Meaning
US political shorthand for races, offices or candidates listed lower on a voting ticket, beneath the marquee contest for president, senator or governor: state legislature seats, judgeships, ballot measures. The adjectival form down-ballot modifies races, candidates and effects; a strong or weak standard-bearer at the top is said to lift or drag those further down the ballot - the coattail effect. Spelling varies by function: down-ballot or downballot as the adjective, down the ballot as the adverbial phrase; the hyphenated adjective dominates in political science and journalism. Common collocations: down-ballot races, candidates, effects. Regional use: United States.
Origin
The word is younger than it feels. Both the OED and Merriam-Webster give 1982 as the first known use of the adjective, the OED's earliest evidence being the Paris (Texas) News of 1982; it is US English, a compound of down and ballot, and in modern written English it remains rare (fewer than 0.01 occurrences per million words, per the OED). The hyphenated adjective (down-ballot races) is better attested than the bare adverbial phrase down the ballot. The concept is older than the word: candidates lower on the ticket have long been said to ride a popular standard-bearer's coattails - this site's entry 'ride the coattails' covers that idiom.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- down-ballot
- lower down the ticket
Usage Examples
- The presidential race gets the headlines, but the contests further down the ballot will decide who controls the state legislature.
- An unpopular nominee at the top of the ticket can drag down-ballot candidates into defeat.
- Volunteers were told to knock doors for the whole ticket: the governor's race and every race down the ballot.