Answers to Go

SAN MARCOS PUBLIC LIBRARY 625 E. HOPKINS ST. 512-393-8200

Q. What are some good, easily accessible sources for researching candidates before the election?

A. VOTE411.org is a great website founded by the League of Women Voters Education Fund. They offer nonpartisan information to the public on many aspects of the election process, including factual data on candidates in various federal, state, and local races.

My favorite part of this website is a section on personalized voting information. If you click “Find What’s on Your Ballot” and enter your address, it will create a customized voter guide for you. This guide will show you each race on your ballot, a description of the position, and information about each candidate.

For example, if you click on the race for U.S. President, it will tell you the duties, term limit and the base salary of the position. It will then have the candidates running for president listed below. If you click the name of a candidate, you will find links to their campaign websites and social media accounts. You will also find questions for the candidates and their answers (if they responded), such as “What is the most important issue facing our country and how do you plan to address it during your first 100 days in office?” You can also choose to compare two candidates and see their information side-by-side.

After reading about the candidates, you can select which one you intend to vote for, and VOTE411 can either email or text your ballot to you. This is completely optional, and your information is not saved or given to any third parties.

The League of Women Voters also puts together a 2020 General Election Voters Guide available for pickup at the San Marcos Public Library (while supplies last) or in PDF format at my.lwv.org/texas/voters-guide.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. The early voting period runs from Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020 to Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.