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Where do I vote? A primer on finding your local polling place.

'Where do I vote,' you ask? Election 2012 is here. We run through a couple of online tools that help make the whole voting process much easier.

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Reuters
People vote during at a displaced polling center in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 6, 2012.
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Google
Google's 'Where do I vote' doodle.
  • By Matthew Shaer

After a solid three years of punditry, prognostications, and all manner of political posturing, the 2012 election is finally here.

So you've decided to vote? Good. Now you just need to find the right polling station. (Well, before that, you need to be registered, although a handful of states, including Rhode Island, Minnesota, and Mississippi, allow election-day registration. Click here to find out if your state is on the list.) 

You've got some options. First – and probably the fastest – is Google's elections page, where you can plug in your address and find a map to the nearest voting place. The bonus here is a ballot summary not only of the presidential choices, but also the local and national congressional races. You can also track past data, such as the Republican primaries, on a handy, color-coded chart. 

Facebook, meanwhile, has set up a pretty decent election tool of its own. Same deal here: Facebook takes your address and finds you a polling station, although the social network lacks Google's deep-dive information on local candidates. 

If you already sussed out the location of your polling place, but you're not sure what to bring in terms of identification – or even if you can legally vote – navigate over to canivote.org. There you can check registration info, click through lists of acceptable ID, and find contact info for local election officials. 

Happy voting! 

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut.

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