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.
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).
“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.
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.
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.
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!