In 2012, a group of Rose Institute students initiated a project to create short videos explaining California’s statewide ballot measures. The experiment started modestly but clearly had potential. Since then, the Rose Institute has expanded and refined its Video Voter Guide to California's Ballot Measures. We now produce a detailed “Backgrounder” for each California statewide proposition, which includes a deeply researched analysis of the underlying issue, a summary of the proposition’s main terms, a list of supporters and opponents, arguments for and against, a summary of campaign contributions on both sides, and the meaning of a “Yes” or “No” vote. Students prepare these backgrounders, then distill them into scripts and narrate a 2-minute video summarizing each measure. We also include Spanish-language subtitles and produce condensed videos for social media platforms. The project’s goal is to explain California’s ballot propositions in an objective, non-partisan, accessible way. Over the past twelve years, we have produced 67 ballot measure videos. These videos, hosted on the Institute’s website, now also provide an archive of California’s statewide propositions in recent elections.

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