About Guide the Vote

Who we are

Guide the Vote is an independent, nonpartisan civic education organization based in Tennessee. We build the ballot-side reference that voters, teachers, and local newsrooms wish already existed: plain-language, sourced, and free.

Why Guide the Vote exists

Most voters open a ballot for the first time in the voting booth. The names are unfamiliar. The offices are unfamiliar. The districts are unfamiliar. Guide the Vote exists to change that — before election day, in one place, in one voice.

Mission

Give every Tennessee voter a clear, accurate, nonpartisan reference for what is on their ballot and what the offices on it actually do.

What we do

• Publish plain-language explainers about elections, offices, and districts.
• Maintain neutral candidate profiles for certified races.
• Link voters to the official ballot lookup for their address.
• Log every correction we make, in public.

What we do NOT do

• Endorse candidates, parties, or ballot positions.
• Publish race ratings, forecasts, or predictions.
• Publish comparative campaign finance figures.
• Label any map as a gerrymander.
• Run a candidate-matching quiz.
• Sell user information or share it with campaigns, parties, or PACs.

See Nonpartisan Standards for the full list.

Values

Clarity

We write for a general audience at an 8th-grade reading level. Short sentences, plain words, one idea at a time.

Accuracy

Every fact is sourced and every source is ranked. Corrections are public.

Accessibility

The site works on any device, over slow connections, and with a screen reader.

Neutrality

We do not endorse. We do not rate. We do not forecast. We do not label maps.

Transparency

Our standards, sources, corrections, and sponsorship policies are all public.

Respect

Voters, candidates, election officials, and volunteers are treated with respect on every page.

Community

We build with — and for — Tennessee. Local officials, teachers, and nonprofits shape what we make.

Independence

Sponsors, partners, and donors never review, approve, or influence our educational content.

Team & partners

Learn who runs Guide the Vote on the Team page. Our current partners are listed on the Partners page, along with the disclosure language each partnership carries.

Conflict-of-interest disclosures

Every editor and reviewer discloses relationships with candidates, campaigns, parties, and advocacy organizations. Where a disclosure is relevant to a specific page, it appears on that page. Where a partner is itself a party to litigation or advocacy, that partner appears on the Partners page with a written disclosure.

Sponsors and partners do not review, approve, or influence our educational content.