Election Website Build | Case Study

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A successful government website is designed with simplicity and ease-of-use in mind. Election departments are often subsets of an existing county website. It isn\’t uncommon for the sheer amount of information that an election department needs to present to become overwhelming for a county website.

As its own department, there are dozen of forms, links, and information that need to be organized in a way that makes sense. Election departments receive a high volume of calls and questions around election dates. It is vital to make this information easy to find and use so that voters can get the answers they need to successfully vote.

Does your website present the right information?
Is it clean and organized?
Do you find that your election department is receiving excessive calls asking for answers that are clearly outlined yet they just couldn\’t seem to find?

It may be time you create a dedicated website for your election department.

Montana Election Website

First Call was contacted by the election department of a county organization. They had received the Center for Tech and Civic Life Grant which granted them the funds to move forward with a fully developed separate (subdomain) website. Their department head said \”her primary motivation for moving the election site over to a stand-alone was that it had too much information to disseminate on the main website.\”

Their current election department information was limited on the current website but she wanted to expand the information to include several additional sections, helpful information, and a document library.

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The Web Build Process
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Discussing Goals

We sat down with the election department\’s head and discussed her goals for the website. She wanted to reduce the number of calls that were coming into the wrong department asking election-related questions. She also wanted to have an easy-to-update document library where all of her files could be easily found and changed as needed.

We decided that our primary goal was to provide a simple, easy website with as much information presented in one place as possible. We also decided that we wanted to prompt people to Register to Vote as their basic \”call to action\”.

Deciding on Design

What we came up with was a (mostly) single page website with a side menu that allows the user to easily bounce among titles while staying on one single page. We separated the Contact page and the Information for Candidates page. The latter page was given its own space because there was simply too much content to contain on the homepage.

Finding Focus

Their site includes a basic but straight-forward Election Toolkit that provides new voters with all the answers they need to get registered and understand how and where to vote. There is easy access to Ballot & Voting Information, the Election Office contact information, Election Maps, Election Results, and Voter Registration, all on one page. The sidebar menu makes it a breeze to find everything you need without feeling like you have to navigate dozens of pages before finding your answer.

Management

Above all, the site is easy to manage. First Call uses a front-end web builder called Divi. Divi is so intuitive that anyone – even without any previous web skills – can use it to edit their own website with basic training. This empowers their election department to manage and update their website as needed without having to contact First Call for minor updates. Of course, we are always happy to help! But there is peace of mind knowing that you also have the capability and option to do it yourself.

\”During the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized the importance of disseminating accurate election information in a timely manner and living in rural Montana means we have limited resources for dispensing news rapidly.  Upon reviewing our website, we realized that our current election webpage was severely lacking pertinent information and user-friendly functionality.  Thus, we saw the need for a dedicated election website that would allow our residents to easily access election related information. 

As a result, we approached the team at First Call Computer Solutions, Inc. and they were eager to build a standalone website for all our election information.  We worked with a dedicated Web Services Manager who was open to all our suggestions and helped us build a full-service election website that best suited our needs and desires.  We highly recommend First Call Computer Solutions, Inc. based on their dedication to producing a high-quality product that meets the needs of their clients in a quick and professional manner.\” Savannah, Blaine County Deputy Clerk and Recorder     

The Result

We were able to create a nice, fast, pleasant-looking Election Department website very quickly. We created it as a subdomain to their existing county domain name so they share a similar URL. Their new URL is simply given the \”election\” prefix. They loved the site and are looking forward to having a streamlined election process for the next term.

Do you think your website could benefit from a separate election site? You may qualify for grants that enable you to direct funding to create a beautiful new website. Reach out to someone from our team and we will be happy to discuss options. You can also review our pricing page to get an idea of budget if you are looking to finance your new web build yourself.