Guides: Election Law Research Guide: Introduction & Key Resources

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Introduction

This guide is intended as a starting point for research in the law of elections (including campaign finance, election administration, and voting rights) at Georgetown Law Library. It includes both primary and secondary materials, in both print and electronic formats.

Key Resources

CQ Press Voting and Elections Collection
Database features primary sources, secondary sources, and finding tools on nomination and selection of Presidents, campaigns, candidates, campaign finance, media coverage, political parties, electoral system, and voting participation.
HeinOnline’s Voting Rights & Election Law
This database features thousands of resources on both local and federal U.S. elections and electoral processes: how elections are conducted, how votes are counted, how political campaigns are run and funded, and who is allowed to vote. Includes primary and secondary sources, including various books, treatises, reports, legislative histories, congressional hearings and more, as well as handpicked scholarly articles, both recent and historical, with new articles added monthly. This collection has been organized into the following subjects: Absentee Voting, Ballots, Campaign Finance, Election Administration, Election Integrity, Election Outcomes, Election Reform, Electoral College, Federal Election Commission, Gerrymandering, Legislative Redistricting, Political Campaigns, Suffrage, Voter Identification, Voter Registration, and Voting Rights; each subject is browsable and searchable. In addition to content about U.S. elections, users will also find hundreds of titles about elections around the world. There is also a bibliography of recommended titles to take users beyond HeinOnline's collection.
Election Case Law at Moritz
The Ohio State University maintains a web site monitoring case law on election law.
Election Law Manual
Basic overview of election law in the United States. Primary focus is state election law, although also includes important federal statutes and constitutional provisions. Written primarily for use of judges.
Guide to U.S. Elections (2010) (Online)
Provides comprehensive treatment and information about America's electoral political parties, presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections, and their historical development. Also available in print at JK1967 .C662.
How to Research Elections (2000)
Primary sources, secondary sources, and finding tools on nomination and selection of Presidents, campaigns, candidates, campaign finance, media coverage, political parties, electoral system, and voting participation.

CRS Reports

Congressional committees have published numerous reports on recent elections, gerrymandering and campaign finance. These reports can be an invaluable resource.

Finding CRS Reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS), the research arm of the Library of Congress, provides authoritative, objective, and nonpartisan research and analysis to committees and members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, regardless of party and affiliation. CRS produces new research as issues develop or are anticipated, and their reports are designed specifically to meet the needs of Congress. CRS research, while on a variety of topics, falls under five divisions: American Law; Domestic Social Policy; Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade; Government and Finance; and Resources, Science, and Industry.

ProQuest Congressional
ProQuest Congressional provides CRS reports from 1916 to the present. It is one of the best, most comprehensive single sources for locating and searching through CRS Reports. (Use the Advanced Search page and uncheck everything except CRS Reports under Content Types on the left.)
CRS Reports on Congress.gov
Congress.gov provides public access to reports and other products created by Congressional Research Service. CRS routinely updates reports on their site, designed to reflect new developments and the needs of Congress. This is the official site for CRS Reports.
HeinOnline
HeinOnline provides scanned versions of older CRS Reports from 1999 to the present. CRS reports are listed alphabetically.
EveryCRSReport.com
EveryCRSReport.com provides free access to its collection of CRS reports and also includes archived reports from University of North Texas's CRS Report collection. You can Browse by Topic using the option below the search bar.
Lexis
Provides CRS reports as they are delivered from 2005 to the present. All reports link to the PDF version provided by CRS.