GovTrack.us, a tool by Civic Impulse, LLC, is one of the worldʼs most visited government transparency websites. The site helps ordinary citizens find and track bills in the U.S. Congress and understand their representatives’ legislative record. GovTrack brings together the status of U.S. federal legislation, voting records, congressional district maps, and more. Most of the information is assembled in an automated way by scanning federal government websites, such as THOMAS.
The Sunlight Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit organization that was founded in April 2006 with a goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United States Congress, the executive branch, and in state and local governments. The foundation's primary focus is the role of money in politics, and advocates for policy changes to build a more open government, builds technological tools to increase the participation of citizens in government, and conducts original reporting on accountability and other open government issues.
Data Sets:
Sunlight Foundation's Party Time is a central clearinghouse of information for journalists, citizen journalists, activists and voters who are interested in following the money -- and the influence it carries. On this site, you can search and sort parties according to who gets the money, who is throwing the fundraiser, where the party was held, what kind of party it was, and what other VIPs attended.
OnTheIssues is a non-partisan non-profit organization whose mission is to help voters pick candidates based on issues rather than on personalities and popularity. They obtain their information from newspapers, speeches, press releases, book excerpts, House and Senate voting records, Congressional bill sponsorships, political affiliations and ratings, and campaign websites from the Internet.
Ballotpedia is the online encyclopedia of American politics and elections.
Federal Election Commission
(
fec.gov)
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate campaign finance legislation in the United States. The duties of the FEC are to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections.
Project Vote Smart (PVS) is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in six basic areas: background information, issue positions (via the Political Courage Test), voting records, campaign finances, interest group ratings, and speeches and public statements.
The Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the organization aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more transparent and responsive government.
