News Room

Since Project Vote Smart was inaugurated in 1992, we have offered special services and programs for political journalists to enhance their coverage of politics and elections. The Project partners with more than 300 national, state, and local news organizations, all endorsing Project programs. In addition to comprehensive databases on more than 40,000 candidates and incumbents, the Project provides journalists with special research services and publications, including:

The Reporter's Resource Center: Call the Voter's Research Hotline (1-888-VOTE SMART) to access a free research and referral service for working political journalists. Project researchers have access to an extensive library and databases of continually updated information about elected officials, candidates, issues, special interest groups, and government activities, to help journalists with fact-checking and background for their stories.

Political Courage Test News Media Partnerships: Each election cycle, news organizations all over the nation lend support to our efforts by endorsing our programs, and by asking their candidates to provide relevant issue information. For more information about our Media Partnership Program and a list of supporting news organizations, click here.

Political Courage Test: Our Political Courage Test is a comprehensive national examination of the willingness of candidates to answer questions about their issue inclinations. Each state-specific test asks candidates if they are willing to answer questions on the issues that are both important to citizens in their state and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. Click here to find out more about the Political Courage Test program and to view federal and state Political Courage Tests.

News Releases: Check out the Project's most recent news releases.

PSA Program: Hundreds of radio and television stations air informative PSAs during the election season, directing their audiences to our web site and Voter's Research Hotline for information on their candidates and the elections.

Publications: Our publications are free of charge, and several are designed especially for the media. Click here to access the Reporter's Source Book, The Vote Smart Web YellowPages, and the Voter's Self-Defense Manual, and to get information about getting your own copy.

What They Are Saying: These are a few of the endorsements of Project Vote Smart's programs by news organizations around the country each year. Click here to check them out.