The Midterm Elections are now just a few days away (on Tuesday, November 4). Last week, I pledged to vote in a way that seeks to end hunger and encouraged you to do the same. Which you can still do, by the way.

But it occurred to me that it might not be exactly obvious how to go about voting for “candidates who make hunger a national priority.” Fortunately, Bread for the World has a tool to help with that, too. At least for incumbents in the U.S. Congress. (For challengers in the national elections and for state or local candidates, well, you’re pretty much on your own to research voting records…or better yet, to ask them directly.) Because, of course, incumbents cast votes and votes can be – and are – tracked.

Based on how the member of Congress voted for hunger and poverty related bills and amendments, Bread offers one scorecard for the Senate and one for the House of Representatives. Using those links you can read a description of the bills/amendments/resolutions, Bread’s position on them, and your Congress members’ score (i.e. the percent the member voted with Bread’s position). For instance, here in Illinois, Senator Mark Kirk scored 40% and Senator Dick Durbin 90%. Meanwhile, my Representative, Bill Foster, scored 100%. Which makes it very easy for me to vote for him!

However, if you want to see the particulars behind those scores – exactly how your member voted on each item – you have to download the complete voting record in pdf.

I find the scorecard compelling and excellent, though I realize that this is just one way to evaluate how committed a candidate is to voting out hunger and poverty. What other metrics will you use to determine which candidates can be counted on to make ending hunger a priority?