We’re approaching that season again; candidates for the 2016 presidential election are announcing their intentions to run.

In just the past few weeks, Democrat Hilary Clinton and Republicans Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have announced the beginning of their presidential campaign. Democrats Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee are potential candidates, according to CNN. CNN has also predicted that Republicans Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Carly Fiorina will run.

While Election Day isn’t until November 8, 2016, it’s time for voters to start doing their research so that they can be involved and understand what’s happening throughout the entire election process. Doing preliminary research on the candidates and their agendas will help voters be more active and participatory because they’ll know what’s happening.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to find a place to start when doing research on presidential candidates. There are so many issues for which each candidate has a different opinion, and there are issues that are important to the voter but that may not be the focus of the candidate.

One of the most important things to do as a voter at this point in the process is to find out what issues are important to you and find out what your stance is on those particular issues. This will help you to find a candidate who finds those issues important as well. If you know what you believe in and what’s important to you, then you’ll know what to look for in a representative. It’ll narrow down the process of picking a candidate to support.

Once you’ve decided what issues are important to you and what your stance is on those issues, you can start researching candidates who have similar values. Candidates often have their own social media pages that you can follow, and they have campaign websites that detail what exactly they find important and their stances on critical issues.

Also on these social media pages and campaign websites are lists of important events in which the candidate is planning on being involved. Following the candidates who interest you as they participate in these events can give you an idea as to what the candidate is like in social settings. The one that they participate in are events that they find important, often reflecting a value that they feel strongly about.

At this point in the process, researching candidates who present themselves as eligible for the election is crucial to be able to follow and understand the events that will happen over the next year. Also writing down dates of candidate debates and events would be good so that you can use those opportunities to understand what candidates stand for.

Having the opportunity to be involved in the presidential election process is such a wonderful gift that is given to us. Being able to contribute and to mold your future on a national level is a unique privilege that not many nations offer. Whether you’ve been voting for years or this is your first election, it’s important to be involved throughout the whole process, starting with knowing whom you’re going to support.