Alberta · ProvincialCitizens only
Shadow Referendum · Q5 · mirrors the official question
Should proof of citizenship be required to vote provincially?
Locked for you. This one takes the Citizen check.
A voice between elections
Ask your city. Your neighbours answer.
Decisions about your rent, your street and your commute get made every week, long after election day. On Represent, the people who live here put questions to their city and answer them. One verified person, one ballot, and citizens only when the question calls for it.
Free on the App Store · Verification is free
Every week, someone decides about your rent.
You get a say on one day every four years.
We’re building the other 1,460.
Days you get a say
0001 / 1,461
Live · From the public record
What people have been answering.
Real questions from the public record, for verified people in Calgary and Alberta. Counts are from the date shown above, or live when marked Live.
How it works
One ID check. Then it’s yours.
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01
Verify once.
Verify with a government ID through Didit, our verification partner. You do it once, and it’s free.
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02
See your questions.
The app shows you the questions for the city, province and country on your verified ID.
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03
Answer, or ask.
Support or oppose, pick an option, or rank them. And when the question you care about isn’t there, put it to your city yourself.
Why it counts
One hand, one person.
An online poll counts clicks. Represent counts people: one verified person, one account, one ballot per question.
- 2,400An open online poll. Anyone, any number of times, from anywhere.
- −400Duplicates drop out. An ID that already verified another account is refused.
- −450Bots fall away. A government ID check, once.
- −350Outsiders drift off. Each person sees the questions for the region on their ID.
- 1,200Verified people. A count you can hand to someone.
Illustration. The numbers show the idea, not a real ballot.
Citizen-led
Led by citizens, where they live.
Nobody hands you the agenda. The people who live in a place put the questions to it. And when a question belongs to citizens alone, only citizens can answer it.
- 01
You set the agenda.
Any verified resident can put a question to their own city, province or country. It goes live in minutes, not after a council meeting.
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Your area answers.
The app shows a Calgary question to people whose verified ID says Calgary, and an Alberta question to people whose ID says Alberta.
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Citizens only, when it matters.
Mark a question citizens-only and it takes ballots only from people who passed the Citizen check: a passport plus proof of address.
Try it. Answer as
Standard
Driver’s licence, provincial ID or passport
Every question for your verified region
Citizen
Passport plus proof of address
All of that, plus citizens-only questions
What asking costs today
On October 19, Alberta asks ten questions. Getting there takes 242 days.
Nine were announced on February 19 and a tenth on May 21. Every eligible Albertan gets a paper ballot, and every ballot is counted by hand. It’s the clearest picture there is of what it costs to ask people directly when the whole thing is built from scratch.
$130M
the estimated bill for one vote
That’s a former chief electoral officer’s estimate, and the Opposition puts it at $132 million or more. Elections Alberta hasn’t published a figure of its own. The entire 2023 general election cost about $37 million.
242days
from announcement to ballot box
19 FebNine questions announced
21 MayA tenth added
19 OctVote day
Then up to 48 hours of counting by hand for the unofficial result.
45M
paper ballots
Printed for about three million eligible voters. In the 2023 election, Albertans cast 1.8 million.
60,000
election workers
The largest recruitment drive in Alberta’s history, up from 13,095 in 2023.
After the count, the workers go home, the polling places close and the ballots are sealed away. None of it stays standing for the next question.
Then it’s taken apart.
98%less
if every eligible Albertan answered on Represent
| Measure | 19 Oct referendum | On Represent |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | ~$130M, estimated | ~$2.2M in ID checks, once |
| Per eligible voter | ~$43 | ~75¢ |
| Paper ballots | 45 million | None |
| Time to ask | 242 days | Minutes |
| Time to count | Up to 48 hours, by hand | As ballots land |
| The next question | Another referendum | No new ID checks |
The next question
A million questions for the price of one.
The expensive part is checking who everyone is, and on Represent that happens once. After that, the next question adds no new ID checks. Neither do the next hundred, or the next million.
- By referendum, ten questions at a time
- $1.3B10 referendums · 6.6 years back to back
- On Represent
- $2.2MOne round of ID checks, the same as for one question
Represent is the standing version.
The ID check, one account per person and the count are already built. Nine of the ten questions went up on Represent on June 12, four months before the official vote (public record, 6 October 2026).
The October 19 referendum is a legal vote run by Elections Alberta, open to every eligible Albertan whether or not they own a phone. Represent isn’t that and doesn’t replace it. It’s for the hundreds of questions that will never justify one.
How we got 98%: Didit’s list prices (US$0.33 for ID and live selfie, US$0.20 for proof of address) for about three million eligible voters, at US$1 = C$1.41 (European Central Bank, 25 September 2026), against the $130 million estimate. That counts identity checks only, not Represent’s own running costs. With standard ID checks alone, it’s about 99%.
Sources: CTV News · CBC News · Elections Alberta · The Globe and Mail · Didit pricing
Everywhere
What asking costs, around the world.
As of 26 September 2026, the App Store lists Represent in 174 countries and regions. Whether an ID verifies depends on Didit, and matching a question to your region works best in Canada and the US today. Meanwhile, the paper way of asking costs a fortune, every single time.
174
countries and regions where the App Store lists Represent (26 September 2026)
220+
countries and territories whose IDs Didit, our verification partner, says it supports
1
round of ID checks per person, then every question in their city, province and country
What asking cost, per voter
The public record
Hands raised so far.
Each hand below is one ballot cast on Represent. It’s a small crowd so far, and it’s real. Every new hand makes the next count harder to wave away.
Counts are from Represent’s public counts, with their date.
What it isn’t
It doesn’t bind anyone.
A Represent ballot isn’t a legal vote. It produces evidence, not authority.
It doesn’t sample anyone.
A result counts the verified people who voted. It’s a census of participants, not a poll.
It doesn’t take a side.
Represent has no position on any question asked on it. It only cares that the count is real.
For your union, board or school
Run your own vote, the same way.
Member surveys and consultations, one ballot per member per question. Members use the free app. Ratifications and board elections need a secret ballot, and we’re building one.
Free
$0/mo
Up to 25 members
Pro
$59/mo
Up to 250 members
ID checks: $199 once
Plus
$179/mo
Up to 1,000 members
ID checks: $499 once
Business
$499/mo
Up to 5,000 members
ID checks: $999 once
Government
Custom
Municipalities and public bodies
Monthly prices in US dollars.
Talk to us[email protected]
Raise your hand.
Free on the App Store. Verify once, and every question for your city is yours to answer, or to ask.
