One contest, your question, source-linked findings, uncertainties and references. Keep an editable master; export a dated PDF when useful.
A PROCESS FOR INDEPENDENT DECISION-MAKING
Your priorities.
Your research.
Your vote.
Federal races get much of the attention. State and local races deserve a closer look, too. Understanding what each office can do, and how those responsibilities connect, helps you explore the decisions that shape the outcomes you care about.
Start your research
PEOPLE AT THE CENTER
Connect the issues.
Understand the responsibilities.
Who can act? Where do they connect?
What advances progress?
Local
Community services
State
Statewide policy
Federal
National law
Responsibilities vary and can overlap. Check each office’s decision-making authority.
THE WORK BEFORE THE VOTE
This guide offers one structured approach: identify your policy priorities, explore credible research, and examine the people and proposals on your ballot. Use AI to organize the evidence while keeping the judgment yours.
A STRUCTURE FOR YOUR OWN ANALYSIS
Your independent research process
0 of 6 steps checked
Designed for U.S. ballots in any state or locality. Use your own election office for the exact contests, rules, and deadlines where you vote.
YOUR FINISHED RESOURCE
A research brief you can save. A notebook you can return to.
A folder or hub with an index linking your briefs, source materials and PDF snapshots. Find the reasoning again—not just the answer.
Use the master prompt in your chosen AI tool, then work through the six steps below. The focused prompts help you gather and check material for the same brief. This page does not generate or save the report for you.
Expand for details: what a finished brief contains
- Contest, jurisdiction, election and research date
- Your question and the decision’s actual authority
- Track-specific findings
- Evidence with direct sources, dates and uncertainty
- Remaining questions, review checklist and references
This is an output outline, not a completed candidate analysis. Ask your tool what it can actually browse, create and export. If it cannot make files, use its formatted text in your document tool.
Your notes and checkmarks stay in this open page only. They are not sent to Powered to Rise and will clear when you reload or close it. Download your notes before leaving. This page does not run AI or submit a ballot.
KEEP THE THINKING IN ONE PLACE
Practice one research record
This is a temporary scratchpad, not your saved Research Notebook or finished brief. Try one record here, download any notes you need, then place reviewed findings into your own editable brief.
Open the optional practice sheet and download your notes
This export contains only the practice fields—not an AI-generated report. Blank fields stay blank. Your browser controls printing and PDF saving.
KEEP THE RESEARCH CONNECTED
Build your Research Notebook.
You do not need another app. Give your research a structure in a tool you already use.
Explore the folder, index and linked-file structure
Research Notebook folder
Index Google DocLinks, contest, dates, review status, next question
Editable briefsSources & linksDated PDF snapshots
Other homes, same pattern: a Word index and linked files in an existing folder, or a Notion hub with linked brief pages. NotebookLM is a separate project—not required here.
Expand for details: save it, then test the links
- Choose an existing private folder or hub you control.
- Name each brief with its contest/topic and research date.
- Link the editable master, sources and dated PDF from the index; link the brief back to the index.
- Close it. Reopen it from the index. Follow a source link.
- Update the master when evidence changes; create a new dated PDF snapshot if needed.
Your tool may need authorized access to create folders or files. Without it, use the setup prompt’s manual instructions. Do not treat a proposed structure as an actual saved notebook.
Bring the research into your next AI conversation.
A private link may not be readable by your AI tool. Ask it to confirm access; use an authorized attachment or pasted excerpt when needed. Do not make personal research public just to make a link work.
SEE THE PROCESS, NOT A VOTE
From a concern to a better question.
See an example: turn access to care into a research question
ILLUSTRATIVE STARTING POINT
“I want to understand access to care.”
A reader finds a policy brief discussing transportation barriers to healthcare.
TURN IT INTO RESEARCH
“Who has authority to address this?”
Check which federal, state, or local bodies control the relevant transportation funding and service decisions. Then examine candidates’ documented proposals, actions, funding assumptions, and limits using the same questions.
The brief supplies a question. It does not establish a candidate’s position or decide the vote.
THE THINKING BEHIND THE TOOL
Why we built it this way.
First, the design choice: a guided way to make your thinking visible and reusable. Then, a closer look at the words that help AI support that process. These notes describe intended behavior—not a guarantee that an AI tool will get it right.
SET AI UP TO SUCCEED.GUIDE ITS WORK.ADVANCE THE QUALITY STANDARD.
WHY THIS KIND OF TOOL?
A guided way to put your thinking on the record.
We chose guided questions over a blank page so you can name your priorities, organize what you learn and keep track of the questions that are still yours to answer. The goal is not to hand you a position to adopt. It is to help you steer the research.
- 01
Get the ideas out
Guided questions help you name your priorities and the questions you want to explore—without starting from a blank page.
- 02
Keep your thinking in context
The research brief connects your questions with findings, sources and uncertainty. Keep the editable master; save a dated PDF snapshot when useful.
- 03
Carry it into your next research session
Give your AI tool the brief as context for further questions. Confirm it can read the file or link; otherwise use an authorized attachment or paste relevant text.
- 04
Return and reflect
Revisit what you were thinking, connect new ideas and steer the next round of research. Recheck changing claims and update the master; an old PDF does not update itself.
Why an editable brief and a PDF?
A one-off chat can leave your thinking scattered. The editable brief gives you a record you can revise; the PDF offers a portable snapshot of the questions and evidence at that point in time. Neither is automatic storage or a substitute for original sources.
Your thinking leads the next question. Outside perspectives can inform and challenge your thinking without replacing your judgment. Returning to your notes helps you see what changed, what remains uncertain and where to look next.
OPEN THE NOTES BEHIND EACH CHOICE
The words—and the work they ask AI to do.
These annotated notes replace the earlier lesson layout. Narration for this section is being revised; the current explanation is in the notes below.
THE QUALITY CHECK
Ready means reviewed.
Evidence is traceable
Every consequential factual claim has a source that supports it, with a date and the correct jurisdiction.
Uncertainty stays visible
Missing evidence is marked unknown. A polished sentence never substitutes for a source.
The process is consistent
The same questions and evidence standard apply across candidates. Judges and measures use their own tracks.
The person stays in charge
No auto-ranking, inferred preferences, or vote recommendations. The reader owns the final judgment.
BEHIND THE SCENES · THIS TEACHING GUIDE
A conversation, made tangible.
Meet Ace and see how we made this teaching guide
- Describe the idea
- Generate the build
- Review the preview
- Guide the next version
Designed in ChatGPT Sites. Deployed in HighLevel. OpenAI describes dots as powered by GPT‑6 Astra.
What the tools did—and what the person led
Rafat set the purpose, supplied context, and made the editorial and design decisions. Ace generated and revised the implementation, tested the interactions, and deployed the private previews. The underlying code makes the experience work; the conversation and Rafat’s review shaped what it should do.
PRICELESS POWER-UP
Start with what you know.
Build as you learn.
You don’t need a technical pedigree to start building something useful. Turn something you’re learning into a small project, then let AI help you bring it to life.
Expand the three ways to build as you learn
- 01
Notice
Choose something you’re learning. Turn it into a small project.
- 02
Describe
Explain what you want. Let AI help with the build.
- 03
Test & refine
Try it, review it, and use what you learn to make it better.
You’ll give the idea somewhere practical to live—and give yourself a chance to understand it more deeply.
START WITH SOURCES YOU CAN CHECK
Build your source shelf.
Start with official election information. Add policy research that helps you frame questions, then examine the original evidence for each contest.
Your ballot and the rules
Find your state election office Understand sample ballots and voter guidesUse the relevant local office for your exact ballot, eligibility, and deadlines. Don’t paste a full home address or voter ID into AI tools.
Who can do what?
Federal branches and their roles The federal legislative process Federal and state courtsFederal explainers do not establish a state or local office’s authority. Check that jurisdiction’s official sources.
Choosing policy research and advocacy sources
Find organizations with relevant expertise, transparent methods, identifiable authors, and dated publications. Look for evidence supporting their proposals and credible perspectives that test their assumptions.
Research findings, policy positions, and candidate endorsements are different. An organization’s policy agenda does not establish that it endorses a candidate or judicial decision.
Rafat’s starting point included research on health and economic outcomes in the Black community. That illustrates how a person chooses their questions; you choose the priorities and sources that fit your own inquiry.
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation — Black Civic Engagement Hub · NAACP policy priorities · Black Women’s Health Imperative policy and research
Examples of advocacy sources, not an exhaustive list or endorsements of any ballot choice. Review the date, scope, and underlying evidence in each document.
Official starting links reviewed November 1, 2026. This educational guide is not an election office, legal advice, or a candidate endorsement.
Questions about this resource?
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