Voting resources worth checking out

Voters looking to educate themselves on candidates and issues are tasked with trying to find impartial voting resources for reliable, accurate, and nonpartisan information to research. Although complete impartiality may seem impossible, below are some helpful resources to get information about candidates and issues on your ballot.

Ballotpedia

Ballotpedia describes itself as the “digital encyclopedia of American politics, and the nation’s premier source for unbiased information on elections, politics and policy.” It was founded in 2007 and is sponsored by the Lucy Burns Institute, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization in Middleton, Wis.

The self-described goal of the site is to inform people about political candidates and incumbents, and ballot measures by providing objective and nonpartisan information at all levels of government. According to Ballotpedia.org, the website covers local, state, federal and territorial politics and is firmly committed to neutrality. Its content includes neutral, accurate, and verifiable information on government officials and the offices they hold, political issues and public policy, elections and candidates.

Also on the site, you can get an early look at what’s on your local ballot. Additionally, the resource has a smartphone app called My Vote Ballotpedia.

Vote Smart

Vote Smart is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office. It was founded in 1992 and has tools on VoteSmart.org to help you “find your political soulmate” via its “Vote Easy” feature and prepare yourself for big elections like the one coming up Nov. 8.

The site’s latest tool is “Side by Side.” The feature allows visitors to compare and contrast candidates in multiple fields that can include transportation.

According to its website, Vote Smart’s mission is “to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials.”

OpenSecrets.org

OpenSecrets is touted as a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit research source to get a good idea about money’s influence on D.C. lawmakers. The site is run by the Center for Responsive Politics.

OpenSecrets describes itself as the most comprehensive resource for campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available.

The site provides information on which companies and lobbyist groups contribute to which candidates. OpenSecrets.org also provides detail on local contributions. Information is available for who is doing the giving and who is receiving.

FactCheck.org.

Another helpful resource is FactCheck.org.

The resource is a self-described nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. Fact Check describes itself as monitoring the factual accuracy of what is said by major political players in the form of television ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.

The site is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. LL