Tucked away in your local television stations’ filing cabinets is a treasure trove of information on everything from political advertising data to how stations serve — or fail to serve — local communities.

The Federal Communications Commission recently voted that TV broadcasters must post these files online — but there’s a catch.

Only some of the biggest TV stations in the biggest media markets are required to digitize political ad information this election season. All other TV stations can delay posting until 2014. That means that voters in many communities will still have to drive down to their local stations to access the political files — and find out who is paying to influence their vote.

Free Press, the Sunlight Foundation and the New America Foundation are partnering to get this information out of the filing cabinets and on to the Internet. Could you help us collect this data from your local station?

Sign up here to join us. Thanks!

The Political Ad Sleuth Project is a collaborative effort between Free Press, the Sunlight Foundation and the New America Foundation.