Terms of use
What this site is, and what it isn’t
Ballot Explained is a free, nonpartisan guide to what is on your ballot. Using it means accepting the terms below. They are short on purpose.
Last updated September 23, 2026
It is not an election authority
Your state or county election office is the only authoritative record of what is on your ballot, whether you are registered, and where and when you vote. Every ballot and state page on this site links to that office. Check with it before you vote — especially for local contests and ballot measures, which can change late.
It does not tell you how to vote
Nothing here is an endorsement. Candidates are listed in ballot order, no candidate is scored or ranked, and arguments for and against are quoted from the named people and organisations that made them. Those arguments are theirs, not ours, and including one is not agreeing with it. How that is done is set out in the methodology.
The information can be incomplete or wrong
The research is checked, but it is built from public sources that can be out of date, and some contests have very little published about them. Each page says how confident it is and lists what could not be verified. We provide the site as it is, without any promise that it is complete or free of errors, and we are not responsible for a decision you make based on it.
If you find a mistake, email hello@ballotexplained.com with the page and a source. Corrections are made whichever candidate or side they concern — the contact page explains how.
Links and sources
Pages link to election offices, news organisations, campaign sites and other sources we did not write and do not control. They are there so you can check our work. We are not responsible for what they say or for anything that happens on them.
Advertising
The site is paid for partly by advertising. Ads are labelled, are kept out of candidate comparisons, and are never placed between a claim and its source. An ad appearing here is not an endorsement of the advertiser, and advertisers have no say in the content. How advertising cookies work is covered in the privacy policy.
Using the content
You are welcome to read, link to and share any page. Please do not copy pages wholesale and present them as your own, or run automated tools that send requests fast enough to degrade the site for other voters. Newsrooms and civic organisations that want to reuse the guide can write to us — see partnerships.
Changes
These terms may change. When they do, the date at the top of this page changes with them.