# Data dictionary: Ballot Measures

| column\_name      | description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| name              | The name or title of this ballot measure, including year                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| short\_name       | Abbreviated name of measure                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| district          | Ballotpedia's unique district ID that this ballot measure covers                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| district\_name    | Name of district (typically a State)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| district\_type    | Type of district                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| ocdid             | The[ Open Civic Data Division Identifiers](https://github.com/opencivicdata/ocd-division-ids) project seeks to assign somewhat predictable and globally unique identifiers to political divisions. This field is not uniformly filled due to data availability.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| election\_date    | Date on which this measure will be on the ballot                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| status            | <p>The status of this ballot measure. For further detail on each of these, see <a href="#ballot-measure-status-definitions">status definitions</a> below.</p><p></p><p>Options:</p><ul><li>Proposed</li><li>Gathering signatures</li><li>Signatures submitted</li><li>Certified to the legislature</li><li>Qualified for the ballot</li><li>On the ballot</li><li>Approved</li><li>Defeated</li><li>Not on the ballot</li><li>Pending official review</li><li>Pending judicial ruling</li><li>Too close to call</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| type              | <p></p><p>The type of this ballot measure</p><p></p><p>Options:</p><ul><li>Advisory question</li><li>Amendment</li><li>Automatic ballot referral</li><li>Bond issue</li><li>Bond question</li><li>City charter amendment</li><li>Combined initiated constitutional amendment</li><li>Commission-referred ballot measure</li><li>Constitutional amendment</li><li>Indirect initiated state statute</li><li>Initiated amendment</li><li>Initiated amendment and statute</li><li>Initiated constitutional amendment</li><li>Initiated state statute</li><li>Initiative</li><li>Initiative to the Legislature</li><li>Initiative to the People</li><li>Legislative referral</li><li>Legislatively referred constitutional amendment</li><li>Legislatively referred state statute</li><li>Local</li><li>Referendum</li><li>Referral</li><li>Referred ordinance</li><li>Statute</li><li>State statute</li><li>Veto referendum</li></ul> |
| topics            | One or more (semicolon-separated) topics this ballot measure covers                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| summary           | A summary of the measure                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| yes\_vote         | A custom explanation of what a YES vote means                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| no\_vote          | A custom explanation of what a NO vote means                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| yes\_votes\_total | The number of YES votes this ballot measure received                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| no\_votes\_total  | The number of NO votes this ballot measure received                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| ballot\_question  | Text of the question to appear on the ballot.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| source            | A URL to the source of election results                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| url               | The URL to a Ballotpedia page about this ballot measure                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |

<br>

## Ballot measure status definitions

### Pre-Certification

* **Proposed** - The ballot measure has been proposed.
* **Pending official review** - The ballot initiative has been filed with election officials but has not yet been cleared for signature gathering
* **Cleared for signature gathering** - The ballot initiative has been cleared for signature gathering (campaigns can collect signatures).
* **Pending judicial ruling pre-election** - Courts need to decide a case about the ballot measure before it can be certified for the ballot.
* **Signatures submitted** - Signatures have been submitted for a ballot initiative and they are pending verification.

### Not on the ballot

* **Not on the ballot** - The proposed ballot measure has failed to make the ballot.

### Indirect initiatives

* **Certified to the legislature** - When signatures are verified for an [indirect initiative](https://ballotpedia.org/Indirect_initiated_state_statute), they are sent to the legislature before being certified for the ballot. This gives the legislature the option to pass an initiative outright, rather than having it go to voters.
* **Approved by the legislature** - This is an indirect initiative that legislators approved. In other words, the initiative was enacted by the legislature, rather than voters.

### Certified for Ballot

* **On the ballot** - The ballot measure has been certified for the ballot.
* **Qualified for the ballot** - This is a technicality. The ballot measure hasn’t been certified for the ballot but has qualified for the ballot. In California, for example, citizen-initiated ballot measures qualify for the ballot after enough signatures have been verified. However, the secretary of state doesn’t declare they’re on the ballot until 131 days before the election.

### Post-Election Results:

* **Approved** - Voters approved the ballot measure.
* **Defeated** - Voters rejected the ballot measure.
* **Too close to call** - The election has happened, but we have not called the measure approved or defeated. Like candidate elections, when results are close, sometimes you need to wait for 100% of precincts to report results and/or absentee ballots to be received.
* **Pending judicial ruling post-election** - There are cases in which voters decide a ballot measure but whether the ballot measure results will be certified or not is dependent on a court ruling. In 2019, for example, a majority of voters approved Marsy’s Law in Pennsylvania. However, results were never certified pending a court ruling (and the court ultimately ruled that votes could not be certified).
* **Overturned** - Voters approved the ballot measure, but courts later overturned the measure as unconstitutional or otherwise invalid.


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