Californians have one of the most modern and sophisticated electronic systems for voter information in the nation, thanks in large part to a daughter of Culver City who learned the importance of citizen participation from one of the city’s most admired civic leaders.

Kim Alexander, the daughter of late Culver City City Councilman Richard Alexander, heads a non-profit, non-partisan organization called the California Voter Foundation www.calvotes.org. The Sacramento-based organization’s mission is to improve democracy through the responsible use of new technology and provide Californians with non-partisan election and governmental information.

“I grew up in a political family and I was always interested in politics,” Alexander began in a telephone interview Monday, June 21 from her office in Sacramento.

During the interview, Alexander touched on a wide array of topics, ranging from the advances that her organization has made during the last 16 years, the initiative process and the importance of -providing voters online -accessibility to information about political parties, elections and other forms of election-related data.

“I saw the Internet as a great tool for informing the public on the issues related to elections and what is on the ballot,” said Alexander, who studied political science at UC Santa Barbara, in response to a question on why she started the foundation. “At CVF, we saw that technology was coming into our lives in a big way and we knew that it would impact the way that we vote.”

Originally founded by former California Secretary of State March Fong Eu in 1989, Alexander refounded the non-profit five years later and over the years has expanded the organization’s goals to include more transparency in electronic campaign finance disclosure.

“We created the world’s first real-time online campaign finance disclosure database,” she told the News with pride.

In its advocacy for improved access to voter information through technology, the operative word for the foundation is  responsible. The 2000 presidential election, which was criticized by election experts for its infamous “hanging chad” ballots that resulted in the most controversial election in modern political history, caused election officials nationwide to rush to purchase electronic voting equipment that was more often than not very faulty, Alexander said.

“There was this rush to buy electronic machines that did not include paper ballots,” she recalled.

Alexander said that experience could serve as a cautionary tale on allowing one extraordinary circumstance to influence important decisions.

“It’s a great example of a rush to a solution that created bigger problems,” she said.

The foundation was honored by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen with the National Secretaries of State Award in 2008 for being “a true believer in democracy and working tirelessly to make the system better,” Bowen said after she presented Alexander with the award.

Other honors the foundation has won include “the Best Sites of 2000” by Campaigns and Elections Magazine, the 1996 James Madison Freedom Award from the society of Professional Journalists Northern California chapter for promoting electronic access to public information, and a Webby Award in 1999.

The non-profit organization has published the California Online Voter Guide for every statewide election since 1994.

“Not only does the new online guide make researching arguments and facts on propositions easy, it also helps voters ‘follow the money’ by listing the top donors for and against each measure,” the California Progress Report wrote in 2008.

Although California and recently other states have taken steps to make voting and access to election information easier, that is not the case at the federal level, Alexander said.

“The federal government has done very little to protect voting rights in this country,” she asserted.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act, and more recently the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which sought to create minimum election standards and the Election Assistance Commission, have been the only major federal initiatives in nearly 50 years.

Alexander said her non-profit is embarking on a project with the Center of Governmental Studies in West Los Angeles.

“We will be assessing Web sites in all 50 states to see how they operate regarding election information,” she explained.

Jessica Levinson, the center’s director of political reform, said she is looking forward to working again with Alexander.

“We’ve worked with Kim before on issues pertaining to elections,” Levinson said. “(CVF) and other organizations have been really proactive on electronic election disclosure.”

Regarding the direct democracy ballot initiative process, first introduced by reformist California Gov. Hiram Johnson in 1911, Alexander believes that too often it has become a tool that special interests use to further their own agendas.

“Reforms often come with unintended consequences,” the foundation president said.

Alexander also weighed in on some of the June 8 ballot measures that won and lost. About Proposition 16, a ballot measure that would have required municipalities to obtain a two-thirds vote of their electorates before creating their own electric utility, Alexander said in an online blog it was “somewhat of a relief” that measure lost, 53% to 47%.

The Pacific Gas & Electric Company of San Francisco spent an estimated $46 million on the failed initiative.

“This reaffirms my own personal conventional wisdom that says that you can’t win an initiative without money, but you can’t win with only money, either,” she said.

Alexander said she was “a bit surprised” that Proposition 14 won handily. Prop 14 will allow California voters the opportunity to cast ballots regardless of party affiliation for the candidate of their choice in primary elections. The two winners will then square off in the general election.

“We had open primaries several years ago for two election cycles before the courts invalidated it,” Alexander said. “During that time when it was in place, there was an increase in voter turnout.”

One thing to remember, Alexander said, was that usually a small voting minority decides whether a measure is successful or not.

“Initiatives are won or defeated by the voting public, not the general public,” she noted. “And they are usually defeated or passed by primary voters, who are often the most dedicated voters and among the most informed.”

Alexander said her father, who passed away in 2004 and for whom Culver West Alexander Park in west Culver City is named, taught her an early lesson about money in politics.

“I remember when I was a teenager and my dad was running for city council and this man came to our home and offered to give my dad $500 for his campaign,” she recalled. “My dad refused to accept the money and when I asked him why he didn’t take it, he said, ‘I don’t know him and I don’t want him to think that I owe him anything.’

“It was one of my first lessons on how money can influence politics. My dad passed on so much political wisdom to me and I’m so grateful.”

The foundation continues its quest to make it easier for the public to participate in arguably the most direct manner in which a citizen can influence how government functions — through voting — utilizing technology to make the election process a much easier, enjoyable and informative experience.

“Voters should be able to go online anywhere in the country and use these tools of technology,” Alexander concluded. “Elections shouldn’t be a mystery to anyone.”