Smart Voter, an online project of the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund, is up and running to support June 6 elections in nine jurisdictions throughout Los Angeles County. Geographically, the spread is from Claremont to Palos Verdes and from Long Beach to Newhall, but these far-flung areas all come together at http://www.smartvoter.org.

Seven of the jurisdictions are school districts which have placed bond issues on the ballot. Each bond measure is featured on an individual Smart Voter page, which in turn is linked to important background material from EdSource and GreatSchools. Users have access to general information about school funding as well as to statistical data on specific districts and individual schools.

In addition to the school districts that will be voting on June 6, the City of Long Beach has two city council seats at stake and the City of Manhattan Beach has a rezoning issue, Measure 2000-A, on the ballot. Visitors to Manhattan Beach's Smart Voter site will find maps, photos, and environmental impact information when they click on links to websites hosted by the city and by organizations working for and against the "Metlox" rezoning issue.

Smart Voter's distinctive ballot lookup feature will be helpful in all jurisdictions, but especially in Long Beach, where only two council districts are involved in the election.

Local news coverage of the June 6 elections will be linked to Smart Voter as it becomes available. This is where users can play an interactive role by clicking on the "suggest a link" area of any contest page. Anything that can be shown on the World Wide Web can be linked to Smart Voter if it meets League of Women Voters' standards. It is also possible to post information about local events -- forums, rallies, etc. -- related to the election, and to link to audio or video tapes accessible through sites with "streaming" audio/video capabilities.