Politics

Insanely Useful Election Tools (updated)

By Paul Blumenthal

There are a lot of web sites out there providing information that can help voters get to the polls and make a decision about who to vote for. I put together a collection of some of the most useful sites over at Mashable. Please go check it out.

The post also generated some recommendations for other sites that I’ll pass on here:

• Open Congress’ Campaign Ad Tracker – a great source to track and view political advertisements
• 538 – if you follow elections, I’m sure you’re already reading Nate Silver
• Living Voters Guide (if you’re in Washington state); AZ Voter Guide (if you’re in Arizona); myVote (if you’re in Minnesota) – some useful information on ballots, initiatives and polling place locations for a few states
• eVoter – view a sample ballot and other election day information for six states
• CircleVoting – share your intended voting positions with your friends on Facebook
• VoteReports.org – check your positions on issues against candidate positions
• Imagine Election – a 50 state ballot guide

Don’t forget to check out Sunlight’s Influence Explorer Postcard. Send a postcard detailing the campaign funders of a candidate to that family member or friend that needs some more information.

Update: Forgot to mention our friends at MAPLight.org who have added new features to their site and are featuring influence tracking widgets for lawmakers with the logos of the top contributing organizations attached to the lawmaker a la NASCAR.

Full post as published by Sunlight Foundation on October 29, 2010 (boomark / email).