Resources to aid in vetting your political candidate

We want you to do your best to be an informed voter and to share your research with your circle of friends, families and colleagues.

Find out who is running for office in your state
For federal information:
https://www.fec.gov/data/browse-data/?tab=candidates
For state/local information:
https://www.usa.gov/state-election-office

Candidate Research

Your goal is to ascertain if a candidate aligns with your values and goals. A given (D) (=democrat), (R) (=republican), or (I) (=independent), next to a candidate’s name can be misleading. Learn about your candidates utilizing various sources, including alternative method:

• Refer to your state's official voting guide and other general election information, which will provide ballot information, and along with other publications or websites will provide information on the candidates and voting issues. Candidates' statements provide helpful information, but do note that legislation is complex. A declared “no” or “against” may be due to a candidate's valid concerns about a single bill (funding, privacy or a number of other reasons). It may not mean a straightforward “opposition against” nor “in favor of” a particular issue being addressed. Begin with your state’s legislation tracker: https://www.congress.gov/state-legislature-websites
  

• To answer questions such as:
  Who is this person?
  Where do they stand on issues? Priorities, policy agreements, trustworthiness
  What do they believe? Current and past statements, campaign websites
  What have they done? Voting record, legislation, accomplishments
  Aside from online searches, such as finding a candidate’s own website, online presence elsewhere, and checking local newspapers for candidate profiles; you may choose to do some footwork by attending local candidate forums, town halls, or debates. Also, be attentive to candidates' vague language in an effort to appeal to a greater number of voters.  “I support our troops” sounds nice; but seek out clear statements in response to specific policies.
  
  We also HIGHLY recommend these sources for information, analysis and so much more!
  Ballotpedia: helps find out who is and what is on your state’s ballot
  -best for district & candidate data
  “Often described as the "Wikipedia of American politics," …provides in-depth profiles of every federal and state politician, comprehensive election histories, congressional district maps, demographics, and public policy breakdowns.” “It profiles every current federal/state official, provides extensive historical election data, map boundaries, and campaign finance summaries.” “Ideal for viewing sample ballots, understanding the specific powers of the office, and reviewing factual candidate background profiles. AND get unbiased, side-by-side comparisons without partisan spin…” https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page
  
  Congress.gov: (for federal officials) “provides searchable databases of floor votes, bill is the official U.S. federal legislative information website. It provides free, public access to accurate and timely data about bills, resolutions, laws, and the activities of the U.S. Congress.” https://www.congress.gov/ 

• Consult Nonpartisan Voter Guides
  Vote Smart: Helpful for verifying past political actions and legislative consistency! It is a deep-dive repository that compiles public statements, speeches, voting records, and issue positions.  “A major non-partisan resource that maintains a massive free database on public officials. It tracks candidate biographies, voting histories, direct issue positions, public statements, and interest group ratings.” https://www.votesmart.org/
  Vote411: “...maintained by the League of Women Voters, this tool allows you to see candidates answering identical, open-ended questions in their own words…” https://vote411.org    
  League of Women Voters: “The League is a political grassroots network and membership organization that believes the freedom to vote is a nonpartisan issue. For more than a century, we’ve worked to empower voters and defend democracy. As a women-led organization, we encourage everyone to take part in our democracy.” https://www.lwv.org/about-us

• Validate candidate education claims.  Begin with confirming the institution accreditation and reaching out to accredited schools from there. Research school sites, and newspapers.
  The Council for Higher Education Accreditation
  https://www.chea.org/

• To research career, political experience and candidate positions, identify peers; and confirm party affiliation, research local/state reporting; read their writings; validate career paths; search for associations & memberships. Using both current reporting and historical research can aid in your vetting process.
  These resources can help:
  Allsides Headline RoundUps “...trustworthy, balanced news with bias analysis and top news stories from the left, center and right of the political spectrum — side-by-side so you can see the full picture.”
  https://www.allsides.com/recent-headline-roundups
  Elephind: is a newspaper search engine, with free access to, “...lesser-known regional, university, and community newspapers as part of its search…and hard to find info…”
  https://www.elephind.com/
  Internet Archive: “...a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. https://archive.org/
  Internet Archive Wayback Machine: for viewing, ‘...older, deleted, or past versions of a candidate's personal and professional websites or essays.” https://web.archive.org/
  Internet Archive Magazine Rack: a free searchable magazine archive of pre-internet historical publications https://archive.org/details/magazine_rack
  Biography, Bibliography and Papers on incumbent information: has some historical information on past and current members of Congress since 1859
  Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
  

• Use a trusted online source; and don’t rely on AI driven search engines.
  Fact checking, Bias Checking and AI detector Tools
  Be alert to disinformation, misinformation, propaganda and AI generated content such as deepfakes. And be aware of writer bias. Trust and Verity.
  All Side Bias Checker - “estimates the bias of any news article on demand”
  https://www.allsides.com/bias-checker
  UC Berkeley’s list of resources:
  Real News/Fake News: Fact Checkers
  https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=620677&p=4333407
  

• Donor information, endorsements and campaign finance information for federal candidates: are effective ways for voters to vet a political candidate  You will find those resources in the description and bio in our next “How to TRULY Vet A POLITICAL Candidate” series in our Part 2 video: “FOLLOW THE MONEY” (link coming soon)

• You have now voted!  Thank you and Congratulations!
  However, VETTING CONTINUES!  In what way? 
  IndivisibleSF: One way is to join IndivisibleSF. We work hard in holding our local, state and federal legislators accountable through various peaceful ways. Join us! We have work to do and could use your help!  ​​https://indivisiblesf.org/