On the Ballot

On this episode: Every year, state lawmakers consider thousands of bills that would change how Americans vote and how officials administer elections. Most states — 44  — have already started their legislatives sessions and are hard at work crafting legislation. Over the past 3 years, 35% of ALL election administration bills were introduced by mid-February. We thought it’d be a great time to previe...

On this episode: When the Congressional Review Act was signed into law in 1996 by Bill Clinton, it gave Congress a way to hit pause on federal agency rules they believe have gone too far or otherwise aren’t achieving the desired effect. Here’s how it works: Congress gets a window of time to review any new rule, where both chambers have a chance to pass what’s called a ‘joint resolution of disappro...

On this episode: Donald Trump returns to the White House next week hoping to hit the ground running, eager to enact his agenda as quickly as possible. A primary tool in his arsenal are executive orders , which enable him to change course on policy simply with  a stroke of his pen. Estimates of the volume of executive action we can expect from Trump have been all over the place, with some claiming...

On this episode: This number might be a little hard to believe, but did you know that there are more than 500,000 elected officials in the United States? Less than 1% of them are at the federal level…which means that there are a TON of local officials being elected every year, and 2025 will be no different. Learn more about our local election work as we expand our coverage to 26 states  Learn more...

On this episode: If you live in one of the 26 states where citizens can put laws directly on the ballot, you’ve probably seen ballot measures pop up during elections—deciding everything from property taxes and abortion rights to marijuana legalization and ranked-choice voting. But have you ever wondered where this process came from? Or how it became such a powerful — and sometimes controversial —...

On this episode: It might come as a bit of a surprise that between 2018 and 2023, over half of the elections that took place were uncontested, meaning that there was one, or even zero, candidates vying for seats in those races. That figure this year was closer to 70% – the highest we’ve seen since we began collecting data on local elections in 2018. Winning an election is obviously a whole lot eas...

On this episode: As incoming president Donald Trump looks to staff his incoming administration, several of his top appointments are leaving behind active roles as elected representatives – like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, and Elise Stefanik, a member of the House from New York.  Here’s what happens to those seats, and how procedures differ among different lev...

On this episode: Split-ticket voting, also known as ticket splitting, occurs when voters choose candidates from different parties in a single election — voting Republican Donald Trump for president and Democratic congressional candidates, for example. In today’s partisan political landscape, many outlets and pundits did not expect there to be significant levels of split ticket voting this cycle. T...

On this episode: Political recounts typically occur in the event of a close margin of victory, following accusations of election fraud, or due to the possibility of administrative errors. They can either occur automatically and be requested by a candidate or voters at every level of government, from local offices up to presidential elections. And, when they happen, recalls can cause a whole lot of...

On this episode: As a result of the 2024 elections, two Democratic trifectas were lost. Republicans gained a majority in the Michigan House and at least a tie in the Minnesota House, breaking the Democratic trifectas in those states. Republicans neither gained nor lost trifectas. As a result, there were 23 Republican trifectas, 15 Democratic trifectas, and 12 divided governments after the 2024 ele...

On this episode: California voters recalled both Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on Nov. 5. The recalls are first-of-their-kind, with Thao being the first Oakland mayor and Price the first Alameda County district attorney to be recalled. Joshua Spivak — author of the Recall Elections Blog and Senior research fellow at Berkeley Law's California Constitutio...

On this episode: Major networks and outlets began calling the House of Representatives for Republicans throughout the day on Wednesday, and AP officially did late in the evening. By retaining control of the lower chamber of congress, Republicans now are poised to enter the new year with a federal trifecta.  Erin Covey — who leads The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter’s coverage of the House — ...

On this episode: Veteran pollster and political analyst Scott Rasmussen was one of the first experts to call a victory for president elect Donald Trump on the night of November 5th. Hear his thoughts on the accuracy of polling this cycle; the difference between polling and surveys (and why that matters); why Trump’s sweep of the swing states doesn’t equate to a landslide; the role A.I. might play...

On this episode: Pivot Counties are the 206 counties nationwide we identified as having voted for Barack Obama (D) in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Media and political observers sometimes refer to these counties as swing counties. Ballotpedia defined Pivot Counties Trump won in 2020 as Retained Pivot Counties and those Joe Biden (D) won as Boomerang Pivot C...

On this episode: Voters in 41 states decided on 146 statewide ballot measures on November 5th, and as of the 7th at 12:00 PM ET, 87 (59.6%) statewide ballot measures were approved, 46 (31.5%) were defeated, and 13 (8.9%) remained uncalled. Ryan Byrne — the head of our ballot measures team — joins the show to share what we know so far, how the major trends played out, and what it might all mean for...

On this episode: Former president Donald Trump has won the race for the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris conceding earlier this afternoon. Republicans have won control of the Senate, while it still may be some time until we know the outcome of the House. With results rolling in, we take a closer look at what we know about state-level elections thus far, including state legislative cha...

On this episode: A late night look at the results rolling in for presidential, congressional, state, and local elections, as well ballot measures. (This episode was recorded at 12am ET. Georgia was called for Trump immediately after we concluded recording, and other updates have likely arrived since publishing — so be sure to check out our site for the latest news!) – Follow along with our updates...

On this episode: At least 83 million people have voted early in this year's election (78 at the time this episode was recorded). How does that compare to what we saw in 2020? And what can we learn from who’s choosing to vote early this time around? With less than 24 hours to go(!) until election day, we welcome the University of Florida’s Michael McDonald—one of the country’s foremost experts on e...

On this episode: A brief overview of the 15 races we’re watching including races for U.S. Senate, House, governors, other state executives, state supreme court judgeships, and state legislatures. Our  editorial department selected these elections based on past election results, unique election-specific circumstances, and election race ratings. The final selections include a mix of federal, state,...

On this episode: Voters in 41 states will decide on 146 statewide ballot measures at the general election on November 5 . A few members of our ballot measures team join the show to break down our top 15 to watch across the country, which address issues like abortion , ranked-choice voting , non-citizen voting, criminal justice, wages, and drug-use policies.  Explore our full report here: https://b...

On this episode: There might not be anything we take more seriously than our status as one of the leading nonpartisan political outlets in the country. We look out for and identify 25 distinct types of bias when it comes to political coverage — from speech tribe language to cherry-picking favorable sources and parroting the news. Kelly Coyle, who helps lead and craft our approach to bias, joins th...

On this episode: Since 2018, more than 15,000 candidates for political office have completed Ballotpedia’s candidate survey. This tool is a wonderful way to help voters learn more about their candidates, and we’ve processed more than 6,000 for this election cycle alone for federal, state and local elections. Four members of our staff who work closely on the survey every year — Sarah Groat, Ken Car...

On this episode: Democrat Kathy Boockvar and Republican Kim Wyman each served as secretary of state in Pennsylvania and Washington, respectively, during the 2020 presidential election. They’ve come together this year to help educate voters about the electoral process and share insights from their years of experience. Our Editor-in-Chief Geoff Pallay picks their brains about what administering elec...

On this episode: Ballotpedia founder and CEO Leslie Graves joins our social media manager Abby Campbell for a chat about how Ballotpedia can help young prospective voters get informed and empowered in what promises to be an exciting year of elections.  Leslie and Abby discuss weeding through the abundance of news online, how to identify reliable political information, and share some stories about...

On this episode: Our annual Ballot Measure Readability report explores the complexity of statewide ballot measure titles and summaries to determine the educational level voters might need to fully understand what they’re being asked to weigh in on. We use the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) scales to determine how accessible these texts are based on objective factor...