An off year election creates the opportunity to take stock of the state of our civics.  Election day coincides with the release of new analysis on voter turnout in local elections.  Portland State University's Who Votes For Mayor? project details a disturbing downward trend across the 30 largest cities in the United States.

"Democracy is in more danger now than at any time in my lifetime for a very simple reason," says Phil Keilsing, director of the PSU Center of Public Service, "it is because so many people are exiting the arena."  

Enter a pair of civic startups, each focused at opposite ends of the balloting process.  Ballot Readyprovides a single, independent, online source of candidate information down to the voting track level.

If Ballot Ready is voter facing, another startup is candidate facing.  As its name suggest, RunForOffice.org allows prospective candiates to find out opportunities to run among 116,242 elected offices simply entering their street address.