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Down-ballot races: why the bottom of your ballot matters most

Down-ballot races like county commissioner, sheriff, judge and school board decide your taxes, schools and jail. They're also the races most voters skip, which makes each vote count for more.

By The Decent Ballot  / 

A down-ballot race is everything below the top of the ticket: the state legislature, county commissioner, sheriff, district attorney, judges, city council, school board and ballot measures. In 2026 the top of the ticket in most states is governor and U.S. Senate. Below that can be dozens of races that most voters know nothing about.

They decide the things you deal with every week

Fewer people vote in them, so your vote counts for more

Lots of voters fill in the top races and stop. Election officials call this roll-off. In states without straight-ticket voting, like Texas since 2020, voters have to mark every race by hand, and the drop-off on a long ballot can be large. A county commissioner or school board seat can be decided by a few hundred votes. The fewer people who vote in a race, the more each remaining vote matters.

They're where politicians start

Today's school board trustee is tomorrow's state representative, and today's state representative runs for Congress. Many of the people now on statewide ballots started in city council and county races. Electing decent people locally shapes who's on the ballot ten years from now.

The problem: nobody covers them

Local newspapers have shrunk or closed across the country. Many county and school board races get no coverage at all, so voters either skip them or guess from the name. That's the gap The Decent Ballot is trying to fill: every contested race, every candidate in a sentence or two, rated on character, with sources. You can also do it yourself.

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See who's on your ballot

Every candidate in a sentence or two, rated on character, with sources. Type your ZIP code.

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Researching every race in a county, checking the sources and keeping the site online all cost money. We take no ads and no money from candidates, parties or PACs, so readers are what keep it going. If this saved you time, a few dollars helps us cover the next county.

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