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Culture war in US education lurks as election issue

U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have focused their campaigns mainly on hot-button issues such as immigration, abortion and the economy. But the culture clash over how to handle gender identity matters in elementary and secondary schools is also a campaign issue, with loud voices on all sides. VOA’s Laurel Bowman reports. Videographer: Saqib Ul Islam
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Georgia State Election Board approves rule requiring hand count of ballots 

atlanta — The election board for the U.S. state of Georgia on Friday voted to approve a new rule that requires poll workers to count the number of paper ballots by hand after voting is completed, a change that critics worry could delay the reporting of election night results.

The board’s decision went against the advice of the state attorney general’s office, the secretary of state’s office and an association of county election officials. Three Republican board members who were praised by former President Donald Trump during a rally last month in Atlanta voted to approve the measure, while the lone Democrat on the board and the nonpartisan chair voted to reject it. 

The State Election Board has found itself mired in controversy in recent months as it considers new rules, many of them proposed by Trump allies. Democrats, legal experts and democracy advocates have raised concerns that new rules could be used by the former president and his supporters to cause chaos in this crucial swing state and undermine public confidence in results if he loses to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in November. 

In a memo sent to election board members Thursday, the office of state Attorney General Chris Carr said no provision in state law allows hand counting of ballots at precincts. The memo says the rule is “not tethered to any statute” and is “likely the precise kind of impermissible legislation that agencies cannot do.” It warns that any rule that oversteps the board’s authority is unlikely to survive a legal challenge. 

Already, two rules the board passed last month having to do with certifying vote counts have been challenged in two separate lawsuits, one filed by Democrats and the other filed by a conservative group. A judge has set an October 1 trial on the Democrats’ lawsuit. 

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last month called the hand counting rule “misguided,” saying it would delay the reporting of election results and introduce risks to chain of custody procedures. 

The new rule requires that the number of ballots — not the number of votes — be counted at each polling place by three separate poll workers until all three counts are the same. If a scanner has more than 750 ballots inside at the end of voting, the poll manager can decide to begin the count the following day. 

Georgia voters make selections on a touchscreen voting machine that prints out a paper ballot that includes a human-readable list of the voter’s choices as well as a QR code that is read by a scanner to tally the votes. 

Proponents say the rule is needed to make sure the number of paper ballots matches the electronic tallies on scanners, check-in computers and voting machines. The three workers will have to count the ballots in piles of 50, and the poll manager needs to explain and fix, if possible, any discrepancies, as well as document them. 

Results could be delayed if polling places decide to wait until the hand tally is finished before they send the memory cards that record the votes in machines to the central tabulation location. 

Several county election officials who spoke out against the rule during a public comment period preceding the vote warned that a hand count could delay the reporting of election night results. They also worried about putting an additional burden on poll workers who have already worked a long day. 

Leaders of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials raised concerns similar to Raffensperger’s in a letter to the State Election Board last month, warning the rule would ultimately undermine confidence in the process. The nonprofit association’s members include over 500 election officials and workers statewide, according to the organization. 

Janelle King, a board member who worked with the author of the rule on the wording, said she wasn’t concerned if election night reporting was slowed a bit in favor of making sure that the number of ballots is accurate. 

“What I don’t want to do is set a precedent that we’re OK with speed over accuracy,” she said as the board was discussing the rule proposal, adding that she’d rather wait an extra hour or so for results than hear about lawsuits over inaccurate counts later. 

Board chairman John Fervier cautioned that the board was going against the advice of its lawyers and could be exceeding its authority. 

“This board is an administrative body. It’s not a legislative body,” he said. “If the legislature had wanted this, they would have put it in statute.” 

Some other states already count ballots by hand at the end of voting. Illinois has done so for decades “without complaints of delays or any potential impact on ballot security,” Matt Dietrich, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections, said in a statement. “It’s designed to ensure integrity and voter trust and by all accounts has worked.” 

Guidelines from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission say “the total number of ballots cast should balance with the number of total voters processed at each polling place,” but they do not call for a hand count of ballots from a tabulator. 

The board also tabled until 2025 a proposal for a similar count at early in-person voting locations. The board considered 11 new rules Friday, adopting a few others that mostly make minor changes and tabling some more complicated ones. 

The election officials association had urged the State Election Board in a letter Tuesday not to consider any new rules when Election Day is less than 50 days away, ballots are already going out and poll worker training is well underway. 

“We do not oppose rules because we are lazy or because a political operative or organization wants us to,” the letter says. “We oppose rules because they are poorly written, inefficient, would not accomplish their stated goals, or go directly against state law.” 
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Governor nominee vows to keep running after report on racial, sexual comments

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson vowed on Thursday to remain in the race despite a CNN report that he posted strongly worded racial and sexual comments on an online message board, saying he won’t be forced out by “salacious tabloid lies.”

Robinson, the sitting lieutenant governor who decisively won his GOP gubernatorial primary in March, has been trailing in several recent polls to Democratic nominee Josh Stein, the current attorney general.

“We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it,” Robinson said in a video posted Thursday on the social media platform X. “And we know that with your help, we will.”

Robinson referenced in the video a story that he said CNN was running, but he didn’t give details.

“Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story — those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” he said. “You know my words. You know my character.”

The CNN report describes a series of racial and sexual comments Robinson posted on the message board of a pornography website more than a decade ago.

CNN reported that Robinson, who would be North Carolina’s first Black governor, attacked civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in searing terms and once referred to himself as a “black NAZI.”

CNN also reported that Robinson wrote of being aroused by a memory of “peeping” at women in gym showers when he was 14 along with an appreciation of transgender pornography. Robinson at one point referred to himself as a “perv,” according to CNN.

The Associated Press has not independently confirmed that Robinson wrote and posted the messages. CNN said it matched details of the account on the pornographic website forum to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name.

CNN reported that details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information. It also compared figures of speech that came up frequently in his public Twitter profile that appeared in discussions by the account on the pornographic website.

Media outlets already have reported about a 2021 speech by Robinson in a church in which he used the word “filth” when discussing gay and transgender people.

Robinson has a history of inflammatory comments that Stein has said made him too extreme to lead North Carolina, a state on the U.S. Atlantic coast. They already have contributed to the prospect that campaign struggles for Robinson would hurt former President Donald Trump’s bid to win the battleground state’s 16 electoral votes, and potential other GOP down-ballot candidates.

Recent polls of North Carolina voters show Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a close race. The same polls show Stein with a roughly 10-point lead over Robinson.

Stein and his allies have repeatedly cited a Facebook post from 2019 in which Robinson said abortion in America was about “killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

The Stein campaign said in a statement after the report that “North Carolinians already know Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be Governor.”

State law says a gubernatorial nominee could withdraw as a candidate no later than the day before the first absentee ballots requested by military and overseas voters are distributed. That begins Friday, so the withdrawal deadline would be late Thursday. State Republican leaders could then pick a replacement.

Trump has frequently voiced his support for Robinson, who has been considered a rising star in his party, well-known for his fiery speeches and evocative rhetoric. Ahead of the March primary, Trump at a rally in Greensboro called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids” for his speaking ability.

Trump’s campaign appears to be distancing itself from Robinson in the wake of the report. In a statement to the AP, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the GOP nominee’s campaign “is focused on winning the White House and saving this country,” calling North Carolina “a vital part of that plan.”

Leavitt went on to contrast Trump’s economic record with that of Harris, not mentioning Robinson by name or answering questions as to whether he would appear with Trump at a Saturday campaign rally in Wilmington or had been invited to do so.

A spokesperson for Harris’ campaign, Ammar Moussa, said on social media platform X that “Donald Trump has a Mark Robinson problem” and reposted a photo of the two together.

The North Carolina Republican Party defended Robinson in a statement on X, saying that despite his denial of CNN’s report, it wouldn’t “stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks.” The party referred to economic and immigration policies as the predominant election issues North Carolinians will care more about instead.

“The Left needs this election to be a personality contest, not a policy contest because if voters focused on policy, Republicans win on Election Day,” the party said.

Scott Lassiter, a Republican state Senate candidate in a Raleigh-area swing district, did call on Robinson to “suspend his campaign to allow a quality candidate to finish this race.”

Ed Broyhill, a North Carolina member of the Republican National Committee, said he spoke to Robinson Thursday afternoon and still supports him as the nominee. In an interview, Broyhill suggested the online details may have been fabricated.

“It seems like a dirty trick to me,” Broyhill said.

On Capitol Hill, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson of North Carolina, chair of the House GOP’s campaign committee, told reporters the report’s findings were “concerning.” Robinson, he said, has some reassuring to do in the state.

Robinson, 56, was elected lieutenant governor in his first bid for public office in 2020. He tells a life story of childhood poverty, jobs that he blames the North American Free Trade Agreement for ending, and personal bankruptcy. His four-minute speech to the Greensboro City Council defending gun rights and lamenting the “demonizing” of police officers went viral — and led him to a National Rifle Association board position and popularity among conservative voters.
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US dance party tour kicks off to boost voter turnout

Can Republicans and Democrats set aside their differences on the dance floor? A U.S. dance party tour aims to get out the vote and bring joy to a divided nation as Election Day looms. Daybreaker, a rave organizer, aims to help people register to vote and get excited about going to the polls.
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Trump, Harris focus on economy as election draws near

With fewer than 50 days left in this year’s U.S. presidential race, candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are campaigning in key swing states, each declaring to be the nominee with policies that can boost the economy. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports.
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US newsrooms combat fake news directed at Hispanic community

Hispanic audiences in the United States rely on social media for news, but disinformation on those platforms is rife. Newsrooms and media initiatives are finding new ways to combat false news and help audiences prepare for U.S. elections. Cristina Caicedo Smit has the story. Videographer: Tina Trinh
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California laws target deepfake political ads, disinformation

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Intelligence suggests Iran sought to ensnare Trump, Biden in hack-and-leak

washington — Iran’s efforts to upend U.S. politics ahead of November’s presidential election by targeting the campaign of former President Donald Trump went well beyond a standard hack-and-leak operation.

According to U.S. intelligence officials, Tehran sought to ensnare the campaign of Trump’s then-opponent, incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden.

Information released late Wednesday by U.S. intelligence officials indicates Iranian cyber actors not only tried to leak stolen Trump campaign documents to media organizations but also tried to feed them to Biden campaign officials, hoping the Biden team might try to use them.

“Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, nonpublic material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” according to a statement by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“There is currently no information indicating those recipients replied,” the statement added, noting the Iranian hackers have continued to peddle the stolen information to U.S. media organizations.

“The FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible,” the statement said.

Earlier this month, a U.S. intelligence official warned that Tehran is “making a greater effort than in the past to influence this year’s elections.”

Those efforts included what the official described as a “multipronged approach to stoke internal divisions and undermine voter confidence” that has included attacks on Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democrats’ presidential nominee after Biden ended his campaign in late July. 

Iran’s mission to the United Nations has not yet responded to a request from VOA for comment. It has previously denied involvement in any attempts to interfere with U.S. elections.

In an email to VOA, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt raised the possibility, without providing supporting evidence, that Harris and Biden may have used hacked material obtained from Iranians to try to hurt the Trump campaign. 

The Harris campaign told VOA in an email that it has cooperated with law enforcement since it was made aware of the Iranian activities. “We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign,” said campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein.

“A few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Finkelstein said. “We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections, including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.”

The Trump campaign first announced the suspected hack last month, initially blaming “foreign sources hostile to the United States.” U.S. intelligence officials attributed the attack to Iran about a week later.

An unclassified U.S. assessment issued earlier this month cautioned, “Iran has a suite of tools at its disposal.”

“Beyond attempts to hack and leak information, Iran is conducting covert social media operations using fake personas and using AI to help publish inauthentic news articles,” it added.

Private technology companies have likewise warned about Iran’s activities.

In a report issued just days before the Trump campaign said it had been hacked by Iran, Microsoft said Tehran-linked actors were already seeding the online space for influence operations and potential cyberattacks.

But Microsoft President Brad Smith on Wednesday indicated Iranian preparations began even earlier.

“We’ve seen, starting in May, increasingly sophisticated Iranian activity to penetrate network accounts,” Smith told a cyber summit in Washington.  “It’s a classic prelude to hack-and-leak operations. If you can steal the email in June, you can use it in October and you can even change the email.”
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False reports of explosives found in car near Trump rally spread online

New York — Law enforcement officials on Long Island worked quickly on Wednesday to publicly knock down social media posts falsely reporting that explosives had been found in a car near former President Donald Trump’s planned rally in New York.

The false reports of an explosive began circulating hours before the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign event at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, just days after he was apparently the target of a second possible assassination attempt.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said police questioned and detained a person who “may have been training a bomb detection dog,” near the site of the rally and “falsely reported explosives being found.”

Lt. Scott Skrynecki, a spokesperson for the county police, said in follow-up messages that the person, who police have not yet identified, was a civilian and not a member of a law enforcement agency.

He also said the person was not working at or affiliated with the event, which is expected to draw thousands of Trump supporters to the arena that was formerly the home of the NHL’s New York Islanders.

The rally is Trump’s first on Long Island, a suburban area just east of New York City, since 2017.

In 2020, President Joe Biden defeated Trump by a roughly 4% margin on Long Island, besting him in Nassau County by about 60,000 votes, though Trump carried neighboring Suffolk County by more than 200 votes.

Earlier Wednesday, Skrynecki and other county officials responded swiftly to knock down the online line claims, which appear to have started with a post from a reporter citing unnamed sources in the local police department.

The claims were then shared widely on X, formerly Twitter, by a number of prominent accounts, including that of the company’s owner, Elon Musk, which has nearly 200 million followers. Spokespersons for X didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

“False,” Skrynecki texted the AP as the claims spread.

“No. Ridiculous. Zero validity,” said Christopher Boyle, spokesperson for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
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Teamsters union declines to endorse Trump or Harris

WASHINGTON — The International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined Wednesday to endorse Kamala Harris or Donald Trump for president, saying neither candidate had sufficient support from the 1.3 million-member union.

“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before big business,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges.”

Harris met Monday with a panel of Teamsters, having long courted organized labor and made support for the middle class her central policy goal. Trump also met with a panel of Teamsters and even invited O’Brien to speak at the Republican National Convention, where the union leader railed against corporate greed.

The Teamsters said Wednesday that internal polling of its members showed Trump with an advantage over Harris.

The Teamsters’ choice to not endorse came just weeks ahead of the November 5 election, far later than other large unions such as the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers, which have chosen to back Harris.
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US presidential candidates seek changes to social media content regulation

Existing laws governing internet free speech are being questioned across the U.S. political spectrum. VOA’s Matt Dibble looks at how candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump view the issue.
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The battleground states that will decide the 2024 presidential race

Every four years, the U.S. presidential race zeroes in on “swing states.” These battlegrounds, unlike most states that consistently favor one party, can flip between elections and often determine who wins the White House. With just a few states typically in play, campaigns pour resources into these crucial arenas. Their electoral votes frequently decide the outcome, making them the focus of intense campaigning. Understanding swing states is essential to grasping how America picks its president, shaping strategies and potentially altering the nation’s political landscape.
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Trump resumes campaigning after apparent assassination attempt

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China’s influence campaign intensifies as US election nears

washington — At first glance, Noah R. Smith might seem like your typical social media user. His bio says he’s a father, a former “Track and Field representative,” and a current member of the PanAm Sports organization.

On July 14, a day after the first assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Smith shared three posts from an account named “TRUMP WON.”

One post declared, “AMERICA was attacked today … we must get it together. It’s literally a matter of life and death,” accompanied by an image depicting a divine hand halting a bullet aimed at Trump.

Another post urged “all MAGA GOD Fearing Patriots” to connect, stating, “Grow These Accounts, UNITED We Are Strong.”

While it might seem that Smith is a devoted Trump supporter, closer inspection suggests otherwise. His cover photo features Chinese watermarks, his profile picture is sourced from a company that provides photos, videos and music, and his bio is lifted from an authentic account named Laurel R. Smith.

In reality, Noah R. Smith is impersonating a U.S. voter who supports Trump. A joint investigation by VOA Mandarin and Doublethink Lab (DTL), a Taiwanese social media analytics firm, uncovered 10 such accounts on X.

These accounts are linked to China’s Spamouflage network — a state-sponsored operation aimed at supporting the Chinese government and undermining its critics. This network was first identified by social media analytics company Graphika in 2019 and was used to target Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters at that time.

Following the assassination attempt on July 14, the accounts began promoting pro-Trump content. Previously, they shared material consistent with Spamouflage’s broader interests: defending China, criticizing U.S. foreign policy, and exploiting divisive domestic issues such as gun violence and racial tensions.

DTL labeled this network of accounts posing as Americans “MAGAflage 1,” because they all seem to be promoting Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again [MAGA].”

“The MAGAflage accounts are different because they are not just criticizing stuff. They are amplifying positive content about Trump,” Jasper Hewitt, a digital intelligence analyst at Doublethink Lab, told VOA Mandarin.

He added that it’s too early to draw conclusions about whom China is supporting, as researchers are still tracking accounts that criticize both Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

“Engaging with the MAGA movement, or any part of the political spectrum, might merely be a new attempt to generate authentic traffic,” Hewitt told VOA.

The first MAGAflage network was discovered by Elise Thomas, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, in April 2024. This network focuses on promoting positive content of Trump. She told VOA earlier that by wrapping a topic in a U.S. partisan political frame, these accounts got “a reasonable amount of engagement from real American users.”

Limited influence

The VOA Mandarin investigation revealed that the accounts operate in coordination. Six out of the 10 accounts were created in 2015 but had their first visible posts on May 18 or May 19, 2022.

The batch accounts — the 10 new accounts — are not very active. Each account has roughly 100 posts or reposts over the last two years. The batch accounts were inactive for one year but were awoken after the first Trump assassination attempt.

Additionally, these accounts occasionally post or repost Chinese content.

For example, an account named Super-Rabbit shared praise for China’s political and economic model from state-linked influencers like Shanghai Panda and Xinhua News Agency’s reporter Li Zexin. One post from September 3 contrasted U.S. President Joe Biden’s inactivity with China’s President Xi Jinping’s engagement in Africa.

“When Joe Biden is sitting on the beach wasted away, China’s President Xi is shaking hands with various African leaders and making a better impact in Africa,” the post said.

VOA contacted the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment but did not receive a response as of publication time.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA in a statement that “China has no intention and will not interfere in the U.S. election, and we hope that the U.S. side will not make an issue of China in the election.”

So far, the newly discovered MAGAflage 1 accounts have had limited influence, with only a handful of followers and minimal interactions.

U.S. intelligence agencies issued their latest assessment earlier this month, warning that Russia, Iran, and China are intensifying efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election.

While Russia remains the primary concern, officials noted that Chinese online influence actors have “continued small scale efforts on social media to engage U.S. audiences on divisive political issues, including protests about the Israel-Gaza conflict and promote negative stories about both political parties.”
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Experts say voters should feel confident in US elections this year

washington — American voters face a challenging duality as they count down the days until November’s presidential election: a security landscape that officials say has become ever more dangerous even as the infrastructure to hold elections has become ever-more secure. 

The run-up to the 2024 election has seen the “most complex threat landscape yet,” according to Cait Conley, a senior adviser at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the government body responsible for overseeing election security. 

“We do see a growing and diverse array of foreign adversaries, foreign actors, trying to disrupt our elections,” Conley said Tuesday, speaking at Politico’s AI and Tech Summit in Washington.  

But U.S. voters should feel confident, she added. 

“We have been surging resources,” Conley said. “We have seen tremendous investment and progress in ensuring the full spectrum of security and resilience of our election infrastructure.” 

Nevertheless, Conley and other U.S. officials acknowledge the dangers are widespread, often extending beyond the voting booth. 

Physical threats 

The FBI and U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday they are investigating suspicious packages sent to election workers in at least 12 states. 

CISA officials have reported a growing number of swatting incidents — false reports to emergency services about violence or an emergency at a home or other location — targeting election workers. 

And the number of direct threats is rising rapidly. 

“We are seeing an unprecedented and extremely disturbing level of threats of violence, and violence, against public officials,” said U.S. Deputy General Lisa Monaco, also speaking at the summit in Washington.  

“For sure weekly and, sometimes, daily,” Monaco said of the frequency of the threats. 

Many of the threats target officials responsible for conducting elections. 

“These are people who are simply volunteering their time to help all of us undertake the most fundamental right,” she said. “These are people who are being threatened simply for doing their job.” 

Officials also warn that other public servants are getting a growing number of threats, including law enforcement officers, prosecutors and elected officials and candidates. 

“It’s serious,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, citing Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump as he played golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

He also pointed to the rash of threats in Springfield, Ohio, following the spread of unsubstantiated rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets.

“We are in a heightened threat environment … a threat environment that is of deep concern,” Mayorkas said. “It requires vigilance at every level of government and frankly on every block of each community across this country.” 

Concerns about the heightened threat environment are not new. 

Homeland Security officials have been warning of the dangers since at least January 2021, saying lone offenders or small groups could be motivated to carry out attacks motivated by a range of political and personal grievances.

Only now, high emotions over the election combined with efforts by U.S. adversaries are fueling discontent and anger that could lead to more attacks. 

Cyber operations 

“When it comes to malign influence campaigns, we are seeing a very aggressive set of actors,” Monaco said. 

Many of the efforts to sow discord have originated in Russia and Iran, and to a lesser extent China.  But they are far from alone. 

“We’re seeing more actors in this space acting more aggressively in a more polarized environment and doing more with technologies, in particular AI,” Monaco said.  

Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department took action against what it said were two Russian plots to spread disinformation, taking down 32 fake news websites while bringing charges against two employees of Russia-backed media outlet RT, accusing them of funneling nearly $10 million to a U.S. company to promote material favorable to the Russian government. 

And last week, the U.S. State Department accused a number of Russian media companies, including RT, of working directly for Russia’s intelligence agencies – charges Russia and RT denied. 

US preparations 

The best defense, Monaco said, is for U.S. voters to be careful about where they get their information. 

“We have to be very vigilant on what we are consuming,” she said. 

Experts like Margaret Talev, who directs the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship in Washington, agree. 

Voters should “take a pause. Take a minute,” Talev told VOA. “It involves all of us teaching ourselves, taking our time and trying to verify information from multiple sources rather than just believing the first thing that we see.” 

The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), whose members play key roles in running elections, has also sought to make getting verified information easier, pushing a social media campaign it calls #TrustedInfo2024. 

NASS says its goal is “to promote election officials as the trusted sources of election information during the 2024 election cycle and beyond.” 

And CISA, the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, has been working with election officials across the country to make sure they are ready for almost any contingency. 

CISA officials have also tried to rein in the hype about the dangers of AI, or artificial intelligence, blamed for helping U.S. adversaries to spread disinformation more effectively. 

“Generative AI is not going to fundamentally introduce new threats to this election cycle,” the agency’s Conley told VOA earlier this month.

While AI is exacerbating existing threats, so far it has not produced anything elections officials have not already seen. 

“This threat vector is not new to them,” Conley said. “And they have taken the measures to ensure they’re prepared to respond effectively.” 
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Haitians in Ohio react to false allegations against them

A small town in the Midwestern state of Ohio finds itself at the center of a controversy involving fake news about migrants eating residents’ pet cats and dogs. VOA’s Creole Service traveled to Springfield and has this report, narrated by Elizabeth Cherneff.
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Analysis: Shift in women’s voter demographics could favor Democrats

American women are poised to play an important role in deciding the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In recent years, women have registered to vote and cast votes at higher rates than men, and in the 2020 election, female voters outnumbered male voters by several million. Although women are not a monolithic voting bloc, the trends favor one major party over the other, as Dora Mekouar reports.
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Investigators search for motive of would-be Trump assassin

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Suspect in apparent attempt to assassinate Trump charged in federal court

An apparent assassination attempt on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over the weekend raised new questions Monday about political violence in the United States. Democratic and Republican leaders called for more resources for the U.S. Secret Service. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more
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Ohio city cancels cultural festival after political furor over Haitians

Springfield, Ohio — An Ohio city at the center of a political furor over Haitian migrants canceled its annual celebration of cultural diversity on Monday in response to days of violent threats that have closed schools and government offices. The governor, meanwhile, said resources would be surged to Springfield to help city officials deal with the fallout.

Springfield’s two-day CultureFest, which highlights diversity, arts and culture, had been scheduled to begin Sept. 27 but was canceled “in light of recent threats and safety concerns,” the city announced.

“We deeply regret having to cancel CultureFest, as we know it is a beloved event for our community,” City Manager Bryan Heck said in a statement. “However, the safety of our residents and visitors must come first.”

Springfield has been the focus of intense attention in recent days after former President Donald Trump, his running mate JD Vance, and the Republican presidential campaign have amplified debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating domestic pets and waterfowl.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has denounced the false rumors, saying there is no evidence of it. He said at a news conference in Springfield on Monday that dozens of members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol will be stationed in Springfield schools starting Tuesday, sweeping each building every morning before the arrival of faculty or students. Security cameras have also been stationed at various spots in the city.

Springfield City Hall, several schools, and state motor vehicle offices in Springfield were forced to evacuate last week after receiving bomb threats. At least 33 separate bomb threats were made in recent days, all of them hoaxes, DeWine said. He said some of the threats came from overseas but declined to name the country.

“We cannot let the bad guys win. Our schools must remain open. They are going to remain open,” DeWine said.

Two colleges in Springfield held classes virtually on Monday. Wittenberg University said it received two threats over the weekend, “both of which were targeted toward members of the Haitian Community.” Clark State College said it would operate virtually through Friday “due to recent events in Springfield.”

Thousands of Haitian immigrants have settled in recent years in the predominantly white, blue-collar city of about 60,000, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) from the state capital of Columbus, where they have found work in factories and warehouses that had been struggling to fill job openings. The sudden influx has strained schools, health care facilities and city services and driven up the cost of housing.

President Joe Biden, appearing in Philadelphia at the National HBCU Week Conference on Monday, addressed the situation in Springfield, condemning what he called the “lies and hate.”

“It’s wrong. It’s simply wrong. And it must stop,” he said.
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Slurs against Haitian immigrants echo long history of racism in US

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Biden decries second assassination attempt targeting Trump

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Russia, Iran looking to snare, sway US voters

America’s adversaries are ramping up efforts to impact the outcome of the U.S. presidential election and down-ballot races. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin reports on the expanding array of sophisticated influence operations taking aim at U.S. voters
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Postal Service chief ‘fully committed’ to timely US ballot deliveries

Washington — U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said on Monday he is “personally fully committed” to ensuring all 2024 presidential election ballots are delivered in a timely fashion and vowed to respond to concerns raised by state and local officials.

A group of about three dozen election officials from the National Association of State Election Directors and other groups on Wednesday raised serious concerns about USPS’s ability to deliver millions of ballots for the 2024 presidential election, citing questions “about processing facility operations, lost or delayed election mail, and front-line training deficiencies impacting USPS’s ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner.”  

DeJoy said in a letter released on Monday that he would hold a call with state officials to address specific concerns.

The officials said that, despite repeated meetings with USPS election staff, “we have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns.”  

DeJoy said the USPS Office of Inspector General is auditing its plants and delivery units and will report any election mail issues they discover “and we will address those issues expeditiously.”

Starting Oct. 1, USPS will deploy ballot monitors and others in processing, retail and delivery units “to reinforce and amplify our policies and procedures on the ground”

USPS said on average it is currently delivering mail in 2.7 days but continues “to recommend as a common-sense measure that voters should mail their completed ballot before Election Day, and at least one week prior to their state’s deadline.”

The inspector general has said 46% of votes were cast by mail in the November 2020 presidential election, compared with 21% in the 2016 election.

USPS said in the 2020 general election, it delivered 99.89% of ballots from voters to election officials within seven days. Voting by mail in some states is set to start in the coming weeks.
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Condemnations, calls for better Secret Service protection follow apparent Trump assassination attempt

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Which candidate is better for tech innovation? Venture capitalists divided on Harris or Trump

LOS ANGELES — Being a venture capitalist carries a lot of prestige in Silicon Valley. Those who choose which startups to fund see themselves as fostering the next big waves of technology.

So when some of the industry’s biggest names endorsed former President Donald Trump and the onetime venture capitalist he picked for a running mate, JD Vance, people took notice.

Then hundreds of other venture capitalists — some high profile, others lesser-known — threw their weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris, drawing battle lines over which presidential candidate will be better for tech innovation and the conditions startups need to thrive.

Venture capitalist and Harris backer Stephen DeBerry says some of his best friends support Trump. Though centered in a part of Northern California known for liberal politics, the investors who help finance the tech industry have long been a more politically divided bunch.

“We ski together. Our families are together. We’re super tight,” said DeBerry, who runs the Bronze Venture Fund. “This is not about not being able to talk to each other. I love these guys — they’re almost all guys. They’re dear friends. We just have a difference of perspective on policy issues.”

It remains to be seen if the more than 700 venture capitalists who’ve voiced support for a movement called “VCs for Kamala” will match the pledges of Trump’s well-heeled supporters such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.

“There are a lot of practical reasons for VCs to support Trump,” including policies that could drive corporate profits and stock market values and favor wealthy benefactors, said David Cowan, an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners. But Cowan said he is supporting Harris as a VC with a “long-term investment horizon” because a “Trump world reeling from rampant income inequality, raging wars and global warming is not an attractive environment” for funding healthy businesses.

Several prominent VCs have voiced their support for Trump on Musk’s social platform X. Public records show some of them have donated to a new, pro-Trump super PAC called America PAC, whose donors include powerful tech industry conservatives with ties to SpaceX and Paypal and who run in Musk’s social circle. Also driving support is Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency and promise to end an enforcement crackdown on the industry.

Although some Biden policies have alienated parts of the investment sector concerned about tax policy, antitrust scrutiny or overregulation, Harris’ bid for the presidency has reenergized interest from VCs who until recently sat on the sidelines.

“We buy risk, right? And we’re trying to buy the right type of risk,” Leslie Feinzaig, founder of “VCs for Kamala” said in an interview. “It’s really hard for these companies that are trying to build products and scale to do so in an unpredictable institutional environment.”

The schism in tech has left some firms split in their allegiances. Although venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, founders of the firm that is their namesake, endorsed Trump, one of their firm’s general partners, John O’Farrell, pledged his support for Harris. O’Farrell declined further comment.

Doug Leone, the former managing partner of Sequoia Capital, endorsed Trump in June, expressing concern on X “about the general direction of our country, the state of our broken immigration system, the ballooning deficit, and the foreign policy missteps, among other issues.” But Leone’s longtime business partner at Sequoia, Michael Moritz, wrote in the Financial Times that tech leaders supporting Trump “are making a big mistake.”

Much of the VC discourse about elections is in response to a July podcast and manifesto in which Andreessen and Horowitz backed Trump and outlined their vision of a “Little Tech Agenda” that they said contrasted with the policies sought by Big Tech.

They accused the U.S. government of increasing hostility toward startups and the VCs who fund them, citing Biden’s proposed higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations and regulations they said could hobble emerging industries involving blockchain and artificial intelligence.

Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio who spent time in San Francisco working at Thiel’s investment firm, voiced a similar perspective about “little tech” more than a month before he was chosen as Trump’s running mate.

“The donors who were really involved in Silicon Valley in a pro-Trump way, they’re not big tech, right? They’re little tech. They’re starting innovative companies. They don’t want the government to destroy their ability to innovate,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News in June.

Complicating the allegiances is that a tough approach to breaking up the monopoly power of big corporations no longer falls along partisan lines. Vance has spoken favorably of Lina Khan, who Biden picked to lead the Federal Trade Commission and has taken on several tech giants. Meanwhile, some of the most influential VCs backing Harris — such as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman; and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, an early investor in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI — have sharply criticized Khan’s approach.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat whose California district encompasses part of Silicon Valley, said Trump supporters are a vocal minority reflecting a “third or less” of the region’s tech community. But while the White House has appealed to tech entrepreneurs with its investments in clean energy, electric vehicles and semiconductors, Khanna said Democrats must do a better job of showing that they understand the appeal of digital assets.

Naseem Sayani, a general partner at Emmeline Ventures, said Andreessen and Horowitz’s support of Trump became a lightning rod for those in tech who do not back the Republican nominee. Sayani signed onto “VCs for Kamala,” she said, because she wanted the types of businesses that she helps fund to know that the investor community is not monolithic.

“We’re not single-profile founders anymore,” she said. “There’s women, there’s people of color, there’s all the intersections. How can they feel comfortable building businesses when the environment they’re in doesn’t actually support their existence in some ways?”
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