opinion

Povinovinonon

Monday, January 16, 2006

Making Election Research Easier 

As reported by Swamp Fox, the searchable online SC Ethics Commission database will make election-year research into political candidates much simpler for the average person. I wonder if this site grew out of the ethics database that ASG built and maintained back in the '90's?

Now all we need is an easier way to see how our state and local officials voted on particular issues. In 2004, when I tried to find out how my elected officials voted on the governor's budget vetoes, it was impossible to track down any specific information without getting on the phone, calling that person's office, and asking how he or she voted. An online searchable voting database would be a very useful tool. Who wants to build one?

Comments:

Local elections are the worst - I really think they're the ignored battleground of democracy. In the past several local elections, I can't even find as much as a 10 word bio (qualifications, platform, anything) on any of the candidates, not even the local party websites.

-Dan
 
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