About Vote Smart
"What is Vote Smart?"
Short Answer:
Vote Smart is a nonpartisan, non-profit, political research organization. We provide the nation's first Voter's Self-Defense System. This system allows ordinary citizens to access biographical information, issue positions, voting records, public statements, performance evaluations from special interest groups, campaign contributions for current elected officials and candidates seeking to replace them, and information on voter registration. We were established by national leaders from both sides of the aisle including Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Michael Dukakis and Barry Goldwater. Vote Smart was supported by the Ford and Carnegie Foundations, and has received praise from the New York Times, CNN, and PBS.
Long Answer
Vote Smart is a citizen's organization dedicated to serving all Americans with accurate and unbiased information for electoral decision-making. Its policies, procedures and structure are designed to guarantee absolute impartiality and standards of excellence in fulfillment of its mission. Key characteristics in maintaining this integrity include:Nonpartisan- Vote Smart was inaugurated in 1992 by national leaders as diverse as former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter (D) and Gerald Ford (R), former U.S. Senators Barry Goldwater (R) and George McGovern (D), and former U.S. Representatives Newt Gingrich (R) and Geraldine Ferraro (D). All Founding VoteSmartBoard members have an ideological opposite to provide balance and ensure strict impartiality in Vote Smart's programs and materials.
Non-profit - As a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, Vote Smart is funded exclusively through private donations by over 45,000 members, and grants from private philanthropic foundations including the Carnegie and Ford Foundations among others. All member contributions are tax deductible.
Independent - To guarantee its integrity and accountability as a nonpartisan and wholly objective service to the American people, Vote Smart does not accept financial contributions from lobbyists, governmental organizations, corporations, businesses or special interests.
Objective - Every candidate - Democrat, Republican, or third party - is treated with equal deference, and only relevant and unbiased facts are presented. Vote Smart does not lobby, support or oppose any candidate, position or issue. All Vote Smart staff and interns are required to sign a Pledge, affirming their commitment to absolute impartiality.
Reputable - Over 5000 public libraries and hundreds national and local news organizations, including CNN, C-SPAN, Cox News, Fox, Knight-Ridder, MTV, National Journal, NBC, Newsweek, PBS, MSNBC and Washington Week in Review, have shown support for Vote Smart.
Thorough - Vote Smart works with a nonpartisan cross-section of political scientists from around the country to provide maximum objectivity and depth to Vote Smart's programs and services. These consultants give Vote Smart researchers input on the construction of the Political Courage Test, assistance with the selection of key votes, and review of issue briefs.
For more see VoteSmart101.
About Us: The Facts
*Founded in 1988
*We are strictly a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that offers (free to the public) a national library of factual information on more than 40,000 candidates and officials including six categories of information:
- Biographical Information,
- Voting records,
- Interest group Ratings,
- Campaign Financing,
- Public Statements & Speeches, and
- Issue Positions (via our Political Courage Test and inferred research for VoteEasy)
In addition, we provide other state-specific resources including Voter Registration Information, Ballot Measures, and Key Votes information from Congress and State Legislation.
How we are funded: (reasons our data can be trusted)
- We do not accept money from special interest groups, lobbyists, corporations, political parties, or the government and are funded entirely by individual contributions and foundation grants.
- No one can join the VoteSmartBoard without a political opposite. People as diverse as former Presidents Carter and Ford and former Senators McGovern and Goldwater.
- We operate much like the Peace Corps -- of the over 5000 people who have come to help by working at Vote Smart, ninety percent received no pay and those who did received only minimal salaries to cover basic living expenses.
Who we are (and why to trust us):
- We created the nation's first Voter's Self-Defense System, voters can use our factual information to defend themselves against negative campaign rhetoric and tactics.
- We have created the interactive tool VoteEasy - The tool for voters to instantly see which candidate they are most compatible with. To use VoteEasy now visit votesmart.org/voteeasy
- We have received Foundation grants from the Ford, Carnegie, and Pew Foundations.
- Founded by national leaders as diverse as former Presidents Carter and Ford.
- We will never lobby, support, or oppose any candidate or issue, and never accept funding from those organizations who do.
- We are trusted and used by hundreds of news organizations including CNN, MNBC, CBS, Fox News, and C-SPAN.
- We are trusted and used by data partners such as the Department of Defense, NBC, Yahoo, Google, and Bing.
Services We Provide: Things That Make Us Special :)
(1) www.votesmart.org
All of the information we collect is available on our web page. Many people who call the Hotline will have access to the Internet, and you can help to guide callers to the helpful resources on our site. These are some of the features of our website that will help them:
- Legislation, which monitors the status of major federal legislation
- State Key Votes, which monitors the status of major state legislation
- Voter registration forms for each state
- Candidate filing deadlines
- Local Election Offices and absentee ballot information
- Ballot measure descriptions for each state, where applicable
- Links to federal and state government agencies, political parties and issue organizations.
- Outreach programs for News Media Partnerships and Vote Smart Classroom.
- PVS membership and internship opportunities
Please remember: Not all people that call will have access to the Internet. You may have to read information from our site, or direct callers to other phone numbers that they can call for more information. Never print off pages of information for a caller.
(2) VotersSelfDefenseManual (VSDM)
Voter's Self-Defense Manual - only printed every 2 years. It compiles the voting record of every Congressional member - meaning it is retrospective. We compile votes that happened in the past year or two allowing a voter to determine how each official acted while in office.
We can send callers a Voter's Self-Defense Manual if such information will meet the caller's needs. It is also available online.
If a caller wants Voter's Self-Defense Manual:
- Name, mailing address, number of copies (see below)
- Number of copies - members (up to 25; more than 25, up to DevComm); non-members ("a few" - no more than 3; up to DevCOmm discretion - may be able to accommodate for students/education purposes)
- The DevComm Department takes care of sending out VSDMs
- If they ask "when will I receive this information?" - We send these manuals out in bulk, so it should between 2-4 weeks. If they have a serious problem with this, transfer them to DevComm.
(3) VoteEasy
- An interactive tool for voters to instantly see which presidential/congressional candidate they are most compatible with during elections. To use VoteEasy visit votesmart.org/voteeasy.
- Using innovative technology to simplify voters' pre-election research, this web-based tool allows voters to answer the same key issue questions Vote Smart asked the candidates to address on the Political Courage Test, and watch as the tool matches them with the candidate who best aligns with their views.
- Questions span about 15 major issues, including the budget, economy, health care, and immigration.
- Winner of the best there is at the 2011 Webvisionary Awards
The Sacramento Bee has called VoteEasy "the eHarmony of political web sites," and according to GovTrack it is "the most compelling voter info resource ever seen."
(4) MyVoteSmart
Track any politician of interest to you with Vote Smart. Then, when any new data on that person related to that issue becomes known we send you a daily email with that information. (Read more on MyVoteSmart)
(5) BULL
Find out when some of the most egregious falsehoods have been told, according to FactCheck.org, PolitiFact and the Washington Post. Read more about BULLTalkingPoints.
