Never mind all the horse race elections coverage. Today’s about something bigger, particularly for people of color. Yes, this has been one of the nastiest, most racist campaign seasons in recent history. And no, the purported change-makers we voted into office two years ago haven’t lived up to their promise. But people literally died to give me the right to walk a few blocks over to my central Brooklyn polling spot this morning. If for no other reason, I need to vote to honor that sacrifice. And you know what? So do all Americans.

We’ll help: Google has developed an app that will help you find your polling place. Here it is on the NAACP’s site (or just go to Google). Type in your address and it’ll show you where to go, complete with directions on getting there. It also generates a list of races and candidates for which you’ll be asked to vote, as well as links to your state’s elections website and voter-registration info.

Once you know where to go, check out the Election Protection project’s site as well (particularly if you’re in Wisconsin or Illinois, where tea partiers have already vowed to harass voters they suspect of being ineligible–read: brown people). The site has lots of information about how to protect yourself, including what you should do if your right to vote is challenged. Election Protection also has a national hotline for you to call if there are irregularities at your polling site; they’ll dispatch volunteer legal activists to check things out.