Revision history for PCTCandidateCoverage
Additions:
Quality Control is for making sure that at any given time, our website reflects the candidates who will be appearing on voters' actual ballots.
We get our candidate lists from the Secretary of State's office, and only include those candidates that have met the qualifications to be on the ballot. We list their party affiliation as it will appear on the ballot. If we are missing a whole state's candidates from our site, it is either because the Secretary of State's office hasn't released a list yet or has released it recently and we haven't gotten to it yet. That doesn't mean we can't tell citizens any information about their candidates though.
First of all, they can research their incumbents on our site, who are likely to be up for election that year. You might need to look up what offices are up for election that year- this should be easy to find. To see who else might be up for election, you can direct them to the candidate list (if available) on the state elections' office website. Other sources can include: [[http://www.politics1.com/ Politics1]], [[http://thegreenpapers.com/ The Green Papers]], google searches for the office and district in question, or their local newspaper. If someone is looking for information on local candidates and local ballot measures, try directing them to their local election office ([[https://justfacts.votesmart.org/elections/offices a directory of which is also on our site]]).
If someone claims we are missing a certain candidate from our site, it can be due to one of several things. We will need to investigate the situation further, but do not assume that we have it wrong:
- we haven't gotten to updating that state's candidate list. We do not generally add individual candidates- we will add a whole state's update at a time to be fair to all candidates. We may or may not know that an updated list is available, so if you are pointed to a discrepancy between our list and that of the sec state.
More information about our processes for maintaining our database of candidates, see: [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/AddingCandidatestoElections here]].
The day after an election, Elections Monitoring collects election results and inputs it into our database.
Please consult Elections Monitoring or the Elections Director for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
Providing contact information for candidates is essential to the democratic process, giving citizens access to those seeking to represent them.
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don't have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
- information submitted by the candidate. While we do send out forms along with the PCT, candidates can update their biographical information at any time
"Biographical information" is basically that candidate's resume, and includes such information as educational backgrounds, family information, professional backgrounds, organizational memberships, political experience, and committee assignments. Our policy is generally to get as much information as possible about a candidate, but we don't always have the time to do it for all candidates, and not all candidates have websites. That being said, all candidates have the opportunity to submit biographical information to us.
The Political Courage Test is Vote Smart's signature in-house candidate questionnaire. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
Vote Smart believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen's ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
Our promotion of the Test on our website and through press releases also serves as a way to recognize candidates who demonstrate political courage. We realize that it takes a certain amount of courage for candidates to state their positions, as it exposes the candidate to opposition research. As a result, we forbid the use of the Vote Smart name or programs in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches. We want candidates to feel secure in taking the PCT, so if we find out about such activity, we will take action against those that violate our terms. This is dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Each year, we conduct research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, legislative agendas, and by consulting with experts (journalists, academics, nonprofit executives, etc.) in each state’s politics and Congress to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased (more on Advisors later).
Recent Political Courage Tests are much shorter than previous tests. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions are generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
Typically we refer to it as "The Political Courage Test," but in reality it is a collection of tests. There is the Presidential and Congressional version which focuses on federal issues. Gubernatorial and State legislative candidates are given a test specific to their state, which includes issues that are coming up in legislatures across the country, as well as issues that are specific to that state.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. In 2012, we left it up to citizens to decide if the candidate had sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we displayed the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighted which questions were actually answered by the candidate. As of 2016, we largely pass any candidate who is willing to answer at least a few of the questions.
In order to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other, we have steadily moved towards more generic questions. This allows the questions to be more flexible and it allows for easier research and determinations for Vote Easy. In the past, the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don't encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks (time allowing). As of 2016, we started the practice of testing all congressional candidates for the primary and general elections, while gubernatorial and state legislative candidates are only tested for their general election. All of these candidates are tested in a series of groups which are determined by the office and the date of the election. For example, all congressional elections in March will be a separate group from all the congressional elections in April, while the State Legislature elections of those same states in November will have yet more groups.
The idea behind the groupings is to stagger the workload of the PCT administration process while also giving us the greatest amount of flexibility in order to provide voters with PCT results as soon as possible. During the testing period Vote Smart documents several contacts made by staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
Here is how we used to conduct PCT communications in the past, and is not all reflective of how we communicate with candidates today:
//2012 Scheduled Contacts:
1) Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, PCT, and media letter to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
(Check off "NPATs mailed" for each election stage mailed in the group. Candidates will not be explicitly told which questions will be researched by PVS staff, though we do tell them that this is a possibility.)
2016 Scheduled Contacts: (Federal) Check 2015-2016 PCT Files in the drive for specific mailings
2) (~1 week after mailing) Send confirmation email to all candidates
3) (~2 days after the email) Call all candidates to make sure they have received our mailing and give out login information when needed
8) (Day before deadline) Hail Mary email for candidates who started but did not finish the PCT//
2024 Scheduled Contacts (as sketched out in the [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-oRoSNeTQgduPzdat8a83IT7wOmiCMkMr8eY-ramqss/edit#gid=0 2024 Elections Dept. Super-Calendar]]):
1) Send first email communication roughly a month before the deadline.
For example, the first PCT Group for congressional elections is 2/29/2024 (roughly a week before the first election in this group, which is 3/5/24). The first mailing for this would be on 1/25/24.
2) Send a second email (confirmation email) within a month before, and about ten days after the first mailing.
In our above example, 2/5/24 is when the second email goes out.
3) Send a third email communication (dubbed the “nag email”) roughly a week or so after the second.
This might be on or around 2/14/24.
4) Fourth email communication should be your “final push” email. This should always be a week before the deadline.
So, in this example it would be 2/22/24!
5) This is when you send the fifth and final email, usually the day after the deadline. This is what we call the “Hail Mary” email, and we then mention that we’ve released Issue Position research on the candidates in lieu of a PCT response.
This would be sent out on 3/1/24, the Friday before the election!
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate's PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question until their Vote Easy or all PCT results have been released. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally within the same week as the state's deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don't necessarily encourage this.
Regardless of how a PCT is submitted and when, PVS will not accept a PCT or changes to a PCT without a signed statement from the candidate. This can come in the form of an certified electronic signature, a scanned image of their signature emailed to us, or via fax/mail. In certain time sensitive situations, we can also accept a verbal confirmation from the candidate themselves - just be sure to document the confirmation.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time of our first mailing. If we're still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group's release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state's press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don't even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
===//Issue Position Research//===
Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 14 key issue areas (24 questions), which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate's position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves and which answers were inferred from PVS research. In the instance where we were unable to find a candidate's position, the answer will be left as an unknown position.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, when possible, it is our policy to collect three or four citations per determination. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations' candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
These answers will be released simultaneously for all candidates within the same NPAT group, usually the week before the election. A candidate's PCT answers from that election year will always take precedence over Issue Position research. However, when a candidate skips a few of our PCT questions, those questions should be determined using our IP research in order to fill in all of the answers.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong.
We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated as fact - rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Our greatest defense for any answer is that we have given every candidate multiple opportunities to provide their own answer, and they are free to provide us with a more accurate answer at any time. If a candidate tells us that they are legitimately undecided, whether through the other or expanded principles section or in reaction to the answer we have selected for them, we may use this as a citation to justify us giving them an answer of "Unable to Determine"- however, they will not receive credit for having political courage on that question.
We get our candidate lists from the Secretary of State's office, and only include those candidates that have met the qualifications to be on the ballot. We list their party affiliation as it will appear on the ballot. If we are missing a whole state's candidates from our site, it is either because the Secretary of State's office hasn't released a list yet or has released it recently and we haven't gotten to it yet. That doesn't mean we can't tell citizens any information about their candidates though.
First of all, they can research their incumbents on our site, who are likely to be up for election that year. You might need to look up what offices are up for election that year- this should be easy to find. To see who else might be up for election, you can direct them to the candidate list (if available) on the state elections' office website. Other sources can include: [[http://www.politics1.com/ Politics1]], [[http://thegreenpapers.com/ The Green Papers]], google searches for the office and district in question, or their local newspaper. If someone is looking for information on local candidates and local ballot measures, try directing them to their local election office ([[https://justfacts.votesmart.org/elections/offices a directory of which is also on our site]]).
If someone claims we are missing a certain candidate from our site, it can be due to one of several things. We will need to investigate the situation further, but do not assume that we have it wrong:
- we haven't gotten to updating that state's candidate list. We do not generally add individual candidates- we will add a whole state's update at a time to be fair to all candidates. We may or may not know that an updated list is available, so if you are pointed to a discrepancy between our list and that of the sec state.
More information about our processes for maintaining our database of candidates, see: [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/AddingCandidatestoElections here]].
The day after an election, Elections Monitoring collects election results and inputs it into our database.
Please consult Elections Monitoring or the Elections Director for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
Providing contact information for candidates is essential to the democratic process, giving citizens access to those seeking to represent them.
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don't have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
- information submitted by the candidate. While we do send out forms along with the PCT, candidates can update their biographical information at any time
"Biographical information" is basically that candidate's resume, and includes such information as educational backgrounds, family information, professional backgrounds, organizational memberships, political experience, and committee assignments. Our policy is generally to get as much information as possible about a candidate, but we don't always have the time to do it for all candidates, and not all candidates have websites. That being said, all candidates have the opportunity to submit biographical information to us.
The Political Courage Test is Vote Smart's signature in-house candidate questionnaire. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
Vote Smart believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen's ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
Our promotion of the Test on our website and through press releases also serves as a way to recognize candidates who demonstrate political courage. We realize that it takes a certain amount of courage for candidates to state their positions, as it exposes the candidate to opposition research. As a result, we forbid the use of the Vote Smart name or programs in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches. We want candidates to feel secure in taking the PCT, so if we find out about such activity, we will take action against those that violate our terms. This is dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Each year, we conduct research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, legislative agendas, and by consulting with experts (journalists, academics, nonprofit executives, etc.) in each state’s politics and Congress to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased (more on Advisors later).
Recent Political Courage Tests are much shorter than previous tests. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions are generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
Typically we refer to it as "The Political Courage Test," but in reality it is a collection of tests. There is the Presidential and Congressional version which focuses on federal issues. Gubernatorial and State legislative candidates are given a test specific to their state, which includes issues that are coming up in legislatures across the country, as well as issues that are specific to that state.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. In 2012, we left it up to citizens to decide if the candidate had sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we displayed the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighted which questions were actually answered by the candidate. As of 2016, we largely pass any candidate who is willing to answer at least a few of the questions.
In order to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other, we have steadily moved towards more generic questions. This allows the questions to be more flexible and it allows for easier research and determinations for Vote Easy. In the past, the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don't encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks (time allowing). As of 2016, we started the practice of testing all congressional candidates for the primary and general elections, while gubernatorial and state legislative candidates are only tested for their general election. All of these candidates are tested in a series of groups which are determined by the office and the date of the election. For example, all congressional elections in March will be a separate group from all the congressional elections in April, while the State Legislature elections of those same states in November will have yet more groups.
The idea behind the groupings is to stagger the workload of the PCT administration process while also giving us the greatest amount of flexibility in order to provide voters with PCT results as soon as possible. During the testing period Vote Smart documents several contacts made by staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
Here is how we used to conduct PCT communications in the past, and is not all reflective of how we communicate with candidates today:
//2012 Scheduled Contacts:
1) Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, PCT, and media letter to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
(Check off "NPATs mailed" for each election stage mailed in the group. Candidates will not be explicitly told which questions will be researched by PVS staff, though we do tell them that this is a possibility.)
2016 Scheduled Contacts: (Federal) Check 2015-2016 PCT Files in the drive for specific mailings
2) (~1 week after mailing) Send confirmation email to all candidates
3) (~2 days after the email) Call all candidates to make sure they have received our mailing and give out login information when needed
8) (Day before deadline) Hail Mary email for candidates who started but did not finish the PCT//
2024 Scheduled Contacts (as sketched out in the [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-oRoSNeTQgduPzdat8a83IT7wOmiCMkMr8eY-ramqss/edit#gid=0 2024 Elections Dept. Super-Calendar]]):
1) Send first email communication roughly a month before the deadline.
For example, the first PCT Group for congressional elections is 2/29/2024 (roughly a week before the first election in this group, which is 3/5/24). The first mailing for this would be on 1/25/24.
2) Send a second email (confirmation email) within a month before, and about ten days after the first mailing.
In our above example, 2/5/24 is when the second email goes out.
3) Send a third email communication (dubbed the “nag email”) roughly a week or so after the second.
This might be on or around 2/14/24.
4) Fourth email communication should be your “final push” email. This should always be a week before the deadline.
So, in this example it would be 2/22/24!
5) This is when you send the fifth and final email, usually the day after the deadline. This is what we call the “Hail Mary” email, and we then mention that we’ve released Issue Position research on the candidates in lieu of a PCT response.
This would be sent out on 3/1/24, the Friday before the election!
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate's PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question until their Vote Easy or all PCT results have been released. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally within the same week as the state's deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don't necessarily encourage this.
Regardless of how a PCT is submitted and when, PVS will not accept a PCT or changes to a PCT without a signed statement from the candidate. This can come in the form of an certified electronic signature, a scanned image of their signature emailed to us, or via fax/mail. In certain time sensitive situations, we can also accept a verbal confirmation from the candidate themselves - just be sure to document the confirmation.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time of our first mailing. If we're still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group's release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state's press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don't even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
===//Issue Position Research//===
Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 14 key issue areas (24 questions), which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate's position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves and which answers were inferred from PVS research. In the instance where we were unable to find a candidate's position, the answer will be left as an unknown position.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, when possible, it is our policy to collect three or four citations per determination. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations' candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
These answers will be released simultaneously for all candidates within the same NPAT group, usually the week before the election. A candidate's PCT answers from that election year will always take precedence over Issue Position research. However, when a candidate skips a few of our PCT questions, those questions should be determined using our IP research in order to fill in all of the answers.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong.
We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated as fact - rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Our greatest defense for any answer is that we have given every candidate multiple opportunities to provide their own answer, and they are free to provide us with a more accurate answer at any time. If a candidate tells us that they are legitimately undecided, whether through the other or expanded principles section or in reaction to the answer we have selected for them, we may use this as a citation to justify us giving them an answer of "Unable to Determine"- however, they will not receive credit for having political courage on that question.
Deletions:
We get our candidate lists from the Secretary of State's office, and only include those candidates that have met the qualifications to be on the ballot. We list their party affiliation as it will appear on the ballot. If we are missing a whole state's candidates from our site, it is either because the Secretary of State's office hasn't released a list yet or has released it recently and we haven't gotten to it yet. Understand that we are attempting to take care of tens of thousands of candidates so will never be 100% up-to-date. That doesn't mean we can't tell citizens any information about their candidates though. First of all, they can research their incumbents on our site, who are likely to be up for election that year. You might need to look up what offices are up for election that year- this should be easy to find. To see who else might be up for election, you can direct them to the candidate list (if available) on the state elections' office website. Other sources can include: [[http://www.politics1.com Politics1]], [[http://thegreenpapers.com The Green Papers]], google searches for the office and district in question, or their local newspaper (we have a directory of [[http://votesmart.org/resource_political_resources_state.php state media sources]] on our site that might help). If someone is looking for information on local candidates and local ballot measures, try directing them to their local election office (a directory of which is also on our site).
If someone claims we are missing a certain candidate from our site, it can be due to one of several things. We will need to investigate the situation further, but do not assume that we have it wrong.:
- we haven't gotten to updating that state's candidate list. We do not generally add individual candidates- we will add a whole state's update at a time to be fair to all candidates. We may or may not know that an updated list is available, so if you are pointed to a discrepancy between our list and that of the sec state, pass this information on to Laura.
More information about our processes for maintaining our database of candidates, see: [[AddingCandidatestoElections here]].
The day after an election, QC collects election results and inputs it into our database.
Please consult QC for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
Providing contact information for candidates is essential to the democratic process, giving citizens access to those seeking to represent them.
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don't have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
- information submitted by the candidate. While we do send out forms along with the PCT, candidates can update their biographical information at any time
"Biographical information" is basically that candidate's resume, and includes such information as educational backgrounds, family information, professional backgrounds, organizational memberships, political experience, and committee assignments. Our policy is generally to get as much information as possible about a candidate, but we don't always have the time to do it for all candidates, and not all candidates have websites. That being said, all candidates have the opportunity to submit biographical information to us.
The Political Courage Test is Vote Smart's signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
PVS believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen's ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
Our promotion of the Test on our website and through press releases also serves as a way to recognize candidates who demonstrate political courage. We realize that it takes a certain amount of courage for candidates to state their positions, as it exposes the candidate to opposition research. As a result, we forbid the use of the PVS name or programs in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches. We want candidates to feel secure in taking the PCT, so if we find out about such activity, we will take action against those that violate our terms. This is dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. Recent Political Courage Tests are much shorter than previous tests. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website.Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
Typically we refer to it as "The Political Courage Test," but in reality it is a collection of tests. There is the Congressional version which focuses on federal issues. Gubernatorial and State legislative candidates are given a test specific to their state, which includes issues that are coming up in legislatures across the country, as well as issues that are specific to that state.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. In 2012, we left it up to citizens to decide if the candidate had sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we displayed the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighted which questions were actually answered by the candidate. As of 2016, we largely pass any candidate who is willing to answer at least a few of the questions.
In order to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other, we have steadily moved towards more generic questions. This allows the questions to be more flexible and it allows for easier research and determinations for Vote Easy. In the past, he majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don't encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks (time allowing). As of 2016, we started te practice of testing all congressional candidates for the primary and general elections, while gubernatorial and state legislative candidates are only tested for their general election. All of these candidates are tested in a series of groups which are determined by the office and the date of the election. For example, all congressional elections in March will be a separate group from all the the congressional elections in April, while the State Legislature elections of those same states in November will yet yet more groups. The idea behind the groupings is to stagger the workload of the PCT administration process while also giving us the greatest amount of flexibility in order to provide voters with PCT results as soon as possible. During the testing period Vote Smart documents several contacts made by staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
2012 Scheduled Contacts:
1) Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, PCT, and media letter to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
check off "NPATs mailed" for each election stage mailed in the group. Candidates will not be explicitly told which questions will be researched by PVS staff, though we do tell them that this is a possibility.
2016 Scheduled Contacts: (Federal) //Check 2015-2016 PCT Files in the drive for specific mailings//
2) (~1 week after mailing) Send confirmation email to all candidates
3) (~2 days after the email) Call all candidates to make sure they have received our mailing and give out log-in information when needed
8) (Day before deadline) Hail Mary email for candidates who started but did not finish the PCT
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate's PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question until their Vote Easy or all PCT results have been released. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally within the same week as the state's deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don't necessarily encourage this.
Regardless of how a PCT is submitted and when, PVS will not accept a PCT or changes to a PCT without a signed statement from the candidate. This can come in the form of an certified electronic signature, a scanned image of their signature emailed to us, or via fax/mail. In certain time sensitive situations, we can also accept a verbal confirmation from the candidate themselves - just be sure to document the confirmation.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we're still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group's release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state's press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don't even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
===//VoteEasy Research//===
2016 was the 4th National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on federal candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. It is also the first year in which we expanded VoteEasy to encompass all primary candidates as well as those in the general election. Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas (15 questions), which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate's position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application (soon to be changed hopefully) "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. In the instance where we were unable to find a candidate's position, the answer will be left as an unknown position.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, when possible, it is our policy to collect three or four citations per determination. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations' candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
These answers will be released simultaneously for all candidates within the same NPAT group. In years past, VoteEasy was released after the PCT deadline. However, in 2016, in order to accommodate tight time frames created by the primary testing and research, we found it more effective to release our research 2 weeks prior to the PCT deadline. Any PCTs submitted between this release and the deadline would simply be added on a rolling basis. This schedule allowed for greater exposure for VoteEasy to the public (3 weeks of Vote Easy before an election rather than 1) and gave candidates a greater incentive to complete their PCTs in a timely manner. Additionally, doe to the staggered nature of the NPAT group testing, VoteEasy is also released in a staggered manner, allowing for more effective time management in regards to the research processes.
A candidates PCT answers from that election year will always take precedence over VoteEasy research. However, when a candidate skips a few of our VoteEasy questions, those questions should be determined using our VE research in order to fill in all of the answers.
On VoteEasy, those researched questions are the only ones that will show, regardless of how many other questions were addressed by the candidate.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact - rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Our greatest defense for any answer is that we have given every candidate multiple opportunities to provide their own answer, and they are free to provide us with a more accurate answer at any time. If a candidate tells us that they are legitimately undecided, whether through the other or expanded principles section or in reaction to the answer we have selected for them, we may use this as a citation to justify us giving them an answer of "Unable to Determine"- however, they will not receive credit for having political courage on that question.
Additions:
The Political Courage Test is Vote Smart's signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. Recent Political Courage Tests are much shorter than previous tests. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website.Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. In 2012, we left it up to citizens to decide if the candidate had sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we displayed the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighted which questions were actually answered by the candidate. As of 2016, we largely pass any candidate who is willing to answer at least a few of the questions.
In order to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other, we have steadily moved towards more generic questions. This allows the questions to be more flexible and it allows for easier research and determinations for Vote Easy. In the past, he majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don't encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks (time allowing). As of 2016, we started te practice of testing all congressional candidates for the primary and general elections, while gubernatorial and state legislative candidates are only tested for their general election. All of these candidates are tested in a series of groups which are determined by the office and the date of the election. For example, all congressional elections in March will be a separate group from all the the congressional elections in April, while the State Legislature elections of those same states in November will yet yet more groups. The idea behind the groupings is to stagger the workload of the PCT administration process while also giving us the greatest amount of flexibility in order to provide voters with PCT results as soon as possible. During the testing period Vote Smart documents several contacts made by staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
2) (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email to all offices.
3) (3 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates
4) (2 weeks before deadline) Email Media letter for a 2nd time.
5) (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email to all offices
6) (day before deadline) Email to all candidates who started the PCT online, but did not finish it. This is called the Hail Mary contact
7) (day of deadline) Email Post-Deadline contact (VoteEasy candidates only) that we have researched their issue positions and they have 48 hours to respond
2016 Scheduled Contacts: (Federal) //Check 2015-2016 PCT Files in the drive for specific mailings//
1) Mail candidate log-in information to all candidates with instructions on how to complete the PCT online as well as how to submit biographical information
2) (~1 week after mailing) Send confirmation email to all candidates
3) (~2 days after the email) Call all candidates to make sure they have received our mailing and give out log-in information when needed
4) (~3 weeks after mailing, 1 week prior to VE release) Upcoming VoteEasy release email
5) (~4 weeks after initial mailing, 2 days days after VE release) Post-VoteEasy release email
6) (To arrive a few days before deadline) Red card mailing
7) (~1 week prior to the deadline) "Letter from the President" email
8) (Day before deadline) Hail Mary email for candidates who started but did not finish the PCT
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate's PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question until their Vote Easy or all PCT results have been released. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally within the same week as the state's deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don't necessarily encourage this.
We do not mail physical PCTs. We can email a pdf of the PCT to a candidate, but only on rare occasions when the candidate is simply incapable of completing it online.
Regardless of how a PCT is submitted and when, PVS will not accept a PCT or changes to a PCT without a signed statement from the candidate. This can come in the form of an certified electronic signature, a scanned image of their signature emailed to us, or via fax/mail. In certain time sensitive situations, we can also accept a verbal confirmation from the candidate themselves - just be sure to document the confirmation.
Any candidate who is not allotted the same amount of time as their competitors (4-6 weeks) is not considered to have failed the PCT if they do not complete it.
2016 was the 4th National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on federal candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. It is also the first year in which we expanded VoteEasy to encompass all primary candidates as well as those in the general election. Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas (15 questions), which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate's position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application (soon to be changed hopefully) "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. In the instance where we were unable to find a candidate's position, the answer will be left as an unknown position.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, when possible, it is our policy to collect three or four citations per determination. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations' candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
These answers will be released simultaneously for all candidates within the same NPAT group. In years past, VoteEasy was released after the PCT deadline. However, in 2016, in order to accommodate tight time frames created by the primary testing and research, we found it more effective to release our research 2 weeks prior to the PCT deadline. Any PCTs submitted between this release and the deadline would simply be added on a rolling basis. This schedule allowed for greater exposure for VoteEasy to the public (3 weeks of Vote Easy before an election rather than 1) and gave candidates a greater incentive to complete their PCTs in a timely manner. Additionally, doe to the staggered nature of the NPAT group testing, VoteEasy is also released in a staggered manner, allowing for more effective time management in regards to the research processes.
A candidates PCT answers from that election year will always take precedence over VoteEasy research. However, when a candidate skips a few of our VoteEasy questions, those questions should be determined using our VE research in order to fill in all of the answers.
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. Recent Political Courage Tests are much shorter than previous tests. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website.Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. In 2012, we left it up to citizens to decide if the candidate had sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we displayed the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighted which questions were actually answered by the candidate. As of 2016, we largely pass any candidate who is willing to answer at least a few of the questions.
In order to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other, we have steadily moved towards more generic questions. This allows the questions to be more flexible and it allows for easier research and determinations for Vote Easy. In the past, he majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don't encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks (time allowing). As of 2016, we started te practice of testing all congressional candidates for the primary and general elections, while gubernatorial and state legislative candidates are only tested for their general election. All of these candidates are tested in a series of groups which are determined by the office and the date of the election. For example, all congressional elections in March will be a separate group from all the the congressional elections in April, while the State Legislature elections of those same states in November will yet yet more groups. The idea behind the groupings is to stagger the workload of the PCT administration process while also giving us the greatest amount of flexibility in order to provide voters with PCT results as soon as possible. During the testing period Vote Smart documents several contacts made by staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
2) (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email to all offices.
3) (3 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates
4) (2 weeks before deadline) Email Media letter for a 2nd time.
5) (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email to all offices
6) (day before deadline) Email to all candidates who started the PCT online, but did not finish it. This is called the Hail Mary contact
7) (day of deadline) Email Post-Deadline contact (VoteEasy candidates only) that we have researched their issue positions and they have 48 hours to respond
2016 Scheduled Contacts: (Federal) //Check 2015-2016 PCT Files in the drive for specific mailings//
1) Mail candidate log-in information to all candidates with instructions on how to complete the PCT online as well as how to submit biographical information
2) (~1 week after mailing) Send confirmation email to all candidates
3) (~2 days after the email) Call all candidates to make sure they have received our mailing and give out log-in information when needed
4) (~3 weeks after mailing, 1 week prior to VE release) Upcoming VoteEasy release email
5) (~4 weeks after initial mailing, 2 days days after VE release) Post-VoteEasy release email
6) (To arrive a few days before deadline) Red card mailing
7) (~1 week prior to the deadline) "Letter from the President" email
8) (Day before deadline) Hail Mary email for candidates who started but did not finish the PCT
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate's PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question until their Vote Easy or all PCT results have been released. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally within the same week as the state's deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don't necessarily encourage this.
We do not mail physical PCTs. We can email a pdf of the PCT to a candidate, but only on rare occasions when the candidate is simply incapable of completing it online.
Regardless of how a PCT is submitted and when, PVS will not accept a PCT or changes to a PCT without a signed statement from the candidate. This can come in the form of an certified electronic signature, a scanned image of their signature emailed to us, or via fax/mail. In certain time sensitive situations, we can also accept a verbal confirmation from the candidate themselves - just be sure to document the confirmation.
Any candidate who is not allotted the same amount of time as their competitors (4-6 weeks) is not considered to have failed the PCT if they do not complete it.
2016 was the 4th National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on federal candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. It is also the first year in which we expanded VoteEasy to encompass all primary candidates as well as those in the general election. Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas (15 questions), which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate's position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application (soon to be changed hopefully) "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. In the instance where we were unable to find a candidate's position, the answer will be left as an unknown position.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, when possible, it is our policy to collect three or four citations per determination. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations' candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
These answers will be released simultaneously for all candidates within the same NPAT group. In years past, VoteEasy was released after the PCT deadline. However, in 2016, in order to accommodate tight time frames created by the primary testing and research, we found it more effective to release our research 2 weeks prior to the PCT deadline. Any PCTs submitted between this release and the deadline would simply be added on a rolling basis. This schedule allowed for greater exposure for VoteEasy to the public (3 weeks of Vote Easy before an election rather than 1) and gave candidates a greater incentive to complete their PCTs in a timely manner. Additionally, doe to the staggered nature of the NPAT group testing, VoteEasy is also released in a staggered manner, allowing for more effective time management in regards to the research processes.
A candidates PCT answers from that election year will always take precedence over VoteEasy research. However, when a candidate skips a few of our VoteEasy questions, those questions should be determined using our VE research in order to fill in all of the answers.
Deletions:
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. All of the research for each question is compiled in our PCT Defense, which is available upon request. Recent Political Courage Tests are much shorter than previous tests. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. In 2012, we left it up to citizens to decide if the candidate had sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we displayed the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighted which questions were actually answered by the candidate.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting in 2012 to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don't encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks. These testing periods are staggered by state into ~10 groups (depending on primary dates and filing deadlines), with the first PCT generally being sent out at the end of May. During the testing period the Project documents several contacts made by Project staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
1) (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email to all offices.
1) (3 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates
1) (2 weeks before deadline) Email Media letter for a 2nd time.
1) (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email to all offices
1) (day before deadline) Email to all candidates who started the PCT online, but did not finish it. This is called the Hail Mary contact
1) (day of deadline) Email Post-Deadline contact (VoteEasy candidates only) that we have researched their issue positions and they have 48 hours to respond
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate's PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state's deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don't necessarily encourage this.
Regardless of how a PCT is submitted and when, PVS will not accept a PCT or changes to a PCT without a signed statement from the candidate. This can come in the form of an certified electronic signature, a scanned image of their signature emailed to us, or via fax/mail.
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate's position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate�s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations' candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
These answers are not made public until the PCT deadline has passed for that state, ensuring that every candidate has the opportunity to answer the questions themselves. Therefore, this data will be released in a staggered manner like the PCT is- by group.
Once the NPAT group has been advanced/released, the abridged PCT questions will be incorporated in with the rest of the 2012 PCT, and candidate answers will replace our research if necessary. The questions will not be separated from the 2012 PCT on the website. This would mean that all candidates that had their answers researched will have a 2012 PCT appear. In cases where someone has failed (has answered zero PCT questions), they should still have their "most recent previous PCT" show in addition to the questions we have researched for them.
Additions:
PVS believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen's ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting in 2012 to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don't encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate's PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state's deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don't necessarily encourage this.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we're still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group's release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state's press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don't even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate's position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate�s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations' candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact - rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting in 2012 to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don't encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate's PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state's deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don't necessarily encourage this.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we're still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group's release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state's press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don't even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate's position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate�s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations' candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact - rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Deletions:
We have also changed the question and answer formatting in 2012 to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don�t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate�s PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state�s deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don�t necessarily encourage this.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we�re still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group�s release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state�s press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don�t even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate�s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate�s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations� candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact�rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Additions:
Quality Control is responsible for making sure that at any given time, our website reflects the candidates who will be appearing on voters' actual ballots.
More information about our processes for maintaining our database of candidates, see: [[AddingCandidatestoElections here]].
The day after an election, QC collects election results and inputs it into our database.
Please consult QC for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don't have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart's signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. All of the research for each question is compiled in our PCT Defense, which is available upon request. Recent Political Courage Tests are much shorter than previous tests. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. In 2012, we left it up to citizens to decide if the candidate had sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we displayed the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighted which questions were actually answered by the candidate.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting in 2012 to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don�t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks. These testing periods are staggered by state into ~10 groups (depending on primary dates and filing deadlines), with the first PCT generally being sent out at the end of May. During the testing period the Project documents several contacts made by Project staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
More information about our processes for maintaining our database of candidates, see: [[AddingCandidatestoElections here]].
The day after an election, QC collects election results and inputs it into our database.
Please consult QC for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don't have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart's signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. All of the research for each question is compiled in our PCT Defense, which is available upon request. Recent Political Courage Tests are much shorter than previous tests. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. In 2012, we left it up to citizens to decide if the candidate had sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we displayed the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighted which questions were actually answered by the candidate.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting in 2012 to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don�t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks. These testing periods are staggered by state into ~10 groups (depending on primary dates and filing deadlines), with the first PCT generally being sent out at the end of May. During the testing period the Project documents several contacts made by Project staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
Deletions:
More information about our processes for maintaining our database of candidates, see: [[AddingCandidatestoElections here]]. This year we are primarily importing candidate lists directly from the sec state's office, allowing for greater accuracy and reducing our workload. However, this still takes some time, as we have to format the lists and match them to our candidate IDs.
The day after an election, QC collects election results and inputs it into our database. Our website will essentially show a Winner's List.
Please consult Darren for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don�t have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart�s signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. All of the research for each question is compiled in our PCT Defense, which is available upon request. This year�s Political Courage Test is much shorter than last year�s test. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. This year we will be leaving it up to citizens to decide if the candidate has sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we will be displaying the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighting which questions were actually answered by the candidate.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting this year to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don�t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks. These testing periods are staggered by state into 10 groups (depending on primary dates and filing deadlines), with the first PCT being sent out at the end of May. During the testing period the Project documents several contacts made by Project staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
Additions:
===//Quality Control//:===
Quality Control is responsible for making sure that at any given time, our website reflects the candidates who will be appearing on voters� actual ballots.
===//Contact Info and Bios//:===
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don�t have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
===//The Political Courage Test//===
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart�s signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
PVS believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen�s ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. All of the research for each question is compiled in our PCT Defense, which is available upon request. This year�s Political Courage Test is much shorter than last year�s test. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting this year to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don�t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
===//Testing Candidates//===
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate�s PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state�s deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don�t necessarily encourage this.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we�re still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group�s release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state�s press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don�t even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
===//VoteEasy Research//===
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate�s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate�s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations� candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact�rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Quality Control is responsible for making sure that at any given time, our website reflects the candidates who will be appearing on voters� actual ballots.
===//Contact Info and Bios//:===
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don�t have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
===//The Political Courage Test//===
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart�s signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
PVS believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen�s ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. All of the research for each question is compiled in our PCT Defense, which is available upon request. This year�s Political Courage Test is much shorter than last year�s test. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting this year to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don�t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
===//Testing Candidates//===
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate�s PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state�s deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don�t necessarily encourage this.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we�re still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group�s release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state�s press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don�t even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
===//VoteEasy Research//===
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate�s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate�s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations� candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact�rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Deletions:
Quality Control is responsible for making sure that at any given time, our website reflects the candidates who will be appearing on voters’ actual ballots.
===//Contact Info and Bios// (questions can be directed to Rachel):===
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don’t have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
===//The Political Courage Test// (questions can be directed to Darren)===
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart’s signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
PVS believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen’s ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. All of the research for each question is compiled in our PCT Defense, which is available upon request. This year’s Political Courage Test is much shorter than last year’s test. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting this year to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don’t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
===//Testing Candidates// (Questions in this area can go to Rachel)===
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate’s PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state’s deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don’t necessarily encourage this.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we’re still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group’s release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state’s press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don’t even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
===//VoteEasy Research// (Questions in this area can go to Pat & Sarah)===
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate’s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate’s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations’ candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact—rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Additions:
===//Quality Control// (questions can be directed to Rebekah):===
===//Contact Info and Bios// (questions can be directed to Rachel):===
===//The Political Courage Test// (questions can be directed to Darren)===
===//Contact Info and Bios// (questions can be directed to Rachel):===
===//The Political Courage Test// (questions can be directed to Darren)===
Deletions:
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Rachel):===
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Darren)===
Additions:
===//PCT Design//===
===//Testing Candidates// (Questions in this area can go to Rachel)===
===//VoteEasy Research// (Questions in this area can go to Pat & Sarah)===
===//Testing Candidates// (Questions in this area can go to Rachel)===
===//VoteEasy Research// (Questions in this area can go to Pat & Sarah)===
Deletions:
//Testing Candidates// (Questions in this area can go to Rachel)
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. VoteEasy Research)// (Questions in this area can go to Pat & Sarah)
Additions:
===Quality Control (questions can be directed to Rebekah):===
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Rachel):===
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. VoteEasy Research)// (Questions in this area can go to Pat & Sarah)
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Rachel):===
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. VoteEasy Research)// (Questions in this area can go to Pat & Sarah)
Deletions:
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Darren):===
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. VoteEasy Research)//
Additions:
//Testing Candidates// (Questions in this area can go to Rachel)
Deletions:
Additions:
===Quality Control (questions can be directed to Darren or Laura):===
- we haven't gotten to updating that state's candidate list. We do not generally add individual candidates- we will add a whole state's update at a time to be fair to all candidates. We may or may not know that an updated list is available, so if you are pointed to a discrepancy between our list and that of the sec state, pass this information on to Laura.
Please consult Darren for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Darren):===
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Darren)===
2012 Scheduled Contacts:
1) Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, PCT, and media letter to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
1) (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email to all offices.
1) (3 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates
1) (2 weeks before deadline) Email Media letter for a 2nd time.
1) (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email to all offices
1) (day before deadline) Email to all candidates who started the PCT online, but did not finish it. This is called the Hail Mary contact
1) (day of deadline) Email Post-Deadline contact (VoteEasy candidates only) that we have researched their issue positions and they have 48 hours to respond
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. VoteEasy Research)//
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate’s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate’s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
Once the NPAT group has been advanced/released, the abridged PCT questions will be incorporated in with the rest of the 2012 PCT, and candidate answers will replace our research if necessary. The questions will not be separated from the 2012 PCT on the website. This would mean that all candidates that had their answers researched will have a 2012 PCT appear. In cases where someone has failed (has answered zero PCT questions), they should still have their "most recent previous PCT" show in addition to the questions we have researched for them.
On VoteEasy, those researched questions are the only ones that will show, regardless of how many other questions were addressed by the candidate.
- we haven't gotten to updating that state's candidate list. We do not generally add individual candidates- we will add a whole state's update at a time to be fair to all candidates. We may or may not know that an updated list is available, so if you are pointed to a discrepancy between our list and that of the sec state, pass this information on to Laura.
Please consult Darren for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Darren):===
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Darren)===
2012 Scheduled Contacts:
1) Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, PCT, and media letter to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
1) (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email to all offices.
1) (3 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates
1) (2 weeks before deadline) Email Media letter for a 2nd time.
1) (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email to all offices
1) (day before deadline) Email to all candidates who started the PCT online, but did not finish it. This is called the Hail Mary contact
1) (day of deadline) Email Post-Deadline contact (VoteEasy candidates only) that we have researched their issue positions and they have 48 hours to respond
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. VoteEasy Research)//
2012 is the 2nd National Election where we have done VoteEasy research on candidates that choose not to respond to the PCT. Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional (and some Presidential) candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 13 key issue areas, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate’s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our online Flash Application "Vote Easy," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate’s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
Once the NPAT group has been advanced/released, the abridged PCT questions will be incorporated in with the rest of the 2012 PCT, and candidate answers will replace our research if necessary. The questions will not be separated from the 2012 PCT on the website. This would mean that all candidates that had their answers researched will have a 2012 PCT appear. In cases where someone has failed (has answered zero PCT questions), they should still have their "most recent previous PCT" show in addition to the questions we have researched for them.
On VoteEasy, those researched questions are the only ones that will show, regardless of how many other questions were addressed by the candidate.
Deletions:
- we haven't gotten to updating that state's candidate list. We do not generally add individual candidates- we will add a whole state's update at a time to be fair to all candidates. We may or may not know that an updated list is available, so if you are pointed to a discrepancy between our list and that of the sec state, pass this information on to Aaron.
Please consult Kristen for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Kate):===
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Kate or Kristen)===
2010 Scheduled Contacts:
1) Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, and PCT to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
1) (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email. Those Gubernatorial candidates that do not have a campaign email address will be called. Those Congressional candidates that do not respond to the email will be called.
1) (3 weeks before deadline) Mail letter from Media Partner(s) to all candidates (if available)
1) (2 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates.
1) (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Those Gubernatorial candidates that do not have a campaign email address will be called. Call all Congressional candidates and notify them that we will be researching their answers if they don’t provide them.
1) (Monday before deadline) Email to all candidates who started the PCT online, but did not finish it. Email to all Congressional candidates warning them that any question left unanswered is subject to being researched by Project Vote Smart
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. Abridged PCT Research)//
This year also marks the inception of what we refer to internally as the "Abridged Political Courage Test," but as far as our users are concerned, this is just another facet of the Political Courage Test. For the first time, Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 12 key issue questions, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate’s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our new online Flash Application "Vote Smart," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate’s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
Once the NPAT group has been advanced/released, the abridged PCT questions will be incorporated in with the rest of the 2010 PCT, and candidate answers will replace our research if necessary. The 12 questions will not be separated from the 2010 PCT on the website. This would mean that all candidates that had their answers researched will have a 2010 PCT appear. In cases where someone has failed (has answered zero PCT questions), they should still have their "most recent previous PCT" show in addition to the 12 questions we have researched for them.
On the new online flash application, only those 12 questions/answers will show, regardless of how many other questions were addressed by the candidate.
Additions:
===Quality Control (questions can be directed to Kate or Kristen):===
Please consult Kristen for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Kate):===
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Kate or Kristen)===
Please consult Kristen for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Kate):===
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Kate or Kristen)===
Deletions:
Please consult Aaron or Kristen for issues regarding election structure, ballot access, determining winners of an election, majority/plurality rules, lieutenant governor elections, judicial elections, and unopposed candidates being on the ballot.
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Matthew or Kristen):===
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Matthew, Dan T., Kate, or Kristen)===
Additions:
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. All of the research for each question is compiled in our PCT Defense, which is available upon request. This year’s Political Courage Test is much shorter than last year’s test. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
check off "NPATs mailed" for each election stage mailed in the group. Candidates will not be explicitly told which questions will be researched by PVS staff, though we do tell them that this is a possibility.
These answers are not made public until the PCT deadline has passed for that state, ensuring that every candidate has the opportunity to answer the questions themselves. Therefore, this data will be released in a staggered manner like the PCT is- by group.
On the new online flash application, only those 12 questions/answers will show, regardless of how many other questions were addressed by the candidate.
check off "NPATs mailed" for each election stage mailed in the group. Candidates will not be explicitly told which questions will be researched by PVS staff, though we do tell them that this is a possibility.
These answers are not made public until the PCT deadline has passed for that state, ensuring that every candidate has the opportunity to answer the questions themselves. Therefore, this data will be released in a staggered manner like the PCT is- by group.
On the new online flash application, only those 12 questions/answers will show, regardless of how many other questions were addressed by the candidate.
Deletions:
check off "NPATs mailed" for each election stage mailed in the group
These answers are not made public until the PCT deadline has passed for that state, ensuring that every candidate has the opportunity to answer the questions themselves. Therefore, this data will be released in a staggered manner like the PCT is- by group.
Additions:
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart’s signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may face if elected?"
Deletions:
Additions:
Our promotion of the Test on our website and through press releases also serves as a way to recognize candidates who demonstrate political courage. We realize that it takes a certain amount of courage for candidates to state their positions, as it exposes the candidate to opposition research. As a result, we forbid the use of the PVS name or programs in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches. We want candidates to feel secure in taking the PCT, so if we find out about such activity, we will take action against those that violate our terms. This is dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Deletions:
Additions:
The day after an election, QC collects election results and inputs it into our database. Our website will essentially show a Winner's List.
Deletions:
Additions:
We get our candidate lists from the Secretary of State's office, and only include those candidates that have met the qualifications to be on the ballot. We list their party affiliation as it will appear on the ballot. If we are missing a whole state's candidates from our site, it is either because the Secretary of State's office hasn't released a list yet or has released it recently and we haven't gotten to it yet. Understand that we are attempting to take care of tens of thousands of candidates so will never be 100% up-to-date. That doesn't mean we can't tell citizens any information about their candidates though. First of all, they can research their incumbents on our site, who are likely to be up for election that year. You might need to look up what offices are up for election that year- this should be easy to find. To see who else might be up for election, you can direct them to the candidate list (if available) on the state elections' office website. Other sources can include: [[http://www.politics1.com Politics1]], [[http://thegreenpapers.com The Green Papers]], google searches for the office and district in question, or their local newspaper (we have a directory of [[http://votesmart.org/resource_political_resources_state.php state media sources]] on our site that might help). If someone is looking for information on local candidates and local ballot measures, try directing them to their local election office (a directory of which is also on our site).
Deletions:
Additions:
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart’s signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "Are you to tell citizens where you stand on the issues you may dace if elected?"
Deletions:
No Differences
Additions:
1) (Monday before deadline) Email to all candidates who started the PCT online, but did not finish it. Email to all Congressional candidates warning them that any question left unanswered is subject to being researched by Project Vote Smart
Deletions:
Qc set
Contact info set
INTRO LETTER
Code pcts and put pdfs on website- make sure each question or category is at same level category on zero level- see Clinton- post PCT and bio form on mail date, webcheck- bulk emails need to be one state at a time
Make sure proper forms are attached to each election in the group in admin
Estimate number of PCTs and bio forms needed and begin printing
Create mailing group? Try mail merge? Necessary? Need IT?
NPAT Mail Merge
Create labels
Label check and print
Merge Letters- make sure they match up w/labels (director must review)
Print Letters
Assemble Mailing and stamp (talk to membership)
Cross-check mail lists against Abridged PCT rosters
EMAIL CONTACTS
Verify scripts- make state-specific and have checked
Email merge?
RED CARD
Revise Red card in Freehand, have checked, and begin print based on estimated piece mailing
PHONE CONTACTS
1) (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started the Online PCT but didn't finish
(PCT Director calls all board member candidates)
contacts regarding problem pcts
make sure everything in tracking shelves (bios and PCTs) and emails have been processed for the group, verify npat statuses in admin
generate press report- verify that all pcts have been accounted for
(1-2 weeks after deadline) state-specific press releases
verify abridged PCT research complete for all candidates contacted in that Group (may need to be done earlier to show candidates our researched responses)
release all pcts
Additions:
====PCT Department Candidate Coverage====
===Quality Control (questions can be directed to Aaron or Kristen):===
Quality Control is responsible for making sure that at any given time, our website reflects the candidates who will be appearing on voters’ actual ballots.
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Matthew or Kristen):===
Providing contact information for candidates is essential to the democratic process, giving citizens access to those seeking to represent them.
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don’t have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
- information submitted by the candidate. While we do send out forms along with the PCT, candidates can update their biographical information at any time
"Biographical information" is basically that candidate's resume, and includes such information as educational backgrounds, family information, professional backgrounds, organizational memberships, political experience, and committee assignments. Our policy is generally to get as much information as possible about a candidate, but we don't always have the time to do it for all candidates, and not all candidates have websites. That being said, all candidates have the opportunity to submit biographical information to us.
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Matthew, Dan T., Kate, or Kristen)===
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart’s signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "How willing are you to tell citizens your positions on the issues you will most likely face on their behalf?"
PVS believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen’s ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
Our promotion of the Test on our website and through press releases also serves as a way to recognize candidates who demonstrate political courage. We realize that it takes a certain amount of courage for candidates to state their positions, as it exposes the candidate to opposition research. As a result, we forbid the use of the PVS name or programs in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches. We want candidates to feel secure in taking the PCT, so if we find out about such activity, we will take action against those that violate our terms.
//PCT Design//
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining of national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. This year’s Political Courage Test is much shorter than last year’s test. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
Typically we refer to it as "The Political Courage Test," but in reality it is a collection of tests. There is the Congressional version which focuses on federal issues. Gubernatorial and State legislative candidates are given a test specific to their state, which includes issues that are coming up in legislatures across the country, as well as issues that are specific to that state.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. This year we will be leaving it up to citizens to decide if the candidate has sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we will be displaying the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighting which questions were actually answered by the candidate.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting this year to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don’t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
//Testing Candidates//
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks. These testing periods are staggered by state into 10 groups (depending on primary dates and filing deadlines), with the first PCT being sent out at the end of May. During the testing period the Project documents several contacts made by Project staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
State specific research and reviews complete
Qc set
Contact info set
INTRO LETTER
Code pcts and put pdfs on website- make sure each question or category is at same level category on zero level- see Clinton- post PCT and bio form on mail date, webcheck- bulk emails need to be one state at a time
Make sure proper forms are attached to each election in the group in admin
Estimate number of PCTs and bio forms needed and begin printing
Create mailing group? Try mail merge? Necessary? Need IT?
NPAT Mail Merge
Create labels
Label check and print
Merge Letters- make sure they match up w/labels (director must review)
Print Letters
Assemble Mailing and stamp (talk to membership)
Cross-check mail lists against Abridged PCT rosters
EMAIL CONTACTS
Verify scripts- make state-specific and have checked
Email merge?
RED CARD
Revise Red card in Freehand, have checked, and begin print based on estimated piece mailing
PHONE CONTACTS
2010 Scheduled Contacts:
1) Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, and PCT to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
check off "NPATs mailed" for each election stage mailed in the group
1) (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email. Those Gubernatorial candidates that do not have a campaign email address will be called. Those Congressional candidates that do not respond to the email will be called.
1) (3 weeks before deadline) Mail letter from Media Partner(s) to all candidates (if available)
1) (2 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates.
1) (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Those Gubernatorial candidates that do not have a campaign email address will be called. Call all Congressional candidates and notify them that we will be researching their answers if they don’t provide them.
1) (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started the Online PCT but didn't finish
(PCT Director calls all board member candidates)
contacts regarding problem pcts
make sure everything in tracking shelves (bios and PCTs) and emails have been processed for the group, verify npat statuses in admin
generate press report- verify that all pcts have been accounted for
(1-2 weeks after deadline) state-specific press releases
verify abridged PCT research complete for all candidates contacted in that Group (may need to be done earlier to show candidates our researched responses)
release all pcts
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate’s PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state’s deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don’t necessarily encourage this.
To cut down on administration and the potential for error, we strongly encourage candidates to complete the Political Courage Test online at: https://secure.votesmart.org/candidate
Regardless of how a PCT is submitted and when, PVS will not accept a PCT or changes to a PCT without a signed statement from the candidate. This can come in the form of an certified electronic signature, a scanned image of their signature emailed to us, or via fax/mail.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we’re still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group’s release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state’s press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don’t even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. Abridged PCT Research)//
This year also marks the inception of what we refer to internally as the "Abridged Political Courage Test," but as far as our users are concerned, this is just another facet of the Political Courage Test. For the first time, Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 12 key issue questions, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate’s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our new online Flash Application "Vote Smart," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate’s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations’ candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
These answers are not made public until the PCT deadline has passed for that state, ensuring that every candidate has the opportunity to answer the questions themselves. Therefore, this data will be released in a staggered manner like the PCT is- by group.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact—rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Our greatest defense for any answer is that we have given every candidate multiple opportunities to provide their own answer, and they are free to provide us with a more accurate answer at any time. If a candidate tells us that they are legitimately undecided, whether through the other or expanded principles section or in reaction to the answer we have selected for them, we may use this as a citation to justify us giving them an answer of "Unable to Determine"- however, they will not receive credit for having political courage on that question.
===Quality Control (questions can be directed to Aaron or Kristen):===
Quality Control is responsible for making sure that at any given time, our website reflects the candidates who will be appearing on voters’ actual ballots.
===Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Matthew or Kristen):===
Providing contact information for candidates is essential to the democratic process, giving citizens access to those seeking to represent them.
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. This is essential for our own ability to contact candidates about the PCT, but linking to campaign websites also ensures that citizens will be able to find out more information about challengers, even if we don’t have much on our own website. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
- information submitted by the candidate. While we do send out forms along with the PCT, candidates can update their biographical information at any time
"Biographical information" is basically that candidate's resume, and includes such information as educational backgrounds, family information, professional backgrounds, organizational memberships, political experience, and committee assignments. Our policy is generally to get as much information as possible about a candidate, but we don't always have the time to do it for all candidates, and not all candidates have websites. That being said, all candidates have the opportunity to submit biographical information to us.
===The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Matthew, Dan T., Kate, or Kristen)===
The Political Courage Test is Project Vote Smart’s signature program. The Political Courage Test asks all candidates one central question: "How willing are you to tell citizens your positions on the issues you will most likely face on their behalf?"
PVS believes that knowing where the candidates stand is essential to a citizen’s ability to vote smart. The PCT works to refocus elections to the issues that are important to voters, and away from advertising and campaign-controlled messages. This is central to achieving our mission to bring elections back to the hands of voters.
Our promotion of the Test on our website and through press releases also serves as a way to recognize candidates who demonstrate political courage. We realize that it takes a certain amount of courage for candidates to state their positions, as it exposes the candidate to opposition research. As a result, we forbid the use of the PVS name or programs in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches. We want candidates to feel secure in taking the PCT, so if we find out about such activity, we will take action against those that violate our terms.
//PCT Design//
Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining of national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. This year’s Political Courage Test is much shorter than last year’s test. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
Typically we refer to it as "The Political Courage Test," but in reality it is a collection of tests. There is the Congressional version which focuses on federal issues. Gubernatorial and State legislative candidates are given a test specific to their state, which includes issues that are coming up in legislatures across the country, as well as issues that are specific to that state.
For pre-2010 PCTs, we used a pass/fail system, where in order to pass a candidate had to address at least 70% of the issue categories. This year we will be leaving it up to citizens to decide if the candidate has sufficient political courage. To help them make this judgment, we will be displaying the percentage of issue categories that they addressed, and highlighting which questions were actually answered by the candidate.
We have also changed the question and answer formatting this year to make it easier for citizens to compare their issues to those of the candidates, and to compare candidates to each other. Whereas the majority of questions on previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question. Candidates have the option to answer any question in their own words, but we don’t encourage this practice- it makes it harder for citizens to compare candidates and allows candidates to skirt the issues. We also allow candidates to submit position papers to us, but we post this on a separate area of our site, and this does not affect their calculation of political courage.
//Testing Candidates//
All general election candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks. These testing periods are staggered by state into 10 groups (depending on primary dates and filing deadlines), with the first PCT being sent out at the end of May. During the testing period the Project documents several contacts made by Project staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate to demonstrate Political Courage through this test.
State specific research and reviews complete
Qc set
Contact info set
INTRO LETTER
Code pcts and put pdfs on website- make sure each question or category is at same level category on zero level- see Clinton- post PCT and bio form on mail date, webcheck- bulk emails need to be one state at a time
Make sure proper forms are attached to each election in the group in admin
Estimate number of PCTs and bio forms needed and begin printing
Create mailing group? Try mail merge? Necessary? Need IT?
NPAT Mail Merge
Create labels
Label check and print
Merge Letters- make sure they match up w/labels (director must review)
Print Letters
Assemble Mailing and stamp (talk to membership)
Cross-check mail lists against Abridged PCT rosters
EMAIL CONTACTS
Verify scripts- make state-specific and have checked
Email merge?
RED CARD
Revise Red card in Freehand, have checked, and begin print based on estimated piece mailing
PHONE CONTACTS
2010 Scheduled Contacts:
1) Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, and PCT to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
check off "NPATs mailed" for each election stage mailed in the group
1) (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email. Those Gubernatorial candidates that do not have a campaign email address will be called. Those Congressional candidates that do not respond to the email will be called.
1) (3 weeks before deadline) Mail letter from Media Partner(s) to all candidates (if available)
1) (2 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates.
1) (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Those Gubernatorial candidates that do not have a campaign email address will be called. Call all Congressional candidates and notify them that we will be researching their answers if they don’t provide them.
1) (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started the Online PCT but didn't finish
(PCT Director calls all board member candidates)
contacts regarding problem pcts
make sure everything in tracking shelves (bios and PCTs) and emails have been processed for the group, verify npat statuses in admin
generate press report- verify that all pcts have been accounted for
(1-2 weeks after deadline) state-specific press releases
verify abridged PCT research complete for all candidates contacted in that Group (may need to be done earlier to show candidates our researched responses)
release all pcts
During the testing period, we do not disclose the status of any candidate’s PCT to anyone besides the candidate in question. All PCTs for a state are released to the public (on our website, on the "Vote Smart" tool, and through press releases) at the same time to be fair to all candidates. This is generally two weeks or so after that state’s deadline. Candidates can add to or change their answers after the deadline has passed, but we don’t necessarily encourage this.
To cut down on administration and the potential for error, we strongly encourage candidates to complete the Political Courage Test online at: https://secure.votesmart.org/candidate
Regardless of how a PCT is submitted and when, PVS will not accept a PCT or changes to a PCT without a signed statement from the candidate. This can come in the form of an certified electronic signature, a scanned image of their signature emailed to us, or via fax/mail.
Sometimes candidates will miss the testing period for their state, because they were put on the ballot after the time our first mailing. If we’re still mailing other states, we will simply put them in a later group, and call them exception candidates. As a result, their deadline for the PCT will be later than other people in the state, and will be listed as pending until then. If they submit a PCT, we will put it up as soon as possible rather than waiting for the group’s release, since other candidates in their state will already have their results posted. While excluded from the state’s press release, they would be included in the nationwide press release.
If a candidate makes it onto the ballot after our last mailing in late September, there is not enough time for us to give them a full testing period. We will typically do a "Courtesy" mailing, where they are given the PCT but not required to fill it out. Some don’t even make the courtesy mailing- we call them Added Candidates. While they are welcome to fill out the test at any time, we will not penalize them in any way.
//PVS-Researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. Abridged PCT Research)//
This year also marks the inception of what we refer to internally as the "Abridged Political Courage Test," but as far as our users are concerned, this is just another facet of the Political Courage Test. For the first time, Project Vote Smart will be researching the issue positions of Congressional candidates who do not respond to certain key questions on the Political Courage Test. We focus on 12 key issue questions, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate’s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information. This will be displayed on our website and on our new online Flash Application "Vote Smart," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates. It should be very clear which answers come from the candidates themselves, and which answers were inferred from PVS research. It is possible that we were unable to find a candidate’s position, in which case the answer will be left blank.
These answers are determined through thorough research of our own extensive database, as well as from other sources. The amount of evidence required for an answer can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally though, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible. Our sources for evidence include: answers to old PCTs, answers to other organizations’ candidate surveys (considered a public statement), position papers, other speeches and public statements, legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used), and evaluations from interest groups.
These answers are not made public until the PCT deadline has passed for that state, ensuring that every candidate has the opportunity to answer the questions themselves. Therefore, this data will be released in a staggered manner like the PCT is- by group.
We have strict standards for what constitutes a yes answer vs. a no answer, so we should be able to defend any answer. Our standards are publicly-available, as are how we came up with each individual answer (our citations). At the very least, it should be consistent from candidate-to-candidate. Also, everything will be checked multiple times. While this certainly minimizes the chance of error, there is always a possibility something will be wrong. We will also likely face criticism if: a citizen disagrees with our standards for an answer, a candidate has changed their position over time, a candidate voted "yes" on a key bill for reasons other than supporting the issue at hand, or we somehow misinterpret a public statement (this is harder to standardize). We will reevaluate answers by request to make sure they adhere to our standards, as we strive to be as accurate as possible, but our standards are not likely to change. PVS-researched answers should not be treated a fact—rather, they are non-partisan judgments based on fact.
Our greatest defense for any answer is that we have given every candidate multiple opportunities to provide their own answer, and they are free to provide us with a more accurate answer at any time. If a candidate tells us that they are legitimately undecided, whether through the other or expanded principles section or in reaction to the answer we have selected for them, we may use this as a citation to justify us giving them an answer of "Unable to Determine"- however, they will not receive credit for having political courage on that question.
Deletions:
==Quality Control (questions can be directed to Aaron or Kristen):==
==Contact Info and Bios (questions can be directed to Matthew or Kristen):==
When we first add candidates to our website, people that haven't been up for election before will likely just have their name, basic contact info from the candidate list, and how they will appear on the ballot. The next phase of updates is getting extended contact information from the candidates' websites. Incumbents will have contact information from their office's website as well.
- information submitted by the candidate. While do send out forms along with the PCT, candidates can update their biographical information at any time
"Biographical information" is basically that candidate's resume, and includes such information as educational backgrounds, family information, professional backgrounds, organizational memberships,
political experience, and committee assignments. Our policy is generally to get as much information as possible about a candidate, but we don't always have the time to do it for all candidates, and not all candidates have websites. That being said, all candidates have the opportunity to submit biographical information to us.
==The Political Courage Test (questions can be directed to Matthew, Dan T., Kate, or Kristen)==
The Political Courage Test is an academic study that asks all candidates one central question: "Are you willing to tell citizens your positions on the issues you will most likely face on their behalf?" In order to pass this Test the candidate simply has to answer a few questions on the issues.
At a time when Americans are increasingly frustrated with the attack advertising and empty rhetoric of many campaigns, the need for this relevant information has never been greater. The public integrity of candidates and the quality of their campaigns can be viewed, in part, as a measurement of their willingness to provide their prospective employers (voters) with this information during a campaign, the point when voters need the most help and when the candidates are asking for their vote.
How is the Political Courage Test conducted?
All candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and state legislature are tested over the course of 4-6 weeks. During this time period the Project documents several contacts made by Project staff, members of the media and respected members of both major parties asking each candidate the Political Courage Test’s central question.
If at any point during this time period a candidate answers ‘yes,’ we ask that candidate to then demonstrate their willingness by providing their inclinations on some of the issues included within the Political Courage Test.
Candidates can skip up to 30% of the issue areas and may choose to answer each question in their own words.
The only way that a candidate can fail the Political Courage Test is to consistently say "no," no matter who asks the candidate, no matter when they are asked, or how they are asked.Project Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.
calculations of Political Courage- You will be recognized for your Political Courage, which will be calculated based on the number of issue categories you are willing to address
This year’s Political Courage Test is characterized by a number of changes from our previous tests that we believe will better serve candidates and voters. Many of these changes have been inspired by our new online Flash Application "Vote Smart," an engaging tool that allows visitors to our website to compare their positions to those of the candidates.
This year’s Political Courage Test is much shorter than last year’s test. It is our hope that this will make it more accessible to both the candidates and visitors to our website. Each year, we conduct exhaustive research on what issues are both consistently the top concerns of the American people and also likely to come up in the next legislative session. They are determined by thoroughly examining of national polls over the last three years, the majority, minority and third party platforms, State of the Union and Response speeches, State of the State and Response speeches, legislative agendas, and by consulting with prominent national political journalists, political scientists and the entire Project Vote Smart founding board to ensure that it is non-partisan and unbiased. Questions were generally removed for one of three reasons: we were unable to build a strong defense for the question, the question was repetitive, and/or the question did not reveal a key issue position.
Typically we refer to it as "The Political Courage Test," but in reality it is a collection of tests. There is the Congressional version which focuses on federal issues. Gubernatorial and State legislative candidates are given a test specific to their state, which includes issues that are coming up in legislatures across the country, as well as narrow issues that may only be faced by that state.
We have also changed the question formatting. Whereas previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question.
Congressional PCT Contacts (testing period is generally 6 weeks)
1. Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, and PCT to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
2. (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email. Those that do not have a campaign email address will be called.
3. (3 weeks before deadline) Mail letter from Media Partner to all candidates (if available)
4. (2 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates.
5. (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Call all candidates and notify them that they will be flunked.
6. (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started Online PCT but didn't finish
Candidates are strongly recommended to complete the Political Courage Test online at: https://secure.votesmart.org/candidate
Respondents to the Political Courage Test are invited to provide additional position statements. However, these will not influence the calculation of Political Courage. These may be submitted via disk or e-mail to positions@votesmart.org.
PVS-researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. Abridged PCT Research)
Project Vote Smart will be researching select issue positions and will provide voters with your most likely response if a question is left unanswered.
This year also marks the inception of what we refer to internally as the "Abridged Political Courage Test." For the first time, Project Vote Smart will be researching critical issue positions for congressional candidates who do not respond to the Political Courage Test. We ask 12 key issue questions, which reflect the issues that are both publicly salient and likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. The objective of this program is to provide a "snapshot" of a candidate’s position on the most relevant issues even if the candidate is unwilling to provide that information.
That way, if the candidate does not respond to these questions on the PCT, voters will still be able to see how the candidate compares to the voter's positions as well as to other candidates.
The amount of evidence required can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible)
Tier 1 (may be used as sole piece of evidence if questions directly align):
· Old PCT’s
· Other organizations’ candidate surveys or voter guides
Tier 2 (will likely need to be supported by additional pieces of evidence):
· Interest Group Ratings
· Legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used)
· Position Papers
· Speeches and other Public Statements
periscopic
We will need to have the ability to distinguish on the website and in admin between a candidate-answered question, a staff-answered question, and a question not answered by staff or the candidate. A staff-answered "Unable to Determine" answer will not display on the website, and will be treated the same as "a question not answered by staff or the candidate." Until the redesign at least, we will be using icons (mockup attached- actual icons to-be-developed). Ideally, we’d also like to indicate the candidate answers that match the PVS-researched answers with either a 3rd icon or a combination of the first two icons.
We would like the users to be able to view our citations for PVS researched answers in a non-intrusive way. If possible, we would like the citations for a question to show up upon clicking the icon for a PVS-researched answer.
media- media partnerships
Additions:
PVS-researched Answers for the PCT (a.k.a. Abridged PCT Research)
Project Vote Smart will be researching select issue positions and will provide voters with your most likely response if a question is left unanswered.
Project Vote Smart will be researching select issue positions and will provide voters with your most likely response if a question is left unanswered.
Additions:
calculations of Political Courage- You will be recognized for your Political Courage, which will be calculated based on the number of issue categories you are willing to address
Candidates are strongly recommended to complete the Political Courage Test online at: https://secure.votesmart.org/candidate
Respondents to the Political Courage Test are invited to provide additional position statements. However, these will not influence the calculation of Political Courage. These may be submitted via disk or e-mail to positions@votesmart.org.
Candidates are strongly recommended to complete the Political Courage Test online at: https://secure.votesmart.org/candidate
Respondents to the Political Courage Test are invited to provide additional position statements. However, these will not influence the calculation of Political Courage. These may be submitted via disk or e-mail to positions@votesmart.org.
Deletions:
Additions:
3. (3 weeks before deadline) Mail letter from Media Partner to all candidates (if available)
4. (2 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates.
5. (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Call all candidates and notify them that they will be flunked.
6. (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started Online PCT but didn't finish
4. (2 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates.
5. (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Call all candidates and notify them that they will be flunked.
6. (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started Online PCT but didn't finish
Deletions:
4. (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Call all candidates and notify them that they will be flunked.
5. (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started Online PCT but didn't finish
Additions:
We have also changed the question formatting. Whereas previous tests required candidates to indicate only their support for an issue statement, we are now requiring candidates to indicate their support for or opposition to an issue question.
Congressional PCT Contacts (testing period is generally 6 weeks)
1. Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, and PCT to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
2. (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email. Those that do not have a campaign email address will be called.
3. (2 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates.
4. (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Call all candidates and notify them that they will be flunked.
5. (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started Online PCT but didn't finish
The amount of evidence required can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible)
Tier 1 (may be used as sole piece of evidence if questions directly align):
· Old PCT’s
· Other organizations’ candidate surveys or voter guides
Tier 2 (will likely need to be supported by additional pieces of evidence):
· Interest Group Ratings
· Legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used)
· Position Papers
· Speeches and other Public Statements
periscopic
Congressional PCT Contacts (testing period is generally 6 weeks)
1. Mail Intro Letter, Bio Form, and PCT to all candidates, with instructions on how to fill it out online
2. (1 week after mailing) Send Confirmation Email. Those that do not have a campaign email address will be called.
3. (2 weeks before deadline) Mail Red Card to all candidates.
4. (1 week before deadline) Send Nag Email. Call all candidates and notify them that they will be flunked.
5. (Monday before deadline) Email to those who started Online PCT but didn't finish
The amount of evidence required can vary depending on the quality of the sources. Generally, it is our policy to collect as many citations as possible)
Tier 1 (may be used as sole piece of evidence if questions directly align):
· Old PCT’s
· Other organizations’ candidate surveys or voter guides
Tier 2 (will likely need to be supported by additional pieces of evidence):
· Interest Group Ratings
· Legislation (both sponsorship and votes are used)
· Position Papers
· Speeches and other Public Statements
periscopic
Deletions:
PCT design, administration
involvement of advisors
periscopic/abridged pct
Additions:
Once the NPAT group has been advanced/released, the abridged PCT questions will be incorporated in with the rest of the 2010 PCT, and candidate answers will replace our research if necessary. The 12 questions will not be separated from the 2010 PCT on the website. This would mean that all candidates that had their answers researched will have a 2010 PCT appear. In cases where someone has failed (has answered zero PCT questions), they should still have their "most recent previous PCT" show in addition to the 12 questions we have researched for them.
We will need to have the ability to distinguish on the website and in admin between a candidate-answered question, a staff-answered question, and a question not answered by staff or the candidate. A staff-answered "Unable to Determine" answer will not display on the website, and will be treated the same as "a question not answered by staff or the candidate." Until the redesign at least, we will be using icons (mockup attached- actual icons to-be-developed). Ideally, we’d also like to indicate the candidate answers that match the PVS-researched answers with either a 3rd icon or a combination of the first two icons.
We would like the users to be able to view our citations for PVS researched answers in a non-intrusive way. If possible, we would like the citations for a question to show up upon clicking the icon for a PVS-researched answer.
We will need to have the ability to distinguish on the website and in admin between a candidate-answered question, a staff-answered question, and a question not answered by staff or the candidate. A staff-answered "Unable to Determine" answer will not display on the website, and will be treated the same as "a question not answered by staff or the candidate." Until the redesign at least, we will be using icons (mockup attached- actual icons to-be-developed). Ideally, we’d also like to indicate the candidate answers that match the PVS-researched answers with either a 3rd icon or a combination of the first two icons.
We would like the users to be able to view our citations for PVS researched answers in a non-intrusive way. If possible, we would like the citations for a question to show up upon clicking the icon for a PVS-researched answer.
Additions:
===PCT Department Candidate Coverage===
