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In an era where most activities in life can be executed online, the majority of countries still lack the ability to interact politically via the internet, such as online voting, party membership registration, and petition signing.

In Taiwan, a political party named “New Power Party” has, since its establishment in 2015, relied on volunteers to develop a complete system enabling online party membership, donations, and voting. After several years of developing and operating in a dynamic and evolving manner, the system accumulated substantial technical debt. This led to issues with proper and complete system functionality and maintenance, impacting the party’s operations. Eventually, we decided to re-evaluate the specifications and rebuild the entire system using the latest versions of Ruby and Rails.

In this session, I will explore the process of revamping an outdated Rails application, lacking in testing and specification documentation, with the new Ruby 3 and Rails 7. This will include code refactoring, selecting the Runtime Stack, and integrating automated deployment processes using Ruby-based tools. I will also share practical experiences and reflections on integrating data from old and new versions and relaunching the system.

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In this presentation titled "Reconstructing Taiwan’s Internet-Based Party Politics," speaker Mu-Fan Teng discusses the significant overhaul of the digital infrastructure for the New Power Party (MPP) in Taiwan. Established in 2015, MPP utilizes an internet-based system for various internal operations, such as party membership, donations, and online elections. After years of development, the original system encountered various inefficiencies, leading to a decision to completely rebuild the platform using Ruby 3 and Rails 7. Teng outlines the challenges faced with the legacy system and the methodologies employed to develop a new, efficient version.

Key points of the presentation include: 
- **Introduction to New Power Party (MPP)**: Founded in 2015, MPP leverages online tools for membership applications, donation processing, internal elections, and a content management system.
- **Legacy System Issues**: The original website suffered from accumulated technical debt, lack of testing, poorly documented features, frequent data errors, and over-engineered functionalities that hampered usability.
- **Rationale for Redesign**: Collaboration between MPP staff and Teng’s team led to the decision to overhaul the system due to growing complications with managing the bug-ridden legacy code.
- **Project Goals and Methodologies**: The redevelopment focused on normalizing the database schema, enhancing security, and ensuring over 80% unit test coverage. The adoption of DevOps practices through continuous integration and deployment was emphasized to streamline development.
- **Election System Development**: A significant aspect covered was the creation of a new online election system that improved verification processes for voters, transitioned to encrypted data handling, and automated various aspects of elections, reducing reliance on manual tasks.
- **Data Migration Strategy**: The presentation discussed the implementation of a dedicated migration tool to effectively transition data from the old schema to the new system while ensuring a smooth launch without data loss.

Teng also highlighted the methods adopted for DevOps integration, including the establishment of CI/CD systems that automated coding checks and deploy workflows. The integration of Docker within the development process further improved the project’s deployment efficiency.

In conclusion, the session emphasized the importance of modernizing political party operations through technology, showcasing how strategic planning and execution in efficiently managing legacy systems lead to improved functionality and reliability in party politics. This case study illustrates the utility of software development practices in an innovative political landscape, advocating for a future where political engagement can flourish through robust online platforms.

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