Daily Archives: October 27, 2020

CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR VOTE

CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR VOTE

‘Can I change my vote’ trends on Google: What you need to know

More than 59 million Americans have already cast their ballots ahead of Election Day – but some might be wondering if they can change that vote, according to Google Trends.

Google searches of the phrase “can I change my vote” peaked Tuesday morning in the U.S. around 6 a.m. ET.

One of the subregions where the phrase began trending at one point was in Delaware, the state Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden represented in the Senate for 36 years.

Other subregions included battleground states such as Maine, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa, Wisconsin and Arizona, according to Trend data at various points throughout Tuesday morning.

While most states do not allow voters to change their early votes, there are some that do, with restrictions.

SOMETIMES YOU CAN JUST GO TO THE POLLING PLACE

For example, in New York, if you have submitted an absentee ballot but change your mind, you can show up to your polling place during early voting or on Election Day and cast a vote, in which case the absentee ballot is set aside and not counted, according to the state Board of Elections.

In Michigan, voters who have sent in a ballot can submit a written and signed request to their voting clerk by 5 p.m. Oct. 30 requesting to have the ballot nullified, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Minnesotans who mailed in an absentee ballot had until Oct. 20 to request a new ballot from their county or city election office.

In New Hampshire, voters who submitted an absentee ballot can go to the polls on Election Day during the first hour they’re open and vote in person, or before their absentee ballot is processed.

In Wisconsin, if time allows, a voter can cancel their original absentee ballot and request a new one – but they have until Oct. 29, the legal deadline for requesting absentee ballots by mail.

As of Sunday, the nearly 60 million Americans who have voted early in the 2020 presidential election suggest a record turnout this year. In 2016, 47.2 million early votes were cast in the presidential election, according to data from the U.S. Elections Project.

President Trump tweeted about the Google trend Tuesday morning and encouraged voters to “go do it,” claiming without evidence that the trend “refers to changing it to me.”

While Trump suggested the Google trend started “immediately” after his debate with Biden on Thursday, data showed the search did not spike until Tuesday morning, five days later.

JUDGE TRUMP NOT A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE

JUDGE TRUMP NOT A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE

Judge rejects Justice Dept. bid to short circuit defamation case brought by woman who accused Trump of rape

JUDGE TRUMP NOT A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE IN LAWSUIT

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Justice Department’s bid to make the U.S. government the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says President Trump raped her several years ago, paving the way for the case to again proceed.

In a 59-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote that Trump did not qualify as a federal “employee” under federal law, nor was he acting “within the scope of his employment” when he denied during interviews in 2019 that he had raped journalist E. Jean Carroll more than two decades ago in a New York City department store.

Carroll sued Trump over that denial in New York in November, and last month, the Justice Department moved the case to federal court and asked a judge to substitute the U.S. government as the defendant in place of Trump. The department argued Trump was “acting within the scope of his office as President of the United States” when he disputed Carroll’s allegations.

The maneuver was a first step in a bid to short circuit the case. If the judge had done what the Justice Department asked, government lawyers could then have invoked the notion of “sovereign immunity” — which prohibits lawsuits against the government — to end the case.

THE JUDGE SOUNDED PRETTY CLEAR

“The President of the United States is not an ’employee of the Government’ within the meaning of the relevant statutes,” the judge wrote. “Even if he were such an ’employee,’ President Trump’s allegedly defamatory statements concerning Ms. Carroll would not have been within the scope of his employment.”

A Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, said she was “very pleased that the federal court interpreted the plain text of Federal Tort Claims Act as not covering President Trump’s false statements about our client.”

“The simple truth is that President Trump defamed our client because she was brave enough to reveal that he had sexually assaulted her, and that brutal, personal attack cannot be attributed to the Office of the President,” she said, adding that Carroll’s team looked forward to proceeding with the case in federal court.

Carroll said in a statement: “When I spoke out about what Donald Trump did to me in a department store dressing room, I was speaking out against an individual. When Donald Trump called me a liar and denied that he had ever met me, he was not speaking on behalf of the United States. I am happy that Judge Kaplan recognized these basic truths.”

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POLITICIANS HITTING NEVADA AGAIN

POLITICIANS HITTING NEVADA AGAIN

Trump, Harris rallies to affect Southern Nevada traffic this week

As the days to next week’s general election tick down, candidate rallies could affect traffic and travel in Southern Nevada.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in Las Vegas on Tuesday ahead of a Wednesday rally, and his son Eric Trump is slated to campaign in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Democratic vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris also is set to campaign in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The younger Trump is set to appear at Ahern Hotel at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at a Latinos for Trump event. Former UFC star Tito Ortiz also is scheduled to appear. Eric Trump is slated to appear in Reno at a 10 a.m. event before making his way to Las Vegas.

Harris will be in Southern Nevada as well Tuesday, but details of her planned visit weren’t immediately available.

Motorists can expect moderate traffic delays in the areas surrounding the events.

TRUMP FLYING INTO McCARRAN

The president is expected to land at McCarran International Airport on Tuesday evening before spending the night at the Trump International Hotel ahead of his planned Wednesday event.

Expect flight impacts at McCarran as Air Force One lands and road impacts on Trump’s likely motorcade trip to his namesake hotel.

“The U.S. Secret Service seldom discloses its travel routes in advance due to safety and security concerns,” said Tony Illia, Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman. “As a result, freeway stops made by the presidential motorcade will be done so with little prior notice. Any temporary traffic restrictions incurred will be made in real time by law enforcement escorts, including the Nevada Highway Patrol and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.”

Possible roads that will be affected as Trump arrives include the airport connector tunnel, the 215 Beltway, Interstate 15, Las Vegas Boulevard and surrounding surface streets.

Trump will hold a rally at the Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport, about 90 miles southeast of Las Vegas. The event will be able to host a larger crowd than it would in Las Vegas since the airport sits on the Arizona side of the border and is not bound by Nevada’s 250-person limit on gatherings.

That event is planned to begin at noon, with gates opening at 9 a.m., according to the airport’s website.

Motorists can expect intermittent freeway closures as Trump’s motorcade makes its way from Las Vegas to the Laughlin/Bullhead airport.

Possible highway impacts include I-15, the 215 Beltway, U.S. Highway 95, Interstate 11 and state Route 163.

“The department advises motorists to take the presidential trip into consideration when making travel plans, budgeting additional time if passing through known visitation locations,” Illia said.

SCOTUS RULES ON WISCONSIN VOTING

SCOTUS RULES ON WISCONSIN VOTING

Supreme Court rules Wisconsin mail-in ballots must be received by Nov. 3

SCOTUS RULES ON WISCONSIN VOTING

The Supreme Court upheld Wisconsin’s voting laws Monday, rejecting an effort to require the counting of absentee ballots that are sent back to election officials on or just before Election Day.

The court’s 5-3 ruling means that absentee ballots will be counted only if they are in the hands of municipal clerks by the time polls close on Nov. 3.

The justices determined the courts shouldn’t be the ones to decide the election rules amid the coronavirus pandemic that is surging in Wisconsin and across the world.

“The Constitution provides that state legislatures — not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules,” Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion.

JUSTICE KAGAN WAS IN DISSENT

In dissent, Associate Justice Elena Kagan gave that notion short shrift, noting Wisconsin’s Republican-run legislature hasn’t met since April. Extending the deadline for absentee ballots should have been allowed, she wrote.

“On the scales of both constitutional justice and electoral accuracy, protecting the right to vote in a health crisis outweighs conforming to a deadline created in safer days,” Kagan wrote.

After the decision came out, election officials emphasized a message they have been hammering on for months — voters should return their absentee ballots as soon as they can.

“If you’re planning to mail your ballot back, you should mail it back as soon as possible,” said a statement from Meagan Wolfe, the director of the state Elections Commission.

Both sides were awaiting the decision anxiously because Wisconsin is a battleground in the presidential campaign. President Donald Trump won the state narrowly in 2016 but has consistently trailed Democratic nominee Joe Biden in polls this fall.

Democrats, their allies and nonpartisan groups argued the state law requiring absentee ballots to be returned by Election Day should be loosened because of the pandemic and a slowing of mail. They wanted ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted.

DAWG SAYS: THIS LAYS DOWN THE RULE FOR ALL STATES, AT THIS POINT I SEE NO REASON FOR ANYONE TO BE LATE THESE DAYS.