Transparent Advisory Voting Metrics -- PAPA's 'PADDLE'

---

AV Metrics provide the first step of a two-step performance evaluation of the relationship between legislators and their constituents. This first step involves measuring constituent input.  (The second step will be to evaluate outcomes - see Accountability Scorecards). 

To monitor constituent input, on a daily basis the PAPA website will update for public view, national cumulative tallies of all Advisory Votes ‘for’ and ‘against’ each active bill. These separate cumulative Advisory Vote tallies are part of general Advisory Voting Metrics. While these metrics are actually calculated separately for each bill AND for each elected official, for the public only the general Advisory Voting Metrics are displayed - which are the cumulative tallies for all members of each chamber. In other words, for a specific House bill the 'yes' tallies are summed for all representatives and 'no' tallies are summed for all representatives and then displayed as public, or general, Advisory Voting Metrics. Likewise for a Senate bill, yea and nay Advisory Votes are each summed for all senators and also displayed as general, Advisory Voting Metrics.  On a daily basis these public, or general, tallies create ‘immediate’ and on-going public transparency for the volume and voting direction submitted by constituents to Congress on any bill. 

These same general Advisory Voting Metrics also serve as ‘instant polls’ of voter sentiment for each bill - available for political analyses. But note that these PAPA ‘polls’ are generated using neutral procedures and using much larger ‘polling’ populations than any traditional poll could hope to achieve, and they are acquired without any intentional bias in sampling the population. The PAPA ‘polls’ also assure all respondents are actual voters - a certainty most traditional polls cannot claim.  But similar to traditional polls, the identity of Advisory Voters are not made public (see the confidentiality  section on the previous page).  Advisory Voting Metrics, or tallies, continue to ‘grow’ until the bill is voted on by each chamber of Congress.   See accompanying examples for further differentiation between general and detailed Advisory Voting Metrics.   

Once the Political Advisory Panel of America is established, an example of public Advisory Voting Metrics for H.R. 1000 may look like this:  

• “As of Sept. 4, 2020:  417,760 yea interim Advisory Votes and 18,507 nay interim Advisory Votes were submitted to Representatives in the House through the Political Advisory Panel of America for H.R. 1000." 
• “As of Sept. 4, 2020: H.R. 1000 has a positive reception by 96% of the interim Advisory Vote count (‘pseudo popular’ vote) and 95% of the Congressional Districts ('pseudo electoral' Advisory Vote) reporting through PAPA. 
• "The House of Representatives has not yet voted on this bill; therefore, additional Advisory Votes are possible.”  
• “Note that by comparison, many traditional published national polls are typically tabulated from LESS THAN 1,000 participants, NOT all of whom may be voters.” 

Citizens who become Verified and Registered (VAR) Participants on the panel AND cast an Advisory Vote on a bill will ALSO have access to detailed Advisory Voting Metrics on that bill. Detailed Advisory Voting Metrics are also daily cumulative tallies of yes and no Advisory Votes, but they are customized to an individual representative in a Congressional District for House bills, or customized to individual senators for Senate bills. 

Once PAPA is established, an example of detailed Advisory Voting Metrics for H.R. 1000 may look like this:  

• “As of Sept. 4, 2020: Representative A.B. Smith from (State)  House District 123 received 2,127 yea Advisory Votes (97% of AV cast to date) and 63 nay Advisory Votes (3% of AV cast to date) submitted through the Political Advisory Panel of America for H.R. 1000." 
• "The House of Representatives has not yet voted on this bill; therefore, additional Advisory Votes are possible from House District 123.”  

Advisory Voters can also independently compare their personal Advisory Vote on a bill to the detailed Advisory Voting Metrics from their district.  

For voters, Advisory Voting Metrics are analogous to the use of a discipline paddle for the purpose of getting the attention of legislators - by delivering ‘reinforcement’ of constituents’ instructions through documentation.