University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: October 30, 2003

Use the Web to meet the candidates

Incumbents have name recognition. Slick ads are the domain of well-funded political parties. But do you really know the candidates for elected office and their positions on all the issues?

A flyer currently being posted around campus and the Buffalo area is also online. League of Women Voters Election Guide 2003: A Nonpartisan Guide for the Voters of Erie and Niagara Counties (http://www.wgrz.com/election/election2003.asp) describes all county and local offices that will be on the upcoming ballot and gives background information for all candidates and their answers to selected questions, as well as the texts of state and local proposals for voter decision. The League of Women Voters has long provided assistance to the voting public. The Web site for the LWV of New York State (http://www.lwvny.org)offers basic voting facts; the Buffalo/Niagara branch (http://www.lwvbn.org) posts local information about registering to vote.

Even in election-free years, it is important to keep informed about current officeholders and declared candidates, and Project Vote Smart (http://www.vote-smart.org) proves to be an unbiased, well-organized, up-to-date resource. Look up information about state and federal officials or candidates from five categories: background, issue positions, campaign finances, performance evaluations and voting records. Access information by last name of officeholder/candidate by issue, by state or by zip code. The campaign-finance information often directly links to Opensecrets.org (http://www.opensecrets.org), a site maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C., that tracks money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy.

If you need to brush up on the American political system, Project Vote Smart offers a tutorial called Government 101 (http://www.vote-smart.org/resource_govt101_01.php) that provides useful information about Congress, political parties, the budget, campaign finance, the Constitution, elections, state government and much more. The Vote Smart Classroom (http://www.vote-smart.org/resource_classroom.php) offers lessons, suggestions for teachers and a vocabulary list.

An invaluable resource to research the work of Congress and individual U.S. senators and representatives is Congressional Universe (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/e-resources/cis.html), a commercial database available at UB. The "members" feature covers individual profiles, bills sponsored, votes on bills, floor statements and campaign finance. It also provides a list of links to relevant Web sites for Congress, political parties, news and organizations, and universities. Another database, CQ Electronic Library (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/ugl/e-resources/cq.html), provides in-depth analysis of Congressional activities. THOMAS: U.S. Legislative Information on the Internet (http://thomas.loc.gov) also provides a directory with links to Web sites and e-mail addresses of congressional members.

In addition to examining the spectrum of political commentary on the Web, check out LexisNexis Academic (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/lexisnexis.html), a powerful and extensive database of news sources where you can locate the reported activities of any candidate for office, as well as critical analysis.

Finally, in preparation for the 2004 presidential election, visit not only the official Web sites of political parties, but also the official blogs of some of the major candidates. The Bush/Cheney campaign blog (http://www.georgewbush.com/blog/) currently sports postings similar to press releases; the official blog of the Democratic National Committee (http://www.democrats.org/blog/) proffers daily signed postings and comments from the community, as well as links to Democratic candidates' Web sites and blogs.

Before you pull the lever on any Election Day, be informed!