How we score promises

The same rules apply to every legislator, of every party. Every verdict links to its evidence, and a person reviews every promise and verdict before it appears on the site.

What counts as a promise

A public statement a legislator made, before or during their term, about what they would do or support as a legislator, from a source we can link to: their campaign website, candidate questionnaires and voter guides, news interviews and op-eds they wrote, or their own public social media posts.

Not counted: values with no action attached, promises about things a state legislator has no power over, and statements we can only find second-hand. Each promise is shown with the exact quote, the source, and the date, and our one-line summary must not be stronger or weaker than the quote.

Claims about their record (for example, “I voted against that bill”) are fact-checked against roll calls and bills: accurate, partly accurate, inaccurate, or can't verify.

Verdicts

Kept: The record does what was promised: sponsored or passed the bill, voted that way consistently.
In progress: Real action taken (bill filed, spoke for it, voted for it) but not finished, for example the bill died.
Mixed: Some of the record supports the promise and some works against it. Both sides are shown.
Broken: The record goes against the promise: voted the opposite way, or sponsored the opposite.
No action yet: Nothing on the record either way. Not the same as broken.
Too early / Not testable: The issue hasn't come up yet, or the promise can't be checked against legislative action.

Rules

Evidence first. Every verdict needs a linked bill, roll-call vote, or recorded remark. No evidence means “No action yet,” never “Broken.”
Votes outweigh words. A speech for something and a vote against it is “Mixed” at best.
The whole record counts, not the single best or worst vote.
A sponsored bill that died is not a broken promise; it's “In progress.”
Context is shown, not judged. If a legislator explained a vote on the record, that explanation is linked next to it.
No adjectives. The reasoning says what happened and links to it.
Where reasonable people disagree about whether an action keeps a promise, we show the votes and both arguments rather than pick a side.
Corrections: legislators and readers can send a source we missed; verdicts are updated and the change is dated.

AI helps find sources and match them to the record. People make and review every verdict.