2008 Election Resources
We've collected the following resources to provide one stop shopping for faculty, staff and students looking for good, reliable election related information. If you know of other sites that you think should be included here, let us know.
Voter Registration
During most election cycles there are news stories about laws concerning where and how college students can vote. This election is no different (see this Inside Higher Ed article). We encourage you to contact your local and state election officials, along with the appropriate administrative department at your campus. In addition, the following sites are loaded with information about laws governing student voting eligibility.
- http://www.vote411.org/, Run by the League of Women Voters, this site offers one stop shopping for "election information you need" including finding polling locations and how to register to vote.
- Message from National Association Independent Colleges and Universities
- Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, see their legal guide to student voting.
- Your Vote, Your Voice. This website is a collaborative effort of many higher education associations. In addition to information about voter registration, this site contains great tips and information for organizing registration drives on campus.
- Rock the Vote One of the older organizations focused on voting and young people, their site allows citizens to register to vote. Their mission is to engage and build the political power of young people in order to achieve progressive change in our country.
Issues
Presidential candidates and campaigns, pundits and political analysts say a lot of things in the course of a campaign – some true and some... not so true. We think the following sites help cut through the spin, provide excellent background information and delve deep into the real issues facing the country – great tools for citizens.
- Polltrack.com
From their site, "If you want punditry, visit an opinion-based political website. If you want a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute picture of what voters are actually thinking and feeling, you're in the right place. We gauge the mood of the nation and predict the outcome of elections from the perspective of where it matters the most: with voters on the ground. Pundits spend much of their time listening to each other. We're more interested in listening to you. Voices on the Ground tracks events and opinion on the ground, from snapshots and reports sent in by our readers and correspondents across the nation to homegrown political advertisements on YouTube." - VoteGopher.com
From their site, "VoteGopher is the ultimate Election 2008 study guide - for busy Americans and political pundits alike. Our team of college students and young voters has analyzed an abundance of election information to bring you concise coverage of what really matters when casting your vote: the issues. On 25 issues, VoteGopher provides you with the tools you need to make an informed choice this November. We dig. You decide." Votegopher has side-by-side comparisons of Obama and McCain's positions on all of the major issues. - Public Agenda
From their site, "It's election season again, and that means politicians are crossing the country to sell one thing: themselves. But how do you tell when candidates are facing the facts, and when they're just telling you what you want to hear? The Voter's Survival Kit helps get you past the spin with key facts, differing points of view, and some potential tradeoffs - because every plan has both pros and cons." They have informative, fact based issue guides on the economy, immigration, and climate change among others. - Everyday Democracy
From their site, "The Issue Guide Exchange is a free, online resource available to anyone who is interested in broad-based, inclusive dialogue leading to community action." Users can find issues guides on a range of topics including immigration, race, and education. While not specifically geared toward the 2008 election, these issue guides can help you organize a well managed public engagement process to talk about important public issues. - National Issues Forum
From their site, "The National Issues Forum Institute offers communities nonpartisan issue discussion materials that are intended to stimulate serious public deliberation about these issues by the public." While not specifically geared toward the 2008 election, these issue guides can help you organize a well managed public engagement process to talk about important public issues.
Spin Control
- Factcheck.org
From their site, "We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding. The Annenberg Political Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg in 1994 to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state, and federal levels." - PolitiFact.com
From their site, "Each election year we hear this lament from our readers suffering the barrage of campaign rhetoric: "just gimme the truth." That's the mission of PolitiFact. The St. Petersburg Times of Florida and Congressional Quarterly of Washington, D.C. – two of America's most trusted, independent newsrooms – have created the site to help voters separate fact from falsehood in the 2008 presidential campaign. Journalists and researchers from the Times and CQ will fact-check the accuracy of speeches, TV ads, interviews and other campaign communications. We'll publish new findings every day on PolitiFact.com, and list our sources for all to see. - Blogging the Debates
From their site, "The overarching goal of the 2008 Presidential Debates Project is to bring together numerous perspectives on American politics as well as non-partisan annotations in order to have the electorate not only more informed, but also more motivated to understand the realities behind what the candidates are saying."
Candidates
- Vote Smart
From their site, "Here at Project Vote Smart, Americans young and old volunteer their time, take no money from special interest groups, and have committed themselves to an extraordinary effort that, if successful, will provide their fellow citizens with the tools for a reemergence of political power not known for half a century. Their idea is one you may have thought of yourself. It is a deceptively simple concept but enormously difficult to achieve and would not be possible without the collaboration of citizens willing to lay their partisan differences aside for this one crucial task. Picture this: thousands of citizens (conservative and liberal alike) working together, spending endless hours researching the backgrounds and records of thousands of political candidates and elected officials to discover their voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups." - John McCain, official website.
- Barack Obama, official website.
