Elections, Parties & Campaign Finance

• California Target Book. Print. Detailed political analysis of state legislative and congressional candidates and districts. Supplemented with faxed and mailed updates. Key insider publication!
• Who's Who in the California Legislature. Print. Biennial. Profiles of state legislators.
• California Political Almanac. Print. Biennial. Profiles of state legislators. Ceased publication with 1999/2000 edition, but still useful for information on incumbents.
• Official profiles of state legislators on the Web.

Assembly: www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset7text.htm

State Senate: www.sen.ca.gov/~newsen/senators/senators.htp

• California State Government Directory. Print. Updated quarterly. Basic directory information on state legislators.
• California Legislature. Print. Official legislative handbook; includes brief biographies.
• CQ's Politics in America. Print. Material online in CQ's Congress Collection: library.cqpress.com/congress/. Biennial. Profiles of U.S. Senate and House members.
• Almanac of American Politics. Print and online. Biennial. Profiles of U.S. Senatae and House members.
• The Cook Political Report. Online 2005 onward www.cookpolitical.com/. Detailed coverage of Senate, House and gubernatorial elections. Exerpts (2004 onward) are included in the campaign coverage in National Journal Group's Policy Central.
• Official profiles of U.S. Senate and House members on the Web.

House: www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html

Senate: www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm

• Lexis-Nexis Congressional Online web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/. Member profiles, voting records, campaign finance data.
• California Digital Library (CDL) databases. Search candidate's names as key words and as subject terms in the Melvyl Catalog database, and in the Expanded Academic ASAP database, one of several potentially useful databases for journal articles.
• News Sources. Check out the various print and online options, especially Lexis-Nexis Academic and NewsBank Full-Text Newspapers.

Ballot Measure Information/Analysis

• Analysis of Measures on the Ballot (Mar. 1996 primary onward) (Legislative Analyst's Office)
• California Ballot Pamphlet:
      Mar. 1996 primary onward (California Secretary of State)
      1911 onward [pdf] (Hastings College of the Law Library)
• California Ballot Initiatives Database (1911 onward) (Hastings College of the Law Library)
  Includes "the full text of the initiatives, accompanying material relating to their filing & qualification, related legal and legislative history, and digital images of pertinent documents."
• California Ballot Propositions Database (1911 onward) (Hastings College of the Law Library)
  Includes "the full text of the propositions, accompanying material contained in the voters' pamphlets, related legal and legislative history, and digital images of the voters' pamphlets."
• California Ballot Propositions (1944 onward) (Barbara Friedrich, Santa Clara University)
  A list of the propositions by election, with identifying catchwords. Notes whether the proposition passed or failed.
• California Ballot Propositions Overview: 11/8/2005 | 11/2/2004 (Institute of Governmental Studies Library)
  Narrative overviews, arguments for and against, links to official voter information, key websites, polls, editorials, and newspaper articles.
• California Ballot Propositions Recommendations: 11/2/2004 | 3/2/2004 | 10/7/2003 | 11/5/2002 | 3/5/2002 | 11/7/2000 (Institute of Governmental Studies Library)
• California Online Voter Guide (Nov. 1994 onward) (California Voter Foundation)
  Includes candidate information. Scroll down to desired guides.
• Easy Voter (A project of the League of Women Voters of California)
  "Nonpartisan information for new voters and busy voters in California." Includes candidate information.
• Initiative Update (Secretary of State)
  Notes the latest initiatives in circulation and initiatives that have qualified for the next election.
• Pros & Cons of State Ballot Measures: June 1998 | Nov. 1998 | Mar. 2000 | Nov. 2000 | Mar. 2002 | Nov. 2002 | Oct. 2003 | Nov. 2004 (League of Women Voters of California)
• State and Local Tax and Bond Ballot Measures (California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission)
  Statistics and analysis of tax and bond measures. Online from 2000 primary election onward. Print from Nov. 1986 to Nov. 1998.

Campaign Finance & Election Statistics

• Statement of the Vote/Election Returns. Print. Official election statistics from the California Secretary of State. (IGSL A3099, General election; A2217, Primary election; GovtRefe JK8793 latest 2 elections, earlier in Main stacks)

Also online, June 1992 onward: www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_elections.htm

• Report of Registration. Print. Official voter registration statistics from the California Secretary of State.

Also online, Jan. 1999 onward: www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_u.htm

• Cal-Access - California Automated Lobbying and Campaign Contribution & Expenditure Search System. Online cal-access.ss.ca.gov/. 2000 primary election onward. Detailed campaign finance information from the California Secretary of State. Names of individual donors and the amounts contributed. Candidates or committees raising or spending $50,000 or more are required to file. (The filing threshold was $100,000 for the 2000 primary--the first time the system was used.)
  Total contributions and expenditures for specific races are available from the Cal-Access Advanced Reports page; select the Summary Reports for ballot measures, candidates or political parties.
• Follow the Money Online www.followthemoney.org/. Institute on Money in State Politics. Database for tracking interest group campaign contributions in state elections. California coverage begins with 1998.
• Selected Campaign Financing Analyses. Print. California Secretary of State. Mostly gross totals raised and spent; little or no information on individual contributors.

Also online, 1996-1998: www.ss.ca.gov/prd/campaign_info/financing_analyses/list_camp_rpts.htm

• CQ Voting and Elections Collection Online library2.cqpress.com/elections/. Extensive database of election data for presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections.
• OpenSecrets.org. Online www.opensecrets.org/. Center for Responsive Politics. Extensive database on campaign finance at the federal and state levels. Search by candidate and donor names and by geographic area, including zipcode. Highly recommended!
• PoliticalMoneyLine. Online www.tray.com/. Major site for federal campaign finance data. Includes databases searchable by candidate name and donor.
• Campaign Finance Reports and Data. Online www.fec.gov/1996/sdrindex.htm. Federal Election Commission data in HTML format. Also includes an image database of the actual financial reports filed by campaigns and committees for presidential and House races.
• Digital Sunlight(California Voter Foundation)
  "Electronic Filing + Internet Disclosure = Digital Sunlight."
• Late Contribution and Independent Expenditure Reports: June 1998 | Nov. 1998 (Secretary of State)
  For 2000 onward use the Cal-Access database.

Election Returns and Voter Registration

• Permanent Absentee Voter Statistics (June 1992 - Nov. 1998) (Secretary of State)
  By county, with state totals.
• Report of Registration (Feb. 1999 onward) (Secretary of State)
• Statement of Vote/Election Returns: 1992 onward | 1992 - 1998 (Secretary of State)

Local Elections

• Alameda County Elections (Alameda County Registrar of Voters)
• California Elections Data Archives (Center for California Studies, and Institute for Social Research, California State University, Sacramento)
  A repository of California local election data from 1995 onward. Includes candidate and ballot measure results for county, city, community college and school district elections. Data for 1999 onward is available online. Data for 1995-1998 is available in printed reports.
• Campaign Ethics Foundation of Santa Clara County, California
• Campaign Net Pages (Telemetrix)
  Information on candidates, financial disclosure,and issues for selected counties.
• Report on County Initiatives: 1997-1998 | 1999-2000 (Secretary of State)
  Tables by county noting the proposition title and passed/failed status.
• Report on Municipal Initiative Measures: 1995-1996 | 1997-1998 | 1999-2000 (Secretary of State)
  Tables by city noting the proposition title and passed/failed status.
• San Francisco Voter Pamphlets & Propositions (San Francisco Public Library)
  Provides online access to San Francisco voter pamphlets and ballot propositions from 1907 onward. Browse by date or search a database index.

Political Parties and Organizations

• Qualified Political Parties (Secretary of State)
  List of political parties meeting the requirements of the California Elections Code.
• American Independent Party
• California Congress of Republicans
• California Democratic Party
• California Republican Assembly
• California Republican Party
• California Young Democrats
• California Young Republicans
• Green Party of California
• Libertarian Party of California
• Natural Law Party of California
• Peace and Freedom Party of California
• Reform Party of California

Other Resources

• California Voter Foundation
  "A clearinghouse of nonpartisan political information providing the public with convenient, 24-hour access to the "raw materials" of democratic life. CVF's web site and voter guides are easy to navigate, free to users and free of advertisements."
• County Elections Officials (Secretary of State)
• DNet California (League of Women Voters Education Fund and Center for Governmental Studies)
  "An interactive website designed to improve the quality and quantity of voter information and create a more educated and involved electorate."
• League of Women Voters of California
• Politics1 - California
  Directory of candidates and state news sources.
• Smart Voter (League of Women Voters of California)
  "Offers extensive background information on candidates in participating counties as well as information on state and local ballot measures." Was the first site to offer personalized election information based on a voter's address.
• UCLA Online Campaign Literature Archive (UCLA Library)
  Online digital archive of California campaign materials, with a focus on Los Angeles, dating from 1908.