What is VoterPunch?

VoterPunch is an educational tool, which enhances participation in the increasingly vital arena of internet activism by informing and inspiring Americans to fulfill their responsibilities as citizens. Designed as a nonpartisan voting record service, VoterPunch can easily be tailored to fit the needs of any organization or institution working to promote democracy and citizen involvement.

VoterPunch, a syndicated service, is incorporated into the websites of familiar democracy building & social change organizations. As a service, VoterPunch will be tailored to the needs and political perspective of each organization. VoterPunch will streamline and enhance Congressional scorecards making it far easier and more timely for individuals to both learn about what is happening on Capitol Hill and to interact with their elected officials, whether to praise, chide, or demand support before a vote happens on the floor of Congress.

Presently, VoterPunch can be seen in action powering the informative website www.ProgressivePunch.org which serves as a demonstration site for VoterPunch. ProgressivePunch.org displays highly detailed, up to the moment, expert analysis of all important votes that are taken in Congress. ProgressivePunch.org uses a ranking system so that people can see how progressively their representative scores within the spectrum of overall voting records, in the 14 master categories and 154 subcategories created by VoterPunch. Additionally, the site features ultra-easily accessible info from VoterPunch displaying how members of Congress voted on a vote by vote basis. Detailed vote descriptions are original content, written for VoterPunch by Congressional scholars.

We are a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization able to and seeking tax deductible contributions to further expand our capabilities.

How do we determine which votes enter the database?

Congressional votes are selected for the VoterPunch database by contrasting two ideologically polarized groups within the U.S. Congress.

The voting records of two control groups that constitute the most progressive members and the most conservative members in the House of Representatives and Senate respectively are contrasted against each other. Who is considered amongst the conservative & progressive cohorts in each body of Congress will change from time to time as new officials are elected and as their voting records fluctuate.

On any given vote the "Progressive Position" is determined by the vote of the majority of the progressive representatives as contrasted to the position of the majority of the conservatives. The "Conservative Position" is the mirror image of the Progressive Position. The database uses a custom algorithm to come up with the progressive and the conservative scores. ANY VOTE qualifies for the database when a majority of progressives - for example, in the House (if there were no absences), 21 of the 40 - vote against 21 of the 40 conservatives. The same process is used in the Senate. What this means is that non-ideological votes such as National Groundhog Day: 429-0 with 6 absences, do not qualify for the database. The number of votes which qualify using this algorithm remains remarkably constant from one Congress to another and includes about half of all votes cast.

We're currently having discussions with foundations and others about financing efforts to allow people to create their own algorithms that would allow them to choose their own Congressional heroes and villains &/or categories of interest to them.

What is the goal of VoterPunch?

We want to enhance public involvement and to make members of Congress responsible for their votes and actions. We believe in providing accurate information to the public about the performance of members of Congress which is detailed and up-to-date on all important Congressional votes. The ensuing greater public awareness will enhance public involvement and governmental responsibility.

Making the voting records of our elected officials more easily accessible is the first step to a more aware and involved citizenry.

The next step happens in collaboration with other organizations; this is the core of VoterPunch's syndicated service. As a support service to organizations already doing the work of encouraging an informed public and integrity in elected officials, VoterPunch will become the informational backbone of Congressional scorecards and will facilitate the transmission of messages from the public to members of Congress in response to those scorecards.

In addition to our existing Congressional Vote Description & Analysis + Scorecard Services, the following are steps that we'll implement in the near future:

1. Merge our data set with OpenSecrets.org's detailed campaign finance data.
2. Create an email notification message that goes out to customers and/or their membership alerting them as to how their member of Congress voted on issues that qualify for our database -- within hours of a vote being cast. This email notification system will incorporate a "thank or spank" feature that will allow people to email their members of Congress congratulating or criticizing them for their actions on a given vote.
3. Enhance our search algorithm so that it can identify legislation of interest to clients BEFORE votes actually transpire. This allows the client to round up members to co-sponsor a given piece of legislation. The search algorithm would automatically identify precisely who would be the most likely co-sponsors of legislation among those who had not already signed on to co-sponsor the bill. The algorithm would also automatically identify the most likely swing votes in Congress on the legislation when that legislation actually comes up for a vote. This algorithm driven analysis is based on the very finely detailed vote segmentation in our database that is precise enough that, for example, our identified swing votes in Congress on water pollution legislation are different than on air pollution or even noise pollution (which is also one of our 154 subcategories).

Finally, the long-term effect of a better-informed constituency which is armed against the manipulative effects of campaign propaganda should be citizens who can better cast votes based upon their own knowledge rather then being under the sway of big money in congressional elections.

Support Our Efforts

Your tax-deductible contribution is welcome:

$