A data scientist created a website to track information about D.C.’s hyperlocal governing bodies.
Devin Brady, a data scientist who works in technology and politics, created the website OpenANC to log the location and election information of each of the District’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. He wrote in Greater Greater Washington Monday that he hopes the website will ensure D.C. communities that lack local government representation have access to information about politics.
“I had heard that many ANC races had zero candidates, but it wasn’t clear where the open seats were,” Brady wrote in GGWash. “And even the official list of candidates isn’t complete because some races are won by write-in candidates.”
The website shows which ANC races are contested so far in the upcoming election and which seats remain vacant. ANC 2A, which serves the Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhoods, have contested seats in single member districts 2A02 and 2A03, according to the website.
Brady wrote that he plans to update the website after November’s election and maintain the site himself. He spends no more than a few minutes a day updating the list of candidates, he said in GGWash.
“I hope to make OpenANC a truly open source project where others can contribute,” Brady wrote in the GGWash article. “Other ANC directories are inaccurate or out of date, so I want OpenANC to be responsive to the needs of candidates and voters by making changes as they happen.”