Friends, voters, schoolteachers, lend us your ears. Or rather, your inquisitiveness, your determination and your keystrokes. We’re thrilled by the number of readers (many of them students) making heavy use of the Chicago Tribune Election Center that we’ve been promoting in the graphic below. This site, chicagotribune.com/elections, is your weapon against any clueless soul who whimpers, “But it’s so hard to learn about the candidates.” If you’re not already a mesmerized Election Center regular, here are highlights of all that’s easily searchable:
* To your right on the screen is your “Ballot Builder.” Type in your address to see who’s running for which races in your locale. Sliding your cursor over a candidate’s name links you to a treasure chest of background information, news stories, Tribune endorsements, responses to our detailed questionnaires and, if the candidate debated his or her opponents before our editorial board, the video of that session. You can print that ballot and take it with you to the voting booth. You also can e-mail it to yourself and share your choices with friends.
* To your left is a cherry-picker’s delight. We hope you’ll focus on the blue rectangle labeled “Video, Questionnaires & Endorsements.” Three links transport you to those troves, although the endorsements link differs from the Ballot Builder presentation. Here you can print on one sheet our pride and joy — what we call our bedsheet ballot of all Tribune endorsements for contested races and the one constitutional amendment on the ballot. This is the same bedsheet we’ve run twice on the Editorial page, and that will appear here again next Sunday and a fourth time on Election Day.
To be clear: Yes, it is legal for you to carry our endorsement guide into the privacy of your voting booth. We’ve put considerable effort into assessing candidates in races you may not have followed but that have huge impacts on you, your family and your taxes. We have tried to select the candidates likeliest to insist on ethics and spending reforms. If you don’t agree with us in some contests, maybe you’ll find value in the assessments of other races.
Our bottom line is that Illinois desperately needs better leaders, and you can install them. This is a daunting ballot, with a long list of judges up for election or retention. Having a list of selected candidates handy can help you navigate that ballot — and make informed choices.
* The Election Center also brims with fresh news stories about candidates and campaigns, races and issues.
The Election Center, then, is one-stop shopping. We hope you find it useful and enjoyable. When you go there, be sure to emerge in time to … vote. Never in its history has Illinois had such a desperate need for a smart electorate that actually comes to the polls.
Use the Election Center. Then vote. Because you can choose the people who’ll largely shape the future of your nation, your state, your community and your household.
