Overview of Candidate Coverage
Table of Contents
We are one of the few election information sources that treats all candidates equally, covering all candidates on the ballot regardless of popularity, how well they're funded, who parties support, or who's supported by special interests. The idea here is to move the locus of control in elections to the voters themselves. It is Project Vote Smart's goal to provide as much relevant, unbiased information as possible for each candidate, leaving it entirely up to the voters to make judgments on the candidates.
Scope of Candidate Coverage
While it would be nice to have comprehensive coverage for all candidates, our level of staffing forces us to prioritize certain offices over others. Federal offices will typically get the most coverage, as they are of national interest and represent large geographic areas and/or large populations. Next in line are statewide offices, followed by the state legislatures. We are one of the few websites that actually provides information on state legislative and statewide offices. Unfortunately we just do not have the capacity to cover local elections, judicial elections (besides those of the highest court), or local ballot measures (see the quality control section for how to find information about these other elections). We do try to provide coverage for candidates before their primaries, but this more than doubles our pool of candidates, making it difficult to provide comprehensive coverage for everybody.In an ideal scenario, these our plans for coverage of candidates, subject to change (note: incumbents will likely have additional information related to their current office): This work must also be coordinated with the Research Department, specifically the Profile sub-department. For Special Elections, they are covered less in Presidential election years. Congressional and Gubernatorial are always covered, state legislative special elections are not covered in Presidential Election years. :
P= Primary Candidates(tasks done pre-primary), G=General Election Candidates (tasks done post-primary/pre-general)
| U.S. Congress | Federal and State Special Elections (except state leg) | Governor | Lieutenant Governor and Statewide Offices | State Judicial (highest court(s) in each state) | State Legislature | President/VP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election Coverage | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G |
| Bio/Contact Research | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P(if time)/G | P/G |
| Mailed Out Bio Forms | G | G | G | G | G | G | G |
| Researched Photos | P (if time)/G | P (if time) G | P (if time)/G | P (if time)/G | G (if time) | G | P/G for majors |
| Administer PCT | P/G | possibly G | G | G or N/A | N/A | G | P/G |
| Speeches from Campaign Website | G | G | G | P/G for majors | |||
| Candidate Ratings and Evaluations (if available) | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | possibly |
| Endorsements | P (if time)/G | G | G | G | G | G | P/G |
| Campaign Finance Information (if available from CRP/NIMSP) | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G | P/G |
Candidate Coverage by the PCT Department
Candidate Coverage by the Research Department
