Election tools you can use to cut through
all the bullsh*t
10/18/08
A lot of coding & creativity went into the making of these online election tools and mash-ups: they offer several perspectives on the election, the campaigns and the candidates. Use them to gather or fact-check information or to help you make your final decision on election day.
Count the Lies
Most of the tools in this post are nonpartisan, but there are few exceptions, starting with Count the Lies, located on McCainpedia.org. McCainPedia is a wiki-style site maintained by the Democratic National Committee's Research, Communications, and Internet teams as a way to centralize research and make it available to the general public.
To hold John McCain accountable to his own standard, the Democratic National Committee will count and chronicle the lies here on the McCainPedia's "Count the Lies" page.
Google's Election 08 Tools
The Map Gallery has several election maps on which you can track electoral college vote tallies, Senate and House races, and the campaign trail. The Fundrace Map tracks campaign donor locations so you can see which geographical regions contribute the most.
The Biden's Journey Map tracks vice presidential nominee Joe Biden's journey of life, from birth to the present race for the White House. (There are similar maps for McCain, Obama & Palin.)
Google Election video search:
Search through computer-generated transcripts of political videos on YouTube to learn what politicians have said on any topic. Google In Quotes
Search keywords to get a side-by-side comparison of the presidential and vice presidential candidates' statements on the issues.
The Polling Report
An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion, this has all the who's-ahead polls as well as more detailed polls. Updated constantly.
Vote411.org
Vote411.org is the League of Women Voters' “one-stop-shop” for election-related information, providing general and state-specific information on how to find out where to vote in your state, where to grab an absentee ballot, and provides links to the local voting websites in your state.
FactCheck.org was busy during this year's election debates doing live fact checks on the words coming out of each candidates mouth. Go there to find out how true those tv ads are.
The Takeaway's Tools:
Counties That Count The Takeaway's Political Director, Andrea Bernstein, is traveling to swing counties in swing states — spots where this election could be decided. Listen to audio and explore the "counties that count" in an interactive map.
Electoral College Prediction Tracker How will the swing states swing? Play armchair pollster and track the electoral college predictions.
Glassbooth.com is an online tool which "connects you to the 2008 presidential candidate that represents your beliefs the best." The quiz asks for your opinions in areas like civil liberties and domestic security, Iraq and foreign policy, trade and economics, environment and energy and gun control.
My personal feeling is that if you don't know who you're going to vote for at this point, all the quizzes in the world won't help. But then again, I've already voted absentee.
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