About this site

Down Ballot is an independent publication launched in 2024 by journalist Ben Ledbetter.

Many posts are free to read. However, they’re not free to produce. It takes time and money to sustain the site.

Ben Ledbetter is a versatile, battle-tested journalist that has worked as a reporter and copy editor for outlets in rural and urban areas.

He worked for The (Sumter, S.C.) Item, the now-shuttered Loudoun Easterner in Ashburn, Va., and The (Lexington, N.C.) Dispatch.

As a freelance journalist, Ledbetter wrote for the University of Texas Moody College of Communication, Carolina Public Press, The (Asheville, N.C.) Citizen-Times, The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune, The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald, The (Orangeburg, S.C.) Times & Democrat, The (Greensboro, N.C.) News & Record, The (Durham) Herald-Sun, The Denver Post, The Charlotte Observer, The (Wilmington, N.C.) Star-News.

On Fridays, we publish a weekly report of state and local news from nonprofit news outlets and other sources. It goes out to subscribers on Fridays at 5 am.

On other days, there are stories about the Carolinas and adjacent areas.

Thank you for reading Down Ballot.