Washington ( CNN ) -- Prime shopping season might be underway this holiday season , but candidate shopping might be a little easier for voters next campaign season . Melissa Yasinow , 28 , was born and raised in suburban Cleveland Heights , Ohio , which has a population of about 46,000 people . Yasinow is so vested in her town that she decided to run for city council . To help her run her campaign , she enlisted family and friends . Yasinow did what any serious candidate would do . She engaged voters , planned and hosted campaign events and solidified a platform . It was a tall order for her and her loyal team of helpers who all simultaneously held down full time jobs . But she had checked all the boxes of a traditional campaign . She ultimately won , but an aspect of modern campaigning was missing and not within her reach . Daunting for the political novice and attorney was creating an online presence . While the millennial is an avid user of social media and the Web , she had no idea how to build a website , calling it `` completely overwhelming . '' Plus , she did n't have the time or campaign cash to maintain it and update it . `` I tried to set up a website and it 's not something that 's easy to do , '' she said , acknowledging that a candidate must have a social presence to engage voters . Businesses and brands are much more successful when there 's a website . It 's no different for political candidates . Obama perfected it , but many left out . While the 2012 presidential race was a $ 1 billion campaign and most Senate and House races are multi-million-dollar episodes featuring an interactive website , it 's not in the cards for most running for some 550,000 state and local elected positions around the country . That 's what the founders of Democracy.com set out to change , believing that an online presence will level the playing field for candidates , regardless of economic and political background and experience . Democracy.com is the `` social network for politics , '' founder Talmage Cooley said during a recent interview . He thought of the idea while attending the Harvard Kennedy School where he worked to find a solution to the abundance of money in politics and a flawed campaign finance system , which is steeped in political agendas with little chance of being reformed anytime soon . `` The only thing left was the marketplace of voter opinion , '' Cooley said . He noted that many candidates still did n't have an online presence in 2012 , four years after Barack Obama revolutionized the use of the Web to mobilize supporters . Cooley formed a team with expertise in politics , tech and business , and received investor support to create a Facebook-type website for political candidates . `` For the first time , [ candidates ] can have an Obama quality '' Web presence , '' Cooley , a former Wall Street bond trader and filmmaker , said -- and at no cost . 'Democratizing democracy ' The portal includes every political office -- from school board in Belfast , Maine , to President of the United States . All candidates have to do is `` claim '' their profile and then it 's theirs to advertise campaign events , list their platform and raise money . It 's how we can `` democratize democracy , '' Ray Rivera , the organization 's co-founder and former Obama campaign organizer and state director . Cooley said his goal is to `` to see that elections are accessible to everyone . '' He thinks he is doing just that by removing a significant technological and financial barrier . Even the most obscure candidates representing obscure political parties can have a profile on Demcoracy.com . Yasinow agrees . `` It levels the playing field and encourages qualified individuals to run for office , '' she said . Willingboro , New Jersey Town Councilman Nathaniel Anderson said Democracy.com enabled him to reach voters he normally would n't be able to , especially on the fundraising front . `` I would normally target relationships I already had , '' Anderson said of his 2013 re-election campaign . He said the public did n't donate to his campaign before he opened his profile , but then said , `` I was reaching a wider universe '' as voters took advantage of the donation mechanism on his Democracy.com profile . Cooley also said he could n't believe that in 2012 candidate information for voters still could n't be found in one place . So for the voter , it 's one-stop-shopping .
Creating an online presence is a daunting task for many local political candidates . Democracy.com founders bought the URL and created a Facebook-type website for political candidates . It 's set up to be easy-to-use for candidates and one-stop shopping for voters .