Ballotpedia:Our policy on ballot measure article titles
This page describes Ballotpedia's approach to creating the titles of ballot measure articles.
Guiding principles
Ballotpedia creates articles for each statewide ballot measure and a selection of local ballot measures. Each article has a unique title that contains, in order, the jurisdiction in which the measure is on the ballot, the official ballot designation, an original descriptive title created by Ballotpedia staff, and the election year (or month and year for non-November elections) in a parenthetical. The official ballot designation is the official title provided by election officials that determines the ordering of measures on the ballot and includes things like Proposition 10, Measure H, Issue 3, Amendment A, Initiated Measure 26, Question 3, etc.
Here are some examples of full Ballotpedia ballot measure article titles:
- Ohio Issue 1, Establish the Citizens Redistricting Commission Initiative (2024)
- Alaska Ballot Measure 2, Repeal Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (2024)
- Michigan Proposal 2, Voting Policies in Constitution Amendment (2022)
- Wisconsin Marsy's Law Crime Victims Rights Amendment (April 2020)
- Oklahoma State Question 802, Medicaid Expansion Initiative (June 2020)
- Anchorage, Alaska, Proposition 4, Fire Service Area Bond Issue (April 2020)
- Lancaster, California, Measure B, Hotel Tax (March 2020)
The titles of Ballotpedia's articles on ballot measures are not designed to represent the title of the measure as provided by proponents, election officials, state or local legislators, attorneys general, or any other entity. Ballotpedia's titles are designed to (a) serve as the titles of Ballotpedia's articles and (b) be used to reference and describe the measure within other articles on Ballotpedia.
If you find a title of a ballot measure article on Ballotpedia that is inaccurate or biased, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
Specific policies
Official ballot order designation
If a short name or title is provided by election officials, that short name is (a) used to identify the measure on the ballot and in election results, (b) is often used by campaigns, commentators, and media to reference the measure, and (c) is neutral. For those reasons, Ballotpedia includes the short name or official title within the title of Ballotpedia's articles.
Descriptive titles
Ballotpedia provides original descriptive titles for ballot measure articles. Ballotpedia does not use the official descriptive title provided by measure proponents or state or local government officials. This is to avoid redundancy and bias. The descriptive title is developed by staff writers based primarily on the full legal text of the measure. In some cases, the ballot language or other analyses are used for context. The titles are reviewed for neutrality and accuracy. The titles are designed to show the main provision or main topic of the measure. In most cases, they are not able to provide a precise or comprehensive summary of the measure.
Parenthetical
Each title ends with the year of the election for the measure in parentheses if the measure is on the ballot for the general election in November. If the measure is on the ballot for an election that is other than the November general election, the parentheses contain both the month and the year of the election date.
