Donors elect to donate to the Leading Opponent of a Representative in a specific race ("Leading Opponent"). Once as donation has been received:
VoteDown will accept and hold the donation from the donor until a period ninety (90) days before the relevant election ("Decision Date").
At that time, VoteDown will consult with all published polls of that particular race which have been published within ninety (90) days of the Decision Date by a pollster which has been approved and published on the VoteDown web site list of approved pollsters below.
VoteDown will average all of the applicable polls to determine the candidate in the race, other than the Representative which was donated against, who has the highest polling in the race. That candidate will be declared the Leading Opponent.
If no applicable public polling has been conducted on the race in question, VoteDown will refer to the latest published FEC filings as of the Decision Date to determine which opposing candidate has the highest Net Cash On Hand (defined as Cash On Hand minus outstanding Debt). That candidate will be declared the Leading Opponent. In the event of a tie, the amounts will be split equally between the Leading Opponents.
If the Representative being opposed is unopposed in the race, or if the Representative being opposed does not run for re-election, the amounts will be donated to the appropriate political party. That is, if the Representative was being opposed in a primary election, the funds will be donated to the political party associated with the representative. If the Representative was being opposed in a general election, the funds will be donated to the opposite party as the Representative (i.e. if the Representative is a Democrat, the funds will be donated to the Republican Party. If the Representative is a Republican, the funds will be donated to the Democratic Party).
Upon designation of a Leading Opponent, VoteDown will post the results to its web site for a period of 7 days and will endeavor to contact the relevant Leading Opponent campaign to effectuate the funds transfer. If the Leading Opponent campaign cannot be reached or is unwilling to accept the donations, the funds will be transferred to the political party of the Leading Opponent.
List of Approved Pollsters
The New York Times/Siena College
ABC News/The Washington Post
Marquette University Law School
YouGov
Monmouth University Polling Institute
Marist College
Suffolk University
Data Orbital
University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Public Opinion
Emerson College
Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion
Selzer & Co.
University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab
CNN
SurveyUSA
Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research
Quinnipiac University
MassINC Polling Group
Ipsos
Christopher Newport University Wason Center for Civic Leadership
Siena College
AtlasIntel
Echelon Insights
East Carolina University Center for Survey Research
Data for Progress
Hart Research Associates/Public Opinion Strategies
University of New Hampshire Survey Center
Stockton University William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy
Remington Research Group
Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy
Gallup
Research Co.
Saint Anselm College Survey Center
Civiqs
St. Pete Polls
University of Massachusetts Department of Political Science/YouGov
Mitchell Research & Communications
Noble Predictive Insights
Franklin & Marshall College Center for Opinion Research
American Research Group
RMG Research
Susquehanna Polling & Research Inc.
Pan Atlantic Research
Cygnal
Research & Polling Inc.
Landmark Communications
Angus Reid Global
Kaplan Strategies
Leger
Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative