New Jersey posts campaign information to Web

The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission is using the Web to provide faster service, sometimes self-service, to people interested in tapping the department's publicly held information. The result: increased exposure for the commission, a more informed public and perhaps a better democracy.

The goal of the commission is to ensure that the government is serving the public interest," said Frederick Herrmann, ELEC executive director. Specifically, it is charged with collecting and making public election-based records for all political offices in the state.

About a year ago, ELEC sought help for developing its automation plan. After a competitive bid process, the commission began working with Automated Concepts Inc. (ACI). The objective, according to Herrmann, was to do a better job of getting the information out to the public.ACI implemented a FileNet Panagon-based system, enabling users to view the reports online (the result of extensive scanning and imaging work on the back end); to search for the specific documents they need; and to file their reports electronically.

While ELEC's enhanced Web site is relatively new, the imaging and workflow gain has been realized for some time, said Frank Roberts, senior managing consultant with ACI.Although electronic retrieval saves time, enhanced information access has always been the primary goal of the project, said Herrmann.

"In the old way, if you wanted a copy of your mayor's campaign report, you'd have to come to Trenton," he said. That was a hassle and an expense because of printing and postage costs. Now, users can access filings through the site via free downloads of the Panagon IDM Web Desktop, an Adobe Acrobat viewer and Microsoft's HTML Layout Control and Forms 2.0 Controls