Did you know there's an election coming up?  Hard to miss if you've been online, watched TV, listened to the radio or used email in the past month.  Election Day is Tuesday, November 3 across the United States.  We're told it's the most important election in our lifetime.

Sounds like quite a responsibility with a lot to learn. There's no shortage of info out there.  But it's important to look at everything critically. Make sure you're getting the most impartial info available.

Check out Titans Together for the Vote. This Detroit Mercy site provides a list of  websites for resources on voting, such as voter registration, poll locations, candidate information, ballot proposals and sample ballots, some of which are listed here as well.

The State of Michigan Voter Information Center is a good place to  find out if you're registered to vote. You can also find out where to go to vote and see the ballot that you'll be faced with in the booth.

If that makes you want to learn more -- always a good idea -- check out VoteSmart where you can look up a candidate by name or search by zip code to find what offices and issues.

An interesting section of VoteSmart is called   

Find your political soul mate.

Based on your response to questions on several issues (healthcare, national security, etc.) VoteSmart will tell you which candidates in your area most agree with your positions.

Another no nonsense site from the League of Women Voters, a group that has been providing objective information on elections since the 1920s, is Vote 411.

FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg  Public Policy Center, "monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases."  Sort of a Snopes.com for politics.

FiveThirtyEight  One of the original sites using data and projections models to develop statistical odds of election outcomes.  In 2008 famously  forecasted 49 of the 50 state outcomes for the presidential election and correctly projected all 35 US Senate races.   It's now run by ESPN and has branched out from politics, but still covers elections as its main focus.  If you like numbers, this is the site for you.   [538 is the total number of electors  in the Electoral College]

Lots of data, polls reported on races all over the country and on issues.  Notice that
Real Clear Politics is supported by advertising and includes links to news articles, so the content needs to be read with a particularly critical eye. There is still a lot of good factual reporting here.

There's more, but this will get you started toward making you an informed citizen ready to enter the voting booth knowing what's going on and what you think about it all.

By Marilyn Dow
Edited by Julia Eisenstein