Ballotpedia

What Ballotpedia does

Ballotpedia is a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital encyclopedia founded in 2006 and headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, that documents American politics at federal, state, and local levels. Its core product is a corpus of over 705,916 curated articles covering elections, candidates, ballot measures, officeholders, and policy issues across all 50 states, plus federal government. The organization is led by founder Leslie Graves and operates with a staff of 51–100 employees, producing structured political information used by voters, journalists, campaign operatives, researchers, and policymakers.

The platform is built around a wiki-style content architecture with professional editorial oversight, supplemented by a growing ecosystem of derivative products: 12+ branded email newsletters, a podcast, a mobile application (my.vote), structured data products such as the Election Legislation Tracker, and event-specific hubs like the 2026 Election Analysis Hub. A 2026 partnership with VoteMate extends Ballotpedia's data into an AI-powered ballot assistant, positioning the corpus as a foundational source for downstream AI applications.

Ballotpedia's revenue model is a hybrid of charitable donations and data sales. The majority of operating support comes from individual donors and likely institutional funders, with a secondary commercial revenue stream from licensing structured political data to campaigns, journalists, research organizations, and other consumers. The nonprofit structure and donation-driven funding base limit traditional VC/PE investment pathways but provide mission-driven resilience aligned with its nonpartisan editorial mandate.

Name

Ballotpedia

Legal name

Ballotpedia

Website

https://ballotpedia.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Ballotpedia is a nonprofit, nonpartisan encyclopedia of American politics founded in 2006, serving voters, journalists, and researchers with over 705,000 articles on elections, candidates, and policy across all 50 states and federal government.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Political Information Services

NAICS

Political Organizations (813940), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Democracy, Voting Rights & Civic Participation Advocacy (BPAGAFAJ)

Keywords

• Election information services
• Political encyclopedia
• Voter education platform
• Campaign finance data
• Ballot measure tracking

Headquarters

HQ city

Madison

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Support: Ballotpedia relies on donations from the public to support its operations and continued expansion of political coverage.
2. Political Data Sales: Ballotpedia offers data sales services through Ballotpedia:Buy Political Data, providing political and election data to interested parties.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Ballotpedia is an online encyclopedia that provides unbiased, professionally-edited information about American politics at the federal, state, and local levels, including profiles of candidates, elected officials, ballot measures, judges, and government bodies. The site is free to access, supported by donations, and is complemented by a companion mobile app, email newsletters, a podcast, and a paid political data sales offering for campaigns and researchers.

Product overview

Ballotpedia is a single, unified online encyclopedia platform focused on American politics, offering a comprehensive suite of voter information tools and election analysis resources. The core offering is the Ballotpedia Website and Encyclopedia, supplemented by over a dozen email newsletters (Daily Brew, Hall Pass, Weekly Brew, etc.), the Election Analysis Hub for in-depth electoral research, the Voter Toolkit for voter guidance, Sample Ballot lookup, Candidate Connection and Candidate Survey for voter-candidate engagement, the On the Ballot podcast, the Vote Preview mobile app (my.vote), the Election Legislation Tracker, Redistricting Information, Political Data Sales service, Recall Reports, and Polling Indexes. The platform primarily serves voters, researchers, journalists, and policymakers seeking unbiased election and political information.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Daily Brew: Daily newsletter providing election news and analysis
• Hall Pass
• Weekly Brew
• Economy and Society
• Checks and Balances
• Robe & Gavel
• The Ballot Bulletin
• State Ballot Measure Monthly
• Recall Roundup
• On the Ballot
• Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub
• Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Products and services

• Ballotpedia Online Encyclopedia Free online encyclopedia providing neutral, professionally-edited encyclopedic articles on U.S. federal, state, and local elections, candidates, ballot measures, judges, and government officials. Used by voters, journalists, researchers, and political professionals.
• Ballotpedia Political Data Sales Paid offering of structured political data sold to campaigns, journalists, and researchers for use in reporting, analysis, and campaign work.
• On the Ballot Podcast Podcast covering American elections, ballot measures, candidates, and political issues for a general audience of voters and political enthusiasts.
• Ballotpedia Email Newsletters Subscription email newsletters delivering election news, ballot measure updates, and political information to subscribers.
• Ballotpedia Vote Preview App (my.vote) Mobile companion app that helps voters preview their ballot with personalized sample ballot, election logistics, and candidate information.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• VoteMatemajorTechnology or Integration · 19 May 2026VoteMate, a free AI ballot assistant, announced a landmark partnership with Ballotpedia granting integration rights to Ballotpedia's comprehensive verified election data spanning federal, state, and local races across all 50 states. The partnership powers an AI-driven experience providing voters with real-time personalized assistance, verified candidate biographies, voting records, and plain-language explanations of ballot measures. An embeddable ballot assistant for nonprofits, media organizations, and civic institutions will be available ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• OpenSecrets: OpenSecrets (Center for Responsive Politics) is a nonprofit that tracks money in U.S. politics, providing campaign finance, lobbying, and data on candidates and elections. It is a direct peer to Ballotpedia as a comparable nonprofit civic-information platform serving voters, journalists, and researchers with verified political data.
• PolitiFact: PolitiFact is a Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking project that rates the accuracy of political claims. It is a direct peer to Ballotpedia in nonpartisan political-information publishing targeting voters and journalists.
• RealClearPolitics: RealClearPolitics aggregates political polling, news, and election analysis across the political spectrum. It is a direct peer to Ballotpedia in the election-information and political-analysis space, particularly around polling indexes and election coverage.
• Vote.org: Vote.org is a nonprofit focused on voter registration, absentee ballot requests, and voter turnout tools. It is a direct peer to Ballotpedia in the civic-engagement and voter-information space, with overlapping target audience of U.S. voters.
• 270toWin: 270toWin provides interactive electoral maps, presidential election history, and current election forecasts. It is a direct peer to Ballotpedia in election-data visualization and voter education on U.S. elections.
• Cook Political Report: Cook Political Report provides nonpartisan analysis of U.S. elections, including race ratings and political handicapping. It is a direct peer to Ballotpedia in election analysis and competitiveness reporting.
• Vote Smart: Vote Smart provides biographical information, voting records, and policy positions for U.S. political candidates. It is a direct peer to Ballotpedia, serving a similar mission of providing unbiased candidate and election information to voters.

Broad incumbents

• ProPublica: ProPublica is a major investigative-journalism nonprofit covering government, politics, and accountability. It is a broad incumbent peer to Ballotpedia as a large nonprofit newsroom operating in the political-information space with a similar funding model.
• C-SPAN: C-SPAN is a public-affairs cable network providing unfiltered coverage of government proceedings, hearings, and political events. It is a broad incumbent peer in civic-information media, with overlapping mission of providing direct access to government and political processes.

Emerging players

• VoteMate: VoteMate is a free AI ballot assistant that partnered with Ballotpedia in 2026 for data integration rights. As an AI-native voter-assistance tool, it represents both a complementary partner and an emerging player in personalized election information delivery.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ballotpedia
• YouTubeballotpedia.org/On_the_Ballot
• Facebookfacebook.com/Ballotpedia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ballotpedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ballotpedia