Burnet County Elections website gets top rating from voters group
The Burnet County Elections website earned an “outstanding” rating from the League of Women Voters of Texas during its recent review of all 254 county elections websites.
Burnet County Election Administrator Doug Ferguson said he was appreciative of the rating and noted that he and his staff work hard to keep the website updated with the information voters need in an easy-to-use format.
“Our website is relatively new, built last year in the fall, so having gotten an outstanding rating is really nice,” he said. “We’ve also gotten good comments from voters over the last few months along with suggestions to help make it better, which we are always interested in.”
The league announced the ratings Monday, March 7.
Out of a 125 possible points, the Burnet County site scored 92.5. Scores of 90 or better were rated outstanding. Across the state, 56 county election sites earned outstanding ratings. Another 36 received a rating of “very good” for scores of 80-89.
The Blanco County Elections website scored 100, while the Llano County website received an 87.5.
The nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Texas reviewed county elections websites in February in preparation for the March 1 Democratic and Republican primaries. The organization rates county election sites based on a number of criteria, including website security, ease of use for voters, providing help for special categories of voters (military, overseas, special needs, students), providing voter identification information, providing information in a second language, and containing links to the Texas Secretary of State’s website and the league’s nonpartisan voter guide.
The Burnet County Elections website is designed to be easy to use on computers, tablets, and smartphones.
“I think this is a cool part of the design, but the overall strength is having all the information where the voter can find it easily, no matter what category the voter is looking for,” Ferguson said.
People expect more from an elections website, even compared to a few years ago, he said.
“I want our website to maximize the voter’s experience, and I want to know how we can improve on that,” he continued.
Visit the League of Women Voters of Texas’ 2022 Primary Election County Website Review for a complete look at the results and scoring.
While the league’s score is welcome news, Ferguson said he is more concerned with another ranking.
“Although I appreciate the rating from the League of Women Voters, the opinions of Burnet County voters, the folks this website is built for, are much more important to me,” he said.