Elections 2004: State and Federal
Quick Links: 2004 Election Issues
| 2004 Election Returns
| 2004 Presidential Campaign Web Sites
| Campaign Finances
| Candidates
| College Students & Voting
| 
Debates
| Election Process
| Election Statistics
| Government Offices
| Historical Election Data
| Media Election Sites
| MetaSites
| News Reports
| Political Parties
| Political Party Platforms
| Polls
| Selected Web Sites
| Texas Maps & Demographic Profiles
| Voter & Voting Information/Registration
| Voting Accessibility (includes "Help America Vote Act of 2002") /
Voting / E-Voting
2004 Election Issues
- DNet (DemocracyNet via Congress.org)
- Provided by the League of Women Voters
- Provides non-partisan information on candidates and issues from local to national levels
- DNet Texas
- Provided by the League of Women Voters
- Election 2004: The Issues (Facts.com: Issues & Controversies) (ASU only)
- Issues & Controversies has prepared a special listing of quick links to key articles on the hot topics in this year's Democratic primaries, and in the national campaign for President of the United States.
- Issues 2004 ("every political leader on every issue")
- Texas Politicians on the Issues
- "We get our information daily from newspapers, speeches, press releases, and the Internet ..."
- "We are not-for-profit and all our net income after November 2000 will be donated to the League of Women Voters to support future issues-based candidate debates."
- "State and Federal Officeholders in 2004," "Issues," "Topics in the News," and "2004 Presidential Candidates."
- Issues Facing the Nation
- From PollingReport.com, an independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion
2004 Election Returns
- Historical Data (Texas Secretary of State)
- Historical Election Results (1992-current) includes summaries for the Presidential elections, Statewide races, and County races.
2004 Presidential Campaign Sites (from politicalweb.info)
- Politicalweb.info tracks the web presence of the candidates, including those who have dropped out of the race
- Major candidates' web sites
- George W. Bush (Dick Cheney) (Republican)
- John Kerry (John Edwards) (Democrat)
- Third party candidates
- David Cobb (Pat LaMarche) (Green)
- Michael Badnarik (Richard Campagna) (Libertarian)
- Walt Brown (Mary-Alice Herbert) (Socialist)
- Ralph Nader (Peter Camejo) (Independent)
- Michael Peroutka (Chuck Baldwin) (Constitution)
- Ted Weill (Reform) [News, May 11, 2004: Reform Party endorses Ralph Nader]
Campaign Finances
- Center for Public Integrity
- Non-profit, non-partisan educational organization that is supported in part by contributions
- Center for Responsive Politics
- OpenSecrets.org ("The Online Source for Money in Politics Data")
- Non-partisan research group monitoring campaign reform
- 2004 Election Overview
- Presidential Election, Congressional Races, Big Picture: Historic Data
- Campaign Finance Data (Texas candidates)
- Congressional Races in 2004 (Texas candidates) (only those candidates who have filed contribution reports with the Federal Election Commission are listed)
- Open Secrets Texas ("sheds light on who's giving - and who's getting - political contributions in Texas") ("Who Gives? Who Gets? Who Cares?")
- Federal Election Commission
- Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
- On March 27, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), Public Law No. 107-155. The BCRA contains many substantial and technical changes to the federal campaign finance law.
- Most of the changes became effective November 6, 2002; however, changes involving contribution limits took effect with regard to contributions made on or after January 1, 2003.
- Campaign Finance Law Resources
- Campaign Finance Reports and Data
- Candidate and PAC/Party Summaries
- Information About Candidates, Parties and Other Committees
- Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
- PoliticalMoneyLine (the home of FECInfo) (TRKC, Inc.)
- Money in Politics Database
- Called "The granddaddy of all independent campaign finance Web sites, and perhaps the most comprehensive ..." by the NY Times
- The information in the database goes back 25 years
- Project Vote Smart (Click on "Campaign Finances" under "Categories")
Candidates
- Candidates
- From the Texas Office of the Secretary of State, Election & Voter Information page
- Information for candidates (qualifications for office, filing instructions, important dates, etc.)
- Who Represents Me? (Texas Legislature Online)
- Find your district by address, zip code, city, or county; get member information by district number or by member name; obtain demographic information, profiles, and maps for each district
- DNet (League of Women Voters' DemocracyNet via Congress.org)
- Provides non-partisan information on candidates and issues from local to national levels
- DNet Texas
- Includes Texas Voter Guide with information on the Presidential race, the Texas Congressional Races, and the Texas State Races.
- WashingtonPost.com: Politics. Elections 2004
- Scroll down the page to "Comparing the Candidates"
- "Democratic Primary Information" includes debate transcripts
College Students & Voting
- The Vanishing Voter
- Seeks to promote awareness of and participation in the electoral process
- Concentrates on encouraging young adults, particularly those on college campuses, to register and vote
- Contains information that will help them through this process and also can lead them to a better understanding of the issues and candidates
- Student and Faculty sections includes links to posters to use for encouraging your friends and your students to vote
- Punk Voter ("progressive")
- "Punk bands, musicians, and record labels have built a coalition to educate, register and mobilize progressive voters. ... It is time to energize the majority of today's disenfranchised youth movement and punk rockers to make change a reality. ... Our goal is to educate, register and mobilize over 500,000 of today's youth as one voice. We plan to use this election as a way to get our fans engaged in politics and evolve our movement into becoming involved locally to affect real change nationally." (from About Punk Voter)
- Rock the Vote
- "Rock the Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 1990 in response to a wave of attacks on freedom of speech and artistic expression. ... Rock the Vote engages youth in the political process by incorporating the entertainment community and youth culture into its activities. ... Rock the Vote is dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and empowering young people to change their world." (from About Rock the Vote)"
- Register to vote or "Get Informed" (with primaries & elections information guides, "essentials to voting in '04," and "Elections 101 guide")
- Check out the "Actions" and "Issues" buttons in the upper navigation bar
- The political personality of America's college students: a poll by Harvard's Institute of Politics. Executive summary (spring 2004) [PDF]
Debates
- Debate Transcripts (from Commission on Presidential Debates)
- Transcripts of most presidential and vice presidential debates are available on this site. Several media and academic organizations also maintain tapes and transcripts of historic presidential debates.
- Transcripts of the 2000 debates have also been translated into six languages -- French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Election Process
- Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids (GPO)
- Election Day (University of Washington)
- Project designed to raise public understanding of the electoral process [For more information]
- Computer simulation game available for download
- Elections ... the American Way (Library of Congress. The Learning Page) (Resources for Teachers)
- Presidential elections in the United States: a primer (April 17, 2000) (CRS report for Congress) [PDF]
- This report describes the four stages of the presidential election process: the pre-nomination primaries and caucuses for selecting delegates to the national conventions; the national nominating conventions; the general election; and voting by members of the electoral college to choose the President and Vice President.
- This Nation's Online American Government and Politics Textbook
- "ThisNation.com is a repository of basic information, resources and historical documents related to American Government and Politics. This site is the home of one of the first exclusively online American government & politics textbooks. Today, ThisNation.com's primary purpose is to serve as a companion site to the e-textbook. However, true to our original vision, we continue to offer information and resources free of charge to the general public to promote better understanding of and more effective participation in the American political system."
- United States Elections 2004 (Dept. of State) [HTML]
[PDF]
- This publication provides an introductory overview of the American electoral process for people who are not familiar with U.S. election practices and traditions.
- Postponing Federal Elections
- Because of the continuing threat of terrorism, concerns have been raised about the potential for terrorist events to occur close to or during the voting process for the November 2004 elections. For instance, the question has been raised as to whether a sufficiently calamitous event could result in the postponement of the election, and what mechanisms are in place to deal with such an event. The Congressional Research Service has prepared several Reports for Congress looking at these concerns.
- Executive Branch power to postpone elections (July 14, 2004) (CRS Report for Congress, Kenneth R. Thomas, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division)
- Postponement and rescheduling of elections to federal office (October 4, 2004) (CRS Report for Congress, Jake Maskell, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division) [This report will be updated as events warrant.]
Election Statistics
- Texas. Office of the Secretary of State. Historical Data
- Election Statistics (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Member Information)
- Provides statistics from 1920 to the present in PDF format
- 1992 to the present also available in HTML format
- David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
- "The Atlas is a free internet resource providing results of U.S. Presidential Elections to the world community. Data is collected from many official sources and presented here in one convenient location."
Government Offices
- Texas. Office of the Secretary of State
- Elections Division: Upcoming elections; Election results; Early voting; County officials; Project V.O.T.E.; Other sources; Election advisories; County Chair corner; Election forms; State and District election officials; Voter registration; Laws & procedures; Informational pamphlets; Seminars.
- Historical Data
- United States. Dept. of State. Foreign Press Center
- Elections 2004
- FPC Announcements and FPC Briefings; links to information on the US Election process, Political parties/candidates, Election calendar, Polls, Foreign policy, Elections trivia, Congressional elections, and Other sites
- Elections 2004
- United States. Federal Election Commission
- About Elections and Voting
- Combined Federal/State Disclosure Directory; Recent election results; FAQs; Registering to vote; Voter registration and turnout statistics; The Electoral College; the U.S. federal election system; the Administrative structure of U.S. elections; and Voting systems.
- About Elections and Voting
MetaSites
- Democracy in Action: P2004: Race for the White House
- Elections
- From "Frequently Used Sites Related to U.S. Federal Government Information" (ALA GODORT, Federal Documents Task Force)
- Includes links to popular starting points; election 2000, 2002, and 2004 archives; statistics; polls; recall elections; elections in other countries; and research centers and other educational sites
- Elections 2004 (University of Michigan)
- FindLaw: Special Coverage: Election 2004
- News, Commentary, Election law, Cases, Documents, Web sites, Candidates, Message Board
- Newsbank: Presidential Campaign 2004
- Political Information
- "A search engine for politics, policy and political news"
- Includes a general political/policy search and a political news search
- Politics1.com
- Non-partisan, citizen-oriented web site.
- Run by Florida trial lawyer and citizen journalist Ron Gunzburger.
- Provides an array of news, candidate biographies, and web links related to the nation's hot issues and political contests
- Yahoo!Politics
News Reports / Media Election Sites
- America Votes 2004 (CNN)
- The American Prospect Online (liberal philosophy) [For more information]
- C-Span.org
- HoustonChronicle.com: Elections & Politics
- LexisNexis: Campaign 2004 News
- Time.com: Election 2004
- WashingtonPost.com: Politics. Elections 2004
- Yahoo!Politics
Political Parties
- Democratic National Committee
- Republican National Committee
- American Reform Party
- Constitution Party
- The Greens/Green Party USA
- Libertarian Party
- Natural Law Party
- The NLP national office suspended operations effective April 30, 2004
- The US Peace Government is now carrying forward the programs, policies, and ideals of the Natural Law Party.
- Reform Party USA (official website)
- Socialist Party USA
Political Party Platforms
- Democratic Party National Platform
- Republican Party National Platform
- Political Party Platforms
- From The American Presidency Project, John Wooley and Gerhard Peters, Dept. of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Historical political party platforms covering 1840-2004
Polls
- CBS News Polls
- Contains polling data on a wide range of political and social issues
- LexisNexis Academic (ASU only)
- Click on "Reference" then "Polls & Surveys"
- From the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
- LexisNexis: Campaign 2004 News. Polls
- The NES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior (National Election Studies)
- "... provides political observers, policy makers, journalists, teachers, students, and social scientists with immediate access to tables and graphs that display the ebb and flow of public opinion and electoral behavior and choice in American politics since 1948"
- "... presents responses to a small portion of the questions that have been asked in the 1948-2002 National Election Studies"
- Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
- Independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues
- Gallup Poll. Politics & Elections
- From The Gallup Organization
- Some sections and reports are unavailable to nonsubscribers
- PollingReport.com. Election 2004: White House
- PollingReport.com. Election 2004: Congress
- All data are from nationwide surveys of Americans 18 or older
- Presented by PollingReport.com, an independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion
Selected Web Sites
- The Center for Voting and Democracy
- The Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization ... "dedicated to fair elections where every vote counts and all voters are represented. As a catalyst for reform, we conduct research, analysis, education and advocacy to build understanding of and support for more democratic voting systems. We promote full representation as an alternative to winner-take-all elections and instant runoff voting as an alternative to plurality elections and traditional runoff elections."
- The section called "What's New" is a frequently updated, concise overview of current electoral issues. Also find an "online library" with many articles on topics such as proportional representation and election reform. Searchable.
- DNet Texas (DemocracyNet)
- Provided by the League of Women Voters via Congress.org
- Electionline.org
- The Election Information Reform Project serves "as a clearinghouse for data, news, and analysis on election reform" generated by the results of the 2000 presidential election. The Web site has news on legislation and litigation, reports from various commissions and task forces, information on state and local election laws, news articles from around the country, and links to related resources. From the Pew Charitable Trust and the University of Richmond (VA).
- League of Women Voters
- Minnesota E-Democracy.org
- Non-partisan political directories and issue discussions
- E-Democracy.US section includes links to presidential candidates, election news, vital non-profit resources, discussions and more
- Politicalweb.Info
- Monitors political candidates' use of the Internet throughout the campaign season
- Tracks the emergence and development of House, Senate, and Gubernatorial campaign Web sites
- Provides weekly analysis regarding the content and features available on these sites, as well as whether or not the candidates are encouraging or deterring public involvement
- Based on research conducted by Kirsten Foot and Steve Schneider, Center for Communication and Civic Engagement, University of Washington
- Project V.O.T.E. (Voters of Tomorrow through Education) (Texas Office of the Secretary of State)
- Punk Voter ("progressive")
- "Punk bands, musicians, and record labels have built a coalition to educate, register and mobilize progressive voters. ... It is time to energize the majority of today's disenfranchised youth movement and punk rockers to make change a reality. ... Our goal is to educate, register and mobilize over 500,000 of today's youth as one voice. We plan to use this election as a way to get our fans engaged in politics and evolve our movement into becoming involved locally to affect real change nationally." (from About Punk Voter)
- Rock the Vote
- "Rock the Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 1990 in response to a wave of attacks on freedom of speech and artistic expression. ... Rock the Vote engages youth in the political process by incorporating the entertainment community and youth culture into its activities. ... Rock the Vote is dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and empowering young people to change their world." (from About Rock the Vote)"
- Register to vote or "Get Informed" (with primaries & elections information guides, "essentials to voting in '04," and "Elections 101 guide")
- Check out the "Actions" and "Issues" buttons in the upper navigation bar
- George Strong & Associates's Texas Political Resource Page (Houston)
Texas Maps and Demographic Profiles:
- Census 2000 Data for the State of Texas
- Texas county maps and profiles available from the U.S. Census Bureau
- Fast Facts for Congress (available from the U.S. Census Bureau) (108th Congress)
- Who Represents Me? (District Information)
- From Texas Legislature Online
- Texas Redistricting (Texas Legislative Council)
- Texas Redistricting RedViewer
- View district maps and reports online
- Due to technological constraints, at this time only the most commonly requested redistricting plans can be viewed on-line using RedViewer. Information about all public plans (see the complete public plan list) can be obtained from redistricting support staff at (512)463-6622.
- To see other public plans, click on the button "Show Planlist" on the RedViewer page; choose a plan
- 105th and 106th Congress, Texas Congressional Districts, 1997-2000
- 75th and 76th Legislatures, Texas Senate Districts, 1997-2000
- 76th Legislature, Texas House Districts, 1999-2000
- Texas State Board of Education Districts, effective from 1993 to the present
Voter & Voting Information/Registration
- The National Mail Voter Registration Form
- The one document that allows you to register to vote from anywhere in the United States
- Forms in Spanish are being updated to reflect recent changes in federal law
- Texas. Office of the Secretary of State
- About the Elections Division (Elections & Voter Information)
- Texas Voting
- A guide to voter registration
- Voter Information
- United States. Federal Election Commission
- About Elections and Voting
- Registering to vote; Voter registration and turnout statistics; and Voting systems.
- About Elections and Voting
- Voter Registration Contact Numbers (League of Women Voters)
Voting Accessibility (includes "Help America Vote Act of 2002")
- AAPD Disability Vote Project ("Making Voting Accessible for Everyone") (American Association of People with Disabilities)
- The goal of this project is to make voting accessible for everyone. Key features include information about accessible voting machines, including arguments for touch-screen voting, plus background, compliance guidelines, and disability recommendations for implementing HAVA, the "Help America Vote Act of 2002."
- Federal Voting Assistance Program
- This web site provides information to US citizens covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).
- Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) (Public Law 107-252, Oct. 29, 2002) [PDF]
- H.R. 3295, Help America Vote Act of 2002. Joint explanatory statement [PDF]
- HAVA Information Central (from Electionline.org) [PDF]
- Links to state plans and state legislation implementing HAVA
- HAVA Implementation Resources (League of Women Voters. Elections & Voting. Help America Vote Act)
- Polling Place Accessibility and Voter Assistance
- State-by-state chart that lists "provisions for making polling places accessible to the elderly and handicapped and specifies provisions for assisting such voters." Includes citations to statutes. From the Election Reform Information Project, administered by the University of Richmond, and supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
- Ready for Reform? (Election reform briefing, March 2003, from Electionline.org) [PDF]
- Roads to Reform: Planning for the Help America Vote Act (Election reform briefing, September 2003, from Electionline.org) [PDF]
Voting / E-Voting
- Building Trust and Confidence in Voting Systems. Papers and Position Statements on Voting
(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
- "Groups, organizations, and individuals with an interest in the voting process may submit a position statement to NIST for the purposes of providing voting-related information."
- As of September 22, 2004, there were 30 papers and statements posted, including those from organizations such as The League of Women Voters, American Association of Retired Persons, American Association of People with Disabilities, and the National Association of Secretaries of State.
- e-Voting Initiatives (Federal Voting Assistance Program)
- Wired News > Machine Politics(A Wired News special collection of articles)
- "E-voting gains a foothold at polling places in the U.S. and abroad, despite fears that the technology is flawed and votes easily manipulated. Is the voting booth still sacred? Does your vote still count?"
- Search RamNet databases for additional articles and reports on this topic
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Compiled: April-May 2004, Janetta Paschal, Government Documents/Reference Librarian Revised: 7 September 2004 |