CongressLookup

Screenshots

CongressLookup is a free WordPress plugin giving your site visitor an easy way to find United States US senators and representatives. CongressLookup makes it easier to launch a grassroots campaign for your favorite cause and will keep your visitors on your site instead of sending them to elsewhere to find their legislators. Where The Data Comes From CongressLookup uses data provided by Google Maps GeoCoding API and Sunlight Labs API currently hosted by ProPublica.org. Google Maps GeoCoding API By using this plugin you are bound by the Google Maps terms of use. Google GeoCoding API limits use to 2,500 requests per IP address per day. We have added a cache feature (default setting is 30 minutes) you can set to reduce the number of requests made to the API. To obtain a Google Maps API key there is a link in: WP Admin > Settings > CongressLookup > Configuration, or do the following: 1. Go to the Google API Console. 2. Create or select a project. 3. Click Continue to enable the API and any related services. 4. On the Credentials page, get an API key. ProPublica API CongressLookup uses free databases provided by the ProPublica.org through the use of their Sunlight Labs Congress 3 API. NOTE: No API key is currently needed. The following information can be displayed for each legislator. You can turn any of these on/off in the Admin settings: Title, First Name, Last Name, Picture, Chamber, State Rank, State Name, Website, Contact Form, Fax, Phone, Party, Name Suffix, Middle Name, Facebook ID, Youtube ID, Twitter ID, Votesmart ID, Office, Term End, and Term Start Using CongressLookup Plugin The minimum information needed to get results is a 5-digit zip code. However, some zip codes cover more than one congressional district so the more of the address is entered the more accurate the results will be. CongressLookup is implemented on your WordPress site with use of a shortcode. See the Installation and FAQs for more information. Customizing The Look of the Plugin There are three theme options available: No Theme, Modern and Custom Theme. No Theme: Uses the core styling from your theme without adding any of it’s own. Custom Theme: Allow you to create your own look using CSS and comes with a demo area to preview your changes. Modern Theme: Support If you have any problems, please see our Trouble Shooting Guide before putting in a support request. Please use the CongressLookup plugin support tab here on the WordPress.org website. Keeping support questions and answers public helps everyone. However, feel free to contact us here for any other help you may need. Official Website http://congresslookup.com Troubleshooting Broken Links: If the resulting links to congress people resources are broken (return a 404 error) this is a problem with ProPublica’s Sunlight Labs Congress3 database not being up-to-date. Please contact them directly to have these errors fixed: https://www.propublica.org/datastore/contact If CongressLookup is not working properly, please try the following steps: 1. Make sure you are using the most recent version of the plugin. 2. Make sure your server is running at least PHP 5.4. 3. When creating your Google Maps API, set Key Restrictions to “None”. 4. PLUGIN CONFLICT: Please try deactivating all plugins except CongressLookup. If CongressLookup does then work, turn on one plugin at a time and test it again until you find the plugin it conflicts with. Please let us know what plugin this is. 5. THEME CONFLICT: If there is still an issue after testing for a plugin conflict, and all other plugins are turned off, please try temporarily switching to another theme. We recommend trying one of the default WordPress themes. 6. SERVER SETTINGS: If none of the above has helped, please tell your webmaster to enable allow-url-fopen in php.ini http://www.php.net/manual/en/filesystem.configuration.php#ini.allow-url-fopen When doing this, disable the cache option for testing, then when allow-url-fopen is enabled and CongressLookup works only then enable the cache again. 7. If you are still having any issues, please put in a support request.