Feel Good Friday - Vote Smart

It’s the last Feel Good Friday before the election and here’s something to feel good about – Vote Smart.

 

Vote Smart is a political research organization that has been providing non-partisan, unbiased information to voters since 1992. Their mission is “to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to ALL Americans.”

 

How does it work? As explained on the website, over 7,000 volunteers spend time “researching the backgrounds and records of thousands of political candidates and elected officials to discover their voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 400 national and 1300 state special interest groups.” There are multiple ways you can find the information you’re looking for. Watch this 4-minute video to get details on the programs or keep reading.

 

I Spy is a collection of information on over 40,000 politicians that includes their bios, votes, positions on the issues, ratings from special interest groups, speeches, tweets, and funding sources. All you need to do is put in the name of the politician you’re interested in and start reading! You can trust the information on the site because Vote Smart posts a BULL icon by comments that have been proven false by FactCheck.org, PolitiFact or the Washington Post.

 

Political Galaxy is a flashy and fast way to select a politician and an issue then find out where they stand by viewing their special interest ratings, votes and speeches. You can also get this information on the mobile app, On Point. With millions of facts at your fingertips, you really will be able to vote smart. 

 

Finally, you can use the very engaging Vote Easy resource to determine which candidate most matches your views on the issues. Go to this link and either “click on a candidate’s sign to see their positions on key issues OR compare your issue positions to those of all the candidates.” While you probably don’t need this to make your decision on your vote for president, it may come in handy for the congressional races. It’s also fun to use. 

 

If you’d like to support the work of Vote Smart, there are several ways you can help out. Put your researching skills to work by becoming a volunteer, make a donation or share these resources by liking the Vote Smart Facebook page and following them on Twitter @VoteSmart.