Thursday, April 19, 2018

‘See Votes RI’ is a great new tool for accountability

Keeping Tabs On The General Assembly
By Beth Comery for the Providence Daily Dose

This is the online advocacy tool we didn’t know we needed. 

For providing an overview of where the general assembly, or your specific state rep or senator, stands on a particular issue, this new website will prove invaluable. 

It is the product of local citizen activists Kath Connolly and Jeremy Giller who invite everyone to make use of it. 



See Votes RI” can help us all monitor the votes of the General Assembly. 

The site includes individual contact information so we can let them know how we think they should vote. 

From Ms. Connolly: 
It can be hard to understand how state government works and why policies can be slow to change. See Votes RI is a new web site using maps to explore issues important to Rhode Islanders by visualizing endorsements, rankings and votes by RI state senators and representatives. 



We want people to get to know their elected officials at SeeVotesRI.org.


The site currently includes maps related to:

  • Gun Control
  • Reproductive Rights
  • Environment
  • Earned Sick Days

Users can click on any district in RI and see their state rep or senator’s stance on an issue and view that elected official’s contact information.

We hope that organizations and individuals will use this data to advance their causes. 

Feel free to use it, share it and please let us know what you think. 

The contact form on the web site is the best way to channel feedback and ideas to us.

This project looks like it involved a ton of data entry — big thanks to Ms. Connolly and Mr. Giller. 

I have been noodling around a bit and I have found it easy to navigate with no glitches or empty fields so far. This will be a valuable resource.