CHICAGO — Something interesting to chew on as the general election campaign begins in earnest, especially if you're closely watching ballot measures this November.

Recent studies shows that where you vote, your physical polling place, can impact how you vote.

Researchers in Arizona found that voters who cast their ballots in schools were a little more likely to support education millages. In South Carolina, separate researchers found that those who voted in places of worship were marginally more likely to favor a ban on gay marriage. Researchers attribute this to voters being subtly "primed" to vote one way or another.

In both cases, the effect was a little less than two percent. But it's certainly measurable and, in close elections, could be critical.

Far more on this topic, for those interested, is available from Miller-McClune's Tom Jacobs here.

And for those of you curious as to why the dateline on this post is from Chicago, it's because I'm presently sitting in Midway Airport while waiting for a connecting flight to Minneapolis. I'll be in Minnesota all week, but more on that later...