If you haven't already voted...

Vote for cleaner water today!

Media report show more than 8 million Floridians cast early ballots this year.

If you weren't one of them — today is the day!

WHEN ARE THE POLLS OPEN?: From 7 a.m to 7 p.m.

WHERE DO I VOTE?: Check this voter precinct lookup from the Florida Division of Elections.

WHO HAS VOTEWATER ENDORSED?: We have endorsed four candidates in general-election races this cycle: In the race for U.S. Senate, VoteWater endorses Debbie Mucarsel-Powell; in the race for the Congressional District 21 seat, VoteWater endorses Brian Mast; in the Miami-Dade County Commission District 7 race, VoteWater endorses Cindy Lerner; and in the Islamorada Village Council Seat 2 race, VoteWater endorses Steve Friedman.

WHAT ABOUT THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS ON THE BALLOT?: We take no official position on the six proposed amendments to Florida’s Constitution on this year’s ballot. However, we have significant misgivings about Amendment 2, which seeks to establish a state Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish; those concerns are best articulated in this column by Blair Wickstrom, Florida Sportsman Senior Editor and President of the VoteWater Board of Directors, and in this piece by our friends at Friends of the Everglades.

BOTTOM LINE: In a year dominated by cultural issues, clean water was not a major campaign theme. But with red tide brewing off the west coast, and blue-green algae a yearly threat in Lake Okeechobee, Florida's water quality problems — and the politics behind them — haven't gone away. So if you haven't already, please sign our VoteWater Pledge; and if you can, please support our work on the Dirty Money Project and other initiatives designed to boost clean water and political accountability. Together — we can turn Florida's toxic tide.

Down the stretch, special interests give millions in 'dirty money'

Dirty money never sleeps — and some of Florida’s biggest polluting special interests dug deep for some last-minute campaign giving.

Since Oct. 1, U.S. Sugar doled out a total of $610,000 while Florida Crystals gave $500,000. The vast majority of this money went to PACs, political action committees — a combined $350,000 to the Florida Chamber of Commerce PAC (the sugar firms are among a small handful of funders for this “polluter PAC”); another $350,000 went to the Florida Jobs PAC; the Republican Party of Florida got $150,000; the Florida Chamber of Commerce Alliance got $100,000.

Sugar’s largesse was actually dwarfed by political giving from Florida’s biggest utilities. State records show that since Oct. 1, NextEra Energy (FPL’s parent firm) gave just under $1.15 million (including $300,000 to the Florida Chamber of Commerce PAC); Duke Energy gave $1.4 million (including $500,000 to the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee); and TECO gave $335,000.

Phosphate mining giant Mosaic gave $61,000 over these past four weeks. 

All this money guarantees one thing: Whatever candidates emerge victorious on Tuesday — dirty money will be the real victor.

ICYMI: How HABs fuel hurricanes

Red tide respiratory issues and fish kills are being reported in the Tampa Bay region, in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, which is concerning — but shouldn't be too surprising, as several recent red tide “events” were triggered by hurricanes, which don’t cause blooms, but can fuel them.

In our latest “Deep Dive” we take a look at how hurricanes can supercharge both red tide and blue-green algae; it’s not that we have a hurricane problem, we have a nutrient problem. And until that problem is addressed, expect more HABs to follow the hurricanes.