AUSTIN, Texas — Early voting is wrapping up for the midterm election, and Election Day is March 3rd.
With federal offices, statewide races, and local propositions on the ballot, it’s a packed slate. And for many voters, preparing can feel overwhelming.
Josh Baer knows that feeling well.
“Every year I put an hour on my calendar or two to where I’m supposed to get ready to vote,” Baer said. “I’m supposed to read the voting guides and kind of get prepared. And to be honest, it never seems to work. I always just actually don’t feel very prepared.”
Baer is the founder and CEO of Capital Factory, a startup accelerator and investment hub. This year, instead of struggling through the ballot, he turned to artificial intelligence.
He gave AI two specific instructions.
“I said, one, go download all the best nonpartisan voting guides so that you can read all of them and know what’s going on,” Baer explained. “And then two, I said, interview me so you understand my kind of voting preferences. And then tell me who I should vote for and why.”
Within seconds, the AI generated a nine-page report. It broke down every race and proposition, recommended who he should vote for, and explained why. It also created a condensed cheat sheet for Election Day.
“It was really amazing,” Baer said. “And I felt the most prepared I’ve ever felt going into voting.”
That experience sparked a bigger idea.
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Baer decided to build a website so others could do the same thing. He began what’s known as “vibe coding,” using AI tools to help create the platform.
“It took a few days of me tinkering around with it, but really just from that prompt, I got this incredible website where anybody can go and do the same thing I did,” he said. “And then I said, make it safe. Ensure it’s nonpartisan. Make sure it’s open, and people can trust it.”
The result is TXVotes.app.
Baer says Anthropic’s Claude AI handled much of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. But he didn’t stop there.
He also asked other AI systems — including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, xAI’s Grok, and Google’s Gemini — to review the site and suggest improvements. He then used their feedback to refine the tool.
Baer says privacy and transparency are central to the app’s design.
“You can look at the website and see how it works and why it works,” he said. “But most importantly, in just about five minutes, you can be the most prepared you’ve ever been for any election you’ve walked into.”
As early voting continues, Baer hopes the tool can make researching the ballot faster, easier, and less intimidating for voters across Texas.
