On the Ballot

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...

On this episode: 34 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election in just a few weeks, with control of the upper chamber of congress bound to come down to just a handful of tight races. Jessica Taylor, Senate and Governor’s editor for The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, joins the show to run through Cook’s current toss up Senate races, which have shifted lately and those that still could, and...

On this episode: All 435 seats of the House or Representatives are up for grabs this election season. Here at Ballotpedia, we’re tracking 53 of those as battleground races  – which means we’re expecting about 13% of these races to be truly competitive. Heading into the election, Republicans have a 220-212 majority, with three current vacancies. Democrats need a net gain of five districts to win a...

On this episode: With a record 11 abortion related measures on the ballot in 10 states, we can expect one of the nation’s most divisive issues to linger in many American minds when they head to cast their votes at the polls in a few weeks. In the first half of the show, you’ll hear Ballotpedia staff writer Nicole Fisher detail the measures, how they’re different, and what polling indicates about t...

On this episode: Bans on noncitizen voting at the state level have become more frequent since 2018, and this year, there are a record number of ballot measures related to the issue.  Eight state legislatures referred constitutional amendments to the ballot to prohibit the state or local governments from allowing noncitizen voting – that’s in Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahom...

On this episode: Few voting methods have gained as much traction and been in the spotlight these last few years as Ranked Choice Voting, commonly known as RCV. How it works is right in its name; voters rank candidates according to their preference and ballots are processed in rounds. The candidate in the last place is eliminated during each round and the voters’ second choices get their votes. The...

On this episode: Last night, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance took to the stage in New York for the first and only scheduled vice presidential debate, hosted by CBS. Without a second debate on the horizon for Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, this might've been one of the last opportunities for each ticket to make their case to voters on the natio...

On this episode: 11 Gubernatorial elections on the ballot this November – in Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia, as well as American Samoa and Puerto Rico. Most of these contests aren’t expected to be competitive – but two – in New Hampshire and North Carolina – are about as close as they can get.  In this...

On this episode: A complete breakdown of our 14th Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report, which analyzes all 5,807 state legislative seats that are up for election on November 5, 2024, in 44 states. Overall, our research found that competitiveness in 2024 was below average for even years from 2010 to 2024. Looking at averages across the last three even-year election cycles: 2024 had fewer...

NOTE: This episode was recorded on Friday, September 20th, BEFORE polling on Monday, September 23rd indicated a bump for former President Donald Trump in the swing states; particularly in Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia, according to a new poll by the New York Times and Siena College (that's how fast this stuff changes!) On this episode: The end of last week saw a deluge of new polling upd...

On this episode : We’re set to see marijuana pop up in some way or another on ballots across the country this November, with potentially seven marijuana-related measures overall. Recreational use of marijuana is currently legal in 24 states and D.C., 13 states from that bunch legalized marijuana through the ballot measures process–and three more will try to do the same this November, with initiati...

On this episode: Ballotpedia’s communication’s team takes over the podcast for a walkthrough of our Voter Toolkit to help get ready to vote this November. Learn how to use the sample ballot tool, read candidate surveys, find out when polls open and close, and more at the link below.  Election ‘24 Voter Toolkit: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia%27s_Voter_Toolkit    Sign up for our Newsletters: h...

On this episode: Last night, Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump took to the stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for their only scheduled debate as presidential hopefuls.  Julia Terruso, a national political reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, joins the show to break down how each candidate fared, their message to voters in Pennsylv...

On this episode: Our Editor-in-Chief is set to lead On the Ballot through what promises to be an action-packed election season. Joined by our longtime host–ballot measures staff writer Victoria Rose–Geoff shares why he's excited to step into the role and what you can expect from us over the next few months. Learn more about Geoff: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia:Geoff_Pallay Sign up for ou...

On this episode: Dr. Adam Feldman–a scholar on the Supreme Court, who runs the Empirical SCOTUS blog–joins to break down the recent term and what he’s looking out for in next year’s term, which’ll start in October. Plus – why we’ve seen the court take on fewer cases per year on average since 1988.  Take a look at the most recent term: https://ballotpedia.org/Supreme_Court_cases,_October_term_2023-...

On this episode: Voters in nine states—Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, Nevada, and South Dakota—will decide on abortion-related ballot measures in Nov. 2024. This is the most on record for a single year. Initiatives are pending signature verification in two additional states—Arkansas and Nebraska. Our ballot measures team breaks down what these measures have in c...

On this episode: Day two at the Democratic National Convention is well underway, with former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama set to speak later this evening.  Today, we’re joined by GQR pollster Anna Greenberg, who’s attending the DNC in Chicago this week, to bring us inside the convention and tell us a little more about the Democrats plans for the upcoming campaign and...