Bringing you the LAist Voter Game Plan involves months of planning, reporting, editing and careful execution. It’s all aimed at helping voters across Southern California cast a ballot in the March 5 primary.

Why? Well, in part because L.A. has a well-earned reputation for low-voter turnout. Blame the (usually) perfect weather or other factors on that apathy, but the fact is voters have turned out here in lower numbers than other big cities for decades.

As a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to public service, LAist believes that civic participation is key to a strong democracy, whether on a local school board, a powerful county board or at a national level. We’re never going to tell you who to vote for. We just want to give you the information you need to make a vote that aligns with your beliefs.

So, how to do that? We’ve learned a fair amount about what works over the last several election cycles. And we’ve used that feedback to create our most comprehensive guide yet.

What you'll find in our guides

For the busiest voters, with limited time to do deep dives, we cut to the chase with a guide to the four races on the ballot that will most impact your life.

We also help voters who are passionate about addressing homelessness, affordable housing, public safety and crime, and climate change issues, dig into which offices and issues matter most. Our topic guides will help you cast a ballot that supports your ideals.

We also asked the candidates in Los Angeles’ top races to go beyond sound bites and clarify their positions, in their own words, so you can find the candidate whose campaign platforms most closely align with your own viewpoints:

• We asked the candidates for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to explain how they plan to tackle homelessness, transportation needs, ease the affordable housing crisis, and their top public safety concerns.

• We asked the candidates for Los Angeles City Council to explain how they plan to reduce pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, increase affordable housing, tackle public safety concerns, and restore public trust in the wake of a series of corruption scandals. 
• We asked the candidates for Los Angeles County District Attorney about changes needed in the D.A.’s office, justice system and bail reform, and their approach to prosecuting misdemeanors.

• And we asked the candidates for the board of education for the Los Angeles Unified School District — the second largest school district in the nation, behind New York City — to lay out their top three priorities, if elected.

We made sure to summarize candidates’ positions for voters in a hurry and also make their full responses available, for anyone who wants to see what they have to say in their own words.

It wasn’t all serious.

We also asked each candidate to share something personal that would help voters see another side of them. Their answers are pretty interesting, and sometimes surprising.

Some collect art. Others, vinyl. One says she's known for her homemade pickles. Many (of course), profess a love of pickleball. One candidate enjoys haunted history tours. And another can eat four Krispy Kremes in one sitting.

Why we give you the background on the jobs to be done

As we’ve done in past guides, we explain not just who is running and what they’re about, but what that office is responsible for and what decisions people in those positions will have to make in the years ahead.

Last election, many readers told us they’d made their most informed vote ever thanks to LAist’s Voter Game Plan.

We also offer up a comprehensive guide to electing judges (which otherwise can feel like a game of random chance), and we partnered with CalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan source of state news, for an in-depth perspective on state and federal elections, including races for California’s House and Senate, as well as the U.S. Congress and Senate.

In many of the guides you’ll find snapshots of the money being spent by the candidates themselves, by outside groups in support of the candidate, and by outside groups against the candidate. Our goal is to help you follow the money.

Stay with us for results

And we hope you’ll stick with us for the results as they roll in not just on election night but over the following weeks. Our new post-election newsletter will help you make sense of the results and what they mean for your life in Southern California. It starts on March 6 and will wrap up by the end of that month. Sign up to get the first issue after the polls close.

We're here to help

Finally: Did we miss a topic that you’d like us to explore before Election Day? Do you have a question you want us to answer? Ask it here. Some reader questions we have already answered:

• How do I register to vote?
• How do I vote in person?
• How do I vote by mail?
• Why isn’t my city council on the ballot?
• How do I vote if I am experiencing homelessness?
• How are judicial recommendations compiled?