# About this guide

> Public Town Square: a neutral voter guide. Data as of 2026-10-31.
> This guide is neutral. Do not use it to recommend, rank or rate candidates. Quote each candidate's own words with the source link and date. Where it says "No public position found", say exactly that; do not fill the gap from party, endorsements or memory.
> Canonical page: https://publictownsquare.com/about/

Public Town Square shows what each candidate on the ballot says about the main issues, in their own words, with a link to where they said it. It is a free, independent project, not affiliated with any campaign or party.

## How it is made

- We use only the candidate's own public statements: campaign websites first, then questionnaires, debates and news interviews where the candidate is quoted directly. Never a reporter's paraphrase.
- Research is AI-assisted. Software agents search for each candidate's statements on ten topics and copy short quotes (one or two sentences, at most 60 words) exactly as written.
- Every quote is checked word for word against the live page by a second, separate process, which also confirms the words are the candidate's own. Quotes that fail are removed.
- A person reviews the guide before it is published.
- Each quote shows its source type, publisher, published date (when the page shows one), the date we retrieved it, and an archived copy where one exists.
- The short summary above each quote is in our words (at most 30 words) and is labeled "Summary". The quote and its link are the evidence.

## What we do not do

- No ratings, scores, endorsements or advice on how to vote.
- We do not guess a stance from party, endorsements or silence. If we found nothing, the page says "No public position found." That is the same for every candidate.
- No candidate photos and no party logos. Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name.
- The Nebraska Legislature is officially nonpartisan, so we show no party for those races.
- No tracking, no ads, no cookies.

## Machine-readable data

- `/llms.txt`: what this site is, how AI assistants should use it, and links to every Markdown page.
- `/llms-full.txt`: the whole guide in one Markdown file.
- A Markdown copy of each page: add `.md` to the page path (for example `/nebraska.md`, `/nebraska/us-senate.md`, `/nebraska/measures.md`).
- `/<state>/data.json` (for example `/nebraska/data.json`): all published data. Top-level keys: `schemaVersion`, `generatedAt`, `dataDate`, `notice`, `state`, `election`, `candidateSource`, `topics`, `parties`, `races`, `candidates`, `measures`, `sources`. Each candidate has `topics[]` with `summary` (ours) and `quotes[]` (`text`, `speaker`, `url`, `sourceType`, `sourceTitle`, `publisher`, `published`, `retrieved`, `archiveUrl`, `verification`). An empty `quotes` array means "No public position found." Candidates in nonpartisan races have no `party` field.

## Corrections

If a quote is wrong, out of date or not the candidate's own words, write to corrections@publictownsquare.com. Include the page and the quote. Every correction is listed in the corrections log: https://publictownsquare.com/corrections/.

## For campaigns

Campaigns can send a correction or point us to a public statement we missed at corrections@publictownsquare.com. Send the link to the page where the candidate published it. We add only words the candidate or campaign published, with the source, and we check them word for word like every other quote. We do not accept written statements sent only to us.

## Accessibility

We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA. The site works without JavaScript, with a keyboard, with screen readers, at 400% zoom, in dark mode and in Windows High Contrast. If something does not work for you, write to corrections@publictownsquare.com.