Candidates: Your CTS Home Base
Everything you need to understand, join, and complete the Candidate Transparency Standard (CTS) from start to finish.
CTS provides a standardized, evidence‑based way for candidates to demonstrate transparency, integrity, and readiness to govern. This page gives you the high‑level overview and links to each of its sections.
Candidates who participate:
-
provide standardized disclosures
-
submit verifiable evidence
-
complete structured modules
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personally approve all submissions
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receive a public profile with verified outputs
How to Join CTS
1. Create Your Candidate Account
You must:
- create a secure CTS account
- verify your identity
- enable 2FA
- accept the COA terms
....Candidate accounts must be created by the candidate — not a staff member.
2. Add Delegates (Optional)
Delegates can:
- upload documents
- attach metadata
- organize evidence
- draft responses
Delegates cannot:
- approve submissions
- finalize disclosures
- answer candidate‐specific questions
- submit anything to reviewers
3. Candidate‐Only Approval of all Submissions
Before anything becomes:
- version‐locked
- visible to reviewers
- part of the public profile
Once approved:
- the submission is permanently logged
- audit trail records identity, timestamp, IP
…The candidate must personally approve it using password + 2FA.
This protects:
- the candidate
- the reviewers
- the public
- the integrity of the system
Why Candidates Participate
Candidates use CTS to:
- demonstrate transparency
- build public trust
- show readiness to govern
- provide verifiable information
- distinguish themselves from nonparticipants
...Participation is voluntary - but transparency is powerful.
Support for Candidates
Need help?
- onboarding assistance
- evidence submission guidance
- technical support
- privacy & security help
- delegate management
Everything You’ll Complete
COA Overview & Purpose
Learn what the Candidate Obligations Agreement (COA) is, why it matters, and what you commit to when you join CTS.
Eligibility, Participation & Onboarding
Check eligibility, understand participation rules, onboarding workflow, identity verification and account creation steps.
Disclosure Requirements
See exactly what you will disclose: resume, policy positions, evidence submissions, budget mapping, appointees, longform responses, a constitutional deep dive and KPIs.
Conduct, Communication & Responsibilities
Understand the code of conduct, how communication works with CTS, and what your responsibilities, rights, and protections are.
Verification, Flags & Appeals
Learn how verification works, how flags are raised and reviewed, how community review and reviewer reputation function, and how appeals are handled.
Transparency Outputs & Public Profile
See how your public profile is structured, what transparency outputs look like, how dashboards appear and version history controls.