Local elections are important, but also very confusing – sometimes IKEA furniture assembly-level confusing.

In Wednesday’s newsletter, we shared our goal to build a better voter guide for the Aug. 28 local and primary elections, and we asked for you to help us out by answering just one very simple, very important question: What do you want to know about the upcoming election?

We’re pretty excited that dozens of you have already sent in questions. Here are just a few of them:

• I’m leaving town around that time. How can I vote? (Anna)
• I’ve never heard of any of the circuit court or county judges. How can I learn about them to make an educated decision? What does a circuit court judge do, and by what criteria should one evaluate a circuit court [or county] judge? (David Harwell, Sarah Emmons, Morgan)
• Can you help explain Miami Beach referenda 1 and 2? (David Harwell)
• Which of the school board candidates have classroom experience? (Christine Cuesta)
• Do you have to vote for everything/everyone on the ballot, or can you leave things blank if you’re uneducated on the issue or don’t have an opinion? (Rusty Butler)
• Are our candidates pro-gun sense? (Kelsi Stine-Rowe) Which candidates have an “F” from the NRA? (Kathy Hersh)

We’re still accepting questions through 5 p.m. on Monday. Already got one? Submit it here (and, yeah, you can do that anonymously if you want).

Want to know more about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and what’s on the ballot this election? Read up on that here, and you can check out the full list of already submitted questions. (It’s OK to submit a question that’s already there – it helps to know that a lot of you have the same question!)

We’ll start answering your voting questions next week, and we’ll have our voter guide ready for you by the time early voting begins!

P.S. There are no dumb questions here. And this isn’t really about showing how much you already know about local politics by asking super wonky questions. (But we’ll take those too! We like a challenge.) Please don’t submit questions that are actually just mudslinging at particular parties or candidates. Don’t be that person.

Speaking of voting … While we’re focused on the Aug. 28 ballot, Miami voters will make a big decision related to teacher pay in November. The Miami-Dade school board approved a plan to ask voters whether they’d support a property tax increase so teachers can get up to a 20 percent raise. If voters approve the plan, Miami-Dade Public Schools would get an extra $232 million to spend on raises and hiring additional school security. (Miami Herald)

OK, OK. Just one more voter-y thing. A year after the City of Miami approved a big bond initiative, Miami Beach wants to ask its residents to approve a bond plan that’ll range from $300 to $500 million in projects like new sea walls, repairing streets and sidewalks, and building a new fire station. The commission will officially decide whether to put it on the ballot next week. (Miami Herald)

Taking to the streets. Locals protested to call for an end of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency outside a South Florida immigrant detention facility this week, and Miramar police arrested 16 of them for blocking a nearby intersection. The protesters were eventually released and plan to continue joining the nationwide call to disband the agency in response to poor treatment of immigrants at ICE facilities like the one in Miramar. (WLRN)

The SunPass struggle. The entire SunPass system shut down earlier this summer and things have not gone well since. Tolls from the outage are being processed super slowly and people are worried that they’ll face big bills as the problem gets resolved. Our sister newsletter in Orlando broke things down and got some insider info from SunPass staffers on how you should handle the issue. (Pulptown)

Swim Week shade. Miami Swim Week was a showcase of the finest fashion and stylish swimsuits but according to some would-be models, it was also discriminatory. Some African-American models claim that they were turned away from a Swim Week casting call for the fashion line KYA Swim because of their skin color and hair. The women claim that they were told to get out of line because the call was closed, and then other fairer-skinned models were allowed to take their places. KYA said they’re looking into the situation. (Miami Herald)

THAT’S ALL FOR THIS WEEK.

If you need some weekend eating inspo, check out this list of hidden gem restaurants to visit in Miami. We’ll see ya on Monday ✌️

– The New Tropic