Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to voter education; directing the director of elections to collaborate in the production of video voters' guide.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. Voter education is one of the key functions of the King County elections office.
2. Since 1993, King County elections has collaborated with the city of Seattle to produce a video voters' guide in odd-numbered years.
3. The video voters' guide includes information on King County offices, city of Seattle offices, Port of Seattle offices and Seattle Public School Board offices. In 2009, nineteen of these offices are subject to election.
4. The production and dissemination of a video voters' guide provides the public with access to information about challengers as well as incumbents, thus increasing access to democracy.
5. Cable television makes the video voters' guide available to approximately 425,000 King County households through an array of local and regional government access cable channels, including King County TV, the Seattle Channel and many municipal channels.
6. The online version of the video voters' guide has proven very useful to the public as demonstrated by the fact that it draws the most users by far of any single program posted on the King County TV web site.
7. A study by the Pew Research Center shows that online video viewing continues to grow exponentially.
8. In 2009, the video voters' guide has been viewed by 2,359 people, comprising ten percent of total year to date King County TV page views.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. The director of elections shall collaborate with the city of Seattle to produce a video voters' guide in 2009.
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