Host a Palo Alto Ballot Party
Invite a few friends or neighbors, bring your ballots, research the choices together, and make a plan to vote early.
What’s a Ballot Party?
A ballot party is just a get-together where people research their ballots together. It can be dinner with four friends, coffee at a café, a table at the library, a neighborhood potluck, or part of a gathering that’s already happening. You don’t need to be an election expert, and you don’t have to agree on every choice.
1. Before: Pick a Place & Invite Your People
Pick a date and a place that’s easy for you, then invite a few people personally. You do not need a big house, or any house at all. Meet around a kitchen or dining table, in a living room or apartment common room, or claim a couple of tables at a café. Libraries, community centers, faith communities, senior centers, and other meeting spaces work too. You can also turn part of a book club, neighborhood gathering, dinner, or club meeting into a ballot party.
If you’re inviting people beyond your immediate circle, consider asking for RSVPs so you know whether the space will accommodate everyone.
Keep the setup simple. You mainly need somewhere people can sit, enough light to read their ballots, and phones or laptops for research. Clipboards work if table space is tight. You can also make the research homework, if that works for your group: assign each person a candidate, race, or proposition to research beforehand and be ready to give the group a quick rundown.
💌 A Simple Invitation
“Do you want to come over for a ballot party? A few of us are getting together to go through our ballots before we vote. We’ll have some food, look up the candidates and propositions we don’t know much about, compare what we find, and help each other figure out the confusing stuff. Bring your ballot if you have it, and a phone or laptop if you can.”
📋 Have These Ready
- Your own ballot or sample ballot, so you know roughly what guests will be looking at.
- A wi-fi connection info card (name of the network and password).
- A few trustworthy voter information sites bookmarked — start with our nonpartisan Palo Alto Voter Guide for candidate comparisons and local measures. Official California election information (opens in a new tab) should be the starting point for voting rules and deadlines.
- Official voter guides, if you have them. Ask guests to bring theirs, too, especially if they live in different districts and have different races or measures on their ballots.
- Paper and pens for notes and filling out the ballot (black or blue pens).
- Food, drinks, music, or a theme if you want one. (At a café, everyone can simply buy a drink or snack.)
Download our 2-page double-sided quarter-sheet handout (4 flyers per sheet). Side A is the Ballot Party invitation; Side B is the Palo Alto Voter Guide cheat sheet.
2. During: An Easy 75-Minute Party
💡 Good Discussion Rules
- Check before you argue.If there’s a disagreement about a fact, pause and find a reliable source. Separate what you know from what you think or have heard.
- Ask why.Don’t just trade endorsements. Ask what someone learned, what matters to them, or why they reached their conclusion.
- Make room.Avoid one person dominating the discussion. Give everyone a chance to ask questions, share what they found, and make up their own mind.
- Privacy matters.Nobody has to say how they’re voting or show anyone their marked ballot. Ask before taking photos or recording.
Key Local Measures & Issues to Discuss in Palo Alto
Local ballot measures and municipal contests are often the decisions voters feel least prepared for — making them the most valuable topics to explore together at your party:
Community Safety & Services Measure
A 0.5% local sales tax increase in Palo Alto, estimated to generate ~$13.5 million annually. Earmarked to rebuild and modernize the aging Cubberley Community Center, upgrade fire stations, replace deteriorated stormwater pipes, and maintain police and library services.
Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education
3 candidates competing for 2 open seats on the board. Oversees curriculum, district budgets, enrollment trends, campus facilities, and student well-being.
Connect Bay Area Transit
Dedicated regional transit funding to safeguard Caltrain frequency (especially newly electrified service), protect BART, and improve cross-county transit connections.
14 California Statewide Propositions
Statewide ballot measures covering education bonds, housing finance, health clinic funding, and vote threshold requirements for future local measures (Prop 43).
3. Finish: Make Sure Everyone Votes
A good ballot party ends with something concrete. Ask each guest to choose when and how they’re going to vote. In California, voters can return a completed vote-by-mail ballot by mail (by Oct 23 to avoid postal delivery delays!), at an official drop box, or at an eligible in-person voting location. Follow the instructions on the ballot envelope carefully, including signing it where required.
Encourage each guest to seal, sign, and return their own ballot. If someone needs another person to return a ballot for them, follow the authorization instructions printed on the return envelope.
If there’s a convenient official ballot drop box or vote center nearby, you can even end the party with a group walk to drop off completed ballots!
📱 Quick Group Text Follow-Up
A day or two later, send a quick message to your guests:
“Thanks for coming! It was great figuring out the ballot together. If you’ve already returned yours, here’s the ballot-tracking link so you can make sure it was received: https://california.ballottrax.net/voter/”
Useful Ballot-Research Resources
Start with official sources for election rules and ballot information, then use independent voter guides to compare explanations and candidate information. For local races and measures, our nonpartisan voter guide and local League of Women Voters chapters are especially useful:
🤝 Need Support from Local Organizers?
Have questions about ballot measures or hosting? Need printed voter guides or yard signs? Indivisible Palo Alto Plus and Blue Turn Indivisible are here to help make your event a success!