It is impossible to accurately predict who will still be running come the day Illinois residents cast their ballots, March 19, and who will have become political roadkill on the way to our state. But now is the time to start gathering information.

Admittedly, the volumes of information available on candidates is intimidating. But the Internet is one of the tools for voters to use in researching the candidates, and we encourage everyone to know their candidates before they vote.

Where to find the Internet on campus? The computer labs and Morris Library on campus have computers with Internet access.

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Perhaps the easiest way to get candidate information on the Internet is to log on and do an Internet search for such topics as campaigns, presidential campaigns or candidates. Unfortunately this will also bring out a number of choices, many of them being no help.

An easier direction might be to log on the net directory. This lists Internet sites by category. Once in the directory try going to Politics and Law. This will lead to the Presidential directory.

The Presidential directory has both the well known and the obscure candidates, along with some things that can only be classified as other, such as the Clinton-Related Deaths home page and the Fidel for President home page.

Any way it is used, the Internet will help fill the void left from the media’s information. Internet users can narrow information they receive to topics they are interested in.

The Vote Smart home page has a category of responses from the candidates on more than 20 topics, ranging from budget priorities to terrorism to education.

In education, the candidates were asked three questions. Do they support a constitutional amendment to allow voluntary school prayer and/or a moment of silence? Do they support funding Ameri-Corps? And they were asked to indicate principles they support concerning school choice and charter schools.

The Vote Smart page has a separate page titled Campaign 96 that contains official and unofficial candidate home pages, primary and caucus dates and convention information for the Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians. The Vote Smart page also contains updated congressional voting records.

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Another page with good information is Congressional Quarterly’s Candidates 96. This page listed the Republican candidates and gave their campaign profile, biographical information and other items. This site is still being built and has plans for background information on Congressional and gubernatorial candidates nationwide.

These are just a small sampling of what is out on the Internet. We encourage all voters to use this tool. But that is all it is, a tool. And the user must use it and judge its content, considering the sources of that information. We also encourage the use of other sources – books, newspapers, magazines and television – to verify your information. Above all we encourage you to use that information by casting a responsible vote.