Judge Rejects Republican Effort to Toss Out 127,000 Houston Votes

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A federal judge on Monday rejected a Republican effort to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in Houston because the ballots were cast at drive-thru polling centers established during the pandemic.  The lawsuit was brought by conservative Texas activists who have railed against expanded voting access in Harris County, where a record 1.4 million early votes have already been cast. The county is the nation’s third largest and a crucial battleground in Texas, where President Donald Trump and Republicans are bracing for the closest election in decades on Tuesday.  U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s decision to hear arguments on the brink ofmore

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Anxious World Watches in Countdown to US Election

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Governments across the world are anxiously watching the race for the White House, as they prepare for either Republican Donald Trump securing a second term as U.S. president or for an electoral win by his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.  Who will be the international winners and losers from Tuesday’s U.S. election?  “The last four years have confirmed that the choices the U.S. makes are highly consequential for international politics,” according to a commentary by Britain’s leading foreign policy research group, Chatham House.  Chatham House added, “The next president will determine how America’s diplomatic, economic and military resources are invested, and,more

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Twitter to Label Tweets with Premature Election Claims

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Social media giant Twitter said Monday it will put warning labels on tweets from U.S. election candidates that claim victory ahead of official results.  In a blog post Monday, the company said an election win must be “authoritatively called” before tweets without warning labels will be allowed by candidates or campaigns.  To determine election results, Twitter said it would require an announcement from state election officials or a “public projection from at least two authoritative national news outlets that make independent election calls,” citing examples that included ABC News, The Associated Press, CNN and Fox News. Tuesday’s U.S. election has amore

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Control of US Senate at Stake Tuesday

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Control of the U.S. Senate – and largely the success or failure of the next U.S. president’s agenda – rests on just a handful of races nationwide that polls show are tightening in the final hours before Election Day 2020. Of the 35 U.S. Senate seats up for reelection Tuesday, seven are rated true toss-up races by the non-partisan Cook Political Report.  Democrats need a net pickup of three seats if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins the White House or a net pickup of four seats if U.S. President Donald Trump is reelected to a second term, because if theremore

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Motivations Vary as African Diaspora Vote in US Election

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For most African immigrants in the United States, the right to vote is precious.  Ivo Tasong, a Cameroonian American who immigrated to the U.S. in 1986, said voting is something he will never take for granted. “Being fortunate to migrate and come and live in the United States, that civic duty cannot be taken for granted, because we know what our families are going through back home,” Tasong told VOA. “We have a war right now that we’ve lost many family members and friends. And the government’s response has not been adequate to call for a peaceful, peaceful settlement to themore

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Record Numbers of Millennials Run for State, Local Office

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Millennials comprise a large, diverse and important part of the U.S. electorate this year. But they are also an increasing portion of candidates for local and state elections.According to the Millennial Action Project (MAP), an organization tracking young people running for office across the country, record numbers of people under 45 are running for office this year.“It blew us away, because from 2018 to 2020, we’ve tracked to 266% increase… in the number of people who threw their hat in the ring,” Layla Zaidane, David Kim has been an immigration attorney for a decade, and says he wants to usemore

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Gender Gap Seen in US Youth Vote

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Since the 2016 presidential election, more than 15 million people have turned 18, making young people a critical voter bloc for the 2020 presidential elections this November. Like their elders, the youth vote is not a monolith or a unified voting bloc that aligns on all issues and demographics. Gender, like race, will impact youth voting in its own way.  Among millennial voters, born between 1981-1996, women were more likely to identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, according to the Pew Research Center. Pew reported that 60% of millennial women associated with the Democratic Party while 31% associated with the Republican, or GOP. For millennial men,more

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FBI Probing Trump Caravan Confrontation with Biden Campaign Bus in Texas

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The FBI said on Sunday it was investigating an incident in which a convoy of vehicles flying flags in support of President Donald Trump’s reelection bid surrounded a bus carrying campaign staff for Democratic challenger Joe Biden on a Texas highway. Friday’s incident — captured on video that was retweeted by Trump on Saturday with the message, “I LOVE TEXAS!” — prompted the Biden campaign to cancel at least two of its Texas events as Democrats accused the president of encouraging supporters to engage in acts of intimidation. Video footage showed a swarm of pickups and SUVs bearing pro-Trump flags surrounding the Biden campaign bus asmore

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