ClearElect — About

"Millions of Americans skip the bottom half of their ballots every election — school boards, judges, city council — because they have no idea who these people are. ClearElect gives every voter a plain-language breakdown of every candidate on their personal ballot, from Senate races down to local judges. No spin. No agenda. No excuses for staying home."

What we do

Built for the voters who've given up.

ClearElect is a free, nonpartisan civic technology platform that makes ballots legible. Enter your zip code and get a personalized guide covering every race you'll see on Election Day — from U.S. Senate to local school board. We use AI to translate records, funding sources, and official statements into plain English anyone can read in five minutes.

We don't take positions. We don't accept candidate money. We don't tell you who to vote for. We translate — and then get out of the way so you can decide.

Our principles

What we stand for

⚖️

Nonpartisan, always

Every candidate gets the same format, the same word count, and the same AI prompt — regardless of party. Our methodology is published and auditable.

🔗

Source-grounded

AI-assisted. Human-verified. Always sourced. Every summary is drawn from verifiable public record — official statements, FEC filings, voting history, and credentialed news sources — and checked by our team before publication.

🔓

Free for every voter

ClearElect is free — now and always. We're a nonprofit platform funded by civic grants, not advertising or candidate money.

🗳️

Local-first

We focus especially on local races — school boards, city council, judges — where turnout collapses and yet decisions directly affect your daily life.

The problem we're solving

Why this matters

100M+

Americans eligible to vote who sat out the 2022 midterms

15–30%

Typical turnout in local elections — even when those officials control your schools, roads, and taxes

100s

Of elections decided by fewer than 100 votes every cycle, per Ballotpedia research

Data & technology

Where our information comes from

ClearElect is built on verified civic data from trusted, established sources. We don't create political data — we make it intelligible.

FEC Campaign Finance

Federal campaign finance filings — who funds each candidate and how much.

Finance data

Congress.gov

Official voting records, bill cosponsors, and congressional activity for every representative.

Legislative record

Democracy Works API

Structured ballot data covering candidates and races across the U.S. for every election cycle.

Ballot data

Context-grounded AI

Plain-language summaries generated from official public record. Every claim is verifiable. Zero hallucination policy.

AI layer

For a full explanation of how our AI generates summaries and how we prevent bias, see our Methodology page.

The team

Built in Chicago

ClearElect is a nonpartisan civic technology nonprofit. We build tools that make public institutions legible to the public they serve.

ClearElect exists because local elections shape daily life — schools, roads, property taxes, policing — and yet most voters skip those races entirely. We're here to change that.

Support ClearElect

Help keep the ballot free for every voter

ClearElect is free for every voter, forever. No ads, no candidate money. If you believe every voter deserves access to plain-language ballot information, consider supporting us.