Getting ‘Wise’ at the Ballot Box

Alum’s New Website Helps Voters Easily See Where Candidates Stand on Major Issues

Election Day is tomorrow, but don’t panic if you haven’t had time to fully research candidates’ platforms between cramming for midterms or finishing your latest experiment in the lab.

A new nonpartisan website co-created by University of Maryland grad Logan Delavan-Hoover ’24, called BallotWise, makes it simple for voters to see where candidates “from the White House to the state house” stand on key issues.

What sets the website apart is its focus on politicians’ actions, not just their statements, said Delavan-Hoover. “Anyone can make campaign promises. But we’re showing how they voted.”

Users simply input their ZIP code and they can get a list of who’s running to represent them, including presidential, gubernatorial, congressional and state legislative candidates. Then, they can click on names to see how they voted on major bills (or issued executive orders or vetoes) for 10 topics, including the environment, health care, gun violence and foreign policy, based on voters’ top issues from The New York Times/Siena Poll.

“It’s often very difficult to access candidates’ records. It’s all couched in legislative jargon,” said Delavan-Hoover. “It can be difficult to tell what bills are important for what issues. So instead of having to rely on partisan sources or campaign websites, the idea is to make all of that information more easily accessible.”

He credits his late grandmother, Bette Hoover, one of the co-founders of the immigrant advocacy organization CASA de Maryland, who always took him along to rallies and protests in Washington, D.C., for inspiring him to pursue an economics degree and a career in policy.

Illustration by iStock

Published on Mon, Nov 4, 2024 - 10:49AM