Maryland: all-in-one website for voters and candidates
The Washington Post reports: Maryland voters will be able to research more than 600 statewide candidates this election year on a first-of-its-kind Web site that offers unprecedented access to candidate profiles, campaign reports and user-friendly data about polling places and voter registration.
The Maryland Voter Information Clearinghouse ( http://mdelections.umbc.edu ) was launched yesterday through a partnership of the state and the University of Maryland Baltimore County and is one of the first of its kind in the country, said Linda Lamone, state administrator of elections, at an event on the campus.
The project's goal is to break down barriers to voting by allowing residents to verify that they are registered, learn voting districts, find polling places and seek information about the candidates they can vote for. Among other features, voters can get directions to polling stations.
"This is fabulous," said Lu Pierson, president of the League of Women Voters of Maryland, one of the groups on an advisory board for the project. "I think this is a way to engage particularly younger voters. They tend to go to the Internet for everything." -- New Web Site a Clearinghouse for Voter Information