VoteEasy.org helps answer voters' questions

It's the Big Mac of political candidate research - fast, tasty and easy to consume.

“But at least it has some nutritional value,” says Adelaide Kimball of Project Vote Smart which has unveiled VoteEasy, an Internet tool that allows Iowa voters to identify the congressional candidates most like them on the issues the voters care about most by going to www.voteeasy.org.

However, in Iowa, just 40 percent of federal candidates and 4 percent of state legislative candidates, including just 1 percent of incumbents, answered the survey. That's the lowest participation rate by legislative candidates Project Vote Smart has recorded in any state since 1996, Kimball said.

Because of low participation, Project Vote Smart has inferred their answers based on public speeches, statements and votes, Kimball explained.

“All we want to do is help voters get factual answers,” she explained about Project Vote Smart's Political Courage Test started in 1992. “So the point of the test is: Are you willing to tell voters your position on issues you will face if elected?

“When they refuse, they make a conscious decision not to provide voters with that information,” she said. “And voters are mad about that.”

Unknown to the candidates, over the past year Project Vote Smart has applied thousands of research hours to examine the factual records of each congressional candidate on 12 major issues facing the nation. Each response inferred is anchored in the candidate's own words and public records. Each candidate was given the opportunity to review those inferred answers. Few responded.

VoteEasy makes clear whether the answer is based on candidate's words or inferred by Project Vote Smart.

“VoteEasy is the future - the cutting edge of technology applied to the people's need to know their candidates,” said Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart president. “Regardless of how difficult candidates make it for citizens to acquire this essential information, tolerance of political abuse and manipulation is no longer a voter's only option.”

Both major party gubernatorial candidates also refused to answer the Political Courage Test this election year.

Although Iowa had one of the highest participation rates – 90 percent of congressional candidates answered in 2000, participation has been dropping on the advice of party leaders and political consultants, Adelaide Kimball said.

It drives home the point that political consultants are running elections, she said.

“They're the gatekeepers now and their not responsible to anyone,” Kimball said. “There's no accountability.”

One consultant told Project Vote Smart, “Look, it's not our job to educate. It's our job to win.”

The Political Courage Test can be found at

www.votesmart.org. Information on candidates for the U.S. House and Senate also can be found at

www.voteeasy.org.