Election Resources

Project Vote Smart: Your one-stop shopping center for political information
Project Vote Smart covers candidates and elected officials in five basic categories:

• Background and contact information
• Issue positions, provided by candidates through our National Political Awareness Test (NPAT)
• Voting record
• Campaign finances
• Interest group ratings from over 100 groups across the ideological spectrum

USA.gov : the U.S. Government's Official Web Portal
link to the Voting and Elections section, or use the Federal Government menu to link to all branches including the Legislature. Everything online from Federal agencies can be found here.

Politics1 -American Politics, Elections: About Politics1
Founded in 1997, Politics1 is published as a non-partisan public service to promote fully informed decision-making by the American electorate. Our traffic statistics show that Politics1 continues to be one of the most popular political sites on the net. According to the WebTrends traffic report (for the period ending July 31, 2004), Politics1 is recording over 529,000 unique user sessions, 938,000 page views, and 16.4 million hits per month.

Speakout.com : Politics, Activism, Political Issues
Based in Washington, DC, SpeakOut.com is America's leading non-partisan Internet activism Web site and online opinion research company. Launched in February 2000, SpeakOut.com's primary mission is to enhance the democratic process by enabling citizens to have a direct impact on the decisions that affect their lives. Users enjoy a wide variety of news and information tailored to their interests and activism tools allowing aggregated messaging to a vast array of public officeholders, candidates, business and news executives.

Political Information Search Engine :
a non-partisan search engine just for politics and policy covering over 5000 sites, news headlines, and over 1,500 useful links

MSNBC's Politics Front Page
includes campaign, videos, election scorecards, comparison of candidates . . .

CNN's Inside Politics
The Situation Report, Pubic Figures, latest news, video clips . . . .
CNN's America Votes 2008
The latest up-to-the minute news on the candidates, the polls, the issues and more. Coverage includes Senate, House and Governor races. CNN's Electoral College Explainer

OnTheIssues.org : Candidates on the Issues.
"Every political leader on every issue." Issues, candidates, topics in the news, quotes, issue grid, vote-match results . . .

Yahoo's U. S. Elections

RefDesk.com's Politics : an annotated guide to 40+ websites on Politics from www.refdesk.com's online library

How Stuff Works: Election 2008 covers caucus, campaign fundraising, the electoral college, swing states, the candidates, and much more
2004 Election Issues Explained .
Those U. S. citizens who choose to cast their vote for president will head to the polls on November 2. In preparation for the 2004 U. S. presidential election, HowStuffWorks has compiled information for some of the top issues facing Americans. In this feature, you find overviews, statistics, positions and voting records for the three top runners: President George W. Bush, John Kerry, and Ralph Nader.

Division of Elections , Florida Department of State.
includes candidates, FAQ's, voter-turn-out information, and more

Leon County Supervisor of Elections:  site contains the "ABC's of voting", the sample ballot for the local election, information on early voting, statistics on previous elections, voter demographics, poll locations, and links to other resources

Federal Election Commission . This site is designed as a tool for anyone who wishes to learn more about financing campaigns for federal office, the rules and regulations pertaining to this process, or elections and voting in general. FEC Links to other election-related sites

National Archives  Federal Register: U. S. Electoral College information - FAQ's, 2004 Election, how electors vote, historical election results, and more

Commission on Presidential Debates . Includes transcripts of presidential and vice presidential debates, past and present.

Common Cause: citizens working to end special-interest politics and reform government ethics . A nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest. With nearly 300,000 members and supporters and 38 state organizations, Common Cause remains committed to honest, open and accountable government.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) . A "mainstream group that helps real people who have suffered injustice bring or defend legal actions stemming from the conduct of unscrupulous government officials."

Republican National Committee . Advertisements, news releases, GOP store . . . Provides support activities to Republican administrations, members of Congress, governors, state and local office holders, and Republican campaigns at all levels.

Democratic National Committee . Advertisements, news releases, Blog, issues contrast . . . Organizes and sponsors national political activities, provides technical assistance to political candidates.

Third Parties in the U. S.  Link to Politics1.com for a descriptive and extensive listing of over 50 Third Parties.

NewsBank: SPECIAL REPORTS: Presidential Campaign 2008  - Coverage of the possible candidates for the 2008 presidential election is the current focus of the Special Report. Coverage will expand to include the full scope of the campaign including primaries, conventions and debates. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order for easy reference.
NewsBank on-campus link
NewsBank Newsfile Collection with Periodicals  1992 - present
200 articles collected under "Civics, Government and Politics - "2004 Presidential Campaign". Articles cover social, economic, environmental, government, sports, people, the arts, health, and science issues & events. Sources: U. S. regional and national newspapers...and leading magazines.
NewsBank Retrospective 1970-1991 : Use for background on more recent issues and events.

SIRS Researcher  - full-text newspaper, magazine articles & government documents on candidates, issues, and more.
SIRS on-campus link  ~ SIRS off-campus access link

Off-campus access: log-in to databases

Readers' Guide: 1983  - current: index & full-text articles from only popular magazines, covering business, consumer affairs, current events and news, education, fine arts, health, nutrition, sports, and more. log-in to databases

Readers' Guide Retrospective 1890 - 1982 : index to articles in popular magazines
ONLY AVAILABLE FROM ON CAMPUS Readers Guide Retro on-campus link 
other database options for current articles: Omnifile ~ Academic Search

Links for POS 2001 - fall 2006

from syllabus of Dr. Mary Prentice

For information on Senate candidates and a profile and issue description of candidates go to: http://www.vote-smart.org/official_state.php

A list of Leon County commission candidates can also be found online at the following webpage if you want to compare two county commission candidates on an issue here is a list of candidates to choose from: http://www.co.leon.fl.us/Elect/ElectionsAndResults/2006Election/2006LocalCandidates.asp

here are two webpages for candidates competing for a county commission seat in Leon County: http://www.thaell2006.com/issues.htm and http://www.votejohngriffin.com

For more information on Leon County's proposed health care for the uninsured see the following webpage: http://www.leoncountyfl.gov/healthcareplan/ and for another view of the health care plan see: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060810/NEWS01/608100316/1010

A good political archives that contains interviews with different county commission candidates is found at the following webpage http://www.fsu.edu/~wfsu_fm/programs/perspectives/ps2006/ps2006.html

This above webpage also includes an audio of a discussion about the Leon County proposed Healthcare Sales Tax and this recording mentions that "A Recent Poll indicates that despite a favorable vote by the Leon County Commission, 56% of voters are against the proposal to increase Leon County Sales tax rate to 8%. That would become the highest sales tax rate in State of Florida."

Revised February 2010