theguardian--2020-08-18--WHO says Covid spread by 'unaware' youth; European rules tighten – as it happened

Hundreds of New York University students and staff waited in line outside a white tent on Tuesday for coronavirus testing ahead of some classes resuming in early September , a scene expected to unfold on many US campuses in coming weeks .
NYU is testing students who have chosen in-person learning , with classes for undergraduates beginning on 2 September .
The university , housed in hundreds of buildings across lower Manhattan , is also giving students the options of remote learning or a blended program between the two .
New York , once the US epicenter of the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % , a benchmark for restarting certain activities coupled with social distancing and mask wearing .
Schools in parts of the country that have a coronavirus infection positivity rate of more than 10 % would be better off easing into the new academic year with virtual classrooms , Anthony Fauci , the top US infectious diseases expert , said on Tuesday .
Fauci said in a virtual conference hosted by health information website Healthline that primary and secondary schools as a default position should try and reopen for the psychological health of children @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to every school in the country .
“ To make a statement on one side vs the other and take the country as a whole won ’ t work , we ’ re so heterogeneous with the infections , ” Fauci said .
Some US schools have closed almost as quickly as they welcomed back students as the level of new cases per day remains high in many states , including California , Florida and Texas .
The United States has more than 5 million cases of confirmed coronavirus infections , the highest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reuters tally , with more than 170,000 reported fatalities .
Many colleges have plans to test students who are coming back to campus , even if classes are all remote , according to guidance posted on school websites .
At some schools , a coronavirus test site is the first place students must go when they arrive on campus before going to their dorms .
They may not enter any other campus buildings until the result comes back negative , which could take several days in some cases .
NYU plans to test @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and staff each week of the fall semester , adding up to several thousand tests per week .
Florida State University has set an “ aspirational goal ” of giving Covid-19 tests to all faculty , staff , and students returning campus this fall .
Northwestern University said all students living in residence halls will be tested upon arrival to campus and all students partaking in any in-person learning must be tested before the start of the academic quarter on 21 September .
At Yale University the school plans to pay for every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrival and twice a week throughout the fall semester .
Many elementary , secondary , high schools and colleges scheduled to begin the new term in August or September are mandating remote learning , as teachers unions opposed in-person instruction .

Lucy Campbell (now); Caroline Davies, Josh Halliday and Alison Rourke (earlier)

18 Aug 2020 00.11 BST Thanks for joining us for this live blog, which is closing down now. Join my colleague Martin Farrer at our new live blog for all the latest updates: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/aug/19/coronavirus-live-news-global-cases-near-22m-as-wall-street-record-defies-economic-gloom
18 Aug 2020 23.31 BST Turkey’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 20 on Tuesday to 6,016, health ministry data showed, with the total number of identified cases rising to 251,805. The data showed that 1,263 new cases were identified in the last 24 hours, rising from 1,233 a day earlier, Reuters reports.
18 Aug 2020 23.30 BST Hundreds of New York University students and staff waited in line outside a white tent on Tuesday for coronavirus testing ahead of some classes resuming in early September, a scene expected to unfold on many US campuses in coming weeks. NYU is testing students who have chosen in-person learning, with classes for undergraduates beginning on 2 September. The university, housed in hundreds of buildings across lower Manhattan, is also giving students the options of remote learning or a blended program between the two. New York, once the US epicenter of the pandemic, has an infection rate below 1%, a benchmark for restarting certain activities coupled with social distancing and mask wearing. Schools in parts of the country that have a coronavirus infection positivity rate of more than 10% would be better off easing into the new academic year with virtual classrooms, Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, said on Tuesday. Fauci said in a virtual conference hosted by health information website Healthline that primary and secondary schools as a default position should try and reopen for the psychological health of children, but no single approach should apply to every school in the country. “To make a statement on one side vs the other and take the country as a whole won’t work, we’re so heterogeneous with the infections,” Fauci said. Some US schools have closed almost as quickly as they welcomed back students as the level of new cases per day remains high in many states, including California, Florida and Texas. The United States has more than 5 million cases of confirmed coronavirus infections, the highest in the world, according to a Reuters tally, with more than 170,000 reported fatalities. Many colleges have plans to test students who are coming back to campus, even if classes are all remote, according to guidance posted on school websites. At some schools, a coronavirus test site is the first place students must go when they arrive on campus before going to their dorms. They may not enter any other campus buildings until the result comes back negative, which could take several days in some cases. Testing availability on campuses will vary. NYU plans to test a random sampling of students, faculty and staff each week of the fall semester, adding up to several thousand tests per week. Florida State University has set an “aspirational goal” of giving Covid-19 tests to all faculty, staff, and students returning campus this fall. Northwestern University said all students living in residence halls will be tested upon arrival to campus and all students partaking in any in-person learning must be tested before the start of the academic quarter on 21 September. At Yale University the school plans to pay for every student on campus to be tested upon arrival and twice a week throughout the fall semester. Many elementary, secondary, high schools and colleges scheduled to begin the new term in August or September are mandating remote learning, as teachers unions opposed in-person instruction.
18 Aug 2020 22.36 BST Brazil reported 47,784 new cases of coronavirus and 1,352 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday. Brazil has now registered 3,407,354 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 109,888, according to ministry data, marking the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak after the United States.
18 Aug 2020 22.34 BST Summary As Australia wakes up, here is a summary of the main developments from the last few hours: Global coronavirus cases are approaching 22 million and the global death toll has risen to almost 776,000. According to the tally by John Hopkins University, the biggest drivers of the case counts is the United States and Brazil. The US has recorded over 5.45 million cases and more than 170,000 lives have been lost.
According to the tally by John Hopkins University, the biggest drivers of the case counts is the United States and Brazil. The US has recorded over 5.45 million cases and more than 170,000 lives have been lost. The Netherlands could go “back to square one” if the country doesn’t control new infections, the Dutch PM Mark Rutte warned. Without imposing mandatory restrictions, Rutte gave people urgent advice not to hold parties at home and to limit events like birthday celebrations and other private house gatherings to a maximum of six people.
Without imposing mandatory restrictions, Rutte gave people urgent advice not to hold parties at home and to limit events like birthday celebrations and other private house gatherings to a maximum of six people. Ireland’s nationwide coronavirus restrictions are being “significantly tightened” until at least 13 September as cases surged at the fourth highest rate in Europe. Following the rise in the last three weeks, people have been urged to restrict visitors to their homes, avoid public transport and for older people to limit their contacts. “We’re absolutely not at a stage where we can return to normality. We are at another critical moment,” the Taoiseach Michael Martin said.
Following the rise in the last three weeks, people have been urged to restrict visitors to their homes, avoid public transport and for older people to limit their contacts. “We’re absolutely not at a stage where we can return to normality. We are at another critical moment,” the Taoiseach Michael Martin said. Germany is expected to extend its pandemic furlough scheme to 24 months. The chancellor Angela Merkel indicated she welcomed the proposal to let the kurzarbeit programme run on until 2021. A final decision is expected on 25 August.
The chancellor Angela Merkel indicated she welcomed the proposal to let the kurzarbeit programme run on until 2021. A final decision is expected on 25 August. Lebanese authorities announced a new lockdown and an overnight curfew to rein in a surge in infections. The new measures will come into effect on Friday and last just over two weeks. Areas damaged by the devastating explosion that hit Beirut on 4 August will be exempt from the restrictions, as clean-up efforts continue across multiple neighbourhoods.
The new measures will come into effect on Friday and last just over two weeks. Areas damaged by the devastating explosion that hit Beirut on 4 August will be exempt from the restrictions, as clean-up efforts continue across multiple neighbourhoods. South Africa will launch clinical trials of a US-developed coronavirus vaccine with 2,900 volunteers this week. It’s the second such study in the African country worst hit by the disease. Known as NVX-CoV2373, the vaccine was developed by US biotech company Novavax from the genetic sequence of SARSCoV2. It will be administered to the first volunteer in the randomised, observer-blinded trial on Wednesday.
It’s the second such study in the African country worst hit by the disease. Known as NVX-CoV2373, the vaccine was developed by US biotech company Novavax from the genetic sequence of SARSCoV2. It will be administered to the first volunteer in the randomised, observer-blinded trial on Wednesday. Young are not invincible amid the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization warned. The WHO said Covid-19 is now being spread mainly by people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, who may be unaware they are infected, potentially transmitting the disease to more vulnerable groups. “We are seeing young people who are ending up in ICU. Young people are dying from this virus,” WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said.
Updated at 22.51 BST
18 Aug 2020 21.55 BST Countries led by women had “systematically and significantly better” Covid-19 outcomes, research appears to show, locking down earlier and suffering half as many deaths on average as those led by men, Jon Henley reports. The relative early success of leaders such as Germany’s Angela Merkel, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen and Finland’s Sanna Marin has so far attracted many headlines but little academic attention. The analysis of 194 countries, published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the World Economic Forum, suggests the difference is real and “may be explained by the proactive and coordinated policy responses” adopted by female leaders. Even after clear and frequently cited outliers such as New Zealand and Germany – and the US for male leaders – were removed from the statistics, the study found, the case for the relative success of female leaders was only strengthened. Get the full story here: Female-led countries handled coronavirus better, study suggests Read more
18 Aug 2020 21.28 BST A worker of Miami-Dade County Elections Department holds a U.S. Postal Service basket with mail-in ballots during the primary election amid the coronavirus outbreak in Miami, Florida. Photograph: Marco Bello/Reuters
18 Aug 2020 20.59 BST Indigenous protesters on key Brazilian grain highway BR-163 temporarily lifted their roadblock on Tuesday to allow a long line of trucks carrying corn to pass, but said they will stop traffic again in late afternoon. Members of the Kayapó tribe had blocked the route in center-west Brazil on Monday with tires and wooden planks, protesting against a lack of government protection from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed several of their elders. That jammed up loaded trucks for 3 kilometers. The highway links towns in the nation’s biggest farm state Mato Grosso to the port of Miritituba, an important export river gateway in Pará state. With the soy season almost over, the main grain transported on the road at present is corn. A Kayapo Indigenous man attends a protest at sunrise as they block highway BR-163 near Novo Progresso, Para state. Photograph: André Penner/AP Highway police in Santarém confirmed that the tribe had lifted their blockade and planned to restore their barriers at 6pm (21.00 GMT) when a court order was due to arrive. A judge issued a ruling on Monday ordering the demonstrators to unblock the road in the region of Novo Progresso, southern Pará state. Kayapó men carrying wooden weapons and wearing warrior body paint and headdresses told a Reuters photographer that they would continue their protest because no authority had come to hear their demands. Kayapo Indigenous people after the reopening of the BR-163 highway, during a protest against the government measures in the indigenous lands to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease. Photograph: Lucas Landau/Reuters They were also protesting against the so-called Ferrogrão railway, set to cross part of the Amazon to connect grain-producing Mato Grosso state to river ports for soy and corn. The railway will run parallel to the BR-163 highway, which has become an important route for exporting grains to the river ports for transshipment onto larger ships on the Amazon river. The Kayapo, who live on the adjacent Menkragnoti e Baú indigenous reservations, claim the road has brought illness to their villages and are seeking reparation money. Novo Progresso, Para state. Photograph: Lucas Landau/Reuters
18 Aug 2020 20.45 BST The Canadian province of Quebec on Tuesday announced plans to tackle earlier mistakes in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, while preparing its health sector against a possible second wave of coronavirus in the autumn. Quebec, once the country’s hardest-hit province, will boost public health sector hiring, reduce screening delays, and ensure staff like orderlies can no longer work at multiple long-term care facilities, a practice previously blamed for spreading the virus, the health minister Christian Dubé told reporters. Canada has flattened its curve of coronavirus cases since the spring, but some of the country’s 10 provinces have reported higher numbers of Covid-19 infections recently, as the economy restarts and restrictions on social gathering are relaxed. Schools across Canada will be reopening in autumn. Quebec accounts for about half the country’s 122,872 total coronavirus cases and more than half of its 9,032 deaths. But the once hard-hit province has only reported 46 new cases and two deaths in the last 24 hours, according to government data.
“We have done an appraisal of this first wave so we can now establish the solution to be implemented in view of a potential second wave,” Dubé said. There will no longer be movement of workers, other than nurses under certain conditions, between seniors’ homes, where most of the province’s 5,727 Covid-19 deaths took place. Under the plan, Quebec will also invest C$106m (£61m) in public health to allow for the hiring of 1,000 workers to carry out contact tracing and infection control.
Updated at 20.50 BST
18 Aug 2020 19.54 BST Pizza Express has revealed plans to close almost a fifth of its UK restaurants under a financial restructuring that places 1,100 jobs at risk, Sky News reports. The casual pizza chain said a rescue deal, which must be agreed by creditors, will see 73 of its 470 restaurants close permanently following the deep disruption to trading caused by the coronavirus lockdown and the resulting high street jobs crisis. UK & Ireland managing director, Zoe Bowley, said the company hoped to redeploy some of the staff impacted. The restaurant chain announced it is to shut 73 of its restaurants across the UK with the potential loss of 1,100 jobs in a bid to stay afloat in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
18 Aug 2020 19.48 BST Global coronavirus cases approach 22 million The tally for confirmed cases of Covid-19 around the world reached 21.95 million on Tuesday, and the global death toll rose to almost 776,000. According to data collated by John Hopkins University, the United States leads the world with over 5.45 million cases and more than 170,000 lives lost. Brazil is the country with the second highest number of registered cases and deaths with 3.36 million cases and 108,536 deaths. It’s followed by India, which has recorded 2.7 million cases, and Mexico which has confirmed 57,023 fatalities.
18 Aug 2020 19.39 BST The Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte tightened recommended measures to rein in the spread of coronavirus, warning that if the country does not control new infections the Netherlands could go “back to square one”. Rutte gave people urgent advice not to hold parties at home and to limit events like birthday celebrations and other private house gatherings to a maximum of six people. However, the Dutch government did not impose any new mandatory restrictions. “If were not careful, we will be back to square one inside the foreseeable future,” Rutte warned. “If people want to organise parties for more than six people, they should rent a space where all guests can maintain social distance while seated,” the prime minister said. He also urged people to continue working from home. The Dutch PM during a press conference about the current state of affairs in the country regarding coronavirus, in The Hague. Photograph: Bart Maat/EPA His comments came after the Dutch public health institute announced that there had been just over 4,000 new confirmed cases in the Netherlands over the last week, around the same number as the previous week. The percentage of positive tests in the country edged very slightly lower to 3.5%. The confirmed Covid-19 death toll in the Netherlands stood at 6,175 as of Tuesday, although the true figure is believed to be higher because many people thought to have died were not tested. The number of new confirmed cases has been on the rise since the Netherlands removed most of its coronavirus restrictions on 1 July. Students returned to high schools in the country’s north this week for the first time in months without requirements for face masks or social distancing between children. To prevent infections at schools, Rutte said students must stay home if they have coronavirus symptoms and if somebody in their family tested positive for the virus. We showed between March and June that we could, together, get on top of the virus. Now we have to show that we can keep the virus under control together.
Updated at 19.41 BST
18 Aug 2020 19.31 BST Ireland tightens restrictions as cases surge at fourth highest rate in Europe Ireland significantly tightened its nationwide coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday to rein in an increase in cases, urging everyone to restrict visitors to their homes, avoid public transport and for older people to limit their contacts. A surge in cases over the last three weeks after Ireland had one of Europe’s lowest infection rates for several weeks, pushed the country’s 14-day cumulative cases per 100,000 population to 26 and led to the first local lockdown last week. The 190 new cases on Tuesday, the second highest daily rise since early May, took the rate of growth in the last two weeks to the fourth highest in Europe and meant infections would inevitably spread to the most vulnerable if it continued, the prime minister Micheal Martin said. “We’re absolutely not at a stage where we can return to normality. We are at another critical moment,” the Taoiseach told a news conference, saying the new measures would stay in place until 13 September. Ireland has adopted one of the most cautious approaches in Europe in fighting the virus, reopening its economy at a slower pace and keeping many restrictions in place for longer. The government has already twice-delayed the final phase of its reopening plan that would allow nightclubs and all pubs to open, having sped up the plan in June when cases began to fall. As well as cutting to six the number of visitors allowed in a home - where most clusters have occurred - outdoor gatherings are being restricted to 15 people from 200, with all fans banned from sport. Police will get greater powers to enforce the rules. Restaurants and pubs that serve food can stay open. Martin said the aim of the restrictions was to make sure key parts of the economy kept trading and schools could reopen for the first time since March. “Schools are so important to children in general, to society, to the economy as well, that we want our schools to reopen, and our schools will reopen,” Martin said.
Updated at 19.34 BST


theguardian--2020-08-18--Joe Biden to be formally nominated on Democratic convention's second night

Democrats will formally nominate Joe Biden for president during the second night of the party ’ s national convention on Tuesday , elevating a historic ticket that includes his vice-presidential running mate Kamala Harris , who is the first black woman to be nominated for national office by a major party .
After searing indictments of Donald Trump ’ s presidency from Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders on Monday ’ s opening night , the quadrennial affair – abbreviated and made virtual as a result of the coronavirus pandemic – will continue with more live-streamed speeches , pre-taped montages and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the states , reimagined for the Covid-19 era , will officially make Biden the Democratic standard-bearer for the November election , the culmination of a quest that began in 1988 , when he first ran for president .
If the opening night was intended as a show of unity from unlikely political bedfellows aligned against the president , the speakers tonight will present the Democrats as a forward-looking , big-tent party that has always been at the vanguard of social progress .
Democrats hope to win over moderate Republicans and independents who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leadership while energizing progressives who have yet to enthusiastically embrace their own nominee .
Tuesday evening will spotlight the stars of the party ’ s future – and some from its past .
Breaking with tradition , the evening will begin not with a single keynote speaker designated a Democratic rising star , but with 17 .
The mash-up of what the organizers called the “ next generation of party leaders ” is intended to reflect the racial and ideological diversity of a party increasingly led by women and people of color .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abrams , the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor in Georgia who was considered a potential vice-presidential running mate ; the Texas congressman Colin Allred , who flipped a Republican-held seat in 2018 ; Jonathan Nez , president of the Navajo Nation , and Robert Garcia , the mayor of Long Beach , California , who immigrated to the US from Peru as a child .
“ This year , all of us are on stage , ” they will say in synchronized remarks , each appearing in a Brady Bunch-style grid .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to say.
” Though she will have just 60 seconds to speak , the inclusion of the progressive New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , is a testament to her status as the leader of a new generation of party activists .
By contrast , former president Bill Clinton , who has been a prominent figure at party conventions since before Ocasio-Cortez was born , will speak for less than five minutes – and many younger Democrats have expressed frustration that he was given any speaking time at all in the wake of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky .
Clinton is expected to assail Trump ’ s leadership , accusing him of turning the Oval Office into a “ storm center ” marked by constant chaos .
“ Just one thing never changes – his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame , ” Clinton will say .
“ The buck never stops there.
” Making the case for Biden , Clinton will say of the Democratic nominee : “ Our party is united in offering you a very different choice : a go-to-work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A man with a mission : to take responsibility , not shift the blame ; concentrate , not distract ; unite , not divide.
” Prominent elected officials , longtime friends and one-time rivals will play a symbolic role in the formal nominating process , which traditionally unfolds over the course of several hours of pageantry on the convention floor but on Tuesday will be abbreviated to a 30-minute , pre-taped montage from delegates in all 57 states and territories .
Sally Yates , the former acting attorney general who briefly oversaw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s 2016 campaign and Russia , will also speak .
Her career ended abruptly when Trump , just days into his presidency , fired her for refusing to defend an executive order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries .
In her defiance , Yates became a hero to what was then a nascent anti-Trump resistance .
“ From the moment President Trump took office , he has used his position to benefit himself rather than our country , ” Yates is expected to say .
“ He ’ s trampled the rule @ @ @ @ @ @ @ justice department to attack his enemies and protect his friends.
” The Senate minority leader , Chuck Schumer , will remind viewers that Biden isn ’ t the only candidate on the ballot in November – and that the Senate also hangs in the balance .
Once implausible , Democrats now have a path to taking back control of the chamber , as Trump drags down Republican incumbents in competitive Senate races from Arizona to Maine .
Capping the two-hour primetime event will be Jill Biden , Joe Biden ’ s wife and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ educator , Jill Biden is expected to assail Trump ’ s leadership on the coronavirus , which has forced many school districts to delay – or cancel – plans to reopen .
“ You can hear the anxiety that echoes down empty hallways , ” Biden is expected to say on Tuesday night , according to excerpts released ahead of the event .
“ There ’ s no scent of new notebooks or freshly waxed floors .
The rooms are dark and the bright young faces that should fill them are confined to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is also expected to make the case that her husband is the right leader for the moment , highlighting his dedication to family , faith and public service .
“ There are times when I couldn ’ t imagine how he did it – how he put one foot in front of the other and kept going , ” she is expected to say , referring to Biden ’ s resilience after the loss of his first wife and daughter in a car crash in 1972 , and his eldest son Beau , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But I ’ ve always understood why he did it , ” she will say .
“ He does it for you .
”

Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden for president during an emotional second night of their party’s virtual convention, warning that Donald Trump was an “existential threat” to America who had failed to get a grip on the coronavirus pandemic.
The official nomination elevates a historic ticket that includes his vice-presidential running mate Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to be nominated for national office by a major party.
A roll call of the states, reimagined for the Covid-19 era, officially made 77-year-old Biden the Democratic standard-bearer to take on Trump in the November election, the culmination of a quest that began in 1987, when he first ran for president.
From a school library near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden savored the moment. Surrounded by his grandchildren, who wore shirts that said “No Malarky” – one of Biden’s signature phrases – and his wife, Jill, they sprinkled confetti and party streamers as Kool & the Gang’s Celebration played – a radically scaled down version of the usual festivities for such a moment, due to the pandemic.
“It means the world to me and my family,” Biden said. “I’ll see you on Thursday.”
Biden will formally deliver an acceptance speech on Thursday, from a waterfront convention center in Delaware. Harris will speak from the same location on Wednesday.
Tracee Ellis Ross, an actor and convention moderator, opened the evening with a nod to the foundational role of Black women in the Democratic party and the historic nature of Harris’ place on the ticket.
“For far too long, Black female leadership has been utilized without being acknowledged or valued – but we are turning the tide,” she said. “Hello, Kamala.”
Capping the two-hour primetime event, Jill Biden painted a deeply personal portrait of her husband as man of “unshakable” faith and conviction.
Jill Biden speaks during the second night of the virtual Democratic national convention. Photograph: AP
In her remarks, she talked about Biden’s resilience after losing his first wife and daughter in a car crash in 1972, and the family’s anguish after his eldest son Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015.
“There are times when I couldn’t imagine how he did it – how he put one foot in front of the other and kept going,” she said, speaking from a classroom where she once taught.
“I know that if we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours,” she said, “bring us together and make us whole.”
Democrats continued theme of unity on Tuesday, presenting themselves as a forward-looking, big-tent party that has always been at the vanguard of social progress.
Breaking with tradition, Democrats chose not one but 17 speakers to deliver the keynote address. The platform is typically awarded to a rising star within the party, as it was in 2004, when a little-known senator from Illinois, Barack Obama captured the imagination of millions.
This year featured a mash-up of what the organizers called the “next generation of party leaders”, who reflected the racial, generational and ideological diversity of a party increasingly led by women and young people of color.
Stacey Abrams, center, and others speak during the second night of the Democratic national convention. Photograph: AP
But Tuesday evening also spotlighted stars from the party’s past. Two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, offered Biden their endorsements.
“Covid hit us much harder than it had to,” Clinton said, blaming Trump’s leadership for the extent of the pandemic’s devastation in the US, where more than 170,000 people have died and 5.4m have been infected.
Clinton said that if Trump were reelected, he would only “blame, bully and belittle” for another four years, while Biden will “build back better”.
Clinton spoke for less than five minutes – and many younger Democrats expressed frustration that he was given any speaking time at all in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which prompted re-examinations of allegations of sexual assault and harassment throughout his decades in public life.
Making the case for Biden, Clinton said: “Our party is united in offering you a very different choice: a go-to-work president. A down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy. A man with a mission: to take responsibility, not shift the blame; concentrate, not distract; unite, not divide.”
Prominent elected officials, longtime friends and one-time rivals played a symbolic role in the formal nominating process, which was abbreviated to a 30-minute, pre-taped montage from delegates in all 57 states and territories.
Recast as a “roll call across America”, the procession began on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and ended at the Joseph R Biden Jr train station in Wilmington, where the all 32 delegates went to Delaware’s “favorite son”. Along the way, viewers at home, many of whom have been living under quarantine, were treated to a tour of every American state and territory.
Delaware’s governor, John Carney, and Senator Tom Carper speak during the roll call. Photograph: AP
From the desert of Arizona to “paradise” in the Northern Mariana Islands, a manufacturing plant in Ohio and the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, delegates proudly cast their ballots. Their appearances were replete with elements of regional pride: corn in Iowa, cattle in Montana and calamari in Rhode Island.
As expected, Biden was nominated by Delaware politicians, congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, who helped lead his search for a vice-presidential nominee, and Senator Chris Coons, a longtime friend and confidant.
But in a surprise, Jacqueline Brittany, the New York City elevator operator who briefly met him during the Democratic primary, was the first person to officially nominate him at the convention.
“I take powerful people up on my elevator all the time,” Brittany said. “When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me, I just head back to the lobby. But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me, that he actually cared, that my life meant something to him. And I knew, even when he went to his important meeting, he’d take my story in there with him.”
The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who earned delegates as the runner-up in the primary contest, was nominated by Bob King, the former president of the United Auto Workers, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman who began her political career as a staffer on his 2016 presidential campaign.
01:43 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praises Bernie Sanders in DNC speech – video
But the uplifting jaunt around the nation for the roll call was bracketed by sober discussions around healthcare and what they warned would be the grim consequences of allowing Trump’s a second term.
Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general who briefly oversaw the investigation into potential ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, was among the early speakers. Her career ended abruptly when Trump, just days into his presidency, fired her for refusing to defend an executive order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries. In her defiance, Yates became a hero to what was then a nascent anti-Trump resistance.
“That was the start of his relentless attacks on our Democratic instructions and countless dedicated public servants,” she said, accusing Trump of “trampl[ing] the rule of law” and “weaponiz[ing] our justice department to attack his enemies and protect his friends”.
Speaking from New York City with a blurry view of the Statue of Liberty behind him, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, reminded viewers that the Senate also hangs in the balance. Once implausible, Democrats now have a path to taking back control of the chamber, as Trump drags down Republican incumbents in competitive Senate races from Arizona to Maine.
In remarks on Tuesday night, Colin Powell, a former secretary of state during the George Bush administration, said the nation needed a “commander in chief who takes care of our troops in the same way he would his own family”.
Powell, a retired general, memorably endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, assailing Republicans for not doing more to root out the currents of Islamophobia within their party. He voted again for Obama in 2012 and for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Nevertheless, his appearance, like those of other Republican defectors, may help give license to fellow anti-Trump conservatives wary of supporting a Democrat. On Monday night, the former Ohio governor John Kasich, who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination in 2016, sought to allay fears – fanned by the president’s re-election campaign – that Biden would abandon decades of pragmatism and embrace a leftwing governing agenda if elected.
Cindy McCain helped narrate the story of an “unlikely friendship” between Biden and the late Arizona senator John McCain, a Republican and Vietnam war hero whom Trump continued to torment, even in death. Biden delivered the eulogy at McCain’s funeral in August 2018.
Perhapsthe most searing critiques of Trump came from Ady Barkan, a progressive activist who became a champion for universal healthcare after receiving a diagnosis of the terminal neurodegenerative disease ALS. He urged Americans to vote for Biden in order to avoid the “existential threat of another four years of this president”.
“Even during this terrible crisis, Donald Trump and Republican politicians are trying to take away millions of people’s health insurance,” he said, using a computer that tracks his eye movements to speak. “We all have a profound obligation to act, not only to vote, but to make sure that our friends, family and neighbors vote as well.”


theguardian--2020-08-18--USPS crisis: postmaster general to suspend all changes until after election

The US postmaster general , Louis DeJoy , has announced he is suspending cost-cutting operational changes until after the November elections , after days of widespread outcry and claims Donald Trump was deliberately slowing down the mail to help his re-election effort .
In a statement , DeJoy announced he was suspending the changes to “ avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail ” .
There have been reports of widespread mail delays across the US in recent weeks .
United States Postal Service ( USPS ) workers and Democrats have blamed recent changes implemented by DeJoy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to leave the mail behind if it was going to delay them on routes .
DeJoy said the changes were needed to stabilize the cash-strapped agency , but many observers questioned why they were being implemented amid a global pandemic and months ahead of an unprecedented election in which the USPS is likely to play a big role in transporting ballots .
Trump said last week he opposed additional funding for the USPS because it would make it easier to vote by mail .
In a statement on Tuesday , DeJoy , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said post office hours would not change , mail processing facilities would not close and equipment , including mailboxes , would not be removed .
He also said the USPS would continue to approve overtime .
The announcement came after days of heavy scrutiny and on the day more than 20 states were set to file a lawsuit challenging the changes .
The House speaker , Nancy Pelosi , also recalled the House of Representatives to Washington , to deal with USPS funding .
Pelosi said in a statement on Tuesday that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far enough towards assuring Americans of a fair election this fall and said the House would still move ahead with a vote on USPS funding and to limit DeJoy ’ s ability to make changes at the agency .
“ Postmaster General DeJoy ’ s announcement of what may be a temporary pause in operational changes delaying the mail is a necessary but insufficient first step in ending the president ’ s election sabotage campaign , ” she said .
“ This pause only halts a limited number of the postmaster ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ done , and alone is not enough to ensure voters will not be disenfranchised by the president this fall.
” There were protests outside DeJoy ’ s home last weekend and the postmaster general is set to appear before the Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs on Friday and the House oversight committee next week .
The USPS inspector general is also investigating the changes .
“ This is a positive step , but important questions remain and we all need to hear the answers the postmaster general will provide the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Andrew Bates , a spokesman for Joe Biden ’ s campaign .
“ We must have a full airing of the background to these changes and the postmaster general ’ s clear and unequivocal commitment that he will not take these or any actions like them that will undermine mail service for voters.
” The USPS has always maintained it has the capacity to deliver election mail in the fall , but many experts expressed deep concern about whether the reported delays would affect the November election .
Ron Stroman , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ official at the USPS in June , told the Guardian last week that making operational changes just months before the election was “ a high-risk proposition ” .
A record number of Americans are expected to vote by mail this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic .
Many states require ballots to arrive at the office of election officials by the close of the polls on election day , regardless of when a voter puts them in the mail , to count .
That means even a day ’ s delay in delivery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has long said that voters should put their ballots in the mail at least a week before election day in order to ensure they are counted .
The USPS recently sent letters to many states pointing out state laws that allow voters to request a ballot within a week of the election , increasing the risk of disenfranchisement .
State election officials have been encouraging voters to submit ballot requests now in order to guarantee as much time as possible to return them this fall .
Many officials are also eyeing the expansion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can return their ballots without having to put them in the mail .
DeJoy also announced on Tuesday he was expanding an election mail taskforce with officials across the country .
“ The postal service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall , ” he said .
“ Even with the challenges of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic , we will deliver the nation ’ s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was the agency ’ s “ number one priority ” .

The US postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, has announced he is suspending cost-cutting operational changes until after the November elections, after days of widespread outcry and claims Donald Trump was deliberately slowing down the mail to help his re-election effort.
In a statement, DeJoy announced he was suspending the changes to “avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail”.
There have been reports of widespread mail delays across the US in recent weeks. United States Postal Service (USPS) workers and Democrats have blamed recent changes implemented by DeJoy, including cutting overtime and telling workers to leave the mail behind if it was going to delay them on routes.
DeJoy said the changes were needed to stabilize the cash-strapped agency, but many observers questioned why they were being implemented amid a global pandemic and months ahead of an unprecedented election in which the USPS is likely to play a big role in transporting ballots.
Trump said last week he opposed additional funding for the USPS because it would make it easier to vote by mail.
In a statement on Tuesday, DeJoy, a major Republican donor without prior USPS experience, said post office hours would not change, mail processing facilities would not close and equipment, including mailboxes, would not be removed. He also said the USPS would continue to approve overtime.
The announcement came after days of heavy scrutiny and on the day more than 20 states were set to file a lawsuit challenging the changes. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, also recalled the House of Representatives to Washington, to deal with USPS funding.
Pelosi said in a statement on Tuesday that DeJoy’s announcement did not go far enough towards assuring Americans of a fair election this fall and said the House would still move ahead with a vote on USPS funding and to limit DeJoy’s ability to make changes at the agency.
This pause … is not enough to ensure voters will not be disenfranchised by the president this fall Nancy Pelosi
“Postmaster General DeJoy’s announcement of what may be a temporary pause in operational changes delaying the mail is a necessary but insufficient first step in ending the president’s election sabotage campaign,” she said. “This pause only halts a limited number of the postmaster’s changes, does not reverse damage already done, and alone is not enough to ensure voters will not be disenfranchised by the president this fall.”
There were protests outside DeJoy’s home last weekend and the postmaster general is set to appear before the Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs on Friday and the House oversight committee next week. The USPS inspector general is also investigating the changes.
“This is a positive step, but important questions remain and we all need to hear the answers the postmaster general will provide the House when he testifies next week,” said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Joe Biden’s campaign. “We must have a full airing of the background to these changes and the postmaster general’s clear and unequivocal commitment that he will not take these or any actions like them that will undermine mail service for voters.”
The USPS has always maintained it has the capacity to deliver election mail in the fall, but many experts expressed deep concern about whether the reported delays would affect the November election.
Ron Stroman, who stepped down as the No 2 official at the USPS in June, told the Guardian last week that making operational changes just months before the election was “a high-risk proposition”.
A record number of Americans are expected to vote by mail this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many states require ballots to arrive at the office of election officials by the close of the polls on election day, regardless of when a voter puts them in the mail, to count. That means even a day’s delay in delivery could leave thousands disenfranchised.
The USPS has long said that voters should put their ballots in the mail at least a week before election day in order to ensure they are counted. The USPS recently sent letters to many states pointing out state laws that allow voters to request a ballot within a week of the election, increasing the risk of disenfranchisement.
State election officials have been encouraging voters to submit ballot requests now in order to guarantee as much time as possible to return them this fall. Many officials are also eyeing the expansion of official drop boxes, where voters can return their ballots without having to put them in the mail.
DeJoy also announced on Tuesday he was expanding an election mail taskforce with officials across the country.
“The postal service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall,” he said.
“Even with the challenges of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic, we will deliver the nation’s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards.”
Delivery of election mail, DeJoy said, was the agency’s “number one priority”.


theguardian--2020-08-18--Louisiana’s Covid test proposal would exclude 'thousands' from mail-in voting

In an unprecedented move , Louisiana ’ s top election official wants to require a positive Covid-19 test if a voter wants to vote absentee over concerns about the virus .
This comes amid a lack of consistent access to testing in the state .
Louisiana is one of seven states that will still require an excuse to vote by mail this year , only allowing absentee voting if a voter is aged 65 or older or meets certain other conditions such as temporary absence from their county or hospitalization .
For its elections in July and August , Louisiana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of developing complications from Covid-19 or who had potential exposure to the virus .
But under secretary of state Kyle Ardoin ’ s proposal for the state ’ s November and December elections released on Monday , those accommodations won ’ t apply .
Instead , a voter would need to test positive for Covid-19 between the end of early voting and election day , currently a week-long period to use the hospitalization excuse to request a mail-in ballot .
The proposal from Ardoin , a Republican , comes as Louisiana has seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could get tested and not have their results in time to be able to request a mail-in ballot .
Louisiana has seen 138,485 cases of Covid-19 and 4,526 deaths so far .
In April , African Americans accounted for 70 % of Covid-19 deaths in the state .
The proposal would exclude “ thousands ” of eligible Louisiana voters from being able to vote by mail and ignores the limited availability of testing , said Zachery Morris , an attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund , which is suing the state over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of emergency absentee ballot eligibility exclusively to individuals who test positive for Covid-19 during and after the early voting period but before election day is an inexplicably narrow classification , ” he said .
Ardoin ’ s plan allows for 10 days of early voting and would add an additional 1.5 hours for the polls to be open each day , less than the 13 days of early voting the state offered this summer , according to the Associated Press .
Louisiana does not typically see large numbers of voters cast mail-in ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simply wasn ’ t time to expand the program ahead of November and would lead to voter confusion .
The state currently faces a federal lawsuit from voting rights groups who said earlier this month it was not doing enough to protect voters for this November ’ s elections .
“ While most other states are expanding safe voting options for the November elections , Louisiana is going backwards , ” said Ashley Shelton , executive director of Power Coalition for Equity and Justice , a civic action group that is one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach is stricter than some other states when it comes to easing voting restrictions .
Alabama , Arkansas and Kentucky , for example , require voters to produce an acceptable excuse to request to vote by mail , but all three states have said concerns over Covid-19 will be an acceptable excuse for the fall .
But in his recommendation , Ardoin noted that very few voters were using Covid-19 as an excuse to vote by mail in elections this year .
In the state ’ s July election , just 2,810 of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballot cited Covid-19 as an excuse .
More than 90 % of the voters who used mail-in ballots in July , Ardoin noted , were aged 65 or older .
Ardoin ’ s proposal still needs to be approved by the Louisiana legislature , where Republicans control both chambers , and Louisiana ’ s governor , John Bel Edwards , is a Democrat .
“ The reality is the legislature is majority Republican and I had to craft a plan that could get passed pragmatically and at the same time address the needs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ USA Today network .
“ A good number of the Republicans who voted for the last plan said they couldn ’ t do so again because the circumstances have changed .
”

In an unprecedented move, Louisiana’s top election official wants to require a positive Covid-19 test if a voter wants to vote absentee over concerns about the virus. This comes amid a lack of consistent access to testing in the state.
Louisiana is one of seven states that will still require an excuse to vote by mail this year, only allowing absentee voting if a voter is aged 65 or older or meets certain other conditions such as temporary absence from their parish or hospitalization.
For its elections in July and August, Louisiana eased those restrictions for voters at risk of developing complications from Covid-19 or who had potential exposure to the virus. But under secretary of state Kyle Ardoin’s proposal for the state’s November and December elections released on Monday, those accommodations won’t apply. Instead, a voter would need to test positive for Covid-19 between the end of early voting and election day, currently a week-long period to use the hospitalization excuse to request a mail-in ballot.
The proposal from Ardoin, a Republican, comes as Louisiana has seen lags in testing, meaning a voter could get tested and not have their results in time to be able to request a mail-in ballot. Louisiana has seen 138,485 cases of Covid-19 and 4,526 deaths so far. In April, African Americans accounted for 70% of Covid-19 deaths in the state.
The proposal would exclude “thousands” of eligible Louisiana voters from being able to vote by mail and ignores the limited availability of testing, said Zachery Morris, an attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is suing the state over its preparations in November.
“Restriction of emergency absentee ballot eligibility exclusively to individuals who test positive for Covid-19 during and after the early voting period but before election day is an inexplicably narrow classification,” he said.
Ardoin’s plan allows for 10 days of early voting and would add an additional 1.5 hours for the polls to be open each day, less than the 13 days of early voting the state offered this summer, according to the Associated Press.
Louisiana does not typically see large numbers of voters cast mail-in ballots and Ardoin wrote in the proposal there simply wasn’t time to expand the program ahead of November and would lead to voter confusion. The state currently faces a federal lawsuit from voting rights groups who said earlier this month it was not doing enough to protect voters for this November’s elections.
“While most other states are expanding safe voting options for the November elections, Louisiana is going backwards,” said Ashley Shelton, executive director of Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, a civic action group that is one of the plaintiffs in the case.
This approach is stricter than some other states when it comes to easing voting restrictions. Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky, for example, require voters to produce an acceptable excuse to request to vote by mail, but all three states have said concerns over Covid-19 will be an acceptable excuse for the fall. But in his recommendation, Ardoin noted that very few voters were using Covid-19 as an excuse to vote by mail in elections this year. In the state’s July election, just 2,810 of the 164,296 voters who requested an absentee ballot cited Covid-19 as an excuse. More than 90% of the voters who used mail-in ballots in July, Ardoin noted, were aged 65 or older.
Ardoin’s proposal still needs to be approved by the Louisiana legislature, where Republicans control both chambers, and Louisiana’s governor, John Bel Edwards, is a Democrat.
“The reality is the legislature is majority Republican and I had to craft a plan that could get passed pragmatically and at the same time address the needs I saw,” Ardoin told the USA Today network. “A good number of the Republicans who voted for the last plan said they couldn’t do so again because the circumstances have changed.”


theguardian--2020-08-18--Black Virginia state senator charged with 'injury' to Confederate monument

A Virginia state senator has been charged with damaging a Confederate monument in Portsmouth during protests that also led to a demonstrator being critically injured when a statue was torn down , authorities said on Monday .
Louise Lucas faces charges of conspiracy to commit a felony and injury to a monument in excess of $ 1,000 , the Portsmouth police chief , Angela Greene , said during a news conference .
The protest occurred in June .
Lucas is a longtime Democratic legislator and a key powerbroker in the state senate , joining the chamber in 1992 .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was swift .
“ It ’ s deeply troubling that on the verge of Virginia passing long-overdue police reform , the first Black woman to serve as our Senate Pro Tempore is suddenly facing highly unusual charges , ” Governor Ralph Northam , a Democrat , tweeted on Monday evening .
The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) of Virginia called for the charges against Lucas and several others to be dropped .
The ACLU said the charges constitute a stark overreach by police because they were not approved by the local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not respond to an email and phone call seeking comment .
Her attorney , Don Scott , told WAVY-TV that Lucas would “ vigorously ” fight the case and be vindicated .
Lucas is being charged at a time when many memorials to the Confederacy are being taken down , whether by demonstrators opposed to racial injustice or by authorities seeking to dismantle them through official channels .
The monuments have long been viewed by many as symbols of white supremacy .
But they have drawn increasing attention following the death of George @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Minneapolis police custody .
The monument in Portsmouth consists of a large obelisk and statues of four Confederate military personnel .
During protests that drew hundreds of people in June , heads were ripped off some of the statues while one was pulled down , critically injuring a demonstrator .
Greene , the Portsmouth police chief , said that “ several individuals conspired and organized to destroy the monument as well as summon hundreds of people to join in felonious acts ” .
Greene did not detail exactly what Lucas or several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ merit the charges that have been filed against them .
Other people facing charges include members of the local NAACP chapter , a local school board member and members of the public defender ’ s office , the police chief said .
Greene said requests were made to state and federal authorities to conduct an independent investigation .
And she said that a discussion with the Portsmouth commonwealth ’ s attorney “ did not yield any action ” .
Stephanie Morales , the Portsmouth commonwealth ’ s attorney , told the Associated Press @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not sign off on the police department ’ s charges .
Claire G Gastanaga , executive director of the ACLU of Virginia , said Virginia was one of the few states in which a felony warrant can be filed without a prosecutor ’ s approval .
“ These charges are political , and I think they ’ re discriminatory , ” she said .
“ The police department is making decisions about who should be charged in a circumstance in which the elected [ prosecutor ] is being bypassed , ” Gastanaga added @ @ @ @ @ @ @ result ” and that was alarming .
Meanwhile , Republican party of Virginia chairman , Rich Anderson , said the senator should turn herself in .
“ Felony charges leveled against a sitting state senator are to be taken seriously , and should not be sought out for political gain , ” he said in a statement .
“ It is for that reason that the Republican party of Virginia calls for Senator Lucas to turn herself in .
Immediately .
”

A Virginia state senator has been charged with damaging a Confederate monument in Portsmouth during protests that also led to a demonstrator being critically injured when a statue was torn down, authorities said on Monday.
Louise Lucas faces charges of conspiracy to commit a felony and injury to a monument in excess of $1,000, the Portsmouth police chief, Angela Greene, said during a news conference. The protest occurred in June.
Lucas is a longtime Democratic legislator and a key powerbroker in the state senate, joining the chamber in 1992.
The reaction from some of her fellow Democrats was swift. “It’s deeply troubling that on the verge of Virginia passing long-overdue police reform, the first Black woman to serve as our Senate Pro Tempore is suddenly facing highly unusual charges,” Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, tweeted on Monday evening.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia called for the charges against Lucas and several others to be dropped. The ACLU said the charges constitute a stark overreach by police because they were not approved by the local prosecutor’s office.
Lucas did not respond to an email and phone call seeking comment. Her attorney, Don Scott, told WAVY-TV that Lucas would “vigorously” fight the case and be vindicated.
Lucas is being charged at a time when many memorials to the Confederacy are being taken down, whether by demonstrators opposed to racial injustice or by authorities seeking to dismantle them through official channels. The monuments have long been viewed by many as symbols of white supremacy. But they have drawn increasing attention following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody.
The monument in Portsmouth consists of a large obelisk and statues of four Confederate military personnel. During protests that drew hundreds of people in June, heads were ripped off some of the statues while one was pulled down, critically injuring a demonstrator.
Greene, the Portsmouth police chief, said that “several individuals conspired and organized to destroy the monument as well as summon hundreds of people to join in felonious acts”.
Greene did not detail exactly what Lucas or several other people are accused of doing to merit the charges that have been filed against them.
Other people facing charges include members of the local NAACP chapter, a local school board member and members of the public defender’s office, the police chief said.
Greene said requests were made to state and federal authorities to conduct an independent investigation. And she said that a discussion with the Portsmouth commonwealth’s attorney “did not yield any action”.
Stephanie Morales, the Portsmouth commonwealth’s attorney, told the Associated Press in an email that her office did not sign off on the police department’s charges.
Claire G Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said Virginia was one of the few states in which a felony warrant can be filed without a prosecutor’s approval.
“These charges are political, and I think they’re discriminatory,” she said.
“The police department is making decisions about who should be charged in a circumstance in which the elected [prosecutor] is being bypassed,” Gastanaga added. “The police want a different result” and that was alarming.
Meanwhile, Republican party of Virginia chairman, Rich Anderson, said the senator should turn herself in.
“Felony charges leveled against a sitting state senator are to be taken seriously, and should not be sought out for political gain,” he said in a statement. “It is for that reason that the Republican party of Virginia calls for Senator Lucas to turn herself in. Immediately.”


theguardian--2020-08-18--Cheating is a way of life for Donald Trump – and now it’s his election strategy | Arwa Mahdawi

He has been accused of cheating on all three of his wives and cheating his workers out of pay cheques .
As a teenager , he reportedly paid someone to take his SAT exams so he could cheat his way into university .
It is suspected he cheated on his taxes .
He is rumoured to brazenly cheat at golf .
As his niece , Mary Trump , has said , Donald Trump embraces “ cheating as a way of life ” .
And now he is embracing it as an election strategy : Trump is openly and unabashedly attempting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The only way the US can have a free and fair election during a pandemic is if there is widespread postal voting – something Trump and his lackeys are doing their best to prevent .
Step one : install one of the president ’ s cronies and mega-donors , Louis DeJoy , as the postmaster general of the United States Postal Service ( USPS ) .
Step two : implement cost-cutting measures that slow mail delivery .
The richest country in the world now has a postal system so unfit for purpose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Washington DC that it could not guarantee that all of the postal votes cast in November would be counted .
Trump is not even trying to hide what he is doing : he admitted last week that he does not want to give the USPS additional money because he does not want to make voting easier .
The corruption is so blatant that , if it were going on in any other country , the US would have invaded and promised to install democracy .
While US politicians are adept at telling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they seem at a loss in relation to Trump .
The good news is that the Democrats are trying to do something .
On Sunday , Nancy Pelosi , the speaker of the House of Representatives , said she would recall the chamber later this week from its summer holiday for a vote on legislation prohibiting the USPS from changing the level of service it had in place on 1 January .
On Monday , DeJoy agreed to House Democrats ’ demands that he testify about the changes he is making to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legislation and hearings are of limited help .
Trump does not need to completely undermine the USPS ’ s infrastructure , because he has already undermined trust in the system .
He has spent the past few months claiming rabidly ( and falsely ) that postal voting substantially increases the risks of voter fraud .
His base seems to believe him .
Nearly three-quarters ( 73 % ) of Republicans believe that postal votes will not be counted accurately , according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll .
Meanwhile , only 45 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ total vote count will be accurate , down from 59 % before the 2016 election .
Trump has masterly laid the groundwork to contest the election .
And Trump is definitely going to contest November ’ s results .
Even if he wins by a landslide , he will argue that the voting was rigged and the landslide should have been bigger .
If he wins by a tiny margin , he will shout “ Unfair !
” and argue that the votes for Biden were fraudulent .
And if he loses ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In a Fox News interview last month , Trump refused to say that he would concede .
“ I will tell you at the time , ” he said .
“ I ’ ll keep you in suspense .
OK ?
”

He has been accused of cheating on all three of his wives and cheating his workers out of pay cheques. As a teenager, he reportedly paid someone to take his SAT exams so he could cheat his way into university. It is suspected he cheated on his taxes. He is rumoured to brazenly cheat at golf.
As his niece, Mary Trump, has said, Donald Trump embraces “cheating as a way of life”. And now he is embracing it as an election strategy: Trump is openly and unabashedly attempting to rig November’s presidential election.
The only way the US can have a free and fair election during a pandemic is if there is widespread postal voting – something Trump and his lackeys are doing their best to prevent. Step one: install one of the president’s cronies and mega-donors, Louis DeJoy, as the postmaster general of the United States Postal Service (USPS). Step two: implement cost-cutting measures that slow mail delivery. The richest country in the world now has a postal system so unfit for purpose that the USPS recently warned 46 states and Washington DC that it could not guarantee that all of the postal votes cast in November would be counted.
Trump is not even trying to hide what he is doing: he admitted last week that he does not want to give the USPS additional money because he does not want to make voting easier. The corruption is so blatant that, if it were going on in any other country, the US would have invaded and promised to install democracy.
While US politicians are adept at telling other countries how to run themselves, they seem at a loss in relation to Trump. The good news is that the Democrats are trying to do something. On Sunday, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said she would recall the chamber later this week from its summer holiday for a vote on legislation prohibiting the USPS from changing the level of service it had in place on 1 January. On Monday, DeJoy agreed to House Democrats’ demands that he testify about the changes he is making to the USPS.
The bad news is that legislation and hearings are of limited help. Trump does not need to completely undermine the USPS’s infrastructure, because he has already undermined trust in the system. He has spent the past few months claiming rabidly (and falsely) that postal voting substantially increases the risks of voter fraud. His base seems to believe him. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Republicans believe that postal votes will not be counted accurately, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Meanwhile, only 45% of Americans say they are confident the total vote count will be accurate, down from 59% before the 2016 election. Trump has masterly laid the groundwork to contest the election.
And Trump is definitely going to contest November’s results. Even if he wins by a landslide, he will argue that the voting was rigged and the landslide should have been bigger. If he wins by a tiny margin, he will shout “Unfair!” and argue that the votes for Biden were fraudulent. And if he loses? Well, it will get very messy. In a Fox News interview last month, Trump refused to say that he would concede. “I will tell you at the time,” he said. “I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?”


theguardian--2020-08-18--'Crucial voices': the US women leading the fight against voter suppression

With the US democracy facing perhaps its gravest threat , from voter suppression to the decimation of the US Postal Service – activists are working doubly hard this year to ensure free and fair elections .
But present-day enfranchisement efforts often fail to acknowledge how the 70-year-long women ’ s suffragette movement has informed that work .
“ Before suffragists , you didn ’ t see groups engaging in public civil disobedience , ” said Colleen Shogan , senior vice-president and director of the David M Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association .
“ No one had picketed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alice Paul and others did on 10 January 1917.
” The movement culminated in the ratification of the 19th amendment on 18 August 1920 , marking the end of one of America ’ s longest-running social justice movements .
It produced the single largest enfranchisement effort in the nation ’ s history , guaranteeing women the right to vote .
But it was only a beginning .
Many , especially Black women , did not benefit from the 19th amendment .
But they did not waver in fighting for equal rights .
Fannie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 1964 Freedom Summer Campaign and co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party , carried her force into the civil rights movement .
Dorothy Height , who was a key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington , helped found the National Women ’ s Political Caucus in 1971 .
These women paved the way with a century-long history of female-led activism .
And it is still women leading the charge .
These are some of them .
Florida : Brigham is the president of the League of Women Voters , Florida chapter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ late 40s , following a long career as a radio broadcaster , that she says her life really began : At 47 , she went back to graduate school ; at 51 , she started running marathons ; and at 53 , she got engaged to her now husband .
In early 2013 , Brigham joined the League of Women Voters of Florida , the century-old non-partisan advocacy group born on the heels of the women ’ s suffrage movement .
After the Sandy Hook school shooting , Brigham led the league ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forming the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence .
Largely due to the group ’ s advocacy , the Florida legislature passed its first gun control law in over two decades .
Brigham was elected the league of Florida ’ s president in 2018 , and took on the group ’ s core focus : fighting voter suppression .
Over the past year , she has lobbied for the passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act , a bill that would restore the Voting Rights Act dismantled by the US supreme court in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her team also won approval for early voting sites at several college campuses .
More than 60,000 Floridian college students voted early in the 2018 midterm elections .
The league also successfully pushed the Florida electorate to amend the state constitution to enfranchise Florida ’ s 1.4 million ex-felons .
But after some brief success , the Republican legislature swiftly moved to gut the law .
In GOP-controlled Florida , lobbying to get out the vote during a crucial election year is a particularly rigorous battle .
But Brigham says she feels strangely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marathon running : “ When you are suffering out in the Florida heat , you develop grit and strength , ” Brigham said , remembering when she ran the marine corps marathon – with a fractured toe – and still finished the race Alabama : McClure is a veteran Alabama-based community activist , former director of Black Voters Matter , alumna of the Woke Vote fellowship program and creator of the non-profit Faith and Works , a civic engagement collective for faith leaders organizing their communities to vote .
It was 13 July @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Memphis , Tennessee , to visit the Lorraine motel , where Martin Luther King was murdered in 1968 .
The television was on at the restaurant where she ate dinner .
News from the trial of George Zimmerman , charged with the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin , blasted through the room : acquitted of all charges .
Her cellphone rang .
It was her 18-year-old son .
“ We both were just really quiet , ” McClure recalled .
“ I had no idea how to comfort him .
I was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ son , she told him they would go to a Black Lives Matter protest in Birmingham when she returned home .
Since then , McClure , 51 , has dedicated her life to mobilizing Black voters in her home state of Alabama , the birthplace of the civil rights movement .
She founded the Black Lives Matter , Birmingham chapter , and became the Alabama state coordinator of Black Voters Matter .
In late 2019 , she launched her own non-profit , Faith & Works , which aims to empower faith leaders to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about engaging “ unlikely and unengaged voters ” , that is , those who live in poor , rural districts and often lack internet access .
Every Saturday since closures began , McClure and her team deliver more than 60,000lb of groceries to residents who live in Alabama ’ s public housing projects .
While doing so , she talks to residents about their voter registration status .
McClure says she is able to relate to these communities especially well .
She herself faced financial struggles when her husband left her in 2011 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ asking any generous folks to please let a mother and son in ” .
For three years , they hopped around and slept on strangers ’ floors , homeless .
“ I was a housewife before that , ” she said .
“ I had no money .
I know what it ’ s like to be in a tight spot , and so I don ’ t judge anyone .
I just listen.
” Wisconsin : The Wisconsin senator Baldwin , a Democrat , became the first female member of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ openly gay challenger sent to Congress .
Tammy Baldwin says she first understood the power of women in politics as a member of the city council in Madison , Wisconsin .
She and her colleagues debated that day in 1986 whether to fund a new nightly bus route for Madison Technical College on the outskirts of town .
Students complained of a lack of safe transportation home from their night classes .
In the first half of the meeting , only male members of the council spoke – scoffing at the proposal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ council member stood up and told her story .
She had attended night classes so that she could care for her children by day and recalled the many nights that she felt unsafe , walking home alone along dimly lit streets .
Then , one by one , other women in the room stood up to recount their own stories .
Once the women spoke , the bus route was approved .
Since she entered politics in 1986 , Baldwin , Wisconsin ’ s first female member of Congress and the nation ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress , has been making history , pushing healthcare reform and better representation in Congress among women and LGBTQ+ people .
In 2017 , Baldwin started the Women ’ s Suffrage Centennial Commission , a temporary federal panel with a goal to commemorate the centennial of the 19th amendment and to educate Americans about women ’ s suffrage .
These days , Baldwin is focused on fighting the troubling trend of voter suppression in Wisconsin , particularly to do with issues of redistricting – the state has some of the most gerrymandered maps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 53 % of Wisconsinites voted Democrat on the ticket for state legislature , Baldwin said , but Democrats only occupy a third of the seats .
“ And Republicans know this , ” she added .
From now until election day , Baldwin is in the midst of carrying out a number of initiatives to fight against these restrictions through widespread education .
But for November , given expected slowdowns to the US Postal Service , she wants to make one message loud and clear : “ Mail your ballot in two weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said .
“ This is something we can absolutely control.
” New York : Shropshire is a veteran political and community organizer , executive director of BlackPac , a national organization committed to promoting the Black political infrastructure .
Spring , Los Angeles , 1992 .
Widespread riots broke out after four police officers were acquitted in the brutal videotaped beating of Rodney King , a local Black resident .
Adrianne Shropshire , 23 at the time , was working for a local city council person , Mark Ridley-Thomas , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I don ’ t know that I need to be in city hall , ” she recalls thinking .
“ I need to be in the community.
” Now , Shropshire is the co-founder and executive director of BlackPac , a Super Pac aimed at mobilizing Black Democrats , largely motivated by dwindling voter turnout in the community after Barack Obama left the White House .
BlackPac has scored critical wins .
In Virginia ’ s first Trump-era election in 2017 , BlackPac poured $ 1.1m into campaigns to get Black votes for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ credited for keeping candidate Ralph Northam in the governor ’ s office .
Leading up to Alabama ’ s 2017 primary election , BlackPac funded several on-the-ground Black voter mobilization organizations , including Dejuana Thompson ’ s WokeVote .
Analysts touted Black voter turnout as a major factor in Democrat Doug Jones ’ s victory for the US Senate .
Black voter turnout also increased in the 2018 midterm elections .
“ Of course we want to win elections , but success is defined a little bit differently for us , ” Shropshire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do is about transforming the way Black people understand themselves as crucial voices in our democracy.
” Washington DC : Miller is the mobilization director for When We All Vote , Michelle Obama ’ s voter mobilization non-profit .
In 2012 , she was the digital program manager for Barack Obama ’ s re-election campaign , and went on to become the digital director on Michelle Obama ’ s national book tour for Becoming .
At first , Laura Miller , 31 , viewed working in politics as a “ side hustle ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she would pass out literature on her state representatives door-to-door in the sweltering Illinois heat .
In college , she applied at the very last second – and was accepted – to the prestigious White House internship in the Office of Digital Strategy , and started to consider politics as a viable career .
Then she “ caught the Obama bug ” .
When she finished her White House internship , she began working as the digital program manager for Barack Obama ’ s 2012 re-election campaign .
When Michelle Obama started @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voter registration non-profit in 2018 , Miller was on part of a small team that figured out how to make it happen .
As a bona fide digital strategy expert , Miller , who serves as the organization ’ s mobilization director , was perhaps more prepared than anyone when pandemic restrictions disrupted voter mobilization plans nationwide this year .
Instead of in-person , on-the-ground voter registration events , When We All Vote has been hosting virtual “ couch parties ” on Facebook Live since March , showing participants nationwide how to use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s texting platform .
During the virtual DJ-tracked “ dance parties ” , participants are encouraged to text eligible voters .
After the first event , 500,000 eligible voters were texted and 19,000 people started or completed their registration application .
As a young woman in politics , Miller says she ’ s been lucky .
On the Obama campaign trail , she said she was constantly surrounded by a slew of powerful women .
“ Seeing all these amazing women who continue to empower me and inspire me is something that I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration , ” she said .
Washington DC : Thomspon is a political activist , consultant and the creator of Woke Vote , a non-profit focused on mobilizing an unprecedented percentage of Black millennial and faith-based voters in Alabama .
Imagining better communities is not a new concept for Dejuana Thompson .
Her hometown of Birmingham , Alabama , is 80 % Black , but she didn ’ t feel Black history was being represented in her high school ’ s curriculum .
So , at 15 , she organized a district-wide peer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later , Thompson , 37 , started WokeVote in Birmingham in 2017 , following a decade-long career in political strategy , including working on the Obama campaign in 2008 and with the Democratic National Committee .
WokeVote now operates in 12 states .
But Thompson has plans to expand it to all 50 states within five years , and build upon their international program ( WokeVote currently has a chapter in Ghana , west Africa ) .
She has her plan carefully mapped out : “ Engage , mobilize and turnout as many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use their voice in November , ” she said .
More specifically , this means 150,000 to 250,000 voters registered through WokeVote by election day , which she says they are well on their way to doing .
“ And then there are many , many longer-term visions , ” she emphasized .
“ But this is the focus for now .
I work incrementally.
” • None The standfirst of this article was amended on 18 August 2020 to correct how long it has been since the ratification of the 19th amendment @

With the US democracy facing perhaps its gravest threat, from voter suppression to the decimation of the US Postal Service – activists are working doubly hard this year to ensure free and fair elections.
But present-day enfranchisement efforts often fail to acknowledge how the 70-year-long women’s suffragette movement has informed that work. “Before suffragists, you didn’t see groups engaging in public civil disobedience,” said Colleen Shogan, senior vice-president and director of the David M Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association. “No one had picketed in front of the White House before Alice Paul and others did on 10 January 1917.”
The movement culminated in the ratification of the 19th amendment on 18 August 1920, marking the end of one of America’s longest-running social justice movements. It produced the single largest enfranchisement effort in the nation’s history, guaranteeing women the right to vote. But it was only a beginning.
Many, especially Black women, did not benefit from the 19th amendment. But they did not waver in fighting for equal rights. Fannie Lou Hamer, among the leaders of the 1964 Freedom Summer Campaign and co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party, carried her force into the civil rights movement. Dorothy Height, who was a key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971.
These women paved the way with a century-long history of female-led activism. And it is still women leading the charge. These are some of them.
Patricia Brigham
Florida: Brigham is the president of the League of Women Voters, Florida chapter.
Patricia Brigham considers herself a late bloomer.
Patricia Brigham. Photograph: Courtesy of Patricia Brigham
It wasn’t until her late 40s, following a long career as a radio broadcaster, that she says her life really began: At 47, she went back to graduate school; at 51, she started running marathons; and at 53, she got engaged to her now husband.
In early 2013, Brigham joined the League of Women Voters of Florida, the century-old non-partisan advocacy group born on the heels of the women’s suffrage movement.
After the Sandy Hook school shooting, Brigham led the league’s efforts pushing for gun legislation, forming the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence. Largely due to the group’s advocacy, the Florida legislature passed its first gun control law in over two decades.
Brigham was elected the league of Florida’s president in 2018, and took on the group’s core focus: fighting voter suppression. Over the past year, she has lobbied for the passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bill that would restore the Voting Rights Act dismantled by the US supreme court in 2013. In 2018, Brigham and her team also won approval for early voting sites at several college campuses. More than 60,000 Floridian college students voted early in the 2018 midterm elections.
The league also successfully pushed the Florida electorate to amend the state constitution to enfranchise Florida’s 1.4 million ex-felons. But after some brief success, the Republican legislature swiftly moved to gut the law.
In GOP-controlled Florida, lobbying to get out the vote during a crucial election year is a particularly rigorous battle. But Brigham says she feels strangely prepared for this, and she credits marathon running: “When you are suffering out in the Florida heat, you develop grit and strength,” Brigham said, remembering when she ran the marine corps marathon – with a fractured toe – and still finished the race
Cara McClure
Alabama: McClure is a veteran Alabama-based community activist, former director of Black Voters Matter, alumna of the Woke Vote fellowship program and creator of the non-profit Faith and Works, a civic engagement collective for faith leaders organizing their communities to vote.
Cara McClure. Photograph: Courtesy of Cara McClure
It was 13 July 2013. Birmingham-native Cara McClure was traveling to Memphis, Tennessee, to visit the Lorraine motel, where Martin Luther King was murdered in 1968. The television was on at the restaurant where she ate dinner. News from the trial of George Zimmerman, charged with the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, blasted through the room: acquitted of all charges.
Her cellphone rang. It was her 18-year-old son. “We both were just really quiet,” McClure recalled. “I had no idea how to comfort him. I was just as disturbed.”
To soothe her son, she told him they would go to a Black Lives Matter protest in Birmingham when she returned home. Since then, McClure, 51, has dedicated her life to mobilizing Black voters in her home state of Alabama, the birthplace of the civil rights movement. She founded the Black Lives Matter, Birmingham chapter, and became the Alabama state coordinator of Black Voters Matter. In late 2019, she launched her own non-profit, Faith & Works, which aims to empower faith leaders to organize their communities.
I know what it’s like to be in a tight spot, and so I don’t judge anyone. I just listen Cara McClure
McClure is passionate about engaging “unlikely and unengaged voters”, that is, those who live in poor, rural districts and often lack internet access. Every Saturday since closures began, McClure and her team deliver more than 60,000lb of groceries to residents who live in Alabama’s public housing projects. While doing so, she talks to residents about their voter registration status.
McClure says she is able to relate to these communities especially well. She herself faced financial struggles when her husband left her in 2011. She posted an ad on Craigslist, “asking any generous folks to please let a mother and son in”. For three years, they hopped around and slept on strangers’ floors, homeless. “I was a housewife before that,” she said. “I had no money. I know what it’s like to be in a tight spot, and so I don’t judge anyone. I just listen.”
Tammy Baldwin
Wisconsin: The Wisconsin senator Baldwin, a Democrat, became the first female member of Congress in 1998, and the first openly gay challenger sent to Congress.
Tammy Baldwin. Photograph: Courtesy of Tammy Baldwin
Tammy Baldwin says she first understood the power of women in politics as a member of the city council in Madison, Wisconsin. She and her colleagues debated that day in 1986 whether to fund a new nightly bus route for Madison Technical College on the outskirts of town. Students complained of a lack of safe transportation home from their night classes. In the first half of the meeting, only male members of the council spoke – scoffing at the proposal.
Finally, Baldwin remembers, a female council member stood up and told her story. She had attended night classes so that she could care for her children by day and recalled the many nights that she felt unsafe, walking home alone along dimly lit streets. Then, one by one, other women in the room stood up to recount their own stories. Once the women spoke, the bus route was approved.
Since she entered politics in 1986, Baldwin, Wisconsin’s first female member of Congress and the nation’s first openly gay challenger sent to Congress, has been making history, pushing healthcare reform and better representation in Congress among women and LGBTQ+ people. In 2017, Baldwin started the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, a temporary federal panel with a goal to commemorate the centennial of the 19th amendment and to educate Americans about women’s suffrage.
These days, Baldwin is focused on fighting the troubling trend of voter suppression in Wisconsin, particularly to do with issues of redistricting – the state has some of the most gerrymandered maps in the country. In 2018, 53% of Wisconsinites voted Democrat on the ticket for state legislature, Baldwin said, but Democrats only occupy a third of the seats. “And Republicans know this,” she added.
From now until election day, Baldwin is in the midst of carrying out a number of initiatives to fight against these restrictions through widespread education. But for November, given expected slowdowns to the US Postal Service, she wants to make one message loud and clear: “Mail your ballot in two weeks early. Vote early. Vote early,” she said. “This is something we can absolutely control.”
Adrianne Shropshire
New York: Shropshire is a veteran political and community organizer, executive director of BlackPac, a national organization committed to promoting the Black political infrastructure.
Adrianne Shropshire. Photograph: Courtesy of Adrianne Shropshire
Spring, Los Angeles, 1992. Widespread riots broke out after four police officers were acquitted in the brutal videotaped beating of Rodney King, a local Black resident. Adrianne Shropshire, 23 at the time, was working for a local city council person, Mark Ridley-Thomas, and began to reconsider everything: “I don’t know that I need to be in city hall,” she recalls thinking. “I need to be in the community.”
Now, Shropshire is the co-founder and executive director of BlackPac, a Super Pac aimed at mobilizing Black Democrats, largely motivated by dwindling voter turnout in the community after Barack Obama left the White House.
The work that we do is about transforming the way Black people understand themselves as crucial voices in our democracy Adrianne Shropshire
BlackPac has scored critical wins. In Virginia’s first Trump-era election in 2017, BlackPac poured $1.1m into campaigns to get Black votes for Virginia Democrats in the statewide race, credited for keeping candidate Ralph Northam in the governor’s office.
Leading up to Alabama’s 2017 primary election, BlackPac funded several on-the-ground Black voter mobilization organizations, including Dejuana Thompson’s WokeVote. Analysts touted Black voter turnout as a major factor in Democrat Doug Jones’s victory for the US Senate. Black voter turnout also increased in the 2018 midterm elections.
“Of course we want to win elections, but success is defined a little bit differently for us,” Shropshire said. “The work that we do is about transforming the way Black people understand themselves as crucial voices in our democracy.”
Laura Miller
Washington DC: Miller is the mobilization director for When We All Vote, Michelle Obama’s voter mobilization non-profit. In 2012, she was the digital program manager for Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, and went on to become the digital director on Michelle Obama’s national book tour for Becoming.
Laura Miller. Photograph: Courtesy of Laura Miller
At first, Laura Miller, 31, viewed working in politics as a “side hustle”. Over the summers in high school, she would pass out literature on her state representatives door-to-door in the sweltering Illinois heat. In college, she applied at the very last second – and was accepted – to the prestigious White House internship in the Office of Digital Strategy, and started to consider politics as a viable career.
Then she “caught the Obama bug”. When she finished her White House internship, she began working as the digital program manager for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
When Michelle Obama started When We All Vote, her non-partisan voter registration non-profit in 2018, Miller was on part of a small team that figured out how to make it happen. As a bona fide digital strategy expert, Miller, who serves as the organization’s mobilization director, was perhaps more prepared than anyone when pandemic restrictions disrupted voter mobilization plans nationwide this year.
Instead of in-person, on-the-ground voter registration events, When We All Vote has been hosting virtual “couch parties” on Facebook Live since March, showing participants nationwide how to use the app Outvote, the initiative’s texting platform. During the virtual DJ-tracked “dance parties”, participants are encouraged to text eligible voters. After the first event, 500,000 eligible voters were texted and 19,000 people started or completed their registration application.
As a young woman in politics, Miller says she’s been lucky. On the Obama campaign trail, she said she was constantly surrounded by a slew of powerful women. “Seeing all these amazing women who continue to empower me and inspire me is something that I think was very unique to the Obama administration,” she said.
Dejuana Thompson
Washington DC: Thomspon is a political activist, consultant and the creator of Woke Vote, a non-profit focused on mobilizing an unprecedented percentage of Black millennial and faith-based voters in Alabama.
Dejuana Thompson. Photograph: Courtesy of Dejuana Thompson
Imagining better communities is not a new concept for Dejuana Thompson. Her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, is 80% Black, but she didn’t feel Black history was being represented in her high school’s curriculum. So, at 15, she organized a district-wide peer meeting to make it happen.
Decades later, Thompson, 37, started WokeVote in Birmingham in 2017, following a decade-long career in political strategy, including working on the Obama campaign in 2008 and with the Democratic National Committee. WokeVote now operates in 12 states. But Thompson has plans to expand it to all 50 states within five years, and build upon their international program (WokeVote currently has a chapter in Ghana, west Africa).
She has her plan carefully mapped out: “Engage, mobilize and turnout as many African American voters as possible to actually use their voice in November,” she said.
More specifically, this means 150,000 to 250,000 voters registered through WokeVote by election day, which she says they are well on their way to doing. “And then there are many, many longer-term visions,” she emphasized. “But this is the focus for now. I work incrementally.”
This article was supported by the GroundTruth project.