We asked more than 700 candidates in Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties to give us information about themselves and respond to questions about issues in their campaigns. By typing your address in the search form, you can compare these comparisons side by side, mark up a mock ballot, and add your notes and comments.

To get started, you'll need to know: your township; your city or village; your school district, and if it's Rockford, what subdistrict; your fire protection district. This guide is set up help you find races in which you can vote, but you need to know specifics of where you live to give you the best possible details.

You'll be asked to put in your address, city and ZIP code. That information forms the basis of building your personal ballot. You can choose not to use you address, but rather you can browse all races. If you choose to create a personal ballot, next, you'll be brought to page that shows you some general political boundaries that apply to your address. The next page will ask you for more specifics.