In response to an inquiry made by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, the FEC opines that candidates can contribute personal and campaign funds to foreign elections.
Continue readingVoters deserve more details on money in politics
The U.S. prides itself on being the greatest democracy on earth; for that to be more than a cliche, we need our leaders to tell us how they would fix our broken campaign finance system.
Continue readingHow dark money is clouding South Asian politics
Examining new data from the Money, Politics and Transparency project, Sunlight discovered South Asian countries fared poorly when it comes to having transparent and effective political finance practices.
Continue readingAugust reporting powered by Sunlight’s tools and analysis
A look at the August stories of journalists who utilized tools and data from the Sunlight Foundation to inform their reporting.
Continue readingWhy are states replacing email with flawed web forms for contacting lawmakers?
Providing email addresses to contact state legislators is easy and effective — but more and more states are replacing them with inaccessible, buggy web forms. Help us get back on the right track!
Continue readingOpenGov Voices: Increasing transparency in Bangladesh with VoteBD and Shorob
Despite corruption, poverty and natural disasters, Bangladesh has a powerful accountability movement — and organizations like Shorob are engaging citizens in transparency efforts.
Continue readingWhere are the 1% of the 1%? Big donors of elections past already fueling 2016
Earlier this year, we took a look at the biggest political donors in 2014, whom we dubbed the 1% of the 1%. As we look through campaign spending now, it’s not surprising to see those same names pop up.
Continue readingLessons from Buntwani: The next step in empowering citizens with technology
How can we take the next step in using tech to strengthen civic engagement worldwide? At Buntwani 2015, a group of opengov advocates traveled to South Africa determined to find out.
Continue reading‘EveryPolitician’ provides open data on parliaments around the globe
Looking for data on every lawmaker on Earth? Thanks to EveryPolitician, you may actually be in luck.
Continue readingWhat are APIs? Why they matter and how to use them
Ever heard of an API, but have no idea what it is? Fear not! In this post, we'll give a quick rundown of what APIs are, why they're so valuable and how to use them.
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