Bee Website Offers Audio & Video Election Information

By John Voket

To accommodate individuals who want to see and hear as well as read about select local news and information, The Bee’s website, newtownbee.com is currently offering downloadable and streaming audio of last week’s First Selectman’s debate. This week, the website also offers a video public service announcement from the Secretary of the State’s office on the use of the state’s new electronic balloting equipment.

Given the fact that Newtown served as a pilot community for Connecticut’s new electronic voting system last year, Newtown Bee editor Curtiss Clark decided that it would be appropriate for the newspaper to test its web video offerings with a short piece on the voting process.

“Since this year’s local election is so important, we want everybody to have an understanding of how the election system works, and we’re presenting it through an unaffiliated but ultimately reliable source, the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s office,”

Nobody was happier to hear about The Bee’s election season web projects as the Secretary of the State herself. Susan Bysiewicz said through its new audio and video streaming, the paper is helping to promote one of America’s most important constitutional rights — voting.

“I just love it — you obviously got it right,” Ms Bysiewicz said in a call to the newspaper after hearing about the project. “I’m delighted to know The Bee has decided to put this video up first, because this is an historic occasion. It’s the first time the entire state will be utilizing computerized voting technology.”

The SOTS said she hopes young people who embrace mobile technology like iPods and mp3 players will download the debate and the election video to learn more about the local political process, or watch it streaming on their own computers at home or in school.

“You know Newtown, and (First Selectman) Herb Rosenthal were among the first communities in the state to welcome our new voting technology,” Ms Bysiewicz said. “So I think it’s appropriate that The Bee has become the first newspaper serving the area to bring this kind of local election information to the community.”