HOW IT WORKS
Letter grades were awarded according
to the chart below.

Since the scorecard covers votes cast over the course of five years (2001-2005) and three legislative sessions, not every legislator was in office when each vote was taken. To facilitate the holding of current elected officials accountable, this scorecard tracks the votes of the last legislator to vote in each district in 2005. This means that each Senate and Assembly district is represented by only one legislator, even if more than one person represented the district between 2001 and 2005. To find out which Senate and Assembly district you live in, click on the "District Maps" link. Senators and Assemblymembers are listed in the scorecard in order of district.

Scores for individual representatives were determined by whether they voted with or against the middle class on each bill. Representatives who missed five or more votes (either because they were not in office, they were not present to vote or they abstained) were not awarded a letter grade and instead received a grade of Incomplete (INC.) A indicates that a representative voted WITH the middle-class position (not necessarily in favor of the legislation); an indicates that the representative voted AGAINST the middle-class position. A indicates that the representative was in office but did not cast a vote, and a indicates that the representative included in the scorecard was not in office at the time the vote was taken. Scores for the general body of both the Assembly and the Senate on a particular piece of legislation were determined by the average of the number of votes cast by the legislators included in the scorecard with or against the middle class.

Scores for the general body of the Assembly and Senate and the parties in each chamber were determined as an average of the scores each legislator received, not including those legislators who received an incomplete score.