Johnson County Election Office Website Honored

September 19, 2007 (Olathe, Kansas) – The Johnson County, Kansas Election Office has been selected as a 2007 Digital Government Achievement Award winner in the Government-to-citizen local government category by the Center for Digital Government and Education.

As the first election office website in Kansas and the nation, the Johnson County Election Office website has served as a model for the election community since its launch in January 1996. The redesigned website was unveiled in July 2006, organized by user group, rather than topic. 

“Our contention is that USERS visit websites and content should be customized to those users,” Johnson County Election Commissioner Brian Newby stated. “Most websites are organized by topic, which might make sense to us but would be hard for new users to navigate. “

“We’re extremely honored to receive this award because it validates the design approach we took with the site,” Newby said.

The site features drop down tabs for Voters, Candidates, Election Workers, Media, Future Voters, and Archives. The redesign includes compatibility with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Sample Ballot lookup, and a new search feature powered internally with a Google Mini appliance.

The Election Office administers all federal, state and local elections for some 350,000 voters in Johnson County, Kansas. This includes more than 1,900 elected positions in 540 voting districts. A single election may contain up to 1,335 separate ballot styles.

The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. The Digital Government Achievement Award is a national program that recognizes outstanding agency and department websites and applications that enhance information interactions, transactions and/or services. The categories include government-to-government, government-to-business, government-to-citizen, and government internal.

Cathilea Robinett, Center Executive Director of the Center, offered these enthusiastic words of praise, "2007 was an amazing year for our Best of Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards. The competition was fierce and there were many applications and portals that were top notch. It’s clear that America’s state and local governments are unrelenting in their pursuit of excellence for the citizens they serve. “

The original and most popular state and local government website competition, the Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards will honor the 2007 winners at the 11th Anniversary Awards Gala in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 21, 2007.

Last Updated: July 6, 2010 5:11 PM