All candidates for the 2014 South Australian Council Elections will feature on a Candidates’ website, currently under construction by the Local Government Association of South Australia (LGASA).
LGASA CEO Wendy Campana said intention was to assist voters to find information about their candidates online.
At the very minimum the website will feature a short profile provided by each candidate to the Electoral Commission as part of the nomination process.
It would also display a photograph if provided.
“Candidates will also be able to provide a link to a personal campaign webpage, blog, Facebook or Twitter page, or other online material to expand information for the public,” Ms Campana said.
“For Candidates to provide the link they will need to provide an email address with their nomination to the Electoral Commission.
“That email will then be used to allow submission of the link.
“Most people are now used to hunting information on the Internet so it is a logical development and it will be optimised for mobile devices.
“Its important people understand something about what candidates are standing for as we don’t have centralised homogenised party policies.”
Candidates have until noon on 16 September to lodge their nominations with an email address and within a week they will receive an email offering the opportunity to provide a link.
The website is expected to be fully populated by September 30 ensuring voters could access the information for five weeks before the close of voting on November 7.
Voters will be able to access the information at: www.lga.sa.gov.au/lgcandidates.
Nominations close at noon on September 16, after which a draw will be held to select ballot paper name order.
Candidates names will then be published in a report on the LGASA website.
The report is expected to be posted early afternoon on September 17.
