A US federal judge has backed an Ohio law requiring voters to prove their citizenship, controversially overruling his previous rejection of the legislation in 2006. Judge Christopher Boyko deemed the potential for “random challenges” over voters’ names, appearances or accents to be limited by the amended statute, which only allows precinct election officials to challenge voters. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio is now urging naturalised citizens to ensure they bring their citizenship documentation in case they’re challenged in their bid to vote.
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The controversial 2005 “Access Hollywood” video of current US President Donald Trump has resurfaced on TikTok, shocking some young voters ahead of the upcoming presidential election. Some TikTok creators have been sharing clips of the video, which contains audio of Trump making lewd comments about women. At the time of its initial release in 2016, several Republican officials withdrew their support for Trump, though he went on to win the election. The video has also been cited occasionally as evidence against Trump in court cases, such as in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial in 2019.
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Eugene Vindman, a Democratic congressional candidate in Virginia, has received a cease-and-desist letter from his MAGA-endorsed opponent, Derrick Anderson. The letter demands Vindman stop airing adverts that poke fun at Anderson for using images of a “fake” family in his own adverts. Vindman’s adverts include a voiceover stating “Derrick Anderson was caught using a fake wife and kids for his campaign”, and images of an Anderson lookalike playing with cardboard cutouts of children. The images used in Vindman’s adverts are publicly available on a National Republican Congressional Committee databank. The Anderson campaign contends that Vindman is using the images to lie to voters about who they are.
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The state of Ohio has clarified that slogans affiliated with a political party, candidate, or ballot issue are allowed in polling places, as long as they do not display the name of the party, candidate, or issue. This interpretation has reportedly been steady since Secretary of State Frank LaRose took office, although some county officials had previously believed such implicit endorsements were prohibited. The state advised that voters who display such material and refuse to remove or cover it must still be allowed to vote if they are otherwise eligible. This has raised concerns among some poll workers who worry it could incite violence or conflict.
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According to the final Times poll before the US election, Kamala Harris is set to become America’s first female president. The poll predicts Harris winning the “blue wall” battlegrounds of the north, as well as Nevada in the west, while Donald Trump is forecast to win Georgia and hold North Carolina. The two are evenly matched in Arizona. If these predictions hold, Harris would win the presidency by a margin of 276 electoral college votes to 262, making it the closest finish since 2000. Nonetheless, the poll falls within the margin of error for each of the states, leaving the race’s outcome uncertain.
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A poll by infratest-dimap on behalf of public broadcaster ARD has shown that 74% of German voters prefer US Democratic candidate Kamala Harris to Donald Trump, who polled 11% approval. Harris received 90% to 92% approval from supporters of the Social Democrats, the Christian Democratic Union and the Greens. Meanwhile, Trump received better approval amongst supporters of the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, with 41% approval. The polling results showed that a majority of Germans felt a Democratic victory would be better for relations and the economy. However, the respondents also expressed concerns about job security and Germany’s economic status.
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The latest data suggests that women, who historically outvote men, are dominating early voting in the 2020 US Presidential election. Nationally, around 62 million early votes had been cast by 29 October, with 54% of these ballots cast by women, compared to 44% by men. This trend is replicated across many battleground states, displaying a 10-point gender gap in early voting. It has further been highlighted that the new group of voters expected to decide the election are mainly female registered democrats, poised to favor the Biden-Harris ticket. Since 1980, the number of female votes has consistently surpassed the number of male votes in each presidential election.
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Former US President Donald Trump has sued CBS News for $10bn over an alleged embellished interview with Vice President Kamala Harris on the channel’s 60 Minutes show, which he deems as “election interference.” Trump contends that the interview was manipulated to present Harris positively, particularly her comments on Israel and the Gaza war, and claimed that this equates to unlawful voter interference. His filing in a US district court in Amarillo, Texas termed CBS’s actions as malicious and deceptive. CBS has dismissed the claim as “completely without merit.” The row follows Trump suggesting that CBS should lose its news broadcast license.
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A lawsuit against Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his political action committee (PAC) regarding their $1 million daily giveaways to registered voters has been returned to a state court in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner alleges that Musk and the PAC are running an illegal lottery and attempting to sway voters in the presidential race. Krasner’s request to bar Musk and his PAC from awarding further prizes will be considered by a Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas judge. The defendants’ claim that the case should be adjudicated in federal court because it pertains to the upcoming election was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert.
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A Federal judge has rejected an effort by Elon Musk-backed political action committee (PAC) America Pac to move a civil lawsuit brought by the Philadelphia District Attorney over a daily $1m prize draw for registered voters to federal court. The judge determined that the District Attorney’s motives are irrelevant, and his office could bring the case to state court. The lawsuit aims to halt the scheme in Pennsylvania and claims that a call for voters in battleground states to provide their phone numbers, addresses and emails in exchange for a cash sum and entry into the prize draw is illegal under state law. It also claims that the PAC and Musk breached state consumer protection laws by making misleading statements. Commentators have suggested that by alleging multiple winners turned up at Trump rallies, the District Attorney is arguing that winners are not chosen randomly as claimed.
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John Q. Hosedrinker