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While it's only mid-July, it's hard to believe that the September Primary and November General Election is right around the corner. Incumbents and candidates are hitting the doors, making the parade routes and holding meetings.

Candidates are frequent visitors to newspaper offices and emailed press releases are flooding our in-boxes. While we try to ask the right questions when we interview candidates, it's also important that the public find out information they need to know about issues.

Elections can present voters with important and often difficult decisions. From local races to state offices, voting provides an essential way to voice your opinions on the performance of your government and help elect representatives that share your views and beliefs.

Political campaigns can bombard voters with sound bite impressions of candidates and their positions that are often more confusing than informative. How then do voters go about evaluating and choosing a candidate?

Decide what you want in a candidate. Know something about the issues, you need to decide what qualities and background you want in a leader and where each candidate stands on the issues that concern you most. Candidates can be judged in two ways - by what their positions are on issues, and by what character traits and leadership skills you want them to possess.

Check out each candidate's website. While some local candidates for minor offices may not have their own websites, most county, state and national office-seekers do, and they are a great source of information on each candidate's background and current campaign. They are one-sided information sources, however, so make sure you check any claims that sound inaccurate - like voting records-with public records and other sources.

Observe the candidates on the campaign trail. Candidates attend a number of different public events throughout the campaign season. National candidates make television appearances on numerous cable news programs and widely televised debates throughout their campaigns. The more often you see and hear a candidate, the better equipped you'll be to judge his or her strengths and weaknesses.

Carefully check the candidate's public record. Some candidates are political newcomers, but most are political veterans with records to run on-or run away from. In either case, their voting histories and public statements are available in the congressional records, newspaper pages and websites of every county, city and state in the country. Do their records match their campaign promises?

In the current political environment it is more important than ever that people know who they are voting for and what they stand for.