Welcome to our collection of articles by Ballotpedia's founder and CEO, Leslie Graves. Since launching her weekly column in Ballotpedia’s Daily Brew newsletter on April 4, 2025, Leslie has been sharing insights that support our core mission: providing voters with comprehensive, nonpartisan information about everything on their ballots.
Her writings explore our ongoing work to ensure voters never face mystery candidates or confusing ballot measures. Through thoughtful analysis of electoral processes, voter education challenges, and civic engagement opportunities, Leslie provides perspective on both where we've been and where we're heading in American politics, policy, and elections.
Below, you'll find her latest Daily Brew columns alongside her established "Pathfinder" series and other published works. We invite you to join this ongoing conversation about strengthening our democratic foundations through transparent, accessible ballot information.
Bringing it all together: Why robust information matters, part 1 (October 17, 2025)
Candidate themes: The oldest form of robust voter information (October 10, 2025)
How endorsements can help provide voters with robust information (September 26, 2025)
Why Ballotpedia is dedicated to covering every election, everywhere (September 19, 2025)
Understanding primaries – State primary laws and types, explained (September 12, 2025)
Something truly impressive is happening inside Ballotpedia (August 29, 2025)
Reader spotlight: your electrifying books (August 22, 2025)
Adding nuance to robust data: Ballotpedia Policy (August 15, 2025)
A question for our readers: What book has electrified you? (August 8, 2025)
The problem with “hyperpalatable” politics (August 1, 2025)
Election timing and building an engaged electorate (July 25, 2025)
Building a sustainable path to complete coverage of every election in the country (July 11, 2025)
The Crucial Role of Ballotpedia’s Policy Research (June 27, 2025)
Learning from Mistakes: How Ballotpedia Turns Setbacks into Growth (June 20, 2025)
Defining what we mean by robust information (June 13, 2025)
How we Connect People to Politics (July 6, 2025)
Ballotpedia turns 18 (May 30, 2025)
Judicial power in focus, Part two: The Federal Judiciary (May 23, 2025)
Judicial power in focus, Part One: State Judicial Elections (May 16, 2025)
Beyond encyclopedia: How technology powers Ballotpedia's mission (April 18, 2025)
Behind the ballot: How volunteers power Ballotpedia's voter information mission (April 11, 2025)
Bringing candidates and voters together to build a more vibrant democracy (April 4, 2025)
Videos
Podcasts
Below you will find episodes of On the Ballot featuring Leslie Graves.
The Pathfinder
From November 2023 to November 2024, Ballotpedia’s founder and CEO, Leslie Graves, contributed a monthly column, The Pathfinder, to PBS/WNET’s Preserving Democracy initiative. WNET is the flagship public television network of the New York City tri-state area and the most-watched public television channel in the nation. It reaches millions of people with programming that celebrates arts and culture, offers insightful commentary on the day's news and politics, explores the worlds of science and nature, and invites people of all ages to have fun while learning.
The Pathfinder explored topics vital to our understanding of American civics and Democracy, cutting through the noise of political journalism while exploring issues of vital importance to the American voter. Link to all Pathfinder columns
Why ‘The Pathfinder’? What do you hope people gain from this column?Leslie Graves: Fans of Andy Weir’s 2011 novel “The Martian” will understand the significance of “Pathfinder” as a name for this column. In the story, finding, rebooting, and using the Mars Pathfinder probe was crucial to the protagonist restoring communication with Earth. While my column won’t be searching for extraterrestrial life, it will take readers on a mission of discovery into our nation’s civic life. Together, we will explore how our democracy works, its challenges, and how some propose to improve it.
The Pathfinder: The Election Timing, Voter turnout Conundrum (November 2023)
The Pathfinder: Ranked-Choice Voting Coming to More Stateside Ballots in 2024 (December 2023)
The Pathfinder: How Big A Role Should Government Play in Daily Life (January 2024)
The Pathfinder: The Ballot Information Problem (February 2024)
The Pathfinder: An Important Form of Direct Democracy (March 2024)
Pathfinder: The Argument for Slow Voting (Slow Down and Savor Voting) (April 2024)
Pathfinder: How Voters Can Regain Agency in our Two-Party System (June 2024)
The Pathfinder: Getting to Work (July 2024)
The Pathfinder: Deepfakes (August 2024)
The Pathfinder: Let's Talk Politics (September 2024)
The Pathfinder: Our American Elections Mosaic (October 2024)
The Pathfinder: Let History Be a Guide (November 2024)
The Pathfinder: Is There A New Media (December 2024)
The PBS/WNET "Preserving Democracy" program retired in December 2024 . While still available online, it is no longer taking new content.
See also
External links
Footnotes
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