by Marian Shostrom, Voter’s Edge County Coordinator

Are you wondering about the difference between League of Women Voter Education Fund’s VOTE411 and California’s Voter’s Edge (VE)? Here is a bit of history: Launched by the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF) in October of 2006, VOTE411.org is a "one-stop-shop" for election related information. It provides nonpartisan information to the public with both general and state-specific information on many aspects of the election process. If you go to VOTE411.org, and use the pull-down menu for California, you will see information for California. When you click on “Candidate and Ballot Measure Information”, you will see a link to Voter’s Edge.

In 2014 three state Leagues (California, Illinois, and New York) had pilot programs to test Voter’s Edge, which included information about financial contributions from MapLight.org. After the pilot, LWVC decided to continue the partnership with MapLight, and California voters have learned about candidates, measures, and financial contributions before each election since then. If you liked using The Easy Voter Guide, you will be glad to know it is part of Voter’s Edge. You will see the guide when you look at information about state ballot measures.

Candidates will be able to post information on Voter’s Edge on September 7th. Data from the March primary indicates that voters began searching Voter’s Edge (VE) about six weeks before the election, with heaviest use during the final month, after Vote by Mail ballots were received.

Timeline for Voter's Edge:

• August 14-August 28: Contra Costa Voter’s Edge Coordinator will get a preliminary candidate list from Registrar of Voters (ROV) and research contact information for candidates.
• August 22: VE County Coordinator requests election data files from ROV, which go to LWVC Education Fund for uploading to the VE site. It usually takes a while for ROV to send files. Then they have to be uploaded and checked for accuracy.
• August 26: Deadline for candidate questions to be submitted to VE.
• August 27: Certified candidate list available from Secretary of State and county elections offices.
• September 7: Go live date! Voter's Edge site opens up with information on candidates, ballot measures, and financial contributions.

If you want to volunteer to call candidates or research information about local measures, email voters.edge [at] lwvdv.org.