Elections Put New Voting Laws to the Test

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America has one Senate contest from the 2022 midterm elections that remains undecided, requiring a runoff election December 6 in the southern U.S. state of Georgia where turnout was heavy last week despite new balloting restrictions that some observers had feared would depress turnout of poorer and minority voters. “It was just a very successful election day,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told a press conference the day after the November 8 midterm contests in his state. Raffensperger, a Republican, said the state’s new voting laws did not impact turnout and that major snags on election day were avoidedmore

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Trump Announces 2024 Presidential Run

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Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his decision to run for president in 2024, in the wake of midterm elections that did not award his Republican party as well as expected. But Trump, as the aging leader of the party, is no longer the disruptor that he was in 2016 — this time around, he’s trading on his legacy and says he has big plans for a second Trump administration. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington. …

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Trump Announces 2024 Election Run

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Former President Trump on Tuesday evening formally declared he is seeking the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 election. Speaking for an hour to an invited crowd in a ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump criticized the administration of his successor, Joe Biden, telling supporters it has destroyed the U.S. economy and turned America’s cities into crime-filled “cesspools of blood.” “In order to make America great and glorious again,” Trump said, “I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.” Unlike his last unsuccessful run in 2020 as the incumbent, Trump — who was impeachedmore

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Through US Midterms, Europeans See Democracy Reaffirmed — But for How Long?

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The U.S. midterm elections have been closely followed overseas — especially in Europe, where analysts say some of America’s closest and oldest allies are relieved that U.S. democracy held the course. But many are unsure for how long — and some are calling for a stronger and more independent Europe as a result. In France and elsewhere in the European Union, the U.S. midterm elections have dominated the airwaves, including on Tuesday, as final results trickle in showing the Democrats retaining control of the Senate and the Republicans likely to narrowly win the House. French analyst and historian Nicole Bacharan,more

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Trump Set to Announce Third Presidential Campaign

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Vote counting is not yet complete in the 2022 U.S. congressional elections, and a key Senate runoff contest is three weeks away, but former President Donald Trump is looking ahead, expected Tuesday night to announce he is running again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. It would be his third White House bid, after his upset win over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and his unsuccessful reelection attempt in 2020. To this day, he contends, wrongly, that he was unfairly cheated out of another four-year term because of vote-counting irregularities in several political battleground states he lost to Democratmore

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Foreign Students Returning to US Since Pandemic Decline

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International students are returning to the United States after a significant drop during the pandemic, according to the Open Doors 2022 Report on International Educational Exchange (IEE). During a recent conversation with reporters, higher education officials said enrollment of international students increased almost 4% in the 2021-2022 academic year, from the year before, and almost 9% in the fall of 2022, from the year before. International student enrollment dropped 15% in the 2020-2021 school year. Almost 1 million students came to the U.S. in the 2021-2022 academic year from more than 200 countries. Most of the increase is attributed tomore

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Republicans on Cusp of Winning Control of House of Representatives

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U.S. Republicans were on the cusp Tuesday of winning control of the House of Representatives in the next session of Congress that takes office in January. After new Republican victories Monday night, the party has won 217 seats to the Democrats’ 204 in both parties’ quest for a 218-seat majority in the 435-member chamber. Election analysts say vote counts in the remaining 14 contests give Republicans plenty of opportunities to pick up one more seat and likely additional ones to wrest control of the chamber from the current Democratic majority. Democratic President Joe Biden acknowledged as much on Monday, tellingmore

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Republicans Edge Closer to Winning Control of House of Representatives

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Republicans appeared Monday to be edging closer to winning control of the House of Representatives in the next session of Congress that takes office in January.  Republicans already have won 212 seats to the Democrats’ 204 in both parties’ quest for a 218-seat majority in the 435-member chamber. But election analysts say vote counts in the remaining 19 unsettled contests mostly appeared to be headed in the Republicans’ favor, which eventually could allow them to wrest control of the chamber from the current Democratic majority.  Democratic President Joe Biden acknowledged as much, telling reporters at a G-20 news conference inmore

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Democrats Retain Control of US Senate

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The Democratic Party retained control of the U.S. Senate on Saturday night with the reelection of Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, giving the Democrats 50 seats to the Republicans’ 49, so far. Cortez Masto defeated Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a former Nevada attorney general, to win. With the victories of Cortez Masto, which The Associated Press called Saturday night, and that of Democratic Senator Mark Kelly in Arizona late Friday, Democrats now control 50 Senate seats. One last seat has yet to be filled, Georgia’s. That race will be decided in a Dec. 6 runoff election between Democraticmore

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Senate Control May Come Down to Nevada

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Control of the U.S. Senate may come down to Nevada, where a slow ballot count entered its final act Saturday in the nail-biter contest between Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican challenger Adam Laxalt. Saturday is the last day that mail ballots can arrive and be counted under the state’s new voting law. Election officials were hustling to get through a backlog of tens of thousands of ballots to determine the race’s winner. The Nevada race took on added importance after Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was declared the winner of his reelection campaign in Arizona Friday night, giving hismore

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US Senate Race Tightens in Nevada; More Results Expected in Arizona

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Control of the U.S. Senate was still undetermined late Friday, but incumbent Senator Mark Kelly’s win in Arizona tied the Republican and Democratic wins with 49 seats each. Election officials in the Western state of Nevada said the race there tightened late Friday in favor of the Democratic candidate, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, against her Republican challenger, Adam Laxalt. If Cortez Masto wins, the Democrats will be in control of the Senate, regardless of the outcome of Georgia’s still-undecided vote, because Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris can cast tiebreaking votes in the 100-member Senate. Days after Americans voted across themore

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Kelly Win in Arizona Puts Democrats 1 Seat From Senate Control

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U.S. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly won his bid for reelection Friday in the crucial swing state of Arizona, defeating Republican venture capitalist Blake Masters to put his party one victory away from clinching control of the chamber for the next two years of Joe Biden’s presidency. With Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote, Democrats can retain control of the Senate by winning either the Nevada race, which remains too early to call, or next month’s runoff in the state of Georgia. Republicans now must win both those races to take the majority. The Arizona race is one of a handfulmore

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Trump Files Lawsuit in Effort to Avoid Testifying About January 6

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Former President Donald Trump is suing the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block a subpoena requiring him to testify. The suit contends that, while former presidents have voluntarily agreed to provide testimony or documents in response to congressional subpoenas in the past, “no president or former president has ever been compelled to do so.” “Long-held precedent and practice maintain that separation of powers prohibits Congress from compelling a president to testify before it,” Trump attorney David A. Warrington said in a statement announcing Trump’s intentions. He said Trump had “engagedmore

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A Nation Waits: US Election Workers Counting Thousands of Votes

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Arizona and Nevada election workers were toiling on Friday to tally hundreds of thousands of ballots that could determine control of the U.S. Senate and the shape of President Joe Biden’s next two years in office, in a vote count that officials in the two battleground states warn could drag on for days. Winning both contests would give either Democrats or Republicans a Senate majority, while a split would transform a December 6 runoff Senate election in Georgia into a proxy battle for the chamber. Political analysts are anticipating a rush of campaign funds into Georgia as Republicans and Democratsmore

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Why Does US Ballot Counting Take So Long?

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The balance of power in the U.S. Congress following Tuesday’s midterm elections is still up in the air, with several key races yet to be called some 48 hours after many polls closed. A cliffhanger-style multiday wait for results is far from unusual in the United States, where it is the media that generally first calls elections, based on votes tabulated by county clerks and other officials as well as statistical analysis. While the long delays can exasperate American voters — and raise questions from curious international observers — there are several reasons why the process can stretch out. Patchworkmore

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US Confident in Integrity of Midterm Elections

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A day after the polls closed for the United States’ midterm elections, the government agency charged with leading election security efforts expressed confidence that every vote cast was being counted accurately. “We have seen no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was any way compromised in any race in the country,” said Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in a statement Wednesday. “We can all have confidence in the safety, security, and integrity of our elections,” she added. The assessment confirmed a sentiment expressed by multiple CISA officials whilemore

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Tight California Races May Determine US House Control

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A string of too-early-to-call California races remains in play and might end up determining whether Republicans seize control of the U.S. House or Democrats hang on to power. With millions of votes still uncounted Wednesday across the nation’s most populous state, uncertainty remained for about a dozen of the state’s 52 House contests. The most competitive of those races were in the Los Angeles region and the Central Valley farm belt. In Southern California, Democratic Representatives Katie Porter and Mike Levin were locked in close races, despite President Joe Biden’s late-hour campaign swing on their behalf. East of Los Angeles,more

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Democracy ‘Who We Are,’ Biden Says After Midterm Elections

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America’s midterm elections, which left control of the Congress in doubt with several House and Senate seats still to be decided after a full day of ballot-counting, nevertheless marked a good day for democracy, President Joe Biden said Wednesday. “Our democracy has been tested in recent years, but with their votes, the American people have spoken and proven once again that democracy is who we are,” Biden told reporters during a wide-ranging 53-minute news conference at the White House. The president characterized his Democratic Party as having done better than expected against the Republicans and announced he will invite leadersmore

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US Midterms Seen Maintaining Congress’ Bipartisan Support for Iran’s People; Impact on Biden Policy Unclear

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The U.S. midterm elections are likely to result in a continuity of bipartisan congressional support for the Iranian people’s aspirations for freedom from Islamist rule, but the impact on President Joe Biden’s Iran policy is unclear, according to some Iranian American observers. Majid Sadeghpour, policy director for the Organization of Iranian American Communities, told VOA that he foresees a bipartisan group in Congress continuing to side with Iran’s seven-week-long uprising in which Iranians have protested mostly peacefully in universities, factories and streets against their ruling Shiite clerics. “We see no distinction here between Republicans and Democrats. Bipartisan members of Congressmore

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African Nations Closely Watch US Midterm Results

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With control of Congress still undecided a day after the U.S. midterm elections, African leaders and political analysts are closely watching for signs of what impact the outcome could have on the continent. African analysts say their biggest concern is how this contentious poll could affect U.S. standing around the world — especially in African nations that have seen democratic backsliding. There are also economic concerns over how the U.S. responds to rising inflation around the world. Wednesday trading showed that African markets were closely watching the impact on the most popular U.S. export: the dollar. On a more personalmore

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Control of House, Senate Too Close to Call

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The fate of U.S. President Joe Biden’s policy aspirations for the remainder of his first term hangs in the balance as the country awaits midterm election results that will determine which political party controls Congress for the next two years. Several key Senate races were too close to call early Wednesday while incumbents are faring well in others. Election officials across the country have cautioned it could take days before the results of some contests are definitive. Overall, an anticipated Republican red wave appears to be a trickle with the opposition party picking up fewer than expected seats in themore

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