Election Websites

Since I have recently been exploring new sites with the aid of Alexa's new Related Links, I've been encouraged to see that sites providing political information have been receiving spikes in traffic of late. An informed citizen is the sort I'd rather have voting, and in the twenty-first century, there's plenty of information a click away for those who take their democratic responsibilities seriously.

I've been visiting FactCheck.org every couple of days. The advantage of a non-partisan organization de-spinning candidates' statements is a gift from the Internet Age. This site's Reach has increased 114% when you compare the last three months of traffic to the previous three. Predictably, spiked occur when big political events happen, such as the recent Presidential Debate. Posted the day after the debate, FactCheck's blow-by-blow breakdown of the misleading or erroneous statements of both candidates has apparently been of use to many other than myself.

Another election-year resource on the web that I've found handy is Project Vote Smart's website. This site aggregates all sorts of hard data about lawmakers: public statements, voting records, biographical information, campaign finances, and ratings of various interest groups to name a few. Though their Voter's Self-Defense Manual has been and continues to be an invaluable paper resource, the website provides a bounty of information about all things politics. Their Reach has increased 318% in the second half of the past six months.

Of course, for those political junkies who need a daily fix of if-the-election-were-held-today, there are at least two sites (thanks, Related Links) dealing with the electoral college map. I knew about Electoral-vote.com, but have identified 270ToWin.com as a competing site. While each of them predicts an Obama victory at this stage of the game, based on state-by-state polling data, they have some different ideas about the likely/possible vote count.

Which sites do you find indispensable in the quest for election facts and fun? Do their Related Links lead to new favorites?