Spread the Word: VOTE
According to the United States Census Bureau, only 61.4% of eligible voters voted in the 2016 election. Surprising, right? If you want to take an active part in promoting campus in your community, here are a few challenges, ideas, and resources to help get you started:
- All In Campus Democracy Challenge: Campus Couch PartiesHost a couch party as an opportunity to text your peers and encourage them to vote.
- Rhode Island's Voter "Marketing" ResourcesFind posters, forms, social media images, and more here.
- Rock the Vote's How to Host a Voter Registration EventLearn all about how to host your own voter registration event.
- Rock the Vote's PledgeTake the pledge to vote in every election, and then convince three friends to do the same.
Need Help?
The Importance of Being an Informed Voter
When you vote, whether it's in-person or through an absentee or mail ballot, you want to make sure that you are knowledgeable about the candidates and understand the issues that you're voting on. In short, you want to be an informed voter.
To be an informed voter, you need to be to recognize real news from the fake and to navigate political rhetoric. This page will give you some resources for evaluating news and information sources. You may also find it useful to check out following resources from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Fact-Checking Sites
Have you seen a report that seems either too good or too crazy to be true? Chances are that it might be. Use these reliable fact-checking sites to verify the information you read and share.
- Factcheck.orgA project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, this site describes itself as "a nonpartisan, nonprofit 'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics."
- PolitiFactPolitiFact is a nonpartisan fact-checking website founded by the Tampa Bay Times in Florida.
- SnopesAn independent publication owned by Snopes Media Group, Snopes provides extensive documentation to determine the reliability of reports and claims.
Other Useful Guides and Information
- Evaluating InformationThis guide will help you evaluate information you find on the web, in databases, books, and elsewhere.
- News Literacy & Alternative Facts: How to Be a Responsible Information ConsumerFeeling overwhelmed by unreliable news and information? The library is here to help!
- Google Transparency ReportThis report aims to offer more transparency to how political advertising is used on Google, YouTube, and partner properties.
- Facebook Political Ad LibraryThis library endeavors to provide greater transparency to how advertisements are used on Facebook by offering access to all ads currently running on Facebook's services (including Instagram).
- Wikipedia list of PACsThis page offers a list of political action committees organized by party, ideology, and issues.
Tips for Finding Reliable News
What to do:
1. Read, watch, and listen very widely. You may want to check out this media bias chart from Ad Fontes Media to see where your favorite news sources lie in respect to reliability (vertical axis) and bias (horizontal axis).
2. See the list below for some generally reliable sources that are mostly open access resources. *Note that some sites have limits on the number of articles you can freely access per month.
- New York TimesGet a free account as a URI student. Learn more here: https://uri.libguides.com/newspapers
- Wall Street JournalGet a free account as a URI student. Learn more here: https://uri.libguides.com/newspapers
3. Recognize that even typically reliable sources, whether mainstream or alternative, corporate or nonprofit, rely on particular media frames to report stories. They select stories based on different notions of newsworthiness.
4. Be critical of the sources you share and engage with on social media.
What to avoid:
1. Fake, false, and regularly misleading sites that evoke an emotional response by using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, or profits. Examples:
2. Websites that may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information. Examples:
3. Websites that use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions. Examples:
4. Purposefully fake satire/comedy sites that can offer critical commentary on politics and society but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news. Examples: