Voice of the People (VOP) is a nonpartisan organization that seeks to re-anchor our democracy in its founding principles by giving ‘We the People’ a greater voice in government.
It works closely with the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation (PPC) to develop online processes—called ‘policymaking simulations’—that put citizens in the shoes of policymakers, Citizens are informed on current issues before Congress, are presented policy options, evaluate competing arguments, and provide informed recommendations about what Congress should do.
VOP seeks out Members of Congress who wish to receive informed input from their constituents as a whole. Working with PPC it recruits representative panels of citizens in the Member’s districts to go through policymaking simulations. These responses are aggregated and weighted to the district or state.
VOP also works closely with Common Ground Solutions to convene meetings between members of the citizen panels and their Members of Congress. At those meetings the citizen panel’s responses to the policymaking simulations are presented to the Member of Congress followed by a discussion.
VOP also sponsors surveys of a national panel using policymaking simulations and releases these findings to Congress and the media.