My Elected Officials

Discover your elected officials, monitor legislative bills, and use AI to summarize bills and track changes across versions. Empowering citizens to stay engaged and informed has never been easier.

Comment

Empowering Citizens for Civic Engagement

Inspiration

As a proud Afghan American and U.S citizen, I recognized the importance of fulfilling our civic obligation by engaging with elected officials and understanding their roles in representing the voices and interests of our communities. However, I encountered numerous challenges when trying to identify my local representatives and staying informed about legislative bills.

Problem Identification

I faced difficulties in identifying local elected officials, finding their contact information, and engaging with them on issues that matter to me. Additionally, navigating legislative bills and their status across different states proved to be a daunting task.

Solution Concept

To simplify this process not just for myself but for everyone across the United States, I developed a platform that allows users to effortlessly discover their elected officials by entering their ZIP code. The platform also provides contact details, concise biographies, and monitors legislative bills, offering summarized information about their progress.

Learning Journey

Throughout the project, I learned to leverage Google's Gemini LLM for parameter optimization and summarizing legislative bills and biographies. This enabled me to provide informative yet intuitive user experiences.

Development Process

Working alone, I utilized tools and technologies such as Svelte, Node.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Google Civic Information API, and Open States API to build the platform.

Challenges Faced

One of the main challenges was presenting information in an informative and intuitive manner without overwhelming the user. This was addressed by prioritizing relevant information and leveraging Gemini LLM for summarization.

Milestones and Achievements

A significant milestone was successfully integrating the Gemini API into the project. Thanks to the comprehensive documentation and examples provided by Google, this was achieved quickly and easily.

Future Directions

Moving forward, I plan to further enhance the platform by exploring more creative ways to leverage the Gemini API. My ultimate goal is to make it easier for individuals to become active and informed citizens.

Share this project:

Updates