Voters who want to be well-informed should get on the bus

YAKIMA — Bev Luby Bartz exited the Project Vote Smart tour bus Tuesday afternoon feeling overwhelmed by the information she learned is at her fingertips.

Now, in addition to the specific voters' guide for Yakima County distributed by the Secretary of State's office, Bartz plans to use the Project Vote Smart Web site (votesmart.org) to search the biographical information, voting record, issue positions, interest group ratings, public statements and campaign finances of candidates for state and federal offices.

"There always seems to be so many questions in my mind (about candidates)," said Bartz, a Yakima resident. "This will help clear things up."

The red, white and blue painted charter bus stopped in the parking lot of Top Food and Drug on South First Street to spread the word about its project -- the voter's self-defense system. After Yakima, it's off to Tacoma and Olympia before making stops in Oregon, California and Arizona. Then it will head to Denver for the Democratic National Convention and later to Minneapolis-Saint Paul for the Republican National Convention.

The "Voter's Self-defense System" is essentially a nonpartisan, not-for-profit, grass-roots effort to provide accurate and unbiased information on more than 40,000 candidates for political office. Claiming to sort through the political rhetoric to provide factual information, the system also includes information on state ballot measures.

"There is lots of information available -- online and at the library. I think it is difficult at times to find factual information," said Cynthia Garrick, president of the League of Women Voters of Yakima County, which hosted the tour bus.

The project is not funded by any political party, interest group, corporation or otherwise. All the funding for the project comes from individual donations.

"Help us if you can, but most importantly, use the information," said Jon Arnold, who has worked with the project for about two years.

Although the project, which is based out of Philipsburg, Mont., has been in the works for 16 years, the bus has been touring the country only since last October. In that time the bus has traveled more than 30,000 miles, making more than 100 stops.

When the bus hit Pullman late last week, Washington became the 45th state the tour bus has visited. Yakima was one of five stops in the state before heading into Oregon -- the 46th state to visit. Only the Dakotas remain out of the 48 contiguous states.

Tuesday, members of the League of Women Voters of Yakima County were on hand to register voters on site.

The tour bus is one of several outreach efforts to let potential voters know about the project and the amount of information at their finger tips.

"Most of the information is already out there. We just collect it and put it in the same place," Arnold said.

Earlier this year, the project took out a full page advertisement in the New York Times to promote its work.

During the four-hour stop in Yakima on Tuesday, about 50 people stopped by to check things out, according to Tony Boehm, communications director of the project who was also in Yakima for the visit.

The bus features a 22-seat mini theater, where a 10-minute video is projected on a screen to tell about the project and some details about the funding and information collection process.

"It's kind of like working for the Peace Corps," Arnold said.

Paid workers receive a "living wage" for their work, often sharing housing and transportation in the hills above the small Montana community. Some help to gather and cross-check information.

Some of the information contained on the Web site comes from public speeches or statements candidates make, a questionnaire they return or by trolling through public records.

"The key is to get on here and start digging around," Arnold said to a small group gathered on the bus.

* James Joyce III can be reached at 577-7675 or jjoyce@yakimaherald.com.

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