Candidates in the races for Governor, U.S. Senate and Superintendent of Public Instruction have supplied biographies, press releases, endorsements, speeches and position papers, either electronically or on computer disk. The guide also includes job descriptions that detail the duties, salaries and past and present officeholders of each statewide office. CVF will be seeking and uploading information from other statewide candidates over the next two weeks. The Online Voter Guide provides statewide candidates with an extraordinary opportunity to get their message out to thousands of voters and students at no cost to the campaigns. Most voters want to make informed electoral decisions, and every campaign develops materials such as biographies, press releases and speeches, but they simply can't afford to mail this material to California's 14 million registered voters.
Experts estimate that there are over one million Internet users in California.
The California Voter Foundation developed the Online Voter Guide in cooperation with Pacific Bell's Knowledge Network Gateway program, which is testing a service to provide California students with high-speed computer access to the Internet and other education resources. The Online Voter Guide will also be used in the Kids Voting programs in Sacramento and San Jose, which introduce students to the electoral process by holding mock elections. Kids Voting teaches students about the rights and responsibilities of voting. In the last twelve years, the percentage of the 18-29 year olds that comprise the California electorate has shrunk by fifty percent. Young Californians may not be reading the newspaper or watching the evening news, but they have a higher propensity to use computers compared to most other people.