Open source · Launching in Alberta
It's time to make Our Say.
A verified, auditable way to express what you believe, sign petitions, and vote on the questions that matter — with results anyone can independently check. Built for any democracy, starting in Alberta.
Open source · Independently auditable · No political party, no agenda
The problem
Democracy has a gap between elections
Representative democracy was designed for a world without instant communication. Between elections, you have no verified, lasting, auditable way to make your views known. Polls can be commissioned for a conclusion. Online petitions can't confirm a single signature is real. Social media rewards the loudest voice, not the most representative one.
- $500 → $25,000
- to file a citizen-initiative petition in Alberta — up from $500 [1]
- $50–100 million
- estimated to run one province-wide referendum — plus 60,000–90,000 workers [8]
- ~2.9 million
- Albertans' voter details posted in a public, searchable database online [4]
- Struck down twice
- Alberta's separation petition was quashed in court — twice in six months [3]
These are recent Alberta examples, and they're not about one party — they show what happens when a 300-year-old system meets 21st-century problems. Raising the barrier to be heard, and handing copies of the voter list to organizations that privacy law doesn't even cover,[5] are symptoms of the same thing: the tools haven't kept up. OurSay is built to fix the tools — for whoever is in power.
How it works
From a quiet belief to an undeniable result
Four connected layers, each more formal than the last. A result can be traced all the way back to the grassroots beliefs that shaped it.
- 1
Beliefs
Anyone can post a statement. Others agree or disagree. It's the starting point for civic conversation — informal, but counted.
- 2
Petitions
A formal call to action addressed to a specific authority. Signatures are collected and can be delivered to named officials.
- 3
Public Votes
A formal yes/no or multiple-choice vote on a specific question. Choices are final once cast, and results are published openly.
- 4
Results
The permanent, auditable record of a closed public vote — broken down by area and verification tier, designed to be tamper-resistant.
Auditability & cryptography
Don't trust us — verify us
When 2.9 million Albertans' voter details ended up in a public database, the cause wasn't a hacker — it was the architecture.[4] Once the list is handed out as a copy, no one can control where it goes.[6]
OurSay is built the other way around. Modern cryptography lets us prove your participation is real without holding a pile of personal data that can leak. You can check the record yourself — and so can a journalist, a researcher, or a court.
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Audit your own signature
Every action you take produces a private receipt only you hold. Check it against the public, tamper-resistant record and confirm your vote was counted exactly as you cast it.
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Anonymous, but still verifiable
You can act anonymously and still be counted in the verified total. Verification never means your name appears on a public list.
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Reproduce any result yourself
The whole platform is open source, and every build is fingerprinted and published. Recount any public vote with the tools in the repository — no need to trust our servers.
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No central honeypot of personal data
Instead of spreadsheets of voter details that can be copied and leaked, cryptographic records prove a distinct verified person acted — without storing who they are.
Who it's for
One platform, every side of the table
Whether you want to be heard, to listen, to report, or to organize — OurSay is built for people who value transparency and accountability, wherever they sit on the spectrum.
Constituents
Be heard between elections — not just once every four years
Your vote is one day a cycle. Your opinions are every day. OurSay gives you a structured, verifiable way to say what you actually think — and to see what people in other communities believe, so the conversation is bigger than your feed.
- Express beliefs, sign petitions, and vote on public questions — all publicly counted
- See how opinion breaks down by area, so you can engage in civil discourse beyond your own community
- Participate anonymously if you choose — and still be counted
Representatives
A clear signal from your constituents — not a fractured feed
Right now, constituent feedback is scattered across phone calls, town halls, and a dozen social platforms. OurSay gives you one structured, on-the-record channel to hear what verified residents in your area actually think — and to respond directly.
- See verified-resident sentiment on an issue, filtered to your area
- Respond on the record to petitions and public votes that name your office
- Share threads to any platform to bring constituents into the discussions that affect them
Commentators & media
Public opinion you can report — with receipts
No more "a poll of 1,200 respondents suggests." OurSay produces transparent, auditable opinion data that anyone can independently verify, broken down by area and verification tier. Report what people actually said, and hold representatives to it.
- Auditable results you can reproduce yourself — no need to take our word for it
- Compare a representative's record to what verified constituents in their own area said
- A read-only public API for independent dashboards and analysis (post-launch)
Activists & creators
A movement worth sharing
OurSay turns scattered outrage into a durable, verifiable record. Every belief, petition, and public vote is built to be shared — so the discussions that matter spread to the people they affect.
- Built-in sharing to bring your audience into real, structured discussions
- Permanent, auditable records that can't be quietly dismissed as unrepresentative
- Open source and free to spread — the tools of democracy should belong to everyone
The cost
Roughly $100k — not $50 million
A single province-wide referendum is a one-day event costing tens of millions and tens of thousands of workers. OurSay is continuous civic infrastructure — built once, open source, and reusable anywhere.
Bars shown on a linear scale to $100M. OurSay's bar is enlarged to stay visible — at true scale it would be a thin line.
OurSay is not a legal referendum and doesn't replace one — it's a verified, auditable, always-on record of public opinion that costs a fraction of a single official vote, and gets more secure and transparent the more people can check it. Figures for future events are estimates; see sources.
Built on values both sides of the aisle can share
OurSay carries no party and no agenda. It works for any system where the goal is to give power to the people — and it earns its place by being something anyone can inspect, question, and verify.
- Transparency
- Everything OurSay does is open source and out in the open — including the code that runs it.
- Accountability
- A permanent, auditable record of what people said, that representatives can be held to.
- Your Say
- The right to make your voice known — clearly, verifiably, and without asking permission.
Our honest footing
We'd rather earn your trust than ask for it
A platform about accountability has to hold itself to the same standard. Here's what we will and won't claim.
- We claim no endorsements
- OurSay is a private platform. We don't claim support, certification, or approval from any government body, electoral authority, or party. Where you see a claim, you'll see a source.
- Verification isn't a voter check
- Identity verification is done by a commercial provider. It confirms you're a real person at a real address — it is not a determination of electoral eligibility or voter registration.
- Open from day one
- Every line of code, every infrastructure choice, and every published result is public. If we get something wrong, anyone can see it — and tell us.
- Trust is earned, not assumed
- We're new. We'll earn support, certifications, and credibility from the ground up, with every step aligned to these values. We'd rather under-claim and over-deliver.
It's time to make your voice heard
We're building OurSay in the open and launching in Alberta. Get on the waitlist, or — if you're a representative or a journalist — reach out directly.