LibGuides: Civic Engagement, Elections, and Voting: Election & Voter Resources

Election and Voter Resources

Can I Vote?
Need help with voting? This nonpartisan website was created by state election officials to help eligible voters figure out how and where to go vote.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC)
EAC is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration.
U.S. Vote Foundation (US Vote)
The comprehensive range of services offered by US Vote helps voters navigate today's complicated landscape of US voting regulations.
USA.gov Voting and Elections
Registration & information, Election Day resources, election laws, results, process, and history; State & local Election Offices; FAQs
VOTE 411
Launched by the League of Women Voters Education Fund, VOTE411.org is a "one-stop-shop" for election related information. It provides nonpartisan information to the public with both general and state-specific information on various aspects of the election process.
VoteRiders
VoteRiders offers free assistance for any eligible voter who encounters barriers to securing his or her ID to vote, including financial and legal help obtaining underlying documents like birth certificates, change of name documentation, etc.
VoteSmart
Vote Smart's mission is to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to ALL Americans.

Election Day Problems?

Report a an election problem by calling:

English: 1-866-OUR-VOTE	Asian multilingual assistance: 1-888-API-VOTE
Spanish: 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA	Arabic: 1-844-YALLA-US

Population-Specific Voting Resources

Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE): Vote
A4TE is dedicated to empowering the trans community to stand up and be counted in every election.
Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote)
APIAVote is focused on getting Asian American and Pacific Islander communities registered and out to vote, and protecting the freedom to vote so that communities can advocate for the issues important to them.
Fair Election Center's Campus Vote Project
The Campus Vote Project works with universities, community colleges, faculty, students and election officials to reduce barriers to student voting. Their goal is to help campuses institutionalize reforms that empower students with the information they need to register and vote.
Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP)
FVAP works to ensure Service members, their eligible family members, and overseas citizens are aware of their right to vote and have the tools and resources to successfully do so from anywhere in the world.
National Coalition for the Homeless: Voting
The You Don’t Need a Home to Vote campaign seeks to promote voting access for low income and homeless persons to ensure that people who are economically disadvantaged maintain a voice in shaping their future.
Native Vote
Native Vote is a non-partisan initiative that provides resources for indigenous people in all 50 states.
Overseas Voter Services
The complete range of voter tools and information specific to overseas voters and military voters is provided to you through the U.S. Vote Foundation website.
Resources for Voters with Disabilities
Explore a list of resources provided by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Ya Es Hora
"Ya Es Hora" is a historic and comprehensive campaign which focuses on naturalization, voter registration, voter engagement, and more to increase civic participation among immigrants, specifically Spanish-speaking communities.

American Civil Liberties Union: Voting Rights
Learn more about how to exercise your voting rights, resist voter intimidation efforts, and access disability-related accommodations and language assistance at the polls.
Election Protection
Election Protection works year-round to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to vote and have that vote count. Election Protection uses a wide range of tools and activities to protect, advance and defend the right to vote.
Fair Elections Center
Fair Elections Center is a national, nonpartisan voting rights and election reform organization dedicated to safeguarding the future of democracy through innovative efforts focused on voting rights and civic engagement.
Transform the Vote
Get registered to vote, check your registration, and learn your rights about voting as a trans person!
U.S. Department of Justice - Civil Rights: Voting Section
The Voting Section enforces the civil provisions of the federal laws that protect the right to vote, including the Voting Rights Act, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Civil Rights Acts.

CSPAN Classroom
View free video-based materials for social studies teachers.
Library of Congress: Elections
Elections have been a constant feature of civic life in the United States. This presentation explores the past and present of American parties, issues, and the right to vote.
Library of Congress: Voting Rights
Learn about voting rights from the Civil Rights History Project Collection.
National Archives: The Electoral College
Learn all about the electoral college (why do we have an electoral college? How are my electors appointed?) and more.
NonprofitVOTE
The leading provider of nonpartisan resources to help nonprofits integrate voter engagement into their ongoing activities and services.
Voting and Election Toolkits
Voting and Election Reference Guides for each state. Created by Librarians from the Government Documents Round Table, a Round Table of the American Library Association.
Voting Rights: A Short History
The struggle for equal voting rights dates to the earliest days of U.S. history. Now, after a period of bipartisan efforts to expand enfranchisement, Americans once again face new obstacles to voting.
What is Civic Engagement?
This CWU Libraries research guide contains resources to help students become engaged citizens at a local level and beyond.

Finding authoritative and comprehensive statistical resources about elections can be challenging. Many local newspapers carry current election information, yet rarely cover comprehensive, historical data. Here are some sites which carry election information.

The American Presidency Project: Presidential Election Data
Presidential election data from 1789-present.
Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)
CAWP is nationally recognized as the leading source of scholarly research and current data about women’s political participation in the United States. Its mission is to promote greater knowledge and understanding about the role of women in American politics, enhance women's influence in public life, and expand the diversity of women in politics and government.
Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement
Find information about voter registration numbers, barriers; oriented toward young people.
Election Data at Kaggle
Open-access datasets about U.S. and foreign elections; formats, methodologies, coverage dates, and levels of granularity vary.
Election Statistics: 1920 to Present
The Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, provides a wonderful site of the House as an Institution which gives the public resources including election statistics, Electoral College data, milestones, etc.
Historical Election Results
For a compilation of resources on election statistics, visit USA.gov's site on Voting and Election History.
MIT Election Lab
This site is a clearinghouse for data sets that can fuel studies on elections and how they're conducted. Find election data and research tools produced by MIT and others.
A New Nation Votes
Collated from newspapers, this site has early American election results for the U.S. Senate & House of Representative. Data may be downloaded and narrowed by state, jurisdiction, party, election, year, office, etc.
Pew Research Center - Elections and Campaigns
Polls and studies that date back to 2002 which are focused on elections, voter demographics, voting processes, and more.
U.S. Census Bureau Voting and Registration Data
For every national election since 1964, the U.S. Census Bureau has collected data on the characteristics of American voters. Find out how many citizens of voting age are registered, and how many vote, by age and sex, race and ethnicity, and more.
U.S. Census Bureau Voting and Registration Tables
View voting and registration data tables as well as reported voting rates from 1960-2020
U.S. Election Statistics: A Resource Guide
The Library of Congress has created a guide to online and print resources that contain U.S. election statistics for both federal and state elections to introduce the average person to elections in the United States.