Leadership Austin and Austin Tech Alliance partnered to create informed.vote – a website to help Central Texans cast an informed vote at the ballot box. Austin Tech Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit building a culture of civic engagement in Austin’s tech sector, while Leadership Austins mission is to ignites passion for community leadership.

  • My Role: (Design)

  • Designs: Site-Map, Wire-frames

  • Tools: Sketch

  • Duration: 3 weeks

  • Cast an Informed Vote: informed.vote

PROBLEM

Far too many Central Texans do not know where candidates for elected office stand on issues important to them. The most robust ways to find out – candidate questionnaires from community organizations – are not easy to find unless a voter already knows about a particular community group or does significant research into the causes and candidates they care about.

SOLUTION

informed.vote launched in 8/27/2018, will allow users to filter community questions by district, candidate, cause, or ZIP Code. Users will be able to search all questions posed by community groups and get answers direct from the candidates – all in one place.

I worked with Austin Tech Alliance to create a site map and set of wireframes to show layout of needs per list of site requirements. The requirements for tech specification, and research insights where provided. The insights, focused on Increasing residents’ civic knowledge on key local issues, which often get drowned out in the media by national news.

  • Residents: Providing a single resource to get educated about candidates running for local office and their positions on community issues

  • Community Organizations: Creating access to a wider audience, assisting with member recruitment, and spreading their messages about issues they focus on

  • Candidates: Communicating to a broader group of Central Texans about their positions on issues

Site-Map

Wireframes

Landing Page

Candidate Page

Organization Page

Register to vote.

Searching by Zip Code & Tagged topics

Social media linkage to organize / inform.

Quick Biography with endorsements, stances, and news.

Provides the ability for candidates to address voter concerns providing a forum to answer and clarify.

Provides the ability for an organization to tag specific topics being debated /voted upon. Provides connection topics to community needs.

NEXT STEPS

After launch in 2019, Leadership Austin and Austin Tech Alliance are seeking commitments from local governments to help fund the project. They are asking local governments to each contribute $5,000 per two-year election cycle to fund the development and upkeep of informed.vote.