Shaun Scott is quoting Gil Scott-Heron and running for council in District 4.
It's time to vote! Ballots are due Tuesday. Here's Shaun Scott, whom The Stranger endorsed for city council in District 4. Lester Black

Almost 80,000 people have voted in this year’s Seattle City Council elections so far, according to the latest data from King County Elections. You have until Tuesday evening to return your ballot, so you are now officially in procrastination territory if you haven't done it yet. District 3 is so far getting the most amount of ballots in, with nearly 20% of voters already returning their ballots.

It’s not even that hard to vote: All have you have to do is mail in your pre-paid envelope or drop it off at a ballot return box. Can’t find your ballot? No worries! King County Elections has plenty of ways for you to still vote. Don’t know who to vote for? No worries! We already picked the best candidates for you. Here’s our endorsements with explanations, or if you want to skip reading about “fecal-matter frittatas” you can just go straight our cheat sheet.

Shaun Scott yard sign vandalized with a racist slur: It happened in Wallingford this week. One of Scott’s campaign workers posted to a photo to Twitter. Scott responded by quoting/tweeting a Gil Scott-Heron poem:

The racist graffiti was quickly condemned by Seattle leaders. Police Chief Carmen Best said the police are investigating, Mayor Jenny Durkan called it “hate speech,” and Alex Pedersen (Scott’s opponent in District 4) said on Facebook that “we must be united in rejecting racism and hate."

Speaking of Pedersen: He met up with King 5’s Chris Daniels for another installment of his series “drinks with Daniels,” where the TV reporter gets a drink of the candidate’s choice with all 14 people running for council. Pedersen opened a bottle of water and poured into a glass. Look, I have nothing against teetotallers, but unless you have doctor’s note you should not be allowed to cheers with water. Scott, on the other hand, got some tea at Café Allegro. Classic.

Jayapal has some strong words for Amazon today: She called their latest $1.005 million donation to a local Super PAC “callously disrespectful” to the voters of Seattle. Click on that link and you can also learn about Seattle City Council Member Lorena González’s proposed regulations on Super PAC donations.

What does all that money buy you? The Times took a look at what the campaigns buy with all of this cash. Spoiler: a lot of refrigerator magnets.

It’s not just Seattle: Super PAC money is flooding into local races across the state this year. The PI takes a look at some of the spending in Spokane’s mayoral race and the Whatcom County Executive. You won’t be able to guess where most of the Super PAC money is coming from (hint: it’s conservatives).

Amazon’s top lawyer loves giving money to politicians: David Zapolsky just can’t resist giving politicians his sweet, sweet Amazon cash! I profiled Zapolsky’s double-dipping contributions to Egan Orion (Kshama Sawant’s opponent) in this deep dive on local Super PACs. Zapolsky is using Super PACs to boost his support of Orion.

Amazon’s top lawyer also loves Joe Biden: Zapolsky isn’t just playing in local politics, he’s also hosting a fundraiser for the ultra-rich at his Queen Anne home for former Vice President Joe Biden. Totally makes sense. Because, let’s be honest, what screams “neoliberal shill for corporate cash” more than a closed-door, $2,800-per-person fundraiser in Seattle for Joe Biden?

It’s a tad late but the national media is finally paying attention to the trash fire that is Facebook and Google’s political ad ban in Washington state. Twitter’s decision to put in a nationwide ban is triggering the interest. Reminder: Google and Facebook are still taking political cash, despite saying they banned the ads. Based on how poorly Washington’s political ad bans have gone, I’m not holding my breath for this Twitter ban to work.

Goldy’s back! He was on Slog this week with an insightful post about what Amazon’s cash means for Seattle’s political future.

This is weird: A candidate for the county's elections director position has an infatuation with Russian internet models and it appears he thinks they are his [girl]friends/advisors/supporters. Rich has the EXCLUSIVE.

What’s your candidate worth? Here you can find all 14 city council candidates' estimated net worth. Some are renters with zero dollars in the bank, others have three homes.

Ari Hoffman is back in the news: It's regarding that fake news story about a decapitating murderer he shared back in March. Read all about the drama in my post this week.

Who’s going to win on Tuesday?We talked to some of Seattle’s political watchers and here’s what we found out.