Our process
How we research and build each brief
From the moment you enter your address to the briefing you read, here is exactly what happens.
01
Find your ballot
Your ZIP code identifies your metro area. Your address is then matched to your congressional and state legislative districts using the U.S. Census Bureau's geocoder. Your address is used only to look up your ballot and is never tied to your identity.
02
Use verified race and candidate lists
The races, candidates, and ballot measures for each area were compiled with AI-assisted research and then checked against official election sources, such as secretary of state and county candidate lists, or at least two independent sources.
03
Research current sources
When you click "Get briefing," Claude (Anthropic's AI) runs a few targeted web searches of local news outlets, Ballotpedia, official voter guides, and candidate websites. It receives the verified candidate list for the race and must cover every candidate on it.
04
Build the brief in a fixed format
Every brief uses the same structure: office description, race overview, a full profile for each candidate with background, policy positions, and endorsements, and a values alignment section.
05
No recommendations
The values alignment section connects candidate positions to voter priorities across six issue areas. It never says which position is correct or which candidate to choose.
Ground rules
The rules every briefing follows
Claude follows the same written instructions for every race and every candidate. These are the core rules.
No recommendations. Briefings never tell you how to vote or endorse a candidate or position.
Every candidate gets the same treatment. Every candidate on the official ballot receives a full profile in the same format, listed alphabetically by last name. No one is shortened or left out because of polling, fundraising, or media attention.
The same issues for everyone. Each candidate is researched on the same six issue areas (listed below), so no one is covered only on their strongest or weakest topic.
Proposals, not tone. Positions describe specific policy proposals. Briefings don’t characterize a candidate’s tone, rhetoric, or media coverage.
Qualifications, not personality. Backgrounds focus on professional experience and public service, not personal story or celebrity.
Both sides of every measure. Each ballot measure lists what happens if it passes and if it fails, names supporters and opponents, and gives a matching “Vote YES if” and “Vote NO if.”
The same briefing for everyone. Briefings are saved per race, so every visitor sees the same version. Nothing is tailored to you.
Issue framework
What we research for every candidate
For each candidate, we research their positions across six core issue areas. Not every issue is relevant to every race — a water district board candidate may not have a healthcare position — but these topics guide our research to ensure consistency across briefings.
The EconomyCrime & Public SafetyHealthcareHousing & AffordabilityEducationDemocracy, Voting Rights & Governance
For each candidate, we present their most distinctive policy position in plain language — focused on what they propose to do, not how they describe themselves or their campaign tone.
Endorsements
How we select and present endorsements
Endorsements are presented as informational signals — who is backing a candidate tells voters something meaningful about that candidate's political alignment and priorities. We apply consistent criteria to what qualifies as a relevant endorsement.
We include
- Elected officials and political figures
- Political parties and party caucuses
- Labor unions and worker organizations
- Civic and advocacy organizations
- Major newspaper editorial boards
- Community and neighborhood organizations
We exclude
- Celebrities and entertainers
- Athletes and sports figures
- Private individuals without political office or organizational role
- Duplicate local chapters when parent organization is listed
We prioritize the most significant endorsements for each specific candidate. A grassroots candidate's most important endorsers may be local organizations — those are listed even if they are smaller than a statewide union. Where possible, endorsements are drawn from different categories (for example, one each from labor, civic, and political groups) rather than several of the same kind. Maximum 5 endorsements are shown per candidate.
Data sources
Where our information comes from
Ballot Brief uses live web search to pull from publicly available sources at the time each briefing is generated. Primary sources include:
Ballotpedia
Candidate profiles & race data
Local news outlets
Coverage and reporting
Official voter guides
Secretary of State publications
Candidate websites
Policy positions & platforms
Newspaper editorial boards
Endorsements & analysis
Organization websites
Endorsement announcements
Geographic coverage
How we define metro areas
Ballot Brief uses the U.S. Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) definitions to determine metro boundaries. CBSAs are the official federal standard for defining metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas based on population density and economic ties between counties.
When you enter your address, we match its ZIP code against a database of about 3,100 ZIP codes mapped to their corresponding CBSA — the same geographic standard used by the U.S. Census Bureau, HUD, and most federal agencies. Because ballots are set by state, we include only ZIP codes within each metro's home state; for example, a New Jersey address in the New York metro is not shown a New York ballot. Congressional and state legislative districts are then matched to your exact address using the Census Bureau's geocoder.
We currently cover 15 major metropolitan areas across the United States, selected based on population size and electoral significance. Our goal is full national coverage by 2027.
Limitations
Be informed - understand what Ballot Brief can and cannot do
Ballot Brief is intended to be one resource among many to help you make informed voting decisions. We encourage consulting multiple sources, including official voter guides, local news, and candidate websites, before casting your ballot. The following limitations are important to understand before relying on any information presented here.
AI can make mistakes. Ballot Brief uses AI to synthesize information. AI systems can misread sources, miss nuance, or occasionally generate inaccurate information. Always verify important claims with official sources.
Coverage varies by race prominence. High-profile races like Governor or Mayor have extensive press coverage and produce richer briefings. Judicial races, water district boards, and other lower-profile races may have limited web coverage, resulting in thinner briefings or no briefing at all.
Endorsements may be incomplete. We surface the most significant endorsements we can find, but our search may miss some — particularly recent announcements or those from smaller organizations with limited web presence.
Briefings reflect the moment they were generated. Once saved, a briefing does not automatically update when news changes. Briefings are regenerated when we update a race’s candidate information, but real-time accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sources have their own perspectives. The news outlets and websites a briefing draws on have their own leanings, and AI can frame things unevenly. Our rules reduce bias but cannot eliminate it, which is why we encourage checking other independent sources.
Some races are not yet covered. Judicial races and some county races are not included yet. Candidate lists for state legislative races are pre-verified in California and New York; elsewhere, briefings research those candidates at the time you request them. School-district and special-district measures vary by address and are not listed.
Ballot Brief is a nonpartisan civic tool built to increase voter participation. We have no political affiliation, are ad-free, and have no interest in which way you vote. If you believe a briefing contains an error, please visit our contact page or email us at hello@ballotbrief.us and we will review it.