Glossary

PolitiClaw compares the stances you declare with what your representatives actually do. These are the names for the pieces of that comparison. Where the dashboard uses a shorter label, the entry says so.

An issue stance is what the tagline means by a value you declare.

What you declare

Issue stance

Your position on one issue: support, oppose, or neutral, plus how much it matters to you. The weight runs from 1 to 5.

Stance signal

Your reaction to one bill: agree, disagree, or skip. You can tie that reaction to a single issue stance, or let it cover every stance the bill matches. When you have reacted yourself, that reaction is the one your scores use, even if a reading of the bill text points the other way.

On the dashboard, Quick vote on recent bills is where you record this. Agree means you would want the bill to pass. Disagree means you would want it to fail.

Bill direction

Whether the bill's text moves an issue stance forward or works against it. With Auto-Rated Direction off, your own signals are the only input. Turn it on and PolitiClaw can read bills you have not reacted to yet. A reaction you record still takes priority.

What your representative did

Roll call

One question the House or Senate decided together, and the result. "Passed 218–215" is the roll call.

Vote

How your representative answered that roll call: Yea, Nay, Present, or Not Voting. Present and Not Voting are kept on the record, and they leave the alignment score unchanged.

"Vote" on these pages is that answer. "PolitiClaw never tells you how to vote" is about your ballot.

Alignment

How often your representative's Yea and Nay votes line up with the reactions you recorded on those bills. When there is too little to go on, you see insufficient data instead of a percentage. See How My Reps Align walks through the score.

Aligned

Your representative's Yea or Nay matches the reaction you recorded. You agreed and they voted Yea, or you disagreed and they voted Nay.

Conflicted

Your representative's Yea or Nay goes the other way from the reaction you recorded. You can support an issue and still disagree with one bill. If you disagreed, a Yea on that bill is conflicted, even when the bill's text would move the issue forward.

Accountability mode

How much follow-up you want when a score shows a real gap:

• Self-serve — you get the facts, and you decide what to do.
• Nudge me — PolitiClaw adds a short "your move" note.
• Draft for me — that note, plus a letter ready for you to edit. You still send it.

This setting is about follow-up. Monitoring mode is about how often PolitiClaw checks in.

Your election

Ballot

The contests on the ballot you mark. Understand My Ballot walks through them. PolitiClaw can explain a contest. It will not choose a mark for you.

How PolitiClaw checks in

Monitoring mode

How often PolitiClaw looks, and what it is allowed to bring up: paused, quiet watch, weekly digest, action-only, or full copilot. Action-only stays quiet except when an election is near or something you track changes. Letters and reminders are a separate choice.

Prompting

Whether PolitiClaw may suggest a next step when something you care about changes. On the dashboard the switch is labeled Auto-suggest action moments. With it off, the checks still run. New suggestions wait until you ask.

Trigger

The reason PolitiClaw thought a change was worth raising: a bill coming up, a hearing on the calendar, the same conflict showing up again, or an election getting close. That reason can come up without a suggestion being saved, for example when prompting is off.

Offer

A suggestion PolitiClaw saved for you, such as writing a letter, making a call, or setting a reminder. The suggestion can be waiting before any of those exist. Open ones are listed on the dashboard under Open actions. You can dismiss one.

Reminder

A short checklist tied to a bill, a hearing, or an election date. You can have a reminder on its own, with no suggestion attached. A step that says to check ballot status is still a checklist item. Your ballot is the contests themselves.

What you send

Letters and call scripts are drafts you deliver yourself. PolitiClaw never sends the mail or places the call. See Draft Outreach.

Letter

A draft you can copy and send to a representative about one issue stance. Recent letters on the dashboard is this list.

Call script

A short script for calling a representative, with the office number PolitiClaw has on file. You place the call.

Outreach

A letter or a call script. PolitiClaw can suggest outreach before it has written either one. A call script is its own draft. It leaves any letter you already have in place.

One bill, walked through

You say you support public lands. That is an issue stance.

A bill's text would strengthen those protections, so its bill direction is that it advances your stance. You still disagree with this particular bill, and you say so. That disagree is your stance signal, and it is the reaction your score uses.

The House holds a roll call on passage. Your representative votes Yea. That vote is conflicted with your disagree. A Present on the same roll call would stay on the record and leave the score unchanged.

A hearing on the bill a few days earlier is a trigger. With prompting on, PolitiClaw saves an offer: a suggestion that you might want to do something. A letter it drafts after that is yours to send. A reminder for the hearing is a checklist for the date, separate from the letter. In November the same subject may show up beside a candidate on your ballot. PolitiClaw can explain the contest. It will not tell you how to mark it.