What is Ballotpedia?
Ballotpedia is a website located at www.ballotpedia.org that allows anyone to create and edit articles about all aspects of American ballots. It is built on the open source MediaWiki platform—the exact same wiki interface familiar to millions through Wikipedia.
What kind of articles will people be able to find on Ballotpedia?
Anything to do with ballots, ballot measures, voting, citizen initiative, ballot access court cases for candidates and initiatives, ballot litigation, voter rights and so on.
As one Ballotpedia contributor said, “It’s like Wikipedia, except it’s for ballot stuff”.
Can you be more specific?
Yes. Right now, many articles on Ballotpedia are about citizen initiative and ballot measures, including:
- Articles on specific ballot measures—what the ballot measure said, how it got on the ballot, any legal bumps along the way, arguments for and against, who supported and opposed it, the course of the campaign and so on.
- Ballot access litigation—key court cases that either limit or support the ability of ballot measures and candidates to gain access to ballots.
- Articles about each state’s ballot access process.
- Articles about key figures in ballot measure advocacy or opposition.
- And much more.
Is it easy to find information on Ballotpedia and add information to articles?
Yes, it is extremely easy. Go to www.ballotpedia.org and click on the frontpage link that says “Getting Started”.
Learning to edit a wiki is much easier than learning how to blog or set up a Facebook account. It’s even easier than learning how to receive and send emails.
Are you keeping track of current initiatives?
What Ballotpedia keeps track of is entirely based on what its users are interested in. That said, there’s now a “Breaking News” link on the front page of Ballotpedia, pointing to a number of interesting articles about ballot measures that will appear on ballots in November 2007.
Did you know about “Dancers for Democracy” in Ohio? The Racino Initiative in Maine? The Washington Taxpayer Protection Initiative? The Utah referendum to repeal a school choice law?
You would, if you followed Ballotpedia.
Who will be most interested in Ballotpedia?
Ballotpedia is a great resource for journalists, bloggers, proponents and opponents of ballot measures, state officials charged with regulating ballot access, and attorneys.
Most of all, though, it’s a great resource for ordinary citizens looking for more information about ballot measures and ballot access.
What about states that don’t have the right of citizen initiative?
Even most states that lack a statewide initiative and referendum process have the process available to some degree at the local level. Thus, every state has “ballot battles” over candidates, local tax hikes, bond issues, ballot measures placed on the ballot by the state legislature and so on. Anyone, anywhere, who wonders about how candidates do (or don’t) get on ballots, who wants to know how ballot measures do (or don’t) get on ballots, and who wants to learn more about those campaigns, will find invaluable information on Ballotpedia—and, we hope, add valuable information to Ballotpedia.
Why is Ballotpedia important?
There’s no other website or organization that strives to be encyclopedic in providing accurate, fair and (someday) comprehensive information about ballot access and ballot measures.
There are plenty of groups—including plenty of groups we admire—who provide one part of the story, or who advocate for or against specific measures and candidates.
Ballotpedia will strive to present the whole picture.
Additionally, there are frequent changes in state statutes pertaining to ballot access and frequent court rulings about ballot measures and ballot access provisions. As well, there are frequent changes in the ballot measures and candidates trying to make the ballot and in the fate of those efforts.
The wiki format that Ballotpedia is based on allows people to make changes to the site whenever there’s a change in the law, a signature challenge, a new ballot campaign—basically, whenever anything in the world of ballots changes.
Because anyone can edit a wiki, Ballotpedia can uniquely strive to stay both current and encyclopedic.
What about vandalism?
Vandalism is an issue at any wiki. Because there are now millions of wikis, on any imaginable “niche” subject, there is correspondingly a strong body of information and guidance available on how to control vandalism.
Like many others, we believe that the strong benefits of the fact that anyone, anywhere, at any time, can edit a wiki outweighs the fact that vandalism can and does occur on wikis.
Ballotpedia has a guide to monitoring and correcting vandalism that can be made available on request.
What about accuracy?
Because Ballotpedia is a collaborative, knowledge-building project that anyone can edit at any time, and because people do make mistakes, that means that people have to use their best judgment and discretion with Ballotpedia as with all other sources of information. We encourage users to cite reliable sources for the information they add.
Wikipedia itself, which relies on the same collaborative knowledge-building model, has fared well in recent academic studies comparing the accuracy, reliability and scope of its articles to other encyclopedias. For example, the science journal Nature reported in 2005 that science articles in Wikipedia were comparable in accuracy to those in Encyclopædia Britannica.
I looked up something I wanted to know about on Ballotpedia and it wasn’t there.
It can really be hard to find important information about many aspects of the ballot process, and that’s one reason we started Ballotpedia.
Wikis grow at their own pace. We encourage users who couldn’t find the information they wanted to start an article about that very subject on Ballotpedia so that the next person who looks will be able to get the information he or she wants.
How can people help with this project?
Visiting Ballotpedia, starting articles and adding information to the existing articles is a great way to help your fellow voters.
Putting a link to Ballotpedia in the sidebar of your blog or on your website is another way to help.
Getting the word out by e-mailing your friends helps, and signing up to receive regular Ballotpedia updates (you can do that on the front page of Ballotpedia) wouldn’t hurt either.
Who is sponsoring Ballotpedia?
The Citizens in Charge Foundation (CICF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit formed in 2002. Its website is www.citizensincharge.org.
Assistance in the initial construction of Ballotpedia was provided by the Sam Adams Foundation, a 501(c)(3) formed in 2006, based in Chicago.
Why is CICF sponsoring Ballotpedia?
We love and cherish the right of citizen initiative. We’re fascinated by the history of ballot measures, by the colorful characters who have played a role in ballot measures, by lawsuits about 1st Amendment rights and ballot access, by the obstacles faced by candidates and ballot measures in qualifying for the ballot—generally, by the whole rich cornucopia of this part of our democracy.
We want ordinary citizens and journalists to be able to get accurate, timely and comprehensive information about this important and exciting part of our democracy.
If CICF published a newspaper in a ballot initiative state, we’d include a pull-out section once a year celebrating our state’s initiative heritage and helping voters understand it and how to make use of it going forward as activists and citizens.
We don’t own a newspaper, so Ballotpedia is our way to celebrate direct democracy, ballot measures and voters.
What else does CICF do?
CICF advocates to protect and expand the initiative and referendum process, and occasionally assists with ballot access litigation in cases that have a strong foundational relevance to preserving the rights of voters.
Since Ballotpedia is a wiki, people and legislators who oppose the initiative and referendum process have the same ability to edit the website as do supporters of I&R.
Does CICF get involved in advocating for specific ballot measures?
No. However, Paul Jacob, president of CICF, is well-known for his advocacy of specific ballot measures, including term limits, tax limitation and eminent domain reform ballot measures.
Paul Jacob is also a Senior Fellow at the Sam Adams Foundation. A related organization, the Sam Adams Alliance, contributed $15,000 to a ballot measure in the state of Washington in 2007 and may support or oppose other specific ballot measures in the future.
Additionally, Paul Jacob is on the board of the Center for Independent Thought.
Jacob writes a weekly column for Townhall.com and his “Common Sense” commentary is syndicated on radio stations across the country.
What if I don’t agree with his political positions?
Since Ballotpedia is a wiki, people and legislators of all different political persuasions are welcome and encouraged to edit it and join in the process of building this comprehensive encyclopedia of citizen-powered democracy.
We may disagree on specific ballot measures, or even on whether citizens should have the right of I&R, but we can agree on the value of accurate, fair and well-sourced information in helping voters understand this often-overlooked corner of our democracy.
Who can I contact for more information?
Paul Jacob is available for media interviews about Ballotpedia, including e-interviews and blog interviews. He can be reached at:
Paul Jacob
12934 Harbor Drive
Suite 111
Lake Ridge, VA 22192
(703) 492-1776
pjacob@ballotpedia.org