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ACLU Pennsylvania
How our scorecard gets shared by State Representatives and drove a 2021 Women in Government Relations award nomination
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization that works to protect Pennsylvanians’ civil liberties and constitutional rights through litigation, state legislative advocacy, and grassroots organizing.
The Problem
As part of their advocacy and education work, ACLU-PA typically produces a standard PDF scorecard. However, they were also seeking a more engaging way to bring legislation to the public, as it was being voted on.
While beautiful and on-brand, PDFs are more tedious to keep up-to-date when legislature is in session.
The Solution
ACLU-PA partnered with us to upgrade its scorecard. We helped find an effective complement to their PDF format by using BillTrack50 Scorecards, which are interactive displays that are easy to create, customize, and share.
While they diligently track hundreds of bills per year using BillTrack50, they use our scorecard software to narrow this down and bring visibility to how legislators are voting on their top 50 bills. BillTrack50s complete dataset allowed us to create a more visually appealing and engaging scorecard — ACLU-PA Legislative Scorecard.
When the legislature is in session, their scorecard updates as new votes are taken. New votes are updated in the scorecard twice per day, which gives constituents the most current information about how legislators are currently voting.
Results
The new interactive scorecard allows ACLU-PA and citizens to hold state representatives accountable for their votes. Constituents can easily look up their own representatives and see how they voted. Those same constituents would have this information when voting in the next election.
ACLU-PA shares the scorecard on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. It also discussed on the podcast, Speaking Freely with the ACLU-PA. Their podcasts tell the story of civil liberties in Pennsylvania and feature their staff, clients, and allies on the most prominent civil liberties issues of the day. Listen to the episode, “Rights at risk at the state capitol” featuring their scorecard on Apple Podcasts or Soundcloud.
“State legislators play a critical role in protecting the rights of all Pennsylvanians,” she said. “With the highest score in the General Assembly last session on the ACLU-PA Legislative Scorecard, Representative Rabb has shown true leadership in protecting and advancing civil liberties in the commonwealth. As we start a new legislative session, we hope more legislators will work alongside us, especially when it comes to reforming our criminal legal system.”
Elizabeth Randol, legislative director of ACLU-PA, Philadelphia Tribune
Notable Online Shares
This scorecard has been shared by elected leaders like Rep. Chris Rabb, who released a press release about his values and ranking in the scorecard.
The Philadelphia Tribune also wrote an article showcasing Rep. Chris Rabb as having the highest Civil Rights voting record.
“I was pleasantly surprised because I don’t make decisions to be No. 1. I make decisions based on my values and my commitment to serving my community and upholding the state and U.S. constitution. That’s the oath I took. It just so happens me doing my job aligns with what the ACLU considers noteworthy,” Rabb said.
Rep. Chris Rabb, Pennsylvania State Representative, Philadelphia Tribune
Award Nomination
Elizabeth Randol, Legislator Director, was nominated for a 2021 Women in Government Relations (WGR) award due to her work on this ACLU scorecard. The nomination is in the State Issue Campaign category for, “An effort wherein the advocate(s) successfully impacted the outcome of a state or local legislative or regulatory problem or opportunity on behalf of their cause, issue, client, organization or coalition.”
WGR is a non-partisan professional society for those who have responsibilities and interests in the field of government relations and/or public affairs.