IssueVoter

IssueVoter elevates voices on policy and new laws by summarizing complex legislation, sending opinions directly to Congress, and tracking votes to provide a personalized scorecard for everyone.

Already used in all 435 Congressional Districts, if selected as a winner, IssueVoter will use the Elevate Prize funding for:

• Launching 1st ever language translations of bills/IssueVoter, starting with Spanish. This would enable IssueVoter to better serve the 41 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S. and be the only resource doing this;

• Expanding our civic education programming to reach future voters: middle and high-school students will learn about the legislative process and follow it in real-time;

• A text message program to reach lower-income or rural Americans who do not have access to broadband internet or smartphones to voice their opinions; 

• An app and video alerts to make contacting and keeping electeds accountable even easier and drive impact with young people, whose voter turnout remains lowest compared to other age groups; and 

• A peer-reviewed academic study (randomized control trials) of IssueVoter’s impact on civic education, representative accountability, and voter turnout.

See IssueVoter in Action (2 minutes)! 

See what IssueVoter users say about us (1 minute)!

My father fled China, where democracy does not exist. Growing up in the US with parents who always voted, I practiced “civic duty” and understood the power “we the people” have to shape our country. Working for a Representative, I tracked every constituent contact, yet so few reached out. While managing a State Senate campaign in Iowa, a state known for voter engagement, it was so frustrating that voters couldn’t answer, "Is my rep actually representing me?" between elections-when the real work that affects our lives gets done. And even in Iowa, like everywhere, people disengage during the off-season. 

Think about an issue you care about. Is it the future of our planet? Our healthcare system? Education? The economy? Policy change is what creates large-scale, lasting, systems change. Providing access to the policymaking process empowers constituents to be truly heard to create a sustainable, better future.

IssueVoter answers the question, “The election is over, now what?” and extends engagement beyond elections, helping everyone understand the laws that affect their daily lives, keeps elected officials accountable, and encourages people to contact Congress in the most effective way. 

We can create the world we want to live in through a representative democracy.

America’s representative democracy remains inaccessible and barriers disproportionately hinder younger generations, low-income families, and communities of color. 

15,000+ bills (inherently challenging to understand) are introduced each Congressional session, yet the public only hears about a few each year.

IssueVoter alleviates the problems of inaccessibility, inadequate representation, and lack of accountability by providing the tools, resources, and knowledge Americans need to make their voices heard and participate in policymaking and hold their elected officials accountable at the ballot box and beyond elections.

By engaging on the issues people care about, bringing transparency to the democratic policymaking process, and empowering constituents to participate in accountable governance, IssueVoter is strengthening the very fibers of our democracy. After all, democracy does not exist without the participation of its people.

IssueVoter makes information accessible and actionable with customized alerts *before* Congress votes and translates bills into layman’s terms with points from *both* sides. It is the only platform that provides a personalized representative scorecard, helping individuals hold politicians accountable and become more informed voters.

Before IssueVoter, civic tech fell into two categories: (1) for-profit civic tech that doesn't have policy impact; most startups have either died or become polls to sell your data; and (2) Existing nonprofit resources have information but are not interactive or actionable. Also, the advocacy space is single-issue driven, on the right and left, when in reality, people care about many issues. IssueVoter brings all of this into one place and makes your voice heard in minutes. 

IssueVoters are diverse, distributed across all age groups, all 50 states, and all 435 congressional districts, representing all genders, political identities, and ethnicities. Uniting them is a desire to be informed and make their voices heard, trust in a nonpartisan resource, and being equipped with IssueVoter’s data (scorecard) to hold Congress accountable. 

IssueVoter has a strong network of local and national partnerships. With Right2Vote, we deliver criminal justice legislation information to incarcerated individuals across over 400 prisons. Through our “Lorain County Urban League” and “Warm Cookies of the Revolution” partnerships, we connect local communities to national legislation.

No other organization has successfully empowered thousands of individuals to send an average of 23 opinions annually to Congress, and maintain consistent participation year-over-year beyond elections.

IssueVoter keeps individuals engaged beyond elections and has sent 3,000,000+ alerts to individuals and opinions back to Congress from individuals in all 50 states and D.C., and all 435 Congressional Districts. IssueVoter has published 650+ bills and 100+ articles.

As a direct result of using IssueVoter:

• 90% increased their civic knowledge
• 84% felt a closer connection to their current representative
• 74% were exposed to new viewpoints
• 37% were motivated to vote in the first place (wouldn't have voted otherwise)
• 83% engaged in additional civic actions (e.g., volunteering, attending a town hall meeting)
• 89% saw legislation for the first time that they didn't otherwise know about
• 33% changed which candidate they voted for in a primary or general election

We have built the platform, connected with an engaged user base, and demonstrated that our theory of change works. Individuals on both sides of the aisle are more likely to engage in the legislative process if there is an easy and trusted resource to do so. Now is the time to build IssueVoter’s capacity and scale up its impact.

We are partnering with four volunteer academic researchers, who will conduct randomized control studies measuring IssueVoter’s impact through the 2022 midterms.

In the four years since its founding, IssueVoter has sent over three million opinions to Congress from individuals across all 50 states and D.C. and has "IssueVoters" in all 435 Congressional Districts. IssueVoter has covered 650+ bills and published 100+ articles. In 2020, IssueVoter monitored the 1,000+ COVID-related bills, and published explainers like: “How to Spot Fake News”, “How to Talk Politics with People who Disagree” and “Journey of a Bill”.

In 2021, IssueVoter projects to grow from serving 32,000+ to over 100,000 individuals who are “IssueVoters”, regularly sending opinions to their reps. Increased awareness from Elevate and the resources to bring on program staff will lead to significantly growing and managing additional partnerships, including providing this offering free-of-charge to smaller community organizations that are unable to pay, core to our mission’s “accessibility” pillar.

Our goal is not only to reach more people but also to change the perceptions and attitudes of civic engagement: this includes everyday actions, which we make possible by helping people to stay informed and opening the lines of communication through innovation. With the Elevate Prize’s ability to amplify awareness, we project reaching at least 5,000 in every district; over 2 million individuals by 2024.

IssueVoter’s impact on the world will be a more representative government, healthy and effective democracy, including constituent trust. IssueVoter's impact indicators include users, bills summarized, alerts sent to individuals, and total hours saved understanding bills. As a tech nonprofit, our indicators, output, and outcomes are measurable/scalable.

Our outcomes include easier communication, informed voters, greater interest for civic engagement, more voices heard by reps, and catalyzing voter turnout. 

With IssueVoter’s success, we envision an inclusive country, democracy, and vibrant civil society open to all. Elected officials will readily and consistently hear from most of their constituents, not just the loudest voices. Policies will include the interests of traditionally unheard voices, including those of young Americans, Americans of color, and low-income Americans. Elected officials will be re-elected or voted out based on their ability to represent the will of their constituents, rather than by their appeasement of special interests groups or entrenched political power. People will know that voting in elections every few years is not enough, and civic engagement does not begin or end at the ballot box. We are aiming for nationwide accessibility to understanding and trusting our legislation and policies.

Our biggest challenge has been amplification, cultivating our community on social media, and becoming a “household name”. Imagine when IssueVoter becomes widely-known like Wikipedia - so that everyone who wants to use IssueVoter may do so.

“I wish knew about IssueVoter sooner!” 

“How come I hadn't heard about IssueVoter before?” 

We hear this constantly.

Plus, unlike Wikipedia, IssueVoter is actionable, driving equity by making voices heard by policymakers.

When the public sees startups “go viral”, what they don’t see is the millions spent on marketing (12-20% of revenue), PR (5-10% of revenue), and employees. IssueVoter has been growing primarily via word-of-mouth, without any advertising or a CMO. We'd benefit greatly from the Elevate Prize's amplification, mentorship, and connections.

IssueVoter has worked hard to serve/educate individuals across the nation. NOW is the time to grow and expand our awareness. The Elevate Prize will directly contribute to IssueVoter’s vision ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

We have experience leveraging resources and exposure to large audiences, given our participation in nonprofit tech accelerators. Being featured on 2020 CNN Heroes led to our creation of a new feature in 2021, and an exciting website redesign and app to be released in the fall! 

IssueVoter has utilized social media and built genuine relationships with a few people with a platform, including one with 1.2 million Instagram followers, a huge network compared to our other partners. From our work with this individual, we have seen that because IssueVoter is so compelling, that initial awareness on social media leads to sustained civic engagement beyond elections both on IssueVoter and in each individual's life. With a larger platform and more resources, we would be able to promote more positive change and education across the nation.

Besides social media, IssueVoter was one of 8 nonprofits featured on CNN Heroes, alongside well-known organizations like World Central Kitchen and Make-A-Wish. Because of that widespread media exposure on a major cable network, IssueVoter then was able to add a long-awaited feature to its capabilities: sending customized messages to representatives. This addition was crucial to IssueVoter's goals because, unlike petitions and form letters, it's individual outreach that influences policymakers' votes.

We already have a communications plan in place to engage the new audience. And we have already done the work (research, backend development, human design thinking, interviews, project planning) to execute our new features and programs as soon as funding is available.

We envision a future where all actively participate in our democracy. Race, age, gender, ethnicity, income level, sexuality, or citizenship status should NOT be barriers to civic participation. We're dedicated to growing IssueVoter's technology/programs to help our country realize this vision. More inclusive than voting, IssueVoter is for all constituents, regardless of age or citizenship; "IssueVoters" are diverse.

On the IssueVoter team and board, individuals represent many states, generations, genders, income levels, races, politics, and ethnicities. To truly serve a community, we reflect that community’s diversity. We advertise all roles in public forums and targeted newsletters to BIPOC individuals and women. IssueVoter de-emphasizes past-experience requirements, focusing on transferable skills. Everyone creates "user manuals" to learn about each other's communication/work styles. Beyond demographic diversity, we are diverse in personality+professional backgrounds.

A free public resource run by a diverse team, IssueVoter transforms structures that prevent most Americans from consistently engaging in our nation's governance. IssueVoter aims to "be where people already are", extending to underrepresented, disenfranchised, incarcerated, and underserved populations; we reach the hard-to-reach through our partnerships (an internet connection isn't even required). Our mission requires accessibility. IssueVoter is user-friendly, convenient, and a safe way for anyone to participate and be heard.

My diversity of both government/political and private sector experience gives us a unique perspective–marrying how the legislature works with realistic solutions in which individuals, even those who aren’t activists, will engage. Having managed global teams and budgets, I am able to guide IssueVoter into its next stage of growth. IssueVoter has a track record of sustained engagement beyond elections, and we're on the road to impacting millions of American’s daily lives.

All stakeholders were intimately involved in the development process. Before writing a single line of code, we surveyed hundreds of everyday Americans and met with hundreds in politics, policy, education, tech startups, nonprofits, and social impact organizations. IssueVoter seeks constant feedback, including 2 surveys/year and one-on-one calls. We pay attention to our stakeholders' needs, trends, and are responsive. We update our technology often, remaining current and secure.

No one person can "do-it-all". Being incredibly resourceful, I have built a team including 14 Advisory Board members, 2 software engineers, 1 writer, 26 interns, and 14 volunteers with skills including policy, technology, working in Congress, and running nonprofits.

IssueVoter has overcome countless setbacks over the years; times with zero funding, a key team member quit unexpectedly, technology challenges, and times when "life gets in the way". I'm deeply driven by, "I cannot live in a world where this doesn't exist." So determined, my personality type thrives on being challenged. I don't dwell on setbacks or have a poignant story off the top of my head, rather, I'm problem-solving and overcoming challenges continuously.

However, the most disheartening challenge we face is apathy. What's exciting is that via IssueVoter, our individuals sent an average of 23 opinions to Congress in 2017, and that number has GROWN every year, to 35 in 2020!

How many of your friends know about even 10 bills in Congress?

Outside of IssueVoter, policy interest is spiky: national tragedies or political movements spur short-term activism, which fades for the public. However, at IssueVoter, we have been able to sustain policy engagement year-round, including during the new Presidential administration. People are staying involved thanks to IssueVoter and we are committed to expanding that passion for policy change.

IssueVoter has become the first-ever public resource to provide a twenty-first-century constituent relationship–at the individual level–in every district in America!

Here are a few appearances:

• CNN Heroes with Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa
• ‎Simplexity with Alyson Stoner
• TEDx | TED
• What happens after the protest? | Crooked Media
• So You Voted, Now What? | Mobilize with Rickey Thompson, Alyson Stoner & Aaron Burriss - YouTube

We hope to empower as many voices as possible by launching the following, depending on funding. We cannot start these projects without help from the Elevate Prize:

• An IssueVoter app to increase engagement and impact with young people. 

• Expanding our civic education programming: curriculum with feedback and impact measurement to educate middle and high-school students about the legislative process. Important because: 1, 2

• A published peer-reviewed academic study testing the impact of IssueVoter on voter education, representative accountability, and voter turnout (started);

• Language translations, starting with Spanish to better serve the 41 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S. and increase accessibility for civic participation;

• Launching a text message program to reach lower-income or rural Americans who do not have access to broadband internet/smartphones to voice their opinions; and

• Video alerts that engage and activate young people especially, those whose voter turnout remains lowest compared to other age groups. At IssueVoter, we believe in meeting people where they are; this means video content.

Soon, we hope to have the capacity to expand and cover state legislation to truly transform the power structure of our democracy and ensure accountability at all levels of government.

Local and national organizations receive a customized IssueVoter experience that they can offer to their audience, members, students, community, or employees. For organizations, our partnerships are unique, customized to each situation. Some partners leverage IssueVoter functionality and content, others receive bespoke research, and some primarily engage via interactive workshops, for example. 

IssueVoter has a strong network of national and local partnerships. Three organizations we have collaborated with and made an especially unique impact are Right2Vote, the Lorain County Urban League, and Warm Cookies of the Revolution. Our work with Right2Vote delivers criminal justice legislation information to individuals incarcerated across over 400 prisons. Our partnerships with Lorain County Urban League and Warm Cookies of the Revolution connect local communities to national legislation. 

We also partnered with larger organizations you may have heard of, including Rock the Vote, 1% for the Planet, and Higher Heights (#BlackWomenVote).