It's hard not to get swept up in the excitement of the presidential race, though I'm glad I didn't pay much attention to the pundits and their commentary, both on Hilary's struggle before the New Hampshire primaries (a bunch of stupid, baseless hype), and then on her crying affecting votes (in my opinion, equally stupid).

At any rate, I decided to first check to see if I was registered to vote because I thought so but wasn't 100% sure. Fortunately, those living in Cook County will find it easy to check via their "Am I Registered?" website. Now if you're not, you've missed the deadline to register for the primaries. But worry not! There's something called grace-period registration that still lets you sign-up until Jan. 22nd, but requires you to jump through a couple of hoops (bold emphasis is mine):

Grace-period registration and voting

Wednesday, January 09, 2008 - Tuesday, January 22, 2008

At the Cook County Clerk's main office:

There is only one way and one place to register during the 14-day grace period. Unregistered voters must sign up to vote in person at the Clerk's downtown Chicago office: 69 W. Washington St., Room 500. You must show two pieces of identification to register.

Grace-period voters must vote absentee. You can: 1) vote in person at the Clerk's downtown office immediately after signing up to vote; or 2) receive an absentee ballot by mail that you can complete at home and return to the Clerk's office before Election Day.

Grace-period registrants are not allowed to vote at the polls on Election Day or vote at any early voting site.

Here's the hours and address of the Cook County Clerk's office:

69 W. Washington St., 5th Floor, Chicago, IL 60602
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday
Call: (312) 603-0906