Ballotpedia:How We Cover Policy
How Ballotpedia covers public policy
The public policy decisions made by elected officials affect citizens’ lives every day. The results are felt economically, legally, and socially. Despite this, it can be hard to find any clear information about these public policy areas.
Ballotpedia is working to change that in two ways:
- Expanding to cover more policy areas.
- For each policy area we do cover, doing so in a way that makes the information clear, understandable, and comprehensive.
What are the ingredients of how our team covers any given policy area?
The basics
First, we set out the basics of the policy area we're covering. We show how policies are made and by whom and introduce readers to the stakeholders. We provide additional history and background information, including any significant turning points in the policy discussion, without any specialist jargon.
The arguments
Next, we identify the main areas of disagreement for each policy debate. We provide quotes from public officials, journalists, think tanks and policy experts, economists, and scientists and organize that information into support and opposition statements. We refer to this process as "argument mapping". We want our readers to see, clearly laid out, the actual arguments being made in the public arena, and how those arguments relate to each other.
The future
We then work to provide clarity around various policy proposals that are being presented. Whether the issue is education, immigration, the administrative state, unemployment, the environment, drug laws, criminal justice and policing, policy disputes happen when there is a prevailing dissatisfaction with the status quo -- the way things currently are going in a particular area. Public discontent around the status quo drives lawmakers and policy experts to develop policy reform ideas that, they argue, will make things better. A policy reform idea coming from the right of the political spectrum is likely to be very different from a policy reform idea coming from the left of the political spectrum, even when both sides of the political spectrum dislike the status quo. What we look to do is collect and curate the different policy reform ideas that are being putting forward to fix a given situation, so that our readers can clearly see what is on offer as ways to solve a particular problem they may care about. Once we have collected and curated the main policy reform ideas that are on offer, we can go on to create roadmaps that show how the policy reform ideas would (according to the groups, politicians and lawmakers who are advancing the reform ideas) change the future for the better. This helps our readers understand the factors and trade-offs.
When citizens understand policy areas and proposals, they can confidently participate in policy discussions, and encourage their community and officials to adopt policies they believe in.
The goal of our policy team is to make that easier for everyone.
Contact information
For questions about our editorial approach or coverage areas, please contact the editor.
See also
