WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Clearly, presidential candidates can't ignore the Web as a medium for their message, but a long-standing source of nonpartisan information is now online as well.
Capwiz Election, a massive site assembled primarily by Capitol Advantage, the League of Women Voters, and Meetup.com, has launched with information on candidates for national and state elections, in addition to a wealth of other information of interest to voters.
"[Capwiz is] fabulous one-stop shopping for voters," says Nancy Tate, executive director of the League of Women Voters and the League of Women Voters Education Fund.
The voting resource grew from several different organizations' efforts. Capitol Advantage's earlier version of Capwiz Election, launched in 1998, was geared toward candidate information and provided election content for Internet portals such as America Online, MSN, and Yahoo. The League of Women Voters already had established DemocracyNet, a voter education service that has now merged with Capwiz.
Meetup.com is a Web tool that enables users to arrange meetings with other people interested in the same topics--in this case, particular candidates. Its contribution to Capwiz Election allows local supporters of any candidates for president, Congress, or governor to make online arrangements for in-person gatherings.
Site Highlights
The extensive site is easily personalized: Enter your zip code, and the site will serve up content that reflects your area's congressional representatives, a guide to local media, and details on upcoming and ongoing elections and candidates. If you want to know what's happening in Washington, the site offers links to the House and Senate schedules, as well as a search tool for committee hearings.
Another searchable section covers issues and action, discussing topics such as tobacco laws and presidential resolutions regarding Africa.
While the local angles are useful, the upcoming presidential election makes the site a timely resource. Candidates provide their own content; the League of Women Voters collected responses to questions about issues such as health care, education, national security, and jobs. You can compare candidates' answers, as well as their general opinions.
The site covers Republicans, Democrats, and "major third parties," says Robert Hansan, founder of Capitol Advantage, the grassroots solutions company responsible for the creation of Capwiz. All of the presidential candidates have their own pages. Each provides contact information, e-mail and Web site links, donation and volunteer opportunities, and a meeting link powered by Meetup.com.
"It's not a 30-second spot," Tate says, of the depth of content. She calls the coverage of each candidate thorough and nonpartisan.
The site also provides downloadable voter registration forms and spells out local rules for voting procedures.
Wired Campaigns
"This is the year of online politics," Hansan says.
By now everyone has heard of Howard Dean's impressive Internet following, from his blog and his fundraising efforts to his dedicated staff of computer-savvy enthusiasts.
This presidential election year marks a dramatic increase in the way candidates rely on the Web for their campaigns. Pundits are still evaluating how the Web can influence voter politics.
Capwiz Election is partnering with several major media companies, including America Online, MSN, C-SPAN, and the New York Times. The sponsors hope that this type of saturation will make it difficult for voters to ignore the resource, and that it will spark their interest in becoming educated electors.
"Our goal is to [make Capwiz Election] one click away for every Internet user," says Sean Murphy, chief operating officer for Capitol Advantage.
Other Capwiz Election highlights include:
- an overview of the primaries, caucuses, and other elections
- poll location links
- lists of all statewide ballot initiatives
- election results
