A non-profit based in Des Moines wants you to be an informed voter. "Vote Smart" provides an expansive online database with facts about thousands of candidates and elected officials: and it's easy to navigate and understand.
Director of Development and Communication, Jacob Petterson, says Vote Smart presents the information in six categories.
"These include things like biographical information, or who these candidates and officials are, as well as things like special interest group ratings, or how these candidates are being rated by others based on their performance."
It also breaks down their positions, voting records, and funding sources. In short, Petterson says, Vote Smart is maintained by people from across the political spectrum who still believe facts matter.
"We were founded by political opposites, these include people like former presidents Carter and Ford, who were basically fed up with the hyper-partisan way that Americans were forced to consume politics, and it's apparent that that mission has just grown more necessary since our founding in 1992."
You can learn more about public officials and candidates, primarily at the national and statewide level, by visiting votesmart.org.