Top Five Great Lakes Questions to Ask Candidates for Elected Office

Voters like you can make sure that the Great Lakes and clean water are part of the election-year conversation.

In 2020, many federal, state, and local offices are on the ballot around the Great Lakes region. At the top of the ticket are the presidential candidates. Indiana has a gubernatorial election. Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois have U.S. Senate seats on the ballot. All seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election. And, numerous state and local offices are on the ballot.

Asking candidates for any office where they stand on Great Lakes issues raises awareness, highlights the issues, and allows us as constituents to hold elected officials accountable once they take office.

When you have the opportunity to connect with candidates for office, whether on social media or at a virtual candidate forum, you can ask important questions about their platforms and positions.

To get you started, here are five Great Lakes questions to ask candidates for elected office.

1. 1. What is your number one Great Lakes policy priority?
   2. What policies will you put in place to ensure Great Lakes communities have safe, clean, and affordable drinking water?
   3. If elected, what would you do in your first 100 days in office to protect the Great Lakes for people who live, work and play in the region and depend on them for drinking water?
   4. What will you do to increase much-needed funding for the Great Lakes region’s failing drinking and wastewater infrastructure and ensure that no one loses access to water and sewer services because of an inability to pay?
   5. How will you ensure that businesses, from industrial facilities to industrial agricultural, are held accountable for pollution flowing into our waterways?

Your questions will have the biggest impact when you incorporate your own story. Here are a few suggestions on how to make these questions your own:

• • Modify the questions by replacing “Great Lakes” with your home lake or waterway.
  • Share your personal experience with the lakes or clean drinking water. Telling your story can be powerful and can help to get attention for issues you care about.

To learn more about how you can get involved this election season, check out our toolkit: The 2020 Election Season and the Great Lakes. You’ll find background information key Great Lakes issues and the top five ways you can get involved.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes and the Election Season: Our Role
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Alliance for the Great Lakes cannot support or oppose candidates or political parties. However, we can, and do, educate candidates and voters on Great Lakes issues.