Voting Resources

Are you looking for a fun and engaging elections game to help teach your students or your own kids about how elections work? If so, you’ll be surprised to know you have a variety to choose from. While there are a few elections board games out there, these days the average elections game offers a computer simulation of the elections process either from the candidates’ or the voters’ perspectives. The higher quality games are carefully designed to give young citizens a close-up and realistic look at how elections work.

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In the United States, the two-party system has been so all-encompassing of American politics as to nearly obliterate all traces of any other option. Recent criticism has been directed at how the two parties are actually the same one, with words like “Republocrat” and “Demican” used as derogatory names for the two main parties. However, a new party has come onto the scene: the Green Party. This party has been gaining acceptance and slowly getting more news coverage. So what is it, and what does it stand for?

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When the United States was first founded, it took a while for them to concede to even have a President at all. It was believed that having one central executive figure would be too much like having a king - something they still shuddered at the thought of. Well, in terms of how kingdoms tend to inspire legends, they were at least partly right - quite a bit of folklore has grown up around the office of President. Let’s get to the bottom of some of these and sort the truth from the balderdash.

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Time heals all wounds. That’s an old proverb.

But how much time? It probably depends on the wound. For now, no one can say that the United States is over the 9/11 attack. The attack, the Afghanistan war, and the Iraq war, have left scars that will grow up and grow older with us, year after year, President after President.

It’s hard to find an American anymore who didn’t lose somebody close to them in the past seven years. Either you knew a firefighter or a work acquaintance who died in the World Trade Center, or you know a soldier who went overseas to a war they’re never coming back from. Some of us have lost children, or siblings, parents, or spouses. And now we have to figure out, without any help at all, whether how we vote in the 2008 election will mean we lose more people. And if so, how to make our vote count.

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With the wide range of candidates vying for the White House in 2008, many of them will be disappointed, while only one can prevail. To buck up the spirits of the also-rans, here’s a little list of famous unfortunate exits and almost-exits from the Oval Office. Sure, you never got elected, but at least none of these have happened to you!

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Bone up on your political jargon with this handy list of political phrases and expressions. While there are many of these, this list may be especially relevant to Presidential Election 2008, so keep an eye out for spotting these concepts as the race unfolds in all its drama!

• Absurdistan - A satiric term for any country where absurdity is the norm. A funny farm on a national scale. What America may feel like when this election is over.

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Finding elections news coverage isn’t too difficult. In fact, even several months before elections, it seems like all you hear about are the candidates and their thoughts on the issue of the moment.

Of course, just because there is an abundance if news on the upcoming elections, that doesn’t mean the first thing you come across in the paper or on the TV is really useful, unbiased coverage of what matters most. It is possible to get unbiased elections coverage, but you have to put in a little effort. Here are some tips to follow as you look for elections news.

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Interestingly, the phrase “democratic elections” seems to come up most often in news stories from countries where fair elections are conspicuously absent. They’re stories that tell of opposing candidates threatening each other with violence, whole boxes of ballots being thrown out, or scores of people being turned away from voting centers due to their ethnicity or religion.

In cases like those, many who call for “democratic elections” want nothing more than to be able to vote without fear and know their ballot will be counted. They’re too busy dealing with immediate problems to look at the nuances of democracy.

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If you’re planning on voting in the up-coming election, you probably already know voter registration is the first step you need to take to be ready. What you may not know is exactly how and where to register to vote. If you’re a U.S. citizen, you may still be a little unclear about exactly who can vote.

The good news is that voter registration is a quick and hassle-free process. Elections are one time the government actually goes out of their way to make things easy for you and ensure a good turnout. If you want to register to vote in the upcoming elections, here is some information you will need.

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Every four years, it seems, the race for the Presidency spawns a kind of party atmosphere for a while where basically, everybody and his sister says that they’re running for President. But besides the more popular third parties, such as Green and Libertarian, there’s the great, vast array of the Independents. There is no “Independent party”, exactly; you just announce your candidacy and do your best to run. And hope nobody runs an article like this one making fun of you.

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