Arizona residents have say on state Web site
State technology agency is allowing people to vote on what online services they would like to see
Arizona's Government Information Technology Agency is using online ballots to gauge what residents want on the state's World Wide Web site.
From now until April 20, residents can register their preferences for online
services, including renewing driver's licenses; Internet voting; ordering
birth, death and marriage certificates; and paying taxes and parking tickets.
The ballot is part of a larger plan to create a Web portal that would direct
users to a particular state or local government agency depending on what
service the user needs.
Arizona chief information officer John Kelly said that although he always
felt governments must tailor functions for constituents, "I got to realize
that no one was asking the customers what they wanted."
After having agency personnel vote on what services they thought would be
helpful to residents, he thought it would be useful to ask the residents
directly.
"Of all the things that can be done next, it's important to set priorities
about what is possible and what is wanted," he said.
Susan Patrick, the strategic communications manager at the technology agency,
said the benefits are greater than helping constituents.
"If a transaction can be done online, it can cut office time," she said.
See the ballot at gita.state.az.us/voting.
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