ScorecardsResults and publishingConcept
Reading the results
What each of a scorecard's tabs shows — Legislators, Bills, Matrix, Distribution, Map, Tiles and Methodology — and how filters work.
A scorecard's page shows its scores as a set of tabs, each a different way into the same numbers. Above them, a line counts how many legislators are scored and how many have an insufficient record, and the grade bands are written out. The tabs a scorecard shows, and their order, are its author's choice; see Display options.
Wherever a legislator appears — a row, a column, a tile, a district — select them to open their arithmetic. Select a bill to read its full record in a panel. Neither loses your place.
Legislators#
Every scored legislator in a table — name, party, chamber, district, a bar for the score, and the score with its grade — highest score first unless the author saved another order. Select a column heading to sort by it. Legislators with an insufficient record are listed below the rest, under their own heading, with how many bills they could be scored on: listed, never dropped.
Bills#
The bills the scores are built from: each bill's number and title, your organization's position (Support or Oppose), its weight and its public rationale. It opens in the scorecard's own order, or the order its author saved; select a heading to sort.
Matrix#
Legislators down the side, highest score first, and bills across the top with the position under each. Each cell shows what the legislator did on that bill:
| Mark | Means |
|---|---|
| ✓ | Agreed with the position |
| ✗ | Disagreed |
| NV | Didn't vote |
| – | Not seated at the time, or not recorded in the roll call |
| (blank) | No vote in this chamber |
Patterns show here first: a bloc that broke the same way on one bill, or a member who missed a run of votes.
Distribution#
Each scored legislator as a column, ranked left to right from the highest score, on a 0–100 scale. Point at a column to see who it is. It shows the shape of the scores at a glance — whether they spread out or bunch together. Legislators with an insufficient record aren't drawn; the caption counts them.
Map#
A map for each chamber, its districts filled on a scale from red (0) through yellow (50) to green (100) by the score of the member who holds the seat — or, where a district elects more than one, the average of their scores. The legend marks two more fills: Insufficient record, and No one in this scorecard. Point at a district to see who holds it. Where CapitolMath has no district map for a legislature yet, the tab says so.
Tiles#
A card for each legislator — photo, party, chamber and district, and score — in ranked order, insufficient records last.
Methodology#
How the scorecard scored, in plain sentences written from its settings: who was scored, on how many bills and of what weight, the rule for missing votes, the minimum, and the grade bands. Because the product writes it, it can't disagree with the scores. Below, two short codes fingerprint the inputs and the scores: the same votes and settings always give the same codes.
Filters#
When the scorecard allows it, Filters narrows the legislators (by chamber, party, grade or score) or the bills (by outcome, chamber of origin, weight, or whether they have a rationale). Each option shows how many it would leave. Filters never change a score; they change what's shown. Your changes last until you leave the page.
Beside the tabs, Find my legislators narrows the legislators to the ones who represent an address, when the scorecard offers it. See Finding your representatives by address.