Local Races Now on the Internet

With a few quick clicks of the mouse, local voters who troll the Internet can now find information on every city council and school board race in Ventura County.

Moorpark school board candidate Matt Noah has created an Internet home page listing candidates, ballot measures and other details of the November elections. On election night, users will also get the latest election returns, updated throughout the evening.

For Noah, his creation, VoteWeb.Com, is both a public service and a way to make some cash. Noah charges candidates $20 to $40 to add their biographies, campaign statements and photos to the page.

Only five candidates have paid so far.

“I’m very interested in politics, and I wanted to make some money,” he said Friday, showing off his work. “The money is not going to happen.”

If the page is still light on candidates’ biographies, it is loaded with other information. Click on the appropriate space, and a listing of every ballot measure in the county appears, each described in the exact wording that will be used on the ballot.

Information on Bill Clinton, Bob Dole and Ross Perot can be found, along with links to the home pages of the Democratic and Republican parties. Users can dig up newspaper stories on Ventura County politics or find out which Assembly member represents their neighborhood.

Rio School District board candidate Camie Larson, who has a photo and statement in the system, said she hoped the page would connect her to more voters.

“About one-third of our school district has access to the Internet through computers,” she said. “I think it’s the kind of thing that will catch on.”

So far, 16 people had scanned Larson’s information in the five days since it had been loaded into the system. VoteWeb.Com has even had hits from as far away as England, Noah said.

“It could have been Margaret Thatcher, for all we know,” he said.

The address is https://www.voteweb.com/ventura/