#VOTEALIGNED PROMPT
# For the ballot still sitting on your counter.
I want your help with my ballot. Give me a clear, simple
recommendation first — then back it up with neutral facts I
can verify for myself.
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STEP 1: SHOW ME YOUR BALLOT
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Upload photos of your actual ballot — every page, front and
back. Without this, the AI is guessing at which candidates
and measures are on YOUR specific ballot (they vary by
district, county, and neighborhood).
If you don't have your ballot yet:
• Search "[your county] sample ballot 2026" and upload the PDF
• Or download from your Secretary of State's voter portal
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STEP 2: QUICK QUESTIONS
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Ask me 3-5 quick multiple-choice questions about my values
and priorities. Keep them simple — most people won't want
to write essays.
Then ask my household basics (only used for measure cost
calculations, NOT for candidate matching):
• Household income range (under $50K, $50-100K, $100-200K, $200K+)
• Number of people in household
• Homeowner or renter
• Zip code
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STEP 3: FRESHNESS & VERIFICATION GATE (DO THIS BEFORE STEP 4)
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Before recommending or researching any race, do these checks:
1. CONFIRM THE RACE IS STILL ACTIVE
• Has the election been delayed, cancelled, or restructured?
• Are all listed candidates still actively running? (People
drop out, get disqualified, or die between when ballots
are printed and when they're voted.)
• If a candidate has withdrawn, say so clearly and skip
them.
2. APPLY THE TWO-SOURCE RULE
• For any factual claim, you must find at least TWO
independent current sources.
• If you can't find two independent sources for a race,
say "insufficient verified information for this race"
and STOP. Do not complete the template. Do not infer to
fill sections. Do not cite a single source twice as
"two sources."
• Acceptable independent sources: OpenSecrets, FollowTheMoney,
FEC, state campaign finance databases, Ballotpedia, court
records, official Bar Association ratings, primary news
reporting from outlets with editorial standards.
• NOT acceptable as sole sources: campaign websites, the
candidate's social media, partisan blogs, AI-generated
summaries, Wikipedia without checking its citations.
3. FLAG RESEARCH GAPS SEPARATELY
• After each race, include a short "What I couldn't verify"
note listing anything you searched for but couldn't
confirm.
• This is more useful than burying "no info" inside one
section. It shows the user exactly where their own
judgment takes over.
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STEP 4: THE SIMPLE RECOMMENDATION (FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY)
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For each race that passed the verification gate, give me a
short, clear take:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
RACE: [Name of office]
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
🎯 BEST FIT FOR YOUR VALUES: [Candidate name]
One-sentence reason.
🔄 BACKUP OPTION: [Candidate name]
One-sentence reason.
⛔ AVOID: [Candidate name, if any]
One-sentence reason (must be a documented factual concern,
not a political disagreement).
⚠️ WHAT I COULDN'T VERIFY:
• [Specific gap]
• If nothing: write "Verified all key facts for this race."
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
For ballot measures:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
MEASURE: [Letter / number / name]
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
📋 WHAT IT DOES: One plain-language sentence.
💰 COSTS YOU: ~$X/year based on your household (source:
official fiscal analysis).
🎯 BEST FIT FOR YOUR VALUES: YES / NO
One-sentence reason.
⚠️ WHAT I COULDN'T VERIFY:
• [Specific gap]
• If nothing: write "Verified all key facts."
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
If a race did NOT pass the verification gate, say so here
instead of guessing. Example:
"RACE: [Name] — Insufficient verified information. I could
not independently confirm donor data, voting records, or
endorsements for the candidates in this race. Recommend you
research directly via your county elections office before
voting."
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STEP 5: THE FACTS UNDERNEATH (FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO VERIFY)
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After Step 4, tell me:
"Above is my quick read. Below are the neutral facts I was
able to verify on each candidate so you can verify or push
back. Anything I couldn't verify is marked clearly."
Then deliver the following for each candidate (top pick,
backup, AND anyone in the "avoid" category) — but ONLY
include sections where you have two independent verified
sources. Do not invent content to fill sections.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
CANDIDATE NAME — [Race / Office] — [Party, if listed]
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
#1 VOTING RECORD
[Only include this section if verified. Otherwise write:
"Could not verify voting record from two independent sources."]
• [Specific bill or vote, year, what it did] — [citation 1],
[citation 2]
• If no voting record exists (e.g., first-time candidate):
state clearly.
#2 TOP DONORS & FUNDING SOURCES
[Only include if verified.]
• [Top 3-5 donors by dollar amount] — [citation 1], [citation 2]
• [Industry sector breakdown]
• [PACs, super PACs, dark money] — [citations]
#3 PUBLIC STATEMENTS vs. ACTIONS
[Only include if verified.]
• [Stated position] vs. [actual vote/action] — [citations]
• [Documented position changes] — [citations]
• [Direct quotes] — [citations]
#4 ENDORSEMENTS
[Only include if verified.]
• [Endorsing organizations and individuals] — [citations]
• [Notable refusals to endorse] — [citations]
#5 CHARACTER & INTEGRITY — DOCUMENTED FACTS ONLY
[Only include verified facts. Do not infer character from
political positions. If clean: state "No documented
character flags found in available sources."]
• [Documented: election denial, fraud findings, ethics
violations, perjury, sexual misconduct findings, harassment
settlements, criminal charges, plagiarism, misuse of
public funds] — [citations]
#6 FOR JUDICIAL CANDIDATES ONLY
[Only include if verified.]
• [Bar Association rating] — [citation]
• [Years of legal experience, practice type]
• [Notable rulings if sitting judge] — [citations]
• [Disciplinary history] — [citations]
#7 WHAT I COULDN'T VERIFY
• [Each specific gap listed here]
• Be honest about scope of unverified info.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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STEP 6: GENERATE A SECOND-OPINION PROMPT
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After Step 5, generate a custom second-opinion prompt I can
paste into a DIFFERENT AI tool to cross-check your work.
Format it like this, ready to copy:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
SECOND-OPINION PROMPT — COPY AND PASTE INTO A DIFFERENT AI
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
"I got the following recommendations and facts from another
AI tool on my ballot. Please independently verify the
factual claims using current web sources, apply the
two-source rule (any claim needs two independent verified
sources), and flag:
1. Any factual claim you cannot confirm
2. Any citation that doesn't check out or appears fabricated
3. Any candidate or race information that is out of date
(withdrawn candidates, cancelled races, etc.)
4. Any place where you'd disagree with the recommendation
based on the facts — and why
5. Anything important about a candidate, measure, or race
that the original analysis missed
Do NOT just agree to be agreeable. Push back where
warranted. I want to know where two AI tools disagree,
because that's where I need to do my own research.
Here is the original analysis to verify:
[PASTE THE STEP 4 + STEP 5 OUTPUT HERE]"
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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NON-NEGOTIABLE RULES
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• THE TWO-SOURCE RULE IS HARD. No claim makes it into Step 5
without two independent verified sources. If you can only
find one, list it under "What I couldn't verify."
• NEVER INVENT A CITATION. If you're tempted to fill a section
with plausible-sounding info, stop. Mark it unverified
instead. Hallucinated citations are the single biggest
failure mode of this tool.
• FRESHNESS FIRST. Confirm the race is still active and
candidates still running before recommending.
• CITE EVERYTHING in Step 5. Preferred sources: OpenSecrets,
FollowTheMoney, FEC, state campaign finance databases,
Ballotpedia, court records, Bar Association ratings,
primary news reporting.
• PERSONAL COST CALCULATIONS only for ballot measures, never
for candidates.
• TRUTH OVER COMFORT. If a candidate has a documented
character flag, include it. Don't soften. Don't omit.
• NO PARTY DEFAULT. Treat each candidate on their record.
• WATCH YOUR BIAS. If you notice yourself adding interpretive
language to the facts section, strip it back.
• ALWAYS GENERATE THE SECOND-OPINION PROMPT. Even if you're
confident in your analysis, the user benefits from a
cross-check.
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A NOTE ON AI BIAS
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No AI is neutral. Every model carries biases from its
training data, its creators, and its owners — including
the model you're using right now.
Multiple independent studies have tried to measure AI
political bias, but results vary significantly by methodology.
Some studies find Claude most centrist; others find Gemini
or Perplexity more balanced on certain question types.
Several studies have found Grok (xAI) to be the most
politically volatile of the major models, though the
specific measurements are debated.
The honest takeaway: don't trust any single AI's political
recommendations as final. The best practice is to:
• Use the Step 5 facts (which are verifiable) more than the
Step 4 recommendation (which carries some AI bias).
• If a recommendation feels off, check the facts and decide
for yourself.
• Use the Step 6 second-opinion prompt to cross-check this
analysis in a different AI tool. Significant disagreement
between models is a flag worth investigating.
NOTE: Make sure your AI tool can read images. Claude, ChatGPT,
and Gemini all handle ballot photos well. If yours can't,
switch tools or type out the races manually.
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START HERE
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Ask me my quick values questions and household basics. Then
run the freshness and verification gate. Then deliver Step 4
(simple recommendation), Step 5 (the verified facts
underneath), and Step 6 (the second-opinion prompt I can
paste into a different AI).
Vote Aligned with your values
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