Transparency

No black boxes. Here is exactly how every number on Civitus is produced.

How vote weights work

Your influence in the mandate comes from who you are, never from what you pay. Payment unlocks tools; identity verification unlocks a full public vote. Address is for reps and jurisdiction only.

Unverified / address onlyPreview votes only, private, don't count toward the mandate
Identity verified (Stripe)Full public vote that counts toward the mandate1.0×

Paid membership (Patron) buys tools like the Financial Sage; it carries the same 1.0× as a free identity-verified citizen. Payment never changes vote weight.

How mandates are calculated

Minimum votes for a mandate (active)Weighted citizen votes, what Civitus uses today (MANDATE_MIN_VOTES env; beta default 10)10
Production minimum (at scale)Target threshold when the platform reaches full participation, not the active bar during beta1,000
Threshold to set directionBelow this margin it's a 'split mandate'60%

Once a bill clears the minimum weighted votes and one side passes 60%, that becomes the citizen mandate. When your representative votes against it, it's recorded as a defiance.

How compliance scores work

A representative's compliance score is the share of mandated bills where their official vote matched the citizen mandate, calculated automatically from public roll-call records. Three defiances on the same mandate escalate to a permanent strike. Scores update as new votes are recorded, we never hand-edit them.

Accountability loop (live counts)

  • Active endorsements: 0
  • Mandate defiances recorded: 0
  • Strike events: 0
  • Endorsements permanently revoked: 0

JSON feed (same numbers, null-not-zero contract): /api/public/stats · field: accountability

How the Sage's wisdom is generated

The Civic Sage is an AI that reads each bill and reflects on it through 2,500 years of writing on justice and self-government (the Federalist Papers, Aristotle, and dozens more). The Financial Sage adds a market read grounded in a curated corpus of legislation and economic history. Both inform, never direct — the vote is always yours. The Sage is not financial advice. Read Sage's charter →

Our data sources

  • Congress.gov — federal bills, sponsors, roll-call votes
  • OpenStates & Legistar — state and local legislation
  • FEC — campaign finance and top donors
  • U.S. Census — district demographics
  • Bioguide — official legislator portraits
  • Congressional trade disclosures — politician stock trades
  • CBO — cost estimates · FRED- economic indicators

Funding & disclaimer

Civitus is funded by member subscriptions, not by donors or political money.

The mandate belongs to verified citizens, not donors, not parties, not us. Subscriptions unlock tools and data only, never vote weight, which comes from identity verification alone.

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