Information For Candidates

If you are a candidate for an office that Project Vote Smart covers (Presidential, Congressional, Gubernatorial, State Legislative), this page provides instructions on how to send information about yourself for inclusion in our database. If you have any questions that are not covered here, please contact Project Vote Smart's Political Courage Test Department.

Please note that Project Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or program in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.

Complete the Biographical and Political Courage Test Forms Online

Download 2010 Biographical and Political Courage Test Forms

Frequently Asked Candidate Questions:

How can I be included as a candidate on Project Vote Smart's website?
How can I update my biographical and contact information?
What about my picture?
What is the Political Courage Test? Why should I fill it out?
When will I receive my Political Courage Test?
How can I get another copy of the Political Courage Test?
What if I have filled out the Political Courage Test forms previously? Can my information be reused?
When will my Political Courage Test be posted on Project Vote Smart's website?
May I change an answer to my Political Courage Test after it's submitted?
My Political Courage Test answers are being misused. What can I do?
Can I submit position papers to supplement my responses?

How can I be included as a candidate on Project Vote Smart's website?

Project Vote Smart updates candidate information following state filing deadlines. After a state's filing deadline, all candidates running for an office we cover are entered into our database and posted on the website. With the exception of registered write-ins for the office of President, Project Vote Smart only covers those candidates who will appear on the official ballot.

After the state primaries, candidates that qualify for the General Election ballot are sent a biographical form. We will update the biographical information soon after the biographical forms are received. If your information needs to be updated or changed please contact the Political Courage Test Department.

Please send us a recent photo (professional quality head and shoulders photo preferred) and we will get it up on our website as soon as possible. Photos are accepted in hard copy (do not fax them please), email, or you can provide us your web address and we will download a picture.

The Political Courage Test is designed in collaboration with over 200 political scientists, journalists, and leaders from across the political spectrum. Months of research and reviews help ensure that the Test is as nonpartisan and unbiased as possible, and that the issues included on the Test are both the top concerns of the American people and likely to come up in the next legislative session. Candidates are free to address the issues in their own words, and have the right to change or clarify their answers at anytime. The Test is intended to measure one aspect of political courage: candidates' willingness to provide voters (their prospective employers) with this information during a campaign. A candidate's political courage is calculated based on the number of issue areas the candidate is willing to address on the Political Courage Test during the testing period. These scores will be released on Project Vote Smart's website, our partners' websites, publications, and to local, state, and national media outlets.

The Political Courage Test is administered state-by-state to candidates for President, Congress, Governor, and State Legislature. After each state's primary, candidates that qualify for the general election will be mailed the Political Courage Test. Candidates have a specified amount of time to return the Political Courage Test. After the Political Courage Test deadline passes, the information will be released to the public.

Contact Project Vote Smart at politicalcourage@votesmart.org for your login information. Alternatively, you can print off the Test form for your office from our Web site.

The Political Courage Test measures candidates' willingness to provide issue information to voters. Because the Political Courage Test is conducted every election cycle and because the issues facing elected officials may change from year to year, Project Vote Smart cannot transfer the information from a previous election to the current one. However, you may re-submit the same answers from previous years on the 2010 form with your signature.

Your responses to the Political Courage Test will be posted to our website as soon as possible after your state's deadline. Project Vote Smart must assure that all candidate responses are processed and thoroughly checked before that state's results can be released.

Yes. If you would like to change any of your answers on the Political Courage Test, please mail, fax, or email (with electronic signature) the corrections along with your signature to Project Vote Smart. We will change the information as quickly as possible. Your signature and the date are required to make any changes to your answers.

Project Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches. If you feel your answers are being used in such a fashion please contact the Political Courage Test Department immediately at 406-859-8692.

Since 2002, Project Vote Smart has offered candidates who complete the Political Courage Test an opportunity to post additional issue position papers to our website. While the Political Courage Test can be submitted by mail or fax, the position papers must be sent to PVS electronically (disk, email to positions@votesmart.org, or direct us to your web site). Those papers will be posted along with the Political Courage Test results as soon as possible after your state's deadline.