Nobody’s hand on the scale.
Not even ours.
Version 1.0, in force from October 30, 2026. United States only.
The Fair Forward Engine decides what people are asked on My Vote Forward, and how it is worded. It applies the same tests to every subject, every issue and every word. Nobody gets a hand on the scale, and that includes the people who run My Vote Forward.
1. Nobody writes the wording by hand
- Every word a person answers on the Top 10 board comes out of this engine, and only after it passes every test below.
- The founder, staff, sponsors, campaigns and candidates cannot write, edit, approve or veto wording.
- What a person can do, anyone included: suggest a subject or an issue, and report a problem with a question. Both go through the same tests as everything else.
- These rules change only in public. A new version is published with its date and reason at least 30 days before it is used, and a rule change may never name or target a single question.
2. The ten subjects
- A subject is a broad area of government responsibility named in plain words, never a position. “Immigration” is a subject. “Border security” is a side.
- There are ten, the same ten for everyone.
- Anyone can suggest a subject. The engine first asks whether the suggestion is already covered inside one of the ten. Most are, and they become issue suggestions there.
- A suggestion that fits no current subject becomes a subject candidate, listed in public with its count.
- The ten change once a year, on a published review date. The first is October 28, 2027. The rule for choosing between candidates is published 90 days before that date, built on the suggestions received.
3. The issues under each subject
Each subject holds five issues. Each issue has a short topic, a question in plain words, and two sides.
Writing tests (checked by code, every time)
- A real choice. Two different positions, each written as what its supporters want. Positions only, never reasons: reasons are where slant hides.
- Even length. The longer side is no more than four words longer than the shorter.
- No loaded words. Words that argue instead of describe are refused (the list is published in the engine and only grows).
- No labels. No party, politician or ideology names: no Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, progressive, left or right.
- A fair question. The question asks, it does not assume. It ends with a question mark and stays under 14 words.
- Plain words. No side uses more than one long word (four syllables or more), not counting words the subject needs, like “immigration” or “Medicaid”.
- Short. A side is 12 words or fewer, so it fits on a phone and a share card.
The fairness panel (checked by AI, every time)
Each issue goes to four reviewers. Each one runs in a fresh session and sees only its own role:
- A committed supporter of the first side. Is my side described the way I would describe it? Is the other side described the way its own supporters would?
- A committed supporter of the second side. The same two questions, from the other side.
- A survey methodologist. Does the question assume an answer? Is it one idea? Is it a real debate with real support on both sides? Is the middle a real place to stand?
- A plain-language reader. Can I understand the question and both sides in five seconds?
Each reviewer scores from 0 to 10. The panel runs twice, with the sides shown in both orders, so the first side never gets an edge.
The bar rises in phases, and it only ever rises.
- Phase 1, before there are real answers (from October 30, 2026): an issue passes when every reviewer’s average across both orders is 8 or higher, and no single score is below 6.
- Phase 2, once real answers come in: every score from every reviewer must be 8 or higher, and contested wordings are split-tested on real readers, with both results published.
Every score is published, passing or not, so anyone can see how close each question came.
An issue that fails is rewritten by the engine, keeping the same two positions, and the rewrite faces the whole panel again from the start. Nothing is published until it passes.
Which side sits on the left
- The left and right of a slider never mean a party.
- The engine checks the whole set: for each issue the panel names which side is more often associated with each major party, and the engine counts where those sides sit. No more than 60% of either party’s sides may sit on the same side of the board.
- New issues get their placement from a public coin: the first character of the SHA-256 hash of the issue’s id. Even keeps the order as drafted, odd swaps it. Anyone can check it.
4. Changes are permanent records
- Every issue carries a version number. A change in wording is a new version with its date, its test scores and the reason.
- Answers stay tied to the wording a person actually answered.
- The full ledger, every test score included, is published.
5. Did the founder guide the wording?
The founder of My Vote Forward gave the engine one instruction: build it as evenly as possible. He did not write, edit or choose the wording of any question. He trusted the engine with it, and these rules hold him to that the same as everyone else.
6. Urgent: when something cannot wait a year
- Only a public fact can make an issue urgent, never a person: a bill scheduled for a floor vote in Congress or a state legislature, or a federal major disaster declaration.
- The engine writes the question under every rule above and the same panel tests it. It appears as an urgent card until the vote happens, for 30 days at most.
- Candidates have 14 days to answer an urgent question before their record shows it as not answered yet.
- Every urgent decision is logged in public, including the facts the engine looked at and declined.
7. What’s new: the people set the order
- New issues and new bills, and the suggestions people send, appear in their own area as cards with their questions.
- There, people can only prioritize: what matters most. The counts are public.
- The most prioritized issues are first in line when the ten subjects and their issues are reviewed each year.
Where every question stands today
Latest test: 2026-10-30. 6 of 50 issues pass the phase 1 bar. Issues that have not passed stay live in their current wording while the engine keeps rewriting them, and every rewrite faces the whole panel again. Balance check: of the issues with a clear party lean, 57% of one party’s sides sit on the same side of the board (the limit is 60%).
| Subject | Question | One side | Other side | Version | Latest test | Lowest score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education | How much job protection should teachers have? | Keep tenure protections for teachers | Make it easier to replace teachers based on results | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Education | Where should public school money go? | Let public money follow students to the school their family picks | Keep public money in neighborhood public schools | 1 | Not yet | 7 |
| Education | How much standardized testing should schools do? | Fewer standardized tests, more class time | Regular standardized tests to measure progress | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Education | Which would do more to make schools safer? | Have more police officers working in schools | Have more counselors and mental health staff in schools | 2 | Not yet | 7 |
| Education | Who should pay for community college? | Students and families pay, with loans and aid | Free community college paid by taxes | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Jobs and Prices | Should the minimum wage go up? | Raise the minimum wage | Let employers and the market set wages | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Jobs and Prices | Should taxes and public services go up or down? | Lower taxes, fewer public services | Higher taxes, more public services | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Jobs and Prices | How strict should rules on businesses be? | Stronger rules that protect workers | Fewer rules so small businesses can grow | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Jobs and Prices | Should it be easier to form a union? | Leave union choices to each worker | Make it easier to form unions | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Jobs and Prices | Should government step in to hold prices down? | Government steps in to hold prices down | Let prices settle on their own | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Health | How should people get health coverage? | Private insurance with more plans to choose from | A public plan that covers everyone | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Health | Who should set drug prices? | Government negotiates drug prices | Competition sets drug prices | 1 | Not yet | 7 |
| Health | Where should health money go first? | Prevention and public health | Hospitals and treatment | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Health | Who should Medicaid cover? | Keep Medicaid limited, with work requirements | Expand Medicaid to more people | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Health | Who decides on school vaccines? | School vaccine requirements | Parents decide on vaccines | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Housing | Who decides what housing gets built? | Allow more apartments in every neighborhood | Keep local control over what gets built | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Housing | Should there be limits on rent increases? | Let rents follow the market so more gets built | Limit how fast rents can rise | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Housing | What comes first for people without homes? | Housing first, then services | Treatment and services first, then housing | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Housing | How should we help people buy a first home? | Spend on building more homes | Help first-time buyers with down payments | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Housing | Should vacation rentals be limited? | Let owners rent their homes as they choose | Limit short-term vacation rentals | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Roads and Transit | Which should get a larger share of transportation money? | A larger share for roads and highways | A larger share for buses and trains | 2 | Pass | 8 |
| Roads and Transit | How should we pay to fix roads? | Raise fuel taxes to fix roads | Fix roads without raising fuel taxes | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Roads and Transit | Who should build high-speed internet? | Private companies build broadband | Government builds broadband where they will not | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Roads and Transit | When should self-driving cars be allowed? | Wait for stricter safety rules | Allow self-driving cars on public roads now | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Roads and Transit | Should cameras enforce speed limits? | Use cameras to enforce speed limits | No traffic cameras | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Environment | How fast should we move to wind and solar? | Move faster to wind and solar | Keep oil and gas while they keep costs down | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Environment | How strict should pollution rules be? | Fewer rules to keep energy bills low | Stronger rules for cleaner air and water | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Environment | How should public land be used? | Protect more public land | Open more public land to energy and building | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Environment | Should new gas car sales be phased out? | Let buyers choose any car | Phase out sales of new gas cars | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Environment | How should we make sure there is enough water? | Save water with limits on use | Build more storage and supply | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Safety | Where should public safety money go? | More police officers | More prevention and mental health responders | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Safety | Compared with today, how long should prison sentences be? | Shorter prison sentences than today | Longer prison sentences than today | 2 | Pass | 7 |
| Safety | How strict should gun laws be? | Fewer limits on owning guns | Stricter gun laws | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Safety | Who should be held in jail before trial? | Release more people before trial | Hold more people in jail before trial | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Safety | Is drug use a crime or a health problem? | Treat drug use as a crime | Treat drug use as a health problem | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Government and Rights | How strict should voter ID rules be? | Stricter ID rules to vote | Make voting easier with fewer ID rules | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Government and Rights | Should government have a bigger or smaller role than it has now? | Government should have a bigger role than it has now | Government should have a smaller role than it has now | 2 | Not yet | 7 |
| Government and Rights | How much should online platforms remove? | Platforms remove less and allow more speech | Platforms remove more harmful content | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Government and Rights | Should Congress have term limits? | Let voters decide how long lawmakers serve | Term limits for Congress | 1 | Not yet | 3 |
| Government and Rights | Who should draw voting district maps? | Independent commissions draw district maps | Elected lawmakers draw district maps | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Immigration | Where should border money go? | Faster legal processing | More border enforcement | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Immigration | What should happen to people here without papers? | Deport people here without papers | A path to citizenship | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Immigration | How many immigrants should we admit legally? | Admit more immigrants legally | Admit fewer immigrants legally | 1 | Pass | 7 |
| Immigration | How many work visas should we give? | Fewer work visas to protect wages | More work visas for jobs we cannot fill | 1 | Not yet | 5 |
| Immigration | Should local police work with federal immigration agents? | Local police work with federal immigration agents | Local police leave immigration enforcement to federal agents | 2 | Pass | 8 |
| Defense | How much should the U.S. spend on national defense? | The U.S. should spend less on national defense | The U.S. should spend more on national defense | 2 | Pass | 7 |
| Defense | How involved should we be with allies abroad? | Stay closely involved with allies abroad | Focus at home, less involvement abroad | 1 | Not yet | 6 |
| Defense | Should the U.S. raise or lower tariffs on goods from other countries? | Raise tariffs on goods from other countries | Lower tariffs on goods from other countries | 3 | Pass | 8 |
| Defense | How much aid should we send abroad? | Send less aid to other countries | Send more aid to countries in conflict | 1 | Not yet | 4 |
| Defense | Should there be a draft or national service? | Bring back a draft or national service | Keep an all-volunteer military | 1 | Not yet | 3 |
Earlier versions
Nothing is deleted. Every wording that was replaced is kept here with the date it changed.
| Subject | Version | Question | One side | Other side | Replaced |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education | 1 | What makes schools safer? | More school resource officers | More counselors and mental health staff | 2026-10-30 |
| Roads and Transit | 1 | Where should transportation money go? | Roads and highways | Buses and trains | 2026-10-30 |
| Safety | 1 | How long should prison sentences be? | Shorter sentences and more rehabilitation | Tougher sentences | 2026-10-30 |
| Government and Rights | 1 | How big should government be? | Bigger government, more programs | Smaller government, fewer programs | 2026-10-30 |
| Immigration | 1 | Should local police work with federal immigration agents? | Local police work with federal immigration agents | Local police stay out of immigration | 2026-10-30 |
| Defense | 1 | How much should we spend on defense? | Spend less on defense | Spend more on defense | 2026-10-30 |
| Defense | 1 | Should we use more tariffs? | More tariffs to protect jobs here | Fewer tariffs for lower prices | 2026-10-30 |
| Defense | 2 | Should the U.S. raise or lower tariffs on imported goods? | Raise tariffs on imported goods | Lower tariffs on imported goods | 2026-10-30 |
Every decision, including the ones declined
The engine checks the House floor schedule and every suggestion each day. Each decision is listed here, newest first.
| Date | Job | What | Decision | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-30 | Urgent | House week 20261026 | nothing | no floor schedule published |
What My Vote Forward can and cannot do here
Can:
- Publish every rule, every question, every score and every earlier version.
- Keep any person, including the founder, from editing the wording by hand.
Does not:
- Promise any wording is perfectly neutral. It promises the same tests for every word, in public.
Unresolved questions
- Phase 2. When real answers arrive, which contested wordings get split-tested first?
