ELEC invites Mac, Firefox users to Trenton
By Juan Melli"The essence of Democracy is an informed electorate," begins the mission statement of New Jersey's Election Law Enforcement Commission, but much of the information on ELEC's website has been off-limits to a significant portion of the electorate for years, and there are no plans to change that.
I'm not even talking about the clunky interface and seemingly random functionality. If you have that much access, consider yourself lucky.
Since at least 2005, ELEC has been aware that "Browsers such as Firefox and Netscape are not supported through our search engines."
In 2007, the only visible change to their help page was the inclusion of another unsupported platform: "At this time, the Macintosh platform and browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Netscape are not supported through our search engines."
Currently only the Internet Explorer browser is supported, and only on Windows (the old version of IE on Macs is not supported). The market share of IE, which has been declining since 2003, is now around 75 percent, which means that about one in four users would not be able to access the information they are searching for.
While trying to do some research, I called ELEC to explain that I am on a Macintosh computer and ask how I could access their information. According to the IT director, they don't have any plans to make the information available to those on the currently unsupported platforms.
To their credit, the person at the Help Desk was sympathetic and even offered to look up the reports for me, as long as there were only a handful of files I needed. Explaining that I needed more than just a few reports, I was told I could use the computers in their Trenton office.
If the Federal Election Commission and other states can do it, there's no technical reason why this information can't be made more easily accessible across all platforms, though apparently one bureaucratic hold-up is that the popular pdf format hasn't been approved for document storage yet.
This isn't 2003 when 95 percent of people were using Internet Explorer on Windows. If the current trend continues, the percentage of people using Web browsers other than IE and without access to all of ELEC's information will continue to increase, and their goal of an "informed electorate" will become increasingly elusive.
Contributors
Wally Edge
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group that promotes ethics and accountability, has filed a complaint with the ... >
Bob Torricelli
There's nothing more difficult to see than the history before your eyes. It sometimes takes generations to understand the significance of ... >
Michael Patrick Carroll
OK, he didn't say precisely that, but when the Chairman of the Budget Committee informs us that governmental spending is the key to prosperity, ... >
Debbie Holtz
Score one for the Governor’s public relations team. For the last few weeks, they have been working overtime to fuel speculation Corzine was being ... >
Dr. Joseph Marbach
I am pleased to report the results from the first national poll conducted by Environmental Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences at ... >
Rob Tornoe
To view a larger version of this cartoon, click here. >
Michael P. Riccards
The media, which loves headlines and knows little history, is trying to sell President Elect Obama as another Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But that ... >
Joey Novick
When I was eleven, way back in 1965, my family was invited for Thanksgiving to my cousins’ cousins, a Jewish-Italian family who lived in the ... >
Juan Melli
After the entire Star-Ledger editorial board opted to accept the paper's buyout offer, John Farmer, a 26-year veteran of the paper, was tasked ... >
Carla Katz
A couple of weeks ago, my mother, Angelina Katz, did her second debate on behalf of Barack Obama. A debate? My mother? If you knew her, you’d be ... >
Patricia Quattrocchi
A rained out MusicFest this past September has provided Union County with $275,000 in insurance monies. The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders ... >
Murray Sabrin
Today the Asinine Watch begins. With so many illiterate statements made about the economy by elected officials in recent days and weeks, it was ... >
Hot Topics
| Politicker INTERACTIVE | |
 |
Lawmaker Profile Follow the funding of your representatives |
 |
270 to Win See how Obama got to the magic number |
Most Active Stories
- Lonegan enters race for Republican gubernatorial nomination
- Christie says give him four to six weeks
- David Crabiel, longtime Middlesex Freeholder, dead at 78
- Lonegan to kick off his second gubernatorial campaign today
- Team Lonegan
- Amid economic downturn, mayoral backlash, Lesniak anticipates COAH finetuning
- Ariyan mum on BCDO chairmanship prospects
- Some county chairs keep their gubernatorial options open -- for now
- Marra will be Acting U.S. Attorney
- Breaking a glass ceiling: will New Jersey get a Latino Secretary of Agriculture?
- Correction: Weiner departure was not his own idea
- Torricelli on COAH
- Two N.J. super delegates go to Obama; Norcross backs Obama; key Clinton supporters endorse Obama
- At energy policy meeting, Rose fights with cabinet and walks away
- Sixteen Democrats are on Norcross' short list for Andrews House seat
- Roughneen in court today on signature challenge
- Jackson will be Corzine's new Chief of Staff
- Obama bundler says he lost $25 billion of N.J. pension funds
- New Jersey's Most Powerful Law Firms
- Jersey City councilman makes it rain in Washington
Quote of the Day
"Because he had to dress for his speech immediately, he had to purchase an entirely new set of clothes. The campaign credit card used to pay for the clothing was reimbursed in total by the airline, which wrote a check for $952.04 to the congressman on July 20, 2007. The congressman then endorsed the check over to the campaign account on July 20, 2007. Thus, the campaign incurred no expense for the clothing." -- Francis Tagmire, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, on why Andrews used campaign funds to pay for clothing. A Washington, D.C. watchdog group has filed a complaint against him.
Recent Press Releases
- Dec 3 2008
In the News
Read the expanded Wake Up Call, our summary of today’s news media coverage.
Today’s Must Reads:
James R. Lambert: Convicted Felon, Head of Authority― ONLY IN NEW JERSEY...AND PENNSYLVANIA
Why can't we find a role for Christie in Washington? ― MIKE KELLY
Christie Gives Notice, and G.O.P. Gains Hope ― DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Christie's legcy― THE BERGEN RECORD
Corzine for Treasury? Don't Bet on It.― WASHINGTON POST
Immigrants still in New Jersey― THE BERGEN RECORD
Syndicate
Good
I noticed this a while back, and wondered why this was. Good reporting Juan. I see no reason why they wouldn't just expand this to Mac and Firefox users. Would it cost that much work/money to retool it for all servers?
You make a great point.
This definitely needs to be fixed. I don't believe it would cost a thing - it's only a matter of entering codes. If they don't have IT that can figure it out, then they could just transfer their website to a platform that is more accessible. The ELEC needs to get on the ball. Almost everyone I know is using firefox these days.
Not Just Any 25%...
I bet that the folks who use Macs and Firefox would trend toward more educated, more politically active and more sophisticated on many levels.
Of course there are millions of Windows/IE users who also fit that profile (especially here ;-); but I dare say that the demographics would play out as I projected if someone wanted to spend a ton of money polling it out.
Everything government does should be available in real time on the web.
Unless there is a security/privacy issue; it should all be 100% transparent in real time.
This business of having to file OPRA requests is backwards. Every data base we PAY FOR should be available to us in it's entirety and in real time, again, unless there are security and privacy issues.
I like the idea that anyone who works for us has to know that we, their employers, can always be looking over their shoulders. That's how it works in the private sector and that's how it should work for every aspect of our government.
We have a long long way to go, eh?
From Frederick Douglass
lol
ELEC's website is a joke. If ever there was an argument to be made for the existence of corruption in NJ government, it has got to be that unstable, java-based, crash-prone website. Someone's drunk brother had to have given a political contribution to get ELEC's IT contract. Half the time, the site is just plain down. When it's up, I have NEVER been able to get more than one report before the whole deck of cards comes crashing down, taking any other open programs with it. And I'm using one of the newer computers around (still windows XP)! When oh when will ELEC just put the reports online as PDFs like every other agency??!!!