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.
• Suggestions never change the order, hide anyone, or color anyone. They are marked Suggested with the reason right next to them.

How suggestions work

• A suggestion comes only from what you told us plus an official record. We never suggest anything you didn't ask about, and we never use news stories, interest-group ratings or our own opinions.
• Party races: if you say you usually vote for a party, we suggest that party's candidate, using the party printed on the official ballot. Races where no candidate has a party label (judges, local school boards) get no party suggestion.
• Legislative races: if you answer the Amendment B question, we compare it with how each candidate voted when the Legislature put Amendment B on the ballot, from the Legislature's own roll call. If exactly one candidate voted your way, we suggest them and say so. Only people who were in the Legislature have a recorded vote, so this can only ever point to a sitting legislator; challengers have no record to compare.
• Amendments and bonds: we first explain each one from the official analysis and both official arguments, then ask what you believe. Your answer becomes the matching For or Against.
• Judges: if you choose to, we follow the state Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission's published finding for each judge (from the 2026 Voter Information Pamphlet).
• When nothing in your answers or the record points to one choice, we say "No suggestion" and leave it to you. Change any pick at any time; a pick you make yourself is never overwritten.

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.
• Full ballots cover Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties so far. Anywhere else in the country, we name your state from your ZIP or address and link that state's own election office, taken from the U.S. Justice Department's list of state election resources. We show no candidates for a place until its ballot is checked against the official certified list. With a street address we also name your U.S. House district from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2026 district map and link the FEC's page for that seat (who filed campaign money reports, which is not the same as who is on the ballot). In states that drew a new House map after 2024, as listed by NCSL's redistricting tracker, we name no district and send you to the state office.

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 official state and county address and district maps (hosted on Esri's ArcGIS service), only to find your districts. Those services may keep their own request logs. It is sent in the body of the request, never in a web address. We don't store or log it, and it is never saved in your browser.
• Stay anonymous (the default): your answers, districts and picks live only in this browser tab and are cleared when you close it (your browser's "reopen closed tab" can bring them back). Remember my answers and picks on this device: they (including any party you chose) are kept in this browser so you can come back, until you clear them or switch back. Either way they never leave your device; we never receive them, and there is no account.
• 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). In Utah County we have no official school board map yet, so the page asks which Nebo or Provo board district you are in (your mailed ballot shows it). If one looks wrong, tap "change district" next to that race.
• Under every name there is a Research button that opens everything we have on that candidate in place. Every candidate in a race gets the same sections.

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.