The Virginia Stage Board of Elections site is actually a little bit fantastic.

Go to this page: http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Voter_Information/

Click on: Voter Registration Status

Then you just fill out a few lines, it confirms that you’re registered, and it tells you your polling place. It’s super nifty.

There’s also a super helpful link that says “My Ballot,” which tells you what elections you’ll be voting on, along with links to the candidates website. Take a minute and check these out. Learn about the candidates’ education, history, platform, endorsements.

So rather than voting strictly Democrat (or Republican, for our three Republican readers), you can vote on more substantial things, like website design, dimple size, and which candidate has the hottest children.

And if you’re considering not bothering to vote, let this picture of voters in South Africa–a place where the right to vote is new and still precious–remind you of just how lucky we are.

Voters lined up before sunrise.