Wellesley College Library catalog - Use the Library catalog to find books and other materials (journal titles, NOT journal articles) we have here at Wellesley. Remember to start with "keyword" if you are beginning to research a topic.Try the following subject headings:

• elections United States
• elections [country name]
• elections [year]

WorldCat - books, journal titles (NOT individual articles), and other materials that are not in the Wellesley Library catalog. Use the ILL link within WorldCat to request items not here at Wellesley.

Find background information

Campaign Finance: an illustrated guide. 1997.

Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections. (Clapp Ref JK 1967 C662 2001)
Includes presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections. Textual essays as well as statistics.

Encyclopedia of American parties, campaigns, and elections. 1999.

Encyclopedia of Interest Groups and Lobbyists in the United States. (Clapp Ref JK 1118 N47 2000)

Encyclopedia of Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms. (Clapp Ref E 176.1 R6 2004)

Encyclopedia of the Republican Party; Encyclopedia of the Democratic Party. (Clapp Ref JK2352 .K87 1997 and supplements 2002)

Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America. 3 vols. (Clapp Ref JK 2261 N46 2000)

Introductory Overview to the U.S. Election Process [U.S. State Dept.]

Massachusetts Political Almanac. (Clapp Ref JK 3130 A6 2002).
Profiles of House and Senate legislators, Executive Office employees, and court judges.

National Party Platforms. 2 vols. (Clapp Ref JK 2255 J64)
Detailed descriptions of the major party platforms for presidential elections from 1840-1976. Also online as part of the American Presidency Project.

Open Secrets: The Encyclopedia of Congressional Money and Politics. (Clapp Ref JK 1991 M26 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996)
Lists the industries and individual companies, labor unions and other organizations that contributed to the campaigns of the individual members of the U.S. Congress; also online.

State Legislative Elections: Voting Patterns and Demographics. (Clapp Ref JK 1967 B36 1998)
Data and analysis on state legislative elections in the 1990s.

The Hotline - The Hotline offers daily news briefings on American politics and campaigns from hundreds of newspapers, magazines, online sources, and radio and TV news shows.

AllPolitics [CNN] - Up-to-the-minute news on campaigns.

LexisNexis Academic News - current news from a variety of state, national, and international sources.

Find articles & essays

Campaigns and Elections. Clapp q JK1976 .C33 for back issues; current issues in Cur.Per. Check this title in the Wellesely Catalog to see what issues are online.

CQ Congress - analysis of members of Congress, key votes, interest groups, public policy legislation

CQ Researcher Archive - full text of in-depth, unbiased background and analysis on timely political topics from 1923+.

CQ Voting and Elections- data, analyses, explanations and historical material on the election process.

CQ Weekly - full text articles on legislation before Congress, political and lobbying activity.

LexisNexis Congressional - U.S. bills, laws, regulations and some Congressional hearing testimony. Click on "Members" for biographical and financial information and voting records.

Other databases may be useful for you, depending on your specific topic and approach. See our Databases A-Z list or AskUs and get some customized suggestions.

Find voting statistics

America Votes. 1956- (Clapp Ref JK 1967 A8)
State statistics for presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial elections, includeing primaries.

American National Election Studies, 1948-1997 [CD-ROM]. Clapp Docs JK1967 .A835 1998.
Produced by National Election Studies and Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research

CQ Congress - analysis of members of Congress, key votes, interest groups, public policy legislation (1981+).

CQ Elections - data, analyses, explanations and historical material on the election process.

Election statistics for federal elections from 1920 to date, compiled by the Clerk of the U.S. House.

Election Resources on the Internet - links to Internet sites around the world with national and local election statistics.

Parties and Elections in Europe - Parliamentary elections in the European countries since 1945.

Key websites

National

Commission on Presidential Debates - a nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation founded in 1987 to ensure that debates provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners. Contains transcripts of debates back to 1960

State races, contacts and voter registration deadlines [LWV] - Election news, information, national and state voter registration info, and links.

Electoral College - General info about the Electoral College as well as electoral vote statistics.

Federal Election Commission - A federal agency charged with monitoring election and voting activity, the Federal Election Commission posts content relating to campaign spending.

PoliticalWeb.info - the role of the Web in the political process. Currently covers the 2002 and 2004 elections. Compares the Web sites of the 2004 Presidential candidates.

Presidential election maps from the Geographic Information Center at the University of Virginia display popular vote outcomes in presidential contests from 1860 to 1998, and from nationalatlas.gov for electoral votes for 1789 to 2000.

Project Vote Smart - This highly-regarded non-partisan research project site is the pre-eminent source for evaluating people already serving in government as well as current candidates. Access Project Vote Smart for background information on Member of Congress, ratings by interest groups, and responses to a special questionnaire; as well as information on presidential, gubernatorial and other state office-holders and candidates. Also has state voter registration information.

Dave Leip's Atlas of Presidential Elections - "National results for the major and minor candidates for U.S. President in the presidential elections from 1789 through 2000. Individual year pages include candidates, parties, popular and electoral vote totals, maps, charts, and voter turnout (1932-2000). Also, there are state results pages for the elections from 1896 through 2000 with county level maps and data for the elections from 1960 through 2000."

State

DemocracyNet - information about state and local candidates.

National Association of State Election Directors - links to state election offices.

State Races - Interesting state-related resources are found on Politics1.com's state pages.

International

Comparative Study of Electoral Systems - allows cross-national research among election studies conducted in over fifty countries. Data is from public opinion survey questions as well as post election studies. Users must register.

electionguide.org [International Foundation for Election Systems]- national level presidential, parliamentary, and legislative actions; information on important national referenda; election dates, information, and results.

Elections and Electoral Systems around the World

Global Election Tracker - monitors democratic conditions around the world, by reviewing background information, assessing the latest campaign news and events, describing trends in voting intention, and reporting on the outcome of a particular ballot

Advocacy

Center for Voting and Democracy is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that studies how voting systems affect participation, representation and governance. Information on proportional representation, redistricting and voter rights.

League of Women Voters - Has full text of LWV publications and information on how you can become involved in the LWV organization. Includes information on how to register to vote.

Political Advocacy Groups [Cal State Chico]- Directory of United States Lobbysits.

The Vanishing Voter - A project to study and invigorate the American electoral process, from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Includes an archive of press releases based on the data collected through weekly national surveys. Contains a voter involvement index for the 2000 election.

Campaign Finance/Finance Reform

Campaign Finance Reports and Data [FEC]

Campaign Finance Reform from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Public Campaign - non-partisan, non-profit organization whose purpose is to reform campaign funding.

Lobbying

LobbyWatch [Center for Public Integrity] - federal lobbying in the U.S.

Money in U.S. Elections [Center for Responsive Politics] - who gives and who gets.

Money in State Politics [Institute on Money in State Politics] - view contributions to candidates by state, candidate, contributor, or special interest.

Other Useful Resources/Organizations

ACE Project (Administration and Cost of Elections) provides detailed instructions on what is involved in running an election.

Annenberg Political Fact Check - nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" group that monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases

E-Voting Information and legal cases from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Elections...the American Way [Library of Congress] - introduction to the U.S. electoral system.

The Living Room Candidate: 250+ Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004 - from the Museum of the Moving Image.

Politicalweb.info - tracks "the emergence and development of campaign Web site" and offers resources on the role of the Internet in politics.

PollingReport.com and RealClearPolitics Poll Averages- polling data.

Your Guide to the Money in U.S. Elections from 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.