Free Strategic Voting Worksheet: Score the Candidates on Your Ballot
Free spreadsheet to score every candidate on your ballot. Type harm, reach, four office routes, and winnability. The sheet calculates power and the call.
The spreadsheet uses the same weights as the methodology page. Yellow cells are yours. Gray cells calculate. Leave a row blank to skip it. The coalition is in its founding phase. This sheet does not name a candidate for you, and it is not an official scorecard.
How to use it
- List the issues. Write the penalties that office can actually change. The blank sheet has room for four.
- Score harm and reach. Enter conduct from 1 to 5, choose the kind of penalty, and enter reach from 1 to 5. The sheet calculates harm.
- Score the four routes. Enter writing the law, picking who decides, controlling the money, and tipping the balance, each from 0 to 5. The sheet calculates office impact and power.
- Score the candidates. For each person on the ballot, enter alignment from −2 to +2 on each issue, and a chance of winning from 1 to 5.
- Read the outcome. The sheet applies the winnability weight and the four gates. A toss-up stays a toss-up.
Blank template columns
These are the columns on the blank tab. Type the first ones. The sheet fills the calculated ones.
| Column | What you enter |
|---|---|
| Issue | Name the penalty in your own words. |
| Conduct | 1 to 5. How directly the law targets peaceful, non-violent people. |
| Penalty | Civil fine; license, property, or forfeiture; misdemeanor, up to a year; felony imprisonment; or decades, life, or civil death. |
| Reach | 1 to 5. How many people can fall under it. |
| Writing or vetoing the law | 0 to 5. You type this route. |
| Picking the people who decide | 0 to 5. You type this route. |
| Controlling the money | 0 to 5. You type this route. |
| Tipping the balance | 0 to 5. You type this route. |
| Harshness | Calculated from the penalty. Do not type it. |
| Harm | Calculated. Do not type it. |
| Office impact | Calculated from the four routes. Do not type it. |
| Power | Calculated: harm times reach times office impact. Do not type it. |
| Column | What you enter |
|---|---|
| Candidate | A name on your ballot. |
| Winnability | 1 to 5. The chance of winning. |
| Issue 1 | Alignment from −2 to +2. |
| Issue 2 | Alignment from −2 to +2. Leave blank to skip. |
| Issue 3 | Alignment from −2 to +2. Leave blank to skip. |
| Issue 4 | Alignment from −2 to +2. Leave blank to skip. |
| Signed total | Calculated. Do not type it. |
| Weight | Calculated from winnability. Do not type it. |
| Score | Calculated. Do not type it. |
Download
- strategic-voting-worksheet.xlsx. Blank template, a filled-in example, and instructions.
- strategic-voting-worksheet.csv. The filled-in example, for when a spreadsheet will not open.
Read the method before you fill the sheet, including harm, the four routes, and the gates.