A Candidate’s Guide to Getting Listed on Ballotpedia and Vote Smart

In addition to mainstream social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, two great resources for candidates to reach potential voters are Ballotpedia (ballotpedia.org) and Vote Smart (votesmart.org).

Let’s take a closer look at each and how to get listed:

Ballotpedia.org

Ballotpedia is a nonpartisan and nonprofit website run by the Lucy Burns Institute in Middleton, Wisconsin. It is entirely privately funded by donors and receives no government funding. The site first went online in 2007 and since then has received over 1.5 billion views. According to the website it is “the digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections.”

In order to get listed on the site candidates can go to:

https://ballotpedia.org/Survey

Once approved, candidates can submit a photo and a video up to 2 minutes in length.

VoteSmart.org

Vote Smart is a nonpartisan and nonprofit website run by volunteers in Des Moines, Iowa. It is also entirely privately funded by donors and receives no government funding. Vetting of candidates is more stringent on this site. To be included on the site candidates not currently holding a gubernatorial or legislative office must submit a “Political Courage Test”, stating their position on various issues. The test can be submitted online or via mail. A photo can also be submitted with the biographical update.

Below are links to the site and pdf files of the “Political Courage Test” forms and Biographical Information Update Form.

https://votesmart.org/for-candidates/#.XbT5zehKiUl

https://static.votesmart.org/static/pdf/forcandidates/2019PCTCongressional.pdf

https://static.votesmart.org/static/pdf/forcandidates/BiographicalForm.pdf

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