Selection and Descriptions of Congressional Key Votes
Project Vote Smart provides easy access to Congressional voting records and
maintains a collection of key votes grouped by issue. Key votes typically
include the initial passage of legislation and final conference report
votes versions (the compromised versions of bills passed in separate House
and Senate version.). PVS uses the following criteria to select key votes:
1. The vote should be helpful in portraying how a member of Congress
stands on a particular issue
2. The vote should be clear for any person to understand
3. The vote has received national media attention
4. The vote was passed or defeated by a very close margin
5. Occasionally, a specific bill is consistently inquired about on the
PVS Hotline; the vote is added to the web site
Descriptions of the votes are written by PVS staff and based on information
included in the Congressional Record, with additional background
information from newspapers, magazines, etc.
Key votes selected by PVS staff go through an approval process before web
site posting, with five political scientists of opposing viewpoints
reviewing both the selection and the content. This is to ensure clarity,
relevance, nonpartisanship and accuracy. After the approval process is
completed, the votes are ready to go into the database and subsequently
on-line.
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