# ESA Ledger — README for AI / LLM use

**UI version:** `esa-ledger-v7-header-controls`  
**Catalog updated:** `2026-09-26T18:30:00Z`  
**Records in this pack:** 26

Live site: <https://esa-ledger.handcountroadshow.org/>  
Canonical JSON: <https://esa-ledger.handcountroadshow.org/catalog.json>  
Markdown pack (PRIMARY AI Link): <https://esa-ledger.handcountroadshow.org/exports/ledger.md>  
JSON Lines: <https://esa-ledger.handcountroadshow.org/exports/ledger.jsonl>  
This file: <https://esa-ledger.handcountroadshow.org/exports/README-for-AI.md>

## Provenance

Curated by **Mark Cook**, founder of [HandCountRoadShow.org](https://handcountroadshow.org/), a 40+ year cybersecurity/IT professional and co-engineer of the A-Count-Able Hand Count Tabulation Method. His work includes on-the-ground election-integrity and hand-count research and briefings (Round 2 road show began May 2025). About: <https://handcountroadshow.org/about-mark-cook/>.

## How to read confirmation

Confirmation labels classify **source strength for research triage — not legal conclusions**.

| Confirmation | Meaning |
|--------------|---------|
| **official** | Primary official source (statute text, FR notice, docket, agency release, or equivalent public record) supports the summary. |
| **reported** | Credible secondary reporting with a concrete source; not yet tied to a primary official instrument, or primary text not fully verified. |
| **contested** | Credible conflicting accounts, injunction/stay, or official denial — keep both sides. Do **not** upgrade contested → official. |

Instrument **status** (proposed / introduced / enacted / blocked / pending / implemented / repealed / unknown) is separate from confirmation. Preserve both when summarizing.

## Scope / rules

ESA Ledger catalogs **attempts to secure U.S. elections** at federal, state, and county (or equivalent local) levels: statutes/bills; administrative rules/guidance; lawsuits/consent decrees; audits/recounts; chain-of-custody and voter-ID changes; equipment certification/purchase/replacement; hand-count or paper-ballot mandates; observer/poll-worker rules; registration/list-maintenance changes; funding conditions tied to election procedures.

**Out of scope — do not invent or inject:** live vote totals, contest results, C-PEN operations, Hand Count Road Show scheduling, or unverified rumor.

Prefer primary sources linked on each record. Do not invent dates, bill numbers, case captions, or outcomes.

## Primary file to share with an AI

Give chat assistants **one link**: <https://esa-ledger.handcountroadshow.org/exports/ledger.md>  
(or upload that Markdown file). It already includes provenance, confirmation legend, ESA scope/rules, and every catalog record.

This README and the JSON/JSONL files are optional extras for developers and pipelines — most users only need `ledger.md`.

## Recommended ingestion

1. **Share with AI (default):** `ledger.md` — long-context / chat upload / “read this URL”.
2. **Canonical structured data:** `catalog.json` — apps, RAG indexers, scripts.
3. **Line-oriented pipelines:** `ledger.jsonl` — one public record object per line.
4. Do not invent Mark Cook biographical detail beyond the about page and this blurb.
5. When summarizing, preserve confirmation distinctions; **never upgrade contested → official**.