Politics can be a bit of morass every single time. But with Portland changing its form of government and electing a new mayor, this election cycle promise to be especially confusing. That’s why I’m glad that there’s Citizenly.
[W]e’ve built the world’s most comprehensive database of every elected government official and candidate in the country, from the US President down to every school board official, with multiple data fields. By mapping every residential address to each official and candidate, Citizenly offers the world’s most accurate set of constituency and political data — ideal for businesses and advocacy groups, and members of the public who want more information on their candidates or elected representatives.
“This is public data, and it must be delivered in a way that engenders public trust,” Evan Kersten of Citizenly told Good Good Good. “Our public tagline of ‘improving the experience of being a citizen,’ that’s a semicircle. And the other half of this is improving the experience of governing. You need both. And I think we are really making a concerted effort to address both parts of that circle.”
I took a second to sign up — using Google authentication — and it’s pretty straightforward. Well, and pretty pretty. It’s a far cry from dry spreadsheets or database lookups that are the standard fare for this sort of thing.
The product is currently in beta and only available in Oregon.
For more information or to figure out what the heck is going on with Oregon politicians, visit Citizenly.
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