The general election is rapidly approaching, and it can be hard to determine who to vote for, especially when local candidates seem unknown.
There are some websites that are available for basic research: Ballotpedia, BallotReady, VOTE411 and state government websites.
These resources are useful for gaining basic information about political candidates, like party affiliation, what offices they’ve held and the topics they’re running on.
There is a bottomless pit of information that can be useful when deciding what candidate to vote for, like if a candidate has a criminal record. It could also cover what type of organizations back candidates and if they are receiving funding from these groups.
This information may seem unimportant, but having it on hand can be helpful when making a hard decision between what seems like the lesser of two evils. It’s important to know where the money is coming from, especially if candidates aren’t advertising their supporters. It’s also helpful if candidates are claiming that the money is going to go towards a certain charity or good cause, seeing where it came from and where it is actually going.
Most of this information can be found on the Federal Election Commission website, which has all the information in public records.
Information that can be obtained through this website is extremely helpful when looking at individual contributions, basic candidate information, Political Action Committees (PACs), commission activity and campaign finance statistics.
Each link takes viewers to other places where readers can find more information about what in particular they are looking for.
Personally, when I research candidates, I use the VOTE411 website for basic information, then expand my searches through Google.
VOTE411 has a great feature where candidates can answer questions about their campaigns. The only downside is that candidates don’t always answer the questions. When candidates don’t answer the questions — which, unfortunately, happens frequently —, the site fills in the blanks, saying that the candidates have not responded.
Ballotpedia for basic searches has become another regular tool during my research. I often compare the information I find on each of the websites. I do this to make sure that the information is legitimate before making my decisions.
It’s important to do your own research on candidates before you go to vote. Knowing basic information about candidates can help to narrow down who you want to vote for. Forming your own thoughts and opinions about candidates is essential to voting, and research is the way to do that.
It’s better to formulate your own thoughts about candidates rather than listen to what others have to say about them.
If you do make it to the polls, be sure to do your research beforehand to make sure you’re the most informed and effective voter you can be.
