Conn. Election Web Site Ranks Near the Bottom
WEBSITES
Norwalk Hour
Jordan Zappala
Boston University Washington News Service
10/23/08
WASHINGTON –Connecticut’s official election Web site received a failing grade in a study released this week by the non-partisan research group the Pew Center on the States.
With a score of 37 out of 100 points, the site maintained by the Secretary of State’s office ranked 48th out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of searchability, usability and helpfulness, according to the Pew Center’s research.
The study focused on the Web site’s ability to answer the most common user questions, such as whether they are registered to vote, the location of polling places and what candidates or issues are on the ballot. Connecticut’s site – which is found under the “Elections & Voting” tab of www.ct.gov/sots – provides no easy answers, if any, to these top questions, according to Pew.
In this new hi-tech era, both Republican and Democratic campaigns have raised large sums of money, recruited volunteers and communicated with supporters through social networking sites, e-mail and text messages. Sen. Hillary Clinton even announced her presidential candidacy on the web. As of June, 40 percent of all adults turned to the Web for campaign information, according to Pew researchers.
“With an increasing number of Internet users, it is paramount that state elections Web sites meet the needs and expectations of current and prospective voters by providing useful and usable elections Web sites,” the Pew study said. “This is no longer a nice thing to do, but a must-do to enable citizens to exercise their right to vote.”
Connecticut, in particular, warrants an above-average election Web site, according to data compiled by Web measurement firm Compete. Connecticut ranked second in a national survey of online political activity, with 11.2 percent of residents – or 1 in 9 – having visited a candidate’s Web site or top political blog in September.
In late September – after the Pew study was complete – a newly crafted election Web site was launched by Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz. The new, more user-friendly page provides most of the same information as the poorly rated original site, but still does not allow Connecticut’s more than 2 million registered voters to confirm that they are registered, where they can vote or which candidates will be on the ballot.
“Voter registration records are kept with the local registrar’s office, so we usually tell people to call and ask,” said Adam Joseph, deputy communications director for the Secretary of State. “And polling places are not online, because they can vary – municipal election locations may be different than presidential. We have a listing of candidates on the homepage, but to find more about their stance on things, they’d have to go somewhere else.”
While it may be possible to get all the necessary information elsewhere when it is not readily available on the official Web site, people often call their local offices or a national hotline to find answers to their questions. The Pew Center reported that these calls to state or county election offices can cost up to $100 each, depending on the staffer’s qualifications.
In contrast to Connecticut’s voter Web site and that of New Hampshire, which ranked the worst in the nation, Iowa had the best Web site in the survey, with a score of 77 out of 100 points. Iowa’s site received the highest score because the links to voters’ most critical questions were easy to locate, it came up first during Web searches, and a link to the site is featured prominently on the state’s homepage, according to the Pew report.
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