Civic Cast

Civic Cast is a modern, full-stack web application for managing and participating in online elections. It provides a secure, user-friendly platform for admins to create elections, register candidates and voters, and for users to cast votes in real time.

Features

• Admin Dashboard: Manage elections, candidates, and voters with real-time stats and activity feeds.
• Election Management: Create elections, define posts, and assign candidates.
• Candidate & Voter Registration: Register candidates (with profile pictures) and voters securely.
• Voting System: Authenticated users can vote in ongoing elections; voting is tracked and restricted per post.
• Results & Analytics: View live results, vote distributions, and recent activity.
• Authentication: Secure sign-up, sign-in, and sign-out flows for admins and voters.
• Modern UI/UX: Responsive, accessible, and visually appealing interface with animations.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Next.js (App Router), React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Next.js API routes, MongoDB (Mongoose ODM)
• Authentication: NextAuth.js
• File Uploads: Cloudinary (for candidate profile pictures)
• State Management: React Context, useState, useEffect
• UI Components: Lucide Icons, shadcn, custom components
• Animation & Visuals: GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform) for advanced UI animations, Three.js for 3D and visual effects

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+ recommended)
• npm or yarn
• MongoDB Atlas account (or local MongoDB)
• Cloudinary account (for image uploads)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/gottatouchsomegrass/civic_cast.git
   cd civic_cast

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   # or
   yarn install

3. Set up environment variables: Create a .env.local file in the root directory and add the following:

   MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
   NEXTAUTH_SECRET=your_nextauth_secret
   NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
   CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
   CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
   CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret

Running Locally

npm run dev
# or
yarn dev

Visit http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Building for Production

npm run build
npm start

Deployment

• Deploy easily to Vercel or any platform supporting Next.js.
• Set the same environment variables in your deployment dashboard.

Folder Structure

civic_cast/
├── src/
│   ├── app/                # Next.js app directory (routes, pages, API)
│   ├── components/         # Reusable UI components
│   ├── context/            # React context providers
│   ├── lib/                # Utility libraries (db, auth, etc.)
│   ├── model/              # Mongoose models
│   ├── schema/             # Validation schemas
│   ├── types/              # TypeScript types
│   └── ...
├── public/                 # Static assets
├── package.json
├── next.config.ts
├── README.md
└── ...

Contributing

1. Fork the repo and create your branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
2. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add some feature'
3. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/your-feature
4. Open a pull request

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Civic Cast — Empowering transparent and secure digital elections.