Maine Heritage Policy Center launched a new website called MaineVotes.org. This is a great project, here's the press release:

The Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC) has launched a new website that allows users to easily track legislation and monitor legislative activities at the State House. The website, www.MaineVotes.org, is part of MHPC's Maine Government Integrity Project, a bold new effort to introduce greater transparency in state and local government.

Requiring far fewer clicks than the Maine Legislature's cumbersome and confusing website, MaineVotes.org offers users a wide range of capabilities to track and monitor Maine's legislative process. Users can easily search for bills by keyword, bill number, category, or legislator name. The most up-to-date legislative actions, including roll call votes, on those bills are also available. Users can also comment online on proposed and passed legislation.

The site keeps a running tally of the number of bills introduced during the current legislative session, as well as the number of amendments introduced and the number of new laws passed. Users can also view the number of votes a legislator missed during the session and a legislator's complete contact information and photograph.

Tarren Bragdon, Chief Executive Officer of The Maine Heritage Policy Center, touts MaineVotes.org as a useful and user-friendly tool to keep tabs on the State House and state government. "Mainers had to clear their schedules and almost be political junkies just to track a single bill on the Legislature's site," Bragdon said. "Now, with MaineVotes, citizens can obtain all the information available on any bill or legislator with just one or two clicks. MaineVotes introduces a whole new level of transparency into the mix."

MaineVotes users also have the option of becoming members of the site. Members can personalize their MaineVotes experience by creating e-mail alerts, which notify the member of any news or action taken on a bill of interest. Members can also create their own issue oriented report cards for legislators, in which a grading system rates a legislator based on the issue or issues important to a member.

"This is a non-partisan, public resource site we can all use to monitor the activities of the Legislature and hold our legislators accountable," Bragdon said of MaineVotes. "I predict that Augusta politicians may start behaving differently as a result of the increased transparency and accountability MaineVotes.org creates. Information and openness are the greatest tools we have to promote a responsible, accountable government. MaineVotes.org makes information readily available and easy to use."