Vote responsibly
Some useful resources for getting started, researching candidates open_in_new, ballot measures, and issues in US elections for our three branches of government open_in_new
Tip: Beware of false equivalence open_in_new and false balance open_in_new; both are prevalent around the 2024 election.
vote.gov open_in_new: Register to vote, find voter registration deadlines, check your registration, register after you’ve moved, change your political party affiliation, and learn how to get a voter registration card.
usa.gov › Voting and elections open_in_new: Find the official answers to almost any question about the elections process.
Ballotpedia open_in_new: Perhaps the most comprehensive and best overall for explaining candidates and measures.
Google open_in_new: Search people and issues the good, old fashioned way. Also best augmented with the other non-partisan options in this list.
Google News open_in_new: See what the press is saying about issues and candidates. Be sure to read multiple sources.
Publicture: Use the recources to fact check, find balanced news, spot bias, review past elections and see what's happening in the current ones, recall the US founding documents, review word from the Supreme Court, Congress, and the President, and more.
iSideWith open_in_new: Similar to others in this list; the factual content is solid, though the quizes have been less accurate lately.
Open Secrets open_in_new: Candidates' campaign financial sources.
Transparency USA open_in_new: Clear, detailed breakdown of some states' (not all) candidates' campaign financial sources.
US government voter research open_in_new: Official resources to help you, such as sample ballots, voter guides, and general answers about how to vote.
Vote Smart open_in_new: Well organized info on candidates' voting history and funding.
Voter's Edge open_in_new: Specifically about California candidates and issues.
Voterly open_in_new: Similar to iSideWith. Simple, visual, infographical, easy to understand representation of candidates.
Wikipedia open_in_new: Useful and usually well-cited overviews of public figures, laws, measures, past events, etc.
YouTube open_in_new: Search a candidate, then watch debates, interviews, and speeches to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
Caution: Candidates can be quite biased; their claims are best tested against the other non-partisan research methods, above.
