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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Civitas?
Civitas is a civic intelligence platform that helps you understand what your representatives are doing in government. Track votes, follow campaign finance, see how your representatives align with your views, and make your voice heard through constituent polls.
Is Civitas free?
Yes. Civitas is free to download and use. We do not serve ads, sell data, or charge subscription fees.
How do constituent polls work?
When a bill is scheduled for a vote in Congress, Civitas creates a poll where verified constituents can express their support or opposition. After your representative votes, we compare their vote to their constituents' preferences and calculate an alignment score.
Why do I need to verify my identity?
Identity verification prevents one person from creating multiple accounts and voting multiple times, which would corrupt the poll data. We use Persona for verification — your ID is processed once and then permanently deleted from all systems, including Persona's servers.
Can you see how I voted?
We can see that votes were cast, but we cannot link any vote to any specific person. Your votes are recorded under an anonymous identifier that is cryptographically separated from your email and account. Even with full access to our database, we cannot determine who cast any specific vote.
Is Civitas partisan?
No. Civitas is strictly nonpartisan. We present data from official government sources without editorial commentary. Our alignment scores measure how often a representative votes in line with their constituents — regardless of party.
Where does the data come from?
All data in Civitas comes from official public sources: Congress.gov (bills and votes), the Federal Election Commission (campaign finance), the Senate Office of Public Records (lobbying), USASpending.gov (federal spending), and state election offices.
What happens if I delete my account?
Your email, profile, and all personal data are deleted immediately. Your anonymous poll votes remain in aggregate results but are permanently untraceable — they can never be connected back to you or anyone.
How do I report a data error?
Email support@civitasapp.io with the specific data point and we'll investigate. Our data comes from government sources and is updated regularly, but errors can occur in the source data or our processing pipeline.