At most local elections, people vote on an impression. An idea. A feeling. A name that sounds familiar. Not because they are disengaged, but because the needed information to make a genuinely considered choice is scattered, bureaucratic, and practically invisible to anyone without significant time to dive into it.
After posting publicly on LinkedIn, asking candidates in Eindhoven to convince me based on their track record rather than their party programme, I started thinking about what is structurally missing. The raw material for real accountability already exists: council minutes, voting records, policy documents. The problem is not availability; it’s a lack of accessibility.
What would it mean if we could assess politicians not only on what they promise, but on what they have actually done? And what if that information were available continuously, not just in the weeks before an election as limited campaign material?