Our standards
Ballot Ledger helps readers examine election proposals, public costs and who benefits. It is independent of election authorities and does not endorse candidates.
Follow the evidence
Official ballot text establishes what a vote changes. Fiscal notes establish the assumptions behind cost estimates. Candidate and party websites establish what those organizations say, rather than whether their claims are true. Blue labels identify Democratic affiliations or statements; red labels identify Republican ones. Other parties and nonpartisan organizations use neutral labels. An endorsement requires an explicit, election-specific statement from the named endorser. Party affiliation or nomination alone does not qualify. We do not assign hypothetical viewpoints to parties.
Who benefits
We distinguish named allocations, administering agencies, eligible applicants and awarded contracts. A company that could bid for work is not a confirmed recipient. An organization’s endorsement does not prove that it will receive public money.
Coverage and dates
Statewide question inventories, individual explanatory fields, candidate rosters, policy profiles and complete local ballots require different evidence. Our October 21 audit records exactly which fields were checked; unchecked analysis and earlier candidate profiles are withheld, and remaining gaps are labeled unknown. A checked question list is not a certification of every claim or every local ballot. An address match identifies geography; it does not verify registration or certify your ballot. Check the status for every state and territory.
Corrections
Use each report’s source links to compare our explanation with the official document and its date. For a voting or registration problem, contact the election office linked in your report. A dedicated editorial correction channel is not yet available. No claim that a candidate has no controversy should be inferred from a missing profile.
Funding and independence
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