Mobile Apps and e-Alerts: Taking Technology a Step Further Jon A. Gegenheimer Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

Image courtesy Wikipedia.org The first smartphone—Simon by IBM, distributed by BellSouth

Information and unrestricted ability any time…any where… Society has embraced technology that promotes freedom from conventional tools used to access sources of news and data. Image courtesy Wikipedia.org

One third of all Americans now have smartphone technology that affords access to mobile apps that perform a wide range of functions: tools, information, entertainment, and much more!

The clerk of court app was developed and implemented in only 3 months.

Users have options from which to choose to access information about elections and the clerk of court’s office. All information available via the clerk’s Internet web site may be accessed through the app on any hand-held device.

Users may search for election data by date, candidate name, or office/proposition.

Clean streamlined buttons provide for easy selection of options. Here, user selects date of the election they wish to research. Results are available back to 2002.

After selecting the date, a list of offices and propositions appears.

Information that users seek appears in bold print, complete with candidate name, number of votes, percent of votes, voter turnout, and total votes cast. A map of the results may be selected here.

The map viewer provides a legend and precinct- level map of Jefferson Parish. As results are entered on election night, precincts are colored for the candidate receiving a plurality of votes. Users may easily determine which precincts have reported.

Users then may select individual precincts for information about the lead candidate and location of the precinct.

Back to the search options: Users may search for election data by date, candidate name, or office/proposition.

If a user knows a candidate name, but not the office he or she is seeking, one may enter the name, then select the date of the election.

Example: Adams, a Louisiana House candidate. The user may not recall which district seat Adams is seeking.

Other features include a list of polling places, easy access to the clerk’s web site, information about the clerk of court, and access to maps of voting districts.

Attorneys’ Toolbox App

Attorneys’ staff regularly phone the clerk of court’s office for fees, forms, directions, and other info.

Attorneys are businessmen, and seek to be more productive and, thus, more profitable. The Docket Calendar helps attorneys calculate how much time to allocate for a courthouse proceeding.

Attorneys may retrieve the docket calendars for the district court and Jefferson Parish’s courts of limited jurisdiction.

The district court has 16 divisions. Users may retrieve the docket for a particular division or all of them.

Division A is selected here.

Then a date is selected.

Search has revealed 0 criminal and 8 civil items on docket for Division A for May 24, 2012.

A step further, users may view details of the items on the docket. Case number, title, type, and description of docket activity are provided.

Another example, this one a traffic matter.

Attorneys’ Toolbox App

Jefferson Parish’s courts are located in multiple facilities in the area. Smartphone users often utilize GPS and mapping software to locate businesses, and now government offices.

Users are linked in to Google Maps for ease in obtaining driving directions.

Forms for the various clerk of court divisions are provided for convenience.

A step further, users select from a list of forms that they may review, print, or in conjunction with other apps, save and edit.

In Questions and Feedback, users may submit contact information and questions and comments.

JeffClerk Alerts notifications of criminal and civil case activity and election results reporting.

Subscribers to the alert system may receive alerts any time, anywhere, on any device capable of receiving .

The alert provides case number, division, and title and the purpose for the alert. This alert is for a filing of a Motion for Final Dismissal. The user learns that the dismissal was granted.

This is an example of an alert indicating that multiple documents were filed.

It may take hours for the signed judgment to be imaged. Once the image is available, the subscriber gets a follow-up . If they subscribe to the clerk’s remote access service, they then may retrieve the image.

Election alerts contain the office title or proposition description, number of precincts reporting, candidate name, votes counted, and turnout.

The also provides a list of precincts with a notation by the ones which have reported.

Jon A. Gegenheimer Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court (504)