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Ballotpedia:How we write a person's biography
A person's biography on Ballotpedia is intended to be a brief overview of their life.
Specifically, these biographies attempt to capture the person’s birthplace, current residence, educational background (including high school, college, and trade school), military service, and career experience (including current employment and past positions). The biography may also capture the person's previous public offices held and major accomplishments or community involvement. Biographies do not capture information about the person's family or attempt to be a comprehensive accounting of every event in the person's life.
Ballotpedia gathers biographical information about a person from multiple sources, including:
- The person's online presence (websites, social media)
- News media articles or videos about the person
- Direct communication with the person
- Government-published voter guides, candidate lists, and officeholder bios
Here is an example of a fictitious person's biography on Ballotpedia:
John Smith was born in Jackson, Michigan, and lives in Cupertino, California. He graduated from Jackson High School in 1995. Smith served in the United States Air Force from 1995 to 1998 and reached the rank of senior airman. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Central Michigan University in 2002, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Albion College in 2004, and a Ph.D. in materials engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2007.
Smith’s career experience includes working as an engineer with Dow Chemical, project lead supervisor with Foxconn, and research manager with Apple. He founded the Buddy Reading volunteering program in Madison, Wisconsin. Smith was appointed to serve on the city of Madison’s Urban Planning Committee by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and on California’s Veteran Integration Task Force by Governor Jerry Brown (D).
Note that the format of a person's biography and the content included in it may vary depending on the person's life experiences, information availability online, and Ballotpedia's editorial judgment.
Biographies that accompany a candidate's key campaign messages may also vary in substance and length, particularly if they appear in Ballotpedia articles other than the candidate's profile page. For example, Ballotpedia may provide a brief biography that does not mention a prior public office held by the candidate if their key campaign messages already mention that office.
Note that Ballotpedia first introduced its policy for standardized biographies in 2018, meaning that biographies written before 2018 may vary substantially in format, substance, and length as well.
