Our rules

Same treatment for every candidate

• Candidates appear in the order of the county clerk's official notice. We never sort, rank or reorder them.
• Party labels are shown exactly as the county prints them. No colors or icons by party.
• Every candidate's page has the same sections in the same order: party, in their words, endorsements, money, voting record. When we have nothing for a section, it says so for that candidate.
• No badges or labels that rank or favor anyone. The one score we show is a plain count of official floor votes (see below), and it never changes the order.

Where the facts come from

• Gov record published by an election office, the FEC, Utah's disclosure system, the Legislature or the courts' evaluation commission.
• In their words the candidate's own filed statement, such as the state's Voter Information Pamphlet.
• Not yet we have not collected it. We never fill a gap with news stories, interest-group ratings or our own summary of anyone's views.
• Every line links to its source. For ballot questions we link to the official text and the published arguments instead of writing our own summary.

Money and privacy

• No candidate, party, PAC or campaign can pay to appear, change a word, or change an order. We carry no political ads.
• No account. If you enter your home address, it is sent once to the U.S. Census Bureau's address finder and to the State of Utah's official address and district maps, only to find your districts. We don't store or log it, and it is never saved in your browser. Your survey answers, districts and picks stay in your own browser; this site sends them nowhere.
• Your districts come from the official boundary maps: the State of Utah (U.S. House, Legislature, State School Board, city limits), Salt Lake County (County Council, local school boards) and Davis School District (its board). If one looks wrong, tap "change district" next to that race.
• The one-minute survey changes what you see first (which races open, which profile section leads, whether party labels wait).
• After the survey, the top of your ballot lists what your answers turned up, and under every name you see the section you chose first plus a Research button that opens everything we have on that candidate in place. Every candidate in a race gets the same lines.
• Its last question asks how you lean on a question already on your ballot. We then show, for each legislative candidate, how they voted on the resolution that put that question there, from the Legislature's own roll-call page, and whether that is the same side as you. A Yes vote counts with "For", a No vote with "Against". Candidates with no recorded vote, or who did not vote, are not scored, and we say so. We pick the questions only from what is on your ballot, never by topic.

Mistakes

If something here doesn't match your official ballot, your ballot is right. Your county clerk's office has the official sample ballot and can answer questions about it.