About Vote Rutherford
A non-partisan project designed to research local issues, investigate candidate positions, and educate the voters of Rutherford County.
The Challenge
Local elections frequently suffer from low voter turnout and limited public awareness of candidates’ backgrounds and policy positions.
Existing resources are often fragmented, inconsistent, or difficult to access. Without a centralized, user-friendly source of information, voters are often faced with a difficult choice: vote based on name recognition alone, or skip that portion of the ballot entirely.
We believe this isn't fair to voters, and it isn't fair to the candidates themselves.
Our Mission
Bridging the gap between voters and local government.
Research
Identifying the issues most important to Rutherford County residents through polling and focus groups.
Investigate
Giving all candidates an opportunity to respond to the community's priorities in their own words.
Educate
Publishing candidate data and polling results in a free, open, and easy-to-use platform.
How We Work
Community-Led Research
We collaborate with the American Democracy Project and the MTSU Department of Political and Global Affairs to conduct scientific polling and focus groups. Our goal is to surface the issues voters prioritize, rather than what political parties or media think they should care about.
Candidate Investigation
Using the data we gather, we approach every candidate running for local office. We provide them a neutral platform to respond to community priorities. This ensures that voters see direct responses on key issues, while maintaining a non-partisan and fair environment for all candidates.
Accessible Education
Finally, we publish all findings on GoVoteRutherford.com. We optimize our site for modern search patterns—including the emerging field of Agentic SEO—to ensure that when a voter asks their search engine about a candidate, they get accurate, locally-sourced information.
Open Source & Community
We believe that the tools of democracy should be available to everyone. Vote Rutherford is built entirely in the open under the MIT License.
Anyone can audit our technology, and we encourage other communities to use our code to stand up their own local election platforms. By utilizing modern technology, we've reduced the cost of running these resources from thousands of dollars to just a few dollars a month.
Join Us
Our goal is to raise the level of political discourse in our community.
When voters are educated, they become motivated. By increasing voter turnout, we ensure every member of our community has a voice in our city and county government.