Hi there. I’m Gadi, Barrett’s boyfriend, and I have the distinct honor of being the first guest blogger.

We have been following the presidential elections for what seems like forever. And the time has come to actually cast our votes. I’d like to share with you in this post some of the resources I use to become a more informed voter.

Like many of you, Barrett and I have had many discussions about the political issues of the day; taxes, the economy, the wars, health care, and education. We’ve gossiped about the latest game changers and gaffs with our friends. And, we have poured over polls, political blogs, opinion pieces, and TV pundits views, but now it’s time to vote.

I’ve made up my mind about who to vote for President; however, on my ballot there will also be candidates for local races and ballot questions. In order to make a more informed decision I’ve gotten into a habit every two years of researching the details of my ballot.

So, here are some resources to help you vote mindfully.

1) Find out where to vote.

I highly recommend going to your state’s Secretary of State website. For those of you in Massachusetts you can find out where to vote at the where to vote link (this form is a little temperamental, but stick with it, the results are great).

2) Find out who is on your ballot.

Again the Secretary of State web site is likely a good source for this. In my case I was able to get a list of all the choices on my ballot. Here is what my ballot will look like.

Another site that has a fair bit of information on what you are likely to see on your ballot is votesmart.org. Here is a list of candidates and elected officials for my ward on their site.

3) Find out what the ballot questions are.

These are sometimes worded awkwardly so you aren’t entirely sure which way you are voting. I don’t think this is intentional, just a consequence of legalese and an attempt to be very precise. Sometimes it leads to not very readable prose.

Once again, I found the Secretary of State web site to be the best resource for finding out what the actual ballot measures are. I found the links on the left panel of this page (Question 1) provide the most detailed information about the ballot questions.

4) Finally, find out why.

I have found a couple of non-partisan sites that are somewhat useful for comparing candidates on the issues.

On votesmart.org candidates are asked to fill out a positions survey called the “Political Courage Test” (or “Issue Positions”). Unfortunately, few candidates have filled out this survey. To see how awesome these are check out my Congressman Michael Capuano‘s positions or my State Legislator Alice K. Wolf’s.

Still there is a ton of other information on each candidates page that makes this site really helpful. Check out the candidates for this years Senate race in Massachusetts:

Another decent site for positions of candidates is OnTheIssues.org. It’s definitely more geared towards national races but it still has good information about the candidates. For example, here are the pages for the candidates for this years Senate race in Massachusetts:

I know I’ve thrown a lot of links at you, but I hope this information helps you learn in more detail what choices you have on Election Day.

Finally, I am not in any way claiming that these resources are the be all and end all. Rather I think they are something to start from. Do you have any other sites that you really like? If so, please let me know!