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 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	The status of this ballot measure. For further detail on each of these, see status definitions below. Options: Proposed Gathering signatures Signatures submitted Certified to the legislature Qualified for the ballot On the ballot Approved Defeated Not on the ballot Pending official review Pending judicial ruling Too close to call
type	The type of this ballot measure Options: Advisory question Amendment Automatic ballot referral Bond issue Bond question City charter amendment Combined initiated constitutional amendment Commission-referred ballot measure Constitutional amendment Indirect initiated state statute Initiated amendment Initiated amendment and statute Initiated constitutional amendment Initiated state statute Initiative Initiative to the Legislature Initiative to the People Legislative referral Legislatively referred constitutional amendment Legislatively referred state statute Local Referendum Referral Referred ordinance Statute State statute Veto referendum
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

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, 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.