Just For Students

Student Voices Resources

• How to Use the Student Voices Web site

National Student Resources

• The White House
• Office of the President
• The President's Cabinet
• U.S. Senate
• U.S. House of Representatives
• Federal Judiciary – Homepage for the U.S. justice system.
• The Supreme Court of the U.S.
• Federal Judicial Center – Information on important proceedings in the U.S. justice system.
• Library of Congress

General Research

• FactCheck.org - This site monitors the factual accuracy of major U.S. political candidates' TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases.
• The Living Room Candidate – This site has more than 250 campaign ads from presidential contests reaching back to Eisenhower vs. Stevenson in 1956, a great resource for Ad Watches.
• USA.gov – Web portal for information on all branches of the U.S. government
• U.S. Congress Votes Database - This site from the Washington Post allows you to see all congressional votes by session, representative, legislation, etc.
• Followthemoney.org  – A Web site of the National Institute on Money in State Politics contains information on state-level campaign contributions in all 50 states, with information on candidates, committees, contributors and industries.
• Opensecrets.org – A site that contains information on the organizations and industries that give money to American politics.

Constitutional Research

• The United States Constitution
• The United States Constitution - Spanish
• The United States Constitution - other languages
• Constitutions and Statutes – Read all the laws that govern the United States, from your state constitution to the U.S. Constitution and uniform codes and statutes.
• Constitutions of the Americas – Read the constitutions and information on the governments of any country in North, South, and Central America.

Voting / Election Information

• Residency Requirement for Voting
• C-SPAN Elections
• Census Bureau Voting Statistics by demographics
• Reports on the Youth Vote
  • CIRCLE Report on Youth Turnout in Election 2006
  • CIRCLE Report on Youth Turnout in Election 2004
  • Census Data Shows Youth Voter Turnout Surged More Than Any Other Age Group in 2004
• OnTheIssues – Nonpartisan voter information.
• Project Vote Smart
• Politics1
• Vote411.org – A site from the League of Women Voters where you can find your polling place and other important election information by entering in your address.

News Media

Philadelphia Student Resources

Learn More About

• Philadelphia Government Structure
• What Does the Mayor Do?
• What Does the City Council Do?
• What Does the General Assembly Do?
• What Does the Governor Do?
• Youth Issues Agendas
• Issues Directory

Official Government Sites

• City of Philadelphia - Provides links to web pages for the Mayor's office, various city services, administrative offices, boards, commissions, and legal services. Special pages for Philadelphia businesses, residents, and visitors.
• Philadelphia City Council - Describes Philadelphia City Council, provides maps of council districts, gives links for each Council member's homepage and each standing committee of the Council.
• Philadelphia City Planning Commission - responsible for guiding the development and growth of the city
• Maps of each City Council district in Philadelphia - Click on an individual district to see its map.
• The state of Pennsylvania's Web site
• Pennsylvania State House of Representatives
• Senate of Pennsylvania
• Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System

General Research

• Contact Information for State Legislators
• City Council Meeting Schedule
• City Government Organizational Chart
• Committee of Seventy: Find Your Polling Place, Districts, and Representatives
• Find Your City Council Member
• Philadelphia Budget
• Free Library of Philadelphia - The site offers a variety of electronic sources for research, including an online library catalog, as well as databases of academic journals, photos, and newspapers. Library card number and pin required.
• Philadelphia Home Rule Charter - An annotated edition of the charter of the City of Philadelphia, provided by the City of Philadelphia Personnel Department. Includes sources for the Charter's provisions, as well as an explanation for why each provision was written.
• Reports about Philadelphia - This area of the City of Philadelphia's Web site provides reports on city demographics and neighborhoods, the Mayor's Report on City Services, and the city's budget.
• Neighborhoods Online
• Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
• Philadelphia Neighborhood Profiles - This site was created by the University of Pennsylvania's Cartographic Modeling Laboratory and provides U.S. Census data profiles for each of Philadelphia's 69 neighborhood areas. Users can also look up information for their City Council district, ZIP code, elementary school feeder area, and census tract.
• Hallwatch.org
• Pennsylvania Economy League - a non profit organization that does research on economic issues in Pennsylvania. The web site's "Roadmap to Harrisburg" section describes the behind-the-scenes work involved in making a law in Pennsylvania.
• Pennsylvania Department of State Campaign Financing Site - here you can look up financial contributions to candidates.
• Census 2000 data available on Philadelphia voting districts
• Philadelphia Census Tract Data and Maps, 1940-2000

Voting / Election Information

• Campaign Calendar
• PA Voter Registration Form Tip Sheet
• Committee of Seventy - Election calendar, information about registering to vote, and links for election statistics, maps, and city and state government offices. The Committee of Seventy is a not-for-profit, non-partisan political watchdog organization that focuses on the city of Philadelphia.
• Find your polling place using Hallwatch.org
• Directory of County Boards of Election - Provides phone number for the Philadelphia County Board of Elections to find out your polling place.
• Election PA - Election PA is a site for election information and includes live reporting of election results.
• IssuesPa - a project of the Pennsylvania Economy League and the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. This site provides information on public policy issues in the state of Pennsylvania, as well as detailed information about voting. There is also a large section on the candidates for governor, including a side-by-side comparison of where the candidates stand on the issues.
• Voter registration information from the Pennsylvania Department of State
• League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania - nonprofit organization that provides a Voter Guide and information on registering to vote.

• Pennsylvania Elected Officials

  • U.S. Senator Arlen Specter
  • U.S. Senator Bob Casey
  • U.S. Representative Robert A. Brady - District 1
  • U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah - District 2
  • U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy - District 8
  • U.S. Representative Paul E. Kanjorski - District 11

News and Media

• Search Inquirer & Daily News Archives