For Teachers
Free Civics Classroom Activity: Vote on Real Bills
Students read a plain-language summary of a real bill in Congress, vote Yea or Nay, then see what Congress actually did. Classroom mode keeps the screen on the bills: no sign-up and no donation prompts.
A 10-Minute Activity in 3 Steps
- Open the Link 1 minutePut the link for students on the board or in your class page. Opening it turns classroom mode on.
- Swipe Real Bills 5 minutesEach card is a real bill in the U.S. Congress with a short plain-language summary. Students swipe right for Yea, left for Nay, or skip. After the first vote, “Show the Result” shows what Congress did with each bill and, for bills that came to a recorded vote, how each member voted.
- Talk About It 4 minutesAsk where students agreed with Congress, where they did not, and why. After 10 votes, a “You and Congress” card shows each student how often their votes matched what Congress did.
What Classroom Mode Does
- Hides the sign-up cards in the bill deck, the “Keep Your Votes with You” note, Google’s sign-in prompt and the Sign In button. Accounts are for adults (18+); students never need one.
- Hides every donation card and button.
- Hides newsletter invitations.
- Comments can be read but not written.
- Voting works as usual, without an account. Votes are kept in the browser on that device and are not tied to anyone’s identity.
- It stays on in that browser tab until the tab is closed. To turn it off, use the × on the Classroom Mode pill at the top of the page, or the button below.
Classroom mode is off in this tab.
Games for Bell-Ringers
Short games built from real votes in Congress. The daily ones have one new puzzle a day, the same for everyone.
- WordgressGuess the day's political word in 6 tries.
- Politics CrosswordA daily mini crossword on the words of Congress, elections and the law.
- Caucus16 words, four hidden groups. Find what they share and form the caucus.
- How Many Votes?How many Yea votes did the bill get? Find it in 5 guesses.
- Guess the VoteDid it pass? Who voted Yea? Guess, then see the roll call.
- How Congress WorksHow a bill becomes law, topic by topic.
Good to Know
- Nonpartisan
- Referandom takes no side: it does not support or oppose any party or candidate. It is run by CDR Technology Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and is not affiliated with Congress or any government agency.
- No Sign-Up
- Students don’t need an account to vote on bills or to play the games. Accounts are only for people 18 and older.
- No Ads
- Everything on the site is free, with no ads and no paywall. The site may ask once about optional analytics; saying no changes nothing.
- Sources
- Bill summaries are written with AI from the Congressional Research Service summary and checked against it, and each bill page links the original. Votes come from the House Clerk and the Senate.