About The Elected Representatives Network

A nonpartisan resource center connecting elected representatives and concerned constituents, building relationships one idea at a time.

(images of source stuff; Drupal, votesmart.org, usa.gov, business.gov, opencrs, fas, fedregister, govtrack.us, opensecrets.org, opencongress.org, metavid.org, cspan.com, openhouseproject.com, sunlightfoundation.org, participatorypolitics.org)

ERN is an ambitious undertaking, and a growing number of excellent resources offer similar functionality. In fact, ERN borrows functionality and data, through API’s and other technology, from many of these great resources. So the obvious question is; why re-invent the wheel? The simple answer is; we believe room for opportunity persists. More specifically, it is our opinion that, while powerful web-based resources abound, nonetheless the chasm between elected officials and their constituents doesn’t appear to be narrowing.

Therefore, what sets the ERN project apart from similar or overlapping projects is a fundamental drive to close the aforementioned gap by every expedient technological means. This objective drives how we approach the technology we employ. It is not enough to simply proliferate relevant data and technology. This approach can indeed be overwhelming, and thus, counter-productive to our efforts. We seek to draw elected representatives and constituents together in unique ways to galvanize action and support centering around the ideals embodied in our Founding Documents. As such, we make use of a wide array of tools in order to create maximum leverage in facilitating meaningful interaction.

In the coming months we will be unveiling exciting new features and functionality in hopes of providing a one-stop-shop for government accountability and interaction at all levels; local, county, state, and federal. This will include a dashboard complete with all your elected representatives, government organizations and agencies, and the ability to link key issues and legislation to correspondence regarding critical issues. By using these tools you’ll also be able to track correspondence and measure accountability through the site. By drawing together a particularly useful set of resources, we hope you’ll discover exciting new ways to engage our uniquely American form of government. Thank you for visiting ERN. We appreciate your support, comments, and suggestions.