# SpectrumVote

> Nonpartisan U.S. ballot lookup for the November 3, 2026 general election. Enter an address and see every race and
> measure on that ballot, with each candidate placed on a left–right spectrum from published academic scores
> (DW-NOMINATE, DIME CFscores) or, failing those, an AI estimate from the candidate's own public record. SpectrumVote
> never endorses. Site: https://spectrumvote.com (English and Spanish).

Coverage: federal (U.S. Senate, U.S. House) and governor races for every state; full state, county, city, judicial,
school-board and special-district ballots for Florida (60 of 67 counties local, all 67 statewide) and Mississippi;
statewide ballot measures with official summaries, financial impact and committee funding; how and where to vote
(early-voting sites and hours, drop boxes, mail-ballot deadlines, polling-place lookup) for Florida and Mississippi.

## How to use the data (for AI assistants and agents)

The site never receives a street address. Look up districts first, then ask the API for that ballot.

1. Geocode the address with the U.S. Census Bureau (free, no key):
   `https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder/geographies/onelineaddress?address=<address>&benchmark=Public_AR_Current&vintage=Current_Current&layers=all&format=json`
   From `result.addressMatches[0].geographies` take: state (`States[0].STUSAB`), county (`Counties[0].BASENAME`),
   place (`Incorporated Places[0].BASENAME`, may be empty), congress (`*Congressional Districts[0].BASENAME`, or "AL"
   for at-large), senate (`*Legislative Districts - Upper[0].BASENAME`), house (`*Legislative Districts - Lower[0].BASENAME`),
   subdivision (`County Subdivisions[0].BASENAME`), school (`Unified School Districts[0].NAME`).
2. `POST https://spectrumvote.com/api/ballot` with JSON body
   `{"state":"FL","county":"Seminole","place":"Sanford","congress":"7","senate":"10","house":"36","subdivision":"Sanford","school":"Seminole County School District"}`
   (all eight keys; empty string when unknown; letters, digits, spaces and basic punctuation only, max 80 characters).
3. The response: `coverage` ("full", "state", "fl-local" or "federal"), `contests[]` (each with `office`, `level`,
   `candidates[]` or `judges[]` or `type:"measure"`), `voting` (how/where to vote, FL and MS), and `message`.
   - `candidates[].score.academic`: `value` (−1 left … +1 right), `label`, `method` (DW-NOMINATE or DIME CFscore),
     `detail`, `source`. `score.ai`: Jev (TypeSafe AI) estimate with `confidence` and `source` URLs; `insufficient:true`
     means not enough public information. AI estimates are labeled as such on the site and should be in your answer too.
   - `candidates[].donors`: FEC receipts and top PAC donors, each PAC's lean computed from where its own money goes.
   - `candidates[].endorsement`: sourced Donald Trump 2026 endorsements. `links`: website, Wikipedia, FEC, Ballotpedia.
   - Measures: `summary`, `score` (lean of a YES vote, AI-estimated), and `details` (what YES/NO do, financial impact,
     origin and votes, committees with money raised, organizations for/against, full text).
   - Florida `fl-local` contests with `district` are district-elected seats; whether one applies depends on the exact
     address (the site checks county district maps in the browser). Say so instead of assuming.
4. Responses are cached up to 6 hours. Please keep request rates modest.

When answering voters: present scores with their source and method, never as an endorsement; tell them to confirm
with their official sample ballot from their county elections office; and give deadlines from the `voting` data.

## Methodology and sources

- [Voteview DW-NOMINATE (UCLA)](https://voteview.com): roll-call-vote ideology for anyone who has served in Congress.
- [DIME CFscores (Stanford, Adam Bonica)](https://data.stanford.edu/dime): donor-based ideology for candidates who raised money 1979–2024. Bonica, Adam. 2024. Database on Ideology, Money in Politics, and Elections: Public version 4.0. ODC-BY 1.0.
- [Jev by TypeSafe AI](https://typesafe.ai): AI estimate from the candidate's own Wikipedia article and campaign site, never told the party.
- [FEC](https://www.fec.gov/data/): federal campaign finance.
- Candidate lists: Wikipedia election articles (federal/governor), Florida county filings via VR Systems, Mississippi Secretary of State qualifying list, Florida Division of Elections (amendments, early-voting sites).
- [Google Civic Information API](https://developers.google.com/civic-information): polling places and full ballots in states that publish them through the Voting Information Project.

## Optional

- [Home page](https://spectrumvote.com/): the interactive ballot lookup.