Politics Election category, Page 270
Supreme Court leaves North Carolina absentee ballot deadline at Nov. 12
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will allow absentee ballots in North Carolina to be received and counted up to nine days after Election Day, in a win for Democrats. The justices, by a 5-3 vote Wednesday, refused to disturb a decision by the State Board of Elections to lengthen the...
Ivanka Trump near Portersville: U.S. ‘much more capable of combating this virus as we wait for the vaccine’Video
The United States and its public health leaders are “much more capable” of confronting the next waves of coronavirus cases than they were when covid-19 first struck last spring, Ivanka Trump said while stumping for her father, President Donald Trump, Wednesday on a Lawrence County farm. Ivanka Trump, 38, whose...
Justices deny fast, new look at Pennsylvania ballot deadline
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would not grant a quick, pre-election review to a new Republican appeal to exclude absentee ballots received after Election Day in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, although it remained unclear whether those ballots will ultimately be counted. The court’s order...
Florida man charged with changing governor’s voting address
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis couldn’t initially cast his ballot this week because someone illegally changed his address online, a complication that resulted in a suspect’s arrest on felony charges and raised questions about the security of the state’s online registration system. DeSantis went to an early...
Former DHS official says he wrote ‘Anonymous’ Trump critique
WASHINGTON —A former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name “Anonymous” revealed himself Wednesday as a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. The official, Miles Taylor, said in a tweet six days before Election Day that Donald Trump...
What is ‘ballot harvesting,’ and who can and can’t deliver your mail ballot in Pa.
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — On...
Carnegie Mellon study finds severe polarization in political language
The divide between political parties is not just ideological. Their members are essentially speaking different languages, a study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found. Using computer translation tools, researchers analyzed 86.6 million YouTube comments from 6.5 million users on more than 200,000 news videos from CNN, Fox News, MSNBC...
Election 2020: What to watch for in the campaign’s final week
The race for the presidency is in the home stretch, with less than a week until Election Day. Pennsylvania figures to play a prominent role in what unfolds over the next week and who ultimately wins the White House. Here are five things to watch: Where will the campaigns go?...
No right to certain service level for mail-in votes, U.S. says
WASHINGTON — Delivery delays during an election can’t be unlawful, because the Constitution doesn’t guarantee states any particular level of service when it comes to mail-in ballots, the U.S. Postal Service told a federal judge. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and President Donald Trump are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit brought...
Justice Thomas’ wife Ginni boosts unsupported claims against Biden
WASHINGTON — The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is using her Facebook page to amplify unsubstantiated claims of corruption by Joe Biden. Ginni Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, asked her more than 10,000 followers Monday to consider sharing a link focused on alleged corruption by the Democratic nominee...
Incumbent state Senator Brewster faces GOP challenge from Lower Burrell attorney
A Lower Burrell attorney is challenging a Democratic incumbent known for working both sides of the aisle in the 45th State Senate District, which includes parts of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties and stretches from McKeesport to the Alle-Kiski Valley. While both candidates assign importance to similar issues, like the economy,...
Social media CEOs to face grilling from Republican senatorsVideo
WASHINGTON — Less than a week before Election Day, the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google are set to face a grilling by Republican senators who accuse the tech giants of anti-conservative bias. Democrats are trying to expand the discussion to include other issues such as the companies’ heavy impact...
Barrett sworn in at Supreme Court; Luzerne County asks for her recusal from Pa. case
WASHINGTON — Amy Coney Barrett was formally sworn in Tuesday as the Supreme Court’s ninth justice, her oath administered in private by Chief Justice John Roberts. Her first votes on the court could include two big topics affecting the man who appointed her. The court is weighing a plea from...
Chorus of artists tell Trump to stop using their music
From the beloved opening lines of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to the rousing, children’s-choir conclusion of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies have been filled with classic songs whose authors and their heirs loudly reject him and his politics. It’s become a...
Supreme Court won’t extend Wisconsin’s absentee ballot deadline
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is siding with Republicans to prevent Wisconsin from counting mailed ballots that are received after Election Day. In a 5-3 order, the justices on Monday refused to reinstate a lower court order that called for mailed ballots to be counted if they are received up...
Wolf’s office responds to Trump jabs at Lehigh Valley rally: ‘What the president said is inaccurate’Video
After President Trump stood before a cheering crowd Monday in Northampton County and blasted Gov. Tom Wolf repeatedly, a Wolf spokeswoman fired back, countering the Trump claims and calling one alleging interference in Trump rally planning “inaccurate.” Trump, speaking at a campaign rally outside HoverTech International in Hanover Township, several...
Vote-by-mail window may be closed with Postal Service still slow
WASHINGTON — Delivery by the U.S. Postal Service remains slow despite the intervention of federal judges and some voting advocates say ballots not in the mail now may not arrive in time to be counted and should instead be dropped off at voting facilities. The persistent delays include poor on-time...
Jared Kushner says African Americans must ‘want to be successful’Video
WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said Black people must “want to be successful” in order for his father-in-law’s policies to help them. “One thing we’ve seen in a lot of the Black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President Trump’s policies are the...
Grassroots volunteers rally voters in swing-state of Ohio
CINCINNATI — Something changed in Yana Duke this year. She came to the U.S. as a youth from Ukraine, had never been involved in politics before. But during the 2020 campaign season, she felt she had to do something. “What I’m afraid is coming to this country is what I’m...
Police: Dog tied to Trump sign in Donegal has not been abused
A dog that was tethered to a campaign sign for Donald Trump was not subjected to animal cruelty, the Pennsylvania State Police said on Sunday. Police first visited Donegal Oct. 17, to check on the welfare a dog reported to be tied to a political sign on private property. Photos...
GOP candidates and Allegheny County Elections officials reach settlement in lawsuit
A legal dispute between two Republican congressional candidates and the Allegheny County Board of Elections reached settlement Sunday, with the two sides agreeing on a process for handling nearly 29,000 erroneous mail-in ballots. The agreed-upon process is the same one that the county laid out last week as the lawsuit...
GOP slowly gaining as early vote total surpasses 2016Video
With nine days before Election Day, more people already have cast ballots in this year’s presidential election than voted early or absentee in the 2016 race as the start of in-person early voting in big states led to a surge in turnout in recent days. The opening of early voting...
Pa. Attorney General Josh Shapiro seeks second term in race against Republican Heather Heidelbaugh
Attorney General Josh Shapiro calls himself “the people’s lawyer.” Heather Heidelbaugh, his Republican challenger in the Nov. 3 election, refers to herself as “a lawyer’s lawyer.” While Shapiro has garnered national headlines for his impassioned challenges against the Trump administration, Heidelbaugh says the office is one that should focus on...
Rematch pits Davanzo against Prah in race for state House 58th District
Voters in the state House 58th District have seen this race before — seven months ago, to be exact, when Republican Eric Davanzo and Democrat Robert Prah Jr. vied to serve out the remaining time of a vacant term. Davanzo, 44, of South Huntingdon won by less than 1,000 votes...
Arnold Schwarzenegger feels ‘fantastic’ after heart surgery
LOS ANGELES — Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is feeling “fantastic” after his recent heart surgery. The 73-year-old “Terminator” actor and former California governor said on social media Friday that he had a new aortic valve implanted in his heart. He posted a photo of himself with a thumbs up from...
