Government Information

Elections

This guide describes BC's status in the Federal Depository Library Program and introduces major federal government document resources.

ElectionLine: Non-partisan organization providing up-to-the-minute news and analysis on election reform. See their resource library for more information on the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Their interactive map lets one see numbers of registered voters, voting age population, voting system used etc.
FairVote: A non-partisan, non-profit organization that studies how voting systems affect participation, representation and governance. Information on proportional representation, redistricting and voter rights.

American National Election Studes (AES): Data on voting, political participation and public opinion
CQ Voting and Elections: For national and district select download and follow instructions. For county data select browse topics, congressional general elections by state, then select year. Copy and paste data into Excel.
Massachusetts Election Statistics Online: Database of Massachusetts historical election information contained in Public Document 43.
Voting and Registration Data (U.S. Census Bureau): Information on reported voting and registration by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics collected in November of congressional and presidential election years, plus estimates and projections of voting-age population.

FactCheck.org: Check the accuracy of speeches, debates and interviews using this project from the Annenberg Public Policy Center
OpenSecrets.org: Non-partisan resource from the Center of Responsive Politics on money's influence on U.S. elections and public policymaking, search by race, candidate and more
PolitiFact: Non-profit news organization dedicated to fact-checking offers the truth-o-meter to check claims on social media and statements of politicians, candidates and more.
Vote Smart: Find candidate's voting history, speeches and positions, compiled by a non-profit and non-partisan organization

Pew Research Center: Elections & Campaigns: Publications and data on public opinion, filter by year
Poll Averages from FiveThirtyEight: Aggregated, updated poll data covering presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and gubernatorial races
RealClearPolitics: Access the latest data gathered from major polls
Roper: U.S. Elections: Search and browse exit poll data and results by question topic

Polling the Nations This link opens in a new window
Polling the Nations is a comprehensive collection of public opinion polls containing the full text of more than 700,000 questions and responses from more than 18,000 surveys and 1,700 polling organizations, conducted from 1986 through the present in the United States and more than 100 other countries around the world. In 1981 it began, in print format, as American Public Opinion Index (O'Neill Reference & Stacks HM261.A463).

Comparative Study of Electoral Systems: Allows cross-national research among election studies conducted in over fifty countries. Data is from public opinion survey questions as well as post election studies. Users must register.
Election Resources on the Internet: Links to internet sites around the world with national and local election statistics.
Electoral Reform Society: This is the website for a party based in the United Kingdom, which advocates for election reform primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.
IDEA Voter Turnout: The International IDEA Voter Turnout website contains a world-wide collection of political participation statistics. It contains information and statistics on presidential and parliamentary elections since 1945.
Parties and Elections in Europe: The results of the parliamentary elections in European countries since 1945.