Vox Sentences: It turns out there's an election today!

The ballot issues you should be paying attention to tonight; TransCanada delays Keystone XL in order to save it; and WOTUS!

Vox Sentences is written by Dylan Matthews and Dara Lind.

TOP NEWS

The Airbnb election

(Frederic Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

• In a better democracy, we wouldn't stagger elections on odd-numbered years. But we do, because some politicians have an interest in minimizing voter turnout. So there are elections today in a number of states and cities.

• Ohio is voting on a statewide initiative to legalize marijuana. But many legalization supporters don't like it — because it would explicitly give control of the state's growing operation to the initiative's wealthy funders, including former boy band singer and Jessica Simpson husband Nick Lachey.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

• Pennsylvania has a rare three vacancies on its state Supreme Court — and the election has been so expensive that it might generate momentum to get rid of judicial elections in the state entirely.

  [The Marshall Project / Christie Thompson]

• Houston is voting on a broad, citywide LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance, which has gotten a lot of attention from conservatives who say it would allow "men in women's bathrooms" (referring to trans women).

  [MSNBC / Emma Margolin]

• San Francisco is voting on an ordinance that would severely restrict short-term housing rentals — i.e., Airbnb — which many longtime San Francisco residents blame for escalating rent prices. In response, Airbnb has launched a campaign against the ordinance that has … not exactly won over locals' hearts and minds.

  [Wired / Davey Alba]

• The most interesting gubernatorial race of this cycle is in Louisiana. But the state's not voting today: After the nonpartisan "primary" this fall, it's already in a "runoff" that will happen later in the month.

  [Associated Press]

• Off-year elections aren't just the fault of Republicans. A new book says that Democrats, trying to protect teachers unions in school board elections, might be the biggest obstacles to a saner election schedule.

  [FiveThirtyEight / Eitan Hersh]

Another kink in the pipeline

(Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

• TransCanada, the company in charge of building the Keystone XL pipeline, has officially asked the State Department to delay its decision about whether to approve construction.

  [Vox / Brad Plumer]

• Ostensibly, the request is tied to a change in the proposed route; TransCanada shifted its plans to get out of a protracted dispute with a bunch of Nebraska landowners whose land it wanted to use.

  [Omaha World-Herald / Joe Duggan]

• In reality, though, it's extremely rare for a company itself to ask the government to delay approval. TransCanada was almost certainly afraid that Obama was planning to reject the pipeline outright.

  [Bloomberg / Rebecca Penty, Robert Tuttle, and Justin Sink]

• This is very good news for new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau supports Keystone, but ran on a platform of repairing US-Canada relations — which were tense partly because the old prime minister was so aggressive in pushing for Keystone.

  [Washington Times / Meghan Bartlett]

• Now, Trudeau and Obama can just ignore the issue. If the State Department accepts the delay, Obama has the ability to kick the decision to his successor.

  [Bloomberg / Rebecca Penty, Robert Tuttle, and Justin Sink]

• The administration says Obama still wants to make a decision before he leaves, though. So Trudeau — and TransCanada — maybe shouldn't breathe too easy.

  [Reuters / Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton]

WOTUS, explained

(Ana C./Flickr)

• Today, the Senate failed to break a filibuster on a bill that would have forced the Obama administration to withdraw its WOTUS regulations.

  [AP / Mary Clare Jalonick]

• What the hell is a WOTUS? Glad you asked.

• WOTUS is an acronym for "Waters of the United States." It's a regulation that determines which waterways are defined as "navigable," and therefore under the jurisdiction of the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.

  [Politico / Jenny Hopkinson]

• The rules about navigable waters were thrown into disarray by a 2006 Supreme Court decision, in which Anthony Kennedy, writing for a 5-4 majority and trying to hit on a compromise position, failed to articulate what standard the EPA should use — which, apparently, led some environmentalists to joke that "a navigable water is whatever Kennedy thinks it is."

  [E&E Publishing / Jeremy P. Jacobs]

• In May, the Obama administration issued a new set of WOTUS regulations, giving the federal government authority to protect navigable waters that extended far upstream. Conservatives, local government, and business interests got extremely upset — saying the new rule would give the federal government control over not only streams and wetlands, but basically the entire water table.

  [Chicago Tribune via wire reports]

• The House has passed a bill to force the administration to withdraw the regulations. The Senate version of that bill is what died on the floor today.

  [AP / Mary Clare Jalonick]

• For the moment, at least, it's a moot point. A challenge to the WOTUS rules is also making its way through federal court, and courts have placed a nationwide hold on the regulations while the court case is decided.

  [O'Melveny and Myers / Eric Rothenberg, Kelly McTigue, and Bob Nicksin ]

MISCELLANEOUS

Remember the "Zola" story that took the internet by storm last week? Caitlin Dewey tracked down the real story. It's way less zany and way more sad and dark. [Washington Post / Caitlin Dewey]

• Charlie Savage of the New York Times is one of the best reporters out there on the Obama administration's use of "war on terror" techniques. You can read the first chapter of his new book for free.

  [Charlie Savage]

• Carbon pricing is already happening in a surprising number of places — and it's working.

  [Christian Science Monitor / Cristina Maza]

• It's generally worth being skeptical of claims that technology or the internet can "solve" complex social problems, but this is a compelling argument that increased internet access could contribute to the end of global poverty.

  [Wired / Laurence Chandy]

• Compulsory voting sounds utopian. But if blue cities start doing it, state elections will start leaning more Democratic, and Republicans will have to get on board.

  [The Atlantic / Nicholas Stephanopoulos]

VERBATIM

"Beneath the folds of their Victorian dresses, the jujutsuffragettes concealed wooden clubs—preparation for hand-to-hand combat with the London police." [Atlas Obscura / Tao Tao Holmes]

• "In 2014, people age 50 and above were twice as likely to go through a divorce than in 1990."

  [NYT / Abby Ellin]

• "Oh, he’ll die soon. Yes, he’s 12, he’ll die soon."

  [David Sedaris via Gawker / Hamilton Nolan]

• "You need a little brushing up on equality over here ... Who says a unicorn emoji isn’t for men? Come on."

  [Ariana Grande via Vox / Alex Abad-Santos]

• "Rural adolescents commit suicide at roughly twice the rate of their urban peers."

  [NYT / Laura Beil]

WATCH THIS

A brief, terrifying history of America’s nuclear mishaps [YouTube / Joe Posner and Estelle Caswell]

(Vox/Joe Posner and Estelle Caswell)

Contributions are a key part of the future of Vox

Readers rely on Vox for clear, nuanced coverage that not only illuminates the issues, but poses solutions, too. And we rely on help from our readers: Advertising and grants cover the majority of our costs, but we count on contributions to help us close the gaps in our budget. In fact, we’re looking to reach 95,000 individual contributions before the end of the year. Will you make the next contribution right now? Our average gift is just $20 — and it goes a long way in helping us keep our work free. Vox is here to help everyone understand what’s shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. Join that mission by making a contribution today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via