Hi, I'm Dan Pramak and welcome to Axios Recap, presented by Facebook.

Today's Thursday, August 27th.

Walmart is in on TikTok, power is out for hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana,

and we're focused on how empty NBA arenas could help save the November election. Last night, the NBA and WNBA both went

dark, with a slate of six games canceled in a show of player solidarity, or maybe in a show of

frustrated disgust with the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As of this taping,

there are some reports that the leagues do plan to resume games,

possibly by as soon as Friday, although it's unclear if a final decision has been made or if most

of the players are on board. Earlier today on CNBC, White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner was

asked about the shutdown. There's a lot of activism, and I think that they've put a lot of slogans out, but I think that what we need to do is turn that from slogans and signals to actual action that's going to solve the problem.

But here's the thing. Players have been taking actions to help solve some of the problems.

The most notable of which is more than a vote, the voting rights campaign launched

after the George Floyd murder by a group of current and former NBA and WNBA players, most

notably LeBron James. This is the group we discussed in the very first episode of Axios Recap,

and the latest is that the group is working with secretaries of state,

local officials, and team owners to use empty arenas as polling places on November 3rd.

That means that in Atlanta, for example, State Farm Arena, which is right downtown,

will be converted into the city's largest ballot box, which should help alleviate wait times

while also allowing for social distancing. The same goes for arenas in Detroit and Charlotte

and Milwaukee, plus several baseball and football stadiums. It's a tangible action to empower

citizens driven by pro athletes, but it's also one that is not without its practical challenges,

namely the need to find enough poll workers, preferably younger poll workers, as so many older ones

...