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Tag: Elections

  • Max Baer, Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s chief justice, dies

    Max Baer, Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s chief justice, dies

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    PITTSBURGH — Max Baer, the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, has died only months before he was set to retire, the court confirmed Saturday. He was 74.

    Baer died overnight at his home near Pittsburgh, the court said in a news release. The court didn’t give a reason for his death but called his “sudden passing” a “tremendous loss for the court and all of Pennsylvania.”

    The court said Justice Debra Todd now becomes chief justice “as the justice of longest and continuous service on the court.” She is the first female chief justice in the commonwealth’s history, a court spokesperson confirmed.

    “Chief Justice Baer was an influential and intellectual jurist whose unwavering focus was on administering fair and balanced justice,” Todd said in the release. “He was a tireless champion for children, devoted to protecting and providing for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.”

    Gov. Tom Wolf ordered state flags at commonwealth facilities, public buildings and grounds lowered to half-staff, saying he was “extremely saddened” by the death of such a “respected and esteemed jurist with decades of service to our courts and our commonwealth.”

    Baer, a Duquesne Law graduate, was an Allegheny County family court judge and an administrative judge in family court before he was elected to the high court in 2003 and became its chief justice last year. Baer also served as deputy attorney general for Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1980 and was in private practice before entering the judiciary.

    Earlier this year, Baer was part of the 5-2 majority as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a wide expansion of mail-in voting in Pennsylvania.

    Baer was set to retire at the end of 2022 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. The court said the seat had already been slated to be on the 2023 ballot, and “in the interim the governor may choose to make an appointment, subject to confirmation by the Senate.” Baer was elected as a Democrat and his death leaves a 4-2 Democratic majority on the high court.

    Duquesne’s president, Ken Gormley, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Baer believed justices shouldn’t be public figures and that he therefore shied away from the limelight, using his position to uplift others in the profession.

    “He was collegial, he worked really hard to have the court function as a family, and he led by example,” Gormley said. “He was the most caring person imaginable — always put others first and celebrated their successes. He hated pettiness. He had no time for pettiness.”

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  • Latvian leader’s party expected to fare well in election

    Latvian leader’s party expected to fare well in election

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    HELSINKI — Polling stations opened Saturday in Latvia for a general election influenced by neighboring Russia’s attack on Ukraine, disintegration among the Baltic country’s sizable ethnic-Russian minority and the economy, particularly high energy prices.

    Several polls showed the center-right New Unity party of Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins emerging as the top vote-getter with up to 20% support.

    Karins, who became head of Latvia’s government in January 2019, currently leads a four-party minority coalition that along with New Unity includes the center-right National Alliance, the centrist Development/For!, and the Conservatives.

    Support for parties catering to the ethnic-Russian minority that makes up over 25% of Latvia’s 1.9 million population is expected to be mixed; a share of part of loyal voters have abandoned them – for various reasons – since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

    A total of 19 parties have over 1,800 candidates running in the election, but only around eight parties are expected to break through the 5% threshold required to secure a place in the 100-seat Saeima legislature.

    Some 1.5 million people are eligible to vote.

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  • Michigan lawmakers approve early absentee ballot processing, in hopes of avoiding counting delays

    Michigan lawmakers approve early absentee ballot processing, in hopes of avoiding counting delays

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    Michigan election officials would begin processing absentee ballots two days before the Nov. 8 election under legislation approved Wednesday in hopes of avoiding delays in counting, with absentee voting expected to remain a popular option.

    Michigan is one of several key swing states that allows no-excuse mail-in ballots but doesn’t allow local election offices to begin processing ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day, which often delays results in tight races and can leave a gaping hole for misinformation and lies to flood the public space.

    Ann Bollin, House Elections and Ethics Committee chair, announced the agreement on election bills after months of negotiations. The bills passed the Republican-controlled Legislature and now go to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.

    Election offices in municipalities with populations of at least 10,000 would be allowed to remove absentee ballots from their outer envelopes on the Sunday before the election, although they still wouldn’t be allowed to remove secrecy sleeves or count votes until 7 a.m. on Election Day.

    The package would also increase ballot drop box security and require county clerks to remove deceased voters from voter rolls monthly.

    A 2018 voter-approved constitutional amendment allowed for no-excuse absentee voting, and a surge in such voting followed. A record-breaking 3.3 million people in Michigan voted absentee in the 2020 presidential election during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Over half of all votes cast in the August primary were absentee.

    In addition to the high-impact races for governor, attorney general and secretary of state, an initiative on the ballot this November seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution is expected to lead to high voter turnout. Absentee ballots start going out Thursday, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said her office expects several million to choose the option this year.

    The legislation would provide some relief for local election offices, but clerks still say it doesn’t go far enough. For years, they have asked for seven days for preprocessing before Election Day.

    Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said that absentee ballots take longer to process because of signature verification and that “just allowing local clerks to open the envelope ahead of time is not enough.”

    Pre-processing of absentee ballots has been an issue since Benson’s first day in office in 2019, she said, and it’s been used as a “political football.”

    “As long as Michigan voters want election results on Election Day, as long as it remains an important security issue for voters to not have to wait for results, we will continue to push the Legislature to allow more processing time,” Benson said. “It’s unequivocal that it’s the right thing to do, and it escapes me why any lawmakers who claim to want secure elections would fail to meet this basic change in the law.”

    Former President Donald Trump used the delayed reporting in battleground states to push false claims that election workers falsified ballots in the middle of the night in Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and other Democratic-leaning cities.

    Delays in reporting election results lead to “misinformation being weaponized” as political candidates claim victory before final results come in,” Benson said.

    An initiative on this year’s ballot brought on by the same voting rights coalition that passed the constitutional amendment in 2018 would further increase accessibility to absentee voting. The Promote the Vote initiative would, among other things, allow people to join a permanent list to receive absentee ballots every election, along with requiring nine days of in-person early voting.

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  • Russian strike kills 23 as Kremlin to annex Ukraine regions

    Russian strike kills 23 as Kremlin to annex Ukraine regions

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    KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens, an official said Friday, just hours before Moscow planned to annex more of Ukraine in an escalation of the seven-month war.

    Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh made the announcement in an online statement Friday. He said there were at least 28 wounded when Russian forces targeted a humanitarian convoy heading to Russian-occupied territory.

    He posted images of burned out vehicles and bodies lying in the road. Russia did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

    The attack comes as Moscow prepares to annex four regions into Russia after an internationally criticized, gunpoint referendum vote as part of its invasion of Ukraine. Those regions include areas near Zaporizhzhia, but not the city itself, which remains in Ukrainian hands.

    Starukh said those in the convoy planned to travel into Russian-occupied territory to pick up their relatives and then take them to safety. He said rescuers were at the site of the attack.

    The annexation — and planned celebratory concerts and rallies in Moscow and the occupied territories — would come just days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed “referendums” that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as illegal, forced and rigged.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that four regions of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — would be folded into Russia during a Kremlin ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to give a major speech. Peskov said the regions’ pro-Moscow administrators would sign treaties to join Russia in the Kremlin’s ornate St. George’s Hall.

    In an apparent response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting Friday of his National Security and Defense Council.

    Zelenskyy also sought to capitalize on anti-war sentiment in Russia by issuing a special video directed at Russia’s ethnic minorities, especially those in Dagestan, one of the country’s poorer regions in the North Caucasus.

    “You do not have to die in Ukraine,” he said, wearing a black hoodie that read in English “I’m Ukrainian,” and standing in front of a plaque in Kyiv memorializing what he called a Dagestani hero. He called on the ethnic minorities to resist mobilization.

    The U.S. and its allies have promised to adopt even more sanctions than they’ve already levied against Russia and to offer millions of dollars in extra support for Ukraine as the Kremlin duplicates the annexation playbook it followed when it incorporated Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

    Putin early Friday issued decrees recognizing the independence of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, steps he had taken in February regarding Luhansk and Donetsk and earlier for Crimea.

    Ukraine has repeated its vows to recapture the four regions, as well as Crimea. For its part, Russia pledges to defend all its territory — including newly annexed regions — by all available means, including nuclear weapons.

    Heightening the tensions are Russia’s partial military mobilization and allegations of sabotage of two Russian pipelines on the Baltic Sea floor that were designed to feed natural gas to Europe. Adding to the Kremlin’s woes are Ukraine’s success in recapturing some of the very land Russia is annexing and problems with the mobilization that President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday.

    Ukraine’s Western supporters have described the stage-managed referendums on whether to live under Russian rule as a bald-faced land grab based on lies. They say some people were forced to vote at gunpoint in an election without independent observers on territory from which thousands of residents have fled or been forcibly deported.

    In unusually strong language, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday in New York that Russia’s annexation would violate the U.N. Charter and has “no legal value.” He described the move as “a dangerous escalation” and said it “must not be accepted.”

    “Any decision by Russia to go forward will further jeopardize the prospects for peace,” Guterres said.

    As a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Russia bears “a particular responsibility” to respect the U.N. Charter, the secretary-general said.

    U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres conveyed the message to Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, on Wednesday.

    In what would be a major blow to Moscow’s war effort, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces may soon encircle Lyman, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

    “The collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping” in the northern Donetsk and western Luhansk regions and “may allow Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk” region, the institute said, citing Russian reports.

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  • Bulgaria to hold election overshadowed by war in Ukraine

    Bulgaria to hold election overshadowed by war in Ukraine

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    SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgarians will go to the polls for the fourth time in less than two years in a general election overshadowed this time by the war in Ukraine, rising energy costs and galloping inflation.

    Pollsters expect that voters’ fatigue and disillusionment with the political system will result in low turnout and a fragmented parliament where populist and pro-Russia groups could increase their representation.

    The early election comes after a coalition led by pro-Western Prime Minister Kiril Petkov lost a no-confidence vote in June. He claimed that Moscow used “hybrid war” tactics to bring down his government after it refused to pay gas bills in rubles and ordered the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomatic staff from Bulgaria.

    The latest opinion polls suggest that up to seven parties could pass the 4% threshold to enter parliament in a contested vote on Sunday.

    Despite a decrease in support for the GERB party of ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in previous elections, it is tipped now to finish first. Analysts explain that the shift is likely because of voters’ reluctance to accept change in times of crises and a preference to chose a party they are familiar with.

    Parvan Simeonov, a Sofia-based political analyst for Gallup International, said that the war in Ukraine has a strong influence on this election.

    “While at previous polls the division was for and against the model of governance of the last 10 years personified by GERB and Boyko Borissov, the main issues now are stabilization, keeping prices low and dealing with the consequences of the war,” Simeonov told The Associated Press.

    “The main division in the country now is between East and West on the political map, rather than between status quo and change,” he added.

    Still, the predicted percentage won’t be enough for Borissov’s party to form a one-party government, and the chances for a GERB-led coalition are slim as it is blamed for corruption by almost all other opponents.

    A recent Gallup International survey ranked GERB first with 25.9%, followed by its main rival — Petkov’s We Continue the Change party with 19.2%.

    Borissov, addressing party activists at the last campaign event in Sofia, was positive that GERB would score a convincing victory.

    “That’s the only solution for Bulgaria. We have the rare chance to have a stable government,” said the 63-year-old ex-premier, who is vying for a fourth term in office.

    His main rival, Kiril Petkov, is also confident that Sunday’s vote will yield positive results for his party.

    “I certainly expect us to be the first political power. The goal is to have a majority in the next parliament together with the other two parties — Democratic Bulgaria and the Socialist Party,” he told the AP.

    The war in Ukraine was among the main topics in the campaign and calls by the leader of the pro-Russia party Vazrazhdane, Kostadin Kostadinov, for “full neutrality” of Bulgaria in this war are attracting many voters as latest opinion polls predict that the group would gain 11.3% of the votes, up from 4.9% at the previous election.

    Deep conflicts between the main parties make it almost impossible to form a viable coalition government, which would prolong the political impasse and add more economic woes in the poorest European Union member country.

    Simeonov sees a possible solution in forming a Cabinet of experts with a limited term.

    “The other possible option would be no government and go to new elections,” he said.

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  • McConnell backs post-Jan. 6 revisions to elections law

    McConnell backs post-Jan. 6 revisions to elections law

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he will “proudly support” legislation to overhaul rules for certifying presidential elections, bolstering a bipartisan effort to revise a 19th century law and avoid another Jan. 6 insurrection.

    The legislation would clarify and expand parts of the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which, along with the Constitution, governs how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential winners. The changes in the certification process are in response to unsuccessful efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to exploit loopholes in the law to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden, and the violent attack on the Capitol by his supporters as Congress counted the votes.

    “Congress’ process for counting the presidential electors’ votes was written 135 years ago,” McConnell said. “The chaos that came to a head on Jan. 6 of last year certainly underscored the need for an update.”

    McConnell made the remarks just before the Senate Rules Committee voted 14-1 to approve the bill and send it to the Senate floor, where a vote is expected after the November election. The only senator to vote against the legislation was Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, one of two senators to stand and object to Biden’s certification last year.

    The GOP leader’s endorsement gave the legislation a major boost as the bipartisan group pushes to pass the bill before the end of the year and ahead of the next election cycle. Trump is still pushing false claims of election fraud and saying he won the election as he considers another run in 2024. McConnell’s support for the law could put him even more at odds with Trump, who frequently berates the GOP leader and has encouraged Republicans to vote against it.

    The House has already passed a more expansive bill overhauling the electoral rules, but it has far less Republican support. While the House bill received a handful of GOP votes, the Senate version already has the backing of at least 12 Republicans — more than enough to break a filibuster and pass the legislation in the 50-50 Senate.

    As he announced his support, McConnell noted that Democrats also objected to legitimate election results the last three times that Republicans won the presidency. “The situation obviously called for careful, methodical and bipartisan work,” he said, noting that the bipartisan group that negotiated the bill worked on the language for months.

    McConnell called the House bill a “non-starter” in the Senate because of the bipartisan compromise on the Senate language. “We have one shot to get this right,” he said.

    Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Rules panel, expressed a similar sentiment. The Senate legislation is the bill that “will achieve a strong bipartisan consensus,” she said.

    Cruz, who stood with Trump as he made false claims of fraud in 2020, called the legislation a “bad bill” and said it would make it harder for Congress to challenge fraudulent elections. He questioned why any Republican would support it.

    The bill is all about “Democratic rage” at Trump, Cruz said.

    Cruz was the lone dissenter. Among the Republicans who voted for the bill after McConnell’s statement was Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith — one of only eight senators to oppose Biden’s certification in January 2021. Missing the committee vote was GOP Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Trump’s ambassador to Japan who was in Tokyo attending the state funeral of former Prime Minster Shinzo Abe.

    Senators made minor tweaks to the legislation at Tuesday’s meeting but kept the bill largely intact. The bill, written by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, would make clear that the vice president only has a ceremonial role in the certification process, tighten the rules around states sending their votes to Congress and make it harder for lawmakers to object.

    The changes are a direct response to Trump, who publicly pressured several states, members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence to aid him as he tried to undo Biden’s win. Even though Trump’s effort failed, lawmakers in both parties said his attacks on the election showed the need for stronger safeguards in the law.

    If it becomes law, the bill would be Congress’ strongest legislative response yet to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, in which hundreds of Trump’s supporters beat police officers, broke into the Capitol and interrupted the joint session as lawmakers were counting the votes. Once the rioters were cleared, the House and Senate rejected GOP objections to the vote in two states. But more than 140 Republicans voted to sustain them.

    Differences between the House and Senate bills will have to be resolved before final passage, including language around congressional objections.

    While the Senate bill would require a fifth of both chambers to agree on an electoral objection to trigger a vote, the House bill would require agreement from at least a third of House members and a third of the Senate. Currently, only one member of each chamber is required for the House and Senate to vote on whether to reject a state’s electors.

    The House bill also lays out new grounds for objections, while the Senate does not.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to reflect that Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., did not participate in the committee vote because he was in Tokyo attending the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe.

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  • Progressive Democrats frustrated with 2022 primary losses

    Progressive Democrats frustrated with 2022 primary losses

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    NEW YORK (AP) — With less than two months until the midterm elections, progressive Democrats are facing a test of their power.

    Their party is heading into the final stretch of the campaign with a robust set of legislative accomplishments that include long-term progressive priorities on issues ranging from prescription drug prices to climate change. But the left has also faced a series of disappointments as Democratic voters from Ohio to Illinois to Texas rejected high-profile progressive challengers to moderates or incumbent members of Congress during the primary season.

    The frustration is particularly acute in New York, where Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated one of the highest-ranking congressional Democrats four years ago, injecting fresh energy among the party’s most liberal voters. This year, however, New York City Democrats chose Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who is more of a centrist, over several progressive rivals, including freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones. About 30 miles north in the Hudson River Valley, a powerful establishment candidate, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, defeated a state lawmaker running to his left and backed by Ocasio-Cortez.

    Those setbacks have raised fresh questions about the progressive movement’s standing among Democrats. Progressive leaders urge against reading too much into those losses, particularly in New York, where repeated elections this summer after a redistricting battle left some voters disoriented or disengaged.

    “New York was just a mess,” said Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “It was like the timing of the redistricting maps. I mean, that’s not a situation that’s going to get repeated a lot.”

    Progressives have notched notable victories this year. In Oregon, Jamie McLeod-Skinner ousted moderate Rep. Kurt Schrader. Activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost topped a crowded field of Democrats in Florida and is poised to become the youngest member of Congress. And labor organizer Summer Lee edged out an establishment-backed candidate in Pennsylvania.

    But those wins risk becoming the exception rather than the rule as moderates have repeatedly asserted their strength in recent years. President Joe Biden won his party’s nomination in 2020 after overcoming challenges from more liberal contenders including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

    In New York City, Eric Adams defeated several rivals from the left for the party’s mayoral nomination last year with an explicit critique of progressives, including Ocasio-Cortez. And New York Gov. Kathy Hochul easily dispatched a more liberal rival during this summer’s primary.

    “Progressive” has long been a squishy label for Democrats. It generally refers to the party’s left flank but has been embraced by rank-and-file liberals as well as those much further left on the spectrum, including self-described democratic socialists like Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders.

    The term “progressive” was even the subject of the first 2016 Democratic presidential debate between Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with Sanders suggesting Clinton was not sufficiently progressive and Clinton disputing that and calling him the “self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism.”

    Some candidates championed by progressives have grappled with the label this year.

    “No, I’m just a Democrat,” left-leaning Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman said in a May interview with NBC when he was asked if he is a progressive. He said his positions were considered progressive six years ago but “now there isn’t a single Democrat in this race or any race that I’m aware of that’s running on anything different. So that’s not really progressive. That’s just where the party is.”

    Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who won a Democratic congressional primary in May and was endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Politico that she’d been labeled a progressive but knows most of the Democratic voters in the Dallas-area seat where she’s running identify as moderates or conservatives.

    Crockett said that means she won’t align with members of the further-left subset of progressives in the House known as the “Squad,” which includes Ocasio-Cortez and has been known for challenging the party’s establishment.

    “I’ve got to be very cognizant. Honestly, I love so many members of the ‘Squad’ and I think that they do right by their districts,” Crockett said. “I think in my district, while they don’t self-identify as progressive, they love a lot of the things that I stand for.”

    New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the chair of the House Democratic caucus and a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said “there’s a difference between the socialist machine and mainstream progressives.”

    Jeffries, speaking to reporters in a roundtable interview a few days before New York’s August primaries, said Democrats whose legislative records are “deeply progressive” still face criticism from “online virtue signalers” because they are not further left.

    “There are some forces on the left that want to define ‘progressive’ as ‘You bend the knee and we tell you what to do, and if you fail to fall in line, you’re a machine Democrat or a corporate sellout.’ That’s a joke,” he said.

    Jeffries said the left had some success taking out more traditional Democrats in 2018 and 2020 as Democratic frustrations with President Donald Trump translated into energy for insurgent campaigns. But Jeffries said that once Biden won the White House and his Democratic-controlled Congress began passing legislation, Democratic voters were no longer looking for insurgency.

    “At a certain point in time, voters want results, particularly when Democrats have been entrusted with majorities,” he said. “And that is what we have been delivering.”

    Bill Neidhardt, a progressive Democratic strategist who worked for liberal former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, said that while there have been noted losses in recent contests, the Democratic Party’s left flank has seen bright spots.

    “It’s not a perfect record, but it never is in elections. I would challenge anyone to show me one of those,” Neidhardt said.

    Neidhardt said progressives in Congress can point to growing political power, such as Biden’s recent student loan debt forgiveness plan or Democrats’ new law, the Inflation Reduction Act, tackling climate change and capping prescription drug costs.

    “That’s got the progressives’ fingerprints all over it,” he said.

    Though Fetterman has shrugged off the progressive label, Neidhardt said the Pennsylvanian opposing Republican Mehmet Oz might help progressives see one of their biggest coups yet. Fetterman and Wisconsin Senate candidate Mandela Barnes are running in two hotly contested U.S. Senate seats that Democrats hope to flip while hanging onto their thin majority in that chamber.

    “Who’s going to defeat Ron Johnson? Who’s going to defeat Dr. Oz? It’s going to be progressives,” he said.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Kansas race tests which matters more: Economy or abortion?

    Kansas race tests which matters more: Economy or abortion?

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    KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Republicans redrew Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids ′ suburban Kansas City, Kansas-area district this year to make a third term harder for her to win, adding rural areas where former President Donald Trump did well and removing urban areas that Davids had carried handily.

    But the dynamic changed in June, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Kansas voters responded in August by overwhelmingly rejecting a ballot measure expected to lead to more restrictions or a ban on abortion.

    The magnitude of that vote has left Davids and other Democrats optimistic. That’s why she is spending the final stretch of the campaign focused on abortion, attempting to keep the same abortion-rights supporters who turned out to vote in August energized to do so again in November.

    It’s a delicate task, asking voters who may fault Democrats for rising housing and grocery prices to nonetheless support Davids for Congress.

    “I think this has more to do with control and limiting people’s rights,” said swing voter Tanner Klingzell, a 42-year-old from the suburb of Prairie Village who says he is fiscally conservative but socially progressive. He supports abortion rights and says, “I just don’t feel comfortable voting for Republicans.”

    The Supreme Court’s abortion ruling has rewritten the script in districts around the country, and both Davids and Republican challenger Amanda Adkins must win over independents and GOP moderates to win the one swing congressional district in an otherwise red state.

    Davids became the first lesbian Native American in Congress when she rode suburban anti-Trump sentiment to office in the 2018 election. Her background as a mixed martial arts fighter drew national interest, and Republicans initially tried to group her with “The Squad” of new liberal House members. Those efforts fell flat as she focused on such non-divisive issues as road projects, prescription drug prices and high-speed internet for rural areas.

    Adkins, a former corporate executive and Kansas GOP chair, is hitting Davids hard on pocketbook issues, a tactic Republicans nationally expect to carry them back to a House majority. She’s also started highlighting crime and border security. She held a news conference on those issues Monday, days after House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy released Republicans’ “Commitment to America” agenda, which promises to fight inflation but also to “protect the lives of unborn children.”

    The two have faced off before. Davids defeated Adkins in 2020 by 10 percentage points, but that was before redistricting after the 2020 census. While Democrat Joe Biden would have prevailed in the new district in 2020, his margin would have been roughly half the 10 percentage points he racked up in the old district — and that’s likely true for Davids as well. If Adkins’ percentage of the vote in the suburbs is a few points higher this year than in 2020, she can win.

    In suburban Overland Park, Andrea Calvo, a 33-year-old freight-company accounts manager, is hoping Republicans emerge a little stronger from the November election because, in her view, “they have proven to be able to handle the economy better.”

    While Calvo, a Republican, doesn’t see herself as a moderate, she voted in August against the proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution. She sees Adkins’ support for it as “definitely a problem.” But it’s not a deal-breaker.

    “It’s all about the economy at the end of the day for me,” she said.

    The two campaigns, the parties and political groups are now on track to spend about $8 million on television ads.

    Davids’ ads attack Adkins for her long association with former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, whose nationally notorious 2012-13 experiment in cutting taxes was followed by huge, persistent state budget shortfalls. Davids on Saturday launched an ad attacking Adkins on abortion that follows up on multiple Kansas Democratic Party mailings, including to Republicans.

    Davids and her backers are painting Adkins as an extremist for supporting the proposed amendment that voters rejected in August. It would have removed protections for abortion from the state Constitution, which would have allowed the state Legislature, dominated by abortion opponents, to greatly restrict or ban abortion.

    Davids’ strong, public opposition to the Kansas anti-abortion measure contrasts with three decades of Democratic candidates soft-pedaling their support for abortion rights in most areas of the state. Abortion has been a dominant issue in Kansas politics since the 1991 anti-abortion “Summer of Mercy” protests outside Dr. George Tiller’s clinic in Wichita. Tiller was among the few doctors known to perform abortions late in pregnancy and was shot to death in 2009 by an anti-abortion zealot. Anti-abortion groups have been powerful forces in state politics.

    Even with the 3rd District’s new, more Republican leanings, 67.5% of its voters opposed the Kansas anti-abortion measure in the August abortion referendum.

    “They were very engaged and sent a strong message about us not wanting to have politicians making our decisions for us,” Davids said.

    Adkins describes herself as a Catholic who has “always been pro-life” and “100% committed to protecting life at every stage.” But Adkins said she respects the August vote and opposes federal laws on abortion, saying the issue should be decided at the state level.

    “It should not be a federal issue, and Sharice Davids still is focusing on it as a federal issue,” Adkins said after a recent suburban meet-and-greet. Davids voted last year for a Democratic measure to guarantee abortion rights across the U.S. and override state restrictions.

    Adkins has not been specific about how far she thinks abortion law should go in Kansas, which bans most abortions at the 22nd week, but said Monday that she would favor any new, incremental state measures that would reduce the number of abortions.

    In the new, rural parts of the 3rd District, Democrats say the abortion ruling means volunteers are energized. But Republican state Rep. Samantha Poetter Parshall said that Davids is an “extremely hard sell,” especially with conservative farmers. Even Democrats tend to take more conservative positions on issues such as gun rights, she said.

    “Also, taxes — people are extremely upset with how high their taxes are right now,” she said.

    But about 85% of the district’s voters still live in the suburbs, where centrist and conservative Republicans have feuded for decades, and voters have been electing more Democrats in recent years.

    Former U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, the four-term GOP incumbent ousted by Davids in 2018, praised Adkins as a candidate, but he pointed to the dominance of those suburbs in the district as the reason the race remains challenging for the GOP.

    “It’s still a Biden district,” he said.

    _____

    Hollingsworth reported from multiple cities in Johnson County, Kansas.

    ___

    Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

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  • False claims, threats fuel poll worker sign-ups for midterms

    False claims, threats fuel poll worker sign-ups for midterms

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    ATLANTA (AP) — Outraged by false allegations of fraud against a Georgia elections employee in 2020, Amanda Rouser made a vow as she listened to the woman testify before Congress in June about the racist threats and harassment she faced.

    “I said that day to myself, ‘I’m going to go work in the polls, and I’m going to see what they’re going to do to me,’” Rouser, who like the targeted employee is Black, recalled after stopping by a recruiting station for poll workers at Atlanta City Hall on a recent afternoon. “Try me, because I’m not scared of people.”

    About 40 miles north a day later, claims of fraud also brought Carolyn Barnes to a recruiting event for prospective poll workers, but with a different motivation.

    “I believe that we had a fraudulent election in 2020 because of the mail-in ballots, the advanced voting,” Barnes, 52, said after applying to work the polls for the first time in Forsyth County. “I truly believe that the more we flood the system with honest people who are trying to help out, it will straighten it out.”

    Barnes, who declined to give her party affiliation, said she wants to use her position as a poll worker to share her observations about “the gaps” in election security and “where stuff could happen afterwards.”

    Nearly two years after the last presidential election, there has been no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Numerous reviews in the battleground states where former President Donald Trump disputed his loss to President Joe Biden have affirmed the results, courts have rejected dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies, and even Trump’s own Department of Justice concluded the results were accurate.

    Nevertheless, the false claims about the the 2020 presidential contest by the former president and his supporters are spurring new interest in working the polls in Georgia and elsewhere for the upcoming midterm elections, according to interviews with election officials, experts and prospective poll workers.

    Like Rouser, some aim to shore up a critical part of their state’s election system amid the lies and misinformation about voting and ballot-counting. But the false claims and conspiracy theories also have taken hold among a wide swath of conservative voters, propelling some to sign up to help administer elections for the first time.

    The possibility they will play a crucial role at polling places is a new worry this election cycle, said Sean Morales-Doyle, an election security expert at The Brennan Center for Justice.

    “I think it’s a problem that there may be people who are running our elections that buy into those conspiracy theories and so are approaching their role as fighting back against rampant fraud,” he said.

    But he also cautioned that there are numerous safeguards to prevent a single poll worker from disrupting voting or trying to manipulate the results.

    The Associated Press talked to roughly two dozen prospective poll workers in September during three recruiting events in two Georgia counties — Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta and where more than 70 percent of voters cast a ballot for Biden, and Forsyth County north of Atlanta, where support for Trump topped 65 percent.

    About half said the 2020 election was a factor in their decision to try to become a poll worker.

    “We don’t want Donald Trump bullying people,” said Priscilla Ficklin, a Democrat, while taking an application at Atlanta City Hall to be a Fulton County poll worker. “I’m going to stand up for the people who are afraid.”

    Carlette Dryden said she showed up to vote in Forsyth County in 2020 only to be told that she had already cast a mail-in ballot. She said elections officials let her cast a ballot later, but she suspects someone fraudulently voted in her name and believes her experience reflects broader problems with the vote across the country.

    Still, she said her role was not to police voters or root out fraud.

    “What I’m signing up to do is to help others that are coming through here that may need assistance or questions answered,” she said.

    Georgia was a focus of Trump’s attempts to undo his 2020 election defeat to Biden. He pressured the state’s Republican secretary of state in a January 2021 phone call to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state and seized on surveillance footage to accuse the Black elections worker, Wandrea Moss, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, of pulling out suitcases of fraudulent votes in Fulton County. The allegation was quickly knocked down, but still spread widely through conservative media.

    Moss told the House Jan. 6 committee that she received death threats and racist messages.

    At a farmer’s market in the politically mixed suburb of Alpharetta north of Atlanta, Deborah Eves said she was concerned about being harassed for working at a voting site but still felt compelled to sign up.

    A substitute teacher and Democrat, Eves visited a recruiting booth set up by Fulton County officials next to stands selling single origin coffee, honey and empanadas.

    “I feel like our government is ‘we the people, and ’we the people’ need to step up and do things like poll working so that we can show that nobody’s cheating, nobody’s trying to do the wrong thing here,” she said.

    Allison Saunders, who worked at a voting site for the first time during the state’s May primary, said she believes Moss and Freeman were targeted because they are Black. Saunders, a Democrat, was visiting the farmer’s market with her son.

    “More people that look like me need to step up and do our part,” said Saunders, who is white. “I think it’s more important to do your civic duty than to be afraid.”

    Threats after the 2020 election contributed to an exodus of full-time elections officials around the country. Recruiters say they have not seen a similar drop in people who have previously done poll work — temporary jobs open to local residents during election season. But some larger counties around the country have reported that they are struggling to fill those positions.

    Working the polls has long been viewed as an apolitical civic duty. For first-time workers, it generally involves setting up voting machines, greeting voters, checking that they are registered and answering questions about the voting process.

    Elections staff in the U.S. generally do not vet the political views of prospective poll workers deeply, although most states have requirements that seek to have a mix of Democratic and Republican poll workers at each voting location.

    Forsyth County’s elections director, Mandi Smith, said she was not worried about having people who believe the last presidential election was fraudulent serve as poll workers. The county provides training that emphasizes the positions are nonpartisan and that workers must follow certain rules.

    “It’s a very team-driven process, as well, in the sense that there are multiple poll workers there and you are generally not working alone,” she said.

    Ginger Aldrich, who attended the county’s recruiting event, said she knows people who believe the last election was stolen from Trump. Their views made her curious about what she described as the “mysterious” aspects of the voting process, such as where ballots go after they leave the voting site.

    “There’s going to be some people that are unscrupulous, and they are going to spend all this time figuring out how to beat the system,” said Aldrich, who is retired.

    While she believes there is fraud in elections, she said she was willing to use her experience as a poll worker to try to convince people that there were no problems in her county with the midterm elections.

    ___

    Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics

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  • FACT FOCUS: Why final election results take days, not hours

    FACT FOCUS: Why final election results take days, not hours

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    As election workers spend long hours tallying ballots in Arizona and elsewhere in the days after Tuesday’s primary elections, some critics are arguing they should be finished counting by now.

    Widely shared Twitter posts this week called the delayed results “corrupt” and “unacceptable,” while Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake in a press conference on Wednesday said Arizona voters should know the winner “when they go to bed on election night.”

    She repeated that gripe during a radio interview Friday, the day after the AP declared her victory in the primary, saying “we had days of waiting to get the ballots counted. It’s a mess.”

    These complaints ignore the realities of modern-day ballot processing, which requires extensive time and labor, according to election officials and experts. In fact, states have never reported official election results on election night, experts say.

    Here’s a closer look at the facts.

    CLAIM: In the past, election results have been released on election night.

    THE FACTS: That’s misleading. While media outlets routinely project winners and The Associated Press calls races when it determines a clear victor, no state releases complete and final results on election night, nor have they ever done so in modern history, according to experts.

    “In the entirety of American history, there were never official results on election night. That is not possible, it’s never happened,” said David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department attorney and current executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. “There is not a state in the union that doesn’t wait days, if not weeks, until after Election Day to officially certify the final results.”

    He added that when margins are large enough in certain races, media outlets feel confident enough to call races for one candidate or another. For example, Katie Hobbs was the clear winner in Arizona’s Democratic primary for governor by Tuesday night, while the state’s GOP primary for governor was still too close to call until Thursday night.

    But those projections aren’t official election results, and counting is still taking place after those calls are issued.

    There’s a reasonable argument to be made that states could strive to release unofficial election results by election night, according to Charles Stewart, a political science professor at MIT. Some states, like Florida, have passed laws that make that easier, he said.

    However, even states that do manage to report unofficial counts on election night spend the following days processing provisional ballots, reconciling unmatched signatures and correcting any tabulation errors, which leads to a delay in final results, Stewart said.

    Those unofficial counts also aren’t sufficient for the closest races, where candidates must wait for final results to identify the winner anyway, Stewart said.

    ___

    CLAIM: If election officials take days to release a complete ballot count, that means they cheated or are incompetent.

    THE FACTS: That’s false. Time and labor is necessary to process and correctly tabulate ballots, experts and election officials say. Certain local laws also require procedures that extend the process.

    For instance, election workers in Arizona are legally barred from picking up ballots from polling places before the sites close at 7 p.m. on Election Day, said Megan Gilbertson, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Elections Department. And as the AP has previously reported, many voters who receive mail-in ballots opt to return them on Election Day.

    In this year’s primary election in Maricopa County, which is Arizona’s largest county by far, more than 120,000 voters dropped off their ballots on Election Day, creating a backlog of votes that needed to be processed after the polls closed, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer explained on Twitter.

    Those ballots accounted for most of the votes still being counted in the days after the primary election, Richer said.

    The law also requires that mail-in ballots undergo signature verification, a time-intensive process in which the signatures on ballot envelopes are compared to voters’ on-file signatures to verify authenticity, according to Gilbertson. After the signature is verified, bipartisan two-person teams then have to physically separate the ballots from their envelopes and prepare them for tabulation.

    “We’ve had two-member teams that take your ballot out of your envelope, flatten it, they have to count every single ballot and every single envelope,” Gilbertson said. “It is a very, very manual process, but that is required by statute to have those bipartisan boards do that separation.”

    “They are making sure that eligible voters are the only ones who vote and they only vote once. And that takes time,” Becker said. “We should be thrilled that election officials all across the country take that seriously. It is much more important to get it accurate than to get it fast.”

    Arizona state law gives counties 10 days to tabulate and certify the primary election results, according to Sophia Solis, a spokesperson for the Arizona Secretary of State.

    “We don’t anticipate any delays as we expect everyone will meet their statutory deadlines,” she wrote in an email to the AP.

    ___

    CLAIM: Maricopa County election results are particularly slow this year.

    THE FACTS: No, they aren’t. County data shows that ballot counts for primary elections took between seven and 10 days in each midterm year from 2006 to 2020. In 2020, Maricopa County took seven days to finish counting, the data shows.

    ___

    This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

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  • ‘Crucial’ vote could move Italy to right; many might boycott

    ‘Crucial’ vote could move Italy to right; many might boycott

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    ROME (AP) — Italians will vote on Sunday in what is being billed as a crucial election as Europe reels from the repercussions of Russia’s war in Ukraine. For the first time in Italy since the end of World War II, the election could propel a far-right leader into the premiership.

    Soaring energy costs and quickly climbing prices for staples like bread — the consequences of Russia’s invasion of breadbasket Ukraine — have pummeled many Italian families and businesses.

    Against that bleak backdrop, Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party — with neo-fascist roots and an agenda of God, homeland and Christian identity — appear to be the front-runners in Italy’s parliamentary election.

    They could be a test case for whether hard-right sentiment is gaining more traction in the 27-nation European Union. Recently, a right-wing party in Sweden surged in popularity by capitalizing on peoples’ fears about crime.

    No single party in Italy stands much chance of winning enough seats to govern alone, but right-wing and right-leaning centrists forged a campaign pact that could secure Meloni a parliamentary majority and propel her into power. Her main alliance partner is right-wing League party leader Matteo Salvini, who blames crime on migrants and has long been a staunch ideological booster of right-wing governments in Hungary and Poland.

    “Elections in the middle of a war, in the midst of an energy crisis and the dawn of what is likely to be an economic crisis … almost by definition are crucial elections,″ said Nathalie Tocci, director of Rome-based think tank the International Affairs Institute.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, is gambling that “Europe will break” under the weight of economic and energy problems brought on by the war, Tocci told The Associated Press.

    Salvini, who draws his voter base from business owners in Italy’s north, has donned pro-Putin T-shirts in the past. Salvini has also questioned the wisdom of maintaining Western economic sanctions against Russia, saying they could hurt Italy’s economic interests too much.

    The publication of polls was halted 15 days before Sunday’s vote, but before then they indicated Meloni’s party would be the biggest vote-getter, just ahead of the center-left Democratic Party headed by former Premier Enrico Letta.

    The campaign alliance linking Meloni to Salvini and former Premier Silvio Berlusconi confers a clear advantage over Letta under Italy’s complex system of divvying up seats in Parliament.

    Letta had hoped in vain for a campaign alliance with the left-leaning populist 5-Star Movement, the largest party in the outgoing legislature.

    While it is a fraught moment for Europe, Sunday’s election could see modern Italy’s lowest-ever turnout. The last election, in 2018, saw record-low turnout of 73%. Pollster Lorenzo Pregliasco says this time the percentage could drop to as low as 66%.

    Pregliasco, who heads the YouTrend polling company, says Italy’s last three different governing coalitions since the last election have left Italians “disaffected, disappointed. They don’t see their vote as something that matters.”

    The outgoing government is headed by former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi. In early 2021, Italy’s president tapped Draghi to form a unity government after the collapse of the second ruling coalition of 5-Star leader Giuseppe Conte.

    In what Pregliasco called an “apparent paradox,” polls indicate that “most Italians like Draghi and think his government did a good job.” Yet Meloni, the sole major party leader to refuse to join Draghi’s coalition, is polling the strongest.

    As Tocci put it, Meloni’s party is so popular “simply because it’s the new kid on the block.”

    Draghi has said he doesn’t want another term.

    To Meloni’s annoyance, criticism still dogs her that she hasn’t made an unambiguous break with her party’s roots in a neo-fascist movement founded by nostalgists for dictator Benito Mussolini after his regime’s disastrous role in World War II. During the campaign, she declared that she is “no danger to democracy.”

    Some political analysts say worries about the fascist question aren’t their main concern.

    “I am afraid of incompetence, not the fascist threat,″ said Roberto D’Alimonte, a political science professor at LUISS, a private university in Rome. ”She has not governed anything.”

    Meloni served as youth minister in Berlusconi’s last government, which ended a decade ago.

    Instead, her main right-wing coalition partner is worth worrying about, D’Alimonte told The AP.

    “Salvini will be the troublemaker, not Meloni,″ he said. “It is not Meloni calling for the end of sanctions against Russia. It is Salvini. It is not Meloni calling for more debt or more deficit. It is Salvini.”

    But recent incidents have fed worries about Brothers of Italy.

    A Brothers of Italy candidate in Sicily was suspended by his party after he posted phrases on social media showing appreciation for Hitler. Separately, a brother of one of Meloni’s co-founders was spotted giving what appeared to be the fascist salute at a funeral for a relative. The brother denied that was what he was doing.

    For years, the right wing has crusaded against unbridled immigration, after hundreds of thousands of migrants reached Italy’s shores aboard smugglers’ boats or vessels that rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea. Both Meloni and Salvini have thundered against what they see as an invasion of foreigners not sharing what they call Italy’s “Christian” character.

    Letta, who wants to facilitate citizenship for children of legal immigrants, has, too, played the fear card. In his party’s campaign, ads on buses, half the image depicts a serious-looking Letta with his one-word motto, “Choose,” with the other half featuring an ominous-looking image of Putin. Salvini and Berlusconi have both expressed admiration for the Russian leader. Meloni backs supplying arms so Ukraine can defend itself.

    With energy bills as much as 10 times higher than a year ago, how to save workers’ jobs ranks high among Italian voters’ worries.

    But perhaps with the exception of Salvini, who wants to revisit Italy’s closed nuclear power plants, candidates haven’t distinguished themselves in proposing solutions to the energy crisis. Nearly all are pushing for a EU cap on gas prices.

    The perils of climate change haven’t loomed large in the Italian campaign. Italy’s tiny Greens party, a campaign partner of Letta, is forecast to capture barely a few seats in Parliament.

    ___

    Colleen Barry reported from Milan. Sabrina Sergi contributed to this report from Rome.

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  • Occupied Ukraine holds Kremlin-staged vote on joining Russia

    Occupied Ukraine holds Kremlin-staged vote on joining Russia

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    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Kremlin-orchestrated referendum got underway Friday in occupied regions of Ukraine that sought to make them part of Russia, with some officials carrying ballots to apartment blocks accompanied by gun-toting police. Kyiv and the West condemned it as a rigged election whose result was preordained by Moscow.

    Meanwhile, in a grim reminder of the brutality of the 7-month-old invasion, U.N. experts and Ukrainian officials pointed to new evidence of Russian war crimes. Kharkiv region officials said a mass burial site in the eastern city of Izium held hundreds of bodies, including at least 30 displaying signs of torture.

    The referendums in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions were widely seen as a prelude to Moscow annexing the regions. The voting, which was overseen by authorities installed by Russia, is scheduled to run through Tuesday and is almost certain to go the Kremlin’s way.

    Authorities in the Kherson region said residents of a small Moscow-controlled area of the neighboring Mykolaiv province also will be able to vote, and that small area was “incorporated” into Kherson until all of Mykolaiv is taken over by Russian forces.

    Ukraine and the West said the vote was an illegitimate attempt by Moscow to slice away a large part of the country, stretching from the Russian border to the Crimean Peninsula. A similar referendum took place in Crimea in 2014 before Moscow annexed it, a move that most of the world considered illegal.

    Citing safety reasons, election officials carried ballots to homes and set up mobile polling stations for the four-day voting period. Russian state TV showed one such election team accompanied by a masked police officer carrying an assault rifle.

    Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, told The Associated Press that Russians and residents of Crimea were brought into his city to urge people to vote.

    “The Russians see an overwhelming reluctance and fear to attend the referendum and are forced to bring people… to create an image and an illusion of the vote,” he said. “Groups of collaborators and Russians along with armed soldiers are doing a door-to-door poll, but few people open the doors to them.”

    Voting also occurred in Russia, where refugees and other residents from those regions cast ballots.

    Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-backed separatist leader in the Donetsk region, called the referendum “a historical milestone.”

    Lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s State Duma, said in an online statement to the regions: “If you decide to become part of the Russian Federation, we will support you.”

    Thousands attended pro-Kremlin rallies across Russia in support the referendums, news agencies reported. “Long live the one, great, united Russian people!” one speaker told the large crowd at a central Moscow rally and concert titled, “We Don’t Abandon Our Own.”

    Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai accused officials of taking down the names of people who voted against joining Russia. In online posts, Haidai also alleged that Russian officials threatened to kick down the doors of anyone who didn’t want to vote.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in occupied regions to undermine the referendums and to share information about the people conducting “this farce.” He also urged Ukrainians to avoid being called up in the Russian mobilization announced Wednesday.

    “But if you do end up in the Russian army, then sabotage any enemy activity, interfere with any Russian operations, give us all important information about the occupiers. … And at the first opportunity, switch to our positions,” he said in his nightly address.

    President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization of reservists could add about 300,000 troops, his defense minister said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as false media reports of plans to muster up to 1.2 million troops.

    Across the vast country, men hugged their weeping family members before departing as part of the call-up, which has raised fears that a wider draft might follow. Anti-war activists planned more protests Saturday.

    Other Russian men tried desperately to leave the country, buying up scarce plane tickets and creating traffic jams hours or even days long at some borders. The lines of cars were so long at the border with Kazakhstan that some people abandoned their vehicles and walked — just as some Ukrainians did after Russia invaded their country Feb. 24.

    Russian authorities sought to calm public fears over the call-up. Lawmakers introduced a bill Friday to suspend or reduce loan payments for those called to duty, and media emphasized that they would be paid the same as professional soldiers and that their civilian jobs would be held for them.

    The Defense Ministry said many of those working in high tech, communications or finance will be exempt, the Tass news agency reported.

    Amid the mobilization and referendums, the horrors of the conflict persisted.

    Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Synyehubov and regional police chief Volodymyr Tymoshko said at least 30 of the 436 bodies exhumed so far in Izium bore signs of torture. Among them were the bodies of 21 Ukrainian soldiers, some found with their hands bound behind their backs, they said.

    Russian forces occupied Izium for six months before being pushed out by a Ukrainian counteroffensive this month. The exhumations, which began a week ago, are nearing an end, as investigators work on identifying victims and how they died. A mobile DNA lab was parked at the edge of the burial site.

    “Each body has its own story,” Synyehubov said.

    Experts commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council also presented evidence of potential war crimes, including beatings, electric shocks and forced nudity in Russian detention facilities, and expressed grave concerns about extrajudicial killings the team was working to document in Kharkiv and the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy.

    With world opinion pushing Moscow deeper into isolation over the war, Russia lashed out against the West. Its U.S. ambassador, Anataly Antonov, said at a Moscow conference Friday about the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that Washington is trying to bring Russia “to its knees” and divide it into “several fiefdoms” while stripping it of its nuclear weapons and its permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council.

    In new reports of fighting, Ukraine’s presidential office said 10 civilians were killed and 39 others wounded by Russian shelling in nine regions. Battles continued in the southern Kherson province during the vote, it said, while Ukrainian forces meted out 280 attacks on Russian command posts, munitions depots and weapons.

    Heavy fighting also continued in the Donetsk area, where Russian attacks targeted Toretsk, Sloviansk and several smaller towns. Russian shelling in Nikopol and Marhanets on the western bank of the Dnieper River killed two people and wounded nine.

    In other developments, Kyiv expelled Iran’s ambassador and reduced staff at the Iranian Embassy in response to Tehran’s “supply of weapons to Russia for war on Ukrainian territory,” said Oleh Nikolenko, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. Ukraine reported shooting down an Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone that can be used for surveillance or to carry precision-guided weapons, adding that it destroyed four other Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.

    Earlier Friday, Ukrainian officials said Russia had attacked the port city of Odesa with Iranian-made drones, killing one person.

    —-

    Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant in Izium contributed.

    ___

    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

    NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

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    A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

    ___

    Posts misrepresent Biden 2020 campaign committee filing

    CLAIM: President Joe Biden has officially filed for reelection with the Federal Election Commission.

    THE FACTS: Biden has not formally filed for reelection, social media users are misrepresenting an updated administrative document that was recently filed with the FEC by his principal 2020 presidential campaign committee. “BREAKING REPORT: (NOT PARODY) Joe Biden Has Officially Filed to RUN FOR RE-ELECTION in 2024,” one Twitter user wrote on Tuesday. The tweet was shared over 1,900 times. “Joe Robinette Biden has just officially filed for Reelection with the Federal Election Committee today – running again with Kamala Harris as his Vice President,” an Instagram user wrote, also on Tuesday. But Biden has not officially declared his candidacy for reelection, according to FEC filings. Biden’s principal campaign committee for the 2020 general election, titled Biden for President, filed a statement of organization form on Tuesday. But this form is different from a statement of candidacy form, which would indicate a candidate is officially running. “These claims that he’s declared for 2024 are flatly untrue based on these filings,” said Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The new filing amended the committee’s statement of organization to “reflect new treasurer information,” said Judith Ingram, a spokesperson for the FEC. Presidential candidates file statements of candidacy for election cycles that they are participating in, and Biden has not filed such a form for the 2024 election cycle, she said. A Democratic National Committee official confirmed that the campaign committee’s filing is “not a re-election filing.” “This is just updating the form to change the treasurer name because the former treasurer is taking a government job,” the official said in an email. A candidate filing by the Biden campaign on the FEC website would be the “clearest indicator that Biden has ‘officially’ launched a reelection campaign,” Barry Burden, founding director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center, wrote in an email to the AP. But this hasn’t happened yet. Candidates can also become official candidates in the eyes of the FEC if they raise or spend more than $5,000, according to the agency. The 2020 Biden campaign committee is still active to process minor financial transactions, which is similar to what other presidential campaigns have done, according to Burden.

    — Associated Press writer Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed this report.

    ___

    UK didn’t change guidance on COVID vaccines and pregnancies

    CLAIM: The U.K. government recently changed its COVID-19 vaccine guidance to advise against Pfizer’s shot for pregnant and breastfeeding people.

    THE FACTS: The guidance has not changed. Social media users are misrepresenting a section of a summary report about Pfizer’s shot that was published by the U.K.’s medical regulatory agency in 2020. Posts circulating widely in recent days spread the false assertion that Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot isn’t safe for pregnancies and wrongly claimed that the U.K. government has conceded as much. “The UK now admits it’s not safe for pregnant women to get the vaccine,” reads a tweet that garnered more than 1,300 likes. But the U.K. government is in support of, not against, vaccinating pregnant people, health officials confirmed. The social media posts pointed to a screenshot of a “Toxicity conclusions” section from an online report titled, “Summary of the Public Assessment Report for COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer/BioNTech.” That report was published by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in 2020 as part of the vaccine’s initial authorization process and was last updated on Aug. 16. The “Toxicity conclusions” section suggested that those who were pregnant or breastfeeding not be vaccinated, but also said that the recommendations “reflect the absence of data at the present time and do not reflect a specific finding of concern.” However, that specific section was reflective of what was known nearly two years ago when the vaccine was first rolling out — and before additional data became available. “The text referred to in social media posts comes from the Public Assessment Report (PAR) which reflects our assessment at the time of approval for the vaccine (2 December 2020),” the MHRA said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. “Since then new data has come to light (both non-clinical and post-authorisation ‘real world’ data) which supports the updated advice on vaccinating those who are pregnant and breastfeeding.” An archived version of the same page from December 2020 also confirms that the “Toxicity conclusions” section has remained the same. The MHRA specifically notes elsewhere online that the COVID-19 vaccines, including Pfizer’s, are safe for those who are pregnant and breastfeeding. Dr. Victoria Male, a lecturer in reproductive immunology at Imperial College London, told the AP that the confusion appeared to stem from the Aug. 16 update to the Pfizer documents. But that change dealt with information on booster shots, she said, as a note on a connected page indicates. Male also said that the U.K. government’s advice on COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancies hasn’t changed. “Since April 2021, the UK government has offered the COVID vaccine during pregnancy,” Male said in an email. “Since December 2021, pregnancy has been considered a priority condition for vaccination, because we know that COVID infection in pregnancy can cause stillbirth and preterm birth, and that vaccination protects against these and is safe in pregnancy.” An independent advisory group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, recommended in July that pregnant people who have been previously vaccinated be offered an autumn booster.

    — Associated Press writers Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia and Sophia Tulp in New York contributed this report. ___

    Video shows water tanker for bank, not Mississippi governor’s mansion

    CLAIM: A video shows a tanker truck outside the governor’s mansion in Jackson, Mississippi, supplying the residence with water amid the city’s water crisis.

    THE FACTS: The tanker, which is parked across the street from the governor’s mansion, is there as a standby solution for the headquarters of a bank at that location. In the six-second video, the tanker can be seen parked on North West Street in downtown Jackson before the camera pans across the street to the governor’s mansion. The widely-shared clip has sparked outrage among social media users as the city works to restore water pressure, while many residents remain reliant on water distribution centers. “There is currently no running water in Jackson, Mississippi,” one Twitter user wrote. “The heat index is over 100 degrees. Schools are closed. People can’t cook, clean, drink, or bathe. But at least @tatereeves has a giant water truck providing him with clean water at the governor’s mansion.” The tweet garnered nearly 8,000 shares and nearly 18,000 likes. But the water tanker is for the headquarters of Trustmark Bank, located across the street from the governor’s mansion, according to Danny Shows, president and CEO of 4D Solutions, the emergency preparedness company that provided the vehicle. He told the AP that “by no means” was the tanker delivering water to the governor’s mansion. Shows explained that the water tanker is a back-up solution for the building, in case Jackson’s downtown area completely loses water pressure. Melanie Morgan, director of corporate communications and marketing for Trustmark, confirmed that the bank brought in the water tanker for its building “out of abundance of caution.” She told the AP that the tanker does not contain potable drinking water and is intended for building services such as air conditioning and restroom facilities. “We’ve engaged a contractor to bring in the tanker for us in order to keep our building operational,” Morgan said, adding that the bank wants to be able to relieve pressure on the city’s water system if necessary. She confirmed that the water tanker remains at the bank’s headquarters next to the governor’s mansion, but said that because the building still has “more than adequate water pressure,” the tanker has not yet been used. Shelby Wilcher, Tates’ press secretary, wrote in an email to the AP that the water tanker “is not supporting the Governor’s Mansion or any other state assets.” She added that the residence gets its water from the Jackson water system and that many businesses have brought in their own tankers. Jackson’s water system partially failed early this week due to flooding that exacerbated long-standing problems in one of the city’s two water-treatment plants, the AP reported. Reeves declared a state of emergency in Jackson on Tuesday, while President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Mississippi as a whole the same day.

    — Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report. ___

    New York law doesn’t ban minors from buying whipped cream

    CLAIM: A New York law that aims to crack down on nitrous oxide abuse makes it illegal for anyone under age 21 to purchase a can of whipped cream.

    THE FACTS: The law doesn’t apply to store-bought, disposable whipped cream cans, meaning customers of any age can still legally purchase canned whipped cream in New York stores without having to show identification. Social media users, news outlets and operators of grocery and convenience stores have in recent days misinterpreted a year-old New York law aimed at cracking down on recreational use of the gas nitrous oxide. Commonly called laughing gas, nitrous oxide is used as a sedative in some medical situations and can also be used as a whipping agent for culinary purposes. However, the gas is also often inhaled from metal cartridges — so-called “whippits” — to induce a euphoric effect, despite serious health risks. The New York law, which went into effect in November, attempted to make it harder for minors to access such cartridges by prohibiting New York businesses from selling the small, gas-containing metal capsules to anyone under 21. But language in the bill describing the cartridges as “whipped cream chargers” led to widespread confusion. “New York recently passed a state law that prohibits anyone under age 21 to purchase a can of whipped cream,” wrote one popular Twitter account. The post linked to a news article making the same claim, and was shared nearly 5,000 times. The claim was further spread through headlines and stories in dozens of news outlets as some grocery store operators recently began enforcing what they believed was language that required them to ask for identification before selling whipped cream canisters, such as Reddi-wip, to customers. However, the law doesn’t apply to these types of canisters, Sen. Joseph Addabbo, the Democrat who sponsored the bill, confirmed to the AP. “Anyone can buy, without being carded or ID’d, a can of Reddi-wip or any other canister of whipped cream,” Addabbo told the AP. “What a minor can’t buy is the two-inch whipped cream charger, or cartridge that is filled with nitrous oxide.” The bill amends New York general business law, and adds a new section that defines the term “whipped cream charger” as “a steel cylinder or cartridge filled with nitrous oxide, that is commonly used in a whipped cream dispenser.” Reusable whipped cream dispensers, like the ones found in restaurants or coffee shops, are powered by such metal cartridges. But those chargers are not found inside the disposable whipped cream cans that are sold in most grocery stores. Disposable whipped cream cans contain a combination of cream and nitrous oxide that’s expelled under pressure through the bottle’s nozzle.

    — Sophia Tulp

    ___

    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck

    ___

    Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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  • The CSPOA is Calling Upon All Americans and Law Enforcement Nationwide to Come Together in Pursuit of the Truth Regarding the 2020 Election

    The CSPOA is Calling Upon All Americans and Law Enforcement Nationwide to Come Together in Pursuit of the Truth Regarding the 2020 Election

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    Press Release
    –

    May 24, 2022


    PHOENIX, May 24, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The following is an open letter from the Constitutional Sheriffs & Peace Officers Association:

    The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) is calling upon all Americans and law enforcement nationwide to come together in pursuit of the truth regarding the 2020 election.

    Considering the persistent allegations of election fraud since even before the 2020 elections began, and as a response to the perpetual polarizing effect this has had on the American people, the CSPOA would like to put this issue to rest. Our constitutional republic and peaceful future as a free people absolutely depend on it.

    In the opinion of the CSPOA, there is very compelling physical evidence presented by truethevote.org in the movie “2000 Mules” produced by Dinesh D’Souza. “Law Enforcement has to step in at this point,” asserts D’Souza, and we absolutely agree with him. Therefore, we are asking for all local law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue investigations to determine the veracity of the “2000 Mules” information.

    If D’Souza’s documentary is wrong, then we want that exposed. If it’s correct, then we want proper investigations fully undertaken and the criminals responsible prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

    No one, from either side of the aisle, ought to be against honest, professional, and independent investigations. We ask for all Americans to demonstrate civility and cooperation as we pursue the truth.

    What we want is the truth; let the consequences fall where they may.

    Contacts: Sheriff Richard Mack, CSPOA Pres. (928 432 1879) Sam Bushman, VP of Operations (801-756-9133)

    Source: CSPOA

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  • International Campaign Launched to ‘Stop Fighting Start Voting’

    International Campaign Launched to ‘Stop Fighting Start Voting’

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    Citizens in Charge Foundation ad campaign promotes direct democracy as a peaceful means of resolving conflict

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Jun 25, 2020


    WASHINGTON, June 25, 2020 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​Today, an international educational campaign called Stop Fighting Start Voting was launched to highlight the use of direct democracy as a peaceful means to resolve conflict.

    “The Stop Fighting Start Voting campaign was launched to highlight direct democracy as a critical tool to help peacefully resolve long-simmering conflicts – like those we see over in Hong Kong, Catalonia, Taiwan, and the Tamils in Sri Lanka,” said Paul Jacob, president of Citizens in Charge Foundation. 

    Stop Fighting Start Voting was launched by the non-profit Citizens in Charge Foundation with support from direct democracy experts and organizations from around the world – researchers, advocates, NGOs, and academics. The campaign does not advocate for or against the underlying issues in these conflicts but advances the idea that the peaceful resolution to these conflicts can be achieved through the use of direct democracy – in the form of initiatives and referendum – as long as the use is conducted under accepted international norms and procedures.

    “The use of direct democracy must be exercised within internationally recognized legal frameworks so as to be recognized by the league of nations as a legitimate expression of the will of the people,” said Daniela Bozhinova, chair of Bulgarian Association for the Promotion of Citizens Initiative.

    The Stop Fighting Start Voting campaign kicked off today with a 60-second ad running globally on social digital platforms as a way to increase awareness of unresolved conflicts in Hong Kong and concerning the establishment of a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. The campaign will be creating an ongoing series of video spots to highlight conflicts around the world that can be peacefully resolved with direct democracy.

    “The world is filled with conflict. Not just fighting resulting in bloodshed but fighting with words and actions that simply increase division that will make resolution of these conflicts unlikely. Stop Fighting Start Voting is a campaign where experts on direct democracy are uniting and doing what they can to increase awareness of a peaceful and legitimate path to resolving these conflicts – voting using direct democracy,” said Dane Waters, chair of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California.

    The campaign will also increase awareness of efforts around the world to either improve or restrict the tools of direct democracy or use them in a way that is inconsistent with internationally accepted norms and procedures. Direct democracy is being proposed today in both Romania and Ukraine but with rules and regulations that make its use highly unlikely, certainly out of reach of the citizens who need it most in resolving these conflicts. Additionally, there are referendums currently scheduled – for instance, in Russia – that will likely not be done within the standards to make the results of the referendum legitimate.

    “We must help bring light to these issues so that the media, opinion leaders, and the people know what to look for when deciding if that specific form of direct democracy, or its use, is legitimate based on internationally accepted norms and procedures,” said Matt Qvortrup, Professor of Political Science at Coventry University.

    Stop Fighting Start Voting established an Advisory Board consisting of direct democracy experts and organizations from around the world. Here are some of their comments:

    “Democracy is a conversation that never ends. Countries with political systems that enable such conversations are doing far better than those where confrontations are permanently cultivated. Therefore, forms of modern direct democracy like citizens’ initiatives and popular referendums need to be designed as smart screwdrivers for a society to fix problems instead of being stupid hammers to hit on others’ heads. Today’s world needs more conversations and less confrontations. Stop fighting, start voting.” – Bruno Kaufmann, co-president of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy

    “Democracy is the simple idea that the people ought to have a say in the public decisions that affect their lives. It Is the best system so far discovered to resolve conflicts peacefully and fairly. This campaign aims to spread the word about two of democracy’s most powerful tools – the initiative and referendum – and how to use them to give the people a voice in important decisions.” – John Matsusaka, Executive Director of Initiative and Referendum Institute, USC

    “In a scenario of growing disenchantment with the transformative capacity of politics, tools of direct democracy can help to both limiting the power of representatives, holding back unpopular decisions and opening the agenda of policy-making. However, the regulation and practice of tools of direct participation must be consistent with internationally accepted norms and procedures. This is why the Stop Fighting Start Voting campaign is so important.” – ​Yanina Welp, Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy. 

    Source: Citizens in Charge Foundation

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  • Disability Voter Resource Guide 2018

    Disability Voter Resource Guide 2018

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    WASHINGTON, November 6, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
    According to a new survey released by RespectAbility, fully three-quarters of likely voters either have a disability themselves or have a family member, or a close friend with disabilities. But as voters with disabilities head to the polls, many are concerned about various access issues from physical accessibility to voter ID laws. 

    “Our survey shows that 74 percent of likely voters are touched by disabilities,” said former Representative and Dallas Mayor Steve Bartlett, who was a primary author of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. Bartlett is the chairman of RespectAbility, a Washington-based nonpartisan nonprofit that fights stigmas and advances opportunities so people with disabilities can participate in all aspects of community. “Our nation was founded on the principle that anyone who works hard should be able to get ahead in life. These folks deserve an equal opportunity to earn an income and achieve independence just like anyone else. Candidates for office ignore the disability community at their peril.”

    Fully three-quarters of likely voters either have a disability themselves or have a family member or a close friend with disabilities. Our survey shows that 74 percent of likely voters are touched by disabilities. Our nation was founded on the principle that anyone who works hard should be able to get ahead in life. These folks deserve an equal opportunity to earn an income and achieve independence just like anyone else. Candidates for office ignore the disability community at their peril.

    Steve Bartlett, Chair, RespectAbility and Primary Author of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990

    According to the Census Bureau, more than 56 million Americans live with some form of disability. This can include visible conditions such as spinal cord injuries, visual impairments or hearing loss to people living with invisible disabilities such as learning disabilities, mental health or autism.

    “Of particular note from the survey is that while there are certain issues historically on which people with disabilities feel more strongly than Americans without disabilities, such as healthcare and employment opportunities, they track in a similar way to Americans overall when it comes to their political identity,” noted Meagan Buren, pollster for RespectAbility.

    A recent poll of 1,000 likely voters shows that fully 34 percent are grouped as swing voters, 36 percent as Democrat and 29 percent as Republican. More than half of Americans with disabilities have reached out to their elected officials or attended a political rally in the recent past versus 39 percent of Americans without a disability or any disability connection. Nearly three-quarters of people with disabilities watch, read or listen to the news five to seven times a week.

    “This is a politically active, swing vote demographic and candidates should take note of important issues they care about, especially around employment opportunities,” Buren added.

    This is a federal election year; additionally, many state legislative seats, state executive offices, local offices and ballot amendments will be voted on. Therefore, RespectAbility compiled resources provided by general Election Day voter rights organizations as well as those provided by various disability groups.

    See below for apps and information on where to vote, how to vote and who to contact in case there is an issue. Voters with disabilities have every right to vote. If there is a problem voting due to lack of access for disability, contact 866-OUR-VOTE to talk to lawyers on hand to answer Election Day questions and concerns about voting procedures, or other resources listed below, immediately. Please let RespectAbility know as well by emailing LaurenA@RespectAbility.org.

    Election Day Assistance

    Rock the Vote has several online tools that simplify and demystify voter registration and elections. Their website includes information on how to:

    • Check voter registration
    • Voter requirements
    • Find a polling place
    • State election information and learn about the candidates

    The U.S. Election Assistance Commission created a tip sheet to help voters with disabilities vote privately and independently.

    Easter Seals, AAPD and the REVUP campaign created a checklist for voters with disabilities. Download their voting resource card to take to the polls. The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) has compiled an extensive voter resource center to help people register to vote and learn about the issues and organized the disability vote. The REVUP campaign, a project of AAPD, aims to increase the political power of the disability community, while also engaging candidates and the media on disability issues. One Vote Now, a collaborative project between National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, DREDF, AAPD, RespectAbility and the National Disability Rights Network, is working to enhance the voting bloc of people with disabilities.

    The Voting Information Project supports an SMS tool that provides voters with election information via text message. By texting “VOTE” or “VOTO” to GOVOTE (468-683), voters can find polling places, contact information for local election officials and registration URLs. The app is available in multiple languages.

    The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, in partnership with several other disability advocacy organizations, published A Guide to the Voting Rights of People with Mental Disabilities. This newly updated guide lists key legal principles, provides information about state laws and practices that limit the voting rights of people with mental disabilities, and offers tools to help people with disabilities preserve or restore their voting rights. Learn more: www.bazelon.org/our-work/voting.

    Need help getting to the polls?

    In addition to contacting local candidates’ offices, reach out to Carpool Vote, a service connecting volunteer drivers with anybody who needs a ride to claim their vote. Transportation often is a factor for why people with disabilities do not vote and Carpool Vote is aiming to change that.

    • Offer to drive or request a ride online: http://carpoolvote.com
    • For help using Carpool Vote, call or SMS: 804-424-5335

    In addition, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is partnering with Lyft, a popular ride-hailing app, to help blind voters get to the polls. Lyft has provided NFB’s national headquarters with a number of promotion codes, worth $15 each, which are being distributed through 11 of their affiliates: Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. 

    “What if I go to the polls and they tell me I am not registered to vote?”

    First, make sure it is the right polling place. If it’s the wrong polling place, they will not have the voter’s name on its list of voters. If it’s the correct location and the voter is not on the list, voters still can cast a ballot. Ask the poll worker for a provisional ballot. After the polls close on Election Day, the state will check on the status of the voter’s registration and if there was a mistake made. The state must notify the voter as to whether their ballot was counted.

    “On Election Day, if I think my rights have been violated, what should I do?”

    If voters have any questions at the polls, they should first ask an election official on site for assistance. If they are unable to assist or if the voter believes they violated the voter’s voting rights, they should contact the Election Protection Coalition, a nonpartisan coalition working year-round to advance and defend the right to vote. They have lawyers standing by to answer calls:

    • Visit 866ourvote.org
    • 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) – English
    • 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682) – Spanish
    • 844-YALLA-US – Arabic
    • 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683) – Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu or Tagalog
    • 301-818-VOTE – American Sign Language
    • Text “Our Vote” to 97779

    Other Resources:

    Media Contact: 
    Lauren Appelbaum
    Phone: 202-517-6272
    Email: laurena@respectability.org

    Source: RespectAbility

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  • Bipartisan and Nonpartisan Support Embraces Dr. Norman Quintero

    Bipartisan and Nonpartisan Support Embraces Dr. Norman Quintero

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    Candidate for Perris Elementary School Board has broken all the rules in his quest to salvage local schools

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Nov 1, 2018


    PERRIS, Calif., November 1, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Too few political campaigns at any level, for any office, offer the unique combination of credentials that can be found in the small community of the Perris Elementary School District in southern California. Unlike the majority of those who will be seeking political offices next week, occasionally there is one whose qualifications are tailor-made to fit the job description. Even more rarely do the education, experience and lifelong commitment reflect the values and circumstance of his constituency. Almost never does a candidate subordinate rhetoric to a specific plan for identifying the root causes of specific problems and offer step-by-step milestones on a Road Map to specific solutions.

    In a tiny, tight-knit, educational system of something less than 6,000 students, Dr. Norman Quintero has addressed fundamental issues behind, and real solutions to, an underperforming PESD. Previously, he has addressed the fundamentals of accountability, resource allocation, absenteeism, increased revenues and after-school programs with a focus on tutorials, recreational activities and social development. Dr. Quintero believes that a school board should support its dedicated teachers and involve its kids’ parents in order to motivate and educate its students.

    “Almost 20 years ago, ‘No child left behind’ was a federal program that sounded good but accomplished little. I am committed to reviving those ideals on a local level. Now that I have received the endorsements from the general public of both major political parties, I will reach out to parents and teachers as well. I am confident that together we can provide individual attention and individual opportunity to every one of our individual students. That is our challenge and our obligation” Dr. Norman Quintero

    Dr. Norman Quintero, Candidate for Perris Elementary School Board, District 5

    Dr. Quintero shares a common culture and background with local families. With a student body to whom English is a second language and whose nutrition is almost entirely subsidized by governmental agencies, he understands and appreciates the value of a responsive public education system in creating students’ successes.

    As a professional educator, counselor and mental health expert, he has devoted his life and career to improving lives. As a social advocate and successful businessman, he has achieved a proven talent for the management, and maximizing the efficiency of, limited budgets.

    As the father of eight children, he fully understands that every child is born with individual challenges, talents and potential – their success in life requires a coordinated effort, on a daily basis, among teachers, parents, administrators and the students themselves. “Every child” certainly includes those who are entitled to a systemic accommodation for “special education” and “special needs.”

    In publishing his fifth of six Road Map landmarks, the candidate has stated, “Almost 20 years ago, ‘No child left behind’ was a federal program that sounded good, but accomplished little. I am committed to reviving those ideals on a local level. Now that I have received the endorsements from the general public of both major political parties, I will reach out to parents and teachers as well. I am confident that together we can provide individual attention and individual opportunity to every one of our individual students. That is our challenge and our obligation.”

    Source: Dr. Norman Quintero

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  • Perris Elementary School District: ‘Students, Teachers & Parents Deserve Solutions’

    Perris Elementary School District: ‘Students, Teachers & Parents Deserve Solutions’

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    “Perris Elementary School District is failing its faculty & families,” says candidate for school district

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Oct 21, 2018


    PERRIS, Calif., October 21, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
     The following is an open letter from Dr. Norman Quintero, candidate for the School Board of the Perris Elementary School District.

    Our educational system is in crisis. Dedicated and highly-qualified faculty, hard-working students and involved parents are performing miracles against impossible odds. Nationwide, the average number of students per teacher is 16. The size of a PESD classroom is 24, about 11 of which are English Learners and as many as 5 will be absent on any given day. In our district, almost half the students are being taught math, history or science in a language that is foreign to them. Obviously, in our district, more kids need individual attention and specialized instruction. In our district, educators have less time and resources to provide the necessary opportunities to performing their jobs as successfully as possible.

    We can motivate our students, support our teachers, involve our parents, reduce absenteeism, enhance the quality of this basic level in the learning experience and increase resources by creating mentor/tutorial programs, social and athletic activities outside of school hours. The recruitment of community volunteers, non-profit organizations and business sponsors will make our campuses a destination for special attention, confidence-building and personal fulfillment

    Dr Norman Quintero, Candidate for Perris Elementary School Board District 5

    Without the support from a School Board that provides creative strategies, practical plans and real solutions, our highly-qualified teachers, hard-working students and involved parents are being cheated. 40 percent of our students do not meet basic, minimum, educational standards set by the state of California. 25 percent are at health risk for physical fitness. Those numbers should be even worse, given the unique challenges that PESD teachers and students face. That number would be higher, if not for their extraordinary commitment and efforts.

    Realistically, in the short term, budgets won’t allow a significant increase in the number of teachers or a decrease in the size of classes. There are simply not enough hours in the existing school day to provide enough time to address the mental and physical development necessary to a solid foundation for success in secondary schools and beyond. Certainly, the big words and meaningless generalities produced by bureaucratic reports and piles of paperwork haven’t accomplished any results.

    I am focused on deeds, not words. As part of my 6-milestone Road Map for improving our underperforming PESD, I have identified both causes and the solutions. In this 4th step toward providing our students, teachers and parents the educational environment that they deserve, I am addressing the critical need, ideal opportunity for, after-school activities and programs.

    I am the only candidate who has devoted his career to education, children’s advocacy, mental health and community activism. I share a common culture and background with our families and their kids. Combined with my proven track record in business and management, I have mastered the allocation of limited resources and an ability to “think outside the box” in order to achieve real results with real actions.

    I believe that I am the only candidate who identifies, speaks simply and directly to, the issues. We can motivate our students, support our teachers, involve our parents, reduce absenteeism, enhance the quality of this basic level in the learning experience and increase resources by creating mentor/tutorial programs, social and athletic activities outside of school hours. The recruitment of community volunteers, nonprofit organizations and business sponsors will make our campuses a destination for special attention, confidence-building and personal fulfillment.

    Source: Dr. Norman Quintero

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  • Dr. Norman Quintero: Students Pay the Costs of Absenteeism and Untapped Resources

    Dr. Norman Quintero: Students Pay the Costs of Absenteeism and Untapped Resources

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    Third in a series on the ‘Road Map’ to success for underperforming school districts

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Oct 2, 2018


    PERRIS, Calif., October 2, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
    With slightly less than 6,000 students spread among eight facilities, the Perris Elementary School district is relatively small as compared to many others throughout the state of California. Despite the fact that 90 percent of the student body meets the criteria of being “socio-economically disadvantaged,” per-pupil allocations are slightly above the statewide average. Yet PESD consistently ranks in the bottom one-third of achievement levels and other categories in service to the community and its children.

    Funding and tools for public school districts can come from many sources. In addition to a fixed tax base, many supplemental programs are available to provide revenues from local, state and federal agencies. As well, both public and private sector grants can increase annual budgets, while corporate sponsors routinely donate of goods and services. In order to take full advantage of these well-deserved opportunities and assets, governing school boards must be aggressively proactive in both identifying and pursuing them. In the most recent 80-paged Local Control Accountability Plan and Annual Update, among numerous deficiencies, “needs,” “goals” and “performance gaps,” nowhere is addressed the simplest and most obvious of solutions or strategies.

    I’ve devoted my training, my career and my life to serving those in need. I am not a politician, but this election provides me another opportunity to apply my successes as a practical businessman, spiritual leader and activist on behalf of our kids.

    Dr. Norman Quintero, Mental Health Practitioner

    Any small investment in the time, thought and effort required to research and access the means to improve or create after school, special education and tutorial programs pales in comparison to the potential benefits. Too many of those who reference “vision” and “commitment” overlook the remedies at hand. Too many of those who generate mountains of paperwork and navigate miles of red tape fail to fill out a few more forms in order provide a higher quality of education.

    On any given day, one out of five PESD students does not attend classes. Obviously, that is one day that each falls behind. What many taxpayers and parent don’t realize is that the school district is penalized financially based on “average daily attendance.” Somewhere along the line, someone or some committee determined that bus transportation should only be available to families who lived outside a 2.5-mile radius from their children’s school. Otherwise, a 6- or 12-year-old should be expected to walk – potentially alone – for up to an hour each way, both to and from school each day … regardless of weather, traffic, physical ability or potential danger.

    Dr. Norman Quintero, a candidate for the PESD School Board is a product of the American public school system and a longstanding member of the local community with eight children of his own. He has overcome a lower-income childhood and serious medical challenges to achieve two doctorates and become an internationally recognized advocate for education, mental health and children.

    “I’ve devoted my training, my career and my life to serving those in need. I am not a politician, but this election provides me another opportunity to apply my successes as a practical businessman, spiritual leader and activist on behalf of our kids.”

    Source: Dr Norman Quintero

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  • Disabilities Affect 74 Percent of Likely Voters

    Disabilities Affect 74 Percent of Likely Voters

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    As National Disability Employment Awareness Month Begins, A Wake-Up Call to Candidates

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Oct 1, 2018


    WASHINGTON, October 1, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
     It’s the month before the midterm elections and one of the nation’s leading disability organizations has a wake-up call for candidates. “Fully three-quarters of likely voters either have a disability themselves or have a family member or a close friend with disabilities,” said former U.S. Representative and Dallas Mayor Steve Bartlett. Bartlett is the chairman of RespectAbility, a Washington-based nonpartisan nonprofit that fights stigmas and advances opportunities so people with disabilities can participate in all aspects of community.

    “Our survey shows that 74 percent of likely voters are touched by disabilities,” said Bartlett, who was a primary author of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. “Our nation was founded on the principle that anyone who works hard should be able to get ahead in life. These folks deserve an equal opportunity to earn an income and achieve independence just like anyone else. Candidates for office ignore the disability community at their peril.”

    Our survey shows that 74 percent of likely voters are touched by disabilities. Our nation was founded on the principle that anyone who works hard should be able to get ahead in life. These folks deserve an equal opportunity to earn an income and achieve independence just like anyone else. Candidates for office ignore the disability community at their peril.

    Steve Bartlett, Former U.S. Representative and Dallas Mayor, Current Chairman of RespectAbility

    According to the Census Bureau, more than 56 million Americans live with some form of disability. This can include visible conditions such as spinal cord injuries, visual impairments or hearing loss to people living with invisible disabilities such as learning disabilities, mental health or autism.

    “Of particular note from the survey is that while there are certain issues historically on which people with disabilities feel more strongly than Americans without disabilities, such as healthcare and employment opportunities, they track in a similar way to Americans overall when it comes to their political identity,” noted Meagan Buren, pollster for RespectAbility.

    A recent poll of 1,000 likely voters shows that fully 34 percent are grouped as swing voters, 36 percent as Democrat and 29 percent as Republican. More than half of Americans with disabilities have reached out to their elected officials or attended a political rally in the recent past versus 39 percent of Americans without a disability or any disability connection. Nearly three-quarters of people with disabilities watch, read or listen to the news five to seven times a week.

    “This is a politically active, swing vote demographic and candidates should take note of important issues they care about, especially around employment opportunities,” Buren added.

    People with disabilities are most likely to get their news from FOX News (29%), CBS (21%), ABC (21%), NBC (20%), CNN (19%), followed by others, when choosing their top two sources of news.

    That said, 35 percent of people with disabilities evaluated 2018 as America having a “bad year.” Another 24 percent thought it was “only fair.” Additionally, 86 percent of Americans with disabilities want Congress to pursue change in 2019; 49 percent want “significant, bold change.”

    The poll was conducted by Frank Luntz, Ph.D., of Luntz Global in September (margin of error +/- 3/5%) on behalf of RespectAbility.

    October is also National Disability Employment Awareness Month and RespectAbility is joining other groups to celebrate this year’s theme of “America’s Workforce: Empowering All.”

    “People with disabilities bring unique characteristics and talents to the workplaces,” says RespectAbility President Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi. “There are no limits to what they can do when given the chance.”

    The impact of employees with disabilities is well documented and include higher retention rates, productivity levels, lower absenteeism and lower injury rates. Last year, more than 343,000 people with disabilities entered the nation’s workforce – a four-fold increase over the previous year. As noted by the Council of Economic Advisors, “No group has felt the benefits of accelerated economic growth more than Americans with a disability.”

    “The disability community is the only minority anyone can join at any time due to accident, illness or injury,” Bartlett said. “According to data compiled by the Workplace Initiative, fully 20 percent of workers will experience a disability lasting a year or more during their professional lives, a rate that accelerates as workers age.” Nearly a third of U.S. families have at least one member with a disability and 10 percent have at least one child with a disability, he added. 

    Throughout the month of October, RespectAbility and other disability groups will be celebrating the accomplishments of employees with disabilities and inclusive employers such as Coca-Cola, JPMorgan Chase, EY, UPS, IBM, Walgreens and Starbucks. Likewise, RespectAbility also is working with state governors on proclamations and events that showcase cost-effective programs impacting people with disabilities at the state level. Find more about their work on their website at https://www.respectability.org/.

    Media Contact: 
    Lauren Appelbaum
    Phone: 202-517-6272
    Email: LaurenA@RespectAbility.org

    Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
    Phone: 202-365-0787
    Email: JenniferM@RespectAbility.org

    Source: RespectAbility

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