Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir is recommending voters bring notes along Nov. 6, as we will be wading through a longer-than-usual ballot on our e-slate readers. The county’s sample ballot, available on the county’s election website (www.traviscountyclerk.org/eclerk/Content.do?code=E.3) is especially daunting – but remember, you’ll only see the races included in your particular precinct. That will be lengthy enough – so the News staff is hereby doing its best to provide you with a handy “voters’ guide” to the races – from national to extremely local – that are most likely to turn up on your e-slate on Election Day. (This cheat sheet focuses on useful voter information; for specific Chronicle endorsements in contested races and on ballot propositions, please see our endorsements.)

This article appears in October 19 • 2012.

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Contributing writer and former news editor Michael King has reported on city and state politics for the Chronicle since 2000. He was educated at Indiana University and Yale, and from 1977 to 1985 taught at UT-Austin. He has been the editor of the Houston Press and The Texas Observer, and has reported and written widely on education, politics, and cultural subjects.