LINKS -
POLITICAL PARTY LINKS
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www.democrats.org - The official site of the Democratic Party
www.gop.org - The official site of the Republican Party (GOP)
www.gp.org - The official site of the Green Party
www.lp.org - The official site of the Libertarian Party
www.peaceandfreedom.org - The official site of the Peace and Freedom Party
(It is always a good idea to know out what the various political parties are doing.)
ELECTION REFORM/VOTER RIGHTS
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www.fairvote.org - the Center for Democracy and Citizenship... Dream of what fair elections might look like. Info on instant runoff voting, redistricting, and other timely election issues. They also offer internships.
www.votersunite.org - My favourite page on their site is the “Info” page, which has maps showing types of voting machines used in each state, flyers on electronic election issues, and state by state info on verified voting paper ballots.
www.electionline.org - produced by the Election Reform Information Project, bills itself to be the nation’s only non-partisan, non-advocacy website providing up-to-the-minute news and analysis on election reform.
www.flhp.org - The Fannie Lou Hammer Project is a national education and advocacy organization that works to bring justice and equity to the campaign finance system.
www.nvri.org - National Voting Rights Institute works to vindicate the constitutional right of all citizens, regardless of their economic status, to participate in the electoral process on an equal and meaningful basis.
www.dnet.org - Democracy Net, a project of the League of Women Voters Education Fund, works to foster greater civic participation and interaction between voters and candidates.
MONEY ‘N’ POLITICS RESOURCES
www.bop2004.org - DO NOT MISS THIS SITE! The finances behind Campaign 2004. A project of the Center for Public Integrity (www.publicintegrity.org), a site also well worth checking out.
www.opensecrets.org - a guide to the biggest donors to the GOP & Dems for past and present election cycles.
VOTER REGISTRATION - WHERE AND HOW
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www.declareyourself.org - national Declaration of Independence road trip aimed at empowering young people & registering voters. Register to vote on their site!
www.rockthevote.org - Collaborating with MTV and celebrity artists, RTV makes political participation cool. Register to vote on their site!
www.vote-smart.org/voter_registration_resources.php - state-by-state registration info, local election offices, deadlines for registering
www.vote-smart.org/election_president_state_primary_dates.php - presidential primary schedule
www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.htm - National Voter Registration Mail-in Form
www.fec.gov/pages/faqabsentee.htm - figure out if you can vote in a swing state!
TIPS ON REGISTERING VOTERS
http://www.nlihc.org/vrem/education/timeline.html - the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s timeline for doing voter registration activities
http://www.nlihc.org/vrem/registration/whotocontact.html—the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s tips on voter registration events - hosting a candidate forum, planning a press event, etc.
www.nationalhomeless.org/vote2002/campaign.html - the National Coalition for the Homeless’ tips on registering voters. Also check out their section “Overcoming Excuses: Transforming a “No” into a Registered Voter”
www.registerfivedemocrats.com/RegistrationTips.htm - practical tips on conducting voter registration
www.slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2003/11/guerrilla_voter.html - guerrilla voter registration link
VOTER ORGANIZING PROJECTS
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www.hiphopconvention.org - Be part of forming the political agenda for the hip-hop generation! Become a delegate to the Hip Hop Convention (June 16-19 in Newark NJ) by registering 50 voters.
www.secretplan.org - the Oregon Bus Project! The New Progressive Network engages young and new progressives, educates to raise awareness about communities, government, and public policy, and elects progressive candidates through informing voters and generating dialogue.
www.diypolitics.org - Bringing together a network of musicians and artists to support progressive candidates with our time, energy, and money, DIY has a seriously fresh approach to creating awareness, inspiring action, and changing the system.
www.wegotissues.org - a cutting-edge performance-based movement incorporating young women’s rants and raves on the state of the nation.
www.votervirgin.com - Voter Virgin is dedicated to creating a culture of fun to inspire first-time voter participation. Voter Virgin supports and assists organizations working to register voters and plants the seed for new voter registration drives to bloom.
www.musicforamerica.org - a fresh organization that throws concerts and organizes festivals with the goal of connecting our cultural lives with our politics. Their website is pretty badass - check it out!
www.ssc.org - the Sierra Student Coalition is the largest student led environmental group in the country. With over 250 affiliated groups, the SSC educates, lobbies, provides trainings for organizers, and organizes outings.
www.stuct.com/saavy - South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY) has created a training and resource center for South Asian youth that want to politicize their voice.
www.mobilize.org - Mobilizing America’s Youth (MAY) is an all-partisan network dedicated to educating, empowering, and energizing young people to increase our civic engagement and political participation.
www.hiphopsummitactionnetwork.org - The Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) are working to register two million more 18-30 year olds in the 2004 Presidential Election.
www.usavotenet.com - USAVoteNet, a project of Women Vote, is a virtual community of voter outreach organizations which has come together to actively engage each other in order to coordinate their efforts, share strategies for effective outreach, inform and learn of projects of other groups around the country.
www.usavotenet.com/GOTVINNOVATIONS.htm - USAVoteNet’s list of innovative voter outreach strategies: what worked and what did not.
www.punkvoter.org - Punk Voter is about organizing the many diverse and regional movements into one voice of political change. Their goal is to educate, register, and mobilize over 500,000 of today’s youth as one voice.
www.youthvote.org - Youth Vote is a national non-partisan coalition of orgs established to increase participation, responsive government, and promote awareness. Good resources on young voter turnout & engaging young voters.
www.voteforamerica.org - Vote for America has projects in RI, GA, and NC and works to raise informed voter turnout through Pledge. Vote. Learn. Campaigns.
www.americacomingtogether.com - ACT is mobilizing voters in seventeen battleground states to swing the election in 2004 and elect progressive candidates all across America.
www.americavotes.org - some of the largest grassroots political organizations in the country, combining resources, research and strategy to develop issue-based groups engaging in electoral politics!
www.bostonvote.org - a successful model for local voter organizing. Boston VOTE is a coalition and a clearinghouse that provides resources, materials, training and staff support to member voter participation sites across the city.
www.nationalvoice.org - their “Voter Projects” section is a comprehensive guide to all groups doing voter stuff nationwide. The National Voice helps local groups incorporate voter education and registration activities into their work and provides online resources for groups.
www.directdemocracy.org - National Voter Outreach is a team of highly motivated individuals dedicated to the process of direct democracy. They work to help any individual, group, or entity to secure ballot status to allow a popular vote on any issue.
www.projectvote.org - a model for low-income & minority voter engagement that has succeeded in getting new and infrequent voters to vote on issues that are important to their families and communities
www.bigvote.org/byv.htm - Black Youth Vote! is an intensive effort to empower African American youth through political education. BYV provides training for Campus and Street Youth Coordinators to increase voter education and participation among Black Youth.
www.svrep.org - Southwest Voters Registration Education Project works to politically empower Latinos through increasing civic engagement in the American electoral system.
www.acorn.org - Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is the nation’s largest community organization of low and moderate-income families. ACORN builds community organizations that have the power to win change - through direct action, negotiation, legislation, and voter participation.
www.lcv.org - the political voice of the environmental movement, the League of Conservation Voters is an excellent model for building political power around a group of issues. Through regional offices, the LCV builds coalitions, promotes grassroots power, and trains the next generation of environmental leaders.
www.campusdemocracy.org - The 180/Movement for Democracy and Education is dedicated to helping build a campus-based movement for political empowerment and participatory democracy. Their site has a campus democracy program and information on how you can affiliate as a local chapter.
www.compact.org - Campus Contact promotes development of students’ citizenship skills and partnerships between campuses and communities.
www.naacp.org/work/voter/voter_empowerment.shtml - Believing that “a voteless people is a hopeless people”, the NAACP’s voter empowerment efforts work to achieve full political empowerment for African Americans.
STUDENT ORGANIZING RESOURCES
www.usstudents.org - The United States Student Association tracks and lobbies federal legislation and policy, and organizes students from across the country to participate in the political process, through testifying in official Congressional hearings, letter-writing campaigns, and face-to-face lobby visits between students and their elected officials.
www.nyspc.net - The National Youth and Student Peace Coalition organizes students for the global liberation and empowerment of oppressed people, and educates youth and students about the issues surrounding war, and the impact of September 11th-related legislation.
www.usasnet.org - united Students against Sweatshops is an international student movement of campuses and individual students fighting for sweatshop free labour conditions and workers’ rights.
OTHER links
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www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=158 - People for the American Way - the Right Wing Watch section is a resource not to be missed
www.democracy2004.org - a project of the Independent Progressive Politics Network.
http://www.ballot.org/about/index.html - Founded in 1998, the mission of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center is to utilize the ballot initiative process to further the goals of the labour and progressive community.
www.massinc.org/Commonwealth/new_map_exclusive/beyond_red_blue.html- Beyond Red and Blue, Commonwealth’s analysis of the national electorate and cross-state predictions for Election 2004. A fascinating article.
www.ips-dc.org - The Institute for Policy Studies is the nation’s oldest multi-issue progressive think tank.
www.progressivemajority.com - a stellar site with links to progressive groups & resources
www.amconmag.org - American Conservative Magazine --- stay tuned to what conservatives are reading.
www.newmouthfromthedirtysouth.org/future - the first and only complete resource on the youth movement in the U.S. Profiles 500 of the most important youth-led organizations across the country.
www.thirdwavefoundation.org/default.htm - the Third Wave Foundation is the only national activist philanthropic organization that builds social justice movements led by young women.
ALTERNATIVE MEDIA
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www.indymedia.org - A huge network of multimedia non-corporate news sources from around the world.
www.workingforchange.com - daily online newsletter with progressive articles about politics. Direct links to specific activism opportunities under activism tab.
www.thenewstandard.net - NEW! One of the first professional, independent, non-commercial hard news sources in the United States
www.projectcensored.org - a media research group our of Sonoma State University which tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters.
www.commondreams.org - a national non-profit citizens’ organization working to bring progressive Americans together to promote progressive visions for America’s future.
www.costofwar.com - Just what it sounds like - a website dedicated to exposing the cost of war.
www.cjr.org/tools/owners - the Columbia Journalism Review’s guide to media ownership and consolidation - Who Owns What?
www.truemajority.org - provides a positive blueprint for moving forward in the post 9/11 world.
www.znet.org - Z Magazine’s excellent site
www.alternet.org - Alternet.org is a project of the Independent Media Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting independent and alternative journalism.
ARTICLES
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www.yesmagazine.org.27government/palast.htm - Visualize a Fair Election in 2004, by Greg Palast and Ina Howard, an article that discusses the problems with felon disenfranchisement, computerized voting, and the need for paper trails.
www.americavotes.org/press/dec-9-2003.cfm - Article from In These Times, December 9, 2003, Door-by-Door Progressives Hit the Streets in Massive Voter Outreach by Christopher Hayes.
www.therochesterdemocrat.com/election2004_comments.php?id=4393_0_4_o_c - GOP Building Army of Volunteers to Get Out the Vote by Richard W. Stevenson, the New York Times, December 20, 2003.
www.civicyouth.org/research/products/fact_sheets_outside.htm - From CIRCLE, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Youth Voting Has Declined, By Any Measure, a report on youth voter turnout, by Peter Levine and Mark Hugo Lopez, September 2002.
ACTIVIST TIPS, TOOLKITS AND RESOURCES
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http://www.ran.org/action/toolbox/ - Dope guide to activism strategies and tricks of the trade. Everything from how to organize a demonstration to letter writing tips, getting a local resolution passed & a guide to protestors’ rights.
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/tips.cfm - This page is an AMAZING resource for progressive activists - a nationwide database of elected officials (find yours), and virtual white pages for the media including publications, companies and specific contacts at each.
http://www.starhawk.org/activism/consensus.html - A good, concise explanation of consensus process with tips on how to make it work.
http://usliberals.about.com/cs/studentactivism/ - A list of links to sites about media deregulation, activist rights, tools for environmental and human rights activists.
http://www.cypresscon.com/coalition.html—from Cypress Consulting, a guide to coalition building.
http://ctb.ku.edu/ - the Community Tool Box supports work in promoting community health and development. They have some great resources, information, and trainings on their website - aimed at engaging your community and improving participation.
http://www.cfpa.org/progdirectory/ - Find progressive resources across all fifty states!
http://www.2020vision.org/resources/r_activists.htm - 20/20 vision’s tools for busy people to get involved in influencing political decision-making. Check out their site for ideas. They ask you to commit to 20 minutes of action per month.
BRINGING PROGRESSIVES TOGETHER ONLINE
www.indyvoter.org - our amazing new web platform, coming to you soon!
www.moveon.org - Move On is a movement, more than a resource, which has revolutionized grassroots political involvement by supporting concerned citizens in finding their voice and taking action. All we have to say about Move On is, go on their website and sign up!
www.democracyinaction.org - Utilizes online activism tools and web publishing technology to facilitate the growth and activity of organizations who share ecological and social justice values.
www.engageamerica.com - Engage America seeks to ensure that getting forward-looking Americans to the polls represents progressive values.
