Republicans and Democrats are united — in their call to encourage you to vote. But, once they’ve registered you, what do you do?

One local Web site aims to help.

“Everyone wants to get people out to vote; it’d be nice if it’s an educated vote,” said Jeremy Baumhower, who along with radio host and Toledo Free Press contributor Troy Neff developed the Web site www.VoteLucasCounty.com.

The site was launched in mid September and saw 12,000 visitors within its first two weeks, Baumhower said. The site lists all candidates and the full text of all issues that will appear on any Lucas County ballot. When available, the list of candidates includes links to their campaign Web sites. There’s also information to register to vote and to obtain an absentee ballot.

“We want to be a one-stop shop for anybody not wanting to spend hours researching the candidates. We want to educate every voter in Lucas County,” Baumhower said.

Matthew Bartow, who chairs the John McCain presidential election campaign in Lucas County, called the site “a great consolidation Web site. It’s a good opportunity for anyone wanting to explore the candidates.”

In the upcoming days, Baumhower said a “Pages of Opinion” section will be added to allow candidates the opportunity to publish uncensored blog posts and upload video about why they should be elected. The section also will include message boards for each candidate to allow the public to participate.

“These won’t be sound bites on the radio or TV, or a few lines in the newspaper. It’ll be 100 percent uncensored,” Baumhower said.

While VoteLucasCounty.com strives to be the source for information and opinions on the candidates and the public, there won’t any “editorial board” views from Baumhower or Neff.

“We’re not offering any opinion. We don’t care if you vote for John McCain or Barack Obama, just as long as you vote,” Baumhower said.

If the purpose of the site sounds familiar, Baumhower was behind a similar site in 2000, called VoteToledo.com. That site had a similar purpose as VoteLucasCounty.com, but with a focus on Toledo.

As for the future of VoteLucas County.com, Baumhower said he and Neff plan to keep the site going as a voter education source for future Lucas County elections.

A representative of the Lucas County Democratic Party did not return calls or an e-mail seeking comments for this story.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Election 2008.
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