Voting Info Site Idea
Tushon
I'm scared, CoachAlexandria, VA Icrontian
So, when I got ready to vote this year, I discovered that it was rather hard to figure out who I would even have the option to vote for at the polls. Sure, the national elections were covered by Project Vote Smart and other websites, but the local elections were poorly displayed on state/city government websites (which is unsurprising in my home state).
My idea is this: You type in "www.whocouldivotefor.com" (obviously subject to change), and select your state. After you select your state, boxes would pop up asking for the information off of your voter identification card in order to retrieve the information (which wouldn't be saved and it wouldn't ask for your name anyways). Clicking go would retrieve your national, state, and local candidates (perhaps, separately, current officials) who are up for election this year.
Now, obviously maintaining this would be a monstrous task and so I would shift that burden to the population at large. The site would be community managed, with moderators to keep people from posting nonsense. I was thinking just the position, candidates' names, link to their own website, and, if available, links to voting records (absolutely bonkers example, again from my own state ... look up your own here). I'm not sure if similar websites are available for judiciary rulings, but that is something for later. Also, regardless of my political views, I will attempt to keep this site as neutral as possible.
So my question is thus: What kind of resources am I going to need to at least give this a go? I know I will need web design, with scripting to input the information and pull info from a database, a method of registering/vetting users and allowing them to input information into that database, and obviously hardware to host it.
What am I missing/what potential languages should I be looking at/any other ideas? Is this a problem outside of TX?
My idea is this: You type in "www.whocouldivotefor.com" (obviously subject to change), and select your state. After you select your state, boxes would pop up asking for the information off of your voter identification card in order to retrieve the information (which wouldn't be saved and it wouldn't ask for your name anyways). Clicking go would retrieve your national, state, and local candidates (perhaps, separately, current officials) who are up for election this year.
Now, obviously maintaining this would be a monstrous task and so I would shift that burden to the population at large. The site would be community managed, with moderators to keep people from posting nonsense. I was thinking just the position, candidates' names, link to their own website, and, if available, links to voting records (absolutely bonkers example, again from my own state ... look up your own here). I'm not sure if similar websites are available for judiciary rulings, but that is something for later. Also, regardless of my political views, I will attempt to keep this site as neutral as possible.
So my question is thus: What kind of resources am I going to need to at least give this a go? I know I will need web design, with scripting to input the information and pull info from a database, a method of registering/vetting users and allowing them to input information into that database, and obviously hardware to host it.
What am I missing/what potential languages should I be looking at/any other ideas? Is this a problem outside of TX?
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