Elections 2008

• Register to Vote
• Official Election Information
• Presidential Candidates Running in California
• Qualified Political Parties in California
• Voter Education
• Campaign Finance
• Books Available at USF

This guide lists some of the many resources on this topic, available either on the Web or at Gleeson Library.

Register to Vote

• California: Go to the Secretary of State's web page at http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm
• Other States: Visit Rock the Vote at http://www.rockthevote.org
• California guidelines regarding where students are entitled to vote: http://ca.lwv.org/lwvc/edfund/voterreg/r3reg.html#residence

Official Election Information

• California Secretary of State - Elections and Voter Information http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections.htm Use this site to find your polling place, who's on the California ballot, the official California Voter Information Guide, previous election results, voter registration statistics, etc.
  • November 4, 2008 - Official Voter Information Guide http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/
  • Find Your Polling Place http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_ppl.htm
• City and County of San Francisco - Department of Elections http://www.sfgov.org/site/elections_index.asp Find information on San Francisco elections, including an explanation of "Ranked Choice Voting."
  
  • Polling Place Look-up and Sample Ballot http://gispubweb.sfgov.org/website/pollingplace/index.htm

Presidential Candidates Running in California

• John McCain - Republican http://www.johnmccain.com/
  • Speeches http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/News/Speeches/
• Barack Obama - Democratic http://www.barackobama.com/
  • Speeches http://www.barackobama.com/speeches/index.php
• Robert Barr - Libertarian http://www.bobbarr2008.com/
• Alan Keyes - American Independent http://www.alankeyes.com/
• Cynthia McKinney - Green http://votetruth08.com/
• Ralph Nader - Peace and Freedom http://www.votenader.org/
  

Qualified Political Parties in California

• Republican http://www.cagop.org
• Democratic http://www.cadem.org
• Green http://www.cagreens.org/
• Libertarian www.ca.lp.org
• American Indendent http://www.aipca.org/
• Peace And Freedom www.peaceandfreedom.org

Voter Education

• Smart Voter http://www.smartvoter.org/ an excellent source of non-partisan election information from the League of Women Voters.
• Project VoteSmart http://www.vote-smart.org/ provides biographical information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings for state and federal candidates in the upcoming elections.
• California Voter Foundation http://www.calvoter.org/index.html
• CNN Election Center 2008 http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/ find transcripts of debates, polling data, information on campaign issues, etc.
• CNN FactCheck http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/category/fact-check/ get the facts behind candidtates' claims and accusations
• CSPAN Politics http://www.c-span.org/Politics/ view campaign advertisesments, the debates, and podcasts
• Factcheck.org http://www.factcheck.org/ a nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
• PolitiFact.com http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly to help you find the truth in the presidential campaign
• Electoral College http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/  Provides information about the Electoral College process and past electoral results. Try the Electoral College Calculator to predict who will win the next election.

Campaign Finance

• Federal Election Commission http://www.fec.gov/ Find information on campaign finance laws and reporting, election dates, previous election results, and how elections work.
• FundRace 2008 http://www.fundrace.org/ a handy website for tracking campaign finance contributions
• OpenSecrets.org http://www.opensecrets.org/ "Your Guide to Money in U.S. Elections"
• Follow The Money http://www.followthemoney.org/ provides data on money in state politics
• Cal-Access http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/ provides financial information on California state candidates, donors, and lobbyists.
• MAPLight http://www.maplight.org/ a database which brings together campaign contributions with how legislators vote

Books Available at USF

Check the Election Display area or Ignacio to find our copies of these books. If our copy is checked out, don't forget to try LinkPlus