Two weeks from today, those of you who are registered to vote will have the opportunity to exercise one of the most important rights we are granted as U.S. citizens. For some of you, this may be the first election in which you will have the opportunity to vote. On Nov. 4, you’ll want to be fully prepared to complete your ballot when you get to the poll, and there are many ways you can make sure you’re prepared before you go.
The first thing you can do if you live in the city of Chicago is go to http://www.chicagoelections.com to view your ballot. On the left side of the home page is a link that says “see your ballot.” Click on that link and you’ll be required to enter your address and last name. You will then be directed to a page that lists all of the registered voters that share your place of residence and last name. On this page you can find other information such as the name and address of your polling place and information about your ward and precinct. There is a sample ballot link that takes you to a version of the ballot you will see on Nov. 4 in pdf format. If you don’t live in Chicago, a good website to view your sample ballot is http://www.vote-il.org.
You’ll see on your ballot that not only will you be voting for our next President and Vice President, but you’ll also be voting for many other positions such as U.S. Senator, State Senator, State Representative, Congress in your district and more.
You could always do research on the people you’re voting for. A simple search on Google and a good eye for valid websites could lead you to a wealth of information about every person on your ballot.
Another option is to look in the Chicago Tribune or Chicago Sun-Times for their lists of endorsements. You can decide which paper’s endorsements you trust more, clip the list right out of the paper and take it with you to the poll.
Of course, you could always just vote all Democratic, all Republican, or all Green/Independent/other third parties (where there are such candidates listed) depending on where your political opinions lie.
The most important thing is that you go and vote. No matter how much you research or don’t research your choices, they are still your choices. Your votes are your voice. You can’t have a voice in this election if you don’t vote.