10 Best Electoral Tools to Make You an Informed Voter
Whatever you think of an election or a presidential candidate, the best voter is an educated voter, and it’s important to remember that there is more at stake than just the White House. These tools will help you figure out what exactly and make the best decision in the voting booth.
10. How to vote in each state
The first step to becoming an educated voter is to make sure you can actually vote. How to Vote in Each State explains how in a short video of, well, each state, it outlines the registration process, absentee voting or provisional voting, and what you can expect when you turn up on election day. For many states, registration deadlines have already expired, but there is a lot to learn here, and in the worst case, you will have a good start in the medium term in two years.
9. US Voting Foundation
The US Voting Foundation is a kind of one-stop shop for pretty much everything you need to know about the intricacies of voting. You may need an absentee ballot because you are traveling or studying abroad. Maybe you need to know what the deadline is in your jurisdiction, or maybe you’re not sure who is voting in local or state elections. The US Voting Foundation can help.
The Foundation features prominently in our guide to getting information and early voting , but it’s also worth noting that they have a new Facebook Messenger chatbot , GoVoteBot , that can answer all sorts of questions about the voting process and how you can make sure. that your vote counts.
8. FindLaw Guidance on Election Law
The fact that Election Day is not a national holiday is a travesty, not only because we can all use the day off to really go and vote, but also because we could all use the day off to try to relax, recover and cope. with the tensions involved in deciding the future of our nation on this day. But until it’s a holiday, you probably still have to work, and the FindLaw table of state-to-state electoral laws shows whether your boss should give you time to vote, how long, and how accommodating he should be. so you can go and participate.
The chart doesn’t just tell you about your rights, although that would be enough for our book, but it actually cites specific laws and regulations that you can then refer to and point out if someone tries to get in your way. It also allows you to see at a glance if the time off you must have to vote is paid vacation or not, or your state or jurisdiction doesn’t have a specific law or statute requiring or permitting time off to vote at all (oops!)
7. Votesmart
Project Vote Smart (warning, autoplay music on their website) offers a detailed and detailed comparison of all presidential candidates, their positions, political proposals, experience and, in particular, their positions on important social and economic issues in the country. in your own words. The service is also not limited to the two main candidates – third party candidates are also included (if mathematically viable).
Once on the site, simply select the issues that are most important to you, answer a couple of questions about your position on these issues, and you will be able to see a comparison of all the platforms of the candidates, what they said. what independent research says and, of course, how well each one fits you. When you’re done examining the presidential candidates, click on the Capitol dome to check out the candidates running for the Senate and House of Representatives.
6. OpenSecrets
You will hear many people say “watch the money” in politics, and OpenSecrets tries to make those traces as clear and obvious as possible. The service shows you which companies, political action committees (PACs) donated to whom and where each candidate seems to receive money, which they use for campaigning, marketing and all those lawn signs you see all over the place. You can see who is funding high-profile candidates, examine these PACs and SuperPACs to see who is pulling their strings, and even examine the so-called “dark money” that comes into campaigns from dubious donors that bypass financial disclosure laws. …
Plus, you can even travel locally and see who is funding whom in your local political campaigns, whether in your community or to represent the state. OpenSecrets even has a browser extension called Greenhouse that will show you useful information about a candidate whenever you read an article about him or when you select and right-click his name.
5. FactCheck.org
There is nothing like good fact-checking – so many that Google now includes fact-checking in its search results for candidates. The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Center for Public Policy has operated FactCheck.org for many years and has long been a trusted source of independent verification of candidate claims.
Contrary to this notion that facts cannot be empirically determined or that fact-checking requires fact-checking tools, FactCheck.org continues to be one of the best resources for identifying all candidates for blatant lies and lies, as well as errors and errors. … distortions or poorly understood facts and statistics. They are also great for referring to so-called “failed” campaigns and journalism, where someone clings to an out-of-context statement as a campaign weapon.
4. Google
Google is a giant search engine, but it can not only help you find candidates and find useful sites with good information. Google can help you register to vote (just google ” how to register to vote “) make sure you are registered to vote (Google ” am I registered to vote ?”) Show you a sample newsletter (Google ” sample newsletter ,”) For your specific state or jurisdiction and will even direct you to the polling place (Google ” my polling station “). All you have to do is do a search, Google will do the rest, or hand you over to whoever does it.
3. Ballotpedia
Speaking of ballots samples, if you are not sure what it looks like your ballot (even if the local electoral authorities had to send it to you via e-mail), Ballotpedia can help you see your check not only candidates for him, but also local problems. , questions, voting arrangements, and smaller elected officials like sheriffs, clerks, and judges that you might want to weigh. You can of course view your own sample ballot, but you can also go hyper-local and check local judiciary elections, school board elections, and other ballot-related issues that, let’s be honest, you. probably up to this point they have falsely expressed their opinion .
2. Voting411
Like Ballotpedia, Vote411 has everything you need to know about local and state elections, as well as Congressional elections and presidential candidates. It has been around for a long time , but it has always been valuable.
What stands out is that Vote411 offers printed voter guides that you can fill out and take with you to the polls so you have something to follow, read and, most importantly, take your time and decide as you are. ” You are going to vote before you get into the booth trying to decide if you should vote yes on “Question A about the special representative on the transport committee to investigate Hyperloop research” or something.
1. Vote.org
Vote.org, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to fully encouraging and helping people to vote, is an essential resource to help you register to vote, find out if you are registered to vote, get an absentee or pre-vote if you need one. and of course, handle all other nuts and bolts related to the voting process, especially if you are abroad or far from home .
The site takes a few minutes to use and operates specific polling “centers” for each state where you can dive deeper into what’s at stake in your community and offers starting points for additional research. It is fast, simple and timely service with many benefits.