Voters
The Candidate Transparency System (CTS) helps you explore candidates using verifiable information, not campaign messaging. This page explains how CTS works, what you’ll see on candidate profiles, and how to navigate evidence, verification, and transparency outputs.
The Standard of Verification
CTS bridges the gap between campaign rhetoric and institutional accountability. We provide a structured comparison of our verified standards versus traditional tracking methods.
Conventional Tracking
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Spoken promises or written statements that are not independently verified.
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Records that can be edited, removed, or deleted later without the public being told.
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Scattered information often shared in partisan ways, which makes it harder to judge performance fairly.
The CTS Standard
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Officially signed digital pledges, submitted and checked through a secure, nonpartisan online system.
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A permanent data system that keeps every commitment in the public record for the entire time in office.
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Verified, fact‑based transparency that cuts out rhetoric and focuses only on real legislative actions.
How to Read a Candidate Profile
Overview
Every candidate profile follows the same standardized structure so voters can easily understand what was disclosed and how it was verified, where applicable.
A. Candidate Profile Components
What CTS publishes on each profile:
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verified documents
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category scores with verification levels
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overall CTS Transparency score
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evidence timeline
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audit logs
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version history
Where applicable, each document includes:
- verification level
- metadata
- timestamps
- source information
What CTS does NOT publish:
- personal data without appropriate redactions
- confidential documents
- narrative commentary
- opinion
B. Category Scores
Scores reflect:
C. Overall Candidate Transparency Index (CTI) Transparency Score
A composite score showing how thoroughly and reliably the candidate documented their claims.
D. Evidence Timeline
A chronological record of:
- submissions
- updates
- verification events
- flags
- appeals
E. Audit Logs & Version History
Every action is:
- logged
- timestamped
- version‑locked
- publicly visible
Behavioral Scoring
The CTS Behavioral Scoring system provides a neutral, data-verified measure of how closely a candidate's legislative actions align with their public pledges. We use a four-stage institutional process to ensure accuracy and nonpartisanship.
01
Verified Pledges
Candidates submit authenticated commitments via the CTS platform. Each pledge is timestamped and archived as a permanent record of intention.
02
Action Tracking
We integrate direct feeds from legislative registries to monitor floor votes, bill sponsorships, and official policy shifts relative to specific pledges.
03
Alignment Metrics
Our algorithms compare recorded actions against original commitments, identifying consistency, divergence, or policy evolution with neutral precision.
04
Accountability Score
The final Behavioral Score is published in the guide, providing a skimmable metric for voters to assess candidate reliability over time.