About Video Voter

What is Video Voter?

Video Voter (http://www.VideoVoter.org), a project of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles (http://www.cgs.org), is working to provide all candidates for public office and ballot measure committees with free television time to communicate their views to voters. Video Voter involves three components: production of videos by PEG access cable TV studios, distribution of videos over cable TV and the Internet, and viewing of videos in real time or on-demand via Digital Video Recorders or cable TV Video-On-Demand systems.

(1) Production
CGS has produced the guide Video Voter: Producing Election Coverage for Your Community and accompanying Web site (http://www.VideoVoter.org). The goal of the guide and Web site is to encourage local production studios, e.g., Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) Access studios, universities, public TV stations, nationwide to produce local voter information programming. The Video Voter Guide describes useful formats, tips for production, legal guidelines and other information.

(2) Distribution
Videos are distributed over PEG access cable TV channels, the Internet and other distribution systems (e.g., digital television, DVDs). Where public access channels do not have the facilities or budget for production, they can distribute tapes they receive from candidates.

(3) Retrieval
Digital Video Recorders (DVR's) and Cable TV Video-on-Demand systems will enable viewers to retrieve these election information videos and view them at their convenience. Video Voter works with the Video on Demand and Digital Video Recording industries to encourage the delivery and capture of election information in the weeks before an election. Videos can also be downloaded via the Internet and transmitted wirelessly to TV screens for viewing.

Conclusion
Video Voter improves access to voter information at all levels of government, encourages the use of untapped communications resources and employs new technologies to provide voters with election information in easily accessible formats. An unprecedented opportunity exists, while the digital television and video-on-demand industries are still in their infancy, to get in on the ground floor and change the face of politics for generations to come.

The CGS Video Voter project has been generously supported by grants from Carnegie Corporation of New York and The James Irvine Foundation. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors.