Full Transcript for Decoding the Ballot: Why Are Ballot Measures So Confusing?

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Nicole Fisher, Ballot's team writer at Ballotpedia. You can follow them on X or Instagram at Ballotpedia. Nicole, I appreciate the time. Thanks for joining us. Nicole? I'm here. Hey, there you go. Thank you very much. You guys there at Ballotpedia found that these questions, at least this year, are written at an average 17th grade. reading level. That's graduate school kind of stuff. How did we get to the point where something that should be so basic as the language that we have to read when we vote is so difficult to understand? 00:00:39 Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. So at Bellatedia, we use the Flesch-Kincaid readability test. This basically analyzes a sentence structure and How many syllables are in the sentence, the way it's phrased, and anyone who's read a legal text, it's not just the ideas that are complicated, but the way the sentences are structured is complicated. So for this Flesch-Kincaid readability, this doesn't necessarily break down the ideas, but it breaks down the way the sentences are phrased. And so obviously these measures, they do amend the Constitution, state, local law, taxes. So there will be some jargon or legal language that could be confusing for voters because it does amend the state law, it amends the Constitution. But there is some concern with just the way the titles are phrased. It is complicated and this can be confusing to voters. And You know, we found, like you said, that the average measure is at grade 17 reading level. And just pointing out that out of eligible voters, about 35% have a bachelor's degree or higher, while 16% have a graduate degree. So that's a small amount of people that might read at that level. 00:01:53 Speaker 1: I understand that all of these things change state law. Some of them change state constitutions. Why can't they just be simple? Why can't it just be, this is what this will do, period. 00:02:05 Speaker 2: Yeah. So we have some states that have taken action or have tried to consider this. So, for example, in Kansas, they require the entire amendment to be placed on the ballot. But also this could be confusing because it's just a long amendment that could be confusing for readers, along with the summary. So and the summaries, it depends on the state, but can be written by secretary of state, attorney general. There's different processes by each state. New York, for example, has a recommendation for the ballot title to be written at an eighth grade reading level. But again, this isn't always held to a standard. In 2024, you had an amendment on the ballot that was at a grade 14 reading level, and there was a lawsuit filed against this measure. But again, because it's not the legal standard, it's just like a recommendation that They allow that language to remain on the ballot. Right. 00:03:00 Speaker 1: Speaking with Nicole Fisher, ballots team writer at Ballotpedia, who actually writes these things? Is it politicians? Is it lawyers? Is it the special interests who are pushing these initiatives? 00:03:14 Speaker 2: It also depends on how the measure was placed on the ballot. So if you're looking at a measure that was referred to the ballot by the state legislature, often the state legislature will write that language. If you have a citizen initiative, so not every state has citizen initiatives, but if you have citizens placing a measure on the ballot, that could be, let's say, maybe written by the organization, but that might be approved by the Secretary of State, the Attorney General. Sometimes you have a ballot board write the language. It has to be approved by another party. So each state has different processes. But there could be partisanship that comes into play. That's always a possibility. 00:03:54 Speaker 1: Sure. Yeah. Uh, we had, uh, our attorney general, our state was actually sued over amendment three, the language in amendment three that we're voting for here in Florida, uh, this year, which would change our homestead exemption because it was nothing more than, than propaganda. And so they said, no, you got to take out all this political crap and make it simpler for people to understand. You and I were communicating. We had, uh, I guess it was back 30 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long. But voters were asked about blocking constitution of a new arena for the Miami Heat in downtown Miami. And the wording was so confusing that if you supported the idea of building the arena, you had to vote no. If you were against building the arena, you had to vote yes. Do you find that some of these initiatives are written in a confusing manner on purpose to confuse voters? 00:04:47 Speaker 2: Yeah, so I can't speak to the intent of whether someone intentionally makes it confusing, but we can look at the effect, right? So like that Miami measure you said, basically a yes vote supported prohibiting county money and land being used for that arena, where a no vote opposed prohibiting that. So again, the double negative can absolutely be confusing for voters. So yes, of course, while I can't speak on the intent of that language or who places those measures on the ballot, The effect is confusing. The effect, you know, and that's common with referendums. So if voters are deciding on upholding a law or repealing it, a yes vote could mean a no, a no vote could mean a yes. And there are summaries on ballots that do break this down. But again, that could be confusing. And that example really does sum up how that could be confusing for voters. 00:05:36 Speaker 1: Do you guys have any evidence as to what happens when voters are confused, when they don't understand a ballot initiative? Do they skip it? Do they automatically vote no? Any clue how voters react when they don't understand exactly what they're voting for? Yeah. 00:05:53 Speaker 2: So what happens when a voter skips measures, that's considered a ballot roll off. And you see this often in some states, for example, California, Colorado, Arizona, they have about eight to 14 statewide measures on those ballots. And that's a long ballot. And that doesn't include county measures or other local measures, school districts. So you can have a voter that has 20, 25 total measures on their ballot. And if you think about voters who are getting off work or just don't have a lot of time to really sit down through all these measures, it just might be easier to skip all them. And especially if they're written in longer, confusing language. So I think it absolutely does influence how people vote. 00:06:37 Speaker 1: Have you all figured out, is there like a rule of thumb on what to look for when trying to decipher what some of these things say? 00:06:46 Speaker 2: Yeah, so I would definitely recommend looking at your sample ballot. A lot of simple ballots do have a summary. At Ballotpedia, we actually do break down each measure. So we have Summary, background, we also have supporters, arguments. So if you look at a measure and might not know what it means, you can see, well, who supports it? Who opposes it? What do they say? What is some conversation around this measure? That can make it a little bit easier to understand. 00:07:10 Speaker 1: Ballotpedia.com. It's Nicole Fisher, Ballot team writer at Ballotpedia. And again, you can follow them on X or Instagram at Ballotpedia. Nicole, appreciate the time. Thanks so much. 00:07:21 Speaker 2: All right. Thank you so much for having me.