Endorsements and our database
Based on an interview with our Senior Software Engineer Level 1, Sarah Otts.
Introduction
BallotReady’s software engineers helped change the way we add endorsements to our database. Instead of tying endorsements to candidates, we now tie them to candidacies. We currently have around 60,000 endorsements in our database across 1,000 endorsing organizations. Please note that BallotReady is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates or candidacies—but we make tools for organizations that do.
Why do we tie endorsements to candidacies?
BallotReady now ties endorsements to candidacies because candidates get different endorsements when they run different campaigns. Organizations (our customers) change their endorsements from election to election as well. Because of this, we wanted to ensure that endorsements properly reflect their intended timelines in our database and don’t follow candidates around unnecessarily.
What problems does this solve?
Once endorsed, the endorsements followed candidates to multiple positions and time frames. Data strategists and engineers at BallotReady found themselves with an unnecessary amount of manual work for editing, correcting, or removing candidate endorsements. Attaching endorsements to candidates for a predetermined time or position reduces the need for frequent endorsement modification requests.
How does this affect organizations endorsing candidates for 2022?
BallotReady cares about improving the endorsement process. Our ultimate goal in this process is the ability for customers to create efficient, up-to-date candidacy endorsements for each election cycle. Now, organizations can endorse candidacies for the certain time frame in which the candidate is running as a certain position.
A few exceptions
The vast majority of endorsements are now for candidacies. However, BallotReady still allows certain stand-alone endorsements for candidates. When Super Slate Cards through our Endorsement Center are created with our data, the main purpose for those cards is to endorse candidates specifically. Also, there are some endorsements that organizations can assign to specific measures as well, as opposed to candidacies alone.
Summary
Endorsements are now tied to candidacies vs candidates
This reduces the pain of manually adjusting proper endorsements when changes occur
Now, organizations can endorse candidacies for certain positions and set time frames
Schedule a demo to learn how you can access our Endorsement Engine for your organization.