Approval Process, Test Finalization, Documentation
Ahead of the approval process, the PCT team and Elections Director should have the following documents ready:
- The spreadsheet outlining all of the changes and data used for justifications.
- Edits and Justifications sheet that outlines in more depth each of the cuts, rewords, and additions to both the Federal and State Core PCTs. Also called the “defense document.”
- For your first meeting with the National Director, having a sheet like this for note-taking is recommended.
- For State-Specific Only: Make a folder like so and create documents for each state that outline your justifications for each of the state-specific questions.
- PDFs of the old and new PCTs with highlights showing the cuts, re-words, and additions to each test.
- In the old PCT, highlight the cuts and re-words for the appropriate questions (and categories).
- In the new PCT, highlight the re-words and additions for the appropriate questions (and categories).
In order to ensure the highest quality, the Political Courage Test will undergo an extensive review process in which the soundness of the defense and the validity of question inclusion will be evaluated. Below is the process for approval for each test type:
Federal & State Core PCT:
- National Director (should be an in-person meeting with you, the ND, and your PCT team that helped you craft the test)
- Include the above documents except for the state-specific ones.
- Give the ND between 2 and 4 weeks for full approval (including the meeting with them)
- President and Board (will likely be an email, since the Board members are all around the country).
- Include all of the above documents except for the state-specific documents.
- Make it clear when you want the documents back–usually, between 2 and 4 weeks. If no one from the Board offers comments, you might only need the President’s approval.
- You can only proceed once the President approves the test.
State-Specific PCT:
- National Director (can be via email, especially given how many questions you will need approved)
- For even-numbered years, present the states in groups instead of all at once. Give the ND roughly a week with each group.
- For odd-numbered years, like in 2023 when there are only 5 states, you can do them all at once.
- Present the questions to the ND as a folder for each group, and ask for feedback through comments on each google doc.
- State-Specific Advisors
- We have groups of experts in each state that approve these specific questions. They are also advisors for Key Votes legislation. Consult the KV team or Officials Director to get these lists of advisors, or use this spreadsheet.
- Send them the .pdf document of the state’s PCT (state core + state specific questions). Remember to include the state’s name in any of the questions with blanks in them.
- Give the advisors roughly a week to approve the test.
- Note: As of writing, we don’t have advisors in every state. If you’re the Elections Director or National Director, consider doing a recruitment drive for more advisors. More on this on the Advisor Recruitment page.
Once all of the questions have passed through the approval process, it is time for coding the test. This is when you will want to begin coding the PCTs into admin.
