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Online Tools Helping Voters Get Familiar With Candidates

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia voters will be casting their ballot for district attorney, judges, poll workers and other offices that many are just not familiar with. So how do you get organized?

Voter watchdog Committee of Seventy teamed up with Ballot Ready - to create an online tool that allows voters to create a "virtual ballot."

"The ballot is full of candidates that voters are not familiar with," says Patrick Christmas, Policy and Progam Director.  He says the tool, located at: https://committeeof70.civicengine.com/  helps streamline voter education.

Voters enter their address and their list of candidates come up. Voters can then familiarize themselves with the candidates and make their selections.

"At the end, you're able to save your ballot, share your ballot, print your ballot," says Christmas. "It allows voters to get familiar with the ballot and push their selections to their network to get out to the polls."

May 16t is expected to be a low-turnout election, but there are high stakes. Philadelphia DA, controller and a number of judicial seats are up for grabs.

Another voter tool is the Philadelphia Bar Association's nonpartisan list of recommended judicial candidates. The final list was just released.

"We investigated 52 different candidates," says Eric Weitz, chairs of the PBA's judicial commission. Volunteer attorneys looked at experience, finances and even Facebook pages of all those candidates who completed the evaluation. Now PBA volunteers will share the information at some polls.

"We are going to have people hand out leaflets," says Weitz. "It's the first time we've done that."

For the Philadelphia Bar Association's full list of recommendations, go to https://www.philadelphiabar.org/page/JudicialCommission.

 

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