It’s an election year, which means people’s opinions are strong — and they’re not afraid to share them.

Since it’s not fair for the Mitts and Baracks of the world to have all the fun, we’ve opened up the polls for our 2012 Best of Lawrence contest, which can be found online at lawrence.com/bestoflawrence.

Last year we dusted off Best of Lawrence after a five-year hiatus. After thousands of votes, we were able to tally the readers’ choices in 24 categories. We’re expanding it this year, asking for your picks in more than 70 categories. We want you to tell us where we need to eat and drink, where we need to shop, who should clean our teeth, who we need to read, who we need to see, so on and so forth.

Voting is simplified this year. Instead of different rounds of nominations, we’re giving readers and residents one round — one long round — of voting. At the end of the voting period, which lasts until Sept. 7, nominations will be tallied, and our winners will be announced. We’ll be using social media to promote Best of Lawrence, so look for the Twitter hashtag #bestoflarry.

Look for the Best of Lawrence winners to be announced in the Sept. 30 edition of the Lawrence Journal-World.