Inspiration Only 40% of Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election, a saddening number when you consider how lucky we are to be able exercise the right to vote. Furthermore, 58% of Americans are unhappy with the current president. It is evident that increased voter participation is key to ensuring elected officials viewpoints match with the majority of Americans.
What it does There are two sections--an adult section and a kid section. The adult section helps match users to their political party aiding them in the search of who to vote for. The kid section (ages 17 and below) educates future voters on the different type of parties.
How we built it We first started this application with a general "storyboard" of what we would build. Next, we experimented with XML to find out how to create the buttons and center them for the children and adults sections. Afterwards, we had understood the tricks of the trade for XML. We then created several activities with onClick methods in Java, and we added small blurbs for each category. Afterwards, we had to create the questionnaire, which was definitely the hardest part. In general, Java and XML were mainly used to create this application.
Challenges we ran into We realized the emulator version of android was an older version than the code was designed for after having confusingly struggled for over 20 hours to understand why what was on our screen was not what was on our emulator. Also, radio buttons were extremely frustrating.
Accomplishments that we're proud of This was our first time using xml and we are happy with what we were able to create. There was definitely a bit of a learning curve, but through perseverance (and a little bit of coffee!) we were able to succeed.
What we learned Not only did our group learn more about some of the minor political parties and their beliefs, but we were also able to improve our coding skills. Coming from a java-based background, xml was definitely a different experience that challenged and stretched our coding abilities.
What's next for VoteVirginia We would like to integrate geo-location to determine the candidates running in a particular area and to find the nearest voting center/registration center for users. Furthermore, we would like to add more questions and political to our political party survey in an effort to most accurately match users with the candidate that best represents their beliefs.
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