Untangling the Web of Politics

Can’t decide which gubernatorial candidate is best for the environment? Curious about where state Assembly contenders get their money? Want the skinny on the ballot measures but don’t want to muddle through pages and pages of fine print?

An alternative is as close as a computer. The Internet is one way for California voters to arm themselves with information before they go to the polls in 11 days. Going beyond the candidates’ self-promotion and cutting through the complex governmentese of ballot measures provided in the state-produced voter guide, a growing number of election information Web sites have been launched.

Light on graphics but heavy on information, these sites forgo the bells and whistles such as animation and vivid illustrations that many Web sites employ to hold users’ attention. Instead, they rely on making information easy to find and digest.

A study by the California Voter Foundation found that the number of California campaign and election sites grew from three in 1994 to more than 200 this year. “I remember typing ‘voter’ or ‘voting’ into [an Internet] search engine a few years ago and getting nothing,” said Frances Talbott-White, a board member of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles.

The league’s Los Angeles site, which is due to be launched in the coming week, will contain nonpartisan information on local races and initiatives and links to official statements.

“A growing number of people are getting their information from the Web,” Talbott-White said. “The Web brings together information from other sources, such as government and media.”

One of the first organizations to offer such information online was the California Voter Foundation. President Kim Alexander established it in 1994 when she was 28 to do online voter registration. The nonprofit group evolved from an online voter registration project of the California secretary of state’s office.

“We wanted to explore how the Internet could be used to better educate and engage voters,” Alexander said.

Internet Use Increases

But voter information sites still have a long way to go in reaching a massive number of people. “There was a lot of talk about how 1998 [election year] would be the year of the Internet, but that hasn’t happened,” Alexander said. “Change happens fast in technology but slow in politics. You have to view change over generations, not election cycles.”

The numbers are growing rapidly, however. The foundation’s Web site got 33,000 visits during the 1996 general election and 250,000 so far this year.

Alexander characterizes these visitors as “active voters” who go on the Internet knowing that they want to find political information. “My goal is to increase the quality of participation, not the quantity.” Her organization provides information for “people who do care, not the apathetic ones,” she said.

“It would take more than technology to get nonvoters to vote. The real barrier to participation is . . . cynicism,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press in Washington.

Voters who are temporarily out of the area and will vote by absentee ballot are among the people who have sent positive feedback to the League of Women Voters of California’s Smart Voter site, said Trudell Een, project director.

“Everyone loves the site,” Een said. “We don’t know the age or occupation of people who have written to us, but we’ve gotten notes from people abroad who were voting by absentee ballot and from a mother whose son was going to be a first-time voter.”

She said that a lot of traffic to the site has been to the ballot measure information. “People are starting to discuss [the measures] before they discuss the candidates. One of the strengths of the league is to take those measures and put them into an easy-reading guide, written at a sixth-grade level, that illustrates the pros and cons,” she said.

Kohut said the Internet “is very good for getting news and information, more so for the local campaigns than the national ones because it’s not so readily accessible in other places.”

Since space on the Web is not as precious as broadcast time or as costly as mailing literature, political Web sites can provide a depth of information not available in traditional media. Vast amounts of material, such as news stories, polls, audio and video of candidate interviews and debates can be stored for retrieval.

The Election Connection site culls information from print and broadcast media. Among the multimedia resources available are audio files of KCRW-FM’s public affairs program “Which Way L.A.?” with topics that include state ballot measures and the Los Angeles sheriff’s race debate.

“It’s a wonderful development,” said Warren Olney, the show’s host. “I get calls from teachers who have their kids listen to the show. [The students] think it’s neat that they can get it on the Internet and listen to radio on the computer.”

The Election Connection’s Jason Georges said the site’s surveys, conducted by interviewing registered voters by phone, gets the most hits. “We go beyond the simple horse race,” he said. “We don’t just ask, ‘Who do you prefer?’ but ‘Why do you feel this way?’ ”

The Democracy Network (DNet) provides a grid where candidates’ positions on issues such as abortion can be compared side by side. “Internet users in particular go there for information. They’re not satisfied by a candidate talking around an issue,” said director Area Madaras. “People can e-mail candidates to ask about a specific issue.”

Third party candidates have a greater chance of getting their messages to voters through the Internet even if their resources are limited. “We have the same [type of] information for each candidate and our space isn’t limited,” Alexander said.

“It lessens some of the candidate’s campaign finance burden and will increase visibility of third parties,” Madaras said.

Less Negative Campaigning Seen

Negative campaigning is less prevalent on the Web. “There is very little negative information on the Web,” Alexander said. “Because it’s a new medium, campaigns have Web sites but are not putting their full energy behind it.”

Alexander said Web site builders are young and understand the medium. “They know that kind of negative information won’t fly. Negative messages are targeted at passive voters. Netizens are active voters,” she said.

Records of campaign contributions were once only available by digging through files at county clerks’ offices, but they are now available online.

A bill mandating online filing of campaign contributions, authored by state Sen. Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach), became law in 1997. For the 1998 election cycle, statewide candidates and ballot measure committees that raise more than $100,000 must file their records electronically to the secretary of state’s office. The electronic filing requirements will be expanded for the 2000 election cycle.

Some candidates have voluntarily listed their contributions on calvoter.org and DNet.

In the future, Madaras sees an emergence of groups that will provide information on the Internet about political action committees and their contributions to candidates and measures.

“It will make disclosure more real and explicate who is giving the money,” she said.

By putting politics on the Internet, she said, “we’re gearing the debate to voters rather than donors.”

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Political Surfing, Continued . . . NONPARTISAN GROUPS

* Committee for Responsive Politics--Campaign finance information for congressional candidates. https://www.

crp.org/1998elect

* ElectNet--Links to incumbent candidates sites, analysis of key races. https://www.electnet.org

* League of Women Voters of Los Angeles--Information on local races; site due to be launched in the next week. https://www.person.com/lwvla

* Political Access--Links to voter information, news stories, political sites. https://www.politicalaccess.com

* Web, White and Blue--Compilation of links to commercial and nonprofit political sites. https://www.webwhiteblue.org

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

* Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder--https:// www.

co.la.ca.us/regrec/main.html

* City of L.A.--https://www.ci.la.ca.us/dept/ELECTION

POLITICAL PARTIES

* American Independent Party--https://www.

wordpr.com/aip

* Green Party of California--https://www.greens.

org/california

* Libertarian Party of California--https://www.ca.lp.org

* Natural Law Party of California--https://www.

natural-law.org

* Peace and Freedom Party--https://www.

peaceandfreedom.org

* Reform Party of California--https://california.

reformparty.org

SELECTED MEDIA SITES

* Capitol Alert--Sacramento Bee. Information on statewide, congressional and legislative races. https://www.

capitolalert.com

* KCBS Channel 2--Information on statewide races, ballot measures, interactive surveys. https://www.

channel2000.com/news/election98

* Rough and Tumble--Sacramento political reporter Jack Kavanagh’s news digest. https://www.rtumble.com

* KCRW--Audio archives of public affairs program “Which Way L.A.?” https:// www.kcrw.org

STATE BALLOT MEASURES

* Proposition 1A--Class size reduction.

Pro: https://www.yeson1A.org and https://www.prop1A.com

Con: None found.

* Proposition 4--Animal trapping practices.

Pro: https://www.volunteerinfo.org/propaw

Con: https://www.calvoterguide.com/No4

* Proposition 5--Tribal casinos.

Pro: https://www.cisr.org and https://www.yeson5.org

and https://www.geocities.com/

Capitol Hill/Lobby/4621/1native.html

Con: https://www.bad4cal.org and https://www.standup.quiknet.com

* Proposition 6--Ban on horsemeat for human consumption.

Pro: https://www.savethehorses.com

Con: https://home.earthlink.net/~tebrown/neigh.html

* Proposition 7--Air quality improvement tax credits.

Pro: https://www.pcl.org/LEG/clean_air/air_info.html

Con: https://www.noon7.org

* Proposition 8--Public school measures.

Pro: https://www.yesonprop8.com

Con: https://www.noprop8.org

* Proposition 9-Electric utilities.

Pro: https://www.nonukebailout.org

Con: https://www.noonprop9.org

* Proposition 10--Early childhood development / tobacco surtax.

Pro: https://www.children98.org

Con: none found

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Web sites devoted to election information have proliferated in the last few years. Here is a sample of sites spotlighting upcoming local and statewide elections:

California Voter Foundation

www.calvoter.org

Information and e-mail addresses for statewide, legislative and congressional candidates. Also, figures on campaign contributions for statewide office and propositions.

Project Vote Smart

www.vote-smart.org

Issue positions, performance evaluations, voting records, links to campaign finance data and biographies for statewide, congressional and legislative candidates. Plus a directory to find your districts for state legislative and congressional races.

Smart Voter

www.smartvoter.org

Easy-reading comparison of arguments for and against ballot measures, information on judicial candidates and links to sites for statewide, congressional and legislative candidates. Plus directory of districts.

The Democracy Network

www.DNet.org

Compares statewide candidates’ positions on issues in grid form. Transcripts of gubernatorial debates, video clips of candidates running for statewide office.

Secretary of State

www.ss.ca.gov

Last-minute campaign contributions, complete voluntary reports by some candidates, election night returns, voter guide.

California Democratic Party

www.ca-dem.org

Information on Democratic Party candidates and links to campaign Web sites, platform statements, party endorsements on ballot propositions.

California Republican Party

www.cagop.org

Links to campaign sites for statewide candidates. Profiles of Republican candidates, upcoming party events and press coverage.

Election Connection

www.electionconnection.org

Data on informal polls, archive of newspaper articles, audio and video of radio and television political programs.

Los Angeles Times

www.latimes.com/elect98

Los Angeles Times election coverage, including propositions, races for governor, U.S. Senate, and other state and local elections. Video of Senate and gubernatorial debates. Bulletin boards for comments.

Researched by LISA WEISS / Los Angeles Times

HELENE WEBB / Los Angeles Times