The PledgeAsk us the hard question first
These are the questions we expect, answered before anyone has to ask twice.
Isn't this secretly partisan?
Check the Rules. Every issue we test has to clear 70% national support and 60% support inside both major parties, in at least three independent pollsters from the Qualifying Pollster List. We've already rejected a popular issue for failing that exact test: the Marquette Law School Poll found 61% of Americans opposed the 2024 presidential immunity ruling, but only 32% of Republicans did. It is rejected and published on On Deck with the same visibility as anything that qualified.
Is there a list of Planks yet?
No. No plank is adopted before the first Review Window, which opens the day after the November 3, 2026 election and runs 90 days. A plank ratified in the Window takes effect at ratification or at the seating of the 120th Congress, whichever is later. Two issues show as Qualified on On Deck, Congressional Term Limits and a Binding Supreme Court Ethics Code. The founder accepted both statuses on October 19, 2026, so the slate stands at two qualified planks. They are candidates, not Planks, until a Review Window adopts them.
How does an issue become a Plank?
It has to pass all five tests in the Rules. The first test is polling: at least 70% of Americans and at least 60% inside each major party, in at least three independent pollsters from the Qualifying Pollster List, spanning at least 18 months. Planks are added only in the Review Window after each federal general election. There is never more than five, and three is better. If more issues qualify than the cap allows, the strongest evidence goes in first.
Which pollsters count?
Only pollsters on the published Qualifying Pollster List. A pollster gets on the list with a Silver Bulletin rating of B or better, or, for institutional and academic pollsters without an election grade, with current rigor markers: AAPOR Transparency Initiative membership, or a Roper Center data deposit in the last five years. The list is versioned and frozen between Review Windows. A poll this movement commissions never counts, even from a pollster on the list. The movement may invite a pollster to join the Transparency Initiative or deposit its data. It never pays for the polling.
Isn't a stock-trading ban just an anti-corruption talking point for one side?
The polling says no. Across the four counted polls, the median support for banning stock trading by members of Congress is 74% nationally, 78% among Republicans and 71.5% among Democrats. The issue is still Pending on On Deck, because only two of the three required pollsters are on the Qualifying Pollster List. One more admitted pollster moves it.
Background checks on all gun sales are a gun-control position. Why is that being tested?
Because anyone can nominate an issue, and every nominated issue gets the same five tests. We describe it by what it does: closing the background-check exemption for private and gun-show sales. It is Near-Qualified on On Deck. Three admitted pollsters put the medians at 88% nationally, 86% among Republicans and 92% among Democrats. It is not qualified, because the newest result is from August 2025 and the recency rule lapsed on August 4, 2026. If the data stops supporting it, it stays off the list, like any other issue.
Are you just going to water down your standards once an issue you like fails?
No. The bars are locked: 70%, 60%, three pollsters, 18 months. Term limits need a constitutional amendment, which takes two thirds of each chamber, and we're not lowering that bar to make it easier. We're not lowering the polling bar to make a favorite issue qualify sooner either. Background checks poll at 88% and are still Near-Qualified, because the recency rule has lapsed. When more issues qualify than the cap allows, the strongest evidence goes in first, and any exception to that order is published with its reasons.
How do I nominate an issue?
Use the Submit a Plank form. It asks for a one-sentence outcome, the exact mechanism, and links to at least two polls from the Qualifying Pollster List with party crosstabs. Nominations go through the public form, not by email. A nomination sent today waits for the next Review Window.
Isn't asking a nominee to promise compliance under oath a litmus test?
Asking an official to promise to follow the law isn't a litmus test. It's the job description. The oath already exists. We're checking they mean it, and only for the office responsible for carrying out a Plank that's already been enacted through the normal legislative process.
What happens if a hostile Congress buries a Plank inside unrelated legislation?
The bill gets the label TAINTED. That label means the bill can no longer prove who supports the plank. It does not say the added material is good or bad. On a tainted bill, the up-or-down vote does not move a member's verdict in either direction. Members are graded only on the clean-path levers published for that bill, such as a strip motion, a division of the bill, a discharge petition, or a clean reintroduction. Signers are expected to sponsor a clean vehicle within 30 session days. See the Report Card. Signers are never forced to choose between breaking the Pledge and voting for an unrelated rider.
Who runs this?
Short bio pending. We'd rather publish it once it's written well than rush a placeholder, and we're not going to pretend otherwise.
Does AI help build this?
Yes. AI tools help one person run this. Every word is human-approved and every claim links to its source. Audit us.
Adopted publicly, before launch, permanently
- Open ledger before the first dollar. Financial transparency infrastructure exists before fundraising does. Every dollar in and out, published.
- Compensation policy before the first dollar. Written, public, and boring, adopted before there is anything to pay anyone with.
- No endorsements. No candidate money. Ever. The Pledge grades. It does not pick. Not a dollar to or from any candidate or party.
- AI transparency. AI is used openly as a tool, with a human deciding everything that ships. No synthetic supporters, no bot amplification, no inflated anything: published policy, standing invitation to audit.
- Real numbers only. Signature counts, finances, reach: actual figures, prominently displayed, especially while they are small.
- No paid candidate-specific communications until the legal structure to do them correctly exists, reviewed by election counsel.
- No one is load-bearing. The movement is designed to outlive every individual in it, including its founder.
- The founder will never be a candidate. For any office. This movement is not a launchpad, an audition, or an onramp into politics.
How AI is actually used here
AI tools help draft copy, research polling and legislation, and organize the evidence behind every dossier on this site. A human reads, checks, and approves everything before it publishes. No AI-generated persona ever speaks as if it were a person. No engagement, follower count, or signature on this site is synthetic or purchased.
Every factual claim on this site links to its source. If you find one that doesn't, or one where the source doesn't say what we claim, tell us. That's not a hypothetical invitation. We mean it literally: audit us.
Ready to sign? Take the Voter Pledge.