Building a Polling Platform for Fairer Representation

Let’s roll up our sleeves and work on a civic tech project with real-world impact.
We’ll be developing a platform inspired by Finding the Lone Star’s North Star — a quadratic voting poll designed to measure community values and cluster neighborhoods by similarity. The goal: create tools that could guide fairer district maps and give citizens more meaningful choices.
Whether you’re a developer, data scientist, designer, or just curious about how civic tech and algorithmic mapping can work together, this is a hands-on session. We’ll:

• Walk through the current poll design and data model.
• Discuss how to score and cluster responses.
• Explore map-generation possibilities using open geographic data.
• Collaborate on feature ideas for a working prototype.

Bring your laptop and your curiosity — we’ll have plenty of space for ideation, coding, and whiteboarding.
Skill levels: All welcome. If you’ve never touched civic tech before, you’ll still be able to contribute ideas and feedback.
Why it matters: Tools like this could make representation more about shared priorities and less about political maneuvering. By the end of the meetup, you’ll have contributed to a platform that can be adapted for communities across the country.