Learn about Elections
- The American Past: Voting America
- "Voting America examines the evolution of presidential politics in the United States across the span of history. The project offers a wide spectrum of cinematic and interactive visualizations of how Americans voted in presidential elections at the county level over the past 164 years. You can also find expert analysis and commentary videos that discuss some of the most interesting and significant trends in American political history." Created by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond.
- Ben's Guide to U.S. Government
- Offers young, possibly future voters some insight into the election process.
- Election 2012 Voting Guide
- "Adult learners and ESL students can prepare for the 2012 elections with the help of News for You, an easy-to-read news source written specifically for that audience. The Election 2012 Voting Guide includes sections on reasons to vote, watching debates, and understanding campaign advertisements. It puts into plain words how to cast a ballot and describes different types of voting equipment. The guide also explains how to register to vote." From ProLiteracy.
- Elections: The American Way
- This site offers a concise history of voting and voter rights in the United States and covers a number of related topics with links to even more. Learn about political parties, what it takes to become President, explore historical voting issues, and more. From the Library of Congress.
- Electoral College
- From the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Also check out their Electoral College calculator.
- Learn about Elections and Voting
- A directory of mainly government information resources including links to state level election officials, historical election results, a lesson plan for educators, and election legislation.
- Volunteering and Contributing to the Election Process
- Government information on contributing money and goods as well as volunteering in the election process. Includes information specific to government workers as well.
- Voting
- Includes information about the Voting Rights Act and answers to frequently asked questions about voting. From the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division.
Registering and Voting Procedures
- Federal Voting Assistance Program
- Voting help for Uniformed Service Members, their families, and Citizens living outside the United States.
- National Voter Registration Act
- Information on the "Motor Voter" Act of 1993 and new voter registration at Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices. From New York State Board of Elections. For background information about the Act, visit the Department of Justice's NVRA page.
- New York State Board Of Elections - Register to Vote
- Includes qualifications and links to downloadable forms.
- Orange County Board of Elections
- From the Orange County, New York website. See also their Orange County Polling Place locator.
- Resources for Voters
- The United States Election Assistance Commission serves as "the central resource for information about elections." Includes the National Mail Voter Registration Form.
- Voting Machines
- Includes: Voting Machines - An Introduction, Which Machine Will I Be Using? (select by county), and information on various voting machines. From New York State Board of Elections.
Making an Informed Decision
- Bing Elections
- News and videos on candidates, election results, and more. From Bing.com.
- C-SPAN: Road to the White House
- Has video clips of the candidates, their ads as well as links to their official websites.
- CNN: America's Choice 2012
- Election Year Survival Guide
- A critical thinking guide for voters. From Middletown Thrall Library. Adobe PDF format.
- FactCheck.org
- "We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding."
- Google News: Election 2012
- Multiple news sources.
- NPR (National Public Radio): Election 2012
- New York Times: Election 2012
- PBS Need to Know: Election 2012
- PBS NewsHour: Vote 2012
- PewResearchCenter: Politics and Elections
- "Selected Pew Research Center reports (since 2005) on national and state politics from Pew Research Center projects." About PRC: "The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The center conducts public opinion polling, demographic studies, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. It does not take positions on policy issues."
- PolitiFact
- "PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times to help you find the truth in politics."
- Project Vote Smart
- Reuters: 2012 U.S. Presidential Election
- Times Herald-Record: Election 2012 (Election Center)
- Wall Street Journal: Election 2012
- Vote-411.org
- Election Information from the League of Women Voters.
- Yahoo! News: Destination 2012
- 2012 Election News Headlines from Yahoo!
Campaign Financing
- OpenSecrets.org 2012 Presidential Candidates
- Fundraising information on all the candidates with various demographic breakdowns. Includes links to information on congrssional races as well.
- Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal
- "The Federal Election Commission's Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal provides a single point of entry to campaign finance data. You'll find easy-to-navigate maps and charts that display the campaign finance data you're most interested in. You'll also find many search tools that will help you through our data sources. You can download many of these data sets to perform your own analyses." Topics include Super PACs, Presidential Elections, and House and Senate Elections. From the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC.gov).
See also these FEC.gov pages:
- Campaign Finance Reports and Data
- Presidential Campaign Finance
- Allows you to search geographically and by name for donors, as well as giving total dollars raised for each candidate.
- Select Presidential Reports for the Current Election Cycle
Political Parties
- Constitution Party
- Democratic Party
- Green Party
- Party for Socialism and Liberation
- Republican Party
- Political Parties
- From Vote-Smart, this is a listing of political parties including links to their websites, addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers. Use the state drop down menu to find state political parties
Polls, Results, and Statistics
Election 2012 Results
- Electoral Maps, Vote Totals, & More
-
- CNN Election 2012 Results
- Includes ballot measures for states.
- The New York Times: Election 2012 Results - U.S. Presidential Race
- See also their Senate, House, and State results pages (New York displays first - select others from State drop-down menu).
- USA Today: Election 2012 Results
- Includes Senate, House, and Governors.
- Presidential Candidates - Speeches
-
- President Barack Obama - Acceptance Speech
- From The New York Times. Also available on YouTube.
- Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney - Concession Speech
- From The New York Times. Also available on YouTube.
Other Resources
- The American Presidency Project: Presidential Elections Data
- "Click on election year for detail." Each year (back to 1789) graphically illustrates the electoral map breakdown and how people voted (Democrat, Republican, etc.). Additional details, such as a list of candidates and vote totals per state, are included.
- Election Statistics
- "Since 1920, the Clerk of the House has collected and published the official vote counts for federal elections from the official sources among the various states and territories. Statistics from recent elections are available in scanned image (Adobe Acrobat .PDF) format." From the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Electoral Vote Predictor
- "Tracking the presidential, Senate, and House elections for 2012."
- Five Thirty Eight: Nate Silver's Political Calculus
- "FiveThirtyEight's mission is to help New York Times readers cut through the clutter of this data-rich world. The blog is devoted to rigorous analysis of politics, polling, public affairs, sports, science and culture, largely through statistical means. In addition, FiveThirtyEight provides forecasts of upcoming presidential, Congressional, and gubernatorial elections through the use of its proprietary prediction models."
- 2012 Political Map Center
- Interactive map allows you to make electoral college vote predictions and view actual results from 1964-2008. From PBS NewsHour.
- United States Election Projects
- From George Mason University. "The United States Elections Project is an information source for the United States electoral system. The mission of the project is to provide timely and accurate election statistics, electoral laws, research reports, and other useful information regarding the United States electoral system."
Presidential Candidates & Their Websites
Active Candidates
- Vergil Goode
- Constitution Party candidate. See also Jim Clymer Vice-Presidential Candidate.
- Gary Johnson
- Libertarian party candidate. See also Judge Jim Gray, Vice-Presidential Candidate.
- Peta Lindsay
- Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate. See also Yari Osorio, Vice-Presidential Candidate.
- Barack Obama
- Democratic Party candidate. See also Vice-President Joseph Biden.
- Mitt Romney
- Republican Party candidate. See also Paul Ryan, Vice-Presidential Candidate.
- Jill Stein
- Green Party candidate. See also Cheri Honkala, Vice-Presidential Candidate.
Previous Candidates
- Michele M. Bachmann
- Herman Cain
- Newt Gingrich
- Jon Huntsman
- Ron Paul
- Liberty Movement candidate.
- Rick Perry
- Buddy Roemer
- Rick Santorum
Conventions of the Major Parties
Official Convention Websites
- 2012 Democratic National Convention (DNC)
- 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC)
Speeches & Videos from the Conventions
- C-SPAN: DNC Convention Library
- Archived videos of speeches given at the Democratic DNC 2012 Convention. Includes speeches from President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joseph Biden
- C-SPAN: RNC Convention Library
- Archived videos of speeches given at the Republican RNC 2012 Convention. Includes speeches from Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
Debates
- Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD)
- "The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was established in 1987 to ensure that debates, as a permanent part of every general election, provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners. Its primary purpose is to sponsor and produce debates for the United States presidential and vice presidential candidates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates." Includes information on the 2012 Presidential Debates and Presidential Debate Transcripts (back to 1960).
- How Presidential Debates Work
- From How Stuff Works.
- Presidential Debates - News
- Updates, articles, and commentary from The New York Times.
- Presidential Debates: 1960 - 2012
- Complete transcripts of debates arranged by time and place. Each transcript includes a list of participants. Sections include: Primary Election, General Election, Democrat Party, Republican Party. From The American Presidency Project.
Library Resources
Follow any of the links below to search our
local library system catalog
for books, videos, and more.
Candidates for President
Candidates for Vice-President
Political Parties
General Information - Campaigns, Elections, History, & More
