One Stop Candidate Portal a First

A one stop online shop for candidates in this year’s local body elections has been launched by Local Government Online.

LGOL General Manager Cassandra Crowley says www.elections2010.co.nz is a centralised web portal which captures an unprecedented range of candidate information.

This is a first in New Zealand. This portal will have information on voting, boundaries and candidates in one single portal. Users will be able to seek information on from Auckland Council to the Invercargill Licensing Trust online in real time.

Sitting in a cold town hall on a winters evening to meet the candidates might not be relevant anymore. Many people might want to research candidates at 11:50pm after doing online banking or skyping with the kids in London.

Ms Crowley says the site has the ability to locate which elections are covered in that area by simply typing in an address.

Candidates have the ability to post longer profiles and videos, identify their top election issues and provide links out to their own dedicated sites.

She says local body elections are often viewed as complex and difficult to navigate - even for those that regularly vote in central government elections.

Recent research commissioned by the Electoral Enrolment Centre shows that over 60 per cent of those surveyed were unable to correctly identify when local government elections were and 40 per cent were unsure of how to vote.

And we have over 3,500 elected representatives working in local government yet a large proportion of those eligible do not participate in the process of electing them she said.

Ms Crowley says the portal, provided with support from Local Government New Zealand, delivers an unprecedented amount of information in one place.

Ignoring new technologies and bemoaning poor voter turnout and participation is no longer acceptable says Ms Crowley Local government must strive to engage with communities using methods expected of other activities in our everyday lives and www.elections2010.co.nz encourages that.

A number of candidates have already posted information on the portal and on 20 August 2010, when nominations close and all candidates are known, we will have information on the site for every candidate across the country.

Local body elections run from Friday 17 September until midday Saturday 9 October 2010, when www.elections2010.co.nz will provide a centralised location for elections results across the country

ENDS

© Scoop Media