Buy Back Your Vote

By Tim Bauman, Matthew Dolan, Margaret Fortney, Chris Kelly, and Nathan Keyes

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Elevator pitch

Businesses spend millions of dollars each year lobbying politicians, donating to political candidates, and since the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission, they can use their money in unlimited amounts to promote candidates and engage in political discussion. Because they use political action committees and other abstractions, it is sometimes hard to figure out what positions each company holds. Our goal is twofold: first, we are taking the publicly available information that OpenSecrets.org and MapLight provide and combining it to map the flow of money from companies to specific political positions and politicians so that politically-minded consumers can hold companies (and politicians) responsible. Second, we are creating an iPhone app that allows consumers to carry this database with them and to know instantly by scanning a barcode or searching a company name what political positions it has.

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Project design document

Project timeline document

Buy Back Your Vote