Voting and Elections Guide - Get Registered and Vote!: Introduction
Introduction
This guide provides non-partisan links and resources for Stanford students who want to register and vote in the United States and a research guide for elections, campaign finance, and related public policy issues. Please note that this is for general informational purposes only and is in no way intended to be legal, tax, or financial aid advice for individuals.
This LibGuide was created (in part) using materials and information from the following resources:
- Vote.gov, from the federal Election Assistance Commission;
- Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP);
- Can I Vote, from the National Association of Secretaries of State;
- California Secretary of State - Elections and Santa Clara County Registrar of Elections;
- U.S. Vote Foundation;
- VOTE411, from the League of Women Voters;
- Voting and Elections Toolkit, from the American Library Association - Government Documents Roundtable (ALA-GODORT); and
- Voting Resources, from the American Association of Law Librarians.
Questions, comments, or suggestions about this guide? Email me at dgensch [at] Stanford [dot] edu.
Recent and Upcoming Special Elections
National and high-profile elections
- Wisconsin Supreme Court, April 1, 2025Wisconsin voters chose Judge Susan Crawford over Judge Brad Schimel in the technically non-partisan but partisan-by-proxy Supreme Court election on April 1. Where possible, official government results are used, but Wisconsin has no consolidated statewide election reporting mechanism and so Ballotpedia has substituted for 72 county websites.
Local and regional elections
- City of Oakland Municipal Special Election on April 15, 2025Information and results (when available) for Oakland municipal special election, including to fill the remainder of former Mayor Sheng Thao's term and of former City Council Member Nikki Fortunato Bas (District 2), along with a 0.5% additional local sales tax, are at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. The election will be 100% vote by mail and close as of April 15, 2025.
- Statement of the Vote for San Mateo County Sheriff Recall from March 4, 2025Statement of the Vote by Office of Mark Church, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder, Registration & Elections Division, San Mateo County, California; Special Election for County Measure A on March 4, 2025
- San Jose City Council District 3, April 8, 2025Full details from the City's Elections page, including unofficial results from the April 8, 2025 initial special election, candidate disclosures and campaign finance reports, links to District 3 boundaries, state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) requirements, and San Jose campaign and ethics guidelines. As of April 10, 2025, a runoff election is expected because no candidate received at least 50% of the votes.
Election Results
Find results from nonpartisan news and government sources from some of the following techniques and resources:
- California Secretary of State Election ResultsIncludes maps, statewide results, and lists of county reporting status.
- Cal Matters Election ResultsCalifornia's nonprofit news room, with live election results on statewide and prominent local races.
- Santa Clara County Election ResultsThe county Registrar of Voters has a live results link, accessible from this page.
- San Mateo County Election ResultsLinks to live election night results in multiple file formats and including a tally room camera.
- SF Elections Results PageResults for all San Francisco contests, from presidential to county supervisor, including initial ranked-choice voting (RCV) results.
- Official Election Site of Alameda CountyResults will start being provided at 8 pm; follow this site for initial results of recall elections for Oakland Mayor and Alameda County District Attorney.
- Roster for National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS)Outside California, or curious about official vote counts in other states? Connect to the Secretary of State, Lt. Governor, or other public official with oversight responsibility for voting and elections.
- BBC News Live UpdatesBritain's official broadcast network, with extensive coverage of the election.
- New York Times (Stanford Access)See further description on how to access this and other news resources at https://guides.library.stanford.edu/newspapers.
Conduct a limited Google search for your state or local elections office using terms like "Colorado statewide elections office site:.gov" or "Cook County Clerk site:.gov". Note that not every government jurisdiction uses a .gov domain; check a source like the California State Association of Counties membership profiles to be sure you have the correct site.
