Urban Go-Team 2014

Adventures in Elections & Voting

Top 5 Voting & Elections Resources

Go-Team 2014 may be winding down, but our adventures in voting & elections are just getting started. We all need accurate, detailed info to be informed citizens, so here are five of our favorite web resources. They cover just about everything you’ll need to know about the issues, candidates, procedures, and background on upcoming elections. Thank you so much to Jasen, Kate, and the other students who contributed to this list!


1.) Start with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office for the most up-to-date, accurate, objective Missouri-focused data.

sec-state-pic

 

There’s also an interactive district map that will give you a full view of all the relevant political districts in Missouri. The Missouri “Blue Book” has incredibly detailed information about state/local/federal government, including hierarchy breakdowns of each branch of government, all the departments of state government, and other really valuable information

Missouri Secretary of State Office: Elections and Voting: https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/

Interactive District Maps: https://ogi.oa.mo.gov/LEGIS/LegislativeDistrict/index.html

“Blue Book”: http://www.sos.mo.gov/bluebook/2013-2014/


2.) If you want a more interactive guide/election info customized based on your address, check out Project Vote Smart (@VoteSmart).

Enter your zip code/address on the front page to see the important elections specific to where you live.

Enter your zip code/address on the front page to see the important elections specific to where you live.

“Project Vote Smart…hopes to help United States citizens to investigate and track political candidates and government officials, as well as legislative bills and key votes. Project Vote Smart’s primary tool is VoteEasy which helps users find candidates who best align with their position on certain issues.” – https://www.djangosites.org/s/votesmart-org/


3.) The iSideWith.com quiz lets you see what candidates and political parties are most in alignment with your values and views. 

Political personality quiz!

Political personality quiz!


4.) 270 to Win  is a great data visualization tool, offering an interactive map of the electoral college votes per state for each presidential elections.

270-to-win-screenshot



5.) The New Organizing Institute maintains a 50-state elections rules map, where you can search and compare rules about voter registration deadline, absentee voting, available ballot languages, and other vital voting rules across the country. 

Select the state you want to learn more about...

Select the state you want to learn more about…

 

...and find out what you need to know

…and find out what you need to know

These resources should be good for getting you started. Once you have worked through these, here’s a comprehensive voting and election resource guide from Drexel University.

Anything were forgetting? Let us know what resources you use to stay informed!

Author: Allison

Allison has been involved with Civitas--first as a high school student, now as staff--for the past 10 years. She participated in the 2007 Go-Team, which focused on urban economic redevelopment in the St. Louis region. The experience changed the way she viewed St. Louis, inspiring her to major in Urban Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. She graduated in 2013.

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