About Ohio Citizen's Audit
Ohio Citizen's Audit is an independent, non-partisan record of what happens in the Ohio General Assembly,
built by an Ohio citizen for Ohio citizens. It rests on one belief: an informed constituency is the
strongest check on government power.
Why This Exists
Too often, Ohioans meet a piece of legislation for the first time at the ballot box. By then, the only
description most voters see is the ballot language itself. Under the Ohio Constitution, the wording for
statewide ballot issues is set by the
Ohio Ballot Board,
and even with a bipartisan board, that wording can be framed in ways that nudge voters toward one
conclusion. That isn't how it should work. The facts should be presented as they are, and Ohioans should
be free to reach their own conclusions.
There's a wider problem, too. Many people don't know who represents them, let alone what that person has
done in office. Election season is when we hear the most from lawmakers, but what they say on the campaign
trail is a pitch, not a record. This site exists so you can see what your representatives actually did
while in office: the bills they sponsored, how far those bills advanced, and the committees they serve on.
Issues, Not Teams
Americans have a habit of treating politics like sport. There's a side that wears red and a side that wears
blue, one of them is the good guys, the other is the bad guys, and the question that matters on election
night is simply whether your team won.
But a two-party system forces an enormous range of political thought into two boxes. Within each party sit
people whose actual beliefs are miles apart and who would argue bitterly with each other given the chance.
That's what makes the sweeping statements so easy, and so wrong. Point at the most extreme figure in a
party and you can paint everyone wearing that color with the same brush, even though most of them don't
hold that view at all.
The alternative is to vote on the things you actually care about. If an issue matters to you, it shouldn't
matter whether the person championing it has an R or a D after their name. What matters is whether their
record lines up with your values on that issue. You can't see that from a jersey, and you can't see it from
a campaign ad. You can see it from their votes, the bills they sponsored, and the committees where they did
the work.
Who's Behind It
Ohio Citizen's Audit is independently built and maintained by Ohioans, for Ohioans. It isn't a company,
a nonprofit, or a campaign, and it answers to no party, donor, or candidate. Work began in 2024, and the
site launched publicly in February 2026.
The people behind it stay anonymous. American politics right now is charged, and at times violent, and
putting a name next to anything political can make a person a target, whatever their intentions. Just as
importantly, this site shouldn't need a name attached to be trusted. Everything here comes from the public
record and can be checked against the original source. That's the point.
Standards
Non-partisan, on this site, means one thing: the public record is presented as it is, without commentary
meant to steer you toward a conclusion.
Every record comes from publicly available government sources, primarily the
Ohio Legislature and the
General Assembly Archives.
The data is collected automatically and refreshed every Saturday, and the underlying records are never
altered. For anything official or legal, always confirm with the original government source.
Member Scoring uses the Legislative Effectiveness Score, a published,
peer-reviewed method from the Center for Effective Lawmaking, applied the same way to every lawmaker.
If you find a mistake, please report it. The Data Correction & Removal Policy
explains the process, and you can email support@ohiocitizensaudit.org.
Updates to the site are listed in the Change Log.
Funding
Ohio Citizen's Audit is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representing any government agency, political
party, or candidate. The site is supported by advertising through Google AdSense. The
Privacy Policy explains how advertising cookies work and how to opt out.
Where This Is Going
Right now, Americans struggle to agree on basic facts, let alone what to do about them. Did that lawmaker
really sponsor that bill? Did the legislature actually pass that? Arguments like these often end with one
side dismissing the other's source as fake news or partisan spin.
The goal is for Ohio Citizen's Audit to be the place that settles that part of the conversation: a record
anyone in Ohio can pull up with friends, family, or neighbors and cite without it being written off by
either side. Not because it tells you what to think, but because it shows you what happened.
Questions, corrections, and suggestions are welcome. Use the Contact page or join
the conversation on the Forum.
