# Alex Niemczewski

> Alex Niemczewski is the co-founder and CEO of BallotReady, the nonpartisan online voter guide that covers every race and referendum on the ballot across all 50 states. She built the first version for herself before the 2014 midterms because she didn't know how to vote for the down-ballot offices nobody talks about - water reclamation commissioner, judges, mosquito abatement boards. A University of Chicago philosophy graduate who taught coding and ran a research-design consultancy, she turned a personal frustration into a civic engagement platform that informs millions of voters and powers tools for campaigns and advocacy groups.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at BallotReady
- **Organizations:** BallotReady, The Starter League, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Philosophy, University of Chicago
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads BallotReady, a nonpartisan voter guide covering every race and referendum in all 50 states, Named to Crain's Chicago Business '20 in their 20s' list (with co-founder Aviva Rosman), Techweek 100 honoree

## Career timeline

- **Pre-2014** — Worked at a nonprofit helping low-income people secure union jobs; founded a human-centered research and design consulting firm
- **Pre-2014** — Taught coding at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and as a teaching assistant at The Starter League (Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
- **2014** — Built a personal website to research down-ballot races before the midterm election - the seed of BallotReady
- **2015** — Launched BallotReady with co-founder Aviva Rosman, testing on Chicago's mayoral runoff for roughly $180
- **2017** — Closed an oversubscribed $780,000 seed round led by MergeLane, with M25 and the University of Chicago Innovation Fund; announced expansion to all 50 states
- **2018** — BallotReady reaches nationwide coverage of every race and referendum
- **2020** — Pivoted and scaled a vote-by-mail tool amid the pandemic election

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads BallotReady, a nonpartisan voter guide covering every race and referendum in all 50 states
- Named to Crain's Chicago Business '20 in their 20s' list (with co-founder Aviva Rosman)
- Techweek 100 honoree
- Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation Fellow
- Raised funding from MergeLane, M25, the National Science Foundation, the Knight Foundation and the University of Chicago

## Latest updates

- **2020-03** — Scaled a vote-by-mail tool during the pandemic election cycle, emphasizing early and strategic preparation.

## Links

- Website: https://ballotready.org
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexniemczewski
- Twitter/X: http://www.twitter.com/ballotready
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ballotready

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/alex-niemczewski
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-19