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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Trump Holding Rallies in 5 Swing States, Biden in Philadelphia

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With just two days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, will once again visit battleground states.Trump will hold rallies in the hotly contested states of Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.Biden will deliver remarks at a “Souls to the Polls” event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at a drive-in event there later.Saturday, Trump and Biden focused on two battleground states, with the president visiting Pennsylvania while the former vice president in Michigan. Trump held four rallies in cities across Pennsylvania, where he narrowly won inmore

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Trump to Hold Rallies in 5 Swing States, Biden in Philadelphia

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With just two days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, will once again visit battleground states.Trump will hold rallies in the hotly contested states of Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.Biden will deliver remarks at a “Souls to the Polls” event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at a drive-in event there later.Saturday, Trump and Biden focused on two battleground states, with the president visiting Pennsylvania while the former vice president in Michigan. Trump held four rallies in cities across Pennsylvania, where he narrowly won inmore

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Trump Traveled Saturday to Pennsylvania; Biden to Michigan

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Saturday, with just three days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden focused on battleground states, with Trump visiting Pennsylvania while the former vice president traveled to Michigan.Trump held four rallies Saturday in cities across Pennsylvania, where he narrowly won in 2016 and where polls currently show Biden with a slight advantage.Trump’s first rally was in Newtown, where he criticized the U.S. Supreme Court for refusing a Republican Party effort to block a three-day extension for Pennsylvania election officials to receive absentee ballots, meaning the court would notmore

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Bringing More Diversity to US Ballots Is Both Goal and Challenge

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The Alex Conant, Republican strategist: ‘Anyone who’s considering running [for political office] should run.’ (Skype/VOA)Republicans likely will “try even harder in the future,” Conant said. “We’re a big, diverse country. If you’re going to win elections, it helps to come from communities or represent communities that are casting the votes. … And that includes recruiting more Black candidates.”But how do aspiring politicians of color — especially those who are relative newcomers to America — get onto a ballot?Candidate training is essential, says Naquetta Ricks, who is among at least a score of first- and second-generation Americans from Africa seeking electivemore

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Trump Travels to Pennsylvania, Biden to Michigan 

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With only three days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden were focusing Saturday on battleground states, with Trump visiting Pennsylvania while the former vice president traveled to Michigan.Biden attended events alongside former President Barack Obama for the first time during the campaign season. The two were visiting the cities of Flint and Detroit on Saturday, the first of two days the campaign will spend in Michigan to garner voter support.Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks at a campaign drive-in mobilization event in Flint, Mich., Oct. 31, 2020.Biden focusedmore

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Trump Travels Saturday to Pennsylvania; Biden to Michigan

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With only three days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, both top candidates travel to battleground states Saturday, with Republican President Donald Trump focusing on Pennsylvania while Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden plans events in Michigan.Biden will be campaigning alongside former President Barack Obama for the first time during the campaign. The two will travel to Flint and Detroit on Saturday, part of two days of campaigning to get out the vote in Michigan.In Detroit, they will be joined by singer Stevie Wonder, who will perform at a drive-in rally. Wonder has previously performedmore

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Can I Post a Photo of My Ballot? 

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In response to increased social media messages on how, where and when to vote in the U.S. general election, voters are posting proof that they cast their ballots.Whether it is a photo of the ballot showing who someone voted for, or a selfie of the voter, an increase in mail-in and early voting amid the pandemic means more voters are posting their ballot selfies the week ahead of the election.Whether these photos are legally allowed differs by state.According to data from Ballotpedia, as of September, 25 states and the District of Columbia allow ballot selfies — photos of a completedmore

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Why a Big Boost in Litigation Is Possible After Tuesday’s Election

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With Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election upon us, it is far from certain that either President Donald Trump or his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, will emerge as the clear winner on election night.While Biden is leading Trump by a cumulative average of 8 percentage points in national polling, the Democrat’s lead shrinks to just a few points in a number of battleground states crucial to determining the winner in America’s unique system of indirect presidential election.This has raised the odds that the election results could be delayed until all the ballots are officially tallied and certified. To bemore

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Walmart Returns Firearms, Ammunition to US Store Floors Ahead of Election

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Walmart Inc said on Friday it had begun returning firearms and ammunitions to the floors of its U.S. stores a day after the world’s largest retailer said it had removed these products to protect customers and employees as tensions across the country rise.”After civil unrest earlier this week resulted in damage to several of our stores … we asked stores to move firearms and ammunition from the sales floor …. As the current incidents have remained geographically isolated, we have made the decision to begin returning these products to the sales floor today,” the company said.A Walmart spokesperson declined tomore

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Biden, Trump Offer Remedies for College Woes

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While student debt and the affordability of a college education as a youth voter issue has been overshadowed by COVID and race events, it remains a top concern for many.“I’ve been paying whatever the minimum is for well over a decade,” said Victor Varadi, senior program manager at Disney/ABC, to VOA. Now 47, he has been paying down more than $50,000 in student loans for his undergraduate and master’s degree studies since 2006. The interest rate on those loans have been between 5% and 7%, he said.Varadi is among the student debtors who owe $1.5 trillion to lending institutions, moremore

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US Confirms Iran Hacked Voter Registration Data in 1 State

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Some of the data Iran used to unleash a deluge of emails designed to intimidate U.S. voters just weeks before the country’s presidential election came directly from one state’s voter registration database.U.S. officials confirmed the finding late Friday in an alert issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which has been coordinating U.S. election security efforts.The alert said Iranian hackers targeting websites belonging to various U.S. states, including state election websites, “successfully obtained voter registration data in at least one state” by exploiting what it described as website misconfigurations.That data wasmore

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Trump Tests Limits as Cabinet Members Fan Out to Key States

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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos planned a “Moms for Trump” rally in her home state of Michigan. The Department of Homeland Security’s top official was in Texas to celebrate completion of a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The chief of the Environmental Protection Agency headed to North Carolina after visiting Georgia the day before. That was just Thursday. Members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet are logging extra miles as mostly unofficial campaign surrogates in crucial states in the final days before Tuesday’s election, blending politics and policy in ways that critics say skirt established norms and may even violate themore

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Trump, Biden Head to Battleground States Friday

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With just a few days until voters cast the last ballots in the U.S. presidential election, the top candidates are focusing their campaign efforts Friday in four midwestern battleground states. President Donald Trump will campaign in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, while former Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.Michigan has 16 electoral votes, Minnesota and Wisconsin have 10 each, and Iowa 6.WATCH: Blue states and Red states  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can Democratic U.S. presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden greets suporters at a drive-in, Get Out the Vote campaign stop in Tampa, Florida, Oct. 29, 2020.Biden slams Trump overmore

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Walmart Pulls Firearms, Ammunition from US Store Floors as Civil Unrest Flares

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Walmart Inc removed firearms and ammunition from U.S. store floors this week to protect customers and employees as tensions across the country have been rising, the world’s largest retailer said on Thursday.The move comes days before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3, with many worried that the result could be contested or spark violence.”We have seen some isolated civil unrest and as we have done on several occasions over the last few years, we have moved our firearms and ammunition off the sales floor as a precaution for the safety of our associates and customers,” a Walmart spokesperson said.more

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Supreme Court Issues Flurry of Last-Minute Election Orders

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North Carolina, yes. Pennsylvania, yes. Wisconsin, no. That is how the Supreme Court has answered questions in recent days about an extended timeline for receiving and counting ballots in those states. In each case, Democrats backed the extensions and Republicans opposed them. All three states have Democratic governors and legislatures controlled by the GOP. At first blush, the difference in the outcomes seems odd because the Supreme Court typically takes up issues to harmonize the rules across the country. But elections are largely governed by states, and the rules differ from one state to the next. These cases are being dealt with onmore

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Former DHS Official Says He Wrote NY Times ‘Anonymous’ Trump Critique

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A former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name “Anonymous” revealed himself Wednesday as a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. The official, Miles Taylor, came forward six days before Election Day to criticize  President Donald Trump as “a man without character.” He said he hoped other former administration officials will “find their conscience when they wake up tomorrow” and speak up, too. Taylor has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s in recent months and had repeatedly denied he was the author of the column and subsequent bookmore

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