It's primary election day, and polling places stationed around the neighborhood are open until 8pm. While the Tenderloin has long had a reputation for low voter turnout, local activists have taken to the streets this morning to help change that trend.

With organizers from Faithful Fools and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, the advocacy group TL Votes has teamed with a class of University of San Francisco students to have a bit of fun while reminding neighbors to vote.

Sam Dennison, director of The Institute for Street Level Learning at Faithful Fools and a TL Votes organizer, said the 18 students singing and dancing near four polling places around the neighborhood are participating in a three-week intensive program, Communication For Change and Social Justice. As part of the 25-hour per week program aimed at connecting academics with on-the-ground activism, their goal today is get as many people to go or promise to go to the polls as possible.

TL Votes is well-aware that increasing participation in local elections is a long-term process, Denison said, and their efforts to get residents to turn out won't end once the polls close tonight.

Ahead of last November's election, the group organized a last-minute mayoral debate in the neighborhood and paraded down to City Hall with neighbors to cast votes.

Not voting today is "bananas," this group says.

For those who haven't yet voted in today's primary election, it's not too late. All registered voters can visit the City Hall Voting Center outside room 48 or locate their assigned polling place here.

Or, if you haven't yet registered, stop by the Faithful Fools headquarters at 234 Hyde St. and they'll help you get signed up.