top of page

Be Informed

Image by Egor Vikhrev
Image by Hartono Creative Studio
Image by Vitaly Gariev

Being an informed citizen requires unbiased information about your government.​ This page offers reputable resources from governmental agencies as well as non-partisan organizations.​  To assist in identifying disinformation, we have included links to organizations that specialize in verifying sources and the accuracy of their content.​

Non-Partisan Resources

LWVTRI has identified the following long-established organizations as sources of unbiased information.

Ballotpedia

Go to Website
Ballotpedia is the digital encyclopedia of American politics, and a resource for unbiased information on elections, politics, and policy. It provides curated content on all levels of U.S. politics. Ballotpedia is a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit organization.

NCSL

Go to Website
The National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) is an organization comprised of legislators and staffers from every state. The NCSL provides objective, fact- and evidence-based (nonpartisan) research and other resources to support the policymaking process.

Florida Bar

Go to Website
The Florida Bar is the organization of all lawyers licensed by the Supreme Court of Florida to practice law in the state.  As part of efforts to strengthen the public's understanding of the role of the judicial branch of government, the Constitution, the rule of law, and the role of judges and juries in the administration of justice, it provides educational resources for voters.

Pew Research Center

Go to Website
Pew Research Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions; their goal is to inform. Pew describes itself as a "fact tank" because, unlike a traditional "think tank", it seeks to provide a neutral foundation of facts so others can make their own decisions.

Integrity Florida

Go to Website
Integrity Florida is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute and government watchdog whose mission is to promote integrity in government and expose public corruption.

Additional Resources during Elections

The landing page of this website will contain information pertinent to the election.​

  • Times the polls are open

  • Link to county polling locations

  • Link to Vote411, the League's online voter guide covering national, state and local candidates as well as any Florida constitutional amendments and local referendum on the ballot.

  • Schedule of the League's public presentations about amendments on the ballot *

  • Schedule of League hosted candidate forums and meet-and-greets

  • Videos of recorded League candidate forums

  • Guides for evaluating candidates​​

​​

* Organizations may book private presentations on the Book Speaker page. 

​

Additional Resources during the Legislative Session

The Florida legislature meets for 60 days each year - from January through early March in even numbered years and from March through early May in odd numbered years​

  • The Florida Senate website provides a calendar, gives the status of bills under consideration, and allows you to sign up to track specific bills of interest in both the House and the Senate.  It also contains a glossary that is useful in understanding the information provided.  You may find these LWVTRI instructions for navigating the senate website helpful.

 

  • The Florida House has a similar website.  It is not as easy to search if you do not know the Bill number, so when in doubt, start with the Senate's site. 

​
County Legislative Delegation Meetings held before the legislative session begins provide an opportunity to learn about local initiatives and concerns.

Evaluating Information

It's one thing to find information; it's another to judge it for bias or even purposeful distortion of facts (i.e., lies).

​

With the rise of social media, artificial intelligence and political polarization, disinformation is spreading faster and wider than ever before.  You can't even believe your eyes anymore, because photos and even videos can be altered convincingly.

​

The following resources may be helpful in evaluating the information you have found.

  • Fact Check Websites verify the accuracy of claims made by public figures, organizations, and social media content.  LWVTRI has vetted the sites listed.  All call out false claims made by both the Left and the Right.

  • Reverse Image Look-up websites can help you spot doctored photos.  Upload an image, and these sites will show you the original image, if yours was doctored, and where it first appeared.

  • Media Bias Websites offer assessments of the political bias and reliability of media outlets and writers.

APNews Fact Check Hub

Fact Checking

Go to Website
The Associated Press is an independent, non-profit global news cooperative. As a fact-based, nonpartisan news organization, it does not publish opinion articles or columns. It does not have owners or investors.

Snopes

Fact Checking

Go to Website
Snopes got its start in 1994, investigating urban legends, hoaxes, and folklore. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a group owned by Chris Richmone and Drew Schoentrup. Snopes is a member of the Internaional Fact-Checking Network, a unit of Poynter Institute.

AdFontes

Media Bias

Go to Website
Ad Fontest Media rates media outlets on both political bias and reliability. It is a for-profit, publically traded company with a stated mission of rating news sources for reliability and bias. Media content is rated by at least three analysts with different political views: left, right and center.

FactCheck

Fact Checking

Go to Website
FactCheck.org monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. It is a nonpartisan nonprofit with a mission of reducing deception and confusion in U.S. politics. FactCheck is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

TinEye

Reverse Image Look-up

Go to Website
TinEye can find the source of an image you provide including the original photo that may have been altered. It is a Toronto based image search and recognition company that invented reverse image search technology in 2008.

AllSides

Media Bias

Go to Website
AllSides displays the day's top news stories from the Left, Center and Right of the policial spectrum side-by-side so readers can see the full picture. It also rates media outlets and writers on a 5-points scale from Left to Right. As of November 2023, AllSides was owned by 28 individuals with the three co-founders maintaining marjoirty ownership and conrol.

PoltiFact

Fact Checking

Go to Website
PolitiFact is a nonpartisan fact-checking website with a mission of sorting out the truth in American politics. PolitiFact was created by the Tampa Bay Times,in 2007. In 2018, PolitiFact was acquired by the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalists.

Google

Reverse Image Look-up

Go to Website
A little know capability of Google Search is it can provide the source of an image when you click the camera icon in the Search Bar. Google is a subsidiary of the publicly traded holding company Alphabet Inc.

Request Election Alerts

By completing this form, you authorize the League of Women Voters of The Villages / Tri-County Florida to contact you via email regarding important election updates. You will also receive information about candidate and ballot initiatives through our online voter guide on Vote411, invitations to candidate events, and notifications of League presentations addressing proposed amendments to the Florida constitution.

County
Lake
Marion
Sumter
Other

Did you find this page helpful?
Share on social media.

bottom of page