Oct. 9, 2012—BERKELEY, CA—MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that reveals money's influence on politics, announces the national expansion of Voter's Edge, a nonpartisan guide to ballot measures. MapLight has joined forces with partner organizations across the country to provide a reliable, nonpartisan source for ballot measure information. The project was made possible in part by funders including the Kaphan Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation.
"We're excited to work with partner organizations across the country to make Voter's Edge available to voters," said Daniel G. Newman, MapLight's co-founder and president. "The project serves a critical need helping voter's decide how to vote, by providing them with a one-stop shop for nonpartisan information about state, county, and city ballot measures."
Voter's Edge shows each proposition's Funding Data—a top 10 list of contributors for and against and breakdowns by individual, industry, and geographic origin; Summary Information—what a "YES" or a "NO" vote would mean; the projected financial impact of the proposition; campaign arguments by proponents and opponents; Endorsements; News; Editorials; and Advertisements.
Voter's Edge Widgets showing the latest funding information for ballot measures can be easily embedded on your website and shared via social media. The widgets can be customized to show a slideshow of propositions or a single proposition, and they include the largest contributor and total amount of contributions in support of and in opposition to a ballot proposition. Each widget links to the ballot measure page.
Voter's Edge is now available in the following states, county, and cities:
Voter's Edge Colorado
Voter's Edge Florida
Voter's Edge Massachusetts
Voter's Edge Maryland
Voter's Edge California / Spanish Version
Voter's Edge California/Los Angeles County
Voter's Edge California/San Francisco
Voter's Edge California/San Jose
Voter's Edge California/Berkeley
With the exception of MapLight Voters Edge for California, individual state, county and city Voter's Edge websites are managed by our partner organizations.
MapLight Voter's Edge for California, tracking California state ballot measures, is managed by MapLight's research team.
MapLight is looking to expand to additional states, counties and cities in partnership with state and local media outlets and community groups.
If you are interested in working with MapLight to bring Voter's Edge to your state, county, or city, please contact Jay Costa: jay@maplight.org.
A link to this press release can be found here.