Politicz
A free, no-account guide to your local government: which body decides, when it meets, and
whether state law lets you speak. Live at https://politicz.org/.
| Page | What it does |
|---|
index.html | Address lookup. The browser asks the US Census geocoder which state, place and county an address is in, and the 5 Calls API who represents it. Politicz stores nothing. Browsing by state and city works without either API. |
law.html | "Know your rights": the open-meetings law of all 50 states and DC, with statute, citation, notice hours, public-comment status and the primary source. |
state/ | One indexable page per jurisdiction ("Can you speak at a city council meeting in Texas?"), plus the /state/ hub. |
thesis.html, test.html | The essay on starting local, and a local-knowledge quiz. |
politicz-data.js | The data behind every page: the 51-jurisdiction legal directory, 125 city and 10 county meeting calendars. |
It's plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript with no build step and no backend.
Run, test, deploy
python3 -m http.server 8000 # then open http://localhost:8000
python3 scripts/build.py # landmarks, local links, anchors, JS syntax (needs node), CNAME
python3 -m unittest discover -s tests # sitemaps, state pages, plumbing, link-check parser
python3 ops/health.py # live check of politicz.org
python3 ops/link_check.py --no-write # check every calendar and statute link
GitHub Pages builds straight from main and serves it at politicz.org (the CNAME file).
Whatever lands on main goes live within a minute or two, so change things through a pull
request and merge only when the Checks workflow is green.
Scheduled jobs, how they fail safely and what to watch: OPERATIONS.md.
Data and caveats
The legal directory is a research snapshot, not a live legal feed and not legal advice. Each
entry links its primary source; check it, and the body's own rules of procedure, before relying
on it. Corrections are welcome as issues or pull requests.
