Author: PolitCens

The U.S. presidential election remained unsettled Thursday, with Democratic challenger Joe Biden nearing an Electoral College majority and President Donald Trump demanding that the vote count be stopped. Republicans are filing lawsuits alleging vote tabulation irregularities. Biden leads in the Electoral College count 253-214, with a majority of 270 needed to claim the presidency for a new four-year term. But vote counting is still under way in four states that will decide the election — Georgia and Pennsylvania in the eastern part of the country, and the adjoining Western states of Arizona and Nevada.  Where things standTrump is ahead in Georgia and Pennsylvania, and Biden is leading in the other two, with both of their leads indecisive. In the U.S. Electoral College system, the popular vote winner in each state — with two exceptions, Maine and Nebraska — receives all of that state’s electoral votes, which are allocated on the basis of population. If Biden can hold his vote leads in Arizona, with its 11 electors, and Nevada with six, he will reach the 270 Electoral College majority and become the country’s 46th president at his inauguration in January, no matter the outcome in Georgia and Pennsylvania.Trump needs to hold all the states he is leading in and pick up either Nevada or Arizona, where Biden currently holds the lead.The vote count is close in all four states. In Georgia, with 16 electoral votes at stake, Trump holds a 13,000-vote lead with more than 50,000 ballots yet to be counted, many of those from Biden-leading counties. In Pennsylvania, Trump leads by 108,000 votes, but a much bigger total remains to be counted. Twenty electoral votes are at stake there. Trump has more comfortable leads in two other states that have not yet been called: Alaska and North Carolina. Biden now leads by 11,000 votes in Nevada, which has six electors, and by 68,000 in Arizona, which has 11 electors. Many more votes are yet to be counted in both states.Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks near Eric Trump and his wife Lara Trump during a news conference at Atlantic Aviation PHL private air terminal in Philadelphia, Penn, Nov. 4, 2020.Lawsuits
Lawyers representing Trump and Republicans filed lawsuits alleging vote counting irregularities and demanding that the counting of mail-in ballots be halted in Pennsylvania, where Trump’s lead was dwindling as more mail-in ballots were counted.The vote count across the U.S. has been slowed by the vast number of mail-in ballots — about two-thirds of the more than 101 million ballots cast before Tuesday’s official Election Day — and which are taking longer to count. Many people who voted by mail said they wanted to avoid long lines at polling stations on Tuesday and coming face to face with others amid the country’s unchecked coronavirus pandemic. Biden’s campaign urged voting by mail, and the result is that his vote count has swelled in numerous states as those ballots are tallied. Trump mostly urged Election Day in-person voting by Republicans, claiming without evidence that mail-in voting would lead to an election rigged against him. Those ballots were generally counted earlier. Trump lawyers also called for a recount in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin, where Biden was projected the winner of the state’s 10 electors on Wednesday. They contended there were irregularities at some voting stations.This combination of pictures shows Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden on Oct. 23, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware, On the right is U.S. President Donald Trump in Gastonia, North Carolina, Oct. 21, 2020.Trump, Biden react to results so far
Trump claimed victory in the early hours of Wednesday, but Biden has stopped short of saying he has won.    “I’m not here to declare that we’ve won,” Biden said Wednesday. “But I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”  
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Despite the pandemic, the lawsuits and the acrimonious political rhetoric, foreign election observers had good news. They did not find systemic irregularity or wrongdoing by either major party.
Ursula Gacek, who headed a foreign team of observers that arrived in the U.S. in late September to study the conditions leading up to election day,  noted there were isolated cases of irregular behavior – what she called “small incidents – personal, human incidents,” a couple of which were described in detail in footnotes to the report. “But nothing,” she said, “that would impact and really fundamentally shake the confidence in the system.”The outcome of the November 3 U.S. presidential election was still up for grabs Wednesday, when the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe election-monitoring team held its day-after news conference in Washington, D.C.  
 
Michael Georg Link, head of the short-term observer mission from the group’s parliamentary assembly, praised the U.S. government, which invited the observer missions, for having “the strength to show that nobody is perfect.”
 
He added, “Every democracy . . . profits on exchanges of best practice that can help further improve and refine its electoral system where needed.”
 
The United States was obligated to invite the OSCE to observe its elections. Despite the Eurocentric name, both the United States and Canada, and a handful of Central Asian nations, are participating states in the OSCE, which was formed during the Cold War. OSCE membership comes with the obligation to invite election monitors from the other OSCE states as a means of holding all members to the same standards of transparency.  
 
While Link’s team was in the United States to observe Election Day itself, Gacek’s  team arrived in the U.S. in late September and a number of them will stay on for the next 10 days or so – longer if the vote count is protracted.
A report issued Wednesday by both groups noted that an expansion of early voting and mail-in voting meant to make voting safer during the coronavirus pandemic led to more than 400 lawsuits filed in 44 different states, some of which continued even as the voting took place. That, Gacek said, had the effect of “changing the rules of the game whilst the game was already on.”  Election monitors observe as absentee ballots are processed at the central counting board as vote counting in the general election continues, in Detroit, Michigan, Nov. 4, 2020.Beyond the pandemic’s complications, this year’s campaign rhetoric was seen as problematic, particularly from President Donald Trump. Of particular concern, the report said, was “the incumbent president’s use of discriminatory and pejorative statements against individuals on the grounds of their gender and origin.”  
 
It also singled out Trump’s refusals to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, should he lose the election. And it said his expressions of mistrust in voting by mail might serve to weaken public confidence in state institutions.
 
In his comments to the media Wednesday, Link said pointedly: “Nobody – no politician, no elected official, nobody should limit the people’s right to vote. … Baseless allegations of systematic deficiencies, notably by the incumbent president, including on election night, harm public trust in democratic institutions.”
 
When asked more than once if this year’s elections offer evidence that American democracy is backsliding, both Link and Gacek demurred.  
 
“We don’t even do a thumbs-up or thumbs-down,” Link said. “What this question implies is a political conclusion. … We don’t draw political conclusions.”
 
Gacek said the observers don’t even compare one election to another in the same country. The only time previous reports come into play is when they look at whether previous recommendations have been implemented. “That’s the only thing we carry forward,” she said. “But no ranking, no comparative analysis.”Voters stand in line outside a polling station on Election Day, in Mesa, Arizona, Nov. 3, 2020.
In the 18 years that OSCE teams have been coming to observe U.S. elections – starting with midterms in 2002 – Those recommendations include making campaign finance more transparent and restoring voting rights to convicted felons who have completed their prison sentences.
Few of those recommendations, however, seem to have been heeded by election officials – a critique noted in this year’s reporting.  
 
And in that light, all the uncertainty about the validity and logistics of this year’s election might have been worth it – if only because they have drawn unprecedented media attention to the goal the observation teams are trying to accomplish.  
 
“The recommendations are key,” Gacek said when asked about the effect of the media attention. “Some of the recommendations we have made in the past are quite longstanding.”
“So, from that respect,” she continued, “the bigger the interest in our work … it’s only to the good of the most important people in this whole process – the people that we’re always rooting for. And that’s the American voter.”
 
Meanwhile, the vote count continues – and the observer teams’ work is not yet over. Members of the teams will spend the next few weeks studying their data – including a legal expert who will examine those 400 lawsuits – and arrive at this year’s recommendations.
 
Gacek says the teams will take as long as necessary before releasing the final report. One thing is certain: there will be some recommendations.
 
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As people wait to see who will be confirmed the winner of the U.S. presidential election, politicians and analysts in France discuss the ongoing process and outcome of the vote, but especially its future impact on the relationship between the two countries.The U.S. election is all over the news in France and, since Tuesday, the French media have been covering the vote extensively.  
 
The uncertainty around the outcome is widely commented on, especially since final results were still pending more than 24 hours after polling stations closed.
 
Jean-Claude Beaujour, a lawyer and vice president of France-Ameriques, an association which promotes friendship between France and the United States, says people in France have a hard time understanding that in the United States, each of the 50 states has different legislation to organize the vote. In addition, he said, the U.S. is seen as the country of Google, the Silicon Valley, with a technological edge and that it is hard to believe that the country does not have a better and faster way of processing the election results to know who won.After four years of a tumultuous relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron, officials in Paris say that regardless of who is sworn in as the next U.S. president, a fresh start is needed for both countries.French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says it is up to the American people to decide who will be president and that France will work with whoever is elected and the new administration in Washington. He stressed that Europe has been reaffirming its sovereignty over the past four years and that there will be no going back to the previous situation. Therefore, he added, a new transatlantic relationship must be built based on a new partnership.As of Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron had not commented on any possible outcome of the U.S. vote. 
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A day after voting ended, Americans continued to wait for the final vote tally in the presidential election. All eyes are now on a few battleground states where partial results are close and which may determine victory between Democratic nominee Vice President Joe Biden and incumbent Republican President Donald Trump. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.
Producer: Barry Unger
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Americans waited Thursday to see if vote count updates from several states would make clear the winner of the presidential election, a day after wins in two battleground states put former Vice President Joe Biden within reach of victory and President Donald Trump’s campaign launched a series of legal challenges.U.S. news organizations have yet to project winners in six states: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.Projections on Wednesday put Biden as the winner in Michigan and Wisconsin, two states Trump won in the 2016 election.“I’m not here to declare that we’ve won. But I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners,” Biden said Wednesday afternoon.     Biden could reach the 270 Electoral College vote threshold needed to win the election if he holds onto his leads in Arizona and Nevada.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 16 MB720p | 31 MB1080p | 62 MBOriginal | 76 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn the U.S. Electoral College system, the popular vote winner in each state — with two exceptions, Maine and Nebraska — receives all of that state’s electoral votes, which are allocated on the basis of population.   States do not declare a winner before all votes are counted, but news organizations project winners when they conclude there are not enough uncounted votes remaining to change the outcome.   Biden also led in the national popular vote with 71.6 million votes as of Thursday morning, compared to 68.1 million votes cast for Trump, according to Edison Research and The Associated Press. With the heavy early voting, the total 2020 count, by some estimates, could reach a U.S. record of 150 million or more.Who Declares Winner in US Presidential Election?Founding Fathers created a 4-month process of formally certifying the victor Trump pathTrump, however, still has a path to victory if he can take back any one of the states where Biden is leading. The president is leading in other states that have not yet been called: Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska. By sweeping these, but not flipping a Biden-leaning state, Trump would end up with 268 Electoral College votes, just short of the total needed to win.In Pennsylvania, more than 1 million mail-in ballots are currently being counted. The Biden campaign said it has been winning 78% of the votes-by-mail in Pennsylvania. The results in that state are not expected until Thursday or Friday.The Biden campaign had urged supporters to vote by mail to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic, while Trump has, without evidence, denounced mail-in voting as fraudulent and a scam.The Trump campaign said Wednesday it will request a vote recount in Wisconsin, where Biden leads by about 20,000 votes, and has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the count in Michigan, where Biden is ahead by over 35,000 votes. The president’s surrogates in Pennsylvania, where Trump led at one point by about 389,000 votes, are also mounting legal challenges to stop the counting of mail-in ballots.The Trump campaign also filed a lawsuit in Georgia on Wednesday asking a judge to order state election officials to follow the law in storing and counting absentee ballots, according to The Associated Press.Early Wednesday morning, Trump claimed victory in the election, despite the fact the vote count was ongoing, and made unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud.      “We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list,” Trump said.  Hans von Spakovsky, a former member of the Federal Election Commission and now with the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he expects legal disputes to contest “the counting of ballots, the rejection of absentee ballots, the extension of time for absentee ballots.”In Pennsylvania, he said, Trump’s team will likely challenge the legality of a state Supreme Court ruling that mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted if the Post Office delivers them in the days that follow.Partisan divideWhoever wins the presidency could face a divided Congress.Democrats have failed, so far, in their efforts to win control of the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority.Democrats picked up seats in Colorado and Arizona, but lost a Democratic seat in Alabama, and failed to unseat what were expected to be vulnerable Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine.Three Senate races remain close, but the outcomes in some states, such as Georgia, which will hold a run-off election in January to choose a senator, will likely not be known for some time.Democrats will retain control of the House of Representatives but did not expand their majority as projected by polls prior to the election.If Trump wins a second term, it is unlikely there “will be much chance of bipartisanship,” as the president has had a contentious relationship with congressional Democrats, said John Aldrich, a professor of politics at Duke University.Biden may be able to reach across the aisle, as he has emphasized in his campaign the need to heal the deep partisan divide in the nation, Aldrich said.“To make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies,” Biden said on Wednesday.
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Pennsylvania is proving to be a key state in the U.S. presidential contest — and one of the last to finish counting votes between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. Esha Sarai reports from Philadelphia.
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Protesters turned out in multiple U.S. cities Wednesday to call for a complete count of presidential election votes, while smaller pro-Trump groups rallied outside vote-counting centers in Michigan and Arizona.Police in New York arrested dozens of people Wednesday night after what had been peaceful demonstrations. Officials say a small group of people “attempted to hijack” the protest by setting trash fires and clashing with officers.Protesters also marched in Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and San Diego. In addition to calling for the votes to be counted, the demonstrators also highlighted racial inequality, the subject of numerous protests throughout the United States this year.In the northwest state of Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown activated the National Guard as police in Portland declared protests there a riot and made arrests. In Oregon, a riot is defined as six or more people engaging in “tumultuous and violent conduct” that creates “a grave risk of causing public alarm.” The city has been the site of near-nightly protests against racial injustice, and police making riot declarations is not uncommon.Supporters of President Donald Trump went to a vote-counting site in Detroit, Michigan, to demand a halt to the count. Those at a later rally in Phoenix, Arizona, chanted, “Stop the steal.”The various demonstrations came as the result of Tuesday’s election remained unclear, and the president made unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud while Republicans filed multiple election lawsuits.Oregon State Police arrest a protester in Portland, Ore., Nov. 4, 2020, following Tuesday’s election.
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The world watches American elections with intense interest, eager to know the future direction of the leading global superpower. So the perceptions of the D.C. diplomatic corps — the eyes and ears in Washington of their respective nations — are much in demand in their homelands. This year’s election was particularly frustrating for Washington-based ambassadors, who found their ability to observe election processes and host embassy watch parties severely constrained by the coronavirus pandemic. But that did little to dampen their enthusiasm. “I try and get as good a picture as I can without being able to go out and sniff the air,” said Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall, who told VOA he has relied for his insights on communications with reporters, think tank analysts and others he knows to be well-connected to the two major parties. “People in Ireland, and in Europe, take American politics very seriously,” he said. “When I talk to Irish people on the phone, I realize they know a lot about what’s going on here. People are extremely well-informed, which makes my job easier. I don’t have to explain everything to people at home. They already have a good, basic knowledge.” Daniel Mulhall, Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States (Courtesy Embassy of Ireland in the U.S.)Zdenek Beranak, deputy chief of mission at the Czech Embassy, said his workday started early Tuesday morning and extended well past midnight as it became increasingly clear that the vote count would drag into the next day and beyond.  “I had a little break — I went running 6K listening to my favorite podcast, I picked up my son from school. I also drove by the White House to see how the situation was in downtown, pretty normal at around 3 PM, and visited 1 polling station in Maryland,” he told VOA in an email interview. “Exciting day – true festival of democracy!” There were no watch parties with invited guests as many embassies have done in past years, but Beranak said essential staff were on the job Tuesday “watching TV and checking multiple online sources” while Ambassador Hynek Kmoníček spent much of the day giving interviews to media back home in the Czech Republic. In the days before the election, Beranak said, he and some of his colleagues drove to Pennsylvania to “get a better idea about the dynamics in a crucial swing state.” Other diplomats took to Twitter to describe their impressions of the fiercely contested election, an extraordinary exercise in democracy that featured an unprecedented turnout. Danish Ambassador Lone Dencker Wis tweeted that she found it “fascinating” to be physically in the United States on November 3, and she shared her interviews with various Danish media outlets.Ambassador of A mural of U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden is seen on a gable wall in Ballina, west of Ireland, Nov. 4, 2020. Ballina is the ancestral home of Biden.Mulhall said a visit to Ireland by Biden, if he were elected, could give a huge boost to bilateral ties. “I still remember what a big deal it was when [Irish American former President] John F. Kennedy visited Ireland when I was a kid.” But, he stressed, his country values its connections with Republicans and Democrats alike, pointing out the presence of Irish Americans, including Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, in the current Republican-led administration. Mulhall said he was pleased to see that “a lot of the apocalyptic warnings” about potential Election Day violence “may have been a little over the top.”  “Everyone looks to America for inspiration and for example. I hope and I pray that that example will be forthcoming in the coming hours and days,” he said. “We want to see America do well. We want to see America be what it always has been — a stable and exemplary democracy which can be a leader in the global arena.”
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With the result of the U.S. presidential race still uncertain Wednesday, Twitter and Facebook took new steps to flag potentially misleading election-related comments by prominent Republicans and Democrats alike.By Wednesday midday, Twitter had limited the ability of President Donald Trump to share four tweets by attaching labels directing readers to information about the election and security.One of his tweets appeared to accuse election officials of tampering with the vote count. The president tweeted that “they are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!”They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020Twitter shielded the tweet with a label stating that “some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.” Once a viewer clicked on “View,” however, the president’s tweet was visible.For its part, Facebook said it would show notifications on its site and on Instagram that votes are still being counted and a winner hasn’t been projected. The message will be applied to both candidates, the company said.New eraThe moves by the internet giants signal a new willingness to moderate their sites and step into the maelstrom of facts and theories, even when prominent people are speaking.Twitter also slapped warnings on Democratic leaders’ tweets. One posted Wednesday morning by Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, claimed that Biden had reached the threshold to win the election, which was false.Biden is winning Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and NE2. That is 270— Neera -Vote Now- Tanden (@neeratanden) November 4, 2020“Some votes may still need to be counted,” Twitter added to Tanden’s tweet.Some lawmakers angeredWhatever happens in the U.S. elections, the steps taken by the internet firms are getting noticed.“We are going to STOP THE STEAL,” tweeted Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman-elect from Georgia.But that was blocked by Twitter with a warning that some votes still need to be counted.We are going to STOP THE STEAL!Join the fight: https://t.co/EUXB2i8mn5#STOPTHESTEALhttps://t.co/MLBG5Wq84j— Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 4, 2020Taylor Greene then tweeted, “IT’S OFFICIAL! The Silicon Valley Cartel is CENSORING ME. They can’t stop us.”IT’S OFFICIAL!The Silicon Valley Cartel is CENSORING ME.They can’t stop us.Please RT this and sign your petition.We will not let Democrats STEAL THIS ELECTION! https://t.co/8MPPRS2bmVpic.twitter.com/oHZs3VUwft— Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 4, 2020Notable tweetsAlex Stamos is the former Facebook chief security officer and part of Election Integrity Partnership, a group of research groups focused on the election and misinformation.In a press briefing Wednesday morning, Stamos said the group is tracking multiple disinformation campaigns online around the election count. As they pop up, the group is flagging them to the internet firms, which are labeling them, and that is helping to slow down their spread.Stamos expressed concern, though, about the media and internet companies’ focus on the president’s speech.Limiting candidates’ speech raises the stakes that internet firms could be interfering with the democratic process, he said.“It’s the place where we have to be the most careful about setting precedents about incredibly powerful information intermediaries and what they can do in a democracy like the United States,” Stamos said.For him, internet companies should be focused on the disinformation campaigns and the efforts to inject misinformation into the public sphere.Whatever happens, social media firms are in new territory and many are watching the steps they are taking around the U.S. election.
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Americans voted on a variety of ballot initiatives during the 2020 elections, in addition to president and members of Congress.  
 
According to CBS News, at least 120 initiatives were on the ballot in 32 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
 
Ballot initiatives offer voters a chance to directly change state laws or a state constitution.  
 
The highest profile initiative was in California, where Proposition 22 determined if app-based companies like Uber, Lyft and others could continue classifying workers as independent contractors instead of company employees. Fifty-eight percent voted in favor of the proposition.  
 
Here are some of the other higher profile initiatives voted on Tuesday.
 
• Fifty-two percent of Puerto Ricans voted in favor of a non-binding statehood initiative. The results have yet to be certified. Currently, Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but do not have voting representation in Congress.
 
• Sixty-one percent of Floridians voted in favor of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. The results have not yet been certified. The initiative would raise the wage to $10 per hour in 2021 and raise it by a dollar every year until it reaches $15 per hour. 
 
• Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota passed measures to legalize recreational marijuana for individuals 21 and older.
 
• Californians voted in favor of allowing people on parole to vote. They appear to have rejected a proposition that would have allowed 17-year-olds to vote in primaries or special elections, provided they will be 18 by Election Day. Voters appear to have rejected a proposition to abolish cash bail.
 
• Voters in Colorado appear to have approved a measure that will allot their presidential Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Coloradoans rejected an initiative that would have banned abortion after 22 weeks unless the mother’s life was in jeopardy.
 
• Louisiana voters approved an initiative to add wording that explains there is no explicit right to an abortion under the state’s constitution.
 
• Oregon approved initiatives to decriminalize the possession of drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The state also approved legalizing psychedelic mushrooms. The District of Columbia also decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms. 
 
• Voters in Massachusetts rejected a measure to establish so-called rank-choice voting, in which voters rank the candidates instead of choosing just one. Results on a similar initiative in Alaska were yet to be counted.
 
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While the 2020 U.S. presidential election remains undecided, data show that the youth vote— specifically youth of color — in most states widely supported Democratic candidate Joe Biden.Citing data compiled by the National Election Poll exit polls and AP VoteCast data from the Associated Press, the youth vote in key states the morning after Election Day was:Pennsylvania: Youth made up 14% of the vote and supported Biden by +23.Michigan: Youth made up 15% of the vote and supported Biden by +29.North Carolina: Youth made up 16% of the vote and supported Biden by +16.Georgia: Youth made up 21% of the vote and supported Biden by +15.Wisconsin: Youth made up 14% of the vote and supported Biden by +27.Arizona: Youth made up 17% of the vote and supported Biden by +28.Highlighting Georgia“Notable is the youth share of the vote in Georgia — the highest of any state for which we have data — which nearly matches the percentage of eligible young voters in the electorate,” reported the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.CIRCLE cited youth voters of color as part of the increased energy among 18-to-29-year olds.Young people of color were more likely to support Biden, while white youth lent more support to President Donald Trump, CIRCLE reported.For example, in Arizona, 71% of Latino youth said they cast votes for Biden vs. 54% of whites voting for Biden, CIRCLE reported.“Young Latinos were 17 percentage points more likely to support Biden than white youth,” CIRCLE stated.In North Carolina and Georgia, 90% or more of Black youth voted for Joe Biden, while white youth supported Trump.“Young voters of color were also incredibly influential in Texas,” although the electoral college votes for that state went to Trump, CIRCLE stated. “Black youth supported Biden over Trump, 91% to 8%.”“Latino youth supported Biden 73% to 25%. Meanwhile, young white voters in Texas preferred Trump: 51% to 45%.”
 
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The winner of the U.S. presidential election remained in doubt Wednesday, with the outcome hinging on a handful of states where a flood of mail-in ballots sparked by the coronavirus pandemic remained to be counted.  
   
President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden both won states they were expected to win in their bid for a majority in the Electoral College that determines who wins the White House in the country’s indirect form of democracy.
    
But the outcome of contests in several states – Georgia and Pennsylvania in the eastern part of the country, Michigan and Wisconsin in the Midwest and Arizona and Nevada in the West — was unsettled as officials counted millions of votes, some that were cast on Tuesday and many more during weeks of early voting.
 
By mid-morning Wednesday, Trump led in Georgia and Pennsylvania and Biden in the other four, but with the eventual results uncertain.*/

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With mail-in ballots from heavily Democratic communities now being tabulated, the Biden campaign said, “Joe Biden is on track to win this election.”  
 President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)Even as vote-counting was ongoing in the early hours Wednesday, Trump appeared before supporters at the White House to claim victory. He said he would go to the Supreme Court to try to have what he called the “voting” stopped, although polls had closed hours earlier and state election officials were continuing to tally ballots.  
   
“This is a major fraud on our nation,” Trump contended, adding, “As far as I’m concerned, I already have” won.  
 
Also Wednesday, Biden campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said on Twitter, “If Donald Trump got his wish and we stopped counting ballots right now, Joe Biden would be the next president of the United States.”
 
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien countered, “If we count all legally cast ballots, we believe the president will win.” He said that any news outlets that declared that Biden had won Arizona are “just plain wrong,” and that Trump would eventually win the state by 30,000 votes.
 Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to supporters, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Paul SancyaThe Biden campaign called the president’s vow to shut down the counting of ballots an “outrageous” effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens who chose to cast their ballots before Election Day.
 
Earlier, Biden addressed supporters in his home city of Wilmington, Delaware, to thank them and express confidence he would prevail.  
   
“Keep the faith guys; we’re going to win this,” Biden told cheering supporters near his home as they honked car horns.    
    
But as vote counting continued in several key states where he trailed Trump, Biden warned, “We’re going to have to be patient.” Vote counting  
     
Trump called for ending the election even as he trailed Biden in the Electoral College vote count, 224-213, with a majority of 270 in the 538-member Electoral College needed to claim a new presidential term starting Jan. 20.   
 
The national winner is determined by the outcome in each of the 50 states and the national capital city of Washington, with each state winner collecting all the state’s electoral votes except in two lightly populated states where the winners in individual congressional districts come into play.  A worker checks with an election supervisor at the central counting board, in Detroit, Michigan, Nov. 4, 2020.Biden led the national popular vote Wednesday morning, 68.7 million to 66.1 million, but it is the Electoral College vote that is controlling, with the most populous states having the most electoral votes and the most sway in determining who will lead the country.
   
Trump had told confidants in recent days that he would declare victory on the night of Election Day if he felt he was “ahead.”  
   
“I think it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election,” he told reporters on Sunday. “I think it’s a terrible thing when states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over.”   
   
Trump’s running mate, Vice President Mike Pence, said Republicans were determined to “protect the vote” but did not echo Trump in saying they had already won.
 
“It’s going to be a fight to the end,” said La Trice Washington, a political scientist at Otterbein University in Ohio.    
   Latest developments    
• Democrats were on track, as expected, to retain their majority control of the House of Representatives. Republicans appeared to be clinging to their majority in the Senate, with incumbent Republican lawmakers turning back stiff challenges from Democrats in several states.    
• Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate majority leader, won his seventh six-year term.    
 
• According to an Edison Research voter exit poll, Trump improved his standing with every race and gender except white men, compared with his showing in 2016 when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.    
• The FBI said it was investigating reports of robocalls discouraging people from voting in some states. But there were no signs of large-scale conflict at polls as some had feared.    
 
•  Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters Tuesday there was “no indication” that a “foreign actor” successfully interfered in the election.A Chester County election worker pushes mail-in and absentee ballots for the 2020 U.S. general election to be processed at West Chester University, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Nov. 4, 2020.Large turnout    
    
Tens of millions of people stood in lines across the country throughout the day to cast their ballots on Election Day. More than 101 million other people voted early in recent weeks, partly to avoid coming face-to-face with others amid the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.   
    
The early vote in the waning weeks of the 2020 election amounted to more than two-thirds of the entire vote count in the 2016 election.
   
With the heavy early voting, the total 2020 count, by some estimates, could reach a U.S. record of 150 million or more. But with state-by-state laws controlling how soon the absentee votes could be counted — not until Tuesday night or later in some states —election experts predicted the outcome of the election might not be known for days, which is now a possibility.    
    
The presidential election unfolded after a rancorous and combative campaign, with both Trump and Biden lobbing taunts, claiming the other was unfit to lead the country and would take it to ruination.    
    
Last weekend, tensions mounted as thousands of Trump campaign supporters rallied and demonstrated throughout the country; in one case a caravan of vehicles with Trump flags in Texas surrounded a Biden campaign bus and, according to some accounts, tried to force it off a highway.   
    
Authorities and merchants in some cities, including New York, Detroit and Washington near the White House, boarded up storefronts to prevent potential damage and looting in the event election-related violence erupted; but; Election Day was peaceful.    
      
Some Democrats said they wanted to be among the first to vote against Trump, while many Republicans said they planned to vote in person on the official presidential Election Day — the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November — as has been the norm in U.S. elections every four years since the mid-1800s.    
    
Voters were choosing between two septuagenarians, both older than most the country’s 328 million citizens. Biden will be 78 by Inauguration Day on January 20, while Trump is 74. Whoever wins will be the oldest U.S. leader ever. 
   
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Election officials in the upper midwestern state of North Dakota say a 55-year-old candidate who died of COVID-19 in early October, has been elected to a seat in the state legislature.Officials say David Andahl, a Republican candidate for the state 8th District legislative seat, contracted the virus during a surge in infections and died October 5.  His family, in a posting to Facebook, said he suffered from other health issues that complicated his infection, though they did not elaborate.Election officials chose to leave Andahl’s name on the ballot after the state attorney general said, should he win, his replacement could be chosen by a committee or voters could call for a special election.Andahl had been a rancher and served on his county zoning and planning commission for 12 years. The 8th District, just north of Bismarck in central North Dakota, has two House seats, and Andahl teamed up with another candidate, Dave Nehring, to run for the spots.In a hard-fought primary earlier this year, the two men had beaten one of North Dakota’s most influential state lawmakers, long-time state Rep. Jeff Delzer, who chaired the state House Appropriations Committee. During the campaign, Andahl won the backing of two of the state’s most influential Republicans, Gov. Doug Burgum and U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer.Cramer, a staunch supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, told reporters he had supported Andahl because “we need more Trump supporters in the state legislator.”At the time Andahl became infected with COVID-19 North Dakota was facing one of the worst outbreaks of the virus in the nation. 
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Americans are still waiting for the final vote tally in battleground states to determine whether incumbent Republican President Donald Trump will continue to be the country’s chief executive for the next four years, or be replaced by his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.Produced by: Barry Unger   
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More than 100 million Americans had already made their choice before Election Day, in early voting and voting by mail. Amid a pandemic, and ready for possible protests, tens of millions cast their ballots on Election Day.  Camera: Vero Balderas, Matteo Ghidoni, Esha Kaur Sarai, Gary Jaffe, Adam Greenbaum, Carolyn Presutti
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Control of the U.S. Senate remained uncertain early Wednesday as a handful of races in states including North Carolina, Maine and Georgia remained too close to call.   In Colorado, Democrats made a key pickup when Republican incumbent Cory Gardner lost to Democratic challenger John Hickenlooper, the former governor. Gardner is the last remaining Republican statewide official in a state that was once considered an election battleground.   According to the non-partisan Cook Political Report, just seven of the 35 Senate seats up for election Tuesday were rated true toss-ups. Senate Republicans went into Tuesday holding a 53-47 majority, but faced a tough election cycle since they are defending twice as many seats as Democrats this year.    Republicans did pick up a seat in Alabama, with Trump-endorsed former football coach Tommy Tuberville beating incumbent Democratic Senator Doug Jones. The Alabama Senate seat was the only toss-up seat this year held by Democrats.Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville speaks to supporters after he defeated Jeff Sessions in Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Montgomery, Ala.With the win in Colorado and the loss in Alabama, Democrats now need net wins of three seats if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins the presidency and four seats if U.S. President Donald Trump is re-elected.  With the Democrats building on their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, control of the Senate will be essential to the success of the agenda of the next occupant of the White House. The majority party in the Senate also will consider future appointments to the Supreme Court and federal judgeships. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky won an expected re-election, despite a well-funded challenge by Democrat Amy McGrath.    In a victory speech Tuesday night, McConnell said the nation faced significant challenges moving forward after the election. “We don’t yet know which Presidential candidate will begin a new term in January, we don’t know which party will control the Senate. But some things are certain already. We know grave challenges will remain before us, challenges that could not care less about our political polarization. We know our next president will need to unite the country as we all continue to bring different ideas and commitments to the table,” McConnell said.  But if Democrats win control of the Senate, McConnell will no longer serve in the top leadership position. Instead, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, would assume the reins of the Senate.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 21, 2020.The country would then face the prospect of either a divided government if Trump wins a second term, with the Republicans in control of the White House and the Democrats in control of Congress – or a unified government with the Democrats in control of both the Congress and White House if Biden prevails.   Trump ally Republican Senator Lindsey Graham defeated Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison in South Carolina. Harrison, a former South Carolina Democratic State Party Chairman, had raised Democrats’ hopes by breaking the record for the largest single-quarter fundraising ever in a Senate race – a record $57 million. As Senate Judiciary Chairman, Graham recently played a key role in confirming Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.  Control of the Senate could hinge on the outcome of votes in Georgia where both of the state’s Senate seats are up for election.  Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff is taking on Republican incumbent David Perdue. The other seat was a three-way race in a special election. Incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Reverend Raphael Warnock, a Democrat new to politics, secured enough votes to advance past Republican Rep. Doug Collins.   The run-off between Loeffler and Warnock on January 5, 2021 means the final makeup of the U.S. Senate may not be decided until next year.  Republicans are also closely watching the Senate race in Iowa, where Republican incumbent Senator Joni Ernst was trailing several points behind Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield in most polls in the days leading up to the election. Both Ernst and Greenfield highlighted their ties to farming in the agricultural-based state.  But Ernst strongly supported Trump’s trade wars with China that caused economic uncertainty for many farmers and recently she stumbled during a debate when asked to name the current price of corn.  Republicans were also looking to Maine where Incumbent Senator Susan Collins has been trailing former state representative Sara Gideon by several points through most of the fall. And in the key swing state North Carolina, Republican Senator Thom Tillis was fighting off a challenge from former state senator Cal Cunningham. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats were expected to build on their majority with a net gain of at least five seats.   House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California is likely to be re-elected to her position when the new Congress convenes next January. She told reporters in a call earlier Tuesday, “This election is about nothing less than taking back the soul of America, whether our nation will follow the voices of fear or whether we will choose hope.” 
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U.S. security officials are bracing for a new round of potential attacks on the country’s election, with polling sites across the country starting to shut down and unofficial results starting to come in. “We’re not going to let our guard down,” a senior official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) told reporters late Tuesday, speaking only on the condition of anonymity. “It’s presenting a whole new attack surface,” the official added. U.S. election security officials had expressed confidence the 2020 election would be “the most secure election in modern history” heading into the nationwide vote. Some officials Tuesday even described the threat environment as “much quieter” than in 2016, when Russian hackers targeted systems in all 50 states. Election workers open ballots at the Palm Beach County Elections Office during the 2020 U.S. presidential election in West Palm Beach, Florida, Nov. 3, 2020.But as polling sites close down, their focus has shifted to what many counterintelligence and security officials have long billed as the greater threat — possible attempts by U.S. adversaries to sow chaos and confusion by targeting websites that report on election results, or by spreading disinformation about how votes are being counted. “A range of actors could post misleading, false, fake news, whatever, about voting results at this point,” the senior CISA official said. The government assessment was quickly echoed by private cybersecurity firms, who said potential attacks on voting infrastructure or related systems never materialized. “At this point, we are more concerned about adversaries undermining our confidence than altering any outcome,” John Hultquist, senior director of analysis at American cybersecurity firm Mandiant, told VOA in a statement. Even as the first states began reporting results late Tuesday, there were signs some Russian state-backed media were posting misleading information on social media. NEW: Senior US election security officials renew warning about #Russia|n outlets like RT, Sputnik “These are organs of the state. These are mouthpieces of the state. Treat them accordingly. w/a hefty, hefty, hefty dose of skepticism” per official https://t.co/CK8xi58gFE— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) November 3, 2020 “These are organs of the state. These are mouthpieces of the state,” the senior CISA official warned. “Treat them accordingly … with a hefty, hefty, hefty dose of skepticism.” Counterintelligence and election security officials have likewise warned Iranian cyber actors may also seek to disrupt the election by turning to two of their favorite tactics — defacing websites and denial of service attacks — both of which could make it more difficult for U.S. voters to get the early, unofficial results. As polls begin to close in some states on the East Coast, remember #ElectionNight results reported are UNOFFICIAL.Official results are certified sometimes days or weeks after the election. 👉 This is a normal process for each election 👈#TrustedInfo2020pic.twitter.com/yHAngk1f31— NASS #TrustedInfo2020 (@NASSorg) November 4, 2020They also cautioned Americans not to panic, saying just as with voting during the day, some problems could very well be the result of heavy demand or other technical issues. Our election results webpage is currently experiencing technical difficulties. We are working with our vendor to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience. Data to third parties/news outlets has not been affected.— Texas Secretary of State (@TXsecofstate) November 4, 2020Even before Tuesday’s voting, U.S. officials acknowledged at least two attempts to meddle with the elections in recent weeks, one by Iran and one by Russia. In both cases, hackers were able to steal information related to voter registration databases, with Iranian hackers managing to infiltrate one state’s database and use that information as part of a disinformation campaign. US Confirms Iran Hacked Voter Registration Data in 1 StateOfficials describe the hack as part of broad Iranian campaign, warning that while Tuesday’s election remains safe, more attacks are comingBut officials said that, as of Tuesday, Russia had yet to make use of the information it managed to steal. Officials ‘confident’ in election securityOfficials also expressed confidence the Russian and Iranian efforts would have no bearing on the outcome of the election. “No voter data was altered,” the senior CISA official said. “We remain confident in the security of the vote, the vote count and the certification process.” Officials have also credited U.S. Cyber Command’s “hunt forward” approach with potentially helping to shut down or block attacks against the U.S. election before they had the chance to do damage. US Cyber Forces Go Hunting for Election Trouble Officials warn adversaries — especially Russia and China — that US forces are waging a preemptive campaign to protect the November presidential vote “We’ve got defensive cyber elements that are sitting in war rooms, waiting on a call,” a CYBERCOM spokesperson told VOA. “If there is something that happens that DHS needs help with, we are trained, and we have collaborated in the past, and we’re ready.” CYBERCOM Commander, Gen. Paul Nakasone, took to Twitter on Tuesday to hammer the message home. “[We] are working around the clock to defend our Nation,” he wrote, adding in another tweet, “Rest assured, if called to, we will act.” .@US_CYBERCOM & @NSAgov are working around the clock to defend our Nation, making it harder for adversaries to conduct malicious cyber campaigns. Along with our partners, we continue to protect our democracy from foreign influence & interference for a safe and secure election.— General Paul M. Nakasone (@CYBERCOM_DIRNSA) November 4, 2020In addition to Russia and Iran, counterintelligence officials have warned repeatedly about China, saying it too has been actively targeting Americans, trying to play up existing political divisions and foster distrust in the election process. Official: US Adversaries Taking Sides, Wielding Influence Ahead of Election  US counterintelligence officials, splitting with President Trump, warn Russian-linked actors are pulling for his reelection as China and Iran aim to put Democrat Joe Biden in the White HouseBut they also say as many as 30 countries have sought to influence the election, a list that includes U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and adversaries like Cuba and Venezuela. US Bracing for Attacks Before and After Election Day Counterintelligence and security officials warn voters attempts to meddle will come in various shapes, forms and will not end once polls closeAs of early Tuesday, officials said they were aware of at least one disinformation campaign targeting Chinese-American voters and were working with other government agencies and social media companies to address it. According to the nonprofit investigative website ProPublica, at least two dozen groups on the Chinese-owned social media app WeChat were trying to intimidate voters by spreading rumors that U.S. officials were going to mobilize troops to put down impending riots.Officials have also expressed concern about state-backed media, which has been producing what one official described as “this steady drumbeat of disinformation.” 
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