PolyVote

You know when you run into a ton of little things that you just want to change and never get the time to do it?! Well thanks to a bit of insomnia and some fairly average pod coffee I got some of them done in this latest build of PolyVote!

I must admit the UI is still quite not there for tablets, and there's more things I need to work on (namely more UI changes, content for the app AND Facebook) but I am sloooowly getting there :):)

I have to admit I really love deploying a new version of an App to the Apple App Store and waking up the next morning with an email stating that my product is Ready for Sale!

PolyVote 1.2.4 is now updated and ready for download. This release sees a number of UI changes, predominantly focusing on the header and summaries rather than making the app all about bills and policies. Lots of other UI changes.

Next release will see some more UI updates and the integration of "Posts" and more community content.

And we didn't win :( But we DID get a honourable mention and an award so I am OK with that. Remember, It's not how much you win... I mean a walking orange with candy floss for hair can win.. it's how good a product you can make and how much the community can enjoy that product that matters.

After a few stumbling blocks, we went LIVE with the MVP!!! This was a massive milestone for us as we had to collate alot of information from various government and public data sources, aggregate them down into digestible pieces for the public to understand and push these out to our mobile iOS and Android products!

We took a very MVP product to the WA Govhack! This product would be the backbone to the rest of the product and hopefully open a gateway to new users and more in-depth analysis of what we want to bring to the market.

We are still waitign on where we placed with this product, but we have been short-listed as state winners.

The Australian 2019 Federal Election was a divisive one. I found myself feeling completely disillusioned. I had no idea who to vote for. I didn't know who Scott Morrison or Bill Shorten was; nor did I know their policies. I didn't even know that the greens had a new leader...

I scoured through newspapers, government sites and flyers etc., and all I found was blurbs about franken credits and negative gearing. My voting potential had been aggregated down to an age and tax bracket.

I felt out of touch with the democratic process.

Australians have become so focused on what the government is going to do TO us when they get into power; we have forgotten that WE vote in parties based on what they can do for US!

So, what COULD the parties do for ME? What is each party putting forward as far as bills and policies. I researched and couldn't find an easily digestible way of understanding what each party and senator was putting forward to government and more importantly, how much time do I have so as to make an informed decision about what happens to me and my family.

Then I thought, can I aggregate government data. Can I present a non-biased window into bills, policies and other governmental information that is important to me on a federal, state and council level in a shortened format, like a facebook post, and allow the public to vote or comment on that governmental data then not only get instant feedback but also pass that vote and any feedback back to the sponsor.

Can I... WE... influence government.

WELCOME TO POLYVOTE.
Polyvote allows people to connect with their local representatives and inform them on the issues that are important to them. It also allows for people to vote and comment on local, state and national issues and also bills that are before the senate and house of representatives. Ultimately PolyVote is creating a community of people who are interested in the political landscape of this country, and more importantly giving them a voice that has been missing in this very critical process.