[ Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]

Polis Report

Last-Minute Links By Larry Smith Maybe it's just me, but there's something incredibly sad about that voter-information pamphlet that arrives in the mail each year around election time. Why is that? Here's local government, hard at work, sincerely trying to inform everyone from the first soccer mom to the last limousine liberal. Maybe it's the low-grade paper it's printed on, or perhaps the impersonal nature necessitated by objectivity, or just that cumbersome logo, but it just doesn't electrify this member of the body politic. Worse still, when we really need it--like on Election Day, when it's actually time to sort out who's who and what's what among the dizzying array of pols and props--it's surely long lost, buried under a pile of bathroom reading, no doubt nestled between that soggy Entertainment Weekly and yellowing National Geographic. Fear not, for if you are a wired one, the California Online Voter Guide, a project of the California Voter Foundation, offers a clean, well-hypertexted place for information about the upcoming election (and a great, nearly legal, work diversion). All the players are here, from the California congressional and legislative candidates, to the 15 statewide ballot measures, the prez election and local races, as well as links to a slew of election Web sites and a selected crop of spots for reliable information about the issues. If the boss still isn't coming, head to the Election '96 area of Metro's own Boulevards, and take a peek at what some of our nation's best political writers have been saying about the race for the White House. The results just might surprise you. [ Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]