License to Thrive

Project Vote Smart: Voter’s Self-Defense System Launch 2008

What is Project Vote Smart?

Project Vote Smart focuses research on every presidential, congressional, gubernatorial and state legislative candidate and incumbent in the country, with some coverage of other state and local office holders, as well as ballot measures and voter registration information. Primary areas of information include:

Vote Smart protects its reputation for integrity and non-partisanship in several unique ways. A few key elements of the program:

Founding Board members must join with a political opposite so there is always an ideological balance on the board. Thus pairings such as former Presidents Carter and Ford, former Senators Goldwater and McGovern, presidential candidates Dukakis and McCain, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Representative Geraldine Ferraro.

Vote Smart is funded entirely by foundation grants and the contributions of more than 40,000 individuals. We do not accept support from special interests or the government, and do not take positions on any issue.

Most of the research and other work of Vote Smart is done by college student interns and volunteers of all ages.

Staff work at the Great Divide Ranch in Montana, a 150-acre research retreat with lodging facilities, T-1 lines, and recreational opportunities. Project Vote Smart also maintains a research office at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Text from Project Vote Smart 2007 Newsletter Article

When was the last time you saw a candidate stand up in front of the American public and say something of substance that you felt you could actually trust? Or heard a campaign promise you could believe? Or felt the candidates bargaining for your vote were truly interested in informing you, rather than in manipulating your emotions and fears to their advantage?

Instead of waiting around for these miracles, Project Vote Smart has bypassed the candidates and parties to provide citizens with the nation’s first Voter’s Self-Defense System. This System is a giant independent archive of facts on every incumbent and candidate for president, US House and Senate, governor, and state legislature in the country.

Project Vote Smart is launching the Voter’s Self-Defense System in the fall of 2008 with a national campaign to bring blue state (Democrats) and red state (Republicans) voters together in a Purple Campaign, to stand up for perhaps the most crucial principle in a democracy: the right of voters to cast informed votes, regardless of party affiliation. Project board members will be on the road much of 2007-2008 speaking to interested organizations about the Project and how to use the independent, non-partisan information being collected by hundreds of volunteers and student interns at the Project’s headquarters in the Montana Rockies, and the new research office at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Voters can defend themselves from the self-serving hype and spin of political campaigns by easy access to voting records, campaign contribution history, ratings by competing special interest groups, personal and professional backgrounds, issue positions, and the key word searchable public statements of candidates. Ballot measures and other state and federal voting information are also available to anyone through easy zip code lookup on the Project’s web site (www.votesmart.org) and the toll-free Voter’s Research Hotline (1-888-VOTE SMART).

The Voter’s Self-Defense System has been designed and built over the last 16 years by more than 6,000 interns and volunteers, with the support of national leaders such as former presidents Carter and Ford, former senators Goldwater and McGovern, and John McCain and Michael Dukakis, and 36 other prominent Americans. The Project does not lobby for or against any cause or issue, accepts no contributions from special interests, and is funded entirely through foundation grants and the contributions of about 40,000 members.