About the California Online Voter Guide

The California Online Voter Guide was developed for the benefit of California voters and students by the California Voter Foundation (CVF), a non-partisan, non-profit organization founded by former California Secretary of State March Fong Eu in 1989.

The California Online Voter Guide contains a wealth of information provided by statewide candidates, the California Journal, and the Center for Civic Literacy. 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 disks. CVF will be seeking and uploading information from other statewide candidates over the next
two weeks.

This information is unedited and appears as supplied to us by the candidates. We encourage you to read it carefully. Check for sources and references to back up claims or attacks on opponents.

The guide also includes insightful and informative articles from the California Journal, an excellent source of information about California politics. We hope these articles will provide you with some balance and perspective. If you would like more information about the California Journal, call their office at 916-444-2840.

We've also included job descriptions for each statewide office, listing duties, salary, and past and present officeholders. We encourage you to think of yourself as the employer, and the candidate as an applicant for a job.

CVF is working with California educators to use the Online Voter Guide to help teach their students about the importance of voting and civic responsibility, and has been working with the Kids Voting programs in San Jose and Sacramento in promoting the guide. It is imperative that we begin teaching California children today how to be conscientious and informed voters in order to insure a healthy electorate for California's future.

CVF hopes that the Online Voter Guide will create a more informed and engaged California electorate which will, in turn, increase voter participation and promote a healthier democratic society. In the last thirty years, voter participation in California has dropped by 26 percent; in the June 1994 California Primary election, only one in four eligible California voters participated in the election.

One reason Californians are less likely to vote is because ballots are becoming longer and issues are more complicated. A 1991 Los Angeles Times poll found that 35 percent of California's non-voting population would be more likely to vote if the issues were less confusing. The Online Voter Guide is intended to help California voters sort out election choices, and provide clear and useful information that will make electoral decisions less confusing.

CVF developed the Online Voter Guide with Pacific Bell's Knowledge Network Gateway program, which donated its public gopher server and technical assistance to make this project possible. The Online Voter Guide was funded through generous contributions from Oracle, Intel, Pacific Telesis, Pacific Bell, PG&E, GTE, Apple, AT&T, Macworld and the California Teachers Association.

Many individuals also provided technical help, and suggestions and moral support: Mary Schrader and the Knowledge Network Gateway team at Pacific Bell; Ray Kiddy of Apple Computer; Susan Clark at the Center for Civic Literacy; Al Bennett of the California State Library; Tom Hoeber of the California Journal; Ken Loman and Joyce Monda of the Kids Voting programs; Jim Warren; Dawnie Andrak; Michael Twombly; Jim Muldavin of Capitol Focus; Peggy Nicholas of Pacific Telesis; Bob Stanton; and the kind folks at Egghead Software in Sacramento. Special thanks to Amy Howard, Cheryl Attubato and Brian Wallace for their work in formatting this guide for the web.

Hope you enjoy the Online Voter Guide, and be sure to vote on November 8!


Kim Alexander, Executive Director
California Voter Foundation


*Facts and opinion presented in the California Online Voter Guide are not neccesarily those of Pacific Bell. This guide is a public voter information program, and as such, facts and opinions expressed belong to the originators who provided information and have not been verified, nor neccesarily endorsed by Pacific Bell management.

______________________

return to the main page

The material included in this voter guide is archived and will not be updated. Please visit the California Voter Foundation's homepage for the most current information and resources.

© California Voter Foundation 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 & 1998