How it works

Working draft. This page is live, and an attorney hasn't reviewed it yet. We'll update it after review and note what changed.

Citizens get a say every two, four or six years, with no organized way to weigh in between. Every 100 days, people here raise what matters to them, the overlap becomes an agenda, every office gets the same chance to respond, and the record is delivered in person.

The cycle

1. Dec 21The cycle startsThe clock starts and the rules freeze. There are no gatherings yet.
2. Jan 25The People's Voice opensTell us what matters, online or on paper. Five minutes. Open until Feb 19.
3. Feb 27Vote on the agendaVote on the grouped items for your area, online or at a paper vote night. Open until Mar 6.
4. Mar 8Every office gets the agendaEach office gets its community's agenda and the same deadline, Mar 22. Late replies are still posted.
5. Mar 29Replies are publishedReplies are published word for word and printed.
6. Mar 31Delivery dayDelivered in person, peacefully, 5:30 to 6:30 PM.

Who takes part

Participants are people who chose to join and were verified in person by two trained volunteers. They're not a poll of the whole community, and we'll publish how people were recruited. You must be 18 or older.

How the agenda forms

People choose from short lists and can add their own words. A person reads what's written, then similar items are grouped and restated neutrally. A panel from across the spectrum reviews the wording, and participants vote on the result. You'll be able to see how each item was formed.

What we publish about each office

We call this the Response Record. For each office it shows the reply word for word, the office's own position on each item, the dates, and one of these statuses:

• Responded
• Late, with the date
• Declined
• No response after documented delivery
• Not delivered

There are no grades, percentages or staff opinions. Each office previews its own record before it's published, and anyone can send a correction.

Privacy floors

We don't publish a number for a group smaller than 10. An office's record appears only once at least 50 verified people from its own constituents take part. Until then it says "not enough participants yet".

The same rules for everyone

Every office gets the same request, script and deadline, whatever its party. Rules are frozen when a cycle opens, and changes apply to the next cycle and are logged publicly.

What's still being set up

The neutrality panel, county coordinators and legal entity don't exist yet. We'll name them here when they do. See who's behind this.

Planned: comparing votes with the agenda

After the first cycle, the Response Record may also show when an office's recorded vote differed from a ranked item, with the source and the reasoning for linking the two. Linking a vote to an item is a judgment, and we'll say so. It would have no scores, and offices would preview it and reply. This isn't running yet.

Where AI is used

Software may help draft messages and group similar items. A person reviews anything before it's sent or published. AI never decides an official's position.