How to vote for #MyAlton

ALTON - Many people are asking how they can vote for Alton in the drive to make it the town showcased in season three of Deluxe Corporation's Small Business Revolution show, and rest assured, it is easy.

First of all, potential voters should go to the Small Business Revolution's website (https://www.deluxe.com/small-business-revolution/) and click the orange "vote" tab. A direct link to vote can be found at: https://www.deluxe.com/small-business-revolution/main-street/season-three.

Once on that page, the five towns will be listed in alphabetical order with Alton at the start. Click on Alton, and enter your email address. Votes are limited to one per email address per day.

To vote again, use another email address and clear your browser history.

Voting can commence once per day per email address, with the voting availability refreshing at midnight each day.

All votes will be collected on Feb. 20, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. The winning town will be announced on Feb. 27 at another live stream event.

Alton Main Street Executive Director Sara McGibany said her hope is Alton can top the 500,000-vote mark. She said she was told by Small Business Revolution show organizers that the previously two communities tallied about 350,000 votes to win the contest. She said 500,000 votes should be overpowering and win the contest.

"It is now in the people's hands," McGibany said. "We pulled out all the stops to get in the top five. People can set an alarm on their phone to vote every day over the next eight days. You can vote each day with however many e-mail addresses you might have."

McGibany said there will be three announcements to Alton on where they stand in the vote totals, but two days before, everyone will be in the dark until the winner is announced. She said an Alton Small Business Revolution Watch Party is being planned for Feb. 27. She said the show will send out video crews to all the communities to record reaction.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.