The following guide contains suggested resources for the subjects of Elections and Voting. The guide lists reference sources and electronic databases available to students and faculty of Hofstra University as well as publicly available websites. Any questions? Please contact: Georgina Martorella - Assistant Professor/Political Science Subject Specialist 201A Axinn Library | 123 Hofstra University | Hempstead, NY 11549 Phone: 516.463.4980 | Email: Georgina.D.Martorella@hofstra.edu

Selected Reference Sources Books Articles Research Reports & Tools for Analysis Polling Data Government Documents Selected Websites

Almanac of American Politics. National Journal Group.
Ref. JK271 .B343 2004 (Annual).
A comprehensive guide to federal political representation. Organized by state, each entry includes an introduction that profiles the state, background of each representative, key votes, and interest group ratings. The overall introduction of the source provides a summary of the political state of the nation.

America Votes. Governmental Affairs Institute, Congressional Quarterly.
Ref. JK 1967 .A8 vol. 1 to date
Compendium of election statistics at the national, state, and county levels. Includes congressional district maps and notes on special situations.

Encyclopedia of the Republican Party; the Encyclopedia of the Democratic Party. Sharpe Reference. 4 vols.
Ref. JK2352 .K87 1997
Describes the origins and evolution of the two major political parties in the United States. The set is arranged by topics; History, Issues and Ideology, Biographies, Conventions, and Platforms and Elections. Four indexes are provided.

Guide to U.S. Elections. CQ Press. 2 vols.
Ref. JK 1967 .C662 2005
Comprehensive guide to the election process divided into five sections; elections, political parties, presidential elections, congressional elections, and gubernatorial elections. Sections provide historical background, statistics, reviews and significance of events, and chronologies. A detailed table of contents, candidate index, and general index will assist users in locating information.

Library Catalog

Use the online Library Catalog to locate books, government documents, audiovisual sources and other materials located in the Hofstra University Library system.

Research Databases

Ebrary: Use Ebrary to access a collection of over 23,000 electronic books in all disciplines from top publishers. In order to read the electronic books, you must have the Ebrary Reader installed on your computer (follow the "Get Ebrary Reader" link). Follow the instructions to install.

WorldCat: WorldCat lists holdings for books, manuscripts, sound recordings, videotapes, etc. located in libraries around the world. If you would like to borrow a book that is not available at Hofstra, see the section on Interlibrary Loan.

Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS): Index to books, periodicals, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications on public policy and social issues. International in coverage.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts: Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing to books, journal articles, dissertations, and websites for topics pertaining to political science. International in scope.

Interlibrary Loan

If a book or a journal is not available through Hofstra, you can borrow it from another library. You must set up an account through Interlibrary Loan , an electronic service. Books take approximately a week to three weeks to arrive and must be returned while journal articles can take three days to three weeks. You will receive a photocopy of the journal article, which you may keep.

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Suggested Research Databases for Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Academic Search Premier: Full text, multi-disciplinary database containing newspaper, magazine, and scholarly, peer-reviewed publications. Also contains indexing and abstracting for all journals in the collection.

CQ Weekly: In depth reports on issues looming on the congressional horizon. Includes bill status, committee and floor activity, debates, and roll-call votes.

Custom Newspapers: Full text of over 100 national and international newspapers.

Factiva: Full text of newspapers, newswires, and journal articles. International in coverage.

Lexis Nexis Academic Universe: Full text interdisciplinary database with international coverage. Includes newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals. Use to access the New York Times and Washington Post.

Newspaper Source: Provides cover-to-cover full text for 23 national (U.S.) and international newspapers and selected full text from more than 180 regional (U.S.) newspapers.

Suggested Research Databases for Scholarly Journal Articles

Academic Search Premier: Full text, multi-disciplinary database containing scholarly, peer-reviewed publications. Also contains indexing and abstracting for all journals in the collection.

JStor: Full text collection of scholarly, peer-reviewed journals in the arts and sciences.

Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS): Index to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications on public policy and social issues. International in coverage.

PAIS Archive: Index to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications on public policy and social issues for the period 1915-1976. International in coverage. See PAIS for 1976- to date.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts: Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy. Of the 1,500+ titles being monitored, 67% are published outside the United States.

Suggested Research Databases and Websites

CQ Electronic Library: Provides access to a variety of databases that can be searched individually or simultaneously. Included are CQ Researcher (detailed reports on issues and controversial topics), CQ Weekly (coverage of the U.S. Congress), Congress and the Nation (offers coverage of legislative actions and events related to public policy issues by presidential administration), Congressional Almanac (offers analysis and data on major legislation and dates during each Congressional session back to 1945 ), Politics in America (information on member of Congress) and Vital Statistics on American Politics.

Voting and Elections: Also offered by CQ, this collection provides a wealth of data, analyses, explanations and historical materials to enable researchers to explore and analyze voting patterns and trends in the United States.

Congressional Universe: Provides access to research reports from the Congressional Research Service on a wide variety of topics as well as bills, testimony, and hearings of the United States Congress. A selection of more recent reports is also available on publicly accessible internet sites:

 

Guide to CRS Reports on the Web
CRS Reports (University of North Texas)
Congressional Research Service Reports (Federation of American Scientists)
Open CRS (Center for Democracy and Technology)

Congressional Universe: Congressional Hearings Digital Collection: Access congressional hearings in fully searchable PDF format from 1824 to 2003. Current hearings are held in print format in the Government Document Depository in 201 Axinn.

Congressional Universe: U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection: Digitized collection of historic congressional materials including House and Senate reports, documents and maps. Fully searchable PDF documents from 1789 to 1969.

Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS): Index to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications on public policy and social issues. International in coverage.

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Selected Research Databases

Polling the Nations : compilation of more than 14,000 surveys conducted by more than 700 polling organizations in the United States and more than 80 other countries from 1986 to the present.

Selected Websites

CBS News Polls

Los Angeles Times Poll

PollingReport.com

RealClearPolitics Polls

The Gallup Organization

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Zogby International

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See also the John W. Wydler Government Documents website which provides a comprehensive guide to locating government information.

Library Catalog
The online library catalog can be used to search for government documents held at Axinn. You can limit your search by using the Documents limiter.

Suggested Research Databases

Government Documents Catalog: Index of official federal government publications from 1976 to the present.

Congressional Universe: Bills, testimony, and hearings of the United States Congress.

Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS): Index to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications on public policy and social issues. International in coverage.

Print and Electronic Documents

Bureau of the Census Publications

Statistical Abstract of the United States.
Docs. C2 .134
Comprehensive statistical compilation covering social and economic conditions in the U.S. that contains a section devoted to election statistics.

Voting and Registration Statistics
Available electronically, offers demographics for the voting population by state.

Census 2000: 108^th Congressional District Summary Files
Available electronically, contains census statistics arranged by congressional district.

Federal Election Commission Publications

Annual Report of the Federal Elections Commission
Doc. Y3. EL 2/3:1/ (Annual) microfiche
Provides a description of the FEC's activities during the year and also summarizes advisory opinions, litigation, and changes to the administration of election law. Also available electronically.

Campaign Finance Reports and Data
Financial disclosure information on campaign expenses filed by House and Presidential campaigns, parties and Political Action Committees, and political party committees

Combined Federal/State Disclosure and Election Directory 2007
Guide used to locate and identify those organizations and individuals that are responsible for disclosing information on money in politics. Identifies federal agencies, secretaries of state, state boards, commissions, and election offices.

Federal Election Campaign Laws
A compilation of all federal election campaign laws currently in force.

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Comprehensive Websites

American National Election Studies
Provides data on voting, public opinion, and political participation. See the section Guide to Public Opinion for specific statistics.

Center for Voting and Democracy
Site for a think tank that provides background on issues as well as redistricting and apportionment.

Clerk of the House: Election Statistics
Includes official vote counts for federal elections since 1920 as well as data on congressional apportionment from 1790 to 1990. Also offers access to federal election campaign reports filed by candidates.

CQ Politics
Provdes news and analysis to enable users to track the campaigns, the candidates and the issues.

Elections 2008 (University of Michigan)
Comprehensive guide to 2008 election resources that covers areas such as candidates, campaigns and campaign finance, policy areas, and election and voting statistics.

Elections (Vanderbilt University)
Compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT), this is a gateway site to information on elections, voting, and campaign finance.

Elections 2008: U.S. Department of State Foreign Press Center
Includes information on the election process, primaries, caucuses, issues, elections and foreign policy, elections trivia, the role of minorities in elections, and public opinion polls.

Irwin Mann Voting and Democracy Virtual Library
Sponsored by New York University, this portal provides access to a wealth of information on voting and election studies.

Politics1
Offers information on the 2004 presidential elections, state and federal races, candidate profiles, political parties, issues, and links to news sites.

Project Vote Smart
Intended as a guide for voters to become better informed about the candidates and the issues, the site provides candidate background, issue position, voting records, campaign finance, and interest group ratings. It also includes voter registration information for each state, polling and absentee ballot information, state and local election offices, and links to government agencies, political parties, and other organizations.

Campaign Finance

Campaign Finance Information Center
Provides tools for journalists investigating money in politics. Also links to current news stories.

Open Secrets.org
The Center for Responsive Politics is largely devoted to campaign financing issues and how they impact elections and public policy. Researchers can track how much money is being spent by candidates and who is contributing this money.

Federal Election Commission
Official website of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) which administers and enforces the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) -- the statute that governs the financing of federal elections. Site provides information on the activities of the FEC and resources on elections and voting and campaign finance law.

National Center for Policy Analysis Idea House: Campaign Finance Reform
Offers an analysis of issues related to campaign finance reform.

Political Money Line: Money in Politics Databases
Allows users to search campaign contributions databases by name, state, or Political Action Committee. Also provides charts and tables detailing political contributions.

Debates

Commission on Presidential Debates
Sponsors and produces debates for the U.S. Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. Also undertakes research and educational activities related to debates.

Debates (George Washington University)
Contains background information relating to debates including information on the 2004 debates, negotiations, format and media coverage.

Open Debates
Webpage of nonprofit, nonpartisan group committed to reforming the current presidential debate process.

Presidential Debate History and Resources (Poynter Institute)
Compiled by the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists, this list of websites and other resources related to debates, provides a good starting point for researchers interested in the topic of debates.

Foreign Policy

The following compilation of articles and websites has been provided by the U.S. Department of State.

A New Realism: A Realistic & Principled Foreign Policy-Bill Richardson-Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb. 2008

America's Priorities in the War on Terror - Michael D. Huckabee - Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb. 2008

American Voters Increasingly Motivated by Foreign Policy - U.S. Department of State, IIP

An Enduring Peace Built on Freedom - John McCain - Foreign Affairs, November/December 2007

Campaign Statements on Foreign Policy Should Be Taken Seriously - U.S. Department of State, IIP

Candidates' Rhetoric Can Fail to Translate into Official Policy - U.S. Department of State, IIP

Council on Foreign Relations - Campaign 2008

Foreign Relations and Its Impact on the American Voter - FPC Briefing, 12/04/2007

Presidential Candidates Views on Iraq

Reengaging with the World - John Edwards - September/October 2007

Renewing American Leadership - Barack Obama - Foreign Affairs July/August 2007

Rising to a New Generation of Global Challenges - Mitt Romney - Foreign Affairs - July/August 2007

Security and Opportunity for the Twenty-First century - Hillary Clinton-Foreign Affairs-Nov/Dec 2007

Toward a Realistic Peace - Rudolph Giuliani - Foreign Affairs, September/October 007

Major Political Parties

These sites include information on party platforms, biographical information for party leaders, history of the party, public policy and campaign issues, voter information and online registration forms, and contribution information.

Constitution Party
Democratic National Committee
Green Party
Libertarian Party
Republican National Committee

Public Policy Issues

Almanac of Policy Issues
Site offers background and a non-partisan analysis of the following issues: criminal justice, culture and society, economics, education, environment, government operations, health, social welfare, and world affairs. Provides links to articles, primary documents, government agencies, and other organizations.

Center for Voting and Democracy
Site for a think tank that provides background on issues as well as redistricting and apportionment.

Congress.org
Provides background information on the candidates as well as their position on issues. Also contains state election information.

On the Issues
Analyzes candidates' positions on an extensive array of political issues as evidenced by their voting records, position statements, news reports and speeches.

Project Vote Smart
Intended as a guide for voters to become better informed about the candidates and the issues, the site provides candidate background, issue position, voting records, campaign finance, and interest group ratings. It also includes voter registration information for each state, polling and absentee ballot information, state and local election offices, and links to government agencies, political parties, and other organizations.

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