Scope of Local Coverage (as of September 2013)
Offices: (see: the State Governance Report)
Localities: all counties in the United States (3,197 counties at last count); cities, towns, townships, and other forms of government where the population of the jurisdiction exceeds 29,000 (not including federal, state, and territory governments which are covered separately). There are 90,107 governments in the U.S. (as per the U.S. Census, 2012) so we have set this somewhat-arbitrary population threshold to make the scope of coverage manageable.
Content Covered Per Locality- jurisdiction name, jurisdiction type (city, county, township, etc.), state, URL (government website), Votes URL, Committees URL, Finances URL
Content Covered Per Politician: Name, Office, District, Party, Leadership Positions, "basic contact information" which may include but is not limited to: Address, Phone Number, Fax Number, E-Mail Address; any other content we would normally cover that's available on the official government website (including photos) should be added as time allows.
Data Sources
- The official government website of that locality
- Official representatives of that locality's government (reached via phone or email if a website is out of date or unavailable)
- Content submitted to us directly from the politician (we do not actively solicit this currently)
- A politician may have more in depth coverage from previous state or federal activity. This should be left alone unless it is determined to be incorrect.
Expected Frequency of Updates
Localities: Every 2 years. Tracking sheet for localities: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Dsjj3sj1q_lSrRDrHyIgrVN6TDwE76B4uDAHUW2T5Vc/edit#gid=0City/County Officials: At least yearly. We are currently working on getting election dates for all the cities and counties we cover so that we can update them soon after their election date. Tracking sheet for updating city/county officials: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hMwzlRsxY8QHUWohJW2V-5zIOCWEQ1croAf0EaoaxsE/edit#gid=0
