Voting advice application

A voting advice application or voting aid application (VAA), also known as a vote matcher, vote compass or election compass is an application that helps voters find a political candidate or political party that stands closest to their preferences. VAAs are a recent phenomenon in modern election campaigning.

There has been debate in some countries regarding their popular VAAs. Some maintain that VAAs are problematic as they can never give neutral voting advice. Others contend that these applications rightfully focus people's attention on the party programmes and on policy issues, compelling parties to discuss substance instead of personalities, images and campaign events.

A study of VAAs by the University of Antwerp recommends careful selection of VAA statements and a proper process of benchmarking based on survey data. Without appropriate calibrating VAAs produce invalid results.

VAA questionnaires should be completed by the candidate or party for maximum accuracy, but also VAAs completed by the journalist are published, with supposed positions taken from party programmes and debates.

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