Searching for Representation: A sociotechnical audit of googling for members of U.S. Congress

High-quality online civic infrastructure is increasingly critical for the success of democratic processes. There is a pervasive reliance on search engines to find facts and information necessary for political participation and oversight. We find that approximately 10% of the top Google search results are likely to mislead California information seekers who use search to identify their congressional representatives. 70% of the misleading results appear in featured snippets above the organic search results. We use both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand what aspects of the information ecosystem lead to this sociotechnical breakdown. Factors identified include Google’s heavy reliance on Wikipedia, the lack of authoritative, machine parsable, high accuracy data about the identity of elected officials based on geographic location, and the search engine’s treatment of under-specified queries. We recommend steps that Google can take to meet its stated commitment to providing high quality civic information, and steps that information providers can take to improve the legibility and quality of information about congressional representatives available to search algorithms.