This is LWV-PA’s list of favorite unbiased, nonpartisan sources of information for educating yourself and making ballot decisions before you vote. For your convenience, we have also identified “LWV-PA’s Choice” sites with an asterisk (*).

Essential Tools

• *Easy Voter Guide:http://www.easyvoterguide.org/ — What’s on the next California ballot? Here it is—in (count ’em) five languages!                                                                                             
• *Find Your Elected Officials:https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative — The U.S. House of Representatives’ tool for locating all your representatives simply by typing in your ZIP code and address!                                                                                         
• *Vote 411:https://www.vote411.org/— This is THE premier website to get the personalized election information you need. Register to vote, learn your voter registration status, update your registration if necessary, and learn what’s on your ballot—a one-stop shop to make sure you’re ready to vote!

League of Women Voters (LWV) Resources

• LWV of the United States: http://www.lwv.org/ — the League’s “mother ship,” including an introduction to the League and its mission, voter resources, and a trove of ways to get involved and take action on compelling national issues.

• LWV Clearinghouse: https://sites.google.com/a/leagueofwomenvoters.org/clearinghouse/ — The place to find some 800 downloadable studies and research by League members at the national, state, and local levels.

• LWV California: https://lwvc.org/ — The California League’s website offers state resources, ways to get involved, links to local chapters, and links to resources on voting and upcoming elections. Be sure to check out LWVC’s Guide to California Government, available on Amazon.            
• Local Leagues: https://lwvc.org/about-us/local-leagues/ — Local Leagues throughout California are listed and linked here.

Fact-Checking Sites

• *The 6 Best Fact-Checking Sites for Finding Unbiased Truth:  https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/true-5-factchecking-websites/ — Provides links to the most reliable fact-checking sites, including descriptions of what they provide. It also identifies some sites masking as fact checkers that are actually biased.

• *FactCheck.org:http://www.factcheck.org/ — Monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players.                                                                                                      

• Media Bias / Fact Check: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ — Rates media sources on their policy emphasis.

• *Politifact: http://www.politifact.com/ — Pulitzer Prize–winning fact-checking project sponsored by The Poynter Institute.                                                                                                 
• PropWatch Project: https://www.propwatch.org/index.php — The world's first visual database of propaganda techniques, a nonpartisan, educational nonprofit dedicated to raising public awareness of propaganda and disinformation.                                                                       
• *Snopes:https://www.snopes.com/ — Dynamic fact-checking site dedicated to verifying assertions about the latest events and news stories. Test your fact checking skills with the new Snopes True or False game!

• UCLA Critical Media Literacy: https://guides.library.ucla.edu/c.php?g=1108715&p=8086728 — UCLA’s media literacy tools, designed for its academic program. This homepage contains a trove of links to lessons in media literacy, institutions, resources for journalists, fact-checking sites, and much more.

How to Judge Judges

• California Courts Judicial Branch: https://www.courts.ca.gov/home.htm — A rich source of information about California judges.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
• *L.A. County Bar Association, Judicial Candidate Ratings:https://lacba.org/ — The L.A. Bar rates whether a candidate is qualified, well qualified, or not qualified. This site will not recommend a candidate, but you will want to check these ratings before ruling a candidate in or out.

• *LWV Voters Guide to Judicial Elections:https://my.lwv.org/sites/default/files/leagues/los-angeles/judgingjudges.pdf— A general guide to methods of evaluating those all-important jurists who uphold our laws.

Voter Resources for California

• *Cal-Access:http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/ — The California Secretary of State provides financial information supplied by state candidates, donors, lobbyists, and others. A searchable database is here: http://dbsearch.sos.ca.gov/ContributorSearch.aspx. Only electronically reported, state-level campaign contribution data is provided through Power Search: http://powersearch.sos.ca.gov/.

• California Citizens Redistricting Commission, Final Maps: https://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/final-maps/ — Final approved maps by the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission for the Board of Equalization, Congress, State Senate, and Assembly.

• California Election Dates: http://elections.mytimetovote.com/dates/california.html — A schedule of local, state, and federal election-related events in California, along with a link to check your voter registration status.                                                                                                 
• California Fair Political Practices Commission: http://fpcc.ca.gov/ — Provides access to elected officials’ Form 700 filings and election information. The search page offers an array of targeted searches.                                                                                                                            
• *CalMatters:https://calmatters.org/ — A nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that explain and explore solutions to state issues while holding leaders accountable.                                                                                                                                     
• Candidate Political Party Preference History:     https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2024-primary/candid...                                                                                                                         
• CapitolTrack: https://capitoltrack.com/ — Allows tracking of the pass/fail status of bills and their funding in the California Legislature.                                                                                         
• Find Your California Legislator: http://www.legislature.ca.gov/ — State Senate and Assembly representatives by address.                                                                                             
• GovTrack: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/CA — California district maps for U.S. House representatives and their track records.                                                                                
• *L.A. County Registrar:http://www.lavote.net — The Registrar’s website offers L.A. County residents voter registration, key election information (including deadlines), bulletins to voters about preparing to vote, post-election returns, located by district by voting address, illustrated guidelines on ways to vote, and much more.                                                                                    
• LegInfo: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billSearchClient.xhtml — Information and status on bills that have been introduced in the California Legislature. Includes a Public Access Guide.
• Legislative Analyst’s Office: http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/main.aspx — The L.A.O is responsible for oversight of the California legislative budget and provides information on California’s fiscal outlook.                                                                                                                 
• Open California Capitol Weekly: http://capitolweekly.net/about-us/open-california/ — This nonprofit focuses on California public policy and provides a platform for engagement with public officials, advocates, and political interests.

General and National Voter Resources

• *Ballotpedia:https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page — Nonpartisan wiki encyclopedia of American politics, covering local, state, and federal politics, public policy issues, elections, and candidates.

• Common Cause: http://www.commoncause.org — An independent nonpartisan watchdog organization that works against corruption and abuse of power, advocates for policy change, and encourages public action.

• *Congress.gov:https://www.congress.gov/about — The official website for U.S. legislative information, providing access to accurate, updated legislative information for members of Congress, government agencies, and the public.

• Electoral Vote Predictor: http://electoral-vote.com/  — Unlike other sites, which track generic national polls, this site tracks the state-by-state polls. As new state polls are released, the site’s maps, spreadsheets, tables, graphs, etc. are updated.

• Federal Election Commission, Campaign Finance Data: http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/disclosure_data_search.shtml — comprehensive campaign finance disclosure database.

• Flack Check: http://www.flackcheck.org/ — A page on the Annenberg Classroom website devoted to teaching the Constitution, including how to recognize deception and incivility in arguments generally and political ads in particular.

• Follow the Money: http://www.followthemoney.org/ — National database for candidates, lobbyists, party committees and contributors. In early 2024 it merged with the Center for Responsive Politics to become OpenSecrets.

• GovTrackUS: http://www.govtrack.us — Tracks U.S. congressional bills, representatives’ voting records, which individual representatives serve on which committees, and the like “to make our government more open and accessible.”

• I Am a Voter: https://iamavoter.com/ — A straightforward, phone-friendly, simple website to assist all voters to learn their registration status, update it, and find their personal election information. A plus: Sign up for text reminders!

• On the Issues: http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm — Tracks the positions of “every political leader on every issue” by tracking their political statements, fact checking along the way.

• Open Secrets:https://www.opensecrets.org/ — Nonpartisan, nonprofit research group devoted to tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.

• Project Vote Smart: http://votesmart.org/ — Tracks politicians’ positions, votes, funding, and other information to “provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to ALL Americans.”

• Regulations.gov: http://www.regulations.gov — Searches all publicly available regulatory materials, e.g., trending regulations, public comments, supporting analyses, FR notices, and rules. The public can submit comments on proposed regulations and related documents published by the U.S. federal government.

• Taegan Goddard’s Interactive Election Map: https://electoralvotemap.com/ — This interactive map if the United States displays “red,” “blue,” and “gray” states and allows users to view the possible outcome of the current presidential election based on previous election results and redistricting outcomes. Users can also create their own scenarios to determine who might win the Electoral College vote count.

• U.S. Census Bureau—My Congressional District: http://www.census.gov/mycd/ — Users enter their ZIP code and street address to find their congressional district and representative.

• Voter Game Plan: - https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-game-plan - Everything you need as you prepare to vote in the 2024 Primary.

• When We All Vote: https://whenweallvote.org/ — Nonpartisan initiative whose mission is to increase participation in every election by helping to close the race and age gap. Created by Michelle Obama.