The upcoming primary election has become increasingly contentious as Republican officeholders retire in droves while Democrats run for every single U.S. House seat in Texas for the first time in years. Congressional District 21 alone — currently held by the soon-to-be-retired Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio — has 18 candidates running for the office’s Republican nomination.

To help you sift through the maze of candidates, The Daily Texan put together a list of almost every elected office you will see on the ballot, who is running and their major platform points.

The ballot explainer is available here.

Once you are on the website, the first step is to select the primary you have an interest in voting in, Republican or Democratic. From there, the explainer is broken up into three sections: national, state and local races.

For the major races, such as state legislative offices and high-ranking executive offices, the explainer includes a link to the candidate’s campaign website, some background information on them and anywhere from one to five of their major platform points. This is by no means all of the information available on them, and The Daily Texan recommends that you pursue further research into any candidates that interest you. The goal is simply to give you a starting point for your voting research and ease what can be, for many, an overly complicated process.

Please note this explainer includes all offices that may show up on your primary ballot. For example, legislative races, such as the state representatives, are restricted geographically and will only appear on your ballot if you live in that office’s district. The offices included in this explainer are the ones that cover the majority of where students live: North and West Campus along with East Riverside.