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Ballotpedia:How we order candidate lists
Candidate lists on Ballotpedia follow consistent ordering depending on the type of election being held. Note that the candidate list order on Ballotpedia may not match the order of candidates on your ballot when you vote.
We have three basic categories for ballot order approach:
- Nonpartisan election or partisan primary
- Partisan general election
- Presidential election
In a nonpartisan election or partisan primary, candidates are listed in this order:
- Incumbent(s) first
- Other on-ballot candidates alphabetically by last name
- Write-ins alphabetically by last name
If a Ballotpedia article covers multiple partisan primaries for the same seat, the major-party primaries will be listed in alphabetical order by first letter and then be followed by the minor-party primaries in alphabetical order by first letter.
In a partisan general election, candidates are listed in this order:
- Incumbent(s) first
- On-ballot candidates nominated by major parties (alphabetically by first letter)
- Democrats
- Republicans
- On-ballot candidates nominated by minor parties (alphabetically by first letter)
- Conservative
- Green
- Libertarian
- Working Families
- Etc.
- Independents alphabetically by last name
- Write-ins alphabetically by last name
Ballotpedia labels incumbents using one of three approaches. In bulleted candidate lists, the parenthetical note of (Incumbent) follows the person's name. In candidate list tables, the parenthetical note of (i) follows their name instead. In an election results box, the incumbent's name is bolded and underlined. In each of these cases, if there are multiple incumbents for that office, they will be listed alphabetically by last name.
After an election has passed, election results boxes will list candidates in descending order by the number of votes they have received.
On October 22, 2020, in order to provide greater consistency across Ballotpedia, we began to list presidential candidates using the partisan general election standard of incumbent first. Previously, presidential candidates were listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Click here to read more about Ballotpedia's definition of candidacy, and click here to read more about Ballotpedia's editorial approach to election coverage.
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