Hi!

The faculty speaker at my high school commencement was a beloved civics teacher who did a lot of very charismatic yelling in the classroom. Not long after I graduated, he inherited a huge amount of money, quit teaching, and—according to Facebook—has spent the intervening decades skiing, taking pictures of lakes, and traveling to various global landmarks and/or Las Vegas replicas of global landmarks (see above). Irrelevant to Election Day, but interesting.

Most of his commencement speech escapes me, obviously, but I remember that he ended it abruptly by thundering, “IF YOU’RE AN UNINFORMED VOTER, STAY! AWAY! FROM! THE! POLLS!”

I tend to approach every task as though it were an exam that will be graded, and I like an A or a gold star. I’ve often applied this thinking to voting: if I can’t memorize and recite every single candidate’s entire platform, maybe I’m an “uninformed voter” and should “stay away from the polls.”

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Also, it’s not necessary.

Because! We’ve got resources like The League of Women Voters’ Vote411 (where you can read nonpartisan interviews with most candidates) and the Blue Voter Guide (a newish site that provides progressive intel on your candidates—like who’s endorsed them, what they’ve accomplished, and whether they’re in hot water). For those last few candidates we don’t know much about, these resources are invaluable.

ALSO, we have each other—smart and involved people whose info and perspectives we trust.

This morning, I watched two separate group chats trade info about candidates on today’s ballot. It was beautiful! Gone are my days of ashamedly and privately cramming for an election like a chemistry test. With the help of trusted friends, in five minutes I filled the gaps in my preparedness and became as informed as I needed to be.

So, get yourself to Vote411 and/or Blue Voter Guide; get yourself a group chat of people you trust. None of this “crap, it’s Election Day and I forgot to study” shame. Let's get to the polls!

DID YOU VOTE? How do you go about Being Informed? Are you worried someone’s going to quiz you on your way out of the polling place?

And are you OK with trusted-crowdsourcing your voting info? Or am I deluding myself and practicing shoddy citizenship?