Smart Voter (http://www.smartvoter.org) was inaugurated for the November 1996 election and was the first Web site to offer personalized election information based on a voter's address. Designed to help voters understand their choices better -- especially for local races, Smart Voter offers extensive background information on many candidates in six counties in California for the June '98 primary election. Joining Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, which Smart Voter served in the previous two elections are: Humboldt, Kern, Marin, and Orange counties. .
How this information was gatheredThe underlying information required to generate personalized ballots was gathered from the Registrars of Voters of each of the participating counties. The Registrars and the Secretary of State also provided the official data about races and measures. See the Project Disclaimer for more information. Every candidate in the June 2 elections in the participating counties was invited to participate. All information about candidates was gathered from the candidates themselves either by entering the data on a web form or by filling out a hard copy form and mailing it to us. The Registrar of Voters in each of the participating counties provided the official data about races and measures as well as the data we needed to provide polling place location and ballot content based on voter's address. Message to CandidatesYour free web pageIf you are a candidate in one of the participating counties (Kern, Humboldt, Marin, Orange, San Mateo, or Santa Clara) or one of the statewide races and want to accept our written invitation to participate in the Smart Voter project, please send email to trudelleen@aol.com and you will receive instructions.If you are a candidate in a nonparticipating county, we regret that we cannot post any information about your race or your candidacy. Candidates may enter data on their web page electronically until 6:00 a.m. PDT, Tuesday, June 2, 1998. For answers to specific questions, please contact the Smart Voter Project Director, Trudell Een, at trudelleen@aol.com or 408-323-9426. Candidate photoIf you want to submit a photo (head shots only, please) for your web page, you may do so as long as the photo is postmarked on or before May 23, 1998 or sent electronically -- meeting our specifications -- by 6:00 p.m. on May 23.To submit a black & white or color photo, either:
Unique CollaborationSmart Voter is the result of a unique collaboration between government, nonprofit organizations, and media. The Smart Voter Project Team, led by the League of Women Voters, coordinated the project based on technology and procedures originally developed by Smart Valley, Inc for the November 1996 election. The League of Women Voters of California authorized a steering committee of League members who designed the project, hired a project manager and programmer/webmaster, coordinated the volunteer effort to gather information from candidates, and worked with project partners to publicize and add content to the site supporting the November 1997 and June 1998 elections. We thank the following Registrars of Voters for working with us to incorporate their address and ballot data into our web site:
Key FeaturesThe Smart Voter site allows users to find their custom ballot and polling place by entering their street address and zip code. Users may access "home pages" of each participating candidate that include their biography, endorsements, top priorities if elected, and position papers. Every candidate in the June 2 elections in the participating counties was invited to participate. The Contest "home pages" include links to relevant news or analysis articles written by online local media organizations.
The League of Women Voters Education FundThis site is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund, a nonpartisan public policy educational organization, which:
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