Beautiful day for democracy: Today's expected to be clear, sunny, and close to 80 degrees. The perfect weather to walk to your nearest ballot box. 

Today is Primary Election Day! So much on the ballot this year, including but not limited to: Governor, Attorney General, a bunch of state legislative seats, and a citywide Seattle City Council seat! If you're overwhelmed by the options, we've got a handy cheat sheet for you. Wanna tell all your friends WHY you voted the way you voted? Then check out our full endorsements for the arguments. If you've waited until today to vote—like I have—it's best to drop off your ballot at a drop box, since mail carriers collect mail from mailboxes at various times, and they might miss yours. So grab a friend by the hand and skip along to the nearest ballot box before 8 pm tonight. As of 7 am today, voter turnout clocked in at about 20%. Dismal! Hop to it! 

More Election Day news: The races for Commissioner of Public Lands and Insurance Commissioner feature a bunch of Democrats vying for the top spot. Without a clear front-runner for either post, Republicans could plausibly block Dems from the general election, according to polling from the Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI). In the survey for the Commissioner of Public Lands race, former Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler captured 18% support and Republican Sue Kuehl Pedersen secured 12% support. No Democratic candidate put up double digits in that race. A similar situation has developed in the Insurance Commissioner's race. Confused? Vote the way we tell you to! 

Speaking of voting: Today the city council will decide whether to put Initiative 137, which is a payroll tax on wealthy companies to fund social housing, on the November ballot. At the moment, no council members have submitted an alternative measure. If that reality holds, then the initiative will likely face voters in November, when it has the best chance of passing. 

The council will also vote on the SCORE jail contract, a pilot program with a squishy budget and many outstanding operational questions. Despite those unanswered questions, they'll likely push it through to appease their big business backers who think you can jail the mental illness out of people. Council President Sara Nelson moved to limit public comment at the meeting to an hour, a decision that has gone over super-well in the past. If you want to share your thoughts, public comment registration opens at 1 pm, so sign up early online to secure your spot. A rally against the SCORE contract starts outside City Hall at 1 pm today.

Meanwhile, the City's budget forecast continues to darken, according to the Seattle Times. With lower-than-expected commercial and sales tax revenue, Seattle must tack on an additional $7 million to its budget deficit, bringing the total to $260 million. 

Zookeepers prepared to strike! As a labor dispute at the Woodland Park Zoo rages on and workers teeter on the edge of a strike, union members have started to make preparations for the animals in the advent of a work stoppage. If the Joint Crafts Council (JCC) Coalition of Unions cannot reach an agreement with zoo management, the union's 200 members plan to scale down to a skeleton crew that can care for animals but not service the public. Zoo workers say that high turnover and low morale caused conditions at the zoo to worsen. The union wants "fair wages and benefits," or else it will take direct action, including a possible strike.

ICYMI: My latest Bad Apples column dropped Monday. As I predicted in the column, KOMO reported that Officer Daniel Auderer filed a $20 million claim against the City over his firing. 

Uh, maybe Twitter is real life? Vice President Kamala Harris chose Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate, according to the Associated Press. A former teacher, football coach, union member, and member of the National Guard, Walz seems cool. Trump called him “Dangerously Liberal," which we love. Oh also, Harris won the Democratic nomination Monday night. She plans to officially introduce Walz as her Veep at a rally in Pennsylvania this evening, which has to be awkward considering Harris had also come close to choosing Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate. 

They're gonna win: 

Debby weakens from hurricane to tropical storm: The storm front crawled slowly through the Southeast coast, leaving at least five dead and causing heavy rains and flooding in some areas, according to CNN.

National uprising in Bangladesh: Student protests in Bangladesh caused the prime minister to resign and flee the country Monday, according to Al Jazeera. Now the key organizers of the protest want Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus to lead the interim government.

Stuff still bad with the markets: Speculation continues about whether the US might be heading toward a recession. The US created fewer jobs than expected in July, unemployment rose, and the Federal Reserve continues to vote against cutting interest rates, according to the BBC. The "good(-ish) news"? BBC American economist Claudia Sahm said we aren't currently in a recession. Yay!

I'll Call U Back: My friend Kevin just made a playlist called "Real Hot Girl Shit." He put this on there. I like this.