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Pennsylvania: The Key, and Relatively New, Swing State 

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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Protests in Several US Cities as Presidential Vote Remains Undecided

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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Social Media Firms Limit Speech About US Election

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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US Officials: No Foreign Meddling Detected in Presidential Election

U.S. election security officials say no matter who emerges as the winner of the country’s presidential election, it will be American voters, not foreign adversaries, who determined the outcome.“We have no evidence any foreign adversary was capable of preventing Americans from voting or changing vote tallies,” Christopher Krebs, chief of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said in a statement late Wednesday.The statement follows similar assurances from election and security officials after polls closed late Tuesday, when U.S. Cyber Command’s General Paul Nakasone said he was “confident the actions we’ve taken against adversaries over the past several weeks and months have ensured they’re not going to interfere.”The CISA statement also comes at a key moment, as election officials in a handful of states tally the last votes in what has become a tight race between U.S. President Donald Trump and his challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.Already, the Trump campaign has sought to challenge some of the results, filing a lawsuit in the state of Michigan over complaints about access to counting locations, while calling for a recount in the state of Wisconsin.Social media have also been rife with rumors and allegations of domestic fraud, including some allegations circulated by accounts belonging to members of Trump’s family or other high-profile supporters.Based on actual math and not gamesmanship like the democrats are attempting. https://t.co/AnjVB3IosA— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 4, 2020AZ Republicans I am being sent examples of legal ballots invalidated by the Secy of State. Make sure your returned legal ballot is in the tally!— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) November 4, 2020CISA and the FBI on Wednesday declined to comment on the allegations, but organizations representing state election officials said they were “diligently counting every eligible ballot cast.””Over the course of the election, more than 100 million ballots were safely and securely cast, both in-person and by mail,” according to a joint statement by the National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State.“These results are unofficial, and numbers will continue to change until they have been reviewed and certified,” the statement said, adding, “This is standard for each election.”In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s nationwide vote, U.S. intelligence officials publicly acknowledged both Iran and Russia had sought to meddle in the election by hacking into systems connected to voter registration databases.They said that while the Iranians infiltrated one state’s database and used that information as part of a disinformation campaign, the attacks were shut down and did not have any impact on the election.Still, Cyber Command’s Nakasone tweeted Wednesday that with votes still being counted, his teams remained active, “countering foreign adversaries that seek to interfere.”As votes continue to be counted, @US_CYBERCOM & @NSAGov teams continue standing the watch – countering foreign adversaries that seek to interfere in our electoral processes.— General Paul M. Nakasone (@CYBERCOM_DIRNSA) November 4, 2020Other government agencies charged with helping secure the election spent Wednesday shifting their focus from protecting U.S. election infrastructure to pushing back against disinformation campaigns designed to undermine confidence in the election itself.”You could potentially see [website] defacements, manipulating counts on certain websites or even on media,” a senior CISA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, warned late Tuesday as the final polling sites were closing. “You could see disinformation campaigns out there amplifying or pushing false results or outcomes.”Officials and experts said some of those campaigns appeared to get underway as the polls began to close Tuesday, pointing to posts on social media by Russian-backed media outlets.By late Wednesday, CISA used Twitter to urge Americans to beware.“We’re seeing reports of fake media accounts calling a state,” CISA’s Krebs said, pointing to a series of tweets pretending to come from The Associated Press, saying Biden had won Michigan, though at the time, no such call had been made.Some experts warned that U.S. adversaries are likely biding their time, content to take advantage of the existing American disinformation ecosystem.???RUMOR CONTROL??? We’re seeing reports of fake media accounts calling a state – don’t fall for it! We predicted this would happen, check out the https://t.co/rqt4ZrZIzg entry! #Protect2020pic.twitter.com/AqafRxEHx1— Chris Krebs #Protect2020 (@CISAKrebs) November 4, 2020“The foreign actors only have to amplify the things certain domestic actors are saying,” said Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation fellow at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.“There’s a lot more to be gained in the post-Election Day period, in terms of inspiring greater distrust in the democratic system for the long term,” she said.
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Americans Anxiously Await Election Results as Vote Counting Continues

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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US Voters Weigh In on a Variety of Ballot Initiatives

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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Americans Go to the Polls

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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Race for the White House is Too Close to Call

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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Trump, Biden Locked in Tight Contest for the US Presidency

U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden were locked in a tight contest for a four-year term in the White House Tuesday night, with the national outcome of the election hanging on undecided contests in key political battleground states. By mid-evening, Trump and Biden had both won states they were expected to win in their bid for a majority of 270 electoral votes in the 538-member Electoral College that determines who wins the presidency in the country’s indirect form of democracy, not the national popular vote. But the outcome of individual contests in several states – North Carolina and Pennsylvania in the eastern part of the country, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa in the Midwest and Arizona in the Southwest– were unsettled as officials counted millions of votes, some that were cast on Tuesday and many more during weeks of early voting. “It’s going to be a fight to the end,” said La Trice Washington, a political scientist at Otterbein University in Ohio. The national winner is determined by the outcome in each of the individual 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. The biggest states have the most electoral votes and the most sway in the Electoral College. Latest Developments Democrats were on track, as expected, to retain their majority control of the House of Representatives. But continued Republican control of the Senate was uncertain with the outcome of several Senate elections throughout the country undecided.  Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate majority leader, won his seventh six-year term, defeating former Marine Corps fighter pilot Amy McGrath. 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. While losing 5 percentage points with white men, Trump picked up 2 points with white women, four points with both Black men and Black women and 3 points each with Latino men and women.  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 is “no indication” that a “foreign actor” has successfully interfered in the election. /

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Large turnoutTens 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 unchecked coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. The early vote count focus was on three Atlantic coastal states — Florida, Trump’s adopted home state, Georgia to the immediate north and North Carolina. Trump won all three states in his 2016 upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, but recent national polls showed Trump and Biden locked in tight contests in all three.  Voters line up at a polling station on Election Day in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nov. 3, 2020.Analysts say Trump likely needs to win all three states if he is to claim a second term and avoid becoming the third U.S. president in the last four decades to lose a bid for re-election.  A victory for Biden, a political fixture in Washington for nearly a half century, in any of the three states would significantly increase his chances of winning the presidency on his third try. He lost bids for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008. Florida, with 29 electoral votes, Georgia, with 16, and North Carolina, with 15, play an important role in the U.S. indirect form of democracy that decides its presidential elections, rather than the national popular vote. The outcome is effectively decided in state-by-state elections throughout the 50-state country and the national capital city, Washington, D.C.  There were other key states in play in early vote-counting as well, including Virginia along the Atlantic Coast with 13 electoral votes and Ohio in the Midwest with 18. The winner needs a 270 majority in the 538-member Electoral College.Record early voting  The early vote in the waning weeks of the 2020 election amounted to more than two-thirds of the entire vote count of nearly 139 million in the 2016 election when Trump upset Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the White House.   With the heavy early voting, the total 2020 vote 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 can be counted — not until Tuesday night or later in some states — the outcome of the election may not be known for days, depending on how close the contest turns out.     The presidential election is coming after a rancorous and combative campaign, with both Trump and Biden lobbing taunts, claiming the other is unfit to lead the country and would take it to ruination.  Facing Unprecedented Challenges, Americans Answer Democracy’s Call at PollsMillions of Americans are casting ballots in unfamiliar ways during the global pandemic Over 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 forced a Biden campaign bus off a highway.   Authorities and merchants in some cities, including New York, Detroit and Washington near the White House, have boarded up storefronts to prevent potential damage and looting in the event election-related violence erupts.   Many of the early voters — two-thirds of whom mailed in ballots while the rest cast votes in person — said they wanted to avoid coming face to face Tuesday with other people in long lines at polling stations, as the U.S. on some recent days has recorded more than 90,000 new coronavirus cases.   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 are choosing between two septuagenarians, both of them older than the vast majority of 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.   In addition, voters are choosing all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate.Control of US Senate at Stake on Election DayJust a few close races will determine if Republicans maintain their Senate majority Trump campaigningThe president, in the waning days of the campaign, called the election “a choice between the American Dream and a socialist nightmare. … A choice between a Trump super-recovery and a Biden depression.”Trump has claimed that Biden, if elected, would be beholden to the policy proposals of more progressive Democrats who are pushing for a government takeover of U.S. health care and a Green New Deal to control climate change, both of which the moderate Biden says he opposes.   Trump has repeatedly contended that the U.S., with a world-leading coronavirus death toll of more than 231,000 people and 9.2 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, is “rounding the corner” in dealing with the pandemic, and promises that within weeks, the U.S. will have a vaccine against the coronavirus.   “I watched Joe Biden speak yesterday,” Trump said Saturday. “All he talks about is COVID, COVID. He’s got nothing else to say. COVID, COVID.”   Good Chance Neither Trump nor Biden Will Concede Presidential Election Concession speeches from defeated political rivals have traditionally played a key role in the peaceful transfer of power in American democracy. But as VOA’s Brian Padden reports, this year the presidential candidates may not concede on election night or soon after if the results are close.   
Produced by: Brian PaddenBiden’s rhetoric Biden has often assailed Trump’s handling of the virus, mocking him for suggesting months ago it could be treated by ingesting bleach.    Biden told one rally, “Millions of people out there are out of work, on the edge” because of the pandemic. “Can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Donald Trump has given up. Donald Trump has waved the white flag, abandoned our families and surrendered to the virus.”   Biden said he would “choose hope over fear. We choose unity over division. Science over fiction. And yes, we choose truth over lies.”     “I don’t care how hard Donald Trump tries. There’s nothing — let me say that again — there’s nothing that he can do to stop the people of this nation from voting in overwhelming numbers and taking back this democracy,” Biden said at a rally in Flint, Michigan.   According to Polls, Who’s Likelier to Win, Trump or Biden? Biden wants the election to be a referendum on Trump’s handling of the pandemic. Are there other issues shaping the race?Electoral voting   National polls have for weeks shown Biden leading Trump nationally by about 7 or 8 percentage points, but only by about half that margin or less in key battleground states that are likely to determine the outcome.   Even two lightly populated states — Maine in the Northeast with four electoral votes and Nebraska in the Midwest with five — could play a role in the national outcome if the election is close. The two states award their electors by the vote count in individual congressional districts and the overall statewide vote, which could be a factor in an extremely close election.   
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US Officials Confident in Secure Election, Turn Focus to Disinformation

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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First US Polls Close as Trump, Biden Await Initial Vote Counts

Election polls began closing in the U.S. Tuesday night, with Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, waiting for officials to release the first vote counts in their highly contested race for a four-year term in the White House. As polls closed in the Midwestern state of Indiana and neighboring Kentucky in early evening, people were continuing to vote along the eastern seaboard and throughout more western time zones in the U.S.Latest DevelopmentsBiden began the day by attending Mass at a Delaware church, and later spoke to supporters in nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania   Trump started the morning by calling the “Fox & Friends” program and then visited his reelection headquarters outside Washington, before returning to the White House  The U.S. Postal Service said there were delays in delivering 300,000 ballots to election officials in Michigan and parts of North Carolina and Pennsylvania. They must be delivered by Election Day in Michigan and must be postmarked by Election Day in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to count  Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters Tuesday there is “no indication” that a “foreign actor” has successfully interfered in the election. */

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Large turnoutTens 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 unchecked coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. The early vote count focus was on two Atlantic coastal states — Florida, Trump’s adopted home state, and North Carolina. Trump won both states in his 2016 upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, but late polls this year showed Trump and Biden locked in tight contests.  Voters line up at a polling station on Election Day in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nov. 3, 2020.Analysts say Trump needs to win both states if he is to claim a second term and avoid becoming the third U.S. president in the last four decades to lose a bid for re-election.  A victory for Biden, a political fixture in Washington for nearly a half century, in either or both of the states would significantly increase his chances of winning the presidency on his third try. He lost bids for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008. Florida, with 29 electoral votes, and North Carolina with 15, play an important role in the U.S. indirect form of democracy that decides its presidential elections, rather than the national popular vote. The outcome is effectively decided in state-by-state elections throughout the 50-state country and the national capital city, Washington, D.C.   The winner needs a 270 majority in the 538-member Electoral College.   Record early voting  The early vote in the waning weeks of the 2020 election amounted to more than two-thirds of the entire vote count of nearly 139 million in the 2016 election when Trump upset Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the White House.   With the heavy early voting, the total 2020 vote 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 can be counted — not until Tuesday night or later in some states — the outcome of the election may not be known for days, depending on how close the contest turns out.     The presidential election is coming after a rancorous and combative campaign, with both Trump and Biden lobbing taunts, claiming the other is unfit to lead the country and would take it to ruination.  Facing Unprecedented Challenges, Americans Answer Democracy’s Call at PollsMillions of Americans are casting ballots in unfamiliar ways during the global pandemic Over 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 forced a Biden campaign bus off a highway.   Authorities and merchants in some cities, including New York, Detroit and Washington near the White House, have boarded up storefronts to prevent potential damage and looting in the event election-related violence erupts.   Many of the early voters — two-thirds of whom mailed in ballots while the rest cast votes in person — said they wanted to avoid coming face to face Tuesday with other people in long lines at polling stations, as the U.S. on some recent days has recorded more than 90,000 new coronavirus cases.   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 are choosing between two septuagenarians, both of them older than the vast majority of 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.   In addition, voters are choosing all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate.Control of US Senate at Stake on Election DayJust a few close races will determine if Republicans maintain their Senate majority Trump campaigningThe president, in the waning days of the campaign, called the election “a choice between the American Dream and a socialist nightmare. … A choice between a Trump super-recovery and a Biden depression.”Trump has claimed that Biden, if elected, would be beholden to the policy proposals of more progressive Democrats who are pushing for a government takeover of U.S. health care and a Green New Deal to control climate change, both of which the moderate Biden says he opposes.   Trump has repeatedly contended that the U.S., with a world-leading coronavirus death toll of more than 231,000 people and 9.2 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, is “rounding the corner” in dealing with the pandemic, and promises that within weeks, the U.S. will have a vaccine against the coronavirus.   “I watched Joe Biden speak yesterday,” Trump said Saturday. “All he talks about is COVID, COVID. He’s got nothing else to say. COVID, COVID.”   Good Chance Neither Trump nor Biden Will Concede Presidential Election Concession speeches from defeated political rivals have traditionally played a key role in the peaceful transfer of power in American democracy. But as VOA’s Brian Padden reports, this year the presidential candidates may not concede on election night or soon after if the results are close.   
Produced by: Brian PaddenBiden’s rhetoric Biden has often assailed Trump’s handling of the virus, mocking him for suggesting months ago it could be treated by ingesting bleach.    Biden told one rally, “Millions of people out there are out of work, on the edge” because of the pandemic. “Can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Donald Trump has given up. Donald Trump has waved the white flag, abandoned our families and surrendered to the virus.”   Biden said he would “choose hope over fear. We choose unity over division. Science over fiction. And yes, we choose truth over lies.”     “I don’t care how hard Donald Trump tries. There’s nothing — let me say that again — there’s nothing that he can do to stop the people of this nation from voting in overwhelming numbers and taking back this democracy,” Biden said at a rally in Flint, Michigan.   According to Polls, Who’s Likelier to Win, Trump or Biden? Biden wants the election to be a referendum on Trump’s handling of the pandemic. Are there other issues shaping the race?Electoral voting   National polls have for weeks shown Biden leading Trump nationally by about 7 or 8 percentage points, but only by about half that margin or less in key battleground states that are likely to determine the outcome.   Even two lightly populated states — Maine in the Northeast with four electoral votes and Nebraska in the Midwest with five — could play a role in the national outcome if the election is close. The two states award their electors by the vote count in individual congressional districts and the overall statewide vote, which could be a factor in an extremely close election.   
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US Confident in Election Security as Voters Cast Ballots

Efforts to secure U.S. voting infrastructure and to hunt down potential cyber threats appear to be paying off as millions of Americans cast ballots for president and local and state officials.U.S. election security officials continue to express confidence, hours after the first polling centers opened their doors to voters on Tuesday, the last day for citizens to cast a ballot.A senior official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), briefing reporters only on the condition of anonymity, described the threat to the country’s election infrastructure as “much quieter” than in 2016, when Russian hackers targeted systems in all 50 states.“At this point, this just looks like any other election day and even just another Tuesday,” the official added, noting technical issues had caused some problems across the United States, though many of them had been resolved.Some polling places across the country reported long lines, which officials have mostly attributed to the high volume of Americans wanting to vote in the hotly contested presidential election.Voters wait in a long line to cast their ballots at Church of the Servant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Nov. 3, 2020.But officials said the stress on the country’s election infrastructure has also been eased by the more than 100 million Americans who have already voted by mail or at early voting centers.“We have no indications that a foreign adversary has succeeded in compromising or affecting the actual votes cast in this election,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said at a briefing just hours after the first polling sites opened their doors Tuesday.“Our election infrastructure is resilient,” he said, adding, “We do remain on high alert.”U.S. officials have already acknowledged at least two attempts to penetrate systems seen as critical to 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 comingOfficials ‘confident’ in election securityStill, officials said Tuesday that those attacks were shut down quickly and 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 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 CYBERCOM also said it remained ready to respond if necessary.”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.”FBI investigating robocallsStill, federal and state officials have voiced concerns about some attempts to intimidate U.S. voters, including a series of robocalls to voters in at least six states, urging them to stay home.NOW: Here’s the full audio of the “time to stay home” robocall landing across the US. Did you get a call today? Let me know. Please RT! pic.twitter.com/XmWJyJ6sar
— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) November 3, 2020The senior CISA official said the FBI is investigating the calls, but cautioned, “robocalls of this nature happen every election.”FBI officials declined to comment but urged U.S. voters to go directly to local election officials for information.While the origins of the calls remain unclear, it appears the messaging itself is not new.“We had been receiving complaints about these robocalls throughout the season,” said Kristen Clarke, the president and CEO of The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.Clarke, though, said it appears to be number of calls has spiked in connection with Tuesday’s election.Warning voters on foreign meddlingU.S. election security officials are also warning Americans to remain vigilant, cautioning that U.S. adversaries like Russia, China and Iran may be waiting until the polls close to launch more serious attacks.“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said CISA Director Christopher Krebs on Tuesday.”Today in some sense is halftime. There may be other events or activities or efforts to interfere and undermine confidence in the election,” he said. “So, I ask all Americans to be patient, to treat all sensational claims with skepticism.”Counterintelligence officials have been especially concerned about ongoing influence operations, warning that Russia, China and Iran in particular, have been actively targeting Americans, trying to play up existing political divisions and foster distrust in the election process.Officials also charge all three countries with trying to impact the outcome of the U.S. presidential race, trying to boost or harm the candidacies of President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden.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.One Russian-backed media outer Tuesday, RT, spent part of Tuesday promoting an election day interview with Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City.This past Sunday, Trump’s top adviser on the coronavirus, Dr. Scott Atlas, apologized on Twitter after giving RT an interview from the White House, saying he was “unaware they are a registered foreign agent.”The U.S. intelligence community has called RT a propaganda arm of the Russian government.(VOA’s Masood Farivar contributed to this story.)
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Record Turnout Expected Among US Millennial, Gen Z Voters

Millennial and Generation Z voters are expected to turn out in record numbers for the Nov. 3 presidential election, experts say, continuing a trend of increased participation since the midterm elections in 2018.  “A lot of students are back in their hometowns, so they are more likely to be able to vote easily,” said Josh Kutner, a senior at the George Washington University and chairman of GW College Republicans. Josh Kutner (courtesy photo)“Campaigns are really looking to young people to be leaders and help fight for their values and their visions for their community, so I think that’s been a pretty big role in getting young voters engaged all across the country this year.”
Among the nearly 240 million eligible voters in the United States today, about 20% are 18- to 29-year-olds who are Jordan Harzynski (courtesy photo)“We’re also seeing that the pandemic has helped many young people, almost 45 percent, say that the decisions made by elected officials impact their everyday life, and that’s a lesson that they’ve learned over the past several months while we’ve been going through this,” said Kiesa.   Social media have been key to galvanizing younger voters, stated Ben Kelley, a young voter from Illinois.  President Donald Trump “is really the first president to be constantly engaged with social media and to use it to communicate his inner thoughts and policy proposals,” stated Kelley, and “that is where young voters are.”According to Twitter, Trump has 87.4 million followers and has tweeted more than 58,100 times. Former President Barack Obama has 124.6 million followers and tweeted more than 16,000 times.  Jordan Harzynski, a freshman at George Mason University in Virginia, runs the “youngvoters4joe” Instagram account, which has more than 1,100 followers and promotes young voter turnout for Democratic candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.   “We can’t keep tweeting and posting on Instagram; we have to do the real work,” said Harzynski. “I’ve seen that as a problem with my group, people like to watch the debates but they don’t like to make phone calls. We have to make phone calls; we have to put in the work to win this election.” 
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Trump, Biden Hold Final Rallies Ahead of Presidential Election

President Donald Trump and his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, spent the final day of the campaign trying to earn every last vote in a few key states. VOA’s Brian Padden reports. 
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Trump Claims Extended Vote Counting in Pennsylvania Could Spark Violence 

In his final day of campaigning, U.S. President Donald Trump warned of post-election violence due to a Supreme Court decision to allow extended ballot counting in what may be the pivotal state of Pennsylvania.  Polls show former Vice President Joe Biden with a slight lead in the state where mail-in ballots, expected to favor the Democrats, might not be tabulated for days following Tuesday’s election.   In between his Monday rallies in Traverse City, Michigan, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, Trump tweeted that extended counting of such ballots in Pennsylvania “will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!”  The Supreme Court decision on voting in Pennsylvania is a VERY dangerous one. It will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Former President Barack Obama speaks at a rally as he campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Nov. 2, 2020, in Miami.Biden said of Trump at a midday drive-in rally in Cleveland, Ohio. “The character of America is literally on the ballot.”   Discussion of issues during the campaign has been largely overshadowed by the two candidate’s personal attacks on each other and the coronavirus pandemic.  The president, earlier on Monday in North Carolina, emphasized an economic recovery amid the pandemic, promising “we will mass distribute the vaccine within a few short weeks.”       Health officials, including those in Trump’s administration, predict most Americans are unlikely to be inoculated against COVID-19 before early or mid-2021.    Trump, at the first of Monday’s five rallies in four states, said his challenger, if elected, “will turn America into a prison state” through lockdowns to combat the virus.    Biden said in Cleveland that “the first step to beating the virus is beating Donald Trump.”Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden waves after speaking at a rally at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport, Nov. 2, 2020, in Cleveland.Obama characterized the president as a COVID-19 “super-spreader” for holding packed campaign rallies and White House events.      The pandemic has overshadowed other issues in the presidential campaign with COVID-19 cases spiking in recent weeks in many of the U.S. states expected to decide the presidential election.       The coronavirus has killed more than 231,000 people and infected nearly 9.3 million in the United States, the most of any country in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.    National polls show the former vice president with about an eight-point lead, but the race is significantly tighter in the swing states that will decide the victor.        The common stop on the Monday itineraries of both Biden and Trump was Pennsylvania, the eastern U.S. state that Trump won in 2016.  The winner of Pennsylvania earns 20 of the 270 electoral votes a candidate needs to earn a four-year term in the White House.        Trump on Monday held a rally at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport, while Biden addressed supporters at three socially distanced drive-in events in the state.  Biden campaign events in Pennsylvania also featured remarks and performances by entertainers Lady Gaga, Patti LaBelle, John Legend and Common.   “We all know that this could come down to Pennsylvania. … Vote like your life depends on it. Vote like your children’s lives depend on it, because they do,” Lady Gaga said in Pittsburgh before taking a seat at the piano and singing several songs interspersed with appeals for Pennsylvanians to vote for Biden.   Trump is ending his campaigning with a late evening rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a replay of his 2016 finale in a state Hillary Clinton was expected to win.    Results from Election Day will not be official until weeks later. The deadlines vary by state, with a few reporting within a week but many not requiring final results to be reported until late November or early December.          Most years, the winner is clear before the official results with media organizations making projections based on tabulations from individual voting precincts.       This year a record number of people have cast early ballots — nearly 99 million— and with many of those coming by way of mail-in ballots due to concerns about the coronavirus, the counting in some states could be slower than usual.   
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Judge Rejects Republican Effort to Toss Out 127,000 Houston Votes

A federal judge on Monday rejected a Republican effort to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in Houston because the ballots were cast at drive-thru polling centers established during the pandemic.  The lawsuit was brought by conservative Texas activists who have railed against expanded voting access in Harris County, where a record 1.4 million early votes have already been cast. The county is the nation’s third largest and a crucial battleground in Texas, where President Donald Trump and Republicans are bracing for the closest election in decades on Tuesday.  U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s decision to hear arguments on the brink of Election Day drew concern from voting rights activists and came after the Texas Supreme Court rejected a nearly identical challenge over the weekend.  The ruling came in response to a lawsuit by conservative GOP activists who have filed a battery of court challenges over moves to expand voting options during the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges have not involved Trump’s campaign. Another 20,000 or more voters were expected to use drive-thru polling locations Tuesday, said Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, the county’s top elections official. Several voters who already used the drive-thru centers rushed to join mounting opposition to the lawsuit, including a Houston attorney whose wife was 35 weeks pregnant when she cast her ballot. She gave birth to twins Friday. “My vote counts,” David Hobbs said. “My wife’s vote counts.” FILE – A line of cars drive in for an event encouraging community members to vote in the upcoming presidential election at an early voting site in Houston, Texas, October 25, 2020.Trump won Texas by nine points in 2016, but polls have shown Democrat Joe Biden still within reach in America’s biggest red state. Democrats also need to flip only nine seats to reclaim a majority in the Texas House for the first time in 20 years and have aggressively targeted several races in Harris County.  Harris County offered 10 drive-thru locations as an option for its nearly 5 million residents amid worries of spreading the coronavirus. Jared Woodfill, a former chairman of the Harris County GOP, argued that Texas election law makes no explicit allowances for drive-thru voting and framed it is as an unlawful expansion of curbside voting, which is legal in Texas but limited to people who are unable to enter polling places because of their health.  Portions of the hearing were consumed by debate over what exactly qualified as a legal structure for a polling place under Texas law.  “You have a fundamental right to vote in a car?” Hanen tersely asked an attorney for the ACLU.  Woodfill’s lawsuit noted that all but one of the drive-thru centers were set up “in Democrat areas of the county.” More than 40% of Harris County residents are Latino, and about one in five residents are Black.Demonstrators stand across the street from the federal courthouse in Houston, Texas, November 2, 2020, before a hearing in federal court involving drive-thru ballots cast in Harris County.The lawsuit drew objections even from Republicans, include former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus. Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who is facing the toughest reelection battle of his career Tuesday against Democrat MJ Hegar, also said during a weekend campaign stop that the Texas Supreme Court made the right decision earlier in rejecting an identical challenge. The Texas Supreme Court, which is controlled entirely by Republicans, rejected an identical lawsuit last month and on Sunday refused to invalidate the votes already cast. The state’s highest court did not explain its decision. Hollins had asked Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to affirm that the drive-thru locations are legal but received no response.  Texas is one of just five states that did not allow for widespread mail-in voting this year during the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 18,000 people statewide. Abbott instead expanded early voting by one week, and that extra time helped Texas already surpass 2016’s total votes even before Tuesday’s election.  More than 9.7 million people have cast early ballots in Texas, where turnout typically ranks among the lowest in the country. Some elections experts predict that total turnout in Texas could surpass 12 million, and Harris County officials have taken more steps than most to expand voting access. The county tripled the number of polling places and last week had eight locations that stayed open for 24 hours.  
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