npr--2020-10-17--'I'm Still Unemployed': Millions In Dire Situation As Savings Start To Run Out

' I 'm Still Unemployed ' : Millions In Dire Situation As Savings Start To Run Out When the coronavirus pandemic hit this spring , government relief payments provided a life raft to millions of people who had been thrown out of work .
That life raft , however , is now losing air , threatening to leave the unemployed in a perilous situation just as Washington leaders struggle to clinch a new package of aid ahead of the November election .
New research from JPMorgan Chase Institute and the University of Chicago focused on 80,000 unemployed people shows savings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is now rapidly running out , leaving people like chemist Kate McAfee fretting about their futures .
`` I 'm still unemployed , '' said McAfee , who was laid off from her job outside Cleveland back in April .
`` I 've now exhausted my 26 weeks of unemployment here in Ohio and have moved on to the additional 13 weeks of extended benefits from the federal government . ''
Millions of Americans are in a similar situation as the pandemic downturn drags on .
The downtown Denver coffee shop where Terrah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during summer , but with little foot traffic from vacant offices nearby , it temporarily closed its doors again .
`` I hang onto that word , 'temporarily , ' `` Burton said .
`` To see so much slipping through our fingers in this community is hard . ''
Throughout the spring and early summer , Burton and her partner got by financially , thanks in part to the extra $ 600 a week in jobless benefits that Congress approved back in March .
Burton recalled her surprise when she received her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ twice as much as she 'd been making at the coffee shop .
`` I 'll accept it because I 've worked hard all my life , '' Burton said `` We were able to put a little bit extra in savings and pay off a couple of low bills .
Our going out budget was zero .
Our going-to-the-bar budget was zero . ''
But for the unemployed , the picture changed abruptly once the extra $ 600 a week ran out at the end of July .
McAfee , the Cleveland-area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by more than half , putting a strain on her husband and their two kids .
`` We 're slowly eating away at our savings that we have from the good times of earlier this year and it 's getting challenging now , '' McAfee said .
Researchers at JPMorgan Chase Institute , in collaboration with the University of Chicago , found many of the unemployed managed to sock away extra money between March and July while the government was spending freely to cushion the downturn .
Median family savings roughly doubled during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the jobless started to drain their savings in August , burning through roughly two-thirds of the money they 'd squirreled away during the four previous months .
`` The cushion has worn thin , and we have n't yet regained all the jobs that we lost , '' said Fiona Greig , director of consumer research for the JPMorgan Chase Institute .
`` This is a critical time for jobless workers . ''
Job growth has slowed in each of the last three months .
And with layoffs continuing , almost 1.3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last week .
Jobless workers are spending less now than they were early in the summer .
And their spending is likely to fall further as their newfound savings are exhausted .
Kelly Griffin , an IT worker in Massachusetts , saw her income drop by about two-thirds once the extra $ 600 a week benefit ran out .
`` It was hard , '' Griffin said .
`` You do n't go out to eat .
You do n't spend things unnecessarily .
I scrimped and saved and started to panic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ job again ? '
'' Fortunately , Griffin did get a job offer , and she 's set to start next week .
But many others have not been as lucky .
`` I hate it when people say the extra $ 600 was keeping us from working , '' McAfee said .
`` It was never keeping me from working .
I want to be back to work and I would love to have a job again . ''
McAfee has been trying to earn some extra money sewing facemasks .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paycheck .
`` It 's not a situation I would wish on anybody , to be constantly stuck in this with no foreseeable end to it , '' she said .
`` I do n't know when I 'm going to get a job again .
Hopefully it will be soon .
But until then it 's just constant stress for everybody . ''

'I'm Still Unemployed': Millions In Dire Situation As Savings Start To Run Out
Enlarge this image toggle caption John Sommers II/Getty Images John Sommers II/Getty Images
When the coronavirus pandemic hit this spring, government relief payments provided a life raft to millions of people who had been thrown out of work.
That life raft, however, is now losing air, threatening to leave the unemployed in a perilous situation just as Washington leaders struggle to clinch a new package of aid ahead of the November election.
New research from JPMorgan Chase Institute and the University of Chicago focused on 80,000 unemployed people shows savings built up when the government provided aid is now rapidly running out, leaving people like chemist Kate McAfee fretting about their futures.
"I'm still unemployed," said McAfee, who was laid off from her job outside Cleveland back in April. "I've now exhausted my 26 weeks of unemployment here in Ohio and have moved on to the additional 13 weeks of extended benefits from the federal government."
Millions of Americans are in a similar situation as the pandemic downturn drags on.
The downtown Denver coffee shop where Terrah Burton used to work tried to reopen during summer, but with little foot traffic from vacant offices nearby, it temporarily closed its doors again.
"I hang onto that word, 'temporarily,' " Burton said. "To see so much slipping through our fingers in this community is hard."
Throughout the spring and early summer, Burton and her partner got by financially, thanks in part to the extra $600 a week in jobless benefits that Congress approved back in March.
Burton recalled her surprise when she received her first unemployment check. It was almost twice as much as she'd been making at the coffee shop.
"I'll accept it because I've worked hard all my life," Burton said "We were able to put a little bit extra in savings and pay off a couple of low bills. Our going-out budget was zero. Our going-to-the-bar budget was zero."
But for the unemployed, the picture changed abruptly once the extra $600 a week ran out at the end of July.
McAfee, the Cleveland-area chemist, saw her jobless benefits cut by more than half, putting a strain on her husband and their two kids.
"We're slowly eating away at our savings that we have from the good times of earlier this year, and it's getting challenging now," McAfee said.
Researchers at JPMorgan Chase Institute, in collaboration with the University of Chicago, found many of the unemployed managed to sock away extra money between March and July while the government was spending freely to cushion the downturn. Median family savings roughly doubled during that period.
But the researchers found that the jobless started to drain their savings in August, burning through roughly two-thirds of the money they had squirreled away during the four previous months.
"The cushion has worn thin, and we haven't yet regained all the jobs that we lost," said Fiona Greig, director of consumer research for the JPMorgan Chase Institute. "This is a critical time for jobless workers."
Job growth has slowed in each of the last three months. And with layoffs continuing, almost 1.3 million people filed new claims for unemployment last week.
Jobless workers are spending less now than they were early in the summer. And their spending is likely to fall further as their newfound savings are exhausted.
Kelly Griffin, an information technology worker in Massachusetts, saw her income drop by about two-thirds once the extra $600 a week benefit ran out.
"It was hard," Griffin said. "You don't go out to eat. You don't spend things unnecessarily. I scrimped and saved and started to panic. 'Am I ever going to get a job again?' "
Fortunately, Griffin did get a job offer, and she's set to start next week. But many others have not been as lucky.
"I hate it when people say the extra $600 was keeping us from working," McAfee said. "It was never keeping me from working. I want to be back to work, and I would love to have a job again."
McAfee has been trying to earn some extra money sewing face masks. But it's no substitute for a regular paycheck.
"It's not a situation I would wish on anybody, to be constantly stuck in this with no foreseeable end to it," she said. "I don't know when I'm going to get a job again. Hopefully, it will be soon. But until then, it's just constant stress for everybody."


npr--2020-10-17--Why Do Nonwhite Georgia Voters Have To Wait in Line for Hours? Too Few Polling Places

Why Do Nonwhite Georgia Voters Have To Wait in Line for Hours ?
Too Few Polling Places Kathy spotted the long line of voters as she pulled into the Christian City Welcome Center about 3:30 p.m. , ready to cast her ballot in the June 9 primary election .
Hundreds of people were waiting in the heat and rain outside the lush , tree-lined complex in Union City , an Atlanta suburb with 22,400 residents , nearly 88 % of them Black .
She briefly considered not casting a ballot at all , but decided to stay .
By the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hours later , the polls had officially closed and the electronic scanners were shut down .
Poll workers told her she 'd have to cast a provisional ballot , but they promised that her vote would be counted .
`` I 'm now angry again , I 'm frustrated again , and now I have an added emotion , which is anxiety , '' said Kathy , a human services worker , recalling her emotions at the time .
She asked that her full name not be used because she fears repercussions from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if my ballot is going to count . ''
By the time the last voter finally got inside the welcome center to cast a ballot , it was the next day , June 10 .
The clogged polling locations in metro Atlanta reflect an underlying pattern : the number of places to vote has shrunk statewide , with little recourse .
Although the reduction in polling places has taken place across racial lines , it has primarily caused long lines in nonwhite neighborhoods where voter registration has surged and more residents cast ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pruning of polling places started long before the pandemic , which has discouraged people from voting in person .
In Georgia , considered a battleground state for control of the White House and U.S. Senate , the difficulty of voting in Black communities like Union City could possibly tip the results on Nov. 3 .
With massive turnout expected , lines could be even longer than they were for the primary , despite a rise in mail-in voting and Georgians already turning out by the hundreds of thousands to cast ballots early .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ v. Holder decision in 2013 eliminated key federal oversight of election decisions in states with histories of discrimination , Georgia 's voter rolls have grown by nearly 2 million people , yet polling locations have been cut statewide by nearly 10 % , according to an analysis of state and local records by Georgia Public Broadcasting and ProPublica .
Much of the growth has been fueled by younger , nonwhite voters , especially in nine metro Atlanta counties , where four out of five new voters were nonwhite , according to the Georgia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ metro Atlanta area has been hit particularly hard .
The nine counties — Fulton , Gwinnett , Forsyth , DeKalb , Cobb , Hall , Cherokee , Henry and Clayton — have nearly half of the state 's active voters but only 38 % of the polling places , according to the analysis .
As a result , the average number of voters packed into each polling location in those counties grew by nearly 40 % , from about 2,600 in 2012 to more than 3,600 per polling place as of Oct. 9 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a last-minute push that opened more than 90 polling places just weeks before the November election has left many voters uncertain about where to vote or how long they might wait to cast a ballot .
The growth in registered voters has outstripped the number of available polling places in both predominantly white and Black neighborhoods .
But the lines to vote have been longer in Black areas , because Black voters are more likely than whites to cast their ballots in person on Election Day and are more reluctant to vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data and recent studies .
Georgia Public Broadcasting/ProPublica found that about two-thirds of the polling places that had to stay open late for the June primary to accommodate waiting voters were in majority-Black neighborhoods , even though they made up only about one-third of the state 's polling places .
An analysis by Stanford University political science professor Jonathan Rodden of the data collected by Georgia Public Broadcasting/ProPublica found that the average wait time after 7 p.m. across Georgia was 51 minutes in polling places that were 90 % or more nonwhite , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that were 90 % white .
Georgia law sets a cap of 2,000 voters for a polling place that has experienced significant voter delays , but that limit is rarely if ever enforced .
Our analysis found that , in both majority Black and majority white neighborhoods , about nine of every 10 precincts are assigned to polling places with more than 2,000 people .
A June 2020 analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School found that the average number of voters assigned to a polling place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Georgia , Louisiana , Mississippi and South Carolina — all states with substantial Black populations that before Shelby needed federal approval to close polling places under the Voting Rights Act .
And though dozens of states have regulations on the size of voting precincts and polling places or the number of voting machines , the analysis found that many jurisdictions do not abide by them .
Georgia 's state leadership and elections officials have largely ignored complaints about poll consolidations even as they tout record growth in voter registration .
As secretary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when most of Georgia 's poll closures occurred , Brian Kemp , now the governor , took a laissez-faire attitude toward county-run election practices , save for a 2015 document that spelled out methods officials could use to shutter polling places to show `` how the change can benefit voters and the public interest . ''
Kemp 's office declined to comment Thursday on the letter or why poll closures went unchallenged by state officials .
His spokesperson referred back to his previous statements that he did not encourage officials to close polling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to follow the law .
The inaction has left Black voters in Georgia facing barriers reminiscent of Jim Crow laws , said Adrienne Jones , a political science professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta who has studied the impact of the landmark Shelby decision on Black voters .
Voter suppression `` is happening with these voter impediments that are being imposed , '' Jones said .
`` You 're closing down polling places so people have a more difficult time getting there .
You 're making vote-by-mail difficult or confusing .
Now we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are going to be accepted , and it means that people have less trust in our state . ''
In August , on the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act , the Democratic Party of Georgia , the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and three Georgia voters sued the state and more than a dozen counties in federal court , alleging that some of the state 's most populous areas have disenfranchised voters for more than a decade with long lines caused by inadequate staff , training , equipment and voting locations .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the judge ruled the parties had no standing to file , warned of upheaval during the Nov. 3 election .
`` As bad as the situation would be in normal circumstances , the burden is made far worse by the global pandemic , '' the lawsuit stated .
`` Absent judicial intervention , Georgia is set for more of the same ( and likely far worse than it has ever seen ) in November . ''
Republican Brad Raffensperger , who took over as secretary of state in January 2019 , has called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but he has been unable to push these changes through the GOP-controlled legislature .
Raffensperger 's office blames Democrats and county elections officials for opposing his efforts to improve access .
`` As Secretary of State , Brad Raffensperger pushed legislation that would force counties to expand polling locations and directly address these issues , '' Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said in an email .
`` Unfortunately , every single Democratic Senator and Representative voted against this proposal saying that it would cause 'confusion . '
Georgia voters deserve to know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is n't the Secretary of State 's Office . ''
Democrats and voting rights groups said they opposed the Raffensperger-backed bill because they believed it weakened state election supervision and made it harder for people to vote .
The proposal shifted even more responsibility for elections from the state to counties , `` without the necessary training , funding or support , '' Lauren Groh-Wargo , chief executive of Fair Fight , a voting rights group founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams , said at the time .
Georgia 's history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a century , with poll taxes , literacy and citizenship tests , and intimidation that disenfranchised many Black citizens .
Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , Georgia and eight other states with histories of discrimination were required to seek federal approval before making changes such as eliminating polling places in Black neighborhoods or shifting polling locations at the last minute .
Dozens of counties and townships in six more states also had to seek pre-clearance .
Then in 2013 , in a case brought by Shelby County , Alabama , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for determining which jurisdictions had to seek prior approval , saying it was unconstitutional because it was outdated .
The court suggested that Congress could pass new guidelines , but lawmakers have been unable to reach agreement , leaving the pre-clearance requirement unenforceable .
Jones , the Morehouse professor , said the recent changes would clearly have required federal approval if not for the Shelby decision .
`` All of these kinds of exercises ... would have had to be considered by the Department of Justice — or would not have been suggested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Department of Justice would have dinged them , '' she said .
`` And part of that has to do with the importance of Black voters , particularly in the Democratic Party . ''
Exacerbating Shelby 's impact in Georgia was an explosion in voter registrations .
Thanks in part to the state 's `` motor voter '' law that updates records whenever a voter interacts with the Department of Driver Services , the state 's voter rolls have swelled by a third since the 2012 presidential election .
In two metro @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the voting population shifted from majority white to majority nonwhite , contributing to Georgia 's transition from red state to purple .
As the number of voters was swelling , county officials across the state began a steady stream of closures of polling locations .
By June 2020 , Georgia voters had 331 fewer polling places than in November 2012 , a 13 % reduction .
Because of added pressure from the coronavirus pandemic , metro Atlanta alone had lost 82 voting locations by the time June 's primary rolled around .
Nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had closed at least one polling place since 2012 .
Fulton County , which includes Atlanta , and DeKalb County realigned dozens of precincts after some municipalities were annexed or newly established .
Other counties cited changes in voter behavior , or tight budgets , but the Georgia Public Broadcasting/ProPublica analysis found only nominal savings .
In Union City , about 20 minutes southwest of Atlanta in Fulton County , the number of active voters has grown about 60 % since 2012 .
Three polls were open for the June primary , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Welcome Center .
Two additional polling places are being set up for the Nov. 3 election , including one that will reduce the burden on the Welcome Center .
Three others , however , will still have more than 5,000 voters each .
In a September county elections board meeting , Fulton officials said the goal had been to add more polling places in 2020 to accommodate population growth .
The coronavirus pandemic resulted in closures or relocations , but most sites have been reopened .
The influx of voters meant that already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Statewide , the number of voters served by the average polling place rose 47 % , from 2,046 voters in 2012 to 3,003 as of Oct. 9 , according to the analysis .
Some rural counties have as many as 22,000 voters assigned to a single polling place .
Forsyth County , one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation , has grown its voter rolls by nearly 60 % — or 60,000 voters — in the last eight years .
Forsyth , a mostly white county about 45 minutes ' drive north @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters per polling place .
Officials cut nine of its 25 polling places in 2013 and another after the 2016 election , but added back five locations in 2019 .
No additional sites are expected to be opened for the November election .
Fulton County added nearly a quarter-million voters while consolidating voting locations .
When the coronavirus struck , the last-minute unavailability of two polling places forced the assignment of 16,000 people to vote in June at Park Tavern , a restaurant/event space that reported 350 voters in line before the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ County 's seven most congested polling places serve predominantly nonwhite neighborhoods .
In Lawrenceville , home to one of the largest Black populations in the county , a judge ordered polls at the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources to stay open late during the primary for the nearly 7,000 voters assigned there .
It was one of 16 polling locations with missing voting machines on the morning of the primary election .
Angela Maddox , a health care worker , cast her ballot there for the Aug. 11 primary runoff , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the ballot .
She said she was grateful that equipment was in place and low turnout meant no lines .
The reports of voters waiting six hours or more in the primary were `` disgusting , '' she said .
`` I know it 's a big problem and it seems to continuously happen in Black communities , '' she said .
`` That 's where you tend to see a lot of the machines breaking down , or fewer machines , or any and everything to not count our vote , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ County officials obtained federal approval in 2010 — before the Shelby decision — to reduce the number of polls from 163 to 156 , citing cost savings and operational efficiency .
Since then , the county has kept the same number of polling places while adding more than 175,000 active voters .
The average polling place handled 3,649 voters in the June primary and is set for 3,719 for November .
Since the Shelby decision , the Georgia State Election Board , chaired by Raffensperger , has been the primary body for investigating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violated election laws and procedures .
But the election board has rarely investigated the sort of violations that the U.S. Department of Justice once stepped in to review under the Voting Rights Act .
Since 2010 , when Kemp began his eight-year stint as secretary of state , the board has heard hundreds of cases , citing individuals for such violations as wearing political gear to the polls , and rebuking counties for mishandling voter registrations or absentee ballots .
But it has taken no action to examine the poll closures that have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ backlog of dozens of complaints to accumulate .
In 2015 , Kemp 's office sent the letter to county elections officials that included advice on closing polling places .
In September , with Georgia in the national spotlight over its handling of elections , the board cleared a backlog of nearly 100 outstanding cases dating back to 2014 , and referred several to the attorney general 's office for further review .
Among those was Fulton County 's alleged mishandling of the June primary .
The attorney general 's office is still investigating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of state 's office told four counties that had long lines , absentee ballot problems and late opening or closing polls in the primary — Fulton , DeKalb and Gwinnett in the metro Atlanta area and Chatham County in southeast Georgia — to avoid a repeat by providing weekly updates on poll worker training , polling places and line management plans .
Besides the board 's actions , the Georgia Senate considered a proposal filed in February and endorsed by Raffensperger .
It would have required county elections supervisors to add more equipment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any precincts with more than 2,000 voters , if there was a wait longer than an hour measured at three different points on Election Day .
More than 1,500 of Georgia 's 2,655 precincts have at least 2,000 voters — many of them in urban Democratic counties — and Raffensperger said at the time that voters should never have to wait more than 30 minutes .
But the bill , SB 463 , was opposed by Democratic lawmakers and voting rights groups , who argued that any revamping in an election year would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keep people from casting their ballot .
`` Do you have any concerns about trying to change the rules of the game in the middle of an election cycle when we have so much litigation that is currently pending with respect to the state 's handling of previous elections ? ''
state Sen. Jen Jordan , a Democrat from Atlanta , asked during the floor debate .
The bill originated in the state Senate , which approved it .
The proposal then went to a state House of Representatives committee , where Republicans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the polling place issue and barred the secretary of state and county elections officials from sending absentee ballot applications to voters .
Their redesign never reached a floor vote , eliminating any prospect of legislative changes in the 2020 session , which ended in June .
That same month , after the primary election , Raffensperger held a press conference in Fulton County outside Park Tavern , which had processed more voters than 96 % of the state 's polling places .
Flanked by posters highlighting recent election woes , he urged local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ locations while improving technical support and training .
'We know that we need a more diverse pool of voting locations to spread the load of voters that we are anticipating , ' Raffensperger said .
Nikema Williams , chair of Georgia 's Democratic Party , said that while state officials took little or no action to stop widespread voting problems in non-white communities , local elections officials are also responsible , since they ultimately decide whether to close or open more voting sites .
`` We added counties as a defendant in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make sure that we 're getting this right , '' she said .
`` And at the end of the day , what matters to us is that voters are not negatively impacted at any level of the electoral process . ''
Although the judge chided Democratic officials for offering vague remedies and failing to provide sufficient evidence that long lines are likely in November , Phi Nguyen , litigation director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta , said there is plenty of evidence in plain sight .
Nguyen 's organization has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in court , including the `` exact match '' policy that blocks voter registrations that do not exactly match a state or federal database .
AAAJA also filed a lawsuit that forced Gwinnett County to change its process for rejecting absentee ballots .
She said the metro Atlanta counties ' election administrators have not kept up with the wave of newer , more diverse voters , increasing the chances of disenfranchisement .
Nguyen was a poll monitor at the Infinite Energy Center arena for the primary and did not leave until the final @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closed at 7 p.m. '' Georgia made national news because of the breakdown in our election systems , '' she said .
`` Long lines are certainly an issue and they happen more often in under-resourced places , which tend to be where communities of color live . ''
Some counties in the metro Atlanta area have tried to increase polling locations before the November election .
Just weeks before Nov. 3 , Fulton County approved 91 new polling places , focusing on areas where the lines were longest for the June primary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the four polling places in Union City — will still have more than 5,000 voters assigned , but that 's a sharp drop from the 60 sites that had more than 5,000 voters assigned for the primary election , said Fulton County Elections Director Rick Barron .
`` If you have fewer people assigned to a polling location , you have fewer people that are going to go to that location , '' he said .
`` We had some polling places in June where we had 9,000-17,000 voters assigned to these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it spreads everyone out amongst many more locations . ''
The more than 16,000 primary voters who were assigned to Park Tavern are now split among five polling places , ranging from fewer than 1,500 voters to nearly 5,500 .
Park Tavern will remain a polling site , with about 4,300 voters .
But widespread rejiggering of polling locations just weeks before a presidential election comes with its own risks .
A 2018 study of North Carolina voters from Stanford University found that relocating polling places decreases turnout , especially for younger voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are hoping for an 80 % early voting rate to minimize voter confusion and other problems on Election Day , when the nation 's eyes will once again be on Georgia .
And they have doubled the election budget to $ 34 million , purchasing two mobile voting buses as polling sites to alleviate early lines and launching a massive outreach campaign to change voter behavior .
There are more than 30 early voting locations , including a mega-voting site at Atlanta 's professional basketball arena equipped with 60 check-in computers and 300 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of in-person early voting Monday , Oct. 12 , officials recorded the second-highest single-day total in recent years .
Statewide , a record 128,000 Georgians braved long lines that first day .
Still , Kathy in Union City is worried that her vote wo n't be counted .
`` When you look at the systemic issues that plague us as a society , oftentimes we 're screaming but we 're not being heard , '' she said .
`` Historically , we have seen that services and resources for Black communities have always @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just an extension of that .
... How could there be such a huge disparity ? ''
This article is part of Electionland , ProPublica 's collaborative reporting project covering problems that prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots during the 2020 elections .

Why Do Nonwhite Georgia Voters Have To Wait In Line For Hours? Too Few Polling Places
Enlarge this image toggle caption Dustin Chambers/Reuters Dustin Chambers/Reuters
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica's User's Guide to Democracy, a series of personalized emails that help you understand the upcoming election, from who's on your ballot to how to cast your vote. This article is co-published by ProPublica, Georgia Public Broadcasting and NPR.
Kathy spotted the long line of voters as she pulled into the Christian City Welcome Center about 3:30 p.m., ready to cast her ballot in the June 9 primary election.
Hundreds of people were waiting in the heat and rain outside the lush, tree-lined complex in Union City, an Atlanta suburb with 22,400 residents, nearly 88% of them Black. She briefly considered not casting a ballot at all, but decided to stay.
By the time she got inside more than five hours later, the polls had officially closed and the electronic scanners were shut down. Poll workers told her she'd have to cast a provisional ballot, but they promised that her vote would be counted.
"I'm now angry again, I'm frustrated again, and now I have an added emotion, which is anxiety," said Kathy, a human services worker, recalling her emotions at the time. She asked that her full name not be used because she fears repercussions from speaking out. "I'm wondering if my ballot is going to count."
By the time the last voter finally got inside the welcome center to cast a ballot, it was the next day, June 10.
The clogged polling locations in metro Atlanta reflect an underlying pattern: the number of places to vote has shrunk statewide, with little recourse. Although the reduction in polling places has taken place across racial lines, it has primarily caused long lines in nonwhite neighborhoods where voter registration has surged and more residents cast ballots in person on Election Day. The pruning of polling places started long before the pandemic, which has discouraged people from voting in person.
In Georgia, considered a battleground state for control of the White House and U.S. Senate, the difficulty of voting in Black communities like Union City could possibly tip the results on Nov. 3. With massive turnout expected, lines could be even longer than they were for the primary, despite a rise in mail-in voting and Georgians already turning out by the hundreds of thousands to cast ballots early.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court's Shelby v. Holder decision in 2013 eliminated key federal oversight of election decisions in states with histories of discrimination, Georgia's voter rolls have grown by nearly 2 million people, yet polling locations have been cut statewide by nearly 10%, according to an analysis of state and local records by Georgia Public Broadcasting and ProPublica. Much of the growth has been fueled by younger, nonwhite voters, especially in nine metro Atlanta counties, where four out of five new voters were nonwhite, according to the Georgia secretary of state's office.
The metro Atlanta area has been hit particularly hard. The nine counties — Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth, DeKalb, Cobb, Hall, Cherokee, Henry and Clayton — have nearly half of the state's active voters but only 38% of the polling places, according to the analysis.
As a result, the average number of voters packed into each polling location in those counties grew by nearly 40%, from about 2,600 in 2012 to more than 3,600 per polling place as of Oct. 9, the analysis shows. In addition, a last-minute push that opened more than 90 polling places just weeks before the November election has left many voters uncertain about where to vote or how long they might wait to cast a ballot.
Packing The Polls Voter registrations in nine counties in the metro Atlanta area have jumped sharply, but the number of polling places hasn't kept pace. As a result, those counties have many more voters assigned to each polling place than the state average. Georgia Public Broadcasting/ProPublica analysis of state records
The growth in registered voters has outstripped the number of available polling places in both predominantly white and Black neighborhoods. But the lines to vote have been longer in Black areas, because Black voters are more likely than whites to cast their ballots in person on Election Day and are more reluctant to vote by mail, according to U.S. census data and recent studies. Georgia Public Broadcasting/ProPublica found that about two-thirds of the polling places that had to stay open late for the June primary to accommodate waiting voters were in majority-Black neighborhoods, even though they made up only about one-third of the state's polling places. An analysis by Stanford University political science professor Jonathan Rodden of the data collected by Georgia Public Broadcasting/ProPublica found that the average wait time after 7 p.m. across Georgia was 51 minutes in polling places that were 90% or more nonwhite, but only six minutes in polling places that were 90% white.
Georgia law sets a cap of 2,000 voters for a polling place that has experienced significant voter delays, but that limit is rarely, if ever, enforced. Our analysis found that, in both majority Black and majority white neighborhoods, about nine of every 10 precincts are assigned to polling places with more than 2,000 people.
A June 2020 analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School found that the average number of voters assigned to a polling place has grown in the past five years in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina — all states with substantial Black populations that before the Shelby decision needed federal approval to close polling places under the Voting Rights Act. And though dozens of states have regulations on the size of voting precincts and polling places or the number of voting machines, the analysis found that many jurisdictions do not abide by them.
Georgia's state leadership and elections officials have largely ignored complaints about poll consolidations even as they tout record growth in voter registration. As secretary of state from 2010 to 2018, when most of Georgia's poll closures occurred, Brian Kemp, now the governor, took a laissez-faire attitude toward county-run election practices, save for a 2015 document that spelled out methods officials could use to shutter polling places to show "how the change can benefit voters and the public interest."
Kemp's office declined to comment Thursday on the letter or why poll closures went unchallenged by state officials. His spokesperson referred to his previous statements that he did not encourage officials to close polling places but merely offered guidance on how to follow the law.
The inaction has left Black voters in Georgia facing barriers reminiscent of Jim Crow laws, said Adrienne Jones, a political science professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta who has studied the impact of the landmark Shelby decision on Black voters.
Voter suppression "is happening with these voter impediments that are being imposed," Jones said.
"You're closing down polling places so people have a more difficult time getting there. You're making vote-by-mail difficult or confusing. Now we're in court arguing about which ballots are going to be accepted, and it means that people have less trust in our state."
In August, on the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the Democratic Party of Georgia, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and three Georgia voters sued the state and more than a dozen counties in federal court, alleging that some of the state's most populous areas have disenfranchised voters for more than a decade with long lines caused by inadequate staff, training, equipment and voting locations.
The suit, which was dismissed after the judge ruled the parties had no standing to file, warned of upheaval on Nov. 3, Election Day.
"As bad as the situation would be in normal circumstances, the burden is made far worse by the global pandemic," the lawsuit stated. "Absent judicial intervention, Georgia is set for more of the same (and likely far worse than it has ever seen) in November."
Republican Brad Raffensperger, who took over as secretary of state in January 2019, has called for more resources and polling places, but he has been unable to push these changes through the GOP-controlled legislature.
Raffensperger's office blames Democrats and county elections officials for opposing his efforts to improve access. "As Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger pushed legislation that would force counties to expand polling locations and directly address these issues," Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said in an email.
"Unfortunately, every single Democratic Senator and Representative voted against this proposal saying that it would cause 'confusion.' Georgia voters deserve to know who is actually holding back progress and it isn't the Secretary of State's Office."
Democrats and voting rights groups said they opposed the Raffensperger-backed bill because they believed it weakened state election supervision and made it harder for people to vote. The proposal shifted even more responsibility for elections from the state to counties, "without the necessary training, funding or support," Lauren Groh-Wargo, chief executive of Fair Fight, a voting rights group founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, said at the time.
A History Of Discrimination
Georgia's history of voting violations stretches back more than a century, with poll taxes, literacy and citizenship tests, and intimidation that disenfranchised many Black citizens.
Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Georgia and eight other states with histories of discrimination were required to seek federal approval before making changes such as eliminating polling places in Black neighborhoods or shifting polling locations at the last minute. Dozens of counties and townships in six more states also had to seek approval.
Then in 2013, in a case brought by Shelby County, Ala., the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the method for determining which jurisdictions had to seek approval, saying it was unconstitutional because it was outdated. The court suggested that Congress could pass new guidelines, but lawmakers have been unable to reach agreement, leaving the pre-clearance requirement unenforceable.
Jones, the Morehouse professor, said the recent changes would clearly have required federal approval if not for the Shelby decision.
"All of these kinds of exercises ... would have had to be considered by the Department of Justice — or would not have been suggested because it would have been clear that the Department of Justice would have dinged them," she said. "And part of that has to do with the importance of Black voters, particularly in the Democratic Party."
Exacerbating Shelby's impact in Georgia was an explosion in voter registrations. Thanks in part to the state's "motor voter" law that updates records whenever a voter interacts with the Department of Driver Services, the state's voter rolls have swelled by a third since the 2012 presidential election. In two metro Atlanta counties, Gwinnett and Henry, the voting population shifted from majority white to majority nonwhite, contributing to Georgia's transition from red state to purple.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ron Harris/Associated Press Ron Harris/Associated Press
As the number of voters was swelling, county officials across the state began a steady stream of closures of polling locations.
By June 2020, Georgia voters had 331 fewer polling places than in November 2012, a 13% reduction. Because of added pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, metro Atlanta alone had lost 82 voting locations by the time June's primary rolled around. Nearly half of the state's 159 counties had closed at least one polling place since 2012.
Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, and DeKalb County realigned dozens of precincts after some municipalities were annexed or newly established. Other counties cited changes in voter behavior, or tight budgets, but the Georgia Public Broadcasting/ProPublica analysis found only nominal savings.
In Union City, about 20 minutes southwest of Atlanta in Fulton County, the number of active voters has grown about 60% since 2012.
Three polls were open for the June primary, with 9,000 voters assigned to the Christian City Welcome Center. Two additional polling places are being set up for Nov. 3, including one that will reduce the burden on the Welcome Center. Three others, however, will still have more than 5,000 voters each.
In a September county elections board meeting, Fulton officials said the goal had been to add more polling places in 2020 to accommodate population growth. The coronavirus pandemic resulted in closures or relocations, but most sites have been reopened.
Urban Congestion At The Polls
The influx of voters meant that already overburdened polling places got even busier.
Statewide, the number of voters served by the average polling place rose 47%, from 2,046 voters in 2012 to 3,003 as of Oct. 9, according to the analysis. Some rural counties have as many as 22,000 voters assigned to a single polling place.
Forsyth County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation, has grown its voter rolls by nearly 60% — or 60,000 voters — in the last eight years. Forsyth, a mostly white county about 45 minutes' drive north of Atlanta, now averages about 8,000 voters per polling place. Officials cut nine of its 25 polling places in 2013 and another after the 2016 election but added back five locations in 2019. No additional sites are expected to be opened for the November election.
Fulton County added nearly a quarter-million voters while consolidating voting locations. When the coronavirus struck, the last-minute unavailability of two polling places forced the assignment of 16,000 people to vote in June at Park Tavern, a restaurant/event space that reported 350 voters in line before the first vote was cast.
Six of Gwinnett County's seven most congested polling places serve predominantly nonwhite neighborhoods. In Lawrenceville, home to one of the largest Black populations in the county, a judge ordered polls at the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources to stay open late during the primary for the nearly 7,000 voters assigned there. It was one of 16 polling locations with missing voting machines on the morning of the primary election.
Angela Maddox, a health care worker, cast her ballot there for the Aug. 11 primary runoff, when only local rather than statewide races were on the ballot. She said she was grateful that equipment was in place and low turnout meant no lines. The reports of voters waiting six hours or more in the primary were "disgusting," she said.
"I know it's a big problem and it seems to continuously happen in Black communities," she said. "That's where you tend to see a lot of the machines breaking down, or fewer machines, or any and everything to not count our vote, which is not fair."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Stephen Fowler/Georgia Public Broadcasting Stephen Fowler/Georgia Public Broadcasting
Gwinnett County officials obtained federal approval in 2010 — before the Shelby decision — to reduce the number of polls from 163 to 156, citing cost savings and operational efficiency. Since then, the county has kept the same number of polling places while adding more than 175,000 active voters. The average polling place handled 3,649 voters in the June primary and is set for 3,719 for November.
Who's To Blame?
Since the Shelby decision, the Georgia State Election Board, chaired by Raffensperger, has been the primary body for investigating and potentially sanctioning counties found to have violated election laws and procedures.
But the election board has rarely investigated the sort of violations that the U.S. Department of Justice once stepped in to review under the Voting Rights Act.
Since 2010, when Kemp began his eight-year stint as secretary of state, the board has heard hundreds of cases, citing individuals for such violations as wearing political gear to the polls, and rebuking counties for mishandling voter registrations or absentee ballots. But it has taken no action to examine the poll closures that have been approved post-Shelby and has allowed a backlog of dozens of complaints to accumulate. In 2015, Kemp's office sent the letter to county elections officials that included advice on closing polling places.
In September, with Georgia in the national spotlight over its handling of elections, the board cleared a backlog of nearly 100 outstanding cases dating back to 2014 and referred several to the attorney general's office for further review. Among those was Fulton County's alleged mishandling of the June primary. The attorney general's office is still investigating.
In early October, the secretary of state's office told four counties — Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett in the metro Atlanta area and Chatham County in southeast Georgia — that had long lines, absentee ballot problems and late opening or closing polls in the primary to avoid a repeat by providing weekly updates on poll worker training, polling places and line management plans.
Besides the board's actions, the Georgia Senate considered a proposal filed in February and endorsed by Raffensperger. It would have required county elections supervisors to add more equipment or poll workers, or split up any precincts with more than 2,000 voters, if there was a wait longer than an hour measured at three points on Election Day.
More than 1,500 of Georgia's 2,655 precincts have at least 2,000 voters — many of them in urban Democratic counties — and Raffensperger said at the time that voters should never have to wait more than 30 minutes.
But the bill, SB 463, was opposed by Democratic lawmakers and voting rights groups, who argued that any revamping in an election year would cause confusion and create more ways to keep people from casting their ballot.
"Do you have any concerns about trying to change the rules of the game in the middle of an election cycle when we have so much litigation that is currently pending with respect to the state's handling of previous elections?" state Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democrat from Atlanta, asked during the floor debate.
The bill originated in the state Senate, which approved it. The proposal then went to a state House of Representatives committee, where Republicans substituted a version that didn't address the polling place issue and barred the secretary of state and county elections officials from sending absentee ballot applications to voters. Their redesign never reached a floor vote, eliminating any prospect of legislative changes in the 2020 session, which ended in June.
That same month, after the primary election, Raffensperger held a press conference in Fulton County outside Park Tavern, which had processed more voters than 96% of the state's polling places. Flanked by posters highlighting recent election woes, he urged local officials to add poll workers and voting locations while improving technical support and training.
"We know that we need a more diverse pool of voting locations to spread the load of voters that we are anticipating," Raffensperger said.
Nikema Williams, chair of Georgia's Democratic Party, said that while state officials took little or no action to stop widespread voting problems in nonwhite communities, local elections officials are also responsible, since they ultimately decide whether to close or open more voting sites.
"We added counties as a defendant in the [August] lawsuit because we want to make sure that we're getting this right," she said. "And at the end of the day, what matters to us is that voters are not negatively impacted at any level of the electoral process."
Although the judge chided Democratic officials for offering vague remedies and failing to provide sufficient evidence that long lines are likely in November, Phi Nguyen, litigation director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, said there is plenty of evidence in plain sight.
Nguyen's organization has challenged a number of Georgia election laws in court, including the "exact match" policy that blocks voter registrations that do not exactly match a state or federal database. AAAJA also filed a lawsuit that forced Gwinnett County to change its process for rejecting absentee ballots.
She said the metro Atlanta counties' election administrators have not kept up with the wave of newer, more diverse voters, increasing the chances of disenfranchisement.
Nguyen was a poll monitor at the Infinite Energy Center arena for the primary and did not leave until the final votes were cast, well after polls closed at 7 p.m.
"Georgia made national news because of the breakdown in our election systems," she said. "Long lines are certainly an issue and they happen more often in under-resourced places, which tend to be where communities of color live."
Changes Before Election Day
Some counties in the metro Atlanta area have tried to increase polling locations before the November election.
Just weeks before Nov. 3, Fulton County approved 91 new polling places, focusing on areas where the lines were longest for the June primary. Fourteen polling places — including two of the four polling places in Union City — will still have more than 5,000 voters assigned, but that's a sharp drop from the 60 sites that had more than 5,000 voters assigned for the primary election, said Fulton County Elections Director Rick Barron.
"If you have fewer people assigned to a polling location, you have fewer people that are going to go to that location," he said. "We had some polling places in June where we had 9,000-17,000 voters assigned to these locations, so what this does is it spreads everyone out amongst many more locations."
The more than 16,000 primary voters who were assigned to Park Tavern are now split among five polling places, ranging from fewer than 1,500 voters to nearly 5,500. Park Tavern will remain a polling site, with about 4,300 voters.
But widespread rejiggering of polling locations just weeks before a presidential election comes with its own risks. A 2018 study of North Carolina voters from Stanford University found that relocating polling places decreases turnout, especially for younger voters.
For now, Fulton County officials are hoping for an 80% early voting rate to minimize voter confusion and other problems on Election Day, when the nation's eyes will once again be on Georgia. And they have doubled the election budget to $34 million, purchasing two mobile voting buses as polling sites to alleviate early lines and launching a massive outreach campaign to change voter behavior.
There are more than 30 early voting locations, including a mega-voting site at Atlanta's professional basketball arena equipped with 60 check-in computers and 300 voting machines. On the first day of in-person early voting Monday, Oct. 12, officials recorded the second-highest single-day total in recent years. Statewide, a record 128,000 Georgians braved long lines that first day.
Still, Kathy in Union City is worried that her vote won't be counted.
"When you look at the systemic issues that plague us as a society, oftentimes we're screaming but we're not being heard," she said. "Historically, we have seen that services and resources for Black communities have always been very inadequate, and this is just an extension of that. ... How could there be such a huge disparity?"
This article is part of Electionland, ProPublica's collaborative reporting project covering problems that prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots during the 2020 elections.


npr--2020-10-17--Judge Finds U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Broke Law In Seizing Control Of Fund

Judge Finds U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Broke Law In Seizing Control Of Fund A District of Columbia Superior Court judge has ruled that the U.S. Agency for Global Media 's CEO , Michael Pack , acted unlawfully in seizing control of a fund designed to sponsor initiatives to ensure people living under repressive regimes have free and safe access to the Internet .
The Open Technology Fund helped to underwrite the development of Tor and Signal , technologies that let people access the Web and communicate securely and privately , even in countries like Iran and China that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from D.C. Superior Court Judge Shana Frost Matini — like Pack , an appointee of President Trump — came in just one of a series of legal challenges to the recent , sweeping changes Pack has made since taking office in June .
His agency also oversees the Voice of America , Radio Free Asia , and other international broadcasters funded by the U.S. government .
In some countries , the platforms supported by the Open Technology Fund also serve as a means for delivering the agency 's news coverage .
Pack and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comment .
`` The court 's decision earlier this week validated what we 've always know — that CEO Pack 's actions to remove OTF 's bipartisan Board were unlawful — and has provided much needed clarity and stability for OTF , '' the fund 's president and acting CEO , Laura Cunningham , tells NPR .
Cunningham noted that USAGM has withheld nearly $ 20 million in Congressionally appropriated funds from the fund , forcing it to halt work on over 80 % of its ongoing projects .
`` Hopefully this decision @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unlocking OTF 's funding so that we can resume the truly important work of providing those living under authoritarian regimes with the technologies and support they need to safely access the internet free from repressive censorship and surveillance , '' she said .
The ruling came in a case filed by the District of Columbia 's attorney general , arguing that Pack had violated the District 's nonprofit law by firing Cunningham and the fund 's then-CEO , Libby Liu , and sweeping away its board of directors .
He replaced the board @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political appointees , his chief of staff , himself , and an outside conservative activist .
Judge Matini ruled that only the previous board had the right to change the fund 's leadership or reconstitute itself .
The Voice of America and the agency 's news service aimed at Cuba are part of the federal government ; the other networks and OTF are privately incorporated but funded by the government .
Liu , Cunningham and OTF have sued USAGM and Pack in a separate case in which a federal appellate court granted a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ board to continue to lead the fund for now .
In addition , five senior suspended USAGM executives are suing Pack and the agency in federal court , claiming he acted unlawfully in accusing them of security lapses and placing them on `` investigative leave . ''
Whistleblowers have also filed complaints with inspectors general accusing Pack of violating federal protections against interfering with the networks ' news coverage ; most recently , Sen. Chris Murphy , a Connecticut Democrat , announced new legislation that would strengthen those protections after NPR revealed two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Voice of America 's White House bureau chief for anti-Trump bias .
The two Pack aides urged the acting chief of the VOA to remove the reporter from all political coverage .
So far , he remains on the beat .

Judge Finds U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Broke Law In Seizing Control Of Fund
Enlarge this image toggle caption U.S. Agency for Global Media U.S. Agency for Global Media
A District of Columbia Superior Court judge has ruled that the U.S. Agency for Global Media's CEO, Michael Pack, acted unlawfully in seizing control of a fund designed to sponsor initiatives to ensure people living under repressive regimes have free and safe access to the Internet.
The Open Technology Fund helped to underwrite the development of Tor and Signal, technologies that let people access the Web and communicate securely and privately, even in countries like Iran and China that highly regulate such activities.
The ruling from D.C. Superior Court Judge Shana Frost Matini — like Pack, an appointee of President Trump — came in just one of a series of legal challenges to the recent, sweeping changes Pack has made since taking office in June. His agency also oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and other international broadcasters funded by the U.S. government. In some countries, the platforms supported by the Open Technology Fund also serve as a means for delivering the agency's news coverage.
Pack and USAGM did not reply to requests for comment.
"The court's decision earlier this week validated what we've always know — that CEO Pack's actions to remove OTF's bipartisan Board were unlawful — and has provided much needed clarity and stability for OTF," the fund's president and acting CEO, Laura Cunningham, tells NPR.
Cunningham noted that USAGM has withheld nearly $20 million in Congressionally appropriated funds from the fund, forcing it to halt work on over 80% of its ongoing projects. "Hopefully this decision also brings us one step closer to unlocking OTF's funding so that we can resume the truly important work of providing those living under authoritarian regimes with the technologies and support they need to safely access the internet free from repressive censorship and surveillance," she said.
The ruling came in a case filed by the District of Columbia's attorney general, arguing that Pack had violated the District's nonprofit law by firing Cunningham and the fund's then-CEO, Libby Liu, and sweeping away its board of directors. He replaced the board with his own, including Trump administration political appointees, his chief of staff, himself, and an outside conservative activist. Judge Matini ruled that only the previous board had the right to change the fund's leadership or reconstitute itself.
The Voice of America and the agency's news service aimed at Cuba are part of the federal government; the other networks and OTF are privately incorporated but funded by the government.
Liu, Cunningham and OTF have sued USAGM and Pack in a separate case in which a federal appellate court granted a preliminary injunction allowing Cunningham and the existing board to continue to lead the fund for now. In addition, five senior suspended USAGM executives are suing Pack and the agency in federal court, claiming he acted unlawfully in accusing them of security lapses and placing them on "investigative leave."
Whistleblowers have also filed complaints with inspectors general accusing Pack of violating federal protections against interfering with the networks' news coverage; most recently, Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, announced new legislation that would strengthen those protections after NPR revealed two senior political appointees at USAGM investigated the Voice of America's White House bureau chief for anti-Trump bias. The two Pack aides urged the acting chief of the VOA to remove the reporter from all political coverage. So far, he remains on the beat.
Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by NPR media and technology editor Emily Kopp. Because of NPR CEO John Lansing's prior role as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, no senior news executive or corporate executive at NPR reviewed this story before it was published.


npr--2020-10-17--New Zealand PM Ardern Wins Re-Election In Best Showing For Labour Party In Decades

New Zealand PM Ardern Wins Re-Election In Best Showing For Labour Party In Decades New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has won re-election in a landslide .
The win was n't surprising ; Ardern 's leadership has helped New Zealand become one of the most successful countries in handling the coronavirus pandemic .
Going into the election , polls showed Ardern 's Labour Party with a wide lead over the nearest competitor , the conservative National Party .
With most of the votes counted , Ardern 's liberal Labour Party has won 49 % .
It 's the best showing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 50 years .
It 's also the highest result for any party since the country switched to a proportional representation system in 1996 .
The Labour Party was projected to win 64 seats of the 120-member Parliament , giving it the ability to govern without the coalition building that typically characterizes proportional representation .
With 27 percent of the vote , the National Party took 35 seats ; the libertarian ACT New Zealand and the left-wing Green Party each took 10 seats ; and the Maori Party — a center-left party focused on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It 's yet to be seen how forcefully Ardern and her Labour Party will move to enact progressive policies .
In her victory speech , Ardern acknowledged that while her party has `` a very strong and a very clear mandate , '' she promised to be a voice for all New Zealanders .
`` We are living in an increasingly polarized world , '' the 40-year-old Ardern told hundreds of cheering supporters .
`` A place where , more and more , people have lost the ability to see one another 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this election , New Zealand has shown that this is not who we are .
That , as a nation , we can listen and we can debate .
After all , we are too small to lose sight of other people 's perspective . ''
`` Elections are n't always great at bringing people together , '' Ardern added .
`` But they also do n't need to tear one another apart .
And in times of crisis , I believe New Zealand has shown that . ''
Labour 's win marked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which lost 21 seats .
`` We will take time to reflect and we will review and we will change , '' said party leader Judith Collins .
`` National will reemerge from this loss a stronger , disciplined and more connected party . ''
Other items on the ballot included two major referendums that reflect sweeping social change in the island nation of 5 million .
One would legalize recreational cannabis — the first apparent effort by any country to hold a national popular vote on whether to okay marijuana without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ n't be released until the end of the month , but if the measure passes , then New Zealand would join Canada , Georgia , South Africa and Uruguay on the list of countries to have legalized consumption of pot on the national level .
Parliament would still have to approve the measure .
The other referendum asks whether New Zealanders support the End of Life Choice Act .
That act , passed by Parliament in 2019 , legalizes euthanasia for those who have terminal illnesses , have less than six months to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' suffering .
It will only come into force if approved by a majority of voters .

New Zealand PM Ardern Wins Re-Election In Best Showing For Labour Party In Decades
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mark Baker/AP Mark Baker/AP
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has won re-election in a landslide.
The win wasn't surprising; Ardern's leadership has helped New Zealand become one of the most successful countries in handling the coronavirus pandemic. Going into the election, polls showed Ardern's Labour Party with a wide lead over the nearest competitor, the conservative National Party.
With most of the votes counted, Ardern's liberal Labour Party has won 49%. It's the best showing for the Labour party in at least 50 years. It's also the highest result for any party since the country switched to a proportional representation system in 1996.
The Labour Party was projected to win 64 seats of the 120-member Parliament, giving it the ability to govern without the coalition building that typically characterizes proportional representation. With 27 percent of the vote, the National Party took 35 seats; the libertarian ACT New Zealand and the left-wing Green Party each took 10 seats; and the Maori Party — a center-left party focused on indigenous rights — secured one seat.
It's yet to be seen how forcefully Ardern and her Labour Party will move to enact progressive policies. In her victory speech, Ardern acknowledged that while her party has "a very strong and a very clear mandate," she promised to be a voice for all New Zealanders.
"We are living in an increasingly polarized world," the 40-year-old Ardern told hundreds of cheering supporters. "A place where, more and more, people have lost the ability to see one another's point of view. I hope that this election, New Zealand has shown that this is not who we are. That, as a nation, we can listen and we can debate. After all, we are too small to lose sight of other people's perspective."
"Elections aren't always great at bringing people together," Ardern added. "But they also don't need to tear one another apart. And in times of crisis, I believe New Zealand has shown that."
Labour's win marked a major defeat for the National Party, which lost 21 seats. "We will take time to reflect and we will review and we will change," said party leader Judith Collins. "National will reemerge from this loss a stronger, disciplined and more connected party."
Other items on the ballot included two major referendums that reflect sweeping social change in the island nation of 5 million. One would legalize recreational cannabis — the first apparent effort by any country to hold a national popular vote on whether to okay marijuana without a medical purpose.
Preliminary results won't be released until the end of the month, but if the measure passes, then New Zealand would join Canada, Georgia, South Africa and Uruguay on the list of countries to have legalized consumption of pot on the national level. Parliament would still have to approve the measure.
The other referendum asks whether New Zealanders support the End of Life Choice Act. That act, passed by Parliament in 2019, legalizes euthanasia for those who have terminal illnesses, have less than six months to live, and are enduring "unbearable" suffering. It will only come into force if approved by a majority of voters.


npr--2020-10-17--Women's Marches Bring Thousands To Washington, D.C., And Cities Nationwide

Thousands of people gathered Saturday in Washington , D.C. , and in hundreds of cities across the country for the fifth Women 's March .
The latest iteration of the protest event — first held the day after President Trump 's 2017 inauguration — comes 17 days before Election Day and as Republican senators move to quickly confirm the president 's third Supreme Court nominee , Judge Amy Coney Barrett .
The controversial election-year nomination was a central focus during this year 's events , motivating rallies and marches throughout the day .
If confirmed , Barrett would succeed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ champion of gender equality during her nearly three decades on the court .
Saturday 's tent-pole event in Washington was permitted for 10,000 attendees .
Organizers said that in total , more than 400 events were planned throughout the country .
With Election Day just over two weeks away , mobilizing women to vote was a central theme , alongside other women 's rights issues .
In D.C. , Sonja Spoo , a reproductive rights activist , said , `` Donald Trump is leaving office and there is no choice for him — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are voting him out come Nov .
3 . ''
One of the largest events planned for Saturday happened in the nation 's capital , where nearly four years ago hundreds of thousands gathered a day after Trump was sworn in .
Though smaller than the historic 2017 crowd , women 's rights advocates came in droves .
Many marchers were focused on how Amy Coney Barrett and a more conservative Supreme Court could affect abortion rights .
Allison Barnabe , 26 , of Ellicott City , Md.
, told NPR that she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be overturned and that abortion rights may be eroded .
`` The fact that I am living in a country now where I am concerned , and I 've never had to be , is a very scary thought , '' Barnabe said .
Marches also brought crowds past the Supreme Court building .
Images of the late Justice Ginsburg appeared throughout the crowd .
At least one sign made reference to Ginsburg 's request that the nomination process await the results of the election .
At a rally , Fatima Goss Graves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called the late justice the `` architect of our foundational rights '' in the U.S. She also delivered a litany against Trump nominee Barrett , saying this week 's confirmation hearings left her `` without a doubt '' that Barrett would `` undermine our rights . ''
`` She will undermine our access to reproductive health care , to abortion from voting rights to climate change .
She refused to even answer basic questions , '' Goss Graves told the crowd .
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to vote on Barrett 's nomination @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would mean a full floor vote later this month .
Elsewhere , participants in this year 's event confronted anti-abortion-rights protesters — chanting `` we have the votes '' and `` Roe v. Wade has got to go '' — gathered at the Supreme Court building .
Outside of Washington , protesters around the country carried the same messages .
In New York , marchers took to Wall Street , chanting , `` Donald Trump has got to go , '' ABC News reports .
A march beginning at Philadelphia 's Independence Hall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Protesters took the opportunity to include racial justice and transgender rights alongside abortion rights during the Philadelphia event , WHYY reports .
Hundreds also turned out in Cleveland , according to WKSU .
Speaking before an event there , Ruth Gray of Cleveland 's chapter of the National Congress of Black Women similarly touched on themes of intersectionality .
`` We have to address the issues in this country .
The 'isms ' in this country .
The systemic racism in this country .
The systemic oppression in this country , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ downtown Chicago and other major cities .
Sister events were n't confined to major cities .
In Geneva , Ill. , a city some 40 miles west of Chicago , dozens gathered in an intersection , holding signs honoring Ginsburg , Northern Public Radio reports .

Women's Marches Bring Thousands To Washington, D.C., And Cities Nationwide
toggle caption Carol Guzy for NPR
Updated at 6:08 p.m. ET
Thousands of people gathered Saturday in Washington, D.C., and in hundreds of cities across the country for the fifth Women's March.
The latest iteration of the protest event — first held the day after President Trump's 2017 inauguration — comes 17 days before Election Day and as Republican senators move to quickly confirm the president's third Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
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The controversial election-year nomination was a central focus during this year's events, motivating rallies and marches throughout the day. If confirmed, Barrett would succeed the feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a champion of gender equality during her nearly three decades on the court.
Saturday's tent-pole event in Washington was permitted for 10,000 attendees. Organizers said that in total, more than 400 events were planned throughout the country.
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Enlarge this image Carol Guzy for NPR Carol Guzy for NPR
With Election Day just over two weeks away, mobilizing women to vote was a central theme, alongside other women's rights issues.
In D.C., Sonja Spoo, a reproductive rights activist, said, "Donald Trump is leaving office and there is no choice for him — it is our choice — and we are voting him out come Nov. 3."
toggle caption Carol Guzy for NPR
One of the largest events planned for Saturday happened in the nation's capital, where nearly four years ago hundreds of thousands gathered a day after Trump was sworn in.
Though smaller than the historic 2017 crowd, women's rights advocates came in droves.
Participants carried signs blasting President Trump and supporting Democratic opponent Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Meredith Nierman/WGBH Meredith Nierman/WGBH
Enlarge this image toggle caption Meredith Nierman/WGBH Meredith Nierman/WGBH
Enlarge this image toggle caption Meredith Nierman/WGBH Meredith Nierman/WGBH
Enlarge this image toggle caption Meredith Nierman/WGBH Meredith Nierman/WGBH
Many marchers were focused on how Amy Coney Barrett and a more conservative Supreme Court could affect abortion rights.
Allison Barnabe, 26, of Ellicott City, Md., told NPR that she is worried that Roe v. Wade could be overturned and that abortion rights may be eroded.
"The fact that I am living in a country now where I am concerned, and I've never had to be, is a very scary thought," Barnabe said.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Sarah McCammon/NPR Sarah McCammon/NPR
Marches also brought crowds past the Supreme Court building. Images of the late Justice Ginsburg appeared throughout the crowd. At least one sign made reference to Ginsburg's request that the nomination process await the results of the election.
At a rally, Fatima Goss Graves of the National Women's Law Center called the late justice the "architect of our foundational rights" in the U.S. She also delivered a litany against Trump nominee Barrett, saying this week's confirmation hearings left her "without a doubt" that Barrett would "undermine our rights."
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toggle caption Carol Guzy for NPR
toggle caption Carol Guzy for NPR
"She will undermine our access to reproductive health care, to abortion from voting rights to climate change. She refused to even answer basic questions," Goss Graves told the crowd.
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to vote on Barrett's nomination this week, which if successful, would mean a full floor vote later this month.
Elsewhere, participants in this year's event confronted anti-abortion-rights protesters — chanting "we have the votes" and "Roe v. Wade has got to go" — gathered at the Supreme Court building.
Carol Guzy for NPR
Outside of Washington, protesters around the country carried the same messages.
In New York, marchers took to Wall Street, chanting, "Donald Trump has got to go," ABC News reports.
A march beginning at Philadelphia's Independence Hall moved toward city hall during the afternoon. Protesters took the opportunity to include racial justice and transgender rights alongside abortion rights during the Philadelphia event, WHYY reports.
Hundreds also turned out in Cleveland, according to WKSU. Speaking before an event there, Ruth Gray of Cleveland's chapter of the National Congress of Black Women similarly touched on themes of intersectionality.
"We have to address the issues in this country. The 'isms' in this country. The systemic racism in this country. The systemic oppression in this country," Gray said.
Marchers also gathered in downtown Chicago and other major cities.
Sister events weren't confined to major cities. In Geneva, Ill., a city some 40 miles west of Chicago, dozens gathered in an intersection, holding signs honoring Ginsburg, Northern Public Radio reports.


npr--2020-10-17--Court Says Michigan Cannot Count Ballots Received After Election Day

Court Says Michigan Can not Count Ballots Received After Election Day Ballots received after 8 p.m. on Election Day in Michigan can not be counted , an appeals court ruled on Friday , a reminder that election rules in many states remain in flux just over two weeks before the election .
A lower court had previously ruled that ballots postmarked by Nov. 2 and received within 14 days of Election Day , the deadline for certifying election results , could be counted .
It is not clear whether this latest decision will be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of state , is now urging voters to mail ballots by Monday to ensure they arrive in time to be counted .
Otherwise , Benson says ballots should be hand-delivered to election clerks or official ballot drop boxes .
Many election officials also worry that slowdowns reported over the summer at the U.S .
Postal Service would delay ballots from being delivered on time , prompting the installation of drop boxes as an alternative delivery method .
An NPR analysis found that during primary elections this year , some 50,000 mail ballots were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ often through no fault of the voter .

Court Says Michigan Cannot Count Ballots Received After Election Day
Enlarge this image toggle caption Paul Sancya/AP Paul Sancya/AP
Ballots received after 8 p.m. on Election Day in Michigan cannot be counted, an appeals court ruled on Friday — a reminder that election rules in many states remain in flux just over two weeks before the election.
A lower court had previously ruled that ballots postmarked by Nov. 2 and received within 14 days of Election Day, the deadline for certifying election results, could be counted.
It is not clear whether this latest decision will be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Jocelyn Benson, the Michigan secretary of state, is now urging voters to mail ballots by Monday to ensure they arrive in time to be counted. Otherwise, Benson says ballots should be hand-delivered to election clerks or official ballot drop boxes.
Many election officials also worry that slowdowns reported over the summer at the U.S. Postal Service would delay ballots from being delivered on time, prompting the installation of drop boxes as an alternative delivery method.
An NPR analysis found that during primary elections this year, some 50,000 mail ballots were rejected because they arrived too late, often through no fault of the voter.


npr--2020-10-17--9 People Detained Over Beheading Of Teacher In Paris Suburb

9 People Detained Over Beheading Of Teacher In Paris Suburb Officials in France say they 've detained nine people in connection to the brutal beheading of a teacher who had allegedly shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a civic lessons .
Police say the teacher was near his school in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on Friday when an 18-year-old Chechen refugee attacked him and cut his throat .
Authorities say the attacker was later shot dead by police after he did n't respond to commands to disarm and acted threateningly .
Citing French media , the BBC reports @ @ @ @ @ @ @ following a lesson on freedom of expression in which the caricatures were said to be shown .
The lesson was set in the context of an ongoing trial over the 2015 killings at Charlie Hebdo , the satirical newspaper that came under attack for its caricature of the Prophet Muhammad .
Fourteen suspects are on trial on accusations of giving logistical support to the assailants , who killed 12 people in that attack .
Speaking at the teacher 's school on Friday night , French President Emmanuel Macron called the decapitation an `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of our compatriots was murdered today because he taught ... the freedom of expression , the freedom to believe or not believe , '' Macron said .
France 's anti-terrorism prosecutor , Jean-Francois Ricard , said a terror investigation has been opened , The Associated Press reported .
Police have detained nine people since the attack , including the suspect 's parents , grandfather and teenage brother , according to the AP .
Ricard told reporters that the suspect was living in Normandy on a 10-year residency and was not known to intelligence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police , he had been armed with a knife and air-soft gun , which fired plastic pellets .
A text claiming responsibility for the attack , the prosecutor said , and a picture of the victim were found on the suspect 's phone , according to the AP .
Officials and Muslim leaders throughout France expressed outrage at the slaying .
`` We are all affected , all touched by this vile assassination , '' said Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer in a video message , according to the AP .
`` A civilization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barbarism does , '' Tareq Oubrou , imam of a mosque in Bordeaux , told French media , the BBC reports .
The Guardian reports that a man claiming his daughter was in the victim 's class had posted to social media , saying that during a lesson , the teacher had shown an image of a naked man and called him `` the Muslim prophet . ''
Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are prohibited by the Muslim faith .
Before showing the caricatures , the teacher had reportedly asked Muslim students to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leave the room if they wished .
The caricatures had been published in Charlie Hebdo , the Guardian reported .
Parents , former students and locals shared the remorse over the teacher 's death .
Flowers appeared outside his school on Saturday .
Several also took to social media to express grief .
The French presidential palace said a national tribute will be held for the teacher at a later date .

9 People Detained Over Beheading Of Teacher In Paris Suburb
Enlarge this image toggle caption Michel Euler/AP Michel Euler/AP
Officials in France say they've detained nine people in connection to the brutal beheading of a teacher who had allegedly shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a civic lessons.
Police say the teacher was near his school in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on Friday when an 18-year-old Chechen refugee attacked him and cut his throat. Authorities say the attacker was later shot dead by police after he didn't respond to commands to disarm and acted threateningly.
Citing French media, the BBC reports that the teacher began receiving death threats following a lesson on freedom of expression in which the caricatures were said to be shown. The lesson was set in the context of an ongoing trial over the 2015 killings at Charlie Hebdo, the satirical newspaper that came under attack for its caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
Fourteen suspects are on trial on accusations of giving logistical support to the assailants, who killed 12 people in that attack.
Speaking at the teacher's school on Friday night, French President Emmanuel Macron called the decapitation an "Islamist terrorist attack."
"One of our compatriots was murdered today because he taught ... the freedom of expression, the freedom to believe or not believe," Macron said.
France's anti-terrorism prosecutor, Jean-Francois Ricard, said a terror investigation has been opened, The Associated Press reported.
Police have detained nine people since the attack, including the suspect's parents, grandfather and teenage brother, according to the AP.
Ricard told reporters that the suspect was living in Normandy on a 10-year residency and was not known to intelligence services. During his standoff with the police, he had been armed with a knife and air-soft gun, which fired plastic pellets.
A text claiming responsibility for the attack, the prosecutor said, and a picture of the victim were found on the suspect's phone, according to the AP.
Officials and Muslim leaders throughout France expressed outrage at the slaying.
"We are all affected, all touched by this vile assassination," said Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer in a video message, according to the AP.
"A civilization does not kill an innocent person, barbarism does," Tareq Oubrou, imam of a mosque in Bordeaux, told French media, the BBC reports.
The Guardian reports that a man claiming his daughter was in the victim's class had posted to social media, saying that during a lesson, the teacher had shown an image of a naked man and called him "the Muslim prophet." Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are prohibited by the Muslim faith.
Before showing the caricatures, the teacher had reportedly asked Muslim students to raise their hands, allowing them to leave the room if they wished. The caricatures had been published in Charlie Hebdo, the Guardian reported.
Parents, former students and locals shared the remorse over the teacher's death. Flowers appeared outside his school on Saturday. Several also took to social media to express grief.
The French presidential palace said a national tribute will be held for the teacher at a later date.
NPR'S Eleanor Beardsley contributed to this report.


npr--2020-10-17--Appalachian Town Must 'Wait And Wait' As Pandemic Puts Plastics Plant On Hold

Appalachian Town Must 'Wait And Wait ' As Pandemic Puts Plastics Plant On Hold From his bar in Shadyside , Ohio , Matt Coffland has been counting on his town getting a new petrochemical plant since it was first planned , seven years ago .
He says the southeastern part of the state has long been neglected .
`` For us to get something like that , rightfully , I think we deserve it by now , '' he says .
The plant , to be built by Thailand-based oil and gas company PTT , would be a major construction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ influx of close to 10,000 people at one point , '' Coffland says .
The ethane `` cracker , '' as it 's called , would turn natural gas from nearby wells into petrochemicals and plastics .
It 's part of a much-planned wave of petrochemical construction across Appalachia .
Oil and gas backers say a decade of fracking has unlocked enough gas in this region for four or five chemical plants like PTT 's .
But so far only one is under construction , a Shell plant near Pittsburgh , which President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ energy dominance . ''
Now , as the Ohio project has stalled amid the pandemic , some wonder if it will ever be built .
A final decision was due this summer .
But then came COVID-19 and PTT pushed it off .
In July , citing the pandemic , one of the project 's investors backed out .
That was a disappointment for John Haswell , superintendent of the Shadyside Local School District .
On one wall of his office are drawings for a brand new $ 30 million school complex .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the company has said it will pay for the badly needed building .
`` I would really love to get really busy on a building project , '' Haswell says .
But without a final decision , all he can do is `` sit , and wait and wait and wait . ''
Kathy Hipple , an analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis , which works toward sustainable energy , says the pandemic has certainly hurt demand for petrochemical products .
But she points out that projects in West @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been delayed or canceled in the past year .
She thinks the PTT decision is part of a larger downward trend for the industry .
`` We view this as a market signal that the project has possibly become far too risky for them to continue , '' she says .
Steve Lewandowski , a petrochemical analyst at research firm IHS Markit , thinks newly-built plants on the Gulf Coast and in China are creating an oversupply of plastics .
He believes demand will eventually rebound , but agrees that the Ohio project @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` If it was such a compelling case to build there , that cracker would have been approved , under construction , and then there probably would be another one on top of that , '' he says .
`` And it 's not . ''
Not everyone is sad to see the project on hold .
Amanda Petrucci lives just across the Ohio River in West Virginia .
She says her family has suffered from health problems , and she worries they 're linked to a nearby Superfund site .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had made her consider moving , so the delay came as a relief .
`` I feel like I can kind of , just , hang out here for a little bit longer and enjoy life here , '' she says .
Like others , she 'll have to wait and see what happens with the plant , whose future — like so many things right now — is up in the air .
This story was a collaboration with StateImpact Pennsylvania .

Appalachian Town Must 'Wait And Wait' As Pandemic Puts Plastics Plant On Hold
Enlarge this image toggle caption Reid Frazier/The Allegheny Front Reid Frazier/The Allegheny Front
From his bar in Shadyside, Ohio, Matt Coffland has been counting on his town getting a new petrochemical plant since it was first planned, seven years ago. He says the southeastern part of the state has long been neglected.
"For us to get something like that, rightfully, I think we deserve it by now," he says.
The plant, to be built by Thailand-based oil and gas company PTT, would be a major construction project.
"You're talking an influx of close to 10,000 people at one point," Coffland says.
The ethane "cracker," as it's called, would turn natural gas from nearby wells into petrochemicals and plastics. It's part of a much-planned wave of petrochemical construction across Appalachia.
Oil and gas backers say a decade of fracking has unlocked enough gas in this region for four or five chemical plants like PTT's. But so far only one is under construction, a Shell plant near Pittsburgh, which President Trump has visited to tout U.S. "energy dominance."
Now, as the Ohio project has stalled amid the pandemic, some wonder if it will ever be built.
A final decision was due this summer. But then came COVID-19 and PTT pushed it off. In July, citing the pandemic, one of the project's investors backed out.
That was a disappointment for John Haswell, superintendent of the Shadyside Local School District. On one wall of his office are drawings for a brand new $30 million school complex. If the PTT plant goes ahead, the company has said it will pay for the badly needed building.
"I would really love to get really busy on a building project," Haswell says. But without a final decision, all he can do is "sit, and wait and wait and wait."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Reid Frazier/The Allegheny Front Reid Frazier/The Allegheny Front
Kathy Hipple, an analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which works toward sustainable energy, says the pandemic has certainly hurt demand for petrochemical products.
But she points out that projects in West Virginia, Texas and Pennsylvania have also been delayed or canceled in the past year. She thinks the PTT decision is part of a larger downward trend for the industry.
"We view this as a market signal that the project has possibly become far too risky for them to continue," she says.
Steve Lewandowski, a petrochemical analyst at research firm IHS Markit, thinks newly-built plants on the Gulf Coast and in China are creating an oversupply of plastics. He believes demand will eventually rebound, but agrees that the Ohio project doesn't make financial sense for now.
"If it was such a compelling case to build there, that cracker would have been approved, under construction, and then there probably would be another one on top of that," he says. "And it's not."
Not everyone is sad to see the project on hold.
Amanda Petrucci lives just across the Ohio River in West Virginia. She says her family has suffered from health problems, and she worries they're linked to a nearby Superfund site. The prospect of a new petrochemical plant nearby had made her consider moving, so the delay came as a relief.
"I feel like I can kind of, just, hang out here for a little bit longer and enjoy life here," she says.
Like others, she'll have to wait and see what happens with the plant, whose future — like so many things right now — is up in the air.
This story was a collaboration with StateImpact Pennsylvania.