Sources & Methodology

Vote America aims to make election information easier to explore while distinguishing documented facts from analysis.

Source hierarchy

1. Official state and local election offices, ballot certifications, and candidate filings.
2. Official candidate campaign websites and published policy platforms.
3. Official Democratic and Republican party organizations for endorsements.
4. Official congressional, state legislative, and public records.
5. Nonpartisan election research organizations and reputable fact-checkers.
6. Established news organizations for context and independently reported developments.
7. Reputable polling and election-forecasting organizations, with attribution.

What the labels mean

• Party affiliation: The party listed in official filing or ballot information.
• Official endorsement: A documented endorsement from a party organization, campaign, or other named endorser. The endorser and source are identified.
• Policy position: A position supported by a candidate’s published platform, official statement, voting record, or another reliable source.
• Polling: A survey result attributed to the pollster and publication, with dates and methodology where available.
• Forecast: A third-party estimate of the competitiveness or likely outcome of a race. It is not an official result.

Verification standards

Important claims should be cross-checked where practical. Every candidate, endorsement, policy position, poll, forecast, and ballot measure should have a source URL and a verification date. Source publication dates should be recorded when available.

If sources conflict, the site should explain the disagreement and link to the relevant sources. Unknown information should remain unknown; it must not be guessed or filled in from party affiliation.

Updates

Election information can change as candidates withdraw, legal challenges proceed, or election offices update ballot details. Each data record should have a last_verified date. Candidate filings and ballot status should be checked again close to Election Day.

Coverage limitations

A state directory does not necessarily represent a complete personal ballot. Congressional districts and local contests depend on a voter’s address. Visitors should consult their official state or local election authority for their own ballot and voting instructions.

How verification works in practice

• Candidate records. Federal candidate filings are imported from public election-data sources built on Federal Election Commission data. A filing does not prove a candidate qualified for the ballot, so records are labeled by what has actually been confirmed. Official ballot status is added only from an election authority.
• Ballot measures. Propositions come from the state’s own official lists and voter guide. Titles, summaries, yes/no effects, and fiscal impact are the state’s wording, with a link to the official page and the date it was checked.
• Official party recommendations. A recommendation is recorded only when the party organization itself published it, at the level it was issued (national, state, county). It is kept separate from ballot information. Candidate statements, individual politicians, and advocacy groups are not counted as party recommendations, and a missing recommendation is never treated as neutral.
• Independent and third-party candidates. They are included in race listings and treated under the same evidence standards as major-party candidates.
• Conflicts and gaps. When sources disagree, the page shows the disagreement or marks the item for review. When information is missing, the page says so.
• Updates and corrections. Records show when they were last verified, stale data is labeled, and errors are handled under Corrections and Updates. See also Editorial Standards.

How issue pages are researched

Each issue page has an explainer, a description of which levels of government can act, and a short list of evidence sources.

• Explainers are written in plain language from the cited sources and describe the main policy choices and trade-offs without recommending a position. They are marked “sourced”, which means the cited references were located and checked, not that an outside expert has reviewed them.
• Sources are chosen in this order: official government data, laws and court decisions, then nonpartisan research institutions. Each link is labeled by type and carries the date it was last checked. Some government sites block automated link checks, so those links are checked manually or marked as unchecked.
• Government authority describes who can enact, fund, carry out, or review a policy. Authority is often shared or limited, and the page says so.
• Candidate positions appear only when a specific position is documented by a candidate’s own platform, public statement, or legislative record, or by reliable reporting that quotes the candidate. Each record links to its source and shows its publication and verification dates. A legislative vote is not treated as a candidate’s complete position, and positions are never inferred from party affiliation, endorsements, or another candidate’s statements.
• When no position is documented, the page says “No verified public position found.” That is not support, opposition, or neutrality.
• Polling is used only when it adds context and always names the pollster, field dates, and population.