Despite gains, Native Americans still face voting barriers

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WASHINGTON — Native Americans today say they still face barriers to casting their votes, six decades after U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. Many live miles away from voter registration and polling sites and lack access to reliable transportation. Others may not have traditional mailing addresses and cannot satisfy voter registration requirements. Voting by mail can be “iffy,” according to O.J. Semans, a Sicangu Lakota citizen living on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota and co-executive director of Four Directions, a voting rights advocacy group that has worked on behalf of tribes in several states. “You must remember,more

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Contraception, in-vitro fertilization become key campaign issue

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The debate over the right to an abortion has divided U.S. politics for decades. But two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sending that decision back to the states, a new front has opened — the debate over birth control. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the election-year battle over contraception and in-vitro fertilization. …

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Trump back in Washington, feted by Republican lawmakers

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WASHINGTON — Former U.S. President Donald Trump enjoyed an effusive welcome on his return to Washington on Thursday as he rallied support from Republican lawmakers following his criminal conviction in New York. Trump, who is neck-and-neck with his successor Joe Biden in the race for the White House, thanked members of the House of Representatives at a private club near the U.S. Capitol who sang “Happy Birthday” to the billionaire, who turns 78 on Friday. It was Trump’s first meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill since leaving the White House in 2021 and his first trip to Washington since he wasmore

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Biden and Trump at odds over gun control 

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In this U.S. presidential campaign, guns continue to divide Americans. President Joe Biden wants a ban on assault weapons. His opponent Donald Trump says Biden is threatening the constitutional rights of gun owners. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, the president spoke about guns on a day when his son was convicted of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a gun. …

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US Rep. Nancy Mace overcomes McCarthy-backed challenger to win Republican primary in South Carolina  

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace has won the Republican nomination after a tumultuous second term in South Carolina that saw her go from a critic to an ally of former President Donald Trump and make headlines for plenty of things off the House floor.  Mace defeated challengers Catherine Templeton and Bill Young in voting that ended Tuesday. She will face a Democratic opponent in the general election in the 1st District, which is the closest thing South Carolina has to a swing district in the Republican-dominated state.  Trump’s endorsement — after he called her crazy and terrible in 2022more

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Foreign policy concerns may affect US presidential election

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New Orleans, Louisiana — “It’s the economy, stupid,” is the oft-repeated reminder from the 1992 U.S. presidential election, attributed to political consultant James Carville explaining voter motivations. Economic concerns remain central to voters in this November’s anticipated rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, but wars in Gaza and Ukraine may influence enough voters in swing states to make foreign policy matter on Election Day. “This is projected to be a very close election decided by an extremely small margin,” said Robert Collins, professor of Urban Studies and Public Policy at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. “Inmore

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Report: Hate, extremism on the rise ahead of US election

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A report released Tuesday says hate and extremism in the United States rose in 2023, with record numbers of white nationalists and anti-LGBTQ groups trying to undermine the country’s inclusive democracy. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias breaks down the researchers’ findings and the implications for the November presidential election. …

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Congressman Kim wins Democratic Senate primary in New Jersey

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Trenton, New Jersey — Representative Andy Kim won the Democratic Senate primary in the U.S. state of New Jersey on Tuesday, putting him in a strong position for the general election in the blue-leaning state. The win comes a day after Democratic Senator Bob Menendez filed to run as an independent amid his federal corruption trial.  Kim, a three-term congressman who launched his campaign after charges against Menendez were announced last year, rose to the top in the state’s dominant political party over a relatively short period. A former Obama national security official, he defeated an incumbent Republican in a 2018more

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Charges filed in Wisconsin against attorneys, aide who worked for Trump in 2020

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Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed felony forgery charges Tuesday against two attorneys and an aide who helped submit paperwork falsely saying that former President Donald Trump had won the battleground state in 2020. The charges were filed against attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, 62, and Jim Troupis, 70, and former Trump aide Mike Roman, 51, who allegedly delivered Wisconsin’s fake elector paperwork to a Pennsylvania congressman’s staffer in order to get them to then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021. All three are due in Dane County Circuit Court on Sept. 19, according to court records. They eachmore

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‘Guilty’ verdict fuels Trump, Biden campaign rhetoric

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Former President Donald Trump weighed in Sunday on the possibility of being sentenced to jail next month after his conviction for falsifying business records. The ‘guilty’ verdict is already being used by both the Trump and Biden campaigns to fire up their respective supporters. But swaying undecided voters will be trickier, analysts say. Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details. …

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China’s netizen nationalists hope Trump’s conviction brings unrest

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Washington — The conviction of former U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday for falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment ahead of the 2016 election quickly became one of the hottest topics on Chinese social media. Trump’s conviction became the most searched topic on Chinese social media platform Weibo and search engine Baidu on Friday morning in China. On short-video platform Douyin, TikTok’s China-based sister application, it also landed among the five most searched topics. While views varied, many Chinese netizens posted they hope the verdict by a New York jury, which found Trump guilty on 34 felonymore

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