PRESS RELEASE - November 10, 2010

The official website of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) has been recognized as “Best Official New Jersey Web Site” by the Documents Association of New Jersey (DANJ).

The web address is: www.elec.state.nj.us. Members of DANJ, who are document librarians, chose the site based on its excellence in both usability and content.

“As a disclosure agency, the Commission is constantly striving to provide more and better quality information to the filing community and the public,’’ said Carol Neiman, Director of Information Technology. “Through its website, the Commission helps keep the citizens of New Jersey an informed electorate.”

ELEC’s website was chosen based on several criteria:

• The site contributes to the expansion of knowledge, gives evidence of innovation in presentation, or demonstrates a creative approach in its treatment;
• The site has a relevance for New Jersey’s citizens;
• The site contributes to enhancing the quality of life for New Jersey’s citizens;
• The site contributes to an understanding of state or local government processes or functions;
• The title reflects actual contents, the site achieves its intended purpose, and the format is appropriate to the contents;
• The information available is written in a lucid style comprehensible to non-specialists;
• The site is easy to navigate and/or provides a search engine;
• The site is generally pleasant to access due to physical appearance, layout, organization, use of color, or ease of use; and
• The site makes use of electronic enhancements such as hypertext links, thumbnail graphics, etc.

DANJ has awarded a “Best Official New Jersey Web Site” award since 1998. Past winners include the New Jersey Legislature, Department of the Judiciary, and Department of Education.

ELEC first went online in 1997. Its website underwent major makeovers in 1999, 2005, and 2008, and staff has continually worked to make other improvements. For instance, during the past year, the Commission, for the first time ever, made it easy for the public to use the website to search through more than $40 million in donations made to local candidates. In another recent first, annual lobbying reports, starting with those submitted in 2009, were made available online.

In the near future, the Commission staff will be working to retool the website so the state’s 1,000 lobbyists can use it to file reports electronically.

Jeff Brindle, ELEC’s Executive Director, praised his staff for establishing an online presence for the agency that is accessible and provides an abundance of information about campaign finance and lobbying in New Jersey.

“I want to thank Carol Neiman, ELEC’s Information Technology and Data Entry staffs for all their hard work in updating, maintaining, and improving our website’’ Brindle said. “For a disclosure agency such as ours, a well-functioning website is critical to achieving its mission in the Internet Age.”

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