Central Florida Public Media is partnering with six other local news outlets to create a Voting Central Florida voters guide for the August primary election.
The project is part of the News Collaborative of Central Florida, a group of independent local news organizations and aligned partners working toward a more informed and engaged Central Florida.
In addition to Central Florida Public Media, other local news organizations collaborating on the voters guide are WKMG-News 6, the Orlando Sentinel, Winter Park Voice, VoxPopuli of West Orange, Oviedo Community News and the Osceola News-Gazette. The joint voters guide will appear on the websites of all the project partners and in print for those with print editions.
“Collaboration between the news outlets has greatly increased our capacity to serve our audiences this midterm election year,” Central Florida Public Media News Director LaToya Dennis said. “As a result, not only will we be able to provide voters with valuable information about candidates running for Congress and statewide offices, but for the first time, we will also be able to inform decisions via our voters guide about candidates running for office across our nine-county region.”
The news organizations collaborated to create questionnaires for candidates in federal, state, county and judicial races to answer. Questions range from asking candidates what are their top issues, how they would address affordability and even where they stand on Florida proposed constitutional amendment on property tax reductions.
"We want candidates to address in their own words issues that are important, some might even say critical, for Central Floridians,” Dennis said.
Candidates have already been contacted several times to respond to the questionnaire. If a candidate does not respond, it will be noted in the voters guide. The news organizations may then try to answer the questions for the candidates from information posted on campaign sites or social media.
"Of course our preference is for all candidates to answer themselves," Orlando Sentinel Executive Editor Roger Simmons said, "but it may be telling for voters to see who responded and who did not."
The goal is for the voters guide to publish by the end of July, in time for early voting and primary election day on Aug. 18.
The News Collaborative of Central Florida was a result of the Central Florida Journalism Ecosystem Summit, created in 2024 by Central Florida Public Media, Central Florida Foundation and Oviedo Community News. Collaborative members worked together last year on a project focusing on the impact of the state's homeless camping ban.
