Control of US Congress at stake in Tuesday voting

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Control of the U.S. Congress is at stake in Tuesday’s voting, with the outcome likely to play a key role in the fate of legislative proposals advanced by whomever wins the presidency, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris or Republican former President Donald Trump. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are at stake in elections throughout the U.S. for new two-year terms, while 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate are being contested for new six-year terms. Democrats now narrowly control the Senate and Republicans the House, but the majorities in both chambers could flip, or possibly staymore

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Officials: Bomb threats against US voting locations coming from Russia

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WASHINGTON — A series of Election Day bomb threats sent to polling locations across the United States appears to be coming from Russia, according to new assessments from federal and state officials. The initial bomb threats early Tuesday put a temporary stop to voting at some locations in parts of the southeastern state of Georgia. State officials quickly determined the threats were not credible. “We identified the source, and it was from Russia,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters. “They’re up to mischief, and it seems they don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election,” Raffenspergermore

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US presidential election in the hands of voters as Harris, Trump battle for White House

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Millions of U.S. voters are set to cast their ballots Tuesday as they decide whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump will be the country’s next leader. Polls heading into Election Day indicated a tight race, particularly in a group of battleground states that will be key to deciding the winner. Both candidates made stops Monday in Pennsylvania, one of those closely watched states, holding a series of rallies including nearby each another in the Pittsburgh area as they projected confidence in their own campaigns. “Tomorrow is Election Day, and the momentum is on our side,” Harrismore

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Key county in swing state of Georgia counting ballots ahead of Election Day

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Lawrenceville, Georgia — One of the most ethnically diverse counties in the Southeastern United States will be among those issuing early voting results Tuesday night, a reveal that could indicate which of the presidential candidates is in the lead in the crucial count of 538 electoral votes. The victor must receive at least 270 of those electoral votes, and Georgia, seen as one of the seven states where the outcome is uncertain, has 16 of those precious votes. Only Pennsylvania has more — 19 — among the battleground states. North Carolina also has 16. The other wild cards are Arizona (11),more

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Somali Americans gear up for US elections

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Somali Americans in Minnesota last month took part in a town hall involving Democratic and Republican party representatives encouraging them to participate in the 2024 election, arguing the stakes are high for them and their grandchildren. During a VOA town hall event in Minneapolis, Somali Americans listened to remarks by panelists from both political parties, who answered questions about the economy, immigration, and foreign policy, explaining what their candidate would do to win the votes of Somali Americans. Economic policy While many Somali Americans are traditionally Democratic-leaning, there are rising numbers who support former President Donald Trump, creditingmore

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US aiming for hack-proof election

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Washington — Countries aiming to undermine Tuesday’s U.S. elections are being forced to rely on faked videos and other disinformation because they are unable to penetrate systems that could alter the actual tally of the vote, according to the latest assessment by the U.S. agency responsible for election security. Officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, said late Monday that with less than 24 hours before polls open on Election Day, there is no evidence to suggest foreign adversaries like Russia, Iran and China have the wherewithal to infiltrate and manipulate the country’s election infrastructure. “I can saymore

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Harris, Trump stage rallies in Pennsylvania on last day of campaign

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The tumultuous 2024 U.S. presidential campaign is in its final hours Monday, with Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump traveling to key political battleground states, in a contest that polls indicate is too close to call.    Both Harris, the Democratic candidate, and Trump, her Republican challenger, are making multiple stops in Pennsylvania, the eastern Rust Belt state that is the biggest electoral prize among the seven battleground states that are likely to determine the national outcome.    Both candidates are staging rallies in Pittsburgh, the heart of the U.S. steel-making region. Trump is also heading to Reading, amore

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What does Harris mean by an opportunity economy?

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As U.S. voters remain largely dissatisfied with the economy under President Joe Biden, Kamala Harris has sought to define her own economic policy under the label of an opportunity economy. But what does that term mean, and how different is it than what Biden has offered? Among many contentious topics influencing the 2024 election, the economy remains the number one issue for a majority of voters. With Americans reporting feeling worse off financially despite positive economic trends, Vice President Harris has sought to distinguish her own economic platform from that of the administration in which she currently serves. President Biden’smore

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Trump lawsuits, complaints target media in closing days of campaign

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Washington — In the last week of the U.S. presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump sued CBS News and filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against The Washington Post newspaper.   The cases are the latest high-profile conflicts between the former president and news outlets that he often accuses of bias.   Trump sued CBS over an interview of Vice President Kamala Harris on the network’s “60 Minutes” program that aired in early October. Trump had also agreed to give an interview to “60 Minutes” before backing out. Filed in Texas on Thursday, the lawsuit alleges that the network airedmore

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Understanding Trump’s tariff policy

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Donald Trump has notably changed political positions as well as parties during his career, having registered with both the Democratic Party and the Reform Party before becoming a Republican. However, one issue on which he has been remarkably consistent is international trade. Since the 1980s, Trump has argued that the U.S. is being taken advantage of by other countries due to its liberal trade policy. Upon being elected president in 2016, Trump sought to address this through tariffs.  A special tax on imports, tariffs serve a dual purpose. Aside from raising government revenue, they are intended to protect domestic industriesmore

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Puerto Rico prepares for Election Day as a third-party candidate makes history

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The two parties that have dominated Puerto Rican politics for decades are losing their grip as they face the stiffest competition yet from a younger generation fed up with the island’s corruption, chronic power outages and mismanagement of public funds. For the first time in the island’s governor’s race, a third-party candidate has a powerful second lead in the polls ahead of the U.S. territory’s election Tuesday — and some experts say there’s a possibility he could win. “This election is already historic,” said political analyst and university professor Jorge Schmidt Nieto. “It already marks amore

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Federal judge lets Iowa challenge voter rolls; may affect naturalized citizens

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DES MOINES, Iowa — A federal judge ruled Sunday that Iowa can continue challenging the validity of hundreds of ballots from potential noncitizens even though critics said the effort threatens the voting rights of people who’ve recently become U.S. citizens. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher, an appointee of President Joe Biden, sided with the state in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in the Iowa capital of Des Moines on behalf of the League of Latin American Citizens of Iowa and four recently naturalized citizens. The four were on the state’s list of questionable registrations to be challengedmore

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Harris, Trump head to battleground states 2 days ahead of election 

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Seeking to sway the remaining few undecided voters and rally their supporters to the polls, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump trekked Sunday to political battleground states two days ahead of Tuesday’s national election for a new White House term starting in January. Harris, the Democratic candidate, headed to Michigan in the upper Midwest, one of seven states where polling shows the contest is exceedingly close and the outcome uncertain. Political math shows that whichever candidate captures four or more of the seven battleground states is likely to become the country’s 47th president. Trump, the Republicanmore

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Opponents use parental rights, anti-trans messages to fight abortion ballot measures

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CHICAGO — Billboards with the words “STOP Child Gender Surgery.” Pamphlets warning about endangering minors. “PROTECT PARENT RIGHTS” plastered on church bulletins. As voters in nine states determine whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions, opponents are using parental rights and anti-transgender messages to try to undermine support for the ballot proposals. The measures do not mention gender-affirming surgeries, and legal experts say changing existing parental notification and consent laws regarding abortions and gender-affirming care for minors would require court action. But anti-abortion groups hoping to end a losing streak at the ballot box have turned to the typemore

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Inspired by Harris, Black sorority and fraternity members help downballot races

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HARTFORD, Conn. — U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes isn’t a member of the historically Black sororities and fraternities known as the “Divine Nine.” But throughout her hotly contested reelection campaign this year, Hayes, the first Black woman to represent Connecticut in Congress, has sometimes felt like she’s a fellow soror, the term used by Black Greek organizations for sorority sisters. On their own, members have shown up to call voters, organize fundraisers, knock on doors, cheer Hayes on at campaign events and even offer pro bono legal help. “I had people from Massachusetts come in to volunteer,” said Hayes, a Democrat whomore

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Ballot box fires underscore concerns that conspiracy theories make them targets

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atlanta, georgia — Two ballot drop boxes in the Pacific Northwest were damaged in a suspected arson attack just over a week before Election Day, destroying hundreds of ballots at one location in the city of Vancouver in the state of Washington. At the other, in neighboring Portland, Oregon, it appears a fire suppression system contained the blaze and limited the number of ballots damaged to three. Authorities are reviewing surveillance footage as they try to identify who is responsible. Here’s what happened, how rules and security measures about drop boxes vary across the country, and how election conspiracy theories havemore

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Latino evangelical voters torn between their faith and harsh rhetoric around immigration

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The Rev. Arturo Laguna leads a largely immigrant church of about 100 followers in Phoenix. His job as a pastor, he says, gets complicated come election season. Laguna’s church, Casa de Adoracion, is in Arizona — one of seven closely watched swing states that could possibly decide the next president. It is also a microcosm of the larger Latino evangelical Christian community in the U.S. The soft-spoken Laguna says, for the members of his congregation, voting is “not an intellectual issue.” “It’s a matter of faith and spirituality,” he said. “We’re in a complicated moment because, on the one hand,more

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