About two weeks before the US election, state election officials across the country have reported a record number of voters who have cast their ballots. According to a BBC story, as of October 16, more than 22 million US citizens had voted by mail or in person. By contrast, the BBC said that only 6 million votes had been cast. Reports indicate that registered Democrats have so far surpassed registered Republicans, casting more than double the number of ballots. And of these Democrats who vote early, women and black Americans are voting in particularly high numbers, ”the BBC said. Read the report here
Elliot Broidy, who held senior positions in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and on its inaugural committee, is the latest person with ties to the US president to be charged with a crime, Reuters reported. This comes at a time when Trump has been behind Biden in polls and has come under fire for his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. With days before the election, the Trump campaign is unlikely to want scrutiny from trading partners and, by extension, Trump. Read the report here
Two weeks after Trump and many in his inner circle tested positive for coronavirus, White House staff have started to return to work. Reuters has reported that, despite being infected, staff have been saying they “had only mild symptoms and again reject the use of masks despite criticism that they have been careless with the outbreak.” The White House has been criticized for downplaying the impact of Covid-19 and dismissing the effectiveness of face masks in protecting against infections. Read the Reuters report here
On the battlefield state of Georgia, at a Trump campaign rally, Republican United States Senator David Perdue appeared to mock Kamala Harris by repeatedly exaggerating the pronunciation of her name. He then said “I don’t know, whatever”, after which, the assembled crowd laughed. All of this was captured in a video recording of the event. Reuters reported that while one of Perdue’s staff members issued a statement on social media that the senator had mispronounced Harris’s name, there were others who were not convinced. Read the story here
With the first polls indicating that Trump is behind Biden, the Trump campaign has begun to rally in states the president won in 2016 to garner support in the last weeks before Election Day. Along with Michigan and Wisconsin, “Trump is also playing defense in traditional Republican strongholds, such as Arizona, where he plans to campaign Monday, and Georgia,” Reuters reported. Read the story here
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