20 election sites you probably don't know

In case you just arrived from a distant galaxy (in which case, it's probably too late to become an American citizen), there's a presidential election next week on Tuesday.

Polls open very early -- 6 or 7 AM depending on your location, closing around 8 or 9. Remember to bring along a photo ID and help decide the future of the United States.

While you are gearing up for the lever-pulling and chit-chat with other registered voters, here's 20 lesser known election sites to bookmark. Props to Helpareporterout.com (an awesome site for finding leads) for all of the great suggestions.

1. FiveThirtyEight.com
Here's another site that shows projections from the elctrorate. When I wrote this post, Obama was leading 348.2 to McCain's 189.8, a rather substantial margin. Of course, these pre-election numbers are almost meaningless because the only numbers that count are those from next Tuesday.

2. NextnationalCEO.com
This site lets you pick which qualities you think are important for each candidate, and then compare the results with other site visitors. Good interface, the results will be used by a leadership consulting group.

3. Topix election site
I love the idea of a national debate -- meaning, everyone who can vote and anyone who will eventually vote (aka, all 300 million of us) all locked into a great discussion about who will lead the country. Topix is a good forum for that with easy to find topics right on the main page.

4. Visual CV
http://www.visualcv.com/johnmccain
http://www.visualcv.com/barackobama
Checking on the credentials of the two main candidates helps you decide whether that person can represent you accurately. The site has a rich assortment of videos and links.

5. Weather.com
That's right -- you can check and see what the weather will be like on polling day. Even if there's a thunderstorm or blizzard in the cards (hey, go anyway), you can use Weather.com to help you dress appropriately and plan for traffic.

6. Social Median
This site is a news aggregator with an election page that includes blogs, Twitter posts, Flickr and YouTube videos, and a lot of other rich content that you can filter easily.

7. Twitter
In my first list of election sites, I left off a really important one: Twitter has an election site where people are tweeting about the upcoming vote. It's an awesome resource because there are plenty of juicy links and an ongoing discussion in real-time.

8. Political Base
Political Base is one of the best blogs around that tracks news coverage, election predictions, and opinions. It will likely start reporting on the results next Tuesday.

9. Project Vote Smart
Here's another resource for voters that provides links for voter registrations, local election offices, and a bevy of information about the issues and where the candidates stand.

10. C-Span election coverage
If you can't get enough C-Span on TV, then make sure you visit their election site. One feature I like is that you can view any of the campaign ads and watch the previous debates.

11. Current TV
There's a different tone at Current TV compared to YouTube -- most videos have little more buzz behind them, and celebrities like Seal (who says he will leave the US if John McCain becomes president) and Heidi Klum make occasional cameos.

12. Wikipedia
Wikipedia offers what is essentially a live encyclopedia for the election, with updates on current polls and links to recent news sources. There's tons of background on major milestones during the campaigns, media coverage, and background info on the candidates. Careful: it is a quick way to kill an hour.

13. MSN
MSN (as opposed to the much more widely known MSNBC site) has a wealth of videos and links, but I especially like the round-ups of commentary from sites like Slate and political reporters like Howard Fineman.

14. Glassbooth.org
Glassbooth lets you take an online survey to determine which candidate matches your views on the issues. It's a great last minute tool for undecided voters.

15. Time for Kids
Sometimes the best resources for a complex topic is one that's geared for kids. Time for Kids lists the candidates and their background info, along with games and basic info on the election.

16. Google election site
I mentioned the Google map feature that lets you find your polling place in the last round-up, but Google also has tons of other info on the election -- you can find political quotes, blogs, search videos, and filter election coverage by state.

17. iDashboards
This site has a live dashboard that will run next week, showing you the current results from the election. It's really cool because you can hover your mouse over states to see the voting results. For now, it is just predictions.

18. ElectionDocs.com
ElectionDocs.com lets you peruse all of the speeches, position papers, and debate comments for the candidates. It's a comprehensive site that lists at least three pages of links for both Obama and McCain.

19. TechPresident.com
Looking for a site that just filters Web feeds based on the upcoming election? TechPresident.com is a great daily digest of Web content with charts that graph out supporters and what they are saying at popular social nets.

20. Shifting the Debate
Fellow blogger Dan Tynan noted that Shifting the Debate has a very cool mash-up showing how bloggers are linking to YouTube videos, especially those with no political affiliation (serving as a kind of barometer of undecided voters -- people who are linking to videos for non-political reasons.)

That's it for now, let me know in comments if you know of a few more election sites...

I will post a few more sites tomorrow as I find them...

John Brandon is a regular contributor to Computerworld, a print journalist, music reviewer, and book author.