Election Education Efforts in the Swing States

Raya Kuzyk -- Library Journal, 10/28/2008

• Swing states: Southern Mountain States, Rust Belt, Florida
• Early voting and debate at libraries; strong web presences
• Library web sites now linking to Google’s Voter Info tool

Since LJ Publisher Ron Shank’s September 2007 editorial challenging libraries to make 2008 the “year of election education,” we’ve published two follow-up articles (LJ 12/24/07, LJ 2/4/08) surveying libraries’ election-education practices in the months leading up to November 4—everything from special displays to mock elections. With the Election Day a week away, we conclude with an informal look at libraries’ best practices in some swing states: the southern Mountain States, the Rust Belt, and Florida.

Libraries as election-education destinations
Several public libraries in the swing states are organizing educational exhibits relating to local politics and/or past elections. For example, leading up to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August, the Denver Public Library curated an exhibit with the Colorado Historical Society looking back to when the Democratic National Convention first came to Denver, in 1908. 

The Bay County Public Library, FL, is currently showing a multimedia exhibit “heralding American voting rights and responsibilities” that includes a screening of the Academy Award–winning documentary Freedom on My Mind as well as showcases voter registration, sample ballots, voting machines, and political memorabilia.

Libraries as forums for discussion and debate
Another feature of the Bay County Public Library’s multimedia exhibit more actively engages the community with a lecture and roundtable discussion followed by extended question-and-answer periods. 

Similarly, the Missoula Public Library, MT, facilitated by the League of Women Voters, recently sponsored a political forum that opened with two University of Montana political science and economics professors laying out current political and economic concerns and was followed by representatives for the presidential nominees from the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Constitution parties speaking to how their candidates would address those concerns.

Libraries as early voting locations
A handful of Broward County (FL) libraries, including the Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs and the Davie-Cooper City Branch Library, have been designated, along with select city halls and courthouses, as early voting locations. Additionally, three of the Cumberland County Public Library’s (NC) six branch libraries and five of the Kansas City Public Library’s (MO) ten branch libraries have been designated satellite locations for absentee voting.

The early voting lines and waiting periods at Florida libraries have been especially long in the first few days of early voting. The Orlando Sentinel reported on the impatient stretch of early voters at the Washington Park Branch Library in Orlando, the Miami Herald estimated that the waiting times for early voting at the John F. Kennedy Library and the West Kendall Regional Library in Miami-Date and the Tamarac Library in Broward ranged from three to four hours, and McClatchy observed that some early voters were waiting outside the Southwest Regional Library in Pembroke Pines for as many as five hours.

Libraries as informative web presences
The web sites of many public libraries in the swing states are rife with information for the inquiring voter. The Madison-Jefferson County Public Library’s, IN, web site lists four election 2008 fact-checking sites—among them, FactCheck.org and Politifact—“to help cut through the noise by analyzing candidate speeches, interviews, debates and TV ads and determine their accuracy.” 

The web site of the Jefferson County Public Library, CO, meanwhile, offers an Election 2008 page that highlights several of its available politics and election-related subscription databases and links to 17 sites, including Google's new Voter Info tool. (It allows users to enter their home address and get a host of personal voter information.)

The web site of the Kanawha County Public Library, West Virginia’s largest public library system, also links to Google’s Voter Info tool, as well as five other politics and election-related sites. And the web site of the Columbus Metropolitan Library (OH) features an “It’s Election Time!” page that links to 14 nonpartisan sites containing information about candidates and local issues. It also invites patrons to distribute information about candidates or ballot issues in its libraries.

For any last-minute questions voters may have in the days leading up to the election, the home page of the Cleveland Public Library’s web site features an abstract linking to an FAQ section in which all manner of election–related questions (e.g., "What if I just moved?") are posted for easy reference. In this way, as more issues come to the forefront with each successive election, this page can continue to grow both in comprehensiveness and usefulness.