Are you ready to Vote Water?

With the Nov. 8 general election less than a week away, and early voting in full swing, Floridians are in the process of shaping our collective future. Will cleaner water be part of it?

Our voter guides, out now at VoteWater.org/voter-guides, provide key insights into what candidates at the county, state and federal level think about clean-water issues. Nearly 100 candidates filled out our clean-water survey; their responses are linked in our voter guides.

Our voter guides also dug deep on campaign finance to find out who’s taken “dirty money” from industries like Big Sugar, phosphate mining, big utilities and developers. Some of Florida’s leading politicians have taken huge sums from these special interests — and that’s guaranteed to influence how they vote on key issues.

You deserve to know about it before you cast your own vote.

We also incorporated candidates’ voting records, public statements on water/environmental issues and the extent to which they’ve prioritized clean water as an issue into our voter guide rankings.

With partisan passions running high, clean-water issues took a back seat to hot button political issues like abortion and inflation in many races this year. But few things are more important to Florida’s economic and ecological future than safe, clean water.

So before heading for the ballot box, check our voter guides for help identifying environmentally responsible candidates.

And vote as if the future of our fragile waters depends on the outcome.

Because it does.