SDCC Library: Elections, Voting, & the U.S. Constitution: 2024 Election Resources

Elections, Voting, & the U.S. Constitution

2024 is an election year in the United States. Citizens will be voting for President of the United States, congressional seats, judicial positions, education board members, local proposition measures, and for various other state and local public offices.

This guide highlights resources to help you make informed decisions and learn about your rights as a voter. This is a small sample of the resources available and are not intended to influence anyone on a particular candidate or issue; these have been selected to provide basic information only and you are encouraged to ask a librarian for assistance in pursuing issues in depth.

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Student Voter Info

Get involved and let your voice be heard!

Voter Empowerment
2024 Election information including key dates and election resources. Also includes SDCCD statements on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression, and support resources on Civic Engagement.
Student Voter FAQs
Frequently asked questions about eligibility, registration, voting processes, ballots, and more.

Election Web Sites

City of San Diego
Municipal General Election info, including local ballot measures, public notices, election calendar, certified list of candidates, candidate resources, and ballot materials.
County of San Diego
Register to vote (register, change, cancel, re-register), see your voting options, FAQs, district maps, outreach tools, poll worker application & training, Voter's Choice Act, Military/Overseas voting, accessible voting, campaign finance disclosure reports. Watch videos on the voting process.
California Secretary of State
Information about the process of elections and voting in the state of California. Content includes general election information, translated election information, ballot measure processes, candidate information and qualifications, county elections officials advisories, and election security information. Other sections of the web site cover voter registration, voting options, voter education/outreach, and news.

Registering to Vote

California Voting Resources:

CA Voter Registration Site
(CA Secretary of State site) This is the official voter registration site for the state of California where you can fill out the form to vote.
Elections and Voter Information
(CA Secretary of State site) Information about elections, voter registration, voting options, voter education, and news.
Voting In California -- New Voter Information
(CA Secretary of State site) It's easy to take part in elections when you have the tools and information! Whether it's your first time voting or you are an experienced voter who has moved and just need to re-register to vote, Voting in California will give you everything you need to get started.

General Voting Resources:

Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP)
Voting information for service members, their families, and overseas citizens
Voting and Election Toolkit (GODORT)
Contains voting registration information for all 50 states. Under each state you'll find information on how to register to vote, what identification is needed, and what the deadlines are. This guide is put together by librarians from the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Researching the issues

Resources with information about the candidates, their positions, and more:

Ballotopedia
Ballotpedia's goal is to inform people about politics by providing accurate and objective information about politics at all levels of government. Look up information on candidates, state propositions, and more.
Vote 411
"Launched by the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF) in October of 2006, 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."- About Us page.
Vote Smart
Find information on candidates, voting records, candidate's positions on issues, public statements, campaign finances, and more.

Resources to help you check the facts:

PolitiFact
Nonpartisan news group that looks at specific statements made by politicians and rates them for accuracy.
Factcheck.org
"We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor 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. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding."- Mission page. This site is a project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Resources to help you follow the money:

Federal Election Comission
"The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, Senate, Presidency and the Vice Presidency."- Mission and history page
Open Secrets.org
Nonpartisan research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Can search by candidate, election race, and more.

Resources that monitor candidates' social media:

Categorized Tweets
Website that pulls tweets from public officials and places them into categories based upon the issue they are tweeting about. Tweets are linked to the original tweets on Twitter and are from the previous month.

Resources on the California propositions:

Ballot.FYI
Ballot.fyi is a nonpartisan election guide to the California propositions
Cal Matters
CalMatters is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. Has info on California propositions.

Choosing a candidate

I Side With
Answer questions on major issues to see how your political beliefs match with political parties and candidates.
Pew Political Typology Quiz
"Are you a Core Conservative? A Solid Liberal? Or somewhere in between? Take our quiz to find out which one of our Political Typology groups is your best match compared with a nationally representative survey of more than 5,000 U.S. adults by Pew Research Center." -Quiz Homepage
Vote Easy Quiz
Allows you to look up candidate's positions on key issues or choose your position on a key issue and find candidates that hold similar views

Polling Data

Resources that show current polling data:

Pew Research Center: Election 2024
Gallup Polls 2024 Election Center
FiveThirtyEight
See this Wikipedia article for more information about the origins and processes of 538.
Roper polls
During elections, this site has exit poll data and results by question topic