On the Ballot

On this episode: Our annual Ballot Measure Readability report explores the complexity of statewide ballot measure titles and summaries to determine the educational level voters might need to fully understand what they’re being asked to weigh in on. We use the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) scales to determine how accessible these texts are based on objective factors, such as the number of syllables, words, and sentences in a text (Note: These scores focus solely on language structure, NOT the complexity of the ideas themselves).  For the 159 statewide ballot measures certified in 41 states for elections this fall, we found that the average FKGL was 16, which correlates with a bachelor's degree. The average FRE for ballot titles was 20, which also corresponds with college graduates.  Is that a big deal? Ballotpedia’s Ryan Byrne runs through a handful of example measures from around the country while unpacking how developing measures works in different states and recent legislation aimed at making measures easier to understand for the average American. Check out the report to see the readability scores for measures in your state: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_measure_readability_scores,_2024  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: 34 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election in just a few weeks, with control of the upper chamber of congress bound to come down to just a handful of tight races. Jessica Taylor, Senate and Governor’s editor for The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, joins the show to run through Cook’s current toss up Senate races, which have shifted lately and those that still could, and to take a deep dive into races for Democrat Jon Tester’s seat in Montana, Republican Ted Cruz’s seat in Texas, and more.   An in-depth guide to the race for the Senate: https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections,_2024  See Cook’s latest ratings on the Senate: https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/senate-race-ratings  And check out our other episode from this week, where Cook’s Erin Covey joined the show to help break down the House’s closest contests: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izn_bhRk-SQ  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: All 435 seats of the House or Representatives are up for grabs this election season. Here at Ballotpedia, we’re tracking 53 of those as battleground races  – which means we’re expecting about 13% of these races to be truly competitive. Heading into the election, Republicans have a 220-212 majority, with three current vacancies. Democrats need a net gain of five districts to win a majority in the chamber.  This week, we’ll be taking a closer look at the two chambers of congress — the House and Senate — with the help of The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. Today, we’re joined by Erin Covey, who leads Cook’s coverage of the House of Representatives, to break down the tightest races, which races she’s shifted towards either party in recent weeks, and what winning the majority could mean for either party’s agenda once in power.  - Check out more of Erin’s work: https://www.cookpolitical.com/about/staff/erin-covey  - An in-depth guide to the race for the House:: https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2024  - See Cook’s latest on the House ratings: https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings  - Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: With a record 11 abortion related measures on the ballot in 10 states, we can expect one of the nation’s most divisive issues to linger in many American minds when they head to cast their votes at the polls in a few weeks. In the first half of the show, you’ll hear Ballotpedia staff writer Nicole Fisher detail the measures, how they’re different, and what polling indicates about their odds of passing.  In the second half, we’ll be joined by Julie Rovner — KFF Health News’ Chief Washington Correspondent and host of their weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?  — to explore how messaging around abortion has evolved post-Roe being overturned, the latest related to IVF treatment policy, how Federal policy makers could try to regain control over the issue from the states, and more.  For a complete breakdown of abortion’s role this Fall: https://ballotpedia.org/2024_abortion-related_ballot_measures_and_state_context  And be sure to check out Julie Rovner’s podcast, ‘What the Health?’ Here’s a recent episode which tackles how abortion is impacting the presidential race and more:  https://kffhealthnews.org/news/podcast/what-the-health-366-harris-trump-vance-election-abortion-october-4-2024/  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia.

On this episode: Bans on noncitizen voting at the state level have become more frequent since 2018, and this year, there are a record number of ballot measures related to the issue.  Eight state legislatures referred constitutional amendments to the ballot to prohibit the state or local governments from allowing noncitizen voting – that’s in Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. In 1996, Congress passed legislation making noncitizen voting in federal elections a crime – so it doesn’t matter which state we’re talking about here; when it comes to federal elections, there’s nowhere in the country where it is legal for noncitizens to vote for the president, their senators and house members, or any federal office.  But how common is it exactly for noncitizens to vote in local elections? Have they been allowed to at any other point in American history? Why is constitutional language so important here? And what’s the broader context for where these ballot measures are coming from?  More on noncitizen voting and where it’s legal for local elections: https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_permitting_noncitizens_to_vote_in_the_United_States  Learn about this year’s trending ballot measures — which tackle big questions on abortion, electoral systems, wages and more: https://ballotpedia.org/2024_ballot_measures  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: Few voting methods have gained as much traction and been in the spotlight these last few years as Ranked Choice Voting, commonly known as RCV. How it works is right in its name; voters rank candidates according to their preference and ballots are processed in rounds. The candidate in the last place is eliminated during each round and the voters’ second choices get their votes. The process is continued until a candidate wins a simple majority (50 percent plus one) of the vote. In just a few weeks, RCV will be one of the hottest ballot measure questions to watch, with six states deciding on initiatives to adopt, repeal, or pre-empt ranked-choice voting. We cover RCV very closely here at Ballotpedia – we’ve got a great in-depth guide in the show notes for you, filled with everything you need to know about how it works, its history, arguments for and against, and more. Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: Last night, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance took to the stage in New York for the first and only scheduled vice presidential debate, hosted by CBS. Without a second debate on the horizon for Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, this might've been one of the last opportunities for each ticket to make their case to voters on the national stage. Ballotpedia Staff Writer Ellen Morrissey joins the show to break down the themes that stood out to her during the debate, how impactful they can actually be for the presidential race, some VP debate history, and what to look out for in the few remaining weeks before the election. Check out our VP debate coverage here: https://ballotpedia.org/Vice_presidential_debate_(October_1,_2024) More on the race for the White House: https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election,_2024  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: 11 Gubernatorial elections on the ballot this November – in Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia, as well as American Samoa and Puerto Rico. Most of these contests aren’t expected to be competitive – but two – in New Hampshire and North Carolina – are about as close as they can get.  In this episode, we’ll take a closer look at both of those gubernatorial contests with the help of two journalists closely covering what’s unfolding in those states – Madison Fernandez, a reporter at Politco, and Dawn Vaughan, the Capitol Bureau Chief for The Raleigh News & Observer. Later in the episode, we’ll welcome Ballotpedia’s own Glorie Martinez for an overview of the other nine races, as well as some recent history, trifecta statuses, and more. For an overview: https://ballotpedia.org/Gubernatorial_elections,_2024  On the toss-up in NH: https://ballotpedia.org/New_Hampshire_gubernatorial_election,_2024  And on the shifting landscape in NC:  https://ballotpedia.org/North_Carolina_gubernatorial_election,_2024  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

On this episode: A complete breakdown of our 14th Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report, which analyzes all 5,807 state legislative seats that are up for election on November 5, 2024, in 44 states. Overall, our research found that competitiveness in 2024 was below average for even years from 2010 to 2024. Looking at averages across the last three even-year election cycles: 2024 had fewer open seats, incumbents in contested primaries, and seats with major competition. Key findings you’ll hear about in this episode include: 965 seats were open (16.6%). This was the second-smallest number of open seats since Ballotpedia began gathering data in 2010. 1,047 incumbents faced contested primaries (21.6%). This was roughly average compared to previous years, down from 27% in 2022 but higher or the same as the 20% and 22% in 2020 and 2018, respectively. 3,580 seats are contested by both major parties (61.6%), higher than in 2022 (59.2%) but lower than in 2018 (66.3%) and 2020 (65.2%). Read the report here: https://ballotpedia.org/Annual_State_Legislative_Competitiveness_Report:_Vol._14,_2024  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

NOTE: This episode was recorded on Friday, September 20th, BEFORE polling on Monday, September 23rd indicated a bump for former President Donald Trump in the swing states; particularly in Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia, according to a new poll by the New York Times and Siena College (that's how fast this stuff changes!) On this episode: The end of last week saw a deluge of new polling updates from many of the major polling outlets, trying to capture the constantly evolving pulse of how Americans around the country say they’re planning to vote. This year, like every election cycle, extra attention is paid to those states that get designated as swing states – the closest contests that in most cases wind up deciding the eventual winner. According to most outlets, those states this year are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. First, we welcome Lakshya Jain from Split Ticket – a polling and election modeling outlet – for some insight into their most recent projections for these swing states, which they released on September 20th. Then, Ballotpedia's own Glorie Martinez joins the show to share some recent swing state history and how they've changed over the last twenty years. Follow our presidential coverage: https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election,_2024 Read Split Ticket’s most recent presidential model: https://split-ticket.org/2024/09/20/our-2024-presidential-model/  Learn more about Ballotpedia’s perspective on polling: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia%27s_approach_to_covering_polls  Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates  Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia. *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.