Software Functional Specification Constituent Application
Version 1.0
February 1, 2025
1.0 Overview
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Home Page
Pre-Scrolling Description
What Constituents Will See While Scrolling
Accommodating Constituents Who Haven’t Registered
1.3 For You Page
The Importance of Issue Priority and Deal Breaker Identification
What Constituents See
Experience Features
Position Alignment Outside of Experience Feature
1.4 Leaderboard
What Constituents See
Trending Leaderboard Description
Endorsement Leaderboard Description
Changes to the Endorsement Leaderboard After the Endorsement Round Ends
1.5 Profile
Vehicle for Constituent Registration
Post-Registration Functionality
Quick Notes:
Primary goal of constituent app is to increase engagement with potential nominee (PN) profiles which comply with a constituent’s policy priorities
Constituents who do not intend to engage further than PN’s with whom they already have a prior connection shouldn’t have to engage with every section of the app
Outside of endorsements and profile visits, constituents will not have the power to engage with candidates directly through messaging features in order to prevent trolling
2.0 Functional Specifications
2.1 Introduction
The app’s primary goal is to increase constituent engagement with the primary nomination process through a design that is relatively intuitive and easy to navigate.
The design includes four sections: Home, For You, Leaderboard and Profile. Each section is described in greater detail below. Two of the four sections of the app focus on increasing constituent engagement with potential nominee profiles (For You and Leaderboard). In contrast, the Home page allows constituents to learn more about the unique aspects of the AMSP’s primary process, while the Profile page allows constituents to change their profile when necessary.
The detailed descriptions for each individual section are below. For those who are confused about features that have not yet been defined in this part of the document, the page numbers of their descriptions will be provided.
2.1 Home Page
2.1.1 Pre-Scrolling Description
The goal of the Home page is to allow constituents to gain a better understanding of the primary nomination process overall. Constituents are met with a picture of the AMSP logo and links to the full list of potential nominees, the AMSP website and the Wilson’s Fountain website.
Above these links will be a search bar which will continue to be visible as constituents scroll up and down the Home page. This is important as some constituents may have specific potential nominees for whom they are looking.
Next to this search bar is a small icon which allows constituents to filter potential nominees using questions and answers to the ISideWith quiz. In order to filter potential nominees with this level of detail, constituents must select the particular issue that they want to know about, the questions posed to the candidates on that issue and the particular answer to the selected questions with which they agree. After filtering through these questions, constituents are met with a list of potential nominees which fit their qualifications.
2.1.2 What Constituents See While Scrolling
After scrolling past the AMSP logo, constituents are, first, met with a video explaining the primary nomination process in the simplest way possible. Below this will be a variety of links to responses for frequently asked questions about the primary process. It is important that these features be included on the Home page as it is imperative that constituents understand the intricacies and rules of the AMSP nomination competition.
2.1.3 Accommodating Constituents Who Haven’t Registered
It is also important to note that this is the only page to which constituents have access before officially registering with the AMSP. This is a large part of the reason as to why including informative videos and FAQ answers is particularly important for this page. Links to other parts of the app are still visible and will direct constituents to a page through which they can register rather than immediately allowing them to engage with the process. The same should be true with the search bar at the top of the page.
2.2 For You Page
2.2.3 The Importance of Issue Priority and Dealbreaker Identification
As will be referred to later in this document, when registering for the AMSP, constituents must identify and answer all ISideWith questions for their top 7 most important issues within the given nomination cycle as well as their three dealbreaker stances. This information is used to create their unique For You page, allowing them to scroll through potential nominees whose profiles align with their views and engage with the process at their own pace.
2.2.4 What Constituents See
The For You page allows constituents to view short PSAs, which reflect the views of the potential nominee on issues that are important to that particular constituent or which show the PSAs of potential nominees in a specific area. Constituents swipe left and right to scroll through various PSAs, with further links to the PN’s profile and endorsement form being provided next to each PSA to allow for further engagement.
2.2.5 Experience Features
The page also includes an “experience” dropdown menu in the corner of the section which allows constituents to design their experience. This menu requires constituents to tap specific buttons based on which sorts of nominees they wish to see. If constituents want to see potential nominees who reflect one of the policy positions that they find particularly important, there is a feature which allows them to pick from their seven most important policy positions.
On the other hand, if constituents don't want potential nominees to be sorted based on their policy beliefs, they could turn on the “non-partisan” feature, allowing them to see the PSAs of only potential nominees who are in a particular virtual polling location, which they will pick from a map. This allows constituents to see potential nominees from areas that are within their own community as well as others, promoting relationships rather than partisan based political decisions.
Finally, if a constituent wishes not to see those PN’s who align with their dealbreaker stances, there will be a button which will prevent their PSAs from being shown on the For You section.
2.2.6 Position Alignment Outside of the Experience Feature
If a potential nominee has multiple positions that align with the views of the constituent, a small message or sign appears next to the video, listing the particular stances which constituents and PNs have in common. This message can also be shown if PNs align with one of the constituent’s dealbreaker stances.
2.3 Leaderboard Page
Like the For You page, the goal of the “Leaderboard” page is to increase constituent engagement with potential nominee profiles. In contrast to the For You page, the Leaderboard will push constituents toward certain profiles based on overall constituent behavior rather than their individual preferences.
2.3.1 What Constituents See
Each potential nominee has an equal amount of space on the leaderboard, with the name being the most prominent feature in their space. Below each name, in characters that are small but still visible, is the potential nominee’s hometown, and insignia depending on the PN’s alignment with constituent priorities or dealbreakers. At the top of the page is an option to switch between “trending” and “endorsement” leaderboards (descriptions provided below).
2.3.2 Trending Leaderboard
The trending leaderboard will rank potential nominees based on overall constituent profile engagement over a defined period of time. Its purpose will be to show other constituents which campaigns are garnering the most attention, reflecting what would usually be the job of media outlets during an election cycle. The method used to create this leaderboard will be relatively simple: number of unique viewers over a day long period.
By “unique viewer,” the party means someone who has not yet visited the profile of a particular PN on the day that the trending leaderboard is tracking. Each time the leaderboard resets, all of the viewers who had previously viewed a PN’s profile will become “unique” in the eyes of the algorithm once again.
It is important that this algorithm be extremely visible on the design of the app in order to prevent any transparency concerns.
2.3.3 Endorsement Leaderboard
The Endorsement Leaderboard tracks endorsement rankings for all potential nominees. A key aspect of the Endorsement Leaderboard is the cut off line. The race includes multiple pre-set dates by which potential nominees have to be above a certain place to continue to stay in the race.
Those who have cast their original endorsement for potential nominees who end up below the cutoff will be given the opportunity to cast their endorsement for other potential nominees by a certain date.
At the top of the endorsement page there is a small notification with the cutoff ranking and the date by which potential nominees should have reached it in order to stay in the race. If constituents tap on this notification they are taken to the cutoff line as it is shown in the leaderboard graphic.
2.3.4 Changes to the Endorsement Leaderboard After the Endorsement Round Ends
After the end of the endorsement round, the endorsement leaderboard is replaced by a page with information about the results of the town hall or final debate. The page will look different depending on which stage of the competition has been reached. However, there are a few key components that will stay the same.
At the top of the page, there is a link to the full recording of the town hall/debate. The video is embedded on the app. However, if this is not possible, the link may also take the user to a YouTube video.
Below the link and the descriptive language, there is a short list of links to highlight videos from the same event. As having thumbnails and descriptive information for these links would be difficult due to their size, the links are written rather than visual like that of the full recording.
Below these video links, there is a section which will allow constituents to vote for their preferred candidate based on their performance in the most recent event. This section resembles a google form or any other survey document, with the “for whom do you cast your vote?” question at the top of the page and the name of the potential nominees below.
The “endorsement” buttons, which were present on the bottom right corner of each PN’s profile, are replaced by a “Vote” button, which will take them to this section of the leaderboard area. There will be some sort of message on the Home page explaining to constituents how to vote and view the recordings of the most recent debate. The trending leaderboard will not change or be replaced.
2.4 Profile
The Profile section allows constituents to adjust the personal information that they have made available to the party or respond to requests from the nominating committee. It does this through the use of a dropdown menu through which constituents can register for the AMSP’s competition, adjust basic app settings, their personal information, and top issues or dealbreakers. It also houses buttons through which constituents may register to be a nominee and contact their local nominating committee. Specifically, the buttons on the dropdown menu read as follows: run for office, register, register help, change personal information, change policy information.
Outside of these functions, the Profile section is not intended to grab the attention of constituents in any way and only exists for the purpose of constituents needing to change their information or if they wish to become potential nominees themselves.
2.5 Vehicle for Constituent Registration
Before a particular constituent has registered with the party through Plaid, only the buttons allowing them to register and contact that nominating committee will be made available to them. After they have registered and have had their identity confirmed, the “Register In Person” and “Register” buttons will disappear and be replaced by the “Change Personal Information” and “Change Policy Information” buttons.
Constituents are only able to contact the nominating committee directly if they are unable to confirm their identity through Plaid. After tapping on the “Registration Help” button, they are taken to a separate page which allows them to write a message to the nominating committee and schedule a date at which they can appear at a meeting in-person to confirm their identity. The constituent is also required to provide their email, which is how they will be contacted by members of the nominating committee.
2.6 Post Registration Functionality
After registering, constituents are forced to identify the issues that they will want to prioritize throughout their experience in the competition. They are given a list of issues for each issue level (global, national, local) and are given the option to select between 4-7 issues that they find important. After selecting a particular issue, they are forced to answer all of the questions related to that issue as generated by the ISideWith questionnaire (potential nominees will be required to answer the questionnaire in its entirety). This allows the app to align a constituent’s views on issues that they find important with those of PNs through the For You page.
Constituents also have the option of selecting up to three deal breaker stances. This is done by allowing the constituents to select particular answers and answering the resulting ISideWith questionnaire in accordance with answers which would be in opposition to their views on that particular issue.