Who Would You Hire?
Understanding iVoterGuide Scorecards and Endorsements
I believe that every candidate we evaluate is applying for an incredibly important job—the opportunity to represent you and make decisions on your behalf that will affect your life.
If you were considering hiring someone for a job, you would likely check their references. The testimony of others helps confirm that an applicant is presenting themselves in an accurate light. So . . . what “references” might a political candidate bring when applying for the job of representing you?
iVoterGuide collects two kinds of candidate “references:” legislative scorecards and endorsements. To learn how to navigate to a candidate profile page to see this information, read How to Get Your Personalized Voter Guide.
Suppose you come across a candidate running for Congress who says, “I’m 100% pro-life!” How would you know if that’s an accurate statement? Well, if that candidate has been given a grade of 0% by Planned Parenthood, that’s a good sign. If a strong pro-life organization has endorsed them, you can have more confidence in their statement. You don’t have to simply take their word for it!
Scorecards
Legislative scorecards are like references from a previous employer, indicating how a candidate will vote if you give them the job of representing you. If a candidate has previously held office, their votes will likely be graded by organizations that champion conservative or liberal causes.
Grades are based on the specific issues for which each organization advocates. So, for example, when a pro-life organization grades a candidate, they are basing their grade on how the candidate voted on bills related to life and abortion. They most likely did not consider the candidate’s votes on energy or the environment.
To find out each organization’s mission, click on the “i” next to their name, and a box with a description will appear (see illustration below).
We record the most recent ratings or grades from each organization. The year tells you when the rating was assigned to the candidate. Next to the year is the percentage or letter grade that the candidate received. Some grades, marked with “(cum)” and a cross-like symbol, represent a cumulative multi-year rating.
We consider scorecards to be the most important data point when evaluating candidates, because they are evidence of a candidate’s commitment to the values they profess to hold dear . . . and to their campaign promises. Actions speak louder, and more accurately, than words! Without scorecard ratings, a candidate is not likely to receive a rating of Verified Conservative or Verified Liberal, unless they have taken strong, publicly verified action on behalf of their principles, often in spite of opposition.
Endorsements
Endorsements are like references as well. They tell you who is willing to publicly align themselves with a candidate. Most organizations consider an endorsement to be the strongest verbal support they can give a candidate. We only record official endorsements, not simply recommendations or generalized statements of support, though those may be disclosed by the candidate in their profile.
We classify endorsing organizations and individuals in our guide as “Conservative,” “Liberal,” or “Other” (endorsers who are not able to be classified either way). Even if you don’t recognize the names of these endorsers, it is helpful to know their values!
One note: under the questionnaire portion of your voter guide, you may see a list of endorsements that has been provided by the candidate. Unfortunately, candidates sometimes include endorsements from previous election cycles. iVoterGuide uses only current endorsements when deciding on a candidate's evaluation. You will find the current endorsements listed just after the biographical section on the candidate profile page.
Who Will You Hire?
Hardly anyone would hire an employee without reading a resume, checking references, and sitting down for an interview. Yet so many voters “hire” their next statesman sight-unseen or don’t vote at all because they haven’t been informed on the candidates.
iVoterGuide can change this! Will you help us spread the word?
Please send your friends to iVoterGuide and tell them to enter their address so they can view candidate information in their personalized guide. Armed with facts, we can “hire" candidates who truly represent our values.
