With the election Tuesday, it is important that voters begin to stray away from party connections and instead focus on candidate platforms, especially as many Americans who continue to party-line vote don’t realize who they are voting for.

Throughout recent years, specifically in those with an election, words such as “misinformation” and “fake news” continue to be thrown around by politicians on both sides of the aisle and their supporters. While there has been some false reporting and incorrect facts spread throughout the election season, these charged words have more frequently been used by conspiracy theorists to promote or put down political campaigns to meet their personal goals.

This seems to stem largely from back to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when both then-president Donald Trump and CDC Director Dr. Anthony Fauci would give differing pieces of advice to the American public on how to handle the health crisis—with Trump suggesting that citizens should inject Lysol to treat infection.

This radicalization and polarization of the American political climate still continues to grip the nation. In presidential debates and across social media, candidates and constituents have continued to spread notably false rumors that can cause massive damage to the uninformed American voter.

Americans can find valuable and reliable candidate information by verifying information they see or hear by looking at a variety of sources instead of just honing in on the one.

With many Gen-Z voters now coming of voting age, it is vital that there is an emphasis put on researching and learning about candidates’ platforms rather than just going off of presidential propaganda and familial party affiliation.

Checking campaign websites, reviewing political agendas and watching policy debates are all crucial when choosing who to vote for. However you make your vote, cast it wisely.