Context
- Get to Know Your Ballot FAQNational Voter Education Week provides an FAQ about getting to know your ballot before Election Day.
- Election Terminology GlossaryIf you are unfamiliar with a term on your ballot, consult this glossary by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
- Research on Ballot Working/Format/News Coverage Impact on VotersAn article by The Journalist's Resource helps you consider the factors in and around ballot language and news coverage that shapes how voters think about their support or rejection for ballot measurers.
- Track Your Ballot or Ballot Application ToolVote.org directory to state tools and information about tracking your ballot status.
- What Happens To My Ballot After I Vote?An article by Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal organization related to challenges in and around the American civic process, identifies the process by which ballots are counted. This process varies by state as well as by ballot type (in-person, mail-in, absentee, etc).
Sample Ballots
Connecticut
You can find Town Ballots on the Connecticut Official State Website. This list will be updated for the most current election and link to the sample ballots for all Connecticut towns.
Click the town where you are registered to vote from the list to view your sample ballot.
National
There are several examples of Sample Ballot Lookup Tools (SBLT) online, but not all of them are of high quality.
Ballotpedia, a nonprofit organization that tracks election and policy issues across the U.S., has one of the more reliable and usable SBLTs because it directly links to Ballotpedia's articles about various candidates on your ballot.
Ballotpedia Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
Many sample ballot lookup tools (SBLTs) exist online, but their quality can vary widely. Ballotpedia defines Eight Quality Benchmarks for a Sample Ballot Lookup Tool as the following:
- Data accuracy
- Precision of location
- Quality assurance
- Clarity of scope
- Depth of information
- Length of availability
- Source transparency
- Transparency about user data
To learn more about Ballotpedia's assurance of quality benchmarks in its SBLT, take a look at the Sample Ballot FAQ.
You can find some other examples of quality SBLTs below. The one you use depends upon which you find most useful and user friendly.
- BallotReadyDedicated to assisting people participate in civic life with comprehensive, accurate, and nonpartisan information about their democracy through extensive research, direct data collection, and a rigorous vetting process.
- Vote411Launched by the League of Women Voters Education Fund as a one-stop-shop for election related nonpartisan information to the public with general and state specific information related to the election process.
- Vote USAA nonprofit organization that informs and educates voters by producing and posting comprehensive nonpartisan voter information covering national and state elections and some local elections.
- HeadCountHeadCount hosts voter registration drives at more than 1,000 live events each year and collaborates with cultural leaders and artists to promote national civic engagement.
