Our Research Process
A look behind the curtain at Democracy Works
Democracy Works is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to ensuring that every American has access to accurate election information. We research thousands of local, state, and federal elections each year. Read on to learn more about how we provide up-to-date, reliable voting data and guidance.
Creating and Updating Our Election Calendar
Before the start of a new calendar year, we document known upcoming election dates in all 50 states and Washington D.C. This information is constantly updated as more data becomes available.
Updating Data - We make adjustments as state and local election offices release new information. We also update information in response to administrative processes like candidate filings and referendum, proposition, and amendment proposals.
Timely Guidance - The research that informs our actionable voting guidance is conducted closer to election dates. This ensures information is up-to-date and accounts for changes from ongoing legislation, litigation, or changes in administrative processes.
Known Elections - We create a record of an election’s date and name as soon as we become aware of it but before details required to create voting guidance are available. We refer to these records as “known elections”.
Due to the timing of our election documenting process, we discover a large portion of our known elections in the first half of the year. State procedures for scheduling elections and releasing information may also impact the number of elections we are able to track in our calendar. While we can’t cover every single election in the country, our ability to track them improves as they draw closer.
Determining Our Election Coverage
Once we identify known upcoming elections on our calendar, we use jurisdiction information to determine which ones we can research in-depth.
OCD-IDs - Open Civic Data Identifiers (OCD-IDs) are the most important determinants of our election coverage. These unique identifiers allow us to determine the geographic boundaries that encompass the eligible voting population for a given election.
Census Data - We use this data to determine jurisdiction population. While our election coverage is ultimately determined by OCD-ID availability, we usually research elections for jurisdictions with at least 5,000 voters.
However, we often extend our reach to cover smaller elections for jurisdictions with at least 100 TurboVote users as well.
Official Sources
We gather our election data from authoritative government sources to ensure users, partners, and voters have access to the most accurate information. We rely on:
State and Local Election Websites - These government sources provide state-specific and location-specific election administration and voting information.
State and Local Election Officials - We contact these election experts via email and telephone. To ensure our online communications are secure, we confirm that inbound emails are from legitimate domains and match the contact information on official government websites.
State and Local Legislation - This information is used to calculate and determine some dates, deadlines, and rules if we are still waiting to receive confirmation from state and local election officials.
Federal Legislation - Although federal legislation is less likely to address specific details of election administration, we consult it for more general information. For example, we reference the National Voter Registration Act to check requirements that apply to multiple states.
Commission and Council Meetings - We reference published notices, minutes, and other documentation from local governing bodies when we need to confirm election information that is not readily available from other sources. These commissions and councils govern at the municipal and county levels.
Trusted Tools
We also rely on tools that gather data from authoritative government sources, including:
Civic Information API - We use this service to find the OCD-IDs that map elections to jurisdictions, which helps us determine election coverage.
LegiScan - Our Government Affairs team tracks and monitors legislation in every state using LegiScan, a nonpartisan platform that obtains its information from official government sources.
Cross-Checking Information
We verify information with multiple authoritative sources to guard against errors and confirm the correct interpretation of laws. This process, known as cross-checking, significantly enhances accuracy.
Mitigating Errors - Every data source can contain errors or omissions. When multiple authoritative sources are available, we can reference them to address such discrepancies.
Confirming Legislation Interpretation - When we calculate dates and deadlines based on legislation, cross-checking lets us confirm our interpretation of the legislation and ensure dates are correct.
Addressing Information Gaps - In instances where one source is silent or unclear about a particular aspect of an election, cross-checking can fill in the gaps.
Quality Assurance
We conduct two rounds of quality assurance to confirm election-specific dates, deadlines, and rules. This rigorous review process acts as a fail-safe and reinforces the integrity of our data.
Preventing Misinformation - Elections are a critical part of our democracy, and misinformation can have severe consequences. Our quality assurance acts as a firewall against potential misinformation.
Maintaining Up-to-Date Information - Quality assurance allows us to account for any changes that may have occurred during the research period, guaranteeing the most current information. Once an election has passed through our initial process, we perform additional checks to guarantee that our information remains timely.
Continually Improving - Our process also helps us identify patterns in inaccuracies or areas of frequent changes, allowing us to constantly improve our research methodology and deliver even better data in the future.
Expert Review
We work with state election offices to review elections at the state level and above. Election administrators’ expertise adds an additional layer of quality assurance to our research. Their feedback helps us ensure that our information aligns with official guidance.
Filling Information Gaps - Feedback from these election administrators helps us uncover potential data gaps. Their extensive knowledge of the election landscape ensures that our information is comprehensive and accurate.
Creating Language Consistency - Expert review of our data ensures our phrasing aligns with the official state-specific language that is familiar to voters. This alignment can eliminate potential confusion.
Navigating Complexity - Election administrators also help us navigate the complexity of elections and ensure our dataset accurately reflects their nuances.
Actionable Guidance
We distill complicated election procedures into clear voting guidance.
Combining Expertise - Our team of researchers, writers, and translators collaborate to ensure our voting guidance is accurate and precise. We do NOT use generative AI to research or write voting guidance. This content is created and reviewed by human experts.
Accuracy and User Experience - We organize complex information in a convenient user interface, ensuring our content is both accessible and true to official sources. All our written content is based on the data we compile, which means voting guides, FAQs, notifications, and any other communications users receive from us or our partners reflect the quality and integrity of our research.
Our research process is designed to ensure our election data's timeliness, reliability, and accuracy. Contact us if you have questions or feedback.