Project Vote Smart offers internships for students

Twenty-six miles from the nearest town, in the middle of the Montana wilderness, sits the Great Divide Ranch, isolated by mountains, streams and lakes.

But underneath the soil appears two high-tech, fiber-optic T1 Internet lines, bustling with activity from the questionnaires sent out by the ranch's inhabitants and the answers being received from political candidates all over the country. 

The ranch houses Project Vote Smart, a project dedicated to researching political candidates in the country and keeping up with the latest local and federal news on the political scene.

"We're the biggest information database on political candidates in the country," said Adelaide Elm, a communications director at the project. 

The project is offering ten-week internships to students, Elm said, and students with backgrounds in political science, journalism, communications and history are particularly encouraged to apply.

"The interns do a lot of data processing and research," she said. "But we also need people to man hotlines, maintain our huge Web site and produce radio and TV productions as well."

Cal State Long Beach students who wish to intern at Project Vote Smart are now eligible for scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $1,500, said Richard Kimball, the executive director of the project.

The project's hotline is open 18 hours a day during the week, so there is often a lot of work to do, Elm said.

"It sounds interesting," said Christofer Huseby, a computer engineering major. "I once did a paper on them for my political science class, and their Web site is really good."

MTV, CNN and many others sponsor the project, Elm said.

Information on the internships and other jobs available at the project can be found at the Vote Smart Web site at www.vote-smart.org and the project's hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART.