Lay a Ballot Measure's Arguments Side by Side
Ballot pamphlets put the arguments one after the other, which is exactly why the more confident one tends to win. This puts them opposite each other on the same question and marks whether each claim carries a source — because a claim with a citation and a claim without one are not the same kind of statement, and the layout usually hides that. Local only; nothing leaves the tab.
- Grid
- Pro and con claims paired against the same question
- local
- What it replaces
- Reading two confident pages sequentially
- $0.00
- Input
- Claims from both sides, one per line
- no card
- Output
- A paired grid with sources marked
- recomputed
What you pay otherwise
| Route | What you get | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Voting on the pamphlet alone | Whichever side wrote better copy | a guess |
| Researching each claim yourself | An evening per measure | hours |
| Skipping the measure | Someone else decides it for you | the outcome |
| This page | Both sides paired, sources marked | $0 |
The workflow
Paste each side's claims exactly as written
Don't paraphrase — the wording is part of what you're evaluating. One claim per line. If a claim contains a number, a date, or a named study, keep it verbatim so you can check it later.
Mark a claim as sourced only if it names its source
Append ' [source]' to any claim that cites a study, an office, or a document. The tool doesn't judge whether the source is good; it marks whether one was offered, which is the first filter that matters.
Read the unsourced tally before the arguments
A side with eight confident claims and no sources is making a rhetorical case. A side with three claims and three sources is making an evidentiary one. Neither wins automatically, but you should know which you're reading.
Pick one contested number and check it yourself
You don't have to verify everything — that's the trap. Pick the single figure the decision turns on and check that one against the primary source. One verified number does more than ten unverified ones.
Worked example
Sample: measure on a transit levy Pro claims 5 (2 sourced) Con claims 4 (1 sourced) Contested figure $42 annual cost per household Unsourced total 6 of 9 claims Uploaded nothing — paired in the tab
Numbers above are sample data produced by the tool's own pre-loaded example, run in the browser — not averages or measured benchmarks.
What breaks this
Paraphrasing the claims loses the wording you're meant to be evaluating. Marking a claim sourced because it sounds official defeats the only filter here — mark it only if it names a study, office or document. Trying to verify everything is how people give up; check the one number the decision turns on.
Try it now
A transit levy with five pro and four con claims is loaded, six of them unsourced. Add a source tag to one and watch the tally move.
Open the comparison grid →Go deeper: the printable stub
The grid is free forever. The $4 one-time tier adds:
- Printable stub — the paired grid on one sheet to take to the booth — estimate: ~10 min saved re-reading the pamphlet.
- Saved measures shelf — keep up to 12 measures in this browser — estimate: ~15 min saved across a long ballot.
- Household discussion sheet — a version formatted to talk through with someone — estimate: ~12 min saved explaining it twice.