Ballotpedia
A nonpartisan American online encyclopedia covering elections, politics, public policy, and government.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
Ballotpedia is a United States-focused, nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia. Its coverage spans federal, state, and local elections; candidates and elected officials; ballot initiatives, referendums, recalls, and other ballot measures; political parties; public policy; courts and judges; election administration; and government institutions. The project presents itself as an information service intended to help the public understand politics at every level of government, rather than as a campaign organization, political party, or news outlet advocating for particular candidates or policies. The site was established in 2007 by the Citizens in Charge Foundation. It initially followed a collaborative wiki model influenced by Wikipedia, allowing community contributors to build a large collection of election and government pages. In 2008 it was among several projects sponsored by the Sam Adams Alliance, alongside Judgepedia and Sunshine Review. Sponsorship moved to the Lucy Burns Institute in 2009. The institute is a Wisconsin-based 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit founded in December 2006 and named after suffragist Lucy Burns. Ballotpedia remains sponsored by that organization, which provides its institutional and nonprofit framework. Over time, Ballotpedia shifted from an open community-editing model to a professionally produced reference service. Its pages now depend primarily on paid editorial and research staff, supplemented by extensive public records, official election materials, government documents, and other published sources. The organization has described its editorial objective as providing accurate and objective political information. Its election and ballot-measure pages commonly include candidate biographies, office histories, endorsements, campaign finance information, arguments from supporters and opponents, litigation developments, polling or status information where available, election results, and explanations of procedural rules. The project expanded substantially through acquisitions and content integrations. Sunshine Review, a transparency-oriented project, was acquired by the Lucy Burns Institute in July 2013 and merged into Ballotpedia. Judgepedia, an online reference site about the American judiciary and court systems, was transferred into Ballotpedia in March 2015. The Judgepedia integration broadened Ballotpedia's coverage of state and federal courts, judges, judicial vacancies, and court elections. Ballotpedia also distributes or supplies structured civic information through partnerships. In 2018 it worked with Twitter on verification labels for United States political candidates and supplied Amazon Alexa with information about polling places and candidates during the elections. It collaborated with ABC News and FiveThirtyEight on data about Democratic primary candidates, and in 2024 announced a partnership with Decision Desk HQ intended to support real-time coverage of local election results. Its research has also been used by academic institutions, policy organizations, and news outlets. The organization is best understood as a civic-information and political-reference brand. Its distinctive positioning is breadth, structured election data, explanatory context, and a stated nonpartisan editorial mission. It does not operate as a conventional consumer brand with physical products; its principal offering is a searchable digital information platform supported by research, editorial production, data projects, partnerships, and public-facing studies.
History
Ballotpedia was founded in 2007 by the Citizens in Charge Foundation as a collaborative online reference project about American elections and ballot politics. Its early format resembled a wiki: contributors could add and revise information, creating a broad base of pages about initiatives, referendums, recalls, candidates, offices, and election contests. In 2008, Ballotpedia became associated with the Sam Adams Alliance, which also sponsored Judgepedia and Sunshine Review. The sponsorship arrangement changed in 2009, when responsibility moved to the Lucy Burns Institute, a Wisconsin nonprofit educational organization founded in December 2006. The institute takes its name from Lucy Burns, a co-founder of the National Woman's Party. This transition established the institutional structure under which Ballotpedia continues to operate. The project later consolidated related civic-information resources. In July 2013, the Lucy Burns Institute acquired Sunshine Review and merged its material into Ballotpedia. Sunshine Review had focused on government transparency and public-sector information, so the integration supported Ballotpedia's broader coverage of public institutions and government accountability. In March 2015, Judgepedia was also merged into Ballotpedia. Judgepedia had covered the United States legal system, including federal and state courts, judges, judicial vacancies, and court-related reference information. Its content gave Ballotpedia a more substantial judicial and court-information portfolio. Ballotpedia's editorial model changed as the organization matured. Although it originated as a community-edited wiki, the site came to rely on paid professional staff for research, writing, editing, and maintenance. The organization reported an editorial staff of more than 50 in 2021. Its stated mission is to inform the public with accurate and objective political information at all levels of government. The site therefore combines encyclopedia-style explanations with structured databases, election calendars, candidate profiles, ballot-measure analyses, election results, campaign-finance information, and summaries of litigation or administrative developments. The organization developed a role as a data provider and civic-information partner. In 2012, it published an assessment of official state voter guides using six criteria, reporting substantial variation in their quality. In 2014, the Center for American Progress used Ballotpedia data in an analysis of immigration-policy positions among Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. Ballotpedia also commissioned or published research on the readability of ballot language and the competitiveness of state legislative elections. Its ballot-language work emphasized that legal and procedural wording can be difficult for voters to understand, while research associated with Carl Klarner examined declining competitiveness in state legislative contests. Its public profile increased through technology and media collaborations. In 2018, Twitter announced a candidate-authentication partnership with Ballotpedia, and the organization supplied election information to Amazon Alexa. The same year, it worked with ABC News and FiveThirtyEight on data about Democratic primary candidates. In 2020, actress Regina King referred viewers to Ballotpedia during her acceptance speech at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, encouraging people to use the service in preparing for the election. News organizations and researchers have continued to cite its data, including a New York Times analysis in 2023. In 2024, Ballotpedia announced an arrangement with Decision Desk HQ for real-time local-election-results coverage. Today, Ballotpedia operates as a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital reference brand sponsored by the Lucy Burns Institute. Its principal public value proposition is comprehensive and organized political information for United States voters, researchers, journalists, educators, and civic organizations. Its work covers the full governmental hierarchy rather than focusing only on presidential or congressional politics.
- 2024
Decision Desk HQ partnership
[1]Ballotpedia announces a partnership intended to provide real-time local-election-results coverage.
- 2020
Ballotpedia receives national visibility at the Emmy Awards
[1]Regina King recommends Ballotpedia as an election-preparation resource during her 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards acceptance speech.
- 2018
Technology and media partnerships expand
[1]Ballotpedia works with Twitter, Amazon Alexa, ABC News, and FiveThirtyEight on candidate verification, voter information, and election analysis.
- 2015
Judgepedia content is integrated
[1]Judgepedia's court and judiciary reference content is merged into Ballotpedia, expanding its legal-system coverage.
- 2013
Sunshine Review is merged into Ballotpedia
[1]The Lucy Burns Institute acquires Sunshine Review and integrates its material into Ballotpedia.
- 2009
Sponsorship moves to Lucy Burns Institute
[1]Sponsorship of Ballotpedia is transferred to the Lucy Burns Institute.
- 2008
Sam Adams Alliance sponsorship
[1]Ballotpedia becomes one of the civic-information projects sponsored by the Sam Adams Alliance.
- 2007
Ballotpedia launches
[1]The Citizens in Charge Foundation establishes Ballotpedia as a collaborative online encyclopedia about American politics and elections.
- 2006
Lucy Burns Institute is founded
[1]The Lucy Burns Institute, the nonprofit sponsor of Ballotpedia, is founded in December in Middleton, Wisconsin.
Products and positioning
A nonpartisan, nonprofit civic-information resource emphasizing comprehensive United States election coverage, structured political data, and explanatory reference material.
Political information · 2007
Election coverage
Ballotpedia provides structured coverage of federal, state, and local elections. Pages may include offices, candidates, incumbents, filing and election dates, primary and general-election information, results, campaign finance, endorsements, and election-administration details. The service is designed to help users compare contests and understand how elections operate beyond high-profile national races.
Civic reference · 2007
Ballot-measure information
The platform maintains extensive material on initiatives, referendums, recalls, and other ballot measures. Coverage can describe the legal text and status of a measure, arguments from supporters and opponents, financial activity, litigation, polling or public-opinion information, and election outcomes. It also explains procedural differences among states and draws attention to the readability of ballot language.
Political encyclopedia · 2007
Government, policy, and officeholder profiles
Ballotpedia publishes reference pages about elected officials, candidates, political parties, public policy, government agencies, and election rules. These pages provide contextual information that connects individual contests with the institutions and policy questions involved, making the service useful to voters, journalists, educators, and researchers.
Legal and judicial information · 2015
Courts and judiciary coverage
Material inherited from Judgepedia gives Ballotpedia coverage of state and federal courts, judges, judicial elections, and vacancies. The former Judgepedia project also tracked Article III federal judicial vacancies through a publication called Federal Courts, Empty Benches. This portfolio extends the brand beyond electoral politics into the structure and operation of the American judiciary.
Research and data · 2012
Election data and research
Ballotpedia produces studies and datasets on subjects including voter guides, ballot-language complexity, legislative-election competitiveness, incumbency, candidate characteristics, and election demographics. Its data are also made available through external partnerships and are used by media, researchers, and policy organizations for election reporting and analysis.
Marketing campaigns
- 2018Twitter candidate-authentication partnership
United States
Ballotpedia partnered with Twitter to help verify the authenticity of political candidates running for office in the United States and support election-related information integrity.
Outcome. Ballotpedia data supported special candidate-verification labels on Twitter.
- 2018Amazon Alexa election-information partnership
United States
Ballotpedia supplied polling-place and candidate information for Amazon Alexa during the 2018 elections.
Outcome. Election information became available through a voice-assistant channel.
Brand decisions
2024
Expand real-time local election results coverageStrategyBackground
Local election results are fragmented across many jurisdictions and can be difficult for national information providers to cover in real time.
Action taken
Ballotpedia announced a partnership with Decision Desk HQ for real-time local-election-results coverage.
Aftermath
The partnership was intended to strengthen Ballotpedia's timeliness and breadth in local election reporting.
2015
Merge Judgepedia into BallotpediaM&ABackground
Judgepedia was a related wiki-style reference project covering American courts and the judiciary.
Action taken
Judgepedia's content was transferred into Ballotpedia in March 2015.
Aftermath
Ballotpedia expanded its reference scope to include federal and state courts, judges, and judicial vacancies.
2013
Integrate Sunshine ReviewM&ABackground
The Lucy Burns Institute acquired Sunshine Review, a project focused on government transparency and public information.
Action taken
Sunshine Review's material was merged into Ballotpedia.
Aftermath
The integration broadened Ballotpedia's coverage of government transparency and public institutions.
Recent events
- 2024
Ballotpedia announces Decision Desk HQ election-results partnership[1]
Other
Ballotpedia announced a partnership with Decision Desk HQ to provide real-time coverage of local United States election results.
- 2018
Twitter partners with Ballotpedia on candidate verification labels[1]
Other
Twitter announced a partnership with Ballotpedia to help identify authentic United States political candidates during a period of concern about election-related manipulation on the platform.
- 2018
Ballotpedia provides election information for Amazon Alexa[1]
Other
During the 2018 United States elections, Ballotpedia supplied Amazon Alexa with information about polling locations and political candidates.
- 2018
Ballotpedia, ABC News, and FiveThirtyEight analyze Democratic primary candidates[1]
Other
The organizations collected and analyzed candidate data to examine the kinds of candidates attracting support in Democratic Party primary contests.
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