What Counts as a Political Contradiction (and What Doesn't)

A politician changing their mind is not, by itself, a contradiction. People update views as facts change. VeriVote flags a contradiction only when a prior public statement and a later one conflict on the same question, under comparable circumstances, with both quotes verifiable from the public record.

The three tests

• Same question: both statements address the same policy or factual claim, not adjacent topics.
• Comparable circumstances: a reversal after a genuine change in facts is labeled a shift, not a contradiction.
• Verifiable sourcing: each side links to a primary source — a transcript, a bill vote, an official statement.

Right of reply

Before a high-severity contradiction is surfaced, the official (or their office) gets a 72-hour verbatim right of reply. See our methodology for the full process and our scoring model for how severity is weighted.