Election Day is in a week. And no doubt you've heard a lot about the candidates.

Commercials have been airing for weeks, and they've set up tables occasionally in the Wood Center to convince you to vote for them. But that doesn't mean you know them.

It's important to do your homework before you step into the booth with that piece of paper and start checking off names.

During the August primaries, I grabbed the Republican ballot. I knew who I was voting for in the governor's race, and I had my opinions on the cruise ship tax and the campaign finance ballot measures.

But after not even 10 seconds behind those red-and-white curtains, I realized I'd forgotten to research something – who to vote for in the lieutenant governor's race. I didn't know who Sean Parnell or Jerry Ward were, and that's unfortunate, considering the person who takes over for Loren Leman is in charge of elections and state regulations.

There are several Web sites available to help you do your homework.

For the candidates, try their official sites. There's tonyknowles.com for Democrat Tony Knowles, palinforgovernor.com for Republican Sarah Palin, and andrewhalcro.com for independent Andrew Halcro.

For a quick overview, check out Project Vote Smart's Web site at vote-smart.org. In the federal races, you can read up on U.S. Rep. Don Young's interest group ratings (he has voted for the National Right to Life Committee's interests 78 percent of the time in 2005-06, for example) and some of his speeches.

You can also read up on his challenger, Democrat Diane Benson (in her issue positions, she says abortion should always be legal).

This election cycle also saw candidates calling each other corrupt based on who gave money to their campaigns, especially after the FBI began investigating VECO Corp. If you want to know who's financing your candidates, there are a few great online resources.

For the Young-Benson race, check out the Center for Responsive Politics' site, opensecrets.org.

For state races, head to the Alaska Public Offices Commission at http://www.state.ak.us/apoc/index.htm.

As for those tricky ballot measures, go over to the Division of Elections' Web site, http://www.elections.state.ak.us/ballot_measures.php.

Of course, it's also possible you've ignored the campaigns so far. If you need to make up for lost time, check out the Anchorage Daily News' Web site, adn.com, or the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner's, newsminer.com.

There's plenty of information out there if you want it. And with the Internet, there's no excuse to be an ignorant voter if you choose to vote.

Take some time, relax with a cup of coffee, and scroll through the candidates' info. Because you never know what you might find.