A ballot item in Toledo, Ohio asks voters to decide whether Lake Erie has a right "to exist, flourish and naturally evolve."
The Lake Erie Bill of Rights is aimed at sending a warning that the community is fed up with a lack of action, on both state and federal levels, to protect the lake.
Thomas Linzey, executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit group based in Pennsylvania that helped write the measure, said existing environmental laws were inadequate.
Linzey also hopes to force the courts to recognize that ecosystems like the lake "possess independent rights to survive and be healthy."
In recent years, Lake Erie has been dealing with a number of enviromental issues including constant threat from invasive fish species along with algae blooms in summer, caused by runoff containing fertilizer and animal manure.
Satellite image of algae bloom in Lake Erie summer 2015 (via IJC)
Lake Erie is the 11th largest lake on Earth, surrounded by the province of Ontario along with the states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
The vote takes place February 26, 2019.