e-thePeople.org provides national content while local partners collect data on candidates in their area.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (FEBRUARY 25, 2004): Online voter guides built with e-thePeople.org's Voter Guide Toolkit (VGT) will be informing voters across the country on "Super Tuesday". 5 newspapers in 3 states are using VGT to present voters with information about important local primaries and the Democratic Presidential Candidates.
With e-thePeople.org providing national content, papers with state and local races are using VGT to create online and print voter guides for their share of the more than 75,600 state and local elections also taking place this year. In states like Texas and Virginia networks of guides are already being planned that will cover most races within the state.
With Web-based VGT, even small and medium market newspapers can create their own election resources—filled with information about candidates and issues—in just weeks, and present the information on co-branded Web sites hosted on e-thePeople.org servers. Newspapers using VGT can also export their data to print guides.
Voters visiting a paper's guide can find races by ZIP-code, compare candidates side-by-side and record their preferences on a personalized ballot. After finishing their ballot, users can email the ballot to friends or post a link to their ballot from their website or blog.
"The race for the Democratic presidential nomination has been driving up voter turn-out in primaries all over the country. People are following all the races intently this year and more and more of them are doing so online," said Scott Reents, President of e-thePeople.org. "Voter Guide Toolkit will let local news sources capture this interest by creating equally compelling coverage of local races."
Newspapers using VGT on "Super Tuesday" include:
- The Houston Chronicle
- Dallas Morning News
- Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
- El Paso Times
- Lodi News-Sentinel
e-thePeople.org aims to offer more one hundred local voter guides this year and is seeking newspapers, television and radio stations interested in providing their users with election content. In 2003 more than 1300 candidates participated in VGT guides in 8 cities.
Voter Guide Toolkit is available for media organizations interested in enhancing their election coverage. For more information, contact:
Scott Reents
President
aguy@e-thepeople.org
646-536-9305
To learn more about Voter Guide Toolkit, sign up for a free trial and see how Voter Guide Toolkit could support your paper's election projects visit:
http://www.thevoterguide.org
