Methodology

What counts as a time-sensitive fact

Any value that can expire or change: an election date, a registration deadline, a ballot request or return deadline, polling hours, a result status, or a certification deadline. Each one is stored with the same fields.

• Jurisdiction and election name.
• Fact type and the value as it should be read.
• Time zone.
• Primary source, and the source publication date where the source provides one.
• The time it was last verified, and the accountable reviewer.
• The time the next review is due.
• The date after which the value is archived.
• A status: verified, under caution, withheld, archived, disputed, or on hold.

Verification cadence

The interval tightens as an election approaches.

Time before the election	Review interval
More than 120 days	Weekly
31 to 120 days	Twice weekly
8 to 30 days	Daily
Final 7 days through poll closing	Every four hours for any value displayed here

If we cannot meet the cadence a value requires, we do not display the value. We display the official link instead. That rule is enforced in code at the moment a page is requested, not at the last build, so an overdue value disappears without anyone deploying anything.

What each state means on the page

• Verified. Reviewed against the primary source within the required interval.
• Review due. The next review is approaching. The value is shown with a caution notice and the official link.
• Value withheld. The review is overdue. The value is removed, along with its structured data, and the official link is shown. If the page has little remaining value without it, the page also asks search engines not to index it while following its links.
• Archived. The election has passed. Action controls are removed and a visible archive notice appears.
• Sources disagree. Two official sources conflict. We say so and route to the election office rather than choosing.
• On hold. A value is under review after an unexpected change at the source.

Official destination checks

Outbound destinations are validated against a curated allowlist. Each entry records the destination, the publisher, the last automated check, and the last human review. An automated check confirms that a link resolves over HTTPS to the expected host. It never approves a new destination on its own. If a destination redirects somewhere unexpected, it is disabled until a person reviews it, and the affected page shows the directory instead.

We record the link check separately from the content update, so a link check never makes a page look freshly reported.

Reading Census data

Census voting and registration figures are survey estimates of reported behavior, not counts of ballots. We state the release, the table, the population, the denominator, and the margin of error whenever we publish a figure, and we do not compare figures that use different denominators. See women voter turnout for the full treatment.

Reading roll call votes

We cite the chamber, the vote number, the date, the question being voted on, and the result, and we link the official record. We distinguish procedural votes, cloture, amendments, motions to table, recommittal, and final passage, and we do not describe a procedural vote as a policy vote. See how Congress votes.

When a source goes down

If an official source is unreachable, we do not substitute a copy from a third party. We show the reader that the source is unavailable, keep the last verified state visible with its verification time, and route to the responsible election office.

Archiving

Pages tied to a completed cycle are archived with a visible notice, their action buttons are removed, and they link forward to the current guide. We do not update a date to imply freshness, and we do not redirect an archived cycle to the homepage.