We link by method, not by cause. Every group here helps people learn how self-government works — the how-to, not the what-to. None is listed for a policy it favors or a party it prefers, and a link is not our endorsement of anything they argue elsewhere. We checked each one: it had to be real, still running, and nonpartisan. If you find one has drifted into pushing a policy or a party, tell us and we'll take it down. That's the line — and it's the same line we hold ourselves to.
Bills, ballot measures, and voting records — public, searchable, and free.
Look up any election, official, or ballot measure — and how your state's initiative process works.
ballotpedia.org
Learn how state legislatures and ballot measures work, state by state. Nonpartisan by charter.
ncsl.org
U.S. government data — spending, population, outcomes — in one place and sourced, with no ax to grind.
usafacts.org
Look up any official’s record: their votes, positions, and who funds them. Free and nonpartisan.
votesmart.org
The law already gives you the right to see how decisions get made. These help you use it.
File, track, and share public-records (FOIA) requests to any government agency.
muckrock.com
State-by-state open-records help, hotlines, and sample request letters.
nfoic.org
Free guides to the open-records and open-meetings law in every state.
rcfp.org/open-government-guide
In many states, citizens can write a law and vote on it directly. Here's how that actually works.
The exact signatures, deadlines, and filing rules to put a measure on your state's ballot.
ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process
Tested ways for a group of ordinary people to study a question and reach a fair decision together.
Panels of everyday voters study a ballot measure and write a fair fact sheet for the rest of us.
healthydemocracy.org
Helps cities set up citizens' assemblies where randomly chosen residents make real decisions.
demnext.org
Research on how opinion changes when a random group gets good facts and talks it through.
deliberation.stanford.edu
A free library of real-world examples of communities trying public participation.
participedia.net
Free, open software that towns and groups use to gather opinions, debate, and budget in the open.
A free tool that gathers a crowd's views in their own words and shows where people actually agree.
compdemocracy.org
Open-source software a town uses to run proposals, budgets, and votes with residents.
decidim.org
Free software for debates, citizen proposals, and participatory budgeting on a government's own site.
consuldemocracy.org
Open-source platform where residents propose ideas and weigh the reasons for and against — used for participatory budgeting worldwide.
citizens.is
Our money trail is the county’s budget; this is the other kind of money — who funds the campaigns and what lobbyists spend.
Who funds campaigns, and what lobbyists spend — at the federal and state level. The nonpartisan authority on money in politics.
opensecrets.org
When you know what you want, tell the people who hold the vote — in your own words.
Enter your address and email your members of Congress from one page. Built by the EFF; you write the message, not a script.
democracy.io
Want to run your own petition, on any issue, at any level? These hosts are neutral and open to every viewpoint.
Start or sign a petition on any issue — a long-running host that takes no side.
ipetitions.com
Create and host a petition, local to national — a neutral platform with no political affiliation.
gopetition.com
Straight from the source: the state's own procedures, in plain steps.
The official Arkansas steps to petition and qualify a ballot measure.
sos.arkansas.gov/elections/initiatives-and-referenda
How to request Arkansas public records and attend open meetings. Written with the Attorney General.
arkansaspress.org/freedom-of-information-handbook
Know a nonpartisan group that teaches people how to change the law — the method, not the cause? Send it in and we'll verify it the same way we verified these. Get involved · suggest a link. And the standard we hold ourselves to is the same one we hold them to: what we will never do.