Problem statement 1
Concerned and impacted citizens don't have a straightforward way of knowing what or how policies and regulations impact them or what they can do in response.
Hill 1 - Citizens are aware of policy that is being considered that is highly impactful to them, without needing to follow every vote.
Hill 2 - Citizens are able to understand the specific impact of proposed policy on them without being a legal expert.
Theme:
Citizens and voters need an easy way to see what policies and bills impact the issues they care about most.
Brief description of your idea:
An app that categorizes policies, bills, reforms, etc. into the specific issues they touch on. The user can select the issues which they care most about and get a breakdown of which specific ballot items affect those issues and how. Further implementations could allow the user to select a stance on issues and have the app provide a suggestion on how to vote for a specific item based on that stance, further simplifying the voting process.
For example, Bond Bill A proposes a new 500 million dollar bond for schools in the area. This bill touches the issues of taxes and schools. A user might have one or both of those issues selected and get an update that the upcoming vote pertains to their interests. If they have a stance selected, say support for additional school funding, the app would suggest that they vote YES for this particular bill.
What makes your idea unique?:
There is a plethora of information out there about what specific bills mean and how they impact citizens, but the information usually requires manual work, i.e. lots of research and reading, to keep current with all pending legislation. Even with consolidated sources such as local news websites, there are many issues which the user simply does not care about. This idea helps focus information into a consumable amount specific to the user. It also helps simplify the voting process by suggesting a course of action consistent with the users personal stance on an issue.
What would be the impact of your idea if implemented?:
The impact would hopefully be a higher level of voter turnout if more people realize there is proposed legislation on every voting cycle relevant to issues they have an interest in.
Skills to contribute (e.g. development, architecture, research, design or anything else):
UI and app design
Development would likely include NLP to analyze legislation for relevant issues, parsing and aggregating data, etc.
Problem statement 1 Concerned and impacted citizens don't have a straightforward way of knowing what or how policies and regulations impact them or what they can do in response.
Hill 1 - Citizens are aware of policy that is being considered that is highly impactful to them, without needing to follow every vote.
Hill 2 - Citizens are able to understand the specific impact of proposed policy on them without being a legal expert.
Theme: Citizens and voters need an easy way to see what policies and bills impact the issues they care about most.
Brief description of your idea: An app that categorizes policies, bills, reforms, etc. into the specific issues they touch on. The user can select the issues which they care most about and get a breakdown of which specific ballot items affect those issues and how. Further implementations could allow the user to select a stance on issues and have the app provide a suggestion on how to vote for a specific item based on that stance, further simplifying the voting process.
For example, Bond Bill A proposes a new 500 million dollar bond for schools in the area. This bill touches the issues of taxes and schools. A user might have one or both of those issues selected and get an update that the upcoming vote pertains to their interests. If they have a stance selected, say support for additional school funding, the app would suggest that they vote YES for this particular bill.
What makes your idea unique?: There is a plethora of information out there about what specific bills mean and how they impact citizens, but the information usually requires manual work, i.e. lots of research and reading, to keep current with all pending legislation. Even with consolidated sources such as local news websites, there are many issues which the user simply does not care about. This idea helps focus information into a consumable amount specific to the user. It also helps simplify the voting process by suggesting a course of action consistent with the users personal stance on an issue.
What would be the impact of your idea if implemented?: The impact would hopefully be a higher level of voter turnout if more people realize there is proposed legislation on every voting cycle relevant to issues they have an interest in.
Skills to contribute (e.g. development, architecture, research, design or anything else): UI and app design Development would likely include NLP to analyze legislation for relevant issues, parsing and aggregating data, etc.