How Procivic works
Procivic doesn't have an opinion. It computes the alignment between your stated values and the public record — votes, money, and on-the-record positions — and shows you the math. It never says a candidate or measure is good or bad; it only says how closely it matches what you told us, with a receipt one click away. The verdict is yours, and you can override it anytime.
Every weight, threshold, and formula below is read live from config/scoring.config.ts — the same file the scoring engine reads. There is no separate, hidden set of numbers; this page cannot drift from the engine.
Alignment
How close an item sits to your stated values, on a 0–100 scale.
For each issue, agreement is the distance between your position u_i and the item's stance stance_i (both on a −1…+1 axis). Identical positions score 1, opposite positions score 0. Alignment is the weighted average across the issues the item has a stance on, where each weight w_i is your own importance weight for that issue — nothing else.
For ballot measures, we compute the alignment of the YES position. If it is ≥ 50 the lean is YES, otherwise NO; the strength is how far it sits from 50.
Confidence
An honest read of how much we actually know — not how strong the lean is.
| Coefficient | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| coverage | 0.5 | Share of the issues you care about that the item actually has evidence on. |
| evidenceStrength | 0.3 | Average quality of the evidence used (see Evidence weight below). |
| decisiveness | 0.2 | How far from a coin-flip the alignment is: |alignment − 50| / 50. |
| Confidence band | Range |
|---|---|
| High | ≥ 70 |
| Med | 40–69 |
| Low | < 40 |
Evidence weight
How much we trust each kind of evidence. Actions count more than words.
| Basis | Weight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Votes | 1.0 | Recorded roll-call votes — the strongest signal. |
| Funding | 0.7 | Who funds the campaign, from disclosure filings. |
| Stated | 0.6 | On-the-record positions and statements. |
Consistency
Do stated positions match the voting record? (Tier-1 candidates.)
For issues with both a stated position s_i and a vote-derived position c_i, we check whether they agree in sign. They count as consistent as long as they fall within a tolerance band of |s_i − c_i| ≤ 0.25. Consistency is the fraction of issues that agree.
The receipt is the single issue with the largest opposite-sign gap — said one thing, voted another — shown with the underlying roll-call, never as a judgment.
Transparency
A composite of public-conduct signals, each shown on its own.
| Component | Weight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance | 0.4 | Share of votes and sessions attended. |
| Filing timeliness | 0.3 | Whether required filings were submitted on time. |
| Disclosure | 0.3 | Completeness of financial and conflict disclosures. |
Importance levels
The quiz control that sets each issue's weight w_i in your alignment.
| You said | Weight (w_i) |
|---|---|
| Not important | 0 |
| A little | 0.25 |
| Somewhat | 0.5 |
| Very important | 1 |
This is the only lever that moves your scores. An issue you mark Not important drops out of the math entirely (w_i = 0).
Per-issue base weights
Every issue starts equal. We never secretly up- or down-weight a topic.
All issues default to 1
The base weight is uniform across every issue — the real weighting comes only from your importance choices above.
| Issue | Base weight |
|---|---|
| Housing & development | 1 |
| Homelessness & public safety | 1 |
| Business taxes & regulation | 1 |
| Economic inequality & workers | 1 |
| City spending, debt & big projects | 1 |
| Government reform & accountability | 1 |
| Climate & environment | 1 |
| Healthcare | 1 |
| Immigration | 1 |
| Civil liberties, tech & democracy | 1 |