Methodology
How Aligned Vote turns a public record into a match you can trust — and check.
You answer issue questions
You work through a short set of issue questions and mark how important each one is to you. You can also say you are not sure, or that you do not care about an issue — those are kept distinct and left out of the score.
We read each representative’s record
For every politician we infer a position on each question from their public record — roll-call votes, bills they sponsored or cosponsored, and (for the President) executive actions. We work from the record, not from press releases or statements.
Every position carries a confidence level
Each inferred position is labelled high, medium, low, or no clear evidence. Only high and medium confidence positions count toward your score. Low-confidence positions are shown with a caveat; where there is no usable record, we say so and leave it out.
We compute a weighted match
Your score is a weighted comparison of your answers against each representative’s positions. Issues you marked as more important move the score more. The result is a match percentage and a tier.
Evidence and honesty
Every position links to the specific bill, vote, or action behind it, so you can check our work. We never display a fabricated position or quote. “We don't have clear evidence on this issue” is always an acceptable answer — we would rather show a gap than invent a stance.
Aligned Vote is non-partisan by construction. We don't endorse candidates, we don't take ad money, and independent and third-party candidates are treated the same as major-party incumbents.
Spotted something that looks wrong? Let us know on the contact page.