Index
Introduction
Manual entry of ratings and endorsements is an important process to learn as a new member of the Special Interest Groups Team. It is a vital process that allows you to become familiar with admin, the data standards of Special Interests, improves work checking ability, and increases your overall understanding of how work is done in the Special Interest Groups Sub-Department. Below, you will find instructions for the manual entry of scorecards, including how to find or add a special interest group and how to enter and save a scorecard using Admin.Manual Entry of a Rating or Endorsement
On the appropriate SIGs' admin page, verify that the rating or endorsement doesn't already exist. Then, select "Add New Endorsement" or "Add New Rating" (near the bottom of the page), fill in the appropriate information, and then save. The processes for entering both ratings and endorsements are explained below.Entering Ratings:
"Year"Use whatever the SIG specifies as the year. For instance, if the only available date is the date of a press release accompanying the scorecard, take the year of that date. Conversely, if the SIG specifies a scorecard based on the actions of legislators during 2013-2014, take 2013-2014 as the year. (Note: this policy has been applied inconsistently in the past. The range of actions reviewed by a Special Interest Group can usually be determined by examining the scorecard's methodology, but that has not often been done). Acceptable formats are yyyy and yyyy-yyyy.
"Specify a Name?"
Always should be "yes" (current policy requires a rating name. Selecting "no" will hide the Rating Name from our display).
"Name"
Is determined by the scorecard's methodology, which will vary SIG by SIG.
- The unofficial default "Name" is "Positions," for those ratings that would fit the standard Rating Text of "supporting the interests of [ORGANIZATION] in [YEAR]]."
- "Lifetime Score" is used when the ratings cover a politician's career rather than a defined period of time, up until the year of release.
- If the rating evaluates politicians on a set of issues that do not fully align with or is a subset of the organization's interests, then rating "Name" is used to provide the needed specificity. If the SIG's language is used, the text should be put in quotation marks. An example would be National Journal, a SIG that rates politicians on several separate dimensions and also takes no stance on issues: "Liberal on Foreign Policy".
- Ratings which are dynamically updated and have no "final" score released should have the date the scorecard was retrieved listed in brackets, in addition to the appropriate name: Positions [Updated 5/17]
Types of Rating Systems:
"Rating Format"
This depends on the format of the SIG scorecard. Interest groups rate candidates and elected officials on a variety of scales. PVS converts all ratings into a 0-100 format with the purpose of uniformity. - "Numeric (0-100)"= scorecards with 0-100 scales
- "Grade"= scorecards with a specific scale of ABCDF (does not include those scales that grade with - and +, in this case, use "Open")
- "Rating String"= scorecards that use a series of positive, negative, and neutral symbols without providing a final score. Some examples: a series of pluses and minuses, a series of yes and no, a series of vote directions.
- "Open"= all scorecards with scales that don't fit the above categories, including point systems.
- More details are located on the Translating Ratings page.
"Use Their Rating"
"Use their rating" should be selected whenever "SIG Rating" should display on our website instead of "Our rating." Typically, this is only used when the rating format is "Numeric (0-100)" and does not need any further conversion. After saving, this box must be rechecked. Please ask your supervisor about this if there is any confusion.
"Rating Description," "Rating Text Name," and "Text"
These do not show up on PVS's website. For consistency and in the case that these field boxes get released to the PVS website, choose "Supported the Interests (Standard)" on the "Rating Text Name" drop-down menu, unless the SIG specifies a certain way they collect and produce ratings. "Rating Description" and "Text" will automatically fill in.
Categories and Tags
These should be as relevant as possible. In most cases, the rating or endorsement will be categorized in the same way as the SIG that produced the rating or endorsement. However, there may be times where the cats should be different. If you come across a case like this, please talk to your supervisor.
Tags are based off the legislation used for the scorecard. Try to limit to one tag per piece of legislation. Try to tag the name of the legislation. If the bill name is not already a tag, tag the most relevant concept that the SIG focuses on. Tag appropriations and omnibus bills should be tagged with a specific topic. Remember to stay non-partisan. If you have questions see tagging policies or talk to the tags manager.
"Session"
A "Session" is used to represent the session of the legislature being evaluated by the scorecard, if applicable, and if it's clear from the scorecard's methodology/time spans. Each legislature has a different calendar for legislative sessions. Ballotpedia or NCSL is a good place to look for legislative calendars. When in doubt, it should be kept as "unknown."
"Note"
"Note" is filled in at our discretion and for our benefit. If a rating is really complicated or the next person might not understand how you computed a score, write it down.
Record completed work in CEC Tracking sheet. See SIGsDocumentation for any questions.
Manual entry can be inefficient for older scorecards. Older ratings can be uploaded using the harvester. For information on uploading ratings, read about the harvester
Entering Endorsements:
1. Selecting the Election:For endorsements, you need to select the election for which the SIG endorses a candidate. Elections are ordered in a drop-down menu by year and type of election (congressional, statewide, state legislative and gubernatorial). For example: "Alabama Congressional 2016".
Many interest groups endorse several candidates running in different elections so make sure to choose the right election for the respective candidate.
2. Click save, reopen the endorsement by clicking on the election, and begin entering the information for each candidate:
Find the endorsed candidate's name on the scroll-down menu and check her/his box.
- * Some candidates run with two parties and their name will appear twice on this scroll-down menu. In this case, check both boxes. (PCT will delete one of these after the primary in order to consolidate parties so this will save a lot of headaches).
Use "control-f" as a means for quickly searching for a candidate's name.
If the name of an endorsed candidate is missing, make a note in the CEC tracking sheet under the "missing candidate" column. Staff should notify and talk with the elections department. It is possible that missing candidates can be entered at a later date.
To double check what statewide offices we cover go to StatewideCoverage
If for some reason, the name of the endorsed candidate doesn't show up, use the drop-down menu entitled "Search candidate(s) to add to endorsed list," which is located below the scroll down menu.
- * Special interest groups might release endorsements for an individual that isn't a registered candidate according to the Secretary of State, but who has held public office. In this case, we will take the endorsement by finding the individual in the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page. Select their name from the roster of the most recent election in which they ran for the office being endorsed.
3. Save your work:
Click the "save" button below the list of candidates and then again with the "save" button above the list of candidates. You must do both.
See SIGsDocumentation for any question.
Find or Add a Special Interest Group in the Database
-To find a special interest group in our database:
- Go to admin.votesmart.org and click on SIGs in the column on the left-hand side.
- Use the drop-down menu to sort SIGs.
- Use "National" (in the drop-down) for groups that rate Congress.
- For state ratings, select the appropriate state. Click on search.
- It's possible to narrow your search by using the "Category" drop-down menu; however, some of our SIGs might be miscategorized. If you believe a SIG has been miscategorized, talk to your supervisor. If the group is listed more than once, talk to your supervisor.
- You can also use Control-F to search for words within the name of a SIG. Example: hit "ctrl-f" then type "Sierra." You should find the Sierra Club.
- Verify that the information listed is correct and add new contact information as needed
-If the special interest group does not exist in our Database:
- Check with your supervisor before creating one.
- Once you have received approval, select "Add New Special Interest Group" at the top.
- Enter all the content listed below. Most of the Special Interest Group field boxes are self-explanatory.
- When you are finished, check your spelling and the accuracy of the information you entered. Click on save and release to internal web
- Let your supervisor know so he/she can check your work.
Back to SIGs Guide
