Ballotpedia:Editorial policy

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How does Ballotpedia...
...define candidacy?
...define incumbency?
...order candidate lists?
...choose battlegrounds?
...cover primaries?
...cover endorsements?
...cover campaign finance?
...cover polls?
...cover recall efforts?
...call an election?
...cover recounts?
...handle postponements?

Ballotpedia's goal is to inform people about politics by providing objective information about politics at all levels of government. As such, Ballotpedia maintains a high standard of quality for its articles, focusing on accuracy and neutrality.

Ballotpedia's articles are 100 percent written by our professional staff. While Ballotpedia initially allowed volunteer Guest Editors to contribute directly to the website, this Guest Editor program was ended in August 2016. Read more about Ballotpedia's Guest Editor program below.

Editorial standards

Ballotpedia writers and editors adhere to strict writing standards in order to preserve neutrality and consistency across the site. Below is a list of pages detailing Ballotpedia's editorial standards:

Ballotpedia's Guest Editor program

Ballotpedia ended its Guest Editor program on August 8, 2016, with the goal of preserving high standards in all of its articles. At this time, all contributions to the site are made by paid, professional staff members.

Historical Guest Editor policy

From Ballotpedia's inception until August 27, 2015, volunteer editors could register a user account on Ballotpedia in order to edit the site directly. At times, readers were permitted to register accounts on their own, while at other times, readers were required to email Ballotpedia's editor with a request to create an account. In all cases, user edits were monitored daily by paid staff members known as Contributor Engagement Associates (CEAs).

Between August 27, 2015, and the termination of the Guest Editor program on August 8, 2016, all individuals wishing to directly contribute to Ballotpedia pages were required to undergo a three-step application process:

  • Step 1: In order to demonstrate knowledge of Ballotpedia's quality standards, all prospective Guest Editors had to pass the following test:
  • Step 2: All applicants who passed the Guest Editor Test were required to fill out and submit the following application:
  • Step 3: If approved, Guest Editor applicants were required to sign the following agreement to commit to maintaining Ballotpedia's high standards:

After successfully completing this application process, a user account was created, and the new Guest Editor could begin editing the site. Guest Editors were requested to use their real name as their username on Ballotpedia.

Timeline of Ballotpedia's Guest Editor program

  • On January 28, 2011, the ability of new users to register a user account on Ballotpedia was temporarily turned off.
  • On February 4, 2011, the ability of new users to register was turned back on on an experimental basis.
  • On February 4, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. (CST), the ability of new users to registered was once again temporarily turned off because of a new infestation of spambots.
  • On February 23, 2011, new registrations were again enabled on Ballotpedia.
  • On June 6, 2011, we disabled new user registration again because the problem had once again grown to a significant level.
  • On December 19, 2011, the ability of new users to register a user account on Ballotpedia was again enabled on Ballotpedia.
  • On January 26, 2012, the ability of new users to register a user account on Ballotpedia was disabled due to a sudden increase in spam.
  • On January 7, 2014, user registration was enabled.
  • On September 17, 2014, the ability of new users to register a user account on Ballotpedia was disabled due to a sudden increase in spam.
  • On September 29, 2014, user registration was enabled.
  • On October 9, 2014, the ability of new users to register a user account on Ballotpedia was temporarily disabled due to a sudden increase in spam.
  • On August 27, 2015, Ballotpedia instituted a strict policy limiting volunteer editing of the site to a select few. As part of this process the user accounts of all non-staff editors were deactivated and a note was left on their talk pages alerting them to the new policy, along with instructions to the application process needed in order to reactivate their account.
  • On August 8, 2016, the Guest Editor program was ended.

How to stay involved

Though readers can no longer edit the site directly, there are still a number of ways to help Ballotpedia maintain the online Encyclopedia of American Politics:

See also

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Ballotpedia policy explainers
Candidates and officeholders
Election coverage
How we choose battleground elections • How we cover primaries • How we order candidate lists • How we cover polls • How we cover endorsements • How we cover campaign finance and satellite spending • How we decide when to update vote totals on and after election night • How we decide when to call an election • How we decide when to cover a recall effort • How we cover election lawsuits and recounts • How we write ballot measure article titles • How we write original summaries of ballot measures • How we cover endorsements in support of or opposition to ballot measures • How we cover media editorial endorsements in support of or opposition to ballot measures • How we cover ballot measure campaign finance • How we calculate initiative signature petition costs • The Ballotpedia Power Index • How we handle court-ordered postponements of election dates and candidate filing deadlines
Scope, editorial approach, and other policies
Ballotpedia's overall scope • Elections editorial approach • Federal government editorial approach • State government editorial approach • Local government editorial approach • Influencers editorial approach • Fact check editorial approach • Public Policy editorial approach • Editorial policy • Writing about key campaign messages • Writing about reports and analyses • Story selection for the Daily Presidential News Briefing • Story selection for presidential election news events • Editorial independence policy • Partnership with Transparency USA • Criminal behavior and scandal policy • Ad policy • Privacy policy • MyVote privacy policy • Plagiarism policy • Image use policy • Copyright policy • Error correction policy • Content accuracy policy • Generative AI policy • Neutral point of view policy • Categories of bias • General disclaimer
v • e
Ballotpedia
About
Editorial Content
Geoff Pallay, Director of Editorial Content and Editor-in-Chief • Ken Carbullido, Vice President of Election Product and Technology Strategy • Norm Leahy, Senior Editor • Daniel Anderson, Managing Editor • Ryan Byrne, Managing Editor • Cory Eucalitto, Managing Editor • Mandy McConnell, Managing Editor • Doug Kronaizl, Local Elections Project Manager • Jaclyn Beran • Marielle Bricker • Joseph Brusgard • Emma Burlingame • Kelly Coyle • Thomas Ellis • Frank Festa • Nicole Fisher • Brianna Hosea • Joseph Greaney • Thomas Grobben • Jaime Healy-Plotkin • Tyler King • Glorie Martinez • Nathan Maxwell • Ellie Mikus • Jackie Mitchell • Ellen Morrissey • Mackenzie Murphy • Kaley Platek • Samantha Post • Adam Powell • Ethan Rice • Spencer Richardson • Victoria Rose • Briana Ryan • Myj Saintyl • Maddy Salucka • Maddie Sinclair Johnson • Abbey Smith • Alexis Thacker • Janie Valentine • Joel Williams • Samuel Wonacott • Trenton Woodcox
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