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.
- 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).
- Electoral College Fast Facts
- A brief history plus these topics: Electors, Procedure, Objections, Amending the Process, and Contingent Elections. From the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Glossaries of Election Terminology
- "The glossaries contain 1,843 terms and phrases used in the administration of elections in the United States." Search online or browse by downloading PDFs. Includes various language versions (e.g. Chinese, Spanish). From The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC.gov).
- Presidential Election Process
- "Learn about the Presidential election process, including the Electoral College, caucuses and primaries, and the national conventions. " From USA.gov.
- U.S. Elections
- Guide to online information on election law. From the Library of Congress.
- Voter's Guide to Federal Elections
- "Our voter's guide is available in 11 languages. It is designed to help voters successfully navigate the federal elections process, from registering to vote to casting a ballot on Election Day. In addition to the basics of ballot-casting, it also includes information on eligibility and early voting, as well as the registration and voting process for military and civilians living abroad, and polling place services that make voting more accessible. Also see our FAQ flyer, available in seven languages on 14 common questions from citizens about voting in Federal elections." From The U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Direct links:
- 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.
- Voting and Elections
- Links to government information on election and voting. From USA.gov.
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.
- 2016 Election Lawsuit Tracker: The New Election Laws and the Suits Challenging Them
- "Courts are scrambling to rule on state election laws in time for the elections being held later this year. We're keeping track of their decisions." From ProPublica.
- Voting Guide
- PDF. "This brief voting guide comes to you from News for You, the easy-to-read weekly newspaper and website. This guide explains who can vote and why every vote counts. It describes how Americans choose their leaders. It also tells you how to register and how to cast your ballot." From NewsForYouOnline.com.
- Voting Machines
- "Here you will find the information you need about the election process and the voting machines available in your specific polling place, as well as information on how your voting system will be used in an election.". From New York State Board of Elections.
Making an Informed Decision
- Ballotpedia
- "To learn more about a candidate's views on running, key states visited, fundraisers attended and campaign issues, click on the person's name." See also their menu links for these related topics: Analysis, 2016 Issues, Power Players. Ballotpedia states their "articles are 100 percent written by our professional staff and a small group of guest editors. All content written by our guest editors is reviewed and fact-checked by our staff."
- C-SPAN: Road to the White House
- Has video clips of the candidates, their ads as well as links to their official websites.
- Campaign Exposes Fissures Over Issues, Values and How Life Has Changed in the U.S.
- A study by Pew Research Center, published March 31, 2016. Direct link to PDF report (89 pages).
- CNN: 2016 Presidential Election
- 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 2016
- Multiple news sources.
- NPR (National Public Radio): Election 2016
- New York Times: Election 2016
- PBS NewsHour: Election 2016
- 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
- "Vote Smart's mission is to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to ALL Americans."
- TIME: 2016 Campaign
- News and articles about the election (e.g. "These 5 Facts Explain a Confusing U.S. Presidential Race" and the current candidates.
- 2016 Election
- Various reports and studies (e.g. Contrasting Partisan Perspectives on Campaign 2016). From Pew Research Center.
- 2016 Presidential Election: The Candidates and Where They Stand on the Issues
- "As ProCon.org has done for millions of readers in past elections, you get reliable, sourced information about where each presidential candidate stands on important issues ranging from gun control and taxes to health care and climate change. Our free nonpartisan website covers each Democrat, Republican, and third party presidential candidate who meets the ProCon.org criteria for inclusion. We have posted candidate responses to 20 issues so far, and we are adding new information regularly with the goal of covering 100 issues by Oct. 8, 2016 - one month before Election Day." Includes a Candidate Comparison page. From ProCon.org.
- Vote-411.org
- Election Information from the League of Women Voters.
- Voting Guide
- PDF. "This brief voting guide comes to you from News for You, the easy-to-read weekly newspaper and website. This guide explains who can vote and why every vote counts. It describes how Americans choose their leaders. It also tells you how to register and how to cast your ballot." From NewsForYouOnline.com.
- We Asked for Examples of Election Misinformation. You Delivered.
- "Readers submitted more than 4,000 examples of misinformation. Here are the different types being spread this election season." From The New York Times (11/4/2018).
Campaign Financing
& Campaign Finance Reform
- The Brookings Institution: Campaign Finance
- "Attempts to limit the influence of money on American political campaigns date back to the 1860s. Since the Supreme Court overturned much of the legislation regulating campaign contributions, Super PACS have proliferated, and concern over the influence corporations have on elections is growing. Brookings experts examine campaign finance legislation and the impact it can have on political outcomes."
- Buying Your Vote: Dark Money and Big Data
- "A series of court rulings led to the creation of super PACs and an influx of 'dark money' into politics, fundamentally changing how elections work. ProPublica is following the money and exploring campaign issues you won't read about elsewhere." From ProPublica, "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest."
- 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
- Federal Campaign Finance Laws
- Presidential Campaign Finance
- Allows you to search geographically and by name for donors, as well as giving total dollars raised for each candidate.
- Campaign Finance Institute
- "Founded in 1999, CFI has successfully established its reputation as the nation's pre-eminent think tank for campaign finance policy. Written to meet peer-reviewed standards, CFI's original work is published in academic journals as well as in forms regularly used by the media and policy makers. CFI's tools are made available freely to stimulate new research by others, while its bibliographies bring the results of recent scholarship to the attention of the policy community."
- A Glossary of Campaign Finance in the U.S.
- "To help you (and us) keep track of all these terms, loopholes, organizations, court cases, IRS designations and so on (and on and on), we created this handy campaign finance 101 glossary - written in a way that hopefully everyone can understand. We'll be updating it with new terms and as new developments in campaign finance occur, so check back often." From the Sunlight Foundation.
- The New York Times: Campaign Finance & Super PACs
- News and articles.
- OpenSecrets: 2016 Presidential Race
- See also their special topic pages:
- Select Presidential Reports for the Current Election Cycle
Political Parties
- Constitution Party
- Democratic Party
- Green Party
- Libertarian 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
See also:
- Tea Party Movement
Polls, Results, and Statistics
Election Results
- Politico: 2016 Election Results
Polls
- FiveThirtyEight: 2016 Election Forecast
- Election 2016 Presidential Polls
- From RealClearPolitics. See also USA Today's visual Presidential Poll Tracker said to be "powered by RealClearPolitics."
- Gallup Polls: Election 2016
- 2016 Election Polls
- From The Wall Street Journal.
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 (Democratic, 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.
- 50 Years of Electoral College Maps: How the U.S. Turned Red and Blue
- An animated map of changes plus static maps of Electoral College results for U.S. Presidential Elections since 1964. From The New York Times.
- 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."
See also:
- Public Opinions and Polls in our Ready Reference Guide
Presidential Candidates
- Announced for Democratic Party Nomination (Actively Running):
-
- Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Democratic Party Candidates No Longer Running:
-
- Lincoln Chafee
- Larry Lessig
- Martin O'Malley
- Bernie Sanders
- Jim Webb
- Announced for Republican Party Nomination (Actively Running):
-
- Donald Trump
- Republican Party Candidates No Longer Running:
-
- Jeb Bush
- Ben Carson
- Chris Christie
- Ted Cruz
- Carly Fiorina
- Jim Gilmore
- Lindsey Graham
- Mike Huckabee
- Bobby Jindal
- John Kasich
- George Pataki
- Rand Paul
- Rick Perry
- Marco Rubio
- Rick Santorum
- Scott Walker
Other Candidates:
- Green Party Candidate: Jill Stein
- Libertarian Party Candidate: Gary Johnson
See also:
- The New York Times: Who Is Running for President (and Who's Not)?
Conventions of the Major Parties
Official Convention Websites
- 2016 DNC - Democratic National Convention
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 2016 RNC - Republican National Convention
- Cleveland, Ohio.
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 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 - )
- Complete transcripts of debates arranged by time and place. Each transcript includes a list of participants. Sections include: Primary Election, General Election, Democratic Party, Republican Party. From The American Presidency Project.
Transcripts of the 2016 Presidential and Vice-Presidential Debates
- The First Debate
- From The New York Times (September 27, 2016).
- The Second Debate
- From The New York Times (October 9, 2016).
- The Third Debate
- From The New York Times (October 19, 2016).
- 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate Transcript
- From The New York Times (October 4, 2016).
Library System Resources
Follow any of the links below to search our
local library system catalog
for books, videos, and more.
Candidates for President
- Democratic Party Candidates (active + inactive)
- Republican Party Candidates (active + inactive)
Political Parties
General Information - Campaigns, Elections, History, & More
