Inside VoteSee, a Harvard student's platform to inform voters
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VoteSee focuses on congressional representatives, but founders want to expand its scope eventually. Photo: Screenshot
A website built by Harvard University students and alumni aims to make information about our elected officials more accessible, starting with members of Congress.
Why it matters: Ask your children, your neighbors or your coworkers who represents them in Congress and how they vote — they might be less aware than you'd think.
Case in point: The team behind the website, called VoteSee, interviewed 70 college students on Harvard Yard — not enough for a significant sample size, but enough to suggest a problem, says Swanee Golden, the founder and CEO.
- Barely one-fifth of respondents could name their congressional representatives (the number is even lower among undergraduate students surveyed).
Instead of shaming them, VoteSee's team took the findings as a sign that people need more accessible resources to learn about their elected officials. VoteSee.org launched last month.
Zoom in: If you set up a profile with an address, the website shows you who represents you in Congress and where those representatives stand on various issues.
- The platform also plots their views on a spectrum ranging from most conservative to most progressive and compares them to the average congressional Democrat or Republican's views.
- Users can compare their elected officials to other members and find popular searches (U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example, is one of the most searched members).
Plus: VoteSee has Buzzfeed-style quizzes asking users what representatives they're most like to better understand politicians' positions, says Golden, a student at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School.
- "A lot of people we user-tested with had an opinion of who they hoped they would turn out to be, and that wasn't always the case," she said.
- This also helped users who felt unsure of where they fall on certain topics, and the quiz gave them something to reference.
What they're saying: "It's very common that people say go vote like it's as simple as that, but I think for a lot of people, they feel like they don't know enough to go vote and that getting that information is really challenging."
- "We're sort of hoping that people will use this website, see something that makes them more motivated to go to the polls and also a bit more informed about who they're voting for."
Yes, but: There are some limitations due to how the data VoteSee uses from Congress.gov.
- The website shows you a handful of bills each representative voted on, but it doesn't tell you how they voted and doesn't elaborate on what the bill proposes.
- As of now, the website shows a bill ID. The onus is on the user to search for the bill on Congress.gov and see what the bill proposed and how a representative voted.
If a representative hasn't taken enough votes on bills related to a topic, they won't have any plots on that topic's spectrum. That's especially the case for new representatives right when they enter office.
What's next: The team wants to improve the site and eventually offer insights on state and local officials.
- But that will prove even more difficult considering each jurisdiction has its own website on elected officials and their positions and votes — each with its own flaws and gaps.