Welcome to Research!
What Do We Do?
Research, broadly speaking, is responsible for entry and organization of all the data that goes into the Vote Smart database. Research is split into two divisions: Elections & Candidates Research and Officials Research. Each of these has several program areas assigned.Elections & Candidates Research
This Division of the Research Department is Responsible for:- Tracking official news sources for upcoming elections and appointments
- Researching biographical information for candidates;
- Maintaining and updating biographical information for current officials, including contact information;
- Researching and cropping official/candidate photos;
- Updating the national and state committee rosters at least once a year;
- Updating the national and state listing of leadership positions at least once a year;
- Updating the listing of city and county officials in our database at least once a year;
- Monitoring resignations, appointments, and special elections to keep our rosters of officials as accurate as possible.
- Researching and maintaining a database of certified ballot measures in all 50 states each election year;
- Maintaining and updating voter registration information in all 50 states and the territories;
- Updating the listing of Political Party information at least once a year;
- Updating the listing of local election office contact information at least once a year;
- Preparing biographical information, photos, ratings, endorsements, and campaign finance data for inclusion on VoteEasy. More details here: Candidate Coverage Page;
- Administrating the Political Courage Test, which ask candidates to fill out their issue positions on important topics: More details here: Political Courage Test;
- Collect evidence and make issue position research determinations for how candidates would answer questions on the Political Courage Test.
- Ensuring that campaign finance data from the Center for Responsive Politics (congressional) and the National Institute on Money in State Politics (state offices) is displaying properly on our website and is updated regularly by matching candidate ID's provided by both organizations
Officials Research
This Division of the Research Department is Responsible for:- Updating our database of special interest group ratings & endorsements on a rolling basis;
- Researching endorsements for all candidates running in a general election;
- Updating our database of public statements and position papers for the President, Vice President, Cabinet Members, members of the US House and Senate, and all 50 US Governors;
- Updating our database of public statements and position papers for congressional candidates in the general election, congressional candidates in a special general election, and gubernatorial candidates in the general election;
- Maintaining research in the Key Votes program in all 50 state legislatures and congress
Former Areas of Research that have since been phased out.
See the "Vote Smart Data Coverage" spreadsheet below for an overview of our coverage broken down by level of government.
Frequency of Updates
As you can tell from the listing above, the Research department deals with quite a bit of data. In fact, the Research Department is in charge of researching, collecting, entering, and checking the majority of the content on our website. We obviously can't update all of our data at once, so frequency and timing of updates is spread out over the course of the year. Our approach to updating data is based on our staffing resources at any given time. Below, each data category is listed with the corresponding minimum and ideal update frequency;- Biographies of Current Officials: Update at least once a year at the beginning of January when the new legislative sessions begin;
- Biographies of Candidates: Every effort is made to ensure that each candidate gets researched at least once, but this is not always possible. Priority should be placed on those candidates running for President, US Senate, US House, and Governor. Research for those candidates running for Statewide offices, State Judicial, and State Legislatures should be prioritized based on the size of the state, with more populous states given a higher priority.
- Speeches and Public Statements: Updates based on Speeches Schedules;
- Interest Group Ratings: Search for new federal and state ratings from groups in the database at least once per year. Search for ratings from new groups as time permits;
- Endorsements: We do not add endorsements for primary elections. Endorsements are typically only researched for general election and special election candidates. We focus on endorsements from groups already listed in our database, not from individuals, members of the media, or newspapers;
- Campaign Finance Data: In off election years, campaign finance data should be updated every 3-4 months. In election years, these updates should occur more frequently. Starting in May, updates should be done monthly, with a focus on states with upcoming primaries. Pay special attention to campaign finance updates as VoteEasy begins to be released. Focus on ID matching in states prior to release date;
- Committee and Leadership Rosters: Update at least once a year after legislative sessions begin. Good project for members;
- Voter Registration Data: Update at least once a year before the general election (typically saved as a summer intern project). However, be sure to pay special attention to changes in Voter ID laws throughout the year and make changes to data as necessary;
- Local Election Offices: Update at least once a year before the general election (typically saved as a summer intern project). This is a great project to have members assist with (identifying errors/making changes in admin);
- Political Parties: Update at least once a year. (Good member project.) Voter Registration and Local Election office data should always be prioritized.
Staff Responsibilities
As a member of the Research department, you will likely learn how to update and maintain many areas of data, if not all of them. It is essential that staff members are given a well rounded understanding of each area within the Research department to ensure that support can be provided to other areas of the department. The department is currently structured so that each staff member focuses on a specific area of the department (bios, speeches, ratings), but can assist in other areas as needed. Each staff member is expected to manage student and member interns in updating and checking their respective areas of data. On a weekly basis, you are expected to provide status updates to your supervisor so that a department weekly report can be compiled and sent to the National Director.Data that deals with congressional candidates/officials will always be priority, as this data is more likely to be used by media outlets and our users in general. It is essential that you have a simple and effective way to track the areas of data you're in charge of. If you are unhappy with the tracking method already established for your data area, please feel free to devise a new method of tracking in consultation with your supervisor.
| File | Last modified | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Vote Smart Data Coverage.ods | 2016-03-07 09:58 | 37Kb |
