VoteWise: My Foray into Political Web Applications

The Genesis of VoteWise

I never thought I'd be developing web applications with a political angle, but here I am, creator of VoteWise. It's funny how life pushes you in unexpected directions sometimes.

For a while now, I've been the go-to person in my family for political updates. I guess not having as many distractions as others allows me to stay more informed. But you know how it goes - my cousins started throwing that old adage at me: "You're talking a whole lot, but what are you actually doing about it?"

That struck a chord. I realized it was time to put my skills to use and contribute something meaningful. That's how VoteWise was born.

What is VoteWise?

VoteWise is a Next.js application built with TypeScript that allows people to track their local representatives' voting records. I'm using Radix UI for styling (though I'm still getting the hang of it) and tapping into the congress.gov API to fetch voting records.

The app lets users view sponsored and cosponsored legislation for specific representatives. It's pretty neat to see all that information in one place, if I do say so myself.

Technologies Used

• Next.js 13: For building the web application
• TypeScript: To add strong typing and improve code quality
• Radix UI: For building the user interface components
• Tailwind CSS: For responsive and custom styling
• Prisma: For database management
• React (TSX): For building interactive UI components
• Node.js: As the runtime environment
• Congress.gov API: To fetch representatives and their voting records
• Google Auth: For user authentication
• Vercel: For hosting the application

Future Plans

But I'm not stopping there. Even though I'm juggling multiple projects, I've got some exciting features in mind. The one I'm most eager to implement is a location-based commenting section. The idea is to verify a user's location and allow them to comment on legislation only if they're in the representative's district. I think this could create a more focused and relevant discussion, avoiding the pitfalls of out-of-district noise.

Imagine representatives being able to see real, local feedback on their actions. It could be a game-changer for political engagement at the local level.

Conclusion

For now, VoteWise is hosted on Vercel, like most of my applications. It's a work in progress, but I'm proud of what it represents - a small step towards more informed and engaged citizenry.

Who knows? Maybe this little side project will grow into something bigger. In the meantime, I'll keep coding, learning, and doing my part to make our political landscape a bit more transparent.

Stay tuned for updates, and feel free to check out the project. Your feedback is always welcome!

Check out my project https://votewise.vercel.app/