LibGuides: Election Resources: Home

How to Vote in Maryland

Maryland State Board of Elections Instructions
This website offers a step by step guide for Marylanders who want to participate in the upcoming presidential election.

Voting in Maryland by HeadCount
HeadCount is a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy. We reach young people and music fans where they already are – at concerts and online – to inform and empower.

Teaching Resources

10 GREAT CHILDREN’S BOOKS ABOUT VOTING AND ELECTIONS
Via BookRiot
25 Children's Books That Teach Kids About Elections And Voting
Via HuffPost
Civic Online Reasoning
Offers full curriculum in digital "civic online reasoning." Via the Stanford History Education Group
Civics and Swing States Project
This site serves as the home base for all content related to the Civics & Swing States program, a free 8-session program aimed at mobilizing people--particularly young people--to engage in democracy and the 2020 election.
I Side With...
How do your beliefs align with the potential candidates? Take their Quiz to find out! iSideWith.com is an independent, self-funded, non-partisan voter education website.
National Institute on Civil Discourse
Via The University of Arizona
Navigating Conversations about the Election
Via Jenn Court, includes resources from Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, ADL, Teaching Tolerance, The Glasgow Group, etc.
PBS Election Collection for Educators
In This Collection: Video (53), Document (17), Lesson Plan (5), Media Gallery (4), Interactive (4), Interactive Lesson (1), Webpage (2) for Grades 4-13+ , Resources in Spanish (2)
Presidential Campaign Commercials since 1952
Via The Museum of the Moving Image
Teaching About Elections
Via ADL.org, includes many tools, strategies, and lesson plans for respectful discourse around this election
Tools for Teachers for Election Education
Via Common Sense Media, includes 3 Lesson Plans
VOTING AND ELECTIONS | RESOURCES FOR A CIVIL CLASSROOM
Via Teaching Tolerance, includes lesson plans for all ages

Information on Presidential and Local Candidates

Political Polling

Five Thirty Eight
At FiveThirtyEight, we strive to accumulate and analyze polling data in a way that is honest, informed, comprehensive and accurate.
Gallup's 2020 Presidential Election Center
Looking for public opinion metrics that matter for the 2020 presidential election? Drawing on its more than 80-year history, Gallup has identified key indicators to put the 2020 election in historical context.
Real Clear Politics
Real Clear Politics is a polling data aggregator rated by Media Bias Fact Check as mostly factual and right-leaning.
Reuters: Election 2020 Polls
Reuters is a news organization founded in 1851 in the United Kingdom. It has been rated by Media Bias Fact Check as one of the most highly factual and least biased news sources.
University of Virginia's Center for Politics
Sabato's Crystal Ball analyzes political trends and tries to forecast - or predict - the winners of major races including the Presidency, Senate and House of Representatives.

Investigate Candidate Advertising, Funding, and Positions. Fact Check Candidates!

I Side With...
How do your beliefs align with the potential candidates? Take their Quiz to find out! iSideWith.com is an independent, self-funded, non-partisan voter education website.
On The Issues
Created by the founders of Snopes fact-checking website, this is a collection of the positions of major political candidates as taken from their public quotes and comments.
Open Secrets
"Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy."
Politifact
Politifact is owned by the non-profit journalism and news research center The Poynter Institute. It focuses on statements made by politicians, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2009.

Electoral Process

The Electoral College: How America picks its president
Via The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard.

News Sources

AllSides Election Resource Center
Get nonpartisan information about how to vote, election news coverage, and everything you need to know about what's on your ballot.
Interactive Media Bias Chart
Via Ad Fontes Media
Media Bias Chart
Via AllSides.com, the AllSides Media Bias Chart helps you to easily identify different perspectives so you can get the full picture and think for yourself. Knowing the political bias of media outlets allows you to consume a balanced news diet and avoid manipulation and fake news.
National Public Radio
Rated as one of the most unbiased news sources by AllSides.com
New York Times
Access to the New York Times is through an "Academic Pass" system. Please check for an email from Ms. Fox for instructions on how to turn on your academic pass.
Reuters Election News
Rated as one of the most unbiased news sources by AllSides.com
Today's Front Pages
Via The Newseum, see a gallery of front pages from newspapers around the country.

Misinformation and Fact Checking Tools

MediaWise: Empowering the Next Generation of American Voters

Ballotpedia: Presidential election, 2020
Ballotpedia is an online, nonprofit encyclopedia founded in 2007 which offers, "neutral, accurate, and verifiable information on government officials and the offices they hold, political issues and public policy, elections, candidates, and the influencers of politics." It has been rated by Media Bias Fact Check as one of the most highly factual and least biased sources of information.
FactCheck.org
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center
Media Bias Chart
Via AllSides.com, the AllSides Media Bias Chart helps you to easily identify different perspectives so you can get the full picture and think for yourself. Knowing the political bias of media outlets allows you to consume a balanced news diet and avoid manipulation and fake news.
MediaWise Project: Teen Fact-Checking Network
The MediaWise Teen Fact-Checking Network (TFCN) publishes daily fact-checks for teenagers, by teenagers. The program is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles.
Spot the Troll
The quiz where YOU examine images of real social media content and decide whether it's from a legitimate account or an internet troll.
Via Clemson Univsersity's Media Forensics Hub
Young Voters Guide to Navigating Election News and Media
Learn how to find sources of credible information about candidates, voting, and the election.

Get Involved

8 Ways You Can Make a Difference in the Election--Even If You Can't Vote
Via CommonSense Media, offers a roadmap for getting involved in the issues closest to you.
Black Voters Matter
Black Voters Matter's goal is to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities through voter outreach, organizing, and civic engagement.
League of Women Voters
Empowering voters, defending democracy. To become a League member, join one of the 700+ state or local leagues. Protect the future of democracy today.
MediaWise Project:Prep for the Polls
Want to know how to prep for the polls as a first-time voter this election season? Step one: take this free text message course!

Relevant Databases

Ethnic News Watch This link opens in a new window
Ethnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The database now also contains Ethnic NewsWatch: A History, which provides historical coverage of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American periodicals from 1959-1989.

Username: rolandpark
Password: rolandpark
US Newsstream This link opens in a new window
US Newsstream enables users to search the most recent premium U.S. news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s featuring newspapers, newswires, blogs, and news sites in active full-text format. For academic and public libraries, US Newsstream offers exclusive access to the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and co-exclusive access (with Factiva) to The Wall Street Journal. US Newsstream also offers one of the largest collections of local and regional newspapers, and is cross-searchable on the ProQuest platform.

Username: rpcs2016
Password: rpcs2016#