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Election/Voting and Related Resources

In this election year there are many resources online as well as in printed form to use in research projects and to assist with more informed voting.

Georgia 2008 Election Schedule
Georgia and Local Resources
Databases from McCain Library
Biographical/Candidate Information and Issues
National Election Resources
Technology and user-generated content

Georgia 2008 Election Schedule

• February 5: Presidential Preference Primary / Special Election
• June 16: Last day to register to vote in the July primary
• July 15: General Primary//Special Election
• August 5: Primary Runoff/Special Runoff
• October 6: Last day to register to vote in General Election
• November 4: General Election

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Georgia and Local Resources

Dekalb County Voter Registration and Elections. Official site for information regarding elected officials, election districts and location of polls, election statistics, sample ballot, and other registration/election related matters. https://dklbweb.dekalbga.org/voter/

Democratic Party of Georgia. The official website includes campaign news, election information, and “2008 Delegate Selection Plan.” http://www.democraticpartyofgeorgia.org/home

ELECTION GUIDE 2008: Your resource for voting in Georgia, by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/election08/index.html

Fulton County Registration and Elections Department. The official site for Fulton County voters. Includes voter information, including location of polls and Sample Ballots. http://www.fultoncountyga.gov/county/elections/

Georgia Election Results. Presidential and U.S. Congressional Districts: 1988 to present. Includes voting records down to the county level. http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/election_results/. See also historical data in full text online at the GALILEO database: Georgia Government Publications. Search for title: “Official State of Georgia Tabulation by Counties.” Includes 1952-1992.

Georgia Republican Party. The official site of the Georgia Republican Party with information on candidates, issues and people in the Republican Party in Georgia. http://www.gagop.org/

Georgia Secretary of State's Election Web Site. Official information on voting in Georgia, including candidates, polling locations, and official statistics on election results past and present. http://www.sos.ga.gov/elections/

Georgia State Ethics Commission . Official site for public disclosure of campaign financing and significant private interests of public officers and candidates for public office. http://www.ethics.ga.gov .

League of Women Voters of Georgia. Voter Guides, information on selected issues; links to regional Leagues in Georgia. http://www.lwvga.org/

Project Vote Smart. Provides information about elected officials, including voting records (congressional and legislative), special interest group performance evaluations, campaign finance data, and issue positions, and general political information, including voter registration information, information on statewide ballot measures, and links to other resources. http://www.vote-smart.org

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Databases from McCain Library

Academic Search via McCain Library’s A-Z List – Useful for searching magazines and journals for news and scholarly articles; also useful for researching current and past elections. Includes the weekly CQ in full text for news on the work of the U.S. Congress, including roll call votes of the members of Congress.

CQ Researcher – Monthly journal with numerous articles on issues relating to presidential and congressional elections (McCain Library’s A-Z List)

Georgia Government Publications (McCain Library’s A-Z List)

LexisNexis Academic – Search for full text articles from magazines, newspapers, journals and web-based publications on candidates and issues. Time period can be limited to the current day, current week, and other specific time periods. (McCain Library’s A-Z List)

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Biographical/Candidate Information and Issues:

Almanac of American Politics [book]. Biennial. McCain Library JK271 .B343. Latest ed. (2008) in Ref.; older editions in stacks.
“Includes profiles of every member of Congress and governor as well as in-depth and up-to-date narrative profiles of all 50 states and 435 House districts. Also included are detailed Congressional voting records, hard-to-find census data and current state district maps. The 2008 edition also offers a preview of the 2008 presidential election and an authoritative look at the 2006 mid-term elections and includes state-by-state analysis.”

Campaign Money. This website allows visitors to find campaign finance data, including searching for contributions by zip code, individual name or address, and political action committees. Special reports include contributions made by
celebrities, industries, and companies. http://www.campaignmoney.com/

Fact Check. From the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, FactCheck.org evaluates the accuracy of campaign claims. Visitors can ask FactCheck specific questions and can subscribe to the site via RSS or e-mail. FactCheck’s archive extends back to 2003, covering the 2004 and 2006 campaign cycles. http://www.factcheck.org/

Follow the Money. A number of organizations provide data about federal-level campaign finance contributions, but the National Institute on Money in State Politics provides information on the state level by contributor and industry. The site also includes data on ballot measures and political parties, along with news releases and research reports focusing on campaign contributions and public policy. http://www.followthemoney.org/index.phtm

Map the Candidates. The online magazine Slate uses a Google Maps mashup to trace the geography of the 2008 presidential campaign, tracking candidate travel and linking to videos and local coverage of campaign stops. http://www.slate.com/id/2175817/

Open Secrets. The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) supplies campaign finance information, including data about campaign contribution donors and recipients, lobbying, and advocacy group spending. It also has databases covering financial disclosure, the revolving door between industry and government agencies, and congressional travel. CRP’s online newsletter “Capital Eye” provides articles about the role of money in politics. http://opensecrets.org

Road to 2008. Provides information on candidates by parties and provides campaign analysis. Also includes links by topics of debate and links to sources of news updates and provides links to various news media sites and candidate websites. http://roadto2008.com/

National Election Resources

Campaigns & Elections. Campaigns & Elections is a trade magazine published ten times each year for political professionals. Each issue includes feature articles, profiles, and news about the profession. Includes a political blog directory. http://www.campaignsandelections.com

C-Span Election 2008: Candidates and issues. http://www3.capwiz.com/c-span/e4/

Campaign U. This freely accessible blog, published by the Chronicle of Higher Education, provides links to articles focusing on the 2008 elections as they affect students, colleges and universities, and higher education policy. The site also provides summaries of relevant scholarly publications. http://chronicle.com/blogs/election/

Choosing a president: the electoral college and beyond / [e-book] edited by Paul D. Schumaker and Burdett A. Loomis. New York: Chatham House Publishers, c2002. An electronic book accessible through SOPHIA.

Democratic Party. Official web site of the National Democratic Party. http://www.democrats.org/

Federal Election Commission. This official U.S. site provides information about legal and regulatory rules relating to federal campaign finance issues. Its searchable Disclosure Database is the original source of all the campaign finance data provided by other groups.: http://www.fec.gov/index.shtml

Indecision 2008. Comedy Central’s Web site provides video clips, interviews, a political news blog, and other campaign coverage and resources. http://www.indecision2008.com

National Archives. U.S. Electoral College web site. http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/

Pew Research Center. While this is not a campaign site per se, many of the surveys and reports that the Pew Research Center publishes are relevant for anyone interested in campaigns and issues. Along with its popular Internet & American Life Project, the center conducts a number of projects providing resources on topics such as state news, social and demographic trends, Hispanic Americans, religion and public life, and global public opinion. http://www.pewresearch.org

Politico and Campus Politico. Extensive political news site from Capital News Company covers the presidential campaign and other political events and issues and includes video clips and an open forum for commentary. Campus Politico focuses on college-age voters and includes links to social networking sites and downloadable widgets that provide updated blog postings from Politico writers. http://www.politico.com/campuspolitico/

Republican National Committee. Official Web site of the RNC. http://www.gop.com/

U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an official independent, bipartisan commission created by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 to operate the federal government's first voting system certification program. It issues best practices and resources to election officials throughout the nation and administers a national clearinghouse of information about election administration and statistics. http://www.eac.gov/

Why America stopped voting: the decline of participatory democracy and the emergence of modern American politics, [e-book] by Mark Lawrence Kornbluh. New York: New York University Press, c2000. An electronic book accessible through SOPHIA.

Technology and User-Generated Content

TechPresident. This group blog, a project of the Personal Democracy Forum, focuses on how the web is being used by presidential campaigns, and how the read-write, interactive nature of the web allows the public to create content that becomes part of the campaign conversation. Partnering with the New York Times and MSNBC, the site sponsors 10 Questions (www.10questions.com), where readers can propose questions to be asked of presidential candidates. The top ten vote-getters are submitted to the candidates, and participating campaigns then provide a video response. The site also tracks candidate support on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. http://techpresident.com/

Wiki the Vote. An open, publicly edited encyclopedia of the 2008 elections. Registration is required for editing, and there are specific policies for editing that are overseen by a managing editor. The site includes candidate profiles, links to political Weblogs, and general election coverage. Wiki the Vote is a project of Congresspedia, which is sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Media and Democracy. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wiki_the_Vote

YouTube: You Choose ’08. In a departure from the traditional, formally televised presidential debates of the past, candidates are now responding to questions raised by citizens through videos posted on YouTube. This site includes videos of questions, candidate responses, and user-generated responses to the same questions asked of the candidates. The site also links to videos produced by individual campaigns. http://youtube.com/youchoose