Getting to the Bottom of the Ballot

There are plenty of great resources online for you to learn more about the political process, and this is only a short list. If you discover some other great resources that you would like to share with others, please let us know. We are always looking for good sources of non-partisan information that can help people be better informed citizens.

discover a wide variety of events that will help you become more engaged in the local political process

pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us -- discover where you need to vote from the Minnesota Secretary of State, and find out who is on the ballot (keep in mind that local races do not report through the Secretary of State, so this will not be a complete list of races on the ballot)

Hennepin County's pollfinder -- What's great about this site is that it tells you more than just your voting location. You can see who your County Commissioner is, what Park District you live in, and so on. Also, you can view a PDF document of your actual ballot. That way you know exactly what to expect.

www.hennepin.us -- General voting and elections information from Hennepin County

www.factcheck.org -- analysis of campaign statements and political ads by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania

www.opensecrets.org -- easy-to-follow campaign finance facts from the Center for Responsive Politics

www.vote-smart.org -- a massive collection of biographies, voting records, speeches, endorsements - basically everything related to politics - from Project Vote Smart

a marvelous source of material for Minnesota politics, including listserves that can help you stay informed, issue and candidate information, and much more

the Minnesota chapter of the nationally reputable non-partisan organization dedicated to voter education, and a great source of additional information about voting and elections

the Star-Tribune 2004 Voter's Guide is a good all-around source for information on candidates and issues

A few other sources have information about judicial candidates. These links refer to the 2004 judicial races, but before the 2006 election, we will update these to reflect the coming races. You should also check out the League of Women Voters Election Guide for information of this sort:

Minnesota Women Lawyers screens and endorses judicial candidates on a nonpartisan basis.

Minnesota Lawyer - 2004 Election Guide

Hennepin County Bar Association takes a poll of its lawyer members about the judges running every election.

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