Smart Voter provides links, on a "best effort" basis, to outside sources
of information relevant to the elections we cover. We are not responsible
for the content of those sources, nor are we responsible for omissions.
The following statements of policy are should be considered as guidelines
for users wishing to suggest links.
Our policy is to link to all known news articles in online newspapers or
other online sources on the appropriate topic for local contests. Alternatively, we may decide to use "news search" services like Google News.
For
statewide contests, we normally limit articles to those appearing in daily
newspapers with a circulation of over 100,000. All news articles must be
freely accessible to the public (e.g., the user is not required to sign
in or pay). News articles are listed alphabetically by source, then by date, from
newest to oldest.
We do not include direct links to editorials or endorsement articles
because we are funded by our nonprofit tax-deductible Education Fund.
According to IRS rules, an organization such as ours, with a 501(c)(3) tax
status, may not lobby, advocate issues, nor appear to influence the
outcome of elections.
If you are a candidate and want to link to an online endorsement article
in a newspaper, you may do so directly from your personal Smart Voter web
page--from the "Endorsements" section, for
example. To reference another web page, enclose the text to be linked in
quotes immediately followed by the URL in <> as in this example "San Jose Mercury News Endorsement"<http://www.sjmercury.com/opinion/502898/>. You
may also have links to your campaign Web site or other pertinent Web
sites. Candidates may update contents of their Smart Voter pages until
8:00 p.m. the day before the election.
To provide partisan information about a local or statewide ballot measure, we will
link to Web pages posted by:
- committees with FPPC I.D. numbers;
- 501(c)(4) organizations; or
- qualified political parties.
Links to articles endorsing or opposing ballot measures may be included on
these Web pages, of course, but not directly on a Smart Voter page.
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS