The Workflow

In today's political landscape, transparency is key to ensuring voter trust in the democratic process. VoterVantage, a new searchable database of local political contributions to campaigns, aims to enhance voter confidence by providing easy access to information on who is funding local candidates.

By offering a comprehensive view of who is donating to local candidates, VoterVantage empowers voters to make informed decisions at the polls. This post will act as a guide for anybody looking for the same data as us, in networks not-yet-covered by our services.

Step 1.0

Reach out to your city clerk's office to complete a FOIA request.

Note: In some cities, the city clerk's office may have an online database of easily accessible datasets ready to go for you!

Step 1.5

Ask for all Form 460s regarding your candidate of interest and the years pertaining to your query. These forms are bi-annual summaries that contain all relative monetary contributions.

Step 2.0

Parse and clean these PDFs into workable datasets, allowing for quick visualizations.

Step 3.0

Create pivot tables, charts, and graphs all from the processed data you gathered from your city clerk's office!