When it comes to ballot initiatives my approach is to find out who is funding the project. That usually tells me what I need to know. Quite often the initiative name is quite different from what it actually proposes to do, so you do have to do some homework on those...
I have a way to cheat. There's a guy in our neighborhood who is very staunchly partisan. He tends to support very extreme positions.
However his lawn signs say to vote, I just vote the opposite, which is always closer to the middle than whatever/whoever he's supporting.
[OK, that's not really true. But it does give me a good hint about people and positions I need to look at more closely before I vote.]
And, yes, you do have to do your research to find out what a ballot article would actually impact, and the true positions of those running for office. When you read their marketing materials, they always sound like reasonable, middle-of-the-road positions. That may be very different from what happens after the voting.