Local Technology-in-the-Public-Interest Organization Announces its Citizens' Toolkit for Bloomington and Monroe County, Providing Election and Polling Place Information On-Line
By Rick Dietz
Oct 21, 2004 - Bloomington
The Humanetrix Foundation, Inc., a Bloomington-based not-for-profit organization, is pleased to announce the release of its Citizens' Toolkit for Bloomington and Monroe County. The Citizens' Toolkit is a website (http://www.citizenstoolkit.org) designed to make voting information and voting itself easier and more accessible to Bloomington and Monroe County residents.
The main features of the Citizens' Toolkit are
- Candidate Information: http://www.citizenstoolkit.org/candidate_profiles.php
A clearinghouse of candidate profiles, questionnaires and interviews provided by the various political parties, independent organizations and local media outlets.
Regarding candidate information, Humanetrix founder and president, Rick Dietz, explained, "There is certainly plenty of information available, but it's often difficult to locate. Voters need to be able to balance information from many different sources. The Citizens’ Toolkit tries to bring it all together in one location to help voters make informed and responsible decisions."
- Polling Place Finder: http://www.citizenstoolkit.org/poll_finder.php
Simply type in your address to find your precinct and polling place location (along with a helpful map).
Regarding the Citizen's Toolkit 'Poll-Finder', Mr. Dietz claimed, "The 'Poll-Finder' is the main attraction of the Citizens' Toolkit website. What we've tried to do is make it as easy as possible for any registered voter to find where to vote on election day. You just type in your address, and out comes your precinct and polling place location, along with a map to find it!"
- Assorted voting information describing how to vote early and absentee, links to local election and voting resources.
In order to insure the neutrality and quality of this project, a politically diverse steering committee was established to oversee the Toolkit's development. The Citizens' Toolkit steering committee consists of Susan Brackney (an Independent), Doug Bruce (a Republican), Rick Dietz (a Democrat) and Isabel Piedmont (a Green).
Citizens' Toolkit is a project of the Humanetrix Foundation, Inc. Humanetrix (pronounced like 'human net tricks') is a Bloomington-based not-for-profit organization established to serve the public interest through the innovative and effective use of technology. HFI was established in 2002 by Rick Dietz, along with his brother Ryan Dietz and Larry Mongin. Currently serving on the Board of Directors are Ryan Bruce, Rick Dietz, Ryan Dietz, Barbara McKinney, David Novak, Catherine Stafford and Peggy Welch. Humanetrix has two major initiatives at this time, the Citizens' Toolkit and Humanthread (digital infrastructure for online oral histories). More information about HFI can be found at our website at... http://www.humanetrix.org.
Contact: Rick Dietz
HFI Founder & President
W:856-5408 H:336-5051
rick.dietz@humanetrix.org
