A production-grade, open-source platform for discovering and signing ballot initiatives in Washington, DC
This project exists to build a production-grade, open-source platform that improves how ballot initiatives are discovered, signed, and securely recorded in Washington, DC.
This repository is currently a placeholder only because the initial project team has not yet met. The intent is not exploratory tinkering or a speculative prototype. The intent is to do the serious legal, technical, and civic work required to design, validate, and implement a system that can operate within DC election law and earn public trust.
This repository hosts an open-source civic technology project focused on modernizing the ballot initiative signing process in Washington, DC.
Today, ballot initiative campaigns rely heavily on door-to-door canvassing to collect signatures. While legally valid, this approach is inefficient, costly in volunteer time, and often uncomfortable for residents. Awareness of active ballot initiatives is also limited.
This project aims to address those challenges by creating a secure, accessible, and legally compliant digital platform that:
- Helps residents discover active ballot initiatives
- Enables eligible residents to find and sign initiatives through a trusted digital workflow
- Securely records and maintains signature data in alignment with DC election requirements
- The initial project team has not yet convened
- No architectural or technical decisions have been made
- Early work will begin at Civic Tech DC meetings in January
- Initial efforts will focus on:
- Legal feasibility and requirements
- System architecture and security considerations
- Review of existing open-source ballot initiative platforms
This README will evolve as the project takes shape.
This is a multidisciplinary civic effort. We welcome contributors with backgrounds in:
- Software engineering (frontend, backend, security, infrastructure)
- UX and accessibility design
- Election law and public policy
- Civic engagement and campaign operations
To get involved:
- Join the
#ballot-signSlack channel in the Civic Tech DC Slack - Introduce yourself and share what you’d like to contribute or learn
- Legitimacy first — legal compliance is a core requirement
- Security and auditability by design
- Accessibility for residents
- Transparency in process and governance
- Open source, open collaboration
Ballot initiative signatures are not fully private by law. Any system built by this project will reflect that reality clearly and responsibly.
This project is being developed within the Civic Tech DC community. It is not a closed startup and not a casual experiment. It is an open, serious attempt to build civic infrastructure that could meaningfully improve democratic participation in DC.
If you’re interested in helping build this platform:
👉 Join the #ballot-sign Slack channel in Civic Tech DC and introduce yourself.