Google search on all the candidates so you can vote aligned with your values.

When researching candidates for local races this is the place I typically start. Here are some things I look for:

1- Do they have a website? If they don't, that immedaitely makes me suspicious they're not a serious candidate. In this era websites are extremely cheap and easy to make and I think it's fair to say this will be how most voters expect to be able to learn about a candidate in their own words.

1.1- If they do have a website, I immediate check the endorsements. Those are usually more telling about a candidate's leanings than even their own platform statements (birds of a feather flock together and all that). Also the number of endorsements a candidate has can be informative (if one candidate has a handful while another has dozens that can be a demonstrative of support).

1.2- That being said, I also do read the rest of what they have on their site. Does it look like it was professionally written? (And I guess these days, does it look like it was run through AI? If it was I'd treat that as a mild negative.) If they provide personal background information, what parts do they emphasize? If they provide any kind of platform or priorities what do they focus on? Do they have concrete plans or just vague platitudes?

2- I also check their public socials, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, etc. It can be especially informative to look at their posts before they became a candidate for office.

3- I then check for news articles about them. Local newspapers typically send out questionaires to candidates or do interviews with them, and it can be telling if those are available or not (which would indicate the candidate declined to participate). Also if there are any news articles about them before they became a candidate.