How we pick

This site is independent: not affiliated with or paid by any party, campaign, candidate, or group. You can and should still do your own research.

Why this site exists

A real ballot is hard to figure out:

There are many down-ballot races most people never hear about.
Nonpartisan races (like county commission) give no party label.
Judge retention votes ask "keep this judge?" with no guidance at all.
Endorsements are scattered across party sites, group guides, and printed mailers.
Official sample-ballot tools can be wrong, or ask for your name and birth date.
Precinct codes repeat across counties, so a code alone doesn't tell you your ballot.

This site turns all of that into one printable list with every choice already decided, and it never collects anything about you.

The rules below are the same in every state. What differs by state (how judges reach the ballot, which official lookup tool and candidate list we use, and which party and group guides exist) is noted where it matters. States covered now: Kansas.

How we pick, by race type

Partisan races (Congress, governor, legislature, etc.): we pick the Republican. If only a Democrat is running, the line says Leave blank.
Judges depend on how the state puts them on the ballot. Where judges are elected with a party label, they follow the partisan rule above; where they are elected without one, they follow the nonpartisan rule below.
Judges in retention states (Yes or No), which is how Kansas works: we research each judge, then compare two methods:
- Governor rule: a judge appointed by a Republican governor gets Yes, marked (R). One appointed by a Democratic governor gets No, marked (D).
- County GOP guide: the county Republican Party's printed guide (in Johnson County, Kansas, the Johnson County Republican Party's guide). A judge left off that guide counts as not recommended.
- Judge lines have four columns: the judge, Appointed by (the governor and the governor's party, e.g. "Gov. Laura Kelly (D)"; we don't know the judge's own party), notes, and the Yes/No pick.
- If the two agree, you see one line: the pick on the right, with a note like "Also JoCo GOP-endorsed" or "JoCo GOP guide agrees".
- If they disagree, you see two lines with equal weight ("By appointing governor: No" and "JoCo GOP guide: Yes"), each answer next to its label, and the Vote column shows "?" on both lines, so you decide. A numbered footnote lists what we found on why they might differ, such as rulings, past jobs, donations, Senate votes, and bar scores. If we found nothing, it says so.
Nonpartisan races: we pick the candidate endorsed by the county Republican Party or conservative groups (in Kansas, for example, Kansans for Life), labeled "(Republican-endorsed)".
Ballot questions and amendments: we take the conservative position.
Democratic or progressive support: if Democrats or progressive groups back a candidate and there's no Republican signal, we vote against that candidate.
No clear signal: we weigh all the weaker signals together (record, such as being tough on crime; bar survey scores; donations; past jobs) without leaning on any single one. These picks get a numbered footnote that says "Researched, leaning ..." and lists the reasons, with links to the sources.
Nothing at all to go on: the line says Can't tell.

Sources

A "Candidates and races" line near the top of the guide links to the official list of what is on the ballot. Each note links to the source behind it: the "Appointed by" name links to the appointment record, GOP-guide notes link to the guide, and every numbered footnote ends with its own source links. We use the official county notice of election (or, where we don't have one, the state's official candidate list) for who is on the ballot, the state's official voter lookup (in Kansas, Kansas VoterView) for precincts and polling places, party and group guides for endorsements, official court and governor pages for who appointed each judge, and bar association surveys for judge ratings. Bar scores are a weak signal: studies of similar lawyer ratings found they tend to score Republican appointees and nominees lower (JLS 2015; Lott) and shift with the rater's party (Sieja 2023). No study has checked the Kansas or JoCo surveys, and in 2024 only about 300 of 16,000 Kansas attorneys answered the state bar survey (KS Reflector). The full list is at the bottom of this page.

Privacy

Nothing is stored. There are no accounts, no email, and no analytics.
All guide data loads into your browser. Your county, precinct, and district choices stay in your browser and are never sent to us.
You print the page yourself.

Reports and corrections

Each race line will get a "Something wrong?" link. A report sends only the race, the area you picked, and your comment, never anything about you.
We research every report. Nothing on the site changes until the site's owner reviews the finding and approves the fix.
While a credible report is being checked, that line shows a note: "Reported as possibly wrong for this area; we're researching it."

Always check your actual ballot

Districts and candidates can change. Before you vote, compare this list with your real ballot on your state's official lookup (Kansas VoterView) or at the polls. If they differ, your real ballot wins.