Ballotpedia is seeking a full-time, 100% remote Staff Writer to join our Elections Team. Ballotpedia’s Elections Team researches, curates, and neutrally presents the basic facts and data about tens of thousands of races and candidates in every two-year cycle, with primaries and local elections happening somewhere in every month of every year. This consists of extensive research, direct outreach to external sources, data entry and use of a database/spreadsheets, data analysis, writing and using documentation, and content creation. This team is also responsible for Ballotpedia’s federal court coverage. Applicants should know that the day-to-day work typically feels more like data entry than journalism. Ballotpedia has a unique production model, and you are encouraged to learn more here.
To succeed at Ballotpedia, you must be self-aware and personally invested in constant improvement. You must have a passion for creating a delightful experience for Ballotpedia’s readers and donors, and you must strive to develop expertise in your subject and the inner workings of your project.
Responsibilities
As an Elections Staff Writer, you will be:
Skills
What are the five most important characteristics for an Elections Staff Writer?
To succeed in this position, you must have the ability to find obscure data, organize it effectively, and record it accurately on a consistent basis. You must have a drive and desire for innovation and flexibility and have the ability to identify and solve problems proactively. Adapting to changing tasks and tools is key. You must be comfortable with data entry, rote work, work tracking, and the use of a database and spreadsheets. You must be able to write about complex topics in a neutral, clear, and concise manner.
You will demonstrate excellent organizational skills, professional writing and proofreading ability, and familiarity with the use of style guides. Ballotpedia has its own style guide that is based on the AP Stylebook.
Qualifications
Environment
The Elections Staff Writer will work remotely from their home location. All Ballotpedia staff work remotely. To join Ballotpedia, you must have a computer with Internet access. Ballotpedia uses the Google Suite (Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, and more), Slack, and Asana to accomplish our goals. Some familiarity with the Google Suite, Slack, and Asana are helpful.
Ballotpedia has a flexible work environment, BP Flex, in which every employee enjoys unlimited vacation and flexibility in scheduling. Each employee will be oriented to the principles of Ballotpedia’s flexible environment during new employee training.
Compensation
The starting pay range for the Elections Team Staff Writer is $38,000-$40,000 commensurate with experience.
In addition to salary, Ballotpedia offers an annual benefits stipend equivalent to $8,000 that is paid out in equal increments in each paycheck once an employee becomes benefits eligible. The stipend may be used to pay for a full benefits package, including health, vision, and dental insurance; retirement accounts; and more. If benefits are not elected, the stipend is taxed as regular income and added to salary.
To Apply
To apply, click on ‘Apply for this job’ below and fill out the form.
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About Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia is a collaborative team of fast learners and creative problem solvers who are eager to work hard to make the world a better place. We believe the world will be a better place if every citizen has access to information to make informed decisions about their vote in every election in which they are eligible to vote: primary, general, and special elections; federal, state, and local offices.
We work diligently to present the available information about elections, candidates, judges, ballot measures, policies, and more in a way that enables our readers to vote with confidence and to act as engaged citizens outside of the polling booth.
Ballotpedia readers, like Ballotpedia staff, are special people.
When we launched in 2007, we did not go out of our way to seek new readers. Starting with our small team of visionary idealists, nerds, and aspiring political journalists, we just wrote the best unbiased online articles we could, especially about ballot measures. Readers found those articles in droves. It turns out there was an unclaimed audience out there—people who wanted straightforward facts about political issues, and were willing to read at length instead of just scanning the headlines.
“If you build it, they will come:” our readers came to our neutral oasis in growing numbers; we’ve had many millions of lifetime pageviews, we reached nearly half of all voters in 2020, and, in the month surrounding the November 2020 election, we were the 77th most-visited website in the U.S.
We’ve come to realize that we need to meet our readers where they are. In doing so, over the past five years, we’ve grown our email newsletter program from infancy to include more than 1,000,000 opt-in subscribers with more than a dozen newsletters to choose from. We are working in numerous ways to help put our neutral information in front of people at the times when they most need it, including on mobile phones while you’re standing in the voting booth. We firmly believe that our readers, and the mindset we help them cultivate, are essential in a world where too many others are fighting to get us all addicted to sensational posts and the irrational decisions they foster.
If this is a mission you’d be willing to work hard to achieve, and if this is a team you’d be willing to work hard with—JOIN US.
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