Trust is part of the design.

Sources stay visible

Legislative claims need original records, the version examined and a checked date. A sponsor's statement, bill text, independent estimate and our interpretation are not interchangeable.

Numbers mean what they say

Each Your Next Step report is one completed action for one goal. Calling about different goals can earn separate milestones. Repeating the same library step for the same goal and date does not add another action. YouTube discussions count once per video across all goals; letters, video discussions and state-office contacts appear in the private organizing review and personal milestones, not the five-count public scorecard. When a daily-total report overlaps library steps, we use the higher of the daily total or distinct eligible library steps, never their sum. Personal milestones are private self-reports, not verified policy wins.

New members: first-time email confirmations during the reporting period that are still active when the scorecard is prepared. The active-member total is the number of active confirmed subscriptions when the scorecard was prepared, not a count of verified unique people or petition signatures.

Calls, town halls, campaign shares and volunteer tasks: separate self-reported activity totals supported by email confirmation. General office contact is not automatically counted as a call. Count only calls you personally completed with office staff or by leaving a voicemail. Unanswered attempts, opening a phone link and copying a script do not count.

Weeks run Monday through Sunday in Pacific time. Counts enter the week in which your report becomes eligible after email confirmation and any required count review. It does not claim every reported activity happened during that week. Running totals may include previously unreported activities from earlier weeks, which are identified separately.

Enter your personal daily total from 1 to 100 for each activity type. Repeated confirmed reports for the same contact, activity type and activity date use the highest total instead of being added together. Only eligible reports count; anonymous, unconfirmed, withdrawn-before-approval, suppressed and test reports are excluded from live results.

Activities older than the 180-day matching window are excluded from new scorecards, including late confirmations or long gaps between weekly reports.

Simple structured counts can be recorded automatically. Unusual reports are held out for private review: more than 10 calls, 2 town halls, 20 shares or 5 volunteer tasks in a day, or more than 30, 5, 75 or 20 respectively in any seven-day period. More than six reports from one email within ten minutes also triggers review. These are starting review thresholds, not targets or proof of dishonesty. A held report stays out until Dr. Ed explicitly clears it; exclusion and weekly approval are separate decisions. A public scorecard is a frozen aggregate snapshot released only after Dr. Ed approves that exact weekly review. Private notes and requests for public excerpts remain separate and require review. Previously published anonymous aggregate totals remain as historical records after a private report is withdrawn.

Local participation: a state has a founding group after at least five active confirmed subscribers. This is not a staffed chapter; DC and territories are separate, and smaller local counts stay private.

Review is not verification

Public examples carry “Community-reported · Reviewed for publication.” We remove private information, threats, impersonation and spam. Respectful policy disagreement is welcome.

No daily moderation promise

Ed runs this without paid campaign staff. Not every submission receives a reply or is published. Intake can pause without closing information or privacy controls.

Accessibility

Large text, readable forms, keyboard access and a list alternative to visual displays are design requirements. We aim for WCAG 2.2 AA. A completed independent accessibility audit is still required before claiming conformance.