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    "story_id": "mp-2026-08-27-012",
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    "headline": "The Correct Answer Was Present and Still Lost the Vote",
    "slug": "the-correct-answer-was-present-and-still-lost-the-vote",
    "dek": "Fixed candidate-pool replays isolated how frequency and judge signals determine the answer a multi-agent system reports.",
    "summary": "Fixed candidate-pool replays isolated how frequency and judge signals determine the answer a multi-agent system reports.",
    "body_text": "Across 81,390 fixed pools from 16,278 questions, combining answer frequency with judge evaluation changed only terminal selection and raised accuracy from 63.82 percent to 70.82–70.95 percent. The gains mainly rescued correct answers outnumbered by popular errors; judge reliability varied with task, generator and answer rarity.",
    "why_it_matters": "Fixed candidate-pool replays isolated how frequency and judge signals determine the answer a multi-agent system reports.",
    "limitations": [
      "Across 81,390 fixed pools from 16,278 questions, combining answer frequency with judge evaluation changed only terminal selection and raised accuracy from 63.82 percent to 70.82–70.95 percent."
    ],
    "importance": 8,
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    "first_published_at": "2026-08-27T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-08-27T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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        "qualification": "Across 81,390 fixed pools from 16,278 questions, combining answer frequency with judge evaluation changed only terminal selection and raised accuracy from 63.82 percent to 70.82–70.95 percent."
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    "tags": [
      "LLM judges",
      "candidate selection",
      "multi-agent evaluation"
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    "image_url": null,
    "corrections": []
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  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-08-27-012",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2608.25937",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.25937",
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      "published_at": "2026-08-26T11:52:20.000-04:00",
      "accessed_at": "2026-08-27T08:18:00.000-04:00",
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  "publisher": {
    "name": "The Machine Press",
    "url": "https://themachinepress.com",
    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "The Correct Answer Was Present and Still Lost the Vote",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-08-27T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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