See what elected officials do—and trace it back to the source.
TraceTheVote compiles verified public records on votes, public statements, and funding sources. Every metric links back to original documentation so readers can evaluate evidence directly.
Votes
Bill pages and “game logs” with roll-calls, attendance, and context. Each vote is clickable to the source.
Statements
Public statements with timestamps and citations. We preserve references so records remain traceable over time.
Funding
Campaign finance and related disclosures summarized by category and source—without hiding the underlying filings.
Mission
TraceTheVote exists to make civic information easier to understand without sacrificing rigor. We publish structured, searchable data from public records and present it in a clear, neutral format—modeled after modern stats sites.
- Neutral by design: we focus on what’s documented, not partisan framing.
- Traceable by default: every chart and statistic links to a source.
- Comparable: consistent metrics across legislators, sessions, and jurisdictions.
Methodology
We separate records (primary documents and official datasets) from derived measures (summaries, classifications, and analytics).
- Primary source links: votes and filings always include a source URL.
- Snapshots & provenance: we store retrieved timestamps and data hashes for auditability.
- Clear labels: derived fields (e.g., donor categories) are marked as derived and documented.
- Corrections: if we find an error, we publish a dated correction note and update the record.
Note: Public datasets can contain inconsistencies; we prioritize linking to originals wherever feasible.
Planned sources
Michigan (State)
- Michigan Legislature: bills, roll-calls, committee info (official pages)
- Open States: structured bills/votes/people dataset
- Michigan Secretary of State: campaign finance disclosures (and MiTN where applicable)
Federal (U.S.)
- FEC: federal campaign finance filings and datasets
- Congressional voting data providers (API + bulk history)
- Official bill metadata and references (bill text, status)
Constituent context
We plan to tie voting patterns and funding summaries to demographic and economic context using public data at county and district levels (e.g., ACS). District boundaries can change over time; we will version this mapping by year/session.
Contact
Want updates or want to contribute data expertise? Email: info@tracethevote.org (coming soon — for now, replace with your preferred contact)
If you’re setting up email later, a good start is admin@tracethevote.org forwarding to your Gmail.