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Writing:Articles about ballot measures
Contents |
- Tells readers everything they could want to know about the measure.
- Is readable.
- Is balanced and neutral in its point-of-view.
- Describes the arguments each side uses to make their case to the public.
- Covers controversies in a fair, balanced and neutral way.
- Includes information about any lawsuits involving the ballot proposition.
- Uses sections, subsections and other graphic formatting to make it easy for readers to find what they want.
- During election campaigns, regularly updates information on donors and campaign tactics used by both sides.
- Includes useful references and external links.
It also:
- Is correctly named.
- Includes useful category tags and templates, where applicable.
See also: Ballotpedia: How not to write articles about ballot measures.
Stub articles
- See also: Writing:Ballot measure stub articles
This section provides writing guidelines for creating a "stub" (starter) article. There are two types of articles: an article that summarizes the number of measures and election details, known as a "State/Year article," and an article that describes a single measure, known as a "measure article."
Writing guidelines
| Writing guidelines |
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| Ballot measures |
| Law • Recall |
| State legislatures |
| Legislators Chambers Elections |
| State executives |
| Elections |
| Congress |
| Elections |
| Congressional districts |
| News articles |
Proposed measure
A measure that has recently been proposed and is only in the initial stages may include:
- Naming the article
- Introduction
- Path to the ballot
- Similar measures
- See also
- External links
- References
- Templates
- Categories
Measure on the ballot
A measure certified to appear on the ballot may include the following components:
- Naming the article
- Infobox
- Introduction
- Text of measure
- This may include subsections: Title, Summary, Fiscal note, Changes to text, Constitutional changes
- Support/opposition
- This may include campaign graphics/videos and subsections: supporters, arguments, campaign contributions, campaign advertising, tactics and strategies, consultants, controversies.
- Support/opposition
- This may include campaign graphics/videos and subsections: supporters, arguments, campaign contributions, campaign advertising, tactics and strategies, consultants, controversies.
- Campaign contributions
- generally this is featured within each support and opposition section, however, long and notable articles warrant a section for campaign contributions all to its own
- Reports & analysis
- this section could alternatively be called "Reports" or "Reports and analysis" or "Report and studies" or "studies"
- Media endorsements
- Polls
- Lawsuits
- Path to the ballot
- Similar measures
- See also
- External links
- Additional reading
- References
- Templates
- Categories
After the election
Measures that have already appeared on the ballot and been voted on may include all of the above as well as:
NOTE:Both sections appear immediately below the introduction and in the order listed.
Historical measures
Historical ballot measures articles generally follow the guidelines set forth for current ballot measure articles (above), however there are few points to note:
Aftermath section
- Historical measures may have lawsuits many years after the measure was seen on the ballot. These lawsuits are typically listed in the aftermath section.
- Historical measures may cause other measures to appear on the ballot. When this is evident, it should be noted in the aftermath section.
Election results section
- In the {{Short outcome}} template, the title of the article should be listed as: State Measure # (Year) [ex. Arizona Proposition 102 (1988)]
- Ballot measures are occasionally overturned after they were approved by the general populous. In these cases, it should be noted in the {{Short outcome}} template as noted in the template's documentation.
Unused subsections
The following sections will likely not be found in historical ballot measures:
Finding content
Here are good places to find out about the ballot measure. If an article has already been started and you want to add to it, these resources can be consulted for additional detail and information.
- Do double check the information already available on Ballotpedia. Many states already have information available on I&R law, Historical listing of initiatives (up until 2000), links to campaign finance laws and profiles of government officials.
- Do a Google search to see if you can find the websites of the groups that supported and opposed the initiative.
- Another good way to find out who supported the measure is to check out the campaign finance reports associated with the measure on your state's website.
- Go to Project Vote Smart’s website and enter the name or some appropriate search words for the initiative you’re interested in.
- Go to the I&R Institute website
- Make sure to check out the BallotWatch feature on this website. It's an excellent resource for ballot trends and ballot specific information.
- Another great source is the National Conference of State Legislatures. The site contains an easy to use state by state breakdown of I&R law and petitioning requirements. It also contains a feature that allows you to search for initiatives and referendums by state, year and topic in the Ballot Database.
- Look at the Lexis/Nexis website for newspaper articles about the initiative
- Lexis Nexis is a website that has local/national archives of newspaper articles. Usually you can access it through your university or local library.
- If you do not have access to Lexis Nexis, make sure to check out Google News
- Consult Wikipedia
- Try a Google blog search.
- Don't forget to visit your state's ballot measure website. Although the quality of these websites varies considerably from state-to-state, in most states you can find some information about each ballot measure.
- All states also have a campaign finance reporting database. Search for the measure, look at contributors and do some investigating of your own through a simple google search to find out about the contributors and any interesting connections!
Historical content
Suggestions on how to start finding historical content can be found on the page: Writing:Ballot measure research sources.
