Our commitment

Public participation should not depend on eyesight, hearing, dexterity or the price of a device. We design and test this site to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA, and we treat an accessibility bug as a functional bug, not a nice-to-have.

What we do

  • Semantic HTML first. Real headings, lists, tables with header cells and captions, landmark regions, and a “skip to main content” link on every page.
  • Keyboard operable. Every control — navigation, filters, vote buttons, forms, accordions — works without a mouse, with a visible focus outline that meets contrast requirements.
  • Contrast. Body text, links and interface text meet or exceed 4.5:1 against their background; large text and interface borders meet 3:1. Our navy/gold/white palette was chosen and checked for this.
  • Text that scales. Layouts use relative units and reflow to 320px width and 200% zoom without horizontal scrolling or loss of content.
  • Meaningful alternatives. Informative images carry descriptive alt text; decorative images are hidden from assistive technology. Icons are never the only carrier of meaning — status is written out (“Open”, “Resolved”) as well as color-coded.
  • Forms that explain themselves. Every field has a persistent visible label, hint text where useful, and errors described in words rather than color alone.
  • No motion traps. We respect prefers-reduced-motion, avoid auto-playing media, and use no flashing content.
  • Plain language. Guides are written at roughly a 9th–10th grade reading level, and our glossary exists because civic jargon is itself an accessibility barrier.
  • Works without JavaScript. All content — debates, articles, directory entries, schedules — is in the HTML. Filters, search and the ZIP lookup are enhancements; nothing is hidden behind them.

Known limitations

  • Some documents we link to are hosted by cities, counties and school districts. Many are scanned PDFs without a text layer, and we cannot fix them. Where we can, we describe the key contents in accessible HTML beside the link — and we raise it with the jurisdiction.
  • Embedded meeting video on official portals is subject to that portal’s captioning, which varies widely.
  • Photographs sourced from Unsplash carry our own alt text, which describes the scene rather than reproducing any text inside the image.

Assistive technology we test with

Current versions of NVDA and JAWS on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, TalkBack on Android, and keyboard-only navigation in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge. Automated checks run on every build; automated checks alone are never treated as sufficient.

Tell us about a barrier

If something here is hard or impossible to use, we want the specific page and what happened. Write to [email protected] with “accessibility” in the subject, or use the contact form. We acknowledge within two business days and aim to fix confirmed WCAG 2.1 AA failures within 30 days, or to offer the information another way in the meantime — including reading a page to you over email or sending a plain-text version.

Alternative formats

Any page on this site can be supplied as plain text or large-print PDF on request, at no cost. Directory entries for a single jurisdiction can be sent as a simple text summary.

Legal context

This statement is provided in the spirit of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. We are not a government entity, but we serve people trying to reach government, and we hold ourselves to the standard public bodies are expected to meet.