This FAQ is intended for candidates and campaign teams participating in Pine Tree Key for Maine's 2026 elections. It covers questions about responding to the standardized statement set, how your answers are shown to voters, and how to request updates or corrections.

If you are a voter looking for information on how to use Pine Tree Key, please visit the general Frequently Asked Questions page instead.

Pine Tree Key is a nonpartisan voter education project that compares voter responses to a standardized set of policy statements with the positions of candidates. All candidates for a given race receive the same statements and response options.

From a campaign perspective, Pine Tree Key provides:

A structured way to share your positions on key policy topics using the same language voters see.
A candidate-specific page summarizing your responses.
In future phases, an interactive comparison view where voters can see how their answers align with yours.

Pine Tree Key does not endorse candidates or parties and does not run ads for or against any campaign.

Pine Tree Key is being developed in phases for Maine's 2026 elections. The initial focus is on the gubernatorial race, including a complete statement set and comparison feature for candidates for Governor.

The site also lists candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. House. As the project evolves and compliance questions for additional federal races are resolved, Pine Tree Key may expand its interactive tools for those offices as well. Any expansion will be announced on the website and in outreach materials.

No. Participation in Pine Tree Key is voluntary. All declared candidates for the covered races receive the same invitation and the same statement set. Choosing not to respond will not affect ballot access or your ability to campaign.

If a candidate chooses not to participate, they will still be listed on Pine Tree Key, and voters will see that the campaign has not submitted responses to the statement set.

Each statement in Pine Tree Key is designed as a concise prompt about a specific policy issue. For every statement, your campaign can indicate whether you:

Agree
Disagree
Neutral
No Official Position

These are the same response options available to voters. “Neutral” can be used when your position depends on conditions or tradeoffs that aren't fully captured in the statement text. “No Official Position” indicates that your campaign chooses not to take a position on that particular prompt within Pine Tree Key and aligns with the voters' option to "Skip" any given statement.

To keep the tool fair and comparable, please answer based on the wording provided rather than rewriting the statements themselves. You can add nuance through optional notes where available.

No. Responses will be published on a rolling basis. However, the comparison feature will only go live once we received at least three (3) responses.

The Google Form is the official way for your campaign to submit responses to Pine Tree Key. It will ask you to:

Confirm basic details (candidate name, party or affiliation, campaign contact information).
Provide your position on each statement using the response options Agree, Disagree, Neutral, or No Official Position.
Optionally add brief notes or clarifications on specific statements.

After you submit the form, your responses are reviewed for technical issues such as duplicates or missing fields. The substance of your positions is not changed. If something appears unclear or inconsistent, you may be contacted using the campaign email you provided before your responses go live on the site.

Your responses will be displayed in two primary ways:

On your candidate statement page, where voters can see how you responded to each statement in the set.
Within the comparison feature, where voters can compare their own responses with yours (and with other candidates) for each statement.

The wording of the statements themselves is standardized across all candidates. Your selected response (Agree, Disagree, Neutral, No Official Position) is shown using a consistent, neutral visual format so that voters can easily compare positions across campaigns.

All questions include an optional field in the "Open Feedback Section" of the Google Form, which appears once you provided your stance for each statement. These notes are intended for short clarifications, such as outlining conditions, timelines, or specific priorities related to your stance.

All of these notes will be displayed on your candidate page alongside the relevant statement so voters can see dditional nuance in your position. Notes may be lightly edited for length, spelling, punctuation, or formatting, but not for substance. If a note needs to be shortened, the goal is to preserve your meaning while keeping the page clear and readable.

If you prefer that a particular note remain internal and not be displayed, you can indicate this clearly in the note field (for example, by starting the note with “Internal only - do not publish”). Such notes will be used only to help interpret your answers and will not be shown to voters.

Additionally, the Google Form provides a field for "Additional Feedback," through which you can provide information related to your campaign that is not tied to specific statements or general feedback or suggestions regarding the survey tool. If you don't want the additional feedback to show on your candidate page, please indicate this, e.g, by using "Internal only."

Yes. You will receive a link to your candidate page before it's published via your candidate card on the Candidates page.

Campaign positions can evolve over the course of an election, and Pine Tree Key is designed to reflect your current stance. If you need to update one or more responses:

Email info@pinetreekey.com from an official campaign address.
Include the candidate name, office, and which statement(s) you would like to update.
Provide the new response (Agree, Disagree, Neutral, or No Official Positions) and any updated notes, if applicable.

Updates will be made as soon as reasonably possible. Candidate pages will include a “Last updated” date so voters can see when responses were most recently reviewed. Pine Tree Key does not currently publish a full change history, but campaigns are welcome to explain major shifts in their own materials if they wish.

No. Pine Tree Key does not endorse, rank, or grade candidates. The tool simply compares:

How voters answer the standardized statements, and
How each candidate answers those same statements.

Responses may be edited for spelling or formatting where needed, but not for political content or position. The goal is to keep wording clear and consistent while preserving the substance of your answers.

Match percentages shown to voters are based purely on alignment between responses and do not reflect any qualitative judgment about your campaign, qualifications, or character.

If your campaign does not submit responses, Pine Tree Key will still list you as a candidate, but voters will see that no official responses were received from your campaign for the statement set.

In some cases, Pine Tree Key may use publicly available sources (such as official platforms, interviews, or legislative records) to provide limited context on your positions. If that is done, it will be clearly labeled as information drawn from public sources rather than from direct campaign responses, so voters understand the difference.

Yes. Campaigns are welcome to link to their Pine Tree Key statement page from official websites, social media accounts, or printed materials.

Such links do not imply any endorsement by Pine Tree Key. All declared candidates in the covered races are invited under the same conditions and are presented using the same format.

Campaign contact details collected through the Google Form (such as email addresses and phone numbers) are used primarily for:

Following up on questions about your responses.
Confirming updates or corrections you request.
Sharing important project updates that affect how your information is displayed.

This contact information is not used for commercial purposes and is not sold to third parties. For more on how data is handled on the site in general, please review the Data Privacy policy.

Pine Tree Key is an independent project created, managed, and paid for by a single individual. It is neither a nonprofit nor a business entity and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

The project is built around careful research, data analysis, and a commitment to neutrality. All candidates for a given race are treated equally in outreach, invitation, and presentation.

If you have questions about the statement set, need to clarify a response, or notice an error in how your campaign is represented, please reach out by email:

info@pinetreekey.com

To help resolve your request quickly, please include:

Candidate name and office sought.
A link to the page or section where you see an issue.
A short description of the problem and, if relevant, your proposed correction.

Good-faith corrections and clarifications are welcome. The goal is to ensure that your positions are presented as accurately and neutrally as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions for Candidates & Campaigns