Send this link to your family and friends :

http://maps.google.com/vote

All you have to do is type in your address and it’ll show you on a map where your polling place is. Very, very cool.

Also, for my fellow Southern Californians who want to vote early, it’s gonna much less convenient that it has been in the past. Unlike previous years, there’s only one polling place and it’s in the middle on nowhere (boo!). LAist has some details on why LA County early voting is such a pain in the ass this year :

If you remember, LA County used to have those early voting touch screen machines, but after the Secretary of State’s new regulations forcing 100% of results to be manually counted, the county found that too unfeasible to do with current resources. And if the county were to deploy more early voting locations using a paper based system, ballot security and ballot styles become an issue, LA County’s Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan told LAist.

In this election, there are 706 different variations, or styles, of the ballot. Depending on where you live, your ballot will carry different local measures and elected officials. With that many styles, imagine the resources and security needed to manage that. So until this is figured out in future years, which Logan says they will consider in the future, you’re options will stay with vote by mail, early voting in Norwalk (.pdf) or waiting until Election Day.

Though that doesn’t explain why they couldn’t put the early voting location in a place that’s easier to reach (like, say, the middle of the city), but at least our votes will be counted.