(Honolulu, HI) – At the recent State of Hawaii sponsored Hawaii Annual Code Challenge teams of citizen coders formed to help solve government challenges. Given this election season and the important choices voters need to make on the ballot, the team of Jason Axelson, Royce Jones and Aaron Fujimoto developed a web app called HawaiiPowerBallot.com.
This version of the Hawaii Power Ballot is a newly revised edition of the web app originally created in 2014 during a code challenge called Civic.Celerator, a collaboration between Common Cause Hawaii, Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission, Hawaii Open Data and the community of programmers, coders, and engaged citizens.
The updated Hawaii Power Ballot allows voters to research 2016 candidates running in Federal, State, and County races by providing links to candidates’ websites, social media pages, and campaign finance reports. The website also provides information regarding state ballot initiatives and county charter amendments.
“We live in the 21st century which means convenience and access to information. Voting should be no exception. With so many candidates and ballot initiatives to choose from, voting can be overwhelming. The Power Ballot makes it easier for voters to be informed by putting election information in the palm of their hands.” said Corie Tanida, executive director Common Cause Hawaii.
“This application is an example of the what can be achieved when you bring together talented citizens in an environment of collaboration and challenge them to come up with innovative ways to present government information (like ballots) in a user-friendly and understandable way,” said Burt Lum, executive director Hawaii Open Data.
Hawaii Power Ballot is easily accessed from a smartphone, tablet or laptop. A user simply enters in their home address and the Hawaii Power Ballot returns the voter’s ballot replica specific to their location.
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Common Cause Hawaii is a state chapter of the national Common Cause organization. Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to protecting and improving Hawaii’s political process and holding government accountable to the public interest. For more information, please visit hi.commoncause.org
Hawaii Open Data is a non-profit public charitable organization dedicated to advancing the adoption of open data standards and practices in Hawaii. Hawaii Open Data focuses on improving data accessibility, education and integrity in support of public/private collaboration, government transparency, and civic engagement. http://hawaiiopendata.com/