Why today’s elections matter.

Important municipal elections are happening today in Broward and Palm Beach counties. If your city is in the lineup, we encourage you to get out and vote.

Six Broward cities are holding elections. Four are picking a new mayor or commissioners or both: Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Pembroke Pines. Also, Coral Springs and Pompano Beach are asking voters to approve borrowing millions and millions of dollars to pay for road repairs, park upgrades and public safety buildings.

In southern Palm Beach County, three cities — Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Highland Beach — also are holding highstakes, high-spirited municipal elections.

While state and federal races in November get more attention, the elections for mayor and city commissioner have the most impact on your community.

City leaders are the folks who control who picks up the trash, when the potholes will be filled and how high the city property tax rate will be.

These are the folks who rule on controversial development projects, the permitting process for home renovations or whether your neighbor can build a McMansion next door.

These are the folks responsible for picking up debris after a hurricane, deciding whether speed bumps are needed on your street and whether someone will talk to that person who refuses to mow his lawn.

These are the folks responsible for making sure our water is safe to drink, that sewage lines don’t dump sewage in the street and that stormwater drains will keep flooding from reaching the front door.

These are the folks we entrust with holding the line on local government spending and not giving away the store to public service unions.

These are the folks who need to work together with neighboring cities and counties to prepare for sea level rise and other climate change threats ignored by our leaders in Tallahassee and Washington D.C.

These are the folks you’re likely to meet at the grocery store, neighborhood events or government meetings. And if you’re lucky, you can call and get a call back.

While it takes millions of like-minded votes to sway a presidential election, municipal races can be swayed by members of a single union or residents of a single condo building.

Because voter turnout sometimes fails to break the single digits, city officials often put big-ticket items — like those bond referendums in Pompano Beach and Coral Springs — on the ballot.

It’s been disappointing so see the mudslinging and scare tactics in our mailboxes this election cycle. But don’t let ugly campaigning keep you at home. Too much is at stake.

The Sun Sentinel voter guide offers you information about the candidates.

Separately, the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board has interviewed the candidates and the issues, and offered our recommendations.

It doesn’t take long to learn about your choices.

It doesn’t take long to stop on the way to work, during a lunch break or on the way home to cast a ballot.

It doesn’t take long to let local politicians know you’re watching.

Remember this: Municipal elections matter.

So, vote.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Elana Simms, Andy Reid and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.