down-ballot

English

Etymology

From the organization of most electoral ballots, which list electoral offices in descending order of the amount of power wielded by the officeholder.

Adjective

down-ballot (comparative more down-ballot, superlative most down-ballot)

1. Pertaining to the election of a relatively minor officeholder.
   • 2012, Howie Carr, Hard Knocks, →ISBN:

     Just as I stepped out of the shower, I got a call from a state senator who was planning to run for a down-ballot statewide office against the mayor of a suburban city.

   • 2013, George Hawley, Voting and Migration Patterns in the U.S., →ISBN:

     In 2012, Coleman again secured his reelection with more than 90 percent of the vote, and Democratic candidates in his district secured a greater share of the mean precinct down-ballot vote in 2012 than in 2000.

   • 2015, John S Klemanski, David A. Dulio, Michael Switalski, Campaigns from the Ground Up, →ISBN:

     In down-ballot races, television advertising is rare.

   • 2016, Daniel Kreiss, Prototype Politics, →ISBN:

     One task of these developers at the party was to create tools for state parties and down-ballot candidates built from this data architecture.