Presidential Debates provides schedules and formats of debates.
• Election Center 2008 (CNN) has lots of information about the candidates, issues, etc.
• Political News from Major Media Sources (e-democracy)
• News on the Web (links to online news sources)

Election process and the Electoral College

• U. S. Electoral College (United States National Archives and Records Administration)
• A Brief History of the Electoral College (PDF; use Adobe Reader) on the United States Federal Election Commission web site)
• The Electoral College (Center for Voting and Democracy)
• How the Electoral College Works (Howstuffworks.com).
• United States Elections (United States. State Department.)

Political Party Websites

• Major Parties: Democratic Party (Democratic National Committee) / Republican Party (Republican National Committee)
• Third Parties are listed, with links to their internet sites, in Politics1 Directory of United States Political Parties.
• See also the websites of specific candidates for political office. A number of the sites on this page link to candidate websites, but you can also use an Internet Search Engines to find a candidate's site.
• Political Party Platforms
  • Political Party Platforms of Parties Receiving Electoral Votes (American Presidency Project; UC Santa Barbara). Full-text of major political party platforms from 1840 to the present.

More information about recent/current elections and candidates:

• CQ Weekly. Expert coverage of the United States Congress, including issues and election politics. (Oviatt Library subscription; also available in paper format). A similar useful source is National Journal (see the Library Catalog record for print version of National Journal or the Library Catalog record for National Journal (online)).
• CQPolitics has information about campaigns and issues as well as special features such as PolitiFact, a service intended to help viewers sort out truth from fiction in campaign rhetoric.
• OpenSecrets.org (Center for Responsive Politics). Data about money in politics, including campaign finance information about congressional candidates.
• Campaign Disclosure Project includes a state-by-state list of links to campaign finance disclosure agencies online.
• E-Democracy's Political News, Information, and Links (E-Democracy) links to candidate pages, voting information, news links, etc.
• Politics1: State & Congressional Candidates (Ron Gunzburger) links to candidate pages and political parties as well as Presidential campaign information.

Also of interest:

• Election Statistics (Clerk of the House of Representatives) links to documents with the official vote counts for federal elections since 1920.
• Pollster.com. Pollster tracks and analyses political polls on presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial races, with links out to other polls.
• Public Opinion Polls and Surveys. A guide to public opinion polls available online or in print at California State University, Northridge's Oviatt Library.
• American National Election Studies includes The ANES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior. Public opinion and electoral behavior in American politics since 1948.
• United States Presidential Election Maps: 1860-1996
• Election 2002 Web Archive (Library of Congress MINERVA Web Preservation Project)
• Election 2000 Collection (Internet Archive). Internet library containing archived copies of many election-related Web sites from the 2000 United States Presidential election.
• UCLA Library Online Campaign Literature Archive
• Voting and Registration (Census Bureau). Information on reported voting and registration by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics is collected for the nation in November of congressional and presidential election years in the Current Population Survey.

Need more information on the issues? Visit your local library electronically or in person. Local favorites include California State University, Northridge's Oviatt Library (their research guide Society's Issues: Controversial and Current is a good place to begin researching a controversial issue) and the Los Angeles Public Library.

Created and maintained by Mary M. Finley
Questions or comments: mary.finley@csun.edu
Links checked: 22 August 2008