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AZ votes + scorecards

Browse bills by party tilt, drill into vote lists, or view legislators and how often they voted with/against their party line.

Admin can import data from AZLeg and upload scorecards (PDF/image) for OCR + correction + training.

Methodology

Data Collection

ScorecardAccuracy imports legislative data directly from official government websites, including state legislature websites and Congress.gov for federal legislation. Our automated import system processes bills, voting records, legislator information, and session data to maintain an up-to-date database of legislative activity.

The platform supports both state and federal legislative data, allowing users to analyze voting patterns across different jurisdictions. All data is sourced from official government records to ensure accuracy and transparency.

Bill Tilt Calculation

One of our core analytical features is the Bill Tilt calculation, which determines the partisan orientation of each piece of legislation. The methodology works as follows:

1. Vote Analysis: For each bill, we analyze all recorded floor votes, prioritizing the most recent floor action when multiple votes exist.
2. Party Vote Counting: We count how many legislators from each party (Republican, Democrat, Independent) voted "Yea" and "Nay" on each bill.
3. Tilt Determination: The bill tilt is determined by comparing which party voted most favorably for the bill:
   • If more Republicans voted "Yea" than Democrats, the bill is classified as Republican-tilted
   • If more Democrats voted "Yea" than Republicans, the bill is classified as Democrat-tilted
   • If the number of Republican and Democrat "Yea" votes is equal, the bill is classified as a Tie
   • If insufficient voting data is available, the tilt is marked as Unknown

This objective, data-driven approach ensures that bill tilt is determined by actual voting behavior rather than subjective interpretation or external labeling.

Legislator Party Alignment Metrics

For each legislator, we calculate their alignment with their party's positions using the following methodology:

1. Party Line Identification: For each bill, we determine the "party line" based on which party voted more favorably (using the bill tilt calculation described above).
2. With Party / Against Party Calculation:
   • A vote is counted as "With Party" when a legislator's vote aligns with their party's position (e.g., a Republican voting "Yea" on a Republican-tilted bill, or a Republican voting "Nay" on a Democrat-tilted bill).
   • A vote is counted as "Against Party" when a legislator's vote contradicts their party's position (e.g., a Republican voting "Nay" on a Republican-tilted bill, or a Republican voting "Yea" on a Democrat-tilted bill).
   • Votes on bills with "Tie" or "Unknown" tilt are excluded from party alignment calculations, as no clear party line can be determined.
3. Percentage Calculation: We calculate the percentage of votes cast "with party" and "against party" for each legislator, providing clear metrics on party loyalty and independence.

For Independent legislators, votes are evaluated based on whether they align with the majority party position on each bill, recognizing that independents may align with either major party depending on the issue.

Sponsored Bills Analysis

The platform tracks bill sponsorship data, identifying the primary sponsor for each bill. This allows users to see which legislators are most active in introducing legislation and to track the fate of sponsored bills (whether they were enacted into law).

Sponsored bill analysis includes:

• Total number of bills sponsored by each legislator
• Number of sponsored bills that became law (enacted)
• Enactment percentage (success rate)
• Yearly breakdown of sponsorship activity

Scorecard Integration

ScorecardAccuracy supports integration with third-party legislative scorecards, allowing users to compare our objective voting data with scores from advocacy organizations and special interest groups. This enables users to see how legislators' actual voting records compare to external evaluations.

Available Data

ScorecardAccuracy provides comprehensive legislative data including:

• Bills: Bill numbers, titles, descriptions, sponsorship information, introduction dates, enactment status, and party tilt classifications
• Votes: Complete voting records including legislator names, vote values (Yea/Nay), vote dates, and action types
• Legislators: Names, party affiliations, states or districts, and comprehensive voting statistics
• Party Statistics: With-party and against-party percentages calculated from voting records
• Scorecards: Integrated data from third-party legislative scorecards for comparative analysis

Subscription Tiers & Features

Data Quality & Transparency

ScorecardAccuracy is committed to providing accurate, transparent data. However, it's important to note that:

• Data Source Accuracy: The quality of our data depends on the accuracy and completeness of information provided by government websites. We do our best to process and normalize data correctly, but errors in source data may occasionally appear.
• Voice Votes: Voice votes (where individual votes are not recorded) are not included in our statistics, as they cannot be attributed to individual legislators.
• Party Assignment: Legislator party affiliations are based on official records. We recognize that party affiliations can change, and we strive to keep this information current.
• Methodology Transparency: All calculations are performed using the objective methodologies described above. We do not apply subjective interpretations or external bias to the data.

If you notice any data discrepancies or errors, please use the "Report Issue" feature to bring them to our attention.

Technical Information

ScorecardAccuracy is built using modern web technologies to ensure reliability, performance, and scalability. The platform automatically imports data from government sources, processes and calculates statistics, and presents the results in an intuitive, user-friendly interface.

The system is designed to handle large datasets efficiently, allowing users to filter and analyze thousands of bills and voting records while maintaining fast response times.