How did your elected official vote on important bills in the most recent legislative session? Does he “talk like a conservative but vote like a liberal”? The Toolbox offers these resources to help you find out!
The following seven websites report the voting records of Wisconsin elected officials. Six are hosted by conservative organizations while one (Ballotpedia) is nonpartisan. Some report only the voting records of members of Congress while others include state elected officials. Scores differ because some organizations focus on economic issues while others focus on social issues.
The American Conservative Union has a scorecard for all members of Congress plus all state elected officials. Last updated with voting records from 2020, a search for Wisconsin state legislators produces a list that starts with the highest (most conservative) scores that year plus lifetime scores. Click here: http://ratings.conservative.org/people?level=state&state=WI&year=2021.
American Family Association has a tool that allows you to click on your state to get profiles of all federal and state candidates for public office in Wisconsin and a dial indicating if they are liberal or conservative. Click here: https://ivoterguide.com/all-in-state/Wisconsin/?ElecK=803. You can also volunteer to help them rank more candidates.
Ballotpedia collects survey results for tens of thousands of candidates nationwide. Click here: https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose the “2022 Elections” button and then the level of government (Congress, governors, etc.). The only municipal offices in Wisconsin covered by the site are in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, and Dane County (Madison).
The John Birch Society produces a Congressional Scorecard and “Freedom Index” rating members of Congress based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements. Click here: https://thenewamerican.com/freedom-index/.
FreedomWorks also maintains a scorecard for all members of Congress, including vote records for 2020, 2021, and so far in 2022. It tracks fewer votes than does Heritage Action. Click here: https://www.freedomworks.org/content/scorecards.
Heritage Action maintains a very sophisticated scorecard for all members of Congress that is continuously updated. You can search by zip code or name of the elected officials. Click here: https://heritageaction.com/scorecard/.
iVoter Guide partners with more than 60 conservative organizations and leaders. It has analyzed more than 96 million donation records, more than 3,000 endorsing organizations, and 403 legislative scorecards across all 50 states. It estimates it averages about 4 hours of research per candidate. Click here for the Wisconsin iVoter Guide: https://ivoterguide.com/all-in-state/wi.
Wisconsin Conservative Coalition released its 2021-22 Legislator Scorecard for Northeast Wisconsin state representatives and senators on December 28, 2022. It also has produced scorecards for 2015-16 and 2017-18. Click here: https://www.wi-cc.com/scorecard.html.
Wisconsin Family Action released in September 2022 a legislative scorecard for the 2021-2022 legislative session. It is a compilation of significant floor votes and committee votes on a cross-section of legislative proposals dealing with marriage, family, the sanctity of human life, or religious freedom. Click here: https://wifamilyaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Text-with-Tables-of-Scorecard_web_version_2022.pdf.