Wiki source for Votes
**==== Step 4. Entering Votes in Admin:====**
Getting voting records of Key Votes onto the website is the department's main priority. New selections that need to be entered can be found in the Master Spreadsheet.
Start a Bill Summary Sheet for your vote. A Bill Summary Template is located in the Key Votes share drive. Open it and then Save As into your vote's electronic folder as a Word (.doc) document. Name it after the key vote: House Passage Summary, Senate Concurrence Summary, etc. Fill out fields for anything you enter into Admin at this time (see below) after finding the information on the spreadsheet and verifying it on the state's legislative site.
Log on to Admin: http://admin.votesmart.org/admin. Once you open Admin, look on the left hand side and choose "Congress Track." That is where you will enter all state votes.
Before you add a new vote, first select the state you are working on and type in the bill number, then search to **make sure an earlier status has not been entered for the same bill**. You may need to widen your date selection to 2007-2008.
If your search pulls up a bill open it and confirm it's the same piece of legislation (bill numbers are sometimes recycled). If the status you are entering already has an entry, click on "View" and scroll down to View Votes/Action to check if it has a breakdown attached (meaning someone else has already done this vote). If it has not been entered, follow the instructions below from "Add New Status". **Be careful when entering key vote information to a bill that has earlier key votes to release the new key vote to the Internal Web while keeping all other statuses Live.**
If nothing comes up when you do an initial search, select the state you are working on from the drop down menu and click on "Add New".
Enter the following information from your bill summary sheet:
~- Title (you make this up)
~- Official Title (from the bill text)
~- Date introduced (mm/dd/yyyy)
~- Prefix (Select from drop-down menu)
~- Bill Number
~- Sponsors/Co-Sponsors
For an amendment vote, select the parent bill from the drop-down list.
Save.
Scroll down to the Status List and click on **"Add New Status"**. Scroll down again to the new section that has opened below your status list.
Enter the following Information from your bill summary sheet:
~- Level (House/Senate)
~- Stage (Passage/Concurrence/Etc.)
~- Outcome (Passed/Failed)
~- Date of Vote (mm/dd/yyyy)
~- Roll Number (if applicable)
~- Yeas and Nays
For the Title/Official Title, select "Yes" by "Use Earlier" (you can edit these in the Introduced status).
Enter the "temporary summary" blurb with the correct bill number inserted in the Highlights field.
Select Categories listed in the spreadsheet.
Scroll down and Save.
Scroll Up to the Status List and "View" the vote you are working on (status you just created). At the bottom of the page select "View Votes/Actions".
Click on "Add State Legislators", and then sort the names however best matches the legislature's list.
Now click on the first legislator and enter the votes. Please remember to save after you enter each legislator's vote. Keep in mind when you are entering votes that a No Vote includes: absent, present, excused etc.. Some vote breakdowns do not include a list of No Votes, ie. South Carolina, so you will have to compare lists to make sure someone was not voting. We do not take unofficial votes (for example, votes that are taken after the Roll Call or are corrections to the roll call but the individual was not present to vote). These people should be included as a no vote when you enter the vote, unless they paired - Paired Yeas or Paired Nay. Check your work.
When you finish, close the Votes/Actions window and release the status to the internal web. You do not need to release Introduced statuses.
Place the hard copy of the breakdown and your bill summary sheet in the vote's hard-copy folder labeled with the state's abbreviation, the bill prefix, and the bill number. Staple a folder tracker to the front cover and put your name and date in the Vote Breakdown section.
Give the hard-copy folder to your supervisor so they can immediately check the vote and release it to the live website.
Getting voting records of Key Votes onto the website is the department's main priority. New selections that need to be entered can be found in the Master Spreadsheet.
Start a Bill Summary Sheet for your vote. A Bill Summary Template is located in the Key Votes share drive. Open it and then Save As into your vote's electronic folder as a Word (.doc) document. Name it after the key vote: House Passage Summary, Senate Concurrence Summary, etc. Fill out fields for anything you enter into Admin at this time (see below) after finding the information on the spreadsheet and verifying it on the state's legislative site.
Log on to Admin: http://admin.votesmart.org/admin. Once you open Admin, look on the left hand side and choose "Congress Track." That is where you will enter all state votes.
Before you add a new vote, first select the state you are working on and type in the bill number, then search to **make sure an earlier status has not been entered for the same bill**. You may need to widen your date selection to 2007-2008.
If your search pulls up a bill open it and confirm it's the same piece of legislation (bill numbers are sometimes recycled). If the status you are entering already has an entry, click on "View" and scroll down to View Votes/Action to check if it has a breakdown attached (meaning someone else has already done this vote). If it has not been entered, follow the instructions below from "Add New Status". **Be careful when entering key vote information to a bill that has earlier key votes to release the new key vote to the Internal Web while keeping all other statuses Live.**
If nothing comes up when you do an initial search, select the state you are working on from the drop down menu and click on "Add New".
Enter the following information from your bill summary sheet:
~- Title (you make this up)
~- Official Title (from the bill text)
~- Date introduced (mm/dd/yyyy)
~- Prefix (Select from drop-down menu)
~- Bill Number
~- Sponsors/Co-Sponsors
For an amendment vote, select the parent bill from the drop-down list.
Save.
Scroll down to the Status List and click on **"Add New Status"**. Scroll down again to the new section that has opened below your status list.
Enter the following Information from your bill summary sheet:
~- Level (House/Senate)
~- Stage (Passage/Concurrence/Etc.)
~- Outcome (Passed/Failed)
~- Date of Vote (mm/dd/yyyy)
~- Roll Number (if applicable)
~- Yeas and Nays
For the Title/Official Title, select "Yes" by "Use Earlier" (you can edit these in the Introduced status).
Enter the "temporary summary" blurb with the correct bill number inserted in the Highlights field.
Select Categories listed in the spreadsheet.
Scroll down and Save.
Scroll Up to the Status List and "View" the vote you are working on (status you just created). At the bottom of the page select "View Votes/Actions".
Click on "Add State Legislators", and then sort the names however best matches the legislature's list.
Now click on the first legislator and enter the votes. Please remember to save after you enter each legislator's vote. Keep in mind when you are entering votes that a No Vote includes: absent, present, excused etc.. Some vote breakdowns do not include a list of No Votes, ie. South Carolina, so you will have to compare lists to make sure someone was not voting. We do not take unofficial votes (for example, votes that are taken after the Roll Call or are corrections to the roll call but the individual was not present to vote). These people should be included as a no vote when you enter the vote, unless they paired - Paired Yeas or Paired Nay. Check your work.
When you finish, close the Votes/Actions window and release the status to the internal web. You do not need to release Introduced statuses.
Place the hard copy of the breakdown and your bill summary sheet in the vote's hard-copy folder labeled with the state's abbreviation, the bill prefix, and the bill number. Staple a folder tracker to the front cover and put your name and date in the Vote Breakdown section.
Give the hard-copy folder to your supervisor so they can immediately check the vote and release it to the live website.
