About

Local democracy works better when voters can find the candidates.

ElectionKnight is a neutral, equal-footing directory of people running for local office — the city councils, school boards, township trustees, county auditors, mayors. The races that decide whether your street gets paved, whether your school keeps a librarian, whether your community center is open on Sundays.

These races are where democracy is closest to most people’s lives — and where the least information about candidates is usually available.

The non-negotiables

Three rules. Built into the code, not the policy.

Random order — re-shuffled on every page load

Within each office, candidates appear in randomized order. Every time the page loads, the order changes. Over many visits, every candidate appears at the top of the list roughly equally often.

No alphabetical bias. No incumbent bias. No ranking. No 'featured' candidates. The shuffle is cryptographically random and is enforced server-side — you can't bribe it with code, because there's nothing to bribe.

Identical cards — free and paid look the same

Some candidates pay for a 'Campaign Plus' tier that unlocks campaign tools (a calendar of events, a volunteer jobs board, voter SMS outreach, endorsements). Paid candidates get more capability.

Paid candidates do not get more visibility. Their card on the community page is the same size, same layout, same prominence as every free candidate's card. We refuse to take money in exchange for being seen first.

Community-scoped — you only see who's on your ballot

Each candidate registers the community they're running to serve. The directory automatically rolls that up the civic chain: an Alexandria city candidate appears on Alexandria's page, on Madison County's page (because that's where the county elections are held), and on Indiana's state page. A state representative shows on the state page. A US House candidate shows on the district's page and Indiana's page.

Whichever level of election a voter is looking at, they see only the candidates actually on that ballot. No more, no less.

What we’re not

ElectionKnight is not a news site. Or a poll. Or a partisan tool.

We don’t rank candidates. There’s no rating. No scorecard. No “our picks.”
We don’t take editorial positions. Every candidate’s words are their own. Two 250-word sections (why seeking + bio). They write them. We publish them.
We don’t run ads. Paid campaigners get tools, not ad placements.
We don’t sell voter data. See our privacy notes.
We don’t personalize. You don’t need an account to read candidate profiles. We don’t track which candidates you read.

The Campaign Plus tier

How candidates support the work without buying visibility.

Every candidate gets a free white page: photo, party, incumbent status, two 250-word sections, links, contact. Always free. Always identical to every other free profile.

Candidates running an active campaign can optionally upgrade to a Campaign Plus profile for a small monthly subscription. The upgrade unlocks:

A campaign calendar for town halls, debates, meet-and-greets
A jobs board for volunteer and paid campaign positions
Endorsements section
Extended bio + intro video
SMS voter outreach (through Textiton’s opt-in rails)

The upgrade is metered, runs on Stripe, and can be cancelled anytime. None of these capabilities affect the candidate’s position or prominence in the public directory.

Who built this

ElectionKnight is built on the What’s Up 24/7 Core Engine — a community-listing infrastructure designed in Alexandria, IN for rural and small-town civic platforms. The same engine powers Textiton (trusted-source SMS) and other community-first projects.

Founder: John Dockrey, Textiton Inc. Contact: hello@electionknight.com.