A live report of what your city actually thinks
Every two weeks we ask a representative mix of residents what’s on their minds and publish a report based on their words — helping keep local conversations focused on what matters to all, not just the most vocal and powerful.
Takes about 2 minutes. Easy. No spam. Your data’s never sold.
Your voice
About once a month, we invite you to share what’s on your mind about Burlington.
Understood
We read it closely to understand it and tag it by key issues.
Shaping the Live Report
Your words are counted by issue and drawn together into themes, alongside a representative mix of your neighbors.
Guiding the Conversation
The Live Report helps keep civic conversations focused on what matters most.
You shape the report.
The report shapes the city.
We text you open-ended questionnaires called Pulse Ballots. You can write about the burning issue you’ve been thinking about for weeks, or we’ll help you think about what’s useful to share.
You register
Once, in about two minutes.
What we ask for
Your cell number and email
So we can text you Pulse Ballots — and confirm you’re a real person.
Basic demographics
Your birth date and street address, plus a few questions about you. Used only to make sure all voices are heard, checked against Census and other public data.
What we guarantee
We never spam you
Once you’re registered, we only text you about your Pulse Ballot: the invite and its reminders, your receipt, and a heads-up when the report you helped shape is out. Never anything else.
Your personal data is never sold
Not to advertisers, not to campaigns, not to anyone.
Never traced back to you
Just like voting on election day — your voice is counted publicly, and you’re verified as a real person — but your vote is never tied to you directly. That’s our approach to your responses.
You respond
About one Pulse Ballot invite a month, plus up to two reminders, your receipt, and a text when the report is out.
Every two weeks we invite a different representative sample of residents to respond, ensuring no one hears from us too often or too little. We’ll ask a simple question like:
BTV-1739Thinking about your life in Burlington lately, what’s been on your mind?
Only two rules: be honest, and be human.
Rents keep going up faster than paychecks. I want my kids to be able to stay in the city they grew up in.
We turn it into the Live Report
We read every answer. A new report every two weeks.
Our system reads every response and distills them all into a clear picture: which issues come up most often, and what residents are actually saying about them.
Rents keep going up faster than paychecks. I want my kids to be able to stay in the city they grew up in.
Housing38%
of voices
We update the city’s Live Report every two weeks: giving everyone — residents, representatives, and reporters alike — a data-backed, methodical, and neutral source to point to when shaping discourse and governing.
Read the Live Report →
Because better government starts with better understanding of the people it serves.
We’re building DemocracyOS to be a publicly funded resource that makes the honest, thoughtful will of the community clear — so elected, representative government works better everywhere.
We believe that requires a trusted and reliable way to:
Gather
Collect honest, thoughtful input from every person and perspective.
Understand
Make sense of it all, and turn it into clear insights that are accurate enough to be trusted.
Act
Use that insight to genuinely inform government decision-making.
Register to add your voice
We verify you’re real, then your responses are anonymous. Spamless, easy, and your data’s never sold. Publicly funded, for the public.
2 minutes to register · About one Pulse Ballot a month · Stop anytime
Not in Burlington, VT? Preregister anywhere in the United States and we’ll alert you when your city goes live. Global preregistration opens in 2027.
Fund the next evolution of democracy
DemocracyOS keeps the Live Report running solely with funding from residents like you — people who know that making the public’s voice clear, reliable, and easy to understand is a prerequisite to government that actually serves it.
Add your funding. You won’t get extra access or features — just the knowledge that you’re contributing to something larger than yourself.