usatoday--2020-11-02--All eyes are on Florida. Again. Here are 5 things to watch for on Election Day

Florida is at the center of presidential politics once again , with the eyes of the nation on America ’ s largest battleground state to see if President Donald Trump wins and keeps his reelection hopes alive or Joe Biden delivers a knockout punch .
A must-win state for Trump , Florida is also being closely watched because it counts mail votes faster than other swing state and could be an early indicator of the final outcome in the presidential race .
The final , frenzied days of the presidential campaign in Florida have seen both candidates work to turn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden , Sen. Kamala Harris and President Barack Obama all visiting the state since Thursday .
The voter turnout efforts are paying dividends .
Florida is among a number of states experiencing unprecedented pre-Election Day voting .
Did you know ?
: All eyes will be on these 6 states on Election Day And : Vote count already close to matching 2016 total as early voting comes to a close Elections in Florida can get complicated .
The state is known for electoral dysfunction .
Florida also is known for incredibly close presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be no different .
Success in the state often is a matter of small shifts in big demographic groups , such as the senior vote in Southwest Florida , Hispanics in Miami-Dade County or suburban voters around Orlando and Tampa , all of which could make a big difference in the final outcome .
Here are five things to watch for Tuesday : How quickly could Florida be called ?
The Associated Press called Florida for Trump at 10:50 p.m. on Election Day in 2016 , making it one of the first major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There ’ s a good chance that could happen again this year , making Florida a key state to watch .
If Biden has an early victory in Florida , it makes it difficult for Trump to drag out the race .
Conversely , a Trump win could signal a prolonged battle over mail vote counting in states that take longer to process these ballots , such as Michigan , Wisconsin and Pennsylvania .
Florida should have quicker results because elections officials can start counting mail ballots 22 days before Nov. 3 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be tallied when the polls close at 7 p.m. Other states only start counting mail ballots on Election Day .
But there ’ s no guarantee Florida will have results early .
The state ’ s 2018 election went into overtime , with votes still being counted days later .
Part of the problem stemmed from Broward County ’ s inability to process mail votes quickly .
An audit found that the county had 50,000 mail votes that hadn ’ t been processed by Election Day , and another 20,000 came in that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law aimed at addressing some of the problems that arose in 2018 , and Gov .
Ron DeSantis signed an executive order giving elections officials more time to count mail ballots .
But this is Florida , and the possibility of electoral problems remains a constant concern .
Anyone watching Florida ’ s results also should be aware that they are likely to favor Biden early because Democrats have been dominating mail voting , the bulk of those ballots have been counted and those tallies will be released first .
It will take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote – which is likely to favor Trump – plays out .
Every election brings concerns about problems with voting and vote counting .
Florida is notorious for such issues , from long lines at the polls to problems with tabulating machines and controversial recounts .
This year is a particular concern because of the coronavirus .
Elections officials have been taking precautions , such as requiring social distancing at the polls and sanitizing equipment .
The additional safety measures could result in longer wait times .
A lack of poll workers – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the virus - also forced many elections supervisors to consolidate polling locations , which also could result in larger crowds .
There even have been concerns about conflicts at polling locations .
Trump has raised questions about voter fraud and said the polls should be guarded .
“ We 're going to have sheriffs and law enforcement and we 're going to have , hopefully , U.S. attorneys , ” Trump said in August .
DeSantis dismissed the idea of using law enforcement as poll watchers , but that doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up at some polling locations .
A pair of armed , off-duty security guards raised concerns at a polling location in St. Petersburg last month .
But such incidents have be isolated so far .
Conversely , there ’ s the possibility that Election Day runs very smoothly in Florida this year .
A big reason is that many people already have voted .
There has been a massive pre-Election Day turnout in Florida .
That could take some of the strain off elections officials Tuesday .
“ We expect a relatively easy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Elections Mike Bennett .
What happens in swing counties ?
Four Florida counties went for Trump in 2016 but flipped to Democrats in the 2018 governor ’ s race – Pinellas , Seminole , Duval and St. Lucie .
Each is interesting for different reasons , and all are worth watching as potential bellwethers of Trump ’ s success or failure in the state .
Seminole , in the Orlando suburbs , has been trending blue , with Trump doing worse than 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the county .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suburban vote in Florida , which Democrats are counting on as they work to flip the state .
Duval – which includes the heavily African American city of Jacksonville - also has been trending toward Democrats and could be important for Biden , helping offset his struggles in places such as Miami-Dade County .
It may reflect how successful Democrats are at turning out Black voters .
St Lucie has a large population of working class white voters and sizable Black and Hispanic minorities .
Its leanings could say something about minority voter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with blue-collar whites .
Pinellas went for President Barack Obama twice before flipping to Trump and then going for Democrat Andrew Gillum in the 2018 governor ’ s race .
Whiter the the state as whole , Pinellas may be the most significant swing county in Florida with a population of nearly 1 million .
Florida is a swing state again : These battleground regions could decide the race .
Trump isn ’ t going to win Miami-Dade County , Florida ’ s largest county and a reliably blue part of the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there than he did in 2016 , it could be a deciding factor .
The Miami-Dade numbers have been looking good for the president so far .
As of Sunday morning , Miami-Dade led Florida counties with the greatest disparity between Republican turnout and Democratic turnout , an eight percentage point difference according to an analysis by the Cook Political Report ’ s Dave Wasserman .
A deeply diverse county of more than 1.5 million voters , many of whom hail from throughout Latin American and around the world , Miami-Dade is complex @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ... is basically a riddle , wrapped in a mystery , inside an enigma , stuffed into a empanada , doused with hot sauce , and barreling down I-95 at 90mph in a Honda Civic in the emergency lane with the driver leaning out the window holding a couch , ” Democratic strategist Steve Schale , who ran Obama ’ s 2008 Florida campaign and is now working with a political committee supporting Biden , wrote in a recent blog post .
Hillary Clinton carried Miami-Dade by 30 percentage points , but polls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around from Hispanics in Miami-Dade , particularly Cuban Americans .
If he can improve his performance there it would put pressure on Biden to do better than Clinton in other parts of the state .
That ’ s likely why Trump choose Miami for his last Florida campaign stop before Election Day , rallying a crowd an on airport tarmac until nearly 1 a.m. Monday .
The overwhelming majority of voters have made up their minds at this point and the campaigns have been focused on turning out their bases in recent weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rate after early voting ended Sunday is unprecedented before Election Day .
Voters are fired up , with Democrats and Republicans each at 66 % turnout .
More : FL failed to spend $ 10M for election security , COVID-19 protection at polls Florida Democrats and the GOP tend to focus their turnout effort on different parts of the state because that ’ s where their voters are .
Biden has held eight events in Florida during the general election and five of his appearances have been in South Florida , where voter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Beach , Broward and Miami-Dade – is critical for his success .
He also visited Tampa twice and the Orlando area once .
Those metro areas also are key for Democratic turnout .
If Miami-Dade is a concern , a big bright spot for Biden is deep blue Broward county , where Democratic turnout already is at 69 % .
It hit 74 % in 2016 .
Trump , meanwhile , has spent much of his time in Florida campaigning in red parts of the state as he seeks to boost turnout .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Jacksonville , The Villages retirement community and Fort Myers , all conservative-leaning areas .
Trump won Florida in 2016 by winning red parts of the state by huge margins .
He needs to do that again this year , and there are good signs for him .
Turnout in Sumter County , home to The Villages , has been leading the state .
Other places to watch to see how Trump is faring are those with a lot of working class and older white voters , who went big for the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the three counties north of Tampa – Pasco , Hernando and Citrus – could be telling , along with how he fares in Southwest Florida and the area from the Space Coast up to Daytona Beach .
Biden is hoping to have a stronger performance with these white voters , and also needs to turnout a diverse coalition of urban voters .

All eyes are on Florida. Again. Here are 5 things to watch for on Election Day
Show Caption Hide Caption How a contentious election affects a peaceful transition of power What history has shown us about contested elections and peaceful transitions of power. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
Florida is at the center of presidential politics once again, with the eyes of the nation on America’s largest battleground state to see if President Donald Trump wins and keeps his reelection hopes alive or Joe Biden delivers a knockout punch.
A must-win state for Trump, Florida is also being closely watched because it counts mail votes faster than other swing state and could be an early indicator of the final outcome in the presidential race.
The final, frenzied days of the presidential campaign in Florida have seen both candidates work to turn out their bases, with Trump, Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris and President Barack Obama all visiting the state since Thursday. The voter turnout efforts are paying dividends. Florida is among a number of states experiencing unprecedented pre-Election Day voting.
Did you know?: All eyes will be on these 6 states on Election Day
And: Vote count already close to matching 2016 total as early voting comes to a close
Elections in Florida can get complicated. The state is known for electoral dysfunction. Florida also is known for incredibly close presidential races, and 2020 is likely to be no different.
Success in the state often is a matter of small shifts in big demographic groups, such as the senior vote in Southwest Florida, Hispanics in Miami-Dade County or suburban voters around Orlando and Tampa, all of which could make a big difference in the final outcome.
Here are five things to watch for Tuesday:
How quickly could Florida be called?
The Associated Press called Florida for Trump at 10:50 p.m. on Election Day in 2016, making it one of the first major swing states to report decisive results.
There’s a good chance that could happen again this year, making Florida a key state to watch. If Biden has an early victory in Florida, it makes it difficult for Trump to drag out the race. Conversely, a Trump win could signal a prolonged battle over mail vote counting in states that take longer to process these ballots, such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Florida should have quicker results because elections officials can start counting mail ballots 22 days before Nov. 3, so most of the ballots already will be tallied when the polls close at 7 p.m. Other states only start counting mail ballots on Election Day.
But there’s no guarantee Florida will have results early. The state’s 2018 election went into overtime, with votes still being counted days later. Part of the problem stemmed from Broward County’s inability to process mail votes quickly. An audit found that the county had 50,000 mail votes that hadn’t been processed by Election Day, and another 20,000 came in that day.
The Florida Legislature passed a law aimed at addressing some of the problems that arose in 2018, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order giving elections officials more time to count mail ballots.
But this is Florida, and the possibility of electoral problems remains a constant concern.
Anyone watching Florida’s results also should be aware that they are likely to favor Biden early because Democrats have been dominating mail voting, the bulk of those ballots have been counted and those tallies will be released first. It will take longer to see how the Election Day vote – which is likely to favor Trump – plays out.
Problems at the polls?
Every election brings concerns about problems with voting and vote counting.
Florida is notorious for such issues, from long lines at the polls to problems with tabulating machines and controversial recounts.
This year is a particular concern because of the coronavirus. Elections officials have been taking precautions, such as requiring social distancing at the polls and sanitizing equipment.
The additional safety measures could result in longer wait times. A lack of poll workers – who often are older and more susceptible to the virus - also forced many elections supervisors to consolidate polling locations, which also could result in larger crowds.
There even have been concerns about conflicts at polling locations.
Trump has raised questions about voter fraud and said the polls should be guarded. “We're going to have sheriffs and law enforcement and we're going to have, hopefully, U.S. attorneys,” Trump said in August.
DeSantis dismissed the idea of using law enforcement as poll watchers, but that doesn’t mean armed individuals won’t show up at some polling locations. A pair of armed, off-duty security guards raised concerns at a polling location in St. Petersburg last month. But such incidents have be isolated so far.
Conversely, there’s the possibility that Election Day runs very smoothly in Florida this year. A big reason is that many people already have voted.
There has been a massive pre-Election Day turnout in Florida. That could take some of the strain off elections officials Tuesday.
“We expect a relatively easy Tuesday,” said Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett.
What happens in swing counties?
Four Florida counties went for Trump in 2016 but flipped to Democrats in the 2018 governor’s race – Pinellas, Seminole, Duval and St. Lucie.
Each is interesting for different reasons, and all are worth watching as potential bellwethers of Trump’s success or failure in the state.
Seminole, in the Orlando suburbs, has been trending blue, with Trump doing worse than 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the county. It may be a key indicator of the suburban vote in Florida, which Democrats are counting on as they work to flip the state.
Duval – which includes the heavily African American city of Jacksonville - also has been trending toward Democrats and could be important for Biden, helping offset his struggles in places such as Miami-Dade County. It may reflect how successful Democrats are at turning out Black voters.
St Lucie has a large population of working class white voters and sizable Black and Hispanic minorities. Its leanings could say something about minority voter turnout and whether Trump maintains his strength with blue-collar whites.
Pinellas went for President Barack Obama twice before flipping to Trump and then going for Democrat Andrew Gillum in the 2018 governor’s race. Whiter the the state as whole, Pinellas may be the most significant swing county in Florida with a population of nearly 1 million.
Florida is a swing state again: These battleground regions could decide the race.
What’s up with Miami-Dade County?
Trump isn’t going to win Miami-Dade County, Florida’s largest county and a reliably blue part of the state. But if he can do better there than he did in 2016, it could be a deciding factor. The Miami-Dade numbers have been looking good for the president so far.
As of Sunday morning, Miami-Dade led Florida counties with the greatest disparity between Republican turnout and Democratic turnout, an eight percentage point difference according to an analysis by the Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman.
A deeply diverse county of more than 1.5 million voters, many of whom hail from throughout Latin American and around the world, Miami-Dade is complex and difficult to forecast.
“Dade... is basically a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, stuffed into a empanada, doused with hot sauce, and barreling down I-95 at 90mph in a Honda Civic in the emergency lane with the driver leaning out the window holding a couch,” Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who ran Obama’s 2008 Florida campaign and is now working with a political committee supporting Biden, wrote in a recent blog post.
Hillary Clinton carried Miami-Dade by 30 percentage points, but polls indicate Trump has stronger support this time around from Hispanics in Miami-Dade, particularly Cuban Americans. If he can improve his performance there it would put pressure on Biden to do better than Clinton in other parts of the state.
That’s likely why Trump choose Miami for his last Florida campaign stop before Election Day, rallying a crowd an on airport tarmac until nearly 1 a.m. Monday.
Fun Facts About Election Day In America: Tie-Breakers US presidential elections can be very tight. In 2000, for example, it took the Supreme Court to decide between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush. Wochit
Turnout, turnout, turnout
The overwhelming majority of voters have made up their minds at this point and the campaigns have been focused on turning out their bases in recent weeks.
Florida’s 62% turnout rate after early voting ended Sunday is unprecedented before Election Day. Voters are fired up, with Democrats and Republicans each at 66% turnout.
More: FL failed to spend $10M for election security, COVID-19 protection at polls
Florida Democrats and the GOP tend to focus their turnout effort on different parts of the state because that’s where their voters are.
Biden has held eight events in Florida during the general election and five of his appearances have been in South Florida, where voter turnout in three big counties – Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade – is critical for his success. He also visited Tampa twice and the Orlando area once. Those metro areas also are key for Democratic turnout.
If Miami-Dade is a concern, a big bright spot for Biden is deep blue Broward county, where Democratic turnout already is at 69%. It hit 74% in 2016.
Trump, meanwhile, has spent much of his time in Florida campaigning in red parts of the state as he seeks to boost turnout. He held rallies in Pensacola, Ocala, Jacksonville, The Villages retirement community and Fort Myers, all conservative-leaning areas.
Trump won Florida in 2016 by winning red parts of the state by huge margins. He needs to do that again this year, and there are good signs for him. Turnout in Sumter County, home to The Villages, has been leading the state.
Other places to watch to see how Trump is faring are those with a lot of working class and older white voters, who went big for the president in 2016. Trump’s margins in the three counties north of Tampa – Pasco, Hernando and Citrus – could be telling, along with how he fares in Southwest Florida and the area from the Space Coast up to Daytona Beach.
Biden is hoping to have a stronger performance with these white voters, and also needs to turnout a diverse coalition of urban voters.


usatoday--2020-11-02--How to watch election night 2020 returns on TV and still stay sane

That ’ s the best way to stay sane while watching election returns Tuesday night — or rather , the returns that begin on Tuesday night .
Don ’ t get antsy if everything isn ’ t decided then .
Whether it 's Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the presidential election or a slew of other contests on the ballot , this could go on for a while .
Also , stay curious .
Don ’ t land on one channel and stay there , particularly if it ’ s Fox News or MSNBC .
Surf wide and surf @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Disinformation is going to be flying around like insults at a Trump rally .
Beware its lure .
The City News Bureau of Chicago had a saying about the skepticism necessary to report accurately : “ If your mother says she loves you , check it out.
” Good advice .
Use it .
( Sorry , Mom . )
It 's tough , but you need to be patient I ’ ve been writing some version of a how-to-watch-election-returns column for 20 years .
It ’ s easy to say that coverage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ different than any other – easy to say because it ’ s true .
Every network has gone on record preaching patience , saying it wo n't rush to judgment .
They 're preparing their viewers for a different kind of night , one that could play out over a longer period of time .
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way a lot of people vote , and how votes are counted .
It isn ’ t chaos , not at all , but it might appear somewhat chaotic in the moment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
With that in mind , there are some things to consider .
First , Trump is likely to complain about the process .
He did so in 2016 , too , but as the incumbent , he has more power .
This is not a statement of political bias .
This is a recognition that he ’ s been doing that already , a lot .
He has said there should be a winner chosen on election night , that this would constitute a legitimate outcome .
That 's wrong .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an outcome he doesn ’ t consider legitimate .
Of course , he 's not the arbiter of what makes an outcome legitimate .
If he does n't like it , he can ( and will ) complain .
But nothing more .
No winner was declared on election night in 2000 ( not for weeks in that election ) .
Nor in 2004 .
With a massive amount of early voting and mail-in ballots paired with a disparity in when states begin counting those votes , it ’ s likely to take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The most important thing for networks is to wait for the process to play out and report on it accurately .
Vote .
And then vote with your remote .
It ’ s important for viewers , too .
And remember , you have a choice here .
If you hear any so-called “ expert ” on TV say it ’ s a problem if a decision isn ’ t made Tuesday night , change the channel .
Vote with your remote .
( But actually vote , too . )
Also : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polls , and the Republican Party have made a point to preemptively delegitimize the results in some states , challenging the voting process all along the way .
For instance , in Pennsylvania , a crucial swing state , Trump 's campaign is videotaping early voters , a move some contend amounts to intimidation , and fighting to limit how late mail-in ballots can be accepted .
There is no reason to believe this will not continue on election night and beyond .
Again , not politics — facts .
Occasionally networks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off-base attempt at “ both sides ” reporting , amplify this .
It may happen again on election night .
Don ’ t listen .
The facts are simple : There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States .
There just isn ’ t .
To even suggest otherwise is irresponsible .
As the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice puts it in an extensive report , `` Fraud is very rare , voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent , and many instances of alleged fraud are , in fact , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same is true for mail ballots , which are secure and essential to holding a safe election amid the coronavirus pandemic . ''
As always , follow the advice found in self-help books : Step outside your comfort zone .
If you ’ re conservative , watch some MSNBC .
If you ’ re liberal , watch Fox News .
It may take a gallon of Pepto-Bismol to stomach it , depending on your political bent .
But it ’ s worth it if you want benchmarks of how the night is going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing that than simply having your own preconceived notions repeated to you ad nauseam .
Twitter , Facebook and TikTok have put in place various ways of flagging false and misleading posts , but they ’ re hardly foolproof .
It ’ s the Wild West out there on those platforms .
This is good advice every day , by the way .
But there ’ s no telling what people will claim Tuesday night .
Finally , if anyone — Trump , Biden , supporters , detractors , anyone — claims victory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ignore them .
Turn off the TV for a bit .
Take a walk , then come back .
The noise will be loud , but it doesn ’ t have to be deafening .
Networks need to be responsible Tuesday night .
So do their audiences .

How to watch election night 2020 returns on TV and still stay sane
Show Caption Hide Caption How a contentious election affects a peaceful transition of power What history has shown us about contested elections and peaceful transitions of power. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
Be patient.
That’s the best way to stay sane while watching election returns Tuesday night — or rather, the returns that begin on Tuesday night. Don’t get antsy if everything isn’t decided then. Whether it's Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the presidential election or a slew of other contests on the ballot, this could go on for a while.
Also, stay curious. Don’t land on one channel and stay there, particularly if it’s Fox News or MSNBC. Surf wide and surf often. Visit credible media sites. Disinformation is going to be flying around like insults at a Trump rally. Beware its lure.
The City News Bureau of Chicago had a saying about the skepticism necessary to report accurately: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
Good advice. Use it. (Sorry, Mom.)
It's tough, but you need to be patient
I’ve been writing some version of a how-to-watch-election-returns column for 20 years. It’s easy to say that coverage this year is shaping up to be different than any other – easy to say because it’s true.
Every network has gone on record preaching patience, saying it won't rush to judgment. They're preparing their viewers for a different kind of night, one that could play out over a longer period of time.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way a lot of people vote, and how votes are counted. It isn’t chaos, not at all, but it might appear somewhat chaotic in the moment. Some networks may fuel that impression. With that in mind, there are some things to consider.
First, Trump is likely to complain about the process. He did so in 2016, too, but as the incumbent, he has more power. This is not a statement of political bias. This is a recognition that he’s been doing that already, a lot. He has said there should be a winner chosen on election night, that this would constitute a legitimate outcome. That's wrong. He has also suggested he would not accept an outcome he doesn’t consider legitimate. Of course, he's not the arbiter of what makes an outcome legitimate. If he doesn't like it, he can (and will) complain. But nothing more.
No winner was declared on election night in 2000 (not for weeks in that election). Nor in 2004. With a massive amount of early voting and mail-in ballots paired with a disparity in when states begin counting those votes, it’s likely to take a while to determine a winner. The most important thing for networks is to wait for the process to play out and report on it accurately.
Vote. And then vote with your remote.
It’s important for viewers, too. And remember, you have a choice here. If you hear any so-called “expert” on TV say it’s a problem if a decision isn’t made Tuesday night, change the channel. Vote with your remote. (But actually vote, too.)
Also: Trump, who's trailing in many polls, and the Republican Party have made a point to preemptively delegitimize the results in some states, challenging the voting process all along the way. For instance, in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state, Trump's campaign is videotaping early voters, a move some contend amounts to intimidation, and fighting to limit how late mail-in ballots can be accepted.
There is no reason to believe this will not continue on election night and beyond. Again, not politics — facts. Occasionally networks, whether through partisan designs or in an off-base attempt at “both sides” reporting, amplify this. It may happen again on election night.
Don’t listen. The facts are simple: There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States. There just isn’t. To even suggest otherwise is irresponsible.
As the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice puts it in an extensive report, "Fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and many instances of alleged fraud are, in fact, mistakes by voters or administrators. The same is true for mail ballots, which are secure and essential to holding a safe election amid the coronavirus pandemic."
As always, follow the advice found in self-help books: Step outside your comfort zone. If you’re conservative, watch some MSNBC. If you’re liberal, watch Fox News. It may take a gallon of Pepto-Bismol to stomach it, depending on your political bent. But it’s worth it if you want benchmarks of how the night is going. You’re far better served doing that than simply having your own preconceived notions repeated to you ad nauseam.
Approach Twitter and Facebook with caution
Scroll your social media feeds with caution.
Twitter, Facebook and TikTok have put in place various ways of flagging false and misleading posts, but they’re hardly foolproof. It’s the Wild West out there on those platforms. This is good advice every day, by the way. But there’s no telling what people will claim Tuesday night.
Finally, if anyone — Trump, Biden, supporters, detractors, anyone — claims victory before legitimate news sources have confirmed it, ignore them. Turn off the TV for a bit. Take a walk, then come back. The noise will be loud, but it doesn’t have to be deafening. Networks need to be responsible Tuesday night. So do their audiences.


usatoday--2020-11-02--'I'm not working all night': Some Pennsylvania counties won't count mail ballots until after Nov. 3

At least five counties in Pennsylvania will not be counting absentee and mail-in ballots on election night and will wait until the next day to do so .
Cumberland County in central Pennsylvania issued a news release saying it plans to start counting the mail-in and absentee ballots at 9 a.m. Wednesday .
On Election Day , the county will focus on the smooth operation of its polling places .
`` Due to available resources and the COVID-19 pandemic , this will allow the county to give equal weight to in-person and mail-in and absentee ballots , '' the release @ @ @ @ @ @ @ region plans to open the outer envelopes on the more than 38,800 mail-in and absentee ballots on Election Day .
The following day , employees will pull out the secrecy envelopes with the ballots and then tabulate those , elections director Sara May-Silfee said .
More : Trump : We 'll send in lawyers if Pennsylvania election is unfair .
But votes are regularly counted after Election Day Election Day is busy for the office as the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. , and it can take until midnight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ results , May-Silfee said .
`` I 'm not working all night , '' she said .
`` I ca n't do it . ''
Greene , Beaver and Franklin counties also said they do not plan to tally mail-in and absentee ballots until the day after the election .
Officials from Montgomery and Bucks counties have said they expect to start the pre-canvassing and counting on the morning of Election Day .
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said Wednesday that she was aware of two counties that are waiting to tabulate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was gathering more information about any others .
Boockvar said she is going to strongly urge counties to start pre-canvassing the ballots on Election Day .
`` It 's going to take a while , and the sooner they start , the sooner they 'll finish , '' she said .
Boockvar said on Thursday afternoon that she is going to have a conversation with counties that are planning to wait on the absentee and mail-in ballots .
State officials and counties wanted to start pre-canvassing the mail-in and absentee ballots at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election , but the General Assembly did not pass legislation that would have allowed that .
As a result , counties can not start to process the ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day .
`` If state law had been changed to allow us the ability to pre-canvas ( open and stage the mail-in ballots for scanning prior to election day ) we would likely stay up all night processing and counting the mail-in votes , '' Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning said in an email .
`` We do not have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ venues , secure those election day votes while simultaneously opening up ~ 35,000 mail-in votes , and then start manually scanning them after the polls close 8pm Tuesday , '' he wrote .
Manning said the county will handle the in-person voting on Tuesday and then start fresh on Wednesday with the mail-in and absentee ballots .
Commissioner Daniel C. Camp III , president of the board , said its decision is not going to change .
The county feels it is most safe and secure to use in-house staff to count the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help .
More : It may be too late to return your Pa. absentee ballot by mail .
Here 's what to do instead .
More : Packing heat at the polls : Yes , it 's allowed in Pennsylvania , raising concerns More : What 's changed for the Nov. 3 election if you have mail-in ballot concerns Franklin County , which has received more than 24,000 requests for mail ballots , plans to start at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to count those ballots , said Jean Byers , deputy chief clerk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ago to wait until the following day .
Results from the in-person voting come in through late Tuesday night .
`` Technically , how many thousands of votes can you count at that late time ? ''
she said of the mail ballots .
The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania says counties are prepared to run a successful election on Tuesday , but with the level of turnout expected for the presidential race and the volume of mail to process , it is going to take time to complete the count .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the media and the candidates as results continue to come in once the polls close and perhaps for several days after , as counties will not sacrifice the integrity of the election in favor of speed , '' executive director Lisa Schaefer said in an email .
In Erie County , which was one of 206 counties nationwide that flipped for Trump in 2016 after twice backing President Barack Obama , the local elections board will not stray from its usual procedures .
It will count all votes cast on Election Day first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Erie County Board of Elections chairman Carl Anderson , who is also a member of Erie County Council , said that the board hopes to count about 10,000 mail-in ballots on election night .
They ’ ll stop counting around 2 a.m. and resume later that morning .
“ There ’ s been a lot of pressure put on people to report the mail-in ballots because it is perceived that there may be a greater number of Democrats who are voting , which could then potentially increase those numbers across the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Democrat .
“ We reject that , to use our system in a way that would skew it one way or another .
We have a process that we use and we ’ re going to stick to that process.
” The county tripled its election staff for the tally from the June 2 primary , bought two high-speed envelope openers and invested in a large rack with bins to help sort mail-in ballots by voting district .
As of Friday morning , more than 37,000 mail-in and absentee ballots had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

'I'm not working all night': Some Pennsylvania counties won't count mail ballots until after Nov. 3
Show Caption Hide Caption How to protect your vote: Pennsylvania reader town hall Reporters with the USA Today Network in Pennsylvania held a virtual town hall to answer questions about voting in the election Nov. 3. York Daily Record
At least five counties in Pennsylvania will not be counting absentee and mail-in ballots on election night and will wait until the next day to do so.
Cumberland County in central Pennsylvania issued a news release saying it plans to start counting the mail-in and absentee ballots at 9 a.m. Wednesday. On Election Day, the county will focus on the smooth operation of its polling places.
"Due to available resources and the COVID-19 pandemic, this will allow the county to give equal weight to in-person and mail-in and absentee ballots," the release states.
Monroe County in the Pocono region plans to open the outer envelopes on the more than 38,800 mail-in and absentee ballots on Election Day. The following day, employees will pull out the secrecy envelopes with the ballots and then tabulate those, elections director Sara May-Silfee said.
More: Trump: We'll send in lawyers if Pennsylvania election is unfair. But votes are regularly counted after Election Day
Election Day is busy for the office as the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and it can take until midnight for poll workers to turn in the results, May-Silfee said.
"I'm not working all night," she said. "I can't do it."
Greene, Beaver and Franklin counties also said they do not plan to tally mail-in and absentee ballots until the day after the election.
Officials from Montgomery and Bucks counties have said they expect to start the pre-canvassing and counting on the morning of Election Day.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said Wednesday that she was aware of two counties that are waiting to tabulate the mail ballots, and her department was gathering more information about any others.
Fully Complying With the Law: Cumberland County to Begin Counting Mail-in and Absentee Ballots Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 9 a.m.
View Release ➡ https://t.co/UcKXnBYiPX pic.twitter.com/Qqo2H9EDrL — Cumberland County PA (@ccpa_net) October 28, 2020
Boockvar said she is going to strongly urge counties to start pre-canvassing the ballots on Election Day.
"It's going to take a while, and the sooner they start, the sooner they'll finish," she said.
Boockvar said on Thursday afternoon that she is going to have a conversation with counties that are planning to wait on the absentee and mail-in ballots.
State officials and counties wanted to start pre-canvassing the mail-in and absentee ballots at least a few days before the Nov. 3 election, but the General Assembly did not pass legislation that would have allowed that.
As a result, counties cannot start to process the ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day.
"If state law had been changed to allow us the ability to pre-canvas (open and stage the mail-in ballots for scanning prior to election day) we would likely stay up all night processing and counting the mail-in votes," Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning said in an email.
"We do not have the capacity to securely oversee 129 polling venues, secure those election day votes while simultaneously opening up ~ 35,000 mail-in votes, and then start manually scanning them after the polls close 8pm Tuesday," he wrote.
Manning said the county will handle the in-person voting on Tuesday and then start fresh on Wednesday with the mail-in and absentee ballots.
Commissioner Daniel C. Camp III, president of the board, said its decision is not going to change. The county feels it is most safe and secure to use in-house staff to count the ballots, rather than bringing in volunteers to help.
More: It may be too late to return your Pa. absentee ballot by mail. Here's what to do instead.
More: Packing heat at the polls: Yes, it's allowed in Pennsylvania, raising concerns
More: What's changed for the Nov. 3 election if you have mail-in ballot concerns
Franklin County, which has received more than 24,000 requests for mail ballots, plans to start at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to count those ballots, said Jean Byers, deputy chief clerk. The county made the decision months ago to wait until the following day.
Results from the in-person voting come in through late Tuesday night.
"Technically, how many thousands of votes can you count at that late time?" she said of the mail ballots.
The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania says counties are prepared to run a successful election on Tuesday, but with the level of turnout expected for the presidential race and the volume of mail to process, it is going to take time to complete the count.
"We ask for patience from voters, the media and the candidates as results continue to come in once the polls close and perhaps for several days after, as counties will not sacrifice the integrity of the election in favor of speed," executive director Lisa Schaefer said in an email.
In Erie County, which was one of 206 counties nationwide that flipped for Trump in 2016 after twice backing President Barack Obama, the local elections board will not stray from its usual procedures. It will count all votes cast on Election Day first and tally mail-in and absentee ballots afterward.
Erie County Board of Elections chairman Carl Anderson, who is also a member of Erie County Council, said that the board hopes to count about 10,000 mail-in ballots on election night. They’ll stop counting around 2 a.m. and resume later that morning.
“There’s been a lot of pressure put on people to report the mail-in ballots because it is perceived that there may be a greater number of Democrats who are voting, which could then potentially increase those numbers across the state early on,” said Anderson, a Democrat. “We reject that, to use our system in a way that would skew it one way or another. We have a process that we use and we’re going to stick to that process.”
The county tripled its election staff for the tally from the June 2 primary, bought two high-speed envelope openers and invested in a large rack with bins to help sort mail-in ballots by voting district.
As of Friday morning, more than 37,000 mail-in and absentee ballots had been returned of the 57,000 that were requested.
Erie reporter Matthew Rink contributed to this report.


usatoday--2020-11-02--Why Latinos will play a critical role in determining the election winner in Texas

CEDAR PARK , Texas — There is nothing in politics quite like a Trump Train , said Mike Guevara , a Hispanic Republican candidate for state representative in Texas , referring to the carnivalesque caravans that have revved the campaign ’ s emotional engine .
“ It ’ s like tailgating on steroids , ” said Guevara , who kicked off a Trump Train on Oct. 24 , clocking 350 vehicles .
Merchandise flew .
Fists bumped .
Flags billowed .
Horns honked .
There were heroic banners , like the one with Trump as Rambo : “ No Man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stump Him.
” There were signs for Veterans for Trump , Women for Trump , Latinos for Trump .
“ The question might be asked , why would a Hispanic vote for Trump ?
I don ’ t know why a Hispanic wouldn ’ t vote for Trump , ” said Guevara , 46 .
It comes down to three words , he said : “ God , guns and gas.
” Guevara , whose grandmother immigrated from Mexico and father was a 41-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department , is city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state .
He stepped down from a seat on the City Council of Cedar Park , Texas to run for state 's House of Representatives .
“ You want to talk about the American dream , ” said Guevara , who sees Trump as the dream ’ s guardian .
Or its undoing — in the view of Maggie Juarez , 20 , an activist and pre-nursing student at the UT-San Antonio from Texas .
Her parents came to the U.S. from Mexico as children , and met working at a McDonald ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , not so much for Joe Biden as against Trump .
Trump ’ s election “ changed my view on America , ” she said .
“ I ’ ve always been an American — in my head I identified as Mexican American , but I was an American , I was part of America , ” Juarez said .
“ So for you to turn around and tell me that my lineage , that my people don ’ t belong here , that I don ’ t belong here ?
” Guevara @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million Latino citizens who were potentially eligible to vote this year in Texas , more than in any state but California .
That ’ s 30 % of all eligible voters in Texas , the same share as California .
But California is a done deal electorally , the cornerstone of any blue Electoral College majority , while Texas is its opposite number — the bedrock of GOP national fortunes .
Texas voting for a Democrat for a president in 2020 would be as big a political earthquake as California going Republican .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Tuesday , almost certainly with decisive impact .
And Biden ’ s margin of victory with Hispanic voters — and the hardiness of Trump ’ s Latino loyalists — could make all the difference .
Latinos in Texas don ’ t vote equivalent to their share of the eligible voting population .
In the past decade , they have made up between 17 % and 24 % of the electorate .
Most polling , which has Biden and Trump within a few points of each other in Texas , has Biden with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Latino voters , from 18 % to 48 % in five recent surveys , the wide fluctuation a consequence of different projections of the size and composition of the likely Latino electorate .
According to 2016 exit polls , Hillary Clinton beat Trump by 27 points among Hispanics in Texas — 61 % to 34 % — on her way to losing the state by 9 points , narrowing what was a 16-point margin in the 2012 presidential election and 12 points in 2008 .
“ In order for Joe Biden to win @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the water mark set by Hillary Clinton in 2016 , ” said Jason Villalba , a former Republican state representative from Dallas , who now serves as president of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation .
It commissioned a poll in August , sponsored by The Dallas Morning News , in which Biden was leading Trump by less than 10 points among Hispanics .
Hispanic voters long have been vexed by Democratic expectations that they ought to be a more commanding and cohesive electorate .
Mark Jones , of the Baker Institute at Rice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Policy Foundation poll , said that “ a lot of Latino political elites , academic elites and members of the media tend to look at Latinos through the lens of African American voters , ” for whom a sense of collective identity , and a shared distrust of the Republican Party , trumps individual policies .
Perhaps , said Josh Blank , research director at the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas , it is more useful to liken Hispanics to whites as a group than to Blacks .
“ Hispanics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think , but they are about as Democratic as white people are Republican , ” Blank said .
“ That ’ s really the overarching long-term story here .
I think every election there ’ s a focus on what ’ s going to happen this cycle and if x million Hispanics vote.
” “ What you are really talking about long term is the slow churn of a group that ’ s predominately Republican , in white voters , that ’ s being replaced by a group that ’ s predominately Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hispanic voters , and that ’ s just going to keep happening , ” Blank said .
More : All eyes will be on these 6 states on Election Day .
Here 's what we know .
Know your voting rights : Here 's what to do if you encounter intimidation at the polls on Election Day Texas Republicans generally get between 35 % and 45 % of Hispanic votes .
But that has become tougher as the climate on immigration and border issues has intensified in recent years .
While Trump appears @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Hispanics than he did last time , Austin organizer and activist Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez , who founded Jolt , an organization designed to politically activate younger Latinos , predicts that Texas Republicans will suffer lasting damage because of Trump .
“ I think their alignment with Donald Trump has hurt their standing long-term with Latinos in Texas , ” said Tzintzún Ramirez , who finished third in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in March .
“ My biggest concern is that the Latino vote is the largest nonwhite voting bloc in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enough investment early enough in the Latino vote , ” she said .
“ That kind of late investment and outreach produces poor results .
It ’ s incredibly frustrating to be taken for granted when you represent the community that ’ s the key to unlocking the entire political system of Texas and the country.
” Jones , who conducted the National Hispanic Policy Foundation poll , said the closer to the immigrant experience , the more likely a Hispanic voter is to back Biden .
So for example , those with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a large margin , while those with fewer Hispanic grandparents only narrowly prefer Biden .
Hispanics who speak Spanish or both Spanish and English at home prefer Biden , while those who exclusively speak English at home narrowly prefer Trump .
“ I see our Latino communities very split between Republican and Democrats , and I often see it split along first generation vs. multigenerations , ” said Larry Gonzales , a former Republican state representative from Texas , who works as lobbyist .
“ My family is three generations of college @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from my grandfather , who didn ’ t speak English , with a third-grade education selling cantaloupes in Pearland , Texas , ” Gonzales said .
But that man ’ s son , Gonzales ’ father , went to UT , got a degree in aerospace engineering and worked 43 years at Mission Control .
“ We understand the opportunities put in front of us , took advantage of it generationally , have played by the rules and been rewarded , ” Gonzales said .
“ I think what you see in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are fighting very hard for that educational opportunity , the DACA , the Dreamers , they are fighting hard , and they see that path through the Democratic Party and not the Republican Party.
” But the successful succeeding generations , he said , are teeming with “ hard-core conservatives , ” who followed the rules and “ really want the rules followed.
” “ I am surrounded by Hispanics who are avid Trump fans , huge Trump fans , ” Gonzales said .
Notable also in all the Biden-Trump polling is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Hispanic men , like Anglo men , more likely to back Trump .
If Texas ends up being razor-close , and Trump prevails , Trump ’ s chemistry with Hispanic males might prove decisive .
Villalba ’ s theory : “ Trump identifies as such a strong candidate .
He ’ s got this very tough guy image , this very macho image , that really resonates with Latino men in Texas who are very focused on being strong , on being tough in the face of adversity , and I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Biden does not.
” Despite pandemic setbacks , he said , Trump is still seen as the candidate of work .
And there is nothing in Trump ’ s history or deportment that would discomfit those in more patriarchal settings .
In Hispanic families , “ The male is still the one that provides for the family .
That is one of the conservative cultural values , and that goes along with a lot of Trump ’ s values , '' said Dr. John Guerra , a Republican running for Texas ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hispanic women might be more liberal in their outlook , Guerra said , when it comes time to vote , couples “ come to the polls together and they vote together.
” “ Mandar , ” said Juarez , using the Spanish word to command , order or boss , that defines the traditional male role — but , she said , “ I feel like with the generations , women have begun to butt heads with Mexican men.
” “ The machismo has definitely lessened , ” she said .
However , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a white masculinity threat index — measuring the extent to which people believe that white males have become a discriminated-against group — and applied it to the results of a June 2020 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll , Hispanic men were more likely than white women , Hispanic women , Black men or Black women to believe that whites and men were discriminated against at higher rates than Blacks , Hispanics , Asians , women , gays , and transgender individuals .
Only white men scored higher than Hispanic men on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and white men that might help explain the durability of Trump ’ s appeal .
“ The way I view it , Trump has said things about the LGBTQ community , Trump has said things about the Latino community , Trump has said things about the Black community .
Trump has said things about women , ” Juarez said .
“ So at this point he has essentially blatantly disrespected every community except white men .
Voting for him you ’ re voting against every single community that he ’ s attacked .
@

Jonathan Tilove, Austin American-Statesman

Why Latinos will play a critical role in determining the election winner in Texas
CEDAR PARK, Texas — There is nothing in politics quite like a Trump Train, said Mike Guevara, a Hispanic Republican candidate for state representative in Texas, referring to the carnivalesque caravans that have revved the campaign’s emotional engine.
“It’s like tailgating on steroids,” said Guevara, who kicked off a Trump Train on Oct. 24, clocking 350 vehicles.
Merchandise flew. Fists bumped. Flags billowed. Horns honked. There were heroic banners, like the one with Trump as Rambo: “No Man, No Woman, No Commie Can Stump Him.” There were signs for Veterans for Trump, Women for Trump, Latinos for Trump.
“The question might be asked, why would a Hispanic vote for Trump? I don’t know why a Hispanic wouldn’t vote for Trump,” said Guevara, 46.
It comes down to three words, he said: “God, guns and gas.”
Guevara, whose grandmother immigrated from Mexico and father was a 41-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, is city attorney for 16 smaller communities around the state. He stepped down from a seat on the City Council of Cedar Park, Texas to run for state's House of Representatives.
“You want to talk about the American dream,” said Guevara, who sees Trump as the dream’s guardian.
Or its undoing — in the view of Maggie Juarez, 20, an activist and pre-nursing student at the UT-San Antonio from Texas. Her parents came to the U.S. from Mexico as children, and met working at a McDonald’s in Austin. Juarez voted Wednesday, not so much for Joe Biden as against Trump.
Trump’s election “changed my view on America,” she said.
“I’ve always been an American — in my head I identified as Mexican American, but I was an American, I was part of America,” Juarez said. “So for you to turn around and tell me that my lineage, that my people don’t belong here, that I don’t belong here?”
Guevara and Juarez are two of the 5.6 million Latino citizens who were potentially eligible to vote this year in Texas, more than in any state but California.
That’s 30% of all eligible voters in Texas, the same share as California. But California is a done deal electorally, the cornerstone of any blue Electoral College majority, while Texas is its opposite number — the bedrock of GOP national fortunes.
Texas voting for a Democrat for a president in 2020 would be as big a political earthquake as California going Republican. Only it might actually happen in Texas on Tuesday, almost certainly with decisive impact. And Biden’s margin of victory with Hispanic voters — and the hardiness of Trump’s Latino loyalists — could make all the difference.
Latinos in Texas don’t vote equivalent to their share of the eligible voting population. In the past decade, they have made up between 17% and 24% of the electorate.
Most polling, which has Biden and Trump within a few points of each other in Texas, has Biden with a range of advantages over Trump among Latino voters, from 18% to 48% in five recent surveys, the wide fluctuation a consequence of different projections of the size and composition of the likely Latino electorate.
According to 2016 exit polls, Hillary Clinton beat Trump by 27 points among Hispanics in Texas — 61% to 34% — on her way to losing the state by 9 points, narrowing what was a 16-point margin in the 2012 presidential election and 12 points in 2008.
“In order for Joe Biden to win Texas he must reach and slightly exceed the water mark set by Hillary Clinton in 2016,” said Jason Villalba, a former Republican state representative from Dallas, who now serves as president of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation. It commissioned a poll in August, sponsored by The Dallas Morning News, in which Biden was leading Trump by less than 10 points among Hispanics.
Hispanic voters long have been vexed by Democratic expectations that they ought to be a more commanding and cohesive electorate.
Mark Jones, of the Baker Institute at Rice University, which conducted the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation poll, said that “a lot of Latino political elites, academic elites and members of the media tend to look at Latinos through the lens of African American voters,” for whom a sense of collective identity, and a shared distrust of the Republican Party, trumps individual policies.
Perhaps, said Josh Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, it is more useful to liken Hispanics to whites as a group than to Blacks.
“Hispanics may not be as Democratic as you think, but they are about as Democratic as white people are Republican,” Blank said. “That’s really the overarching long-term story here. I think every election there’s a focus on what’s going to happen this cycle and if x million Hispanics vote.”
“What you are really talking about long term is the slow churn of a group that’s predominately Republican, in white voters, that’s being replaced by a group that’s predominately Democratic, at least for now, in Hispanic voters, and that’s just going to keep happening,” Blank said.
More: All eyes will be on these 6 states on Election Day. Here's what we know.
Know your voting rights: Here's what to do if you encounter intimidation at the polls on Election Day
Range of views
Texas Republicans generally get between 35% and 45% of Hispanic votes. But that has become tougher as the climate on immigration and border issues has intensified in recent years.
While Trump appears to be doing a little better nationally with Hispanics than he did last time, Austin organizer and activist Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, who founded Jolt, an organization designed to politically activate younger Latinos, predicts that Texas Republicans will suffer lasting damage because of Trump.
“I think their alignment with Donald Trump has hurt their standing long-term with Latinos in Texas,” said Tzintzún Ramirez, who finished third in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in March.
“My biggest concern is that the Latino vote is the largest nonwhite voting bloc in this country, and there has not been enough investment early enough in the Latino vote,” she said. “That kind of late investment and outreach produces poor results. It’s incredibly frustrating to be taken for granted when you represent the community that’s the key to unlocking the entire political system of Texas and the country.”
Generational differences
Jones, who conducted the National Hispanic Policy Foundation poll, said the closer to the immigrant experience, the more likely a Hispanic voter is to back Biden.
So for example, those with four Hispanic grandparents prefer Biden over Trump by a large margin, while those with fewer Hispanic grandparents only narrowly prefer Biden.
Hispanics who speak Spanish or both Spanish and English at home prefer Biden, while those who exclusively speak English at home narrowly prefer Trump.
“I see our Latino communities very split between Republican and Democrats, and I often see it split along first generation vs. multigenerations,” said Larry Gonzales, a former Republican state representative from Texas, who works as lobbyist.
“My family is three generations of college degrees. My family is further removed from my grandfather, who didn’t speak English, with a third-grade education selling cantaloupes in Pearland, Texas,” Gonzales said.
But that man’s son, Gonzales’ father, went to UT, got a degree in aerospace engineering and worked 43 years at Mission Control.
“We understand the opportunities put in front of us, took advantage of it generationally, have played by the rules and been rewarded,” Gonzales said. “I think what you see in a lot of the first-generation folks, they are fighting very hard for that educational opportunity, the DACA, the Dreamers, they are fighting hard, and they see that path through the Democratic Party and not the Republican Party.”
But the successful succeeding generations, he said, are teeming with “hard-core conservatives,” who followed the rules and “really want the rules followed.”
“I am surrounded by Hispanics who are avid Trump fans, huge Trump fans,” Gonzales said.
Gender gap
Notable also in all the Biden-Trump polling is a very distinct gender gap among Hispanics, with Hispanic men, like Anglo men, more likely to back Trump.
If Texas ends up being razor-close, and Trump prevails, Trump’s chemistry with Hispanic males might prove decisive.
Villalba’s theory: “Trump identifies as such a strong candidate. He’s got this very tough guy image, this very macho image, that really resonates with Latino men in Texas who are very focused on being strong, on being tough in the face of adversity, and I think Trump embodied that in maybe a way that Biden does not.”
Despite pandemic setbacks, he said, Trump is still seen as the candidate of work.
And there is nothing in Trump’s history or deportment that would discomfit those in more patriarchal settings.
In Hispanic families, “The male is still the one that provides for the family. That is one of the conservative cultural values, and that goes along with a lot of Trump’s values," said Dr. John Guerra, a Republican running for Texas' House of Representatives.
Even if many Hispanic women might be more liberal in their outlook, Guerra said, when it comes time to vote, couples “come to the polls together and they vote together.”
“Mandar,” said Juarez, using the Spanish word to command, order or boss, that defines the traditional male role — but, she said, “I feel like with the generations, women have begun to butt heads with Mexican men.”
“The machismo has definitely lessened,” she said.
However, when UT government professor Eric McDaniel created a white masculinity threat index — measuring the extent to which people believe that white males have become a discriminated-against group — and applied it to the results of a June 2020 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll, Hispanic men were more likely than white women, Hispanic women, Black men or Black women to believe that whites and men were discriminated against at higher rates than Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women, gays, and transgender individuals.
Only white men scored higher than Hispanic men on the index, suggesting an identity between Hispanic and white men that might help explain the durability of Trump’s appeal.
“The way I view it, Trump has said things about the LGBTQ community, Trump has said things about the Latino community, Trump has said things about the Black community. Trump has said things about women,” Juarez said. “So at this point he has essentially blatantly disrespected every community except white men. Voting for him you’re voting against every single community that he’s attacked.”


usatoday--2020-11-02--Trump hinted he may 'fire Fauci' after Election Day at a campaign rally in Opa-locka, Fla.

Trump hinted he may 'fire Fauci ' after Election Day at a campaign rally in Opa-locka , Fla. President Trump @ @ @ @ @ Fauci ' after Election Day , as cheers erupted at a campaign rally in Opa-locka @ @ @

'Fire Fauci:' Trump supporters chant at rally in Opa-locka, Fla.
President Trump hinted that he may 'fire Fauci' after Election Day, as cheers erupted at a campaign rally in Opa-locka, Florida.
USA TODAY


usatoday--2020-11-03--Coronavirus updates: People sick with COVID-19 can vote in person, CDC says; Dr. Deborah Birx report

Coronavirus updates: People sick with COVID-19 can vote in person, CDC says; Dr. Deborah Birx reportedly warns of 'most deadly phase'

People who are in quarantine or sick with COVID-19 are allowed to vote in person for the U.S. elections on Tuesday , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
`` Voters have the right to vote , regardless of whether they are sick or in quarantine , '' the CDC 's recently updated guidelines say .
But you should let poll workers know that you are sick or in quarantine , the agency said .
Voters should also wear a mask , stay 6 feet apart from others and wash their hands before and after voting .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ White House coronavirus task force coordinator , warned top officials on Monday that the country is entering the `` most deadly phase of this pandemic ... leading to increasing mortality , '' according to a report obtained by the Washington Post .
Birx 's warning contradicts President Donald Trump 's message that the U.S. is `` rounding the turn '' on the coronavirus .
The U.S. will likely see more than 100,000 new cases a day this week , Birx said .
Here 's what to know today : • Twenty-one states set @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Monday , with five states reporting a record number of deaths : Alaska , Montana , North Dakota , Oklahoma and South Dakota .
• President Donald Trump hinted at the prospect of firing Dr. Anthony Fauci in a Florida rally Sunday night , but experts say the president can not directly fire him as he ’ s protected by federal civil service regulations , according to several outlets .
• Today is Election Day but an estimated 100 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poll site opened as voters took precautions against COVID-19 community spread .
📈 Today 's numbers : The U.S. has reported more than 9.2 million cases and 231,500 deaths , according to Johns Hopkins University data .
The global totals : 46.8 million cases and 1.2 million deaths .
🗺 Mapping coronavirus : Track the U.S. outbreak in your state .
This file will be updated throughout the day .
For updates in your inbox , subscribe to The Daily Briefing newsletter .
Artificial intelligence technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using a voice recording of their cough , according to a report published Tuesday in the IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology .
The technology detected 99.9 % of COVID-19 cases in groups of 25 people where five people tested positive , and 95 % of groups with three positives .
Overall , researchers were able to detect 98.5 % COVID-19 positives from a forced-cough recording , including 100 % of asymptomatic cases .
The study organized a 1 to 10 ratio of positive cases to control subjects , comprising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Participants from all of over the world provided a voice recording of them coughing on an average of three times and filled out a questionnaire about symptoms and diagnosis .
“ This non-invasive , free , real-time pre-screening tool my prove to have a great potential to complement current efforts to contain the disease in low-infected areas as well as to mitigate the impact in high-infected areas , where unconscious asymptomatics may spread the virus , ” researchers said .
Cases of COVID-19 in children are increasing across the country , report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of all coronavirus cases in the United States , that number is steadily growing , according to a report released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children ’ s Hospital Association .
A look at its findings : • Over 61,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported this week – the highest since the pandemic began .
• Nearly 200,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported from Oct. 1 to Oct. 29 .
• Over 853,000 children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic .
Forty-nine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , D.C. , Puerto Rico and Guam provided age distributions of reported cases .
Texas reported age distribution for only 6 % of cases , Massachusetts only reported cases added in the past two weeks , and the state of New York does not provide age distribution .
Gov .
Andrew Cuomo says New York will not share resident info with feds for COVID-19 vaccine New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo on Monday said the federal government is requiring states to share residents ' personal information as part of its COVID-19 vaccine distribution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he will not take part in the plan as the information can be used to track undocumented immigrants .
`` The data use agreement says the information will be used by CDC , HHS , and other federal partners , '' Cuomo said during a conference call .
He added , `` Why would you possibly need a person 's driver 's license number or Social Security number or passport number before they receive a vaccine ?
Why ?
There is no legitimate health reason .
This is just another example of them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York to get information at DHS and ICE to deport people . ''
About three-quarters of the nation 's museums have reopened with precautions designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus .
But California is taking a slower approach that some say is overly cautious .
`` From what I 'm seeing , California is one of the – if not , the most – restrictive , '' Laura Lott , president and CEO of American Alliance of Museums , told USA TODAY .
While the focus has been on whether to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Studios Hollywood to reopen , California 's museums are also urging state officials to take a less restrictive approach .
They say they can take steps like temperature checks , timed tickets and mandatory mask wearing .
El Paso hospitals reached a record number of COVID-19 patients Monday as intensive care units hit overcapacity , officials said .
The growing hospitalizations occurred amid continuing confusion , debate and legal wrangling over El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego 's ordered shutdown of nonessential businesses .
As of Monday morning , there were 978 people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intensive care and 234 on ventilators , city-county public health officials said .
Sri Lanka postpones school reopening for two more weeks amid COVID crisis Authorities in Sri Lanka on Tuesday announced schools would not resume until Nov. 23 amid a surge in COVID-19 patients in the Columbo and the capital 's suburbs .
Schools had been scheduled to reopen on Nov. 9 .
Schools were suddenly closed last month as a precautionary measure after a new cluster of coronavirus infections centered on a garment factory erupted in the densely populated Western province @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cluster centered on the country ’ s main fish market arose later .
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• Tips for coping : Every Saturday and Tuesday we 'll be in your inbox , offering you a virtual hug and a little bit of solace in these difficult times .
Sign up for Staying Apart , Together .
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Jessica Flores and Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY

Coronavirus updates: Europe tightens restrictions; record number of cases in Wisconsin; Kentucky hits 'grim milestone'
Show Caption Hide Caption COVID-19: How Herd Immunity works, why you still need to wear a mask Without masks and a vaccine, we could reach Herd Immunity from COVID-19, but deaths would skyrocket. We break down the science of it. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
People who are in quarantine or sick with COVID-19 are allowed to vote in person for the U.S. elections on Tuesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Voters have the right to vote, regardless of whether they are sick or in quarantine," the CDC's recently updated guidelines say. But you should let poll workers know that you are sick or in quarantine, the agency said. Voters should also wear a mask, stay 6 feet apart from others and wash their hands before and after voting.
Meanwhile, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, warned top officials Monday that the country is entering the "most deadly phase of this pandemic ... leading to increasing mortality," according to a report obtained by the Washington Post.
Birx's warning contradicts President Donald Trump's message that the U.S. is "rounding the turn" on the coronavirus. The U.S. will likely see more than 100,000 new cases a day this week, Birx said.
Here's what to know today:
Germany and the U.K. announced plans Tuesday to expand virus testing as European countries battled rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. Twenty-one states set records for new cases in a week, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Monday, with five states reporting a record number of deaths: Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Over 61,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported this week – the highest since the pandemic began, according to a report released Monday.
Today is Election Day but an estimated 100 million ballots were already cast before the first poll site opened, partly because voters took precautions against COVID-19 community spread.
📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 9.3 million cases and 232,100 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: more than 47.4 million cases and 1.2 million deaths.
🗺 Mapping coronavirus: Track the U.S. outbreak in your state.
This file will be updated throughout the day. For updates in your inbox, subscribe to The Daily Briefing newsletter.
COVID-19: Fix annoying face mask issues Here are 3 solutions to fix those annoying face mask problems. ProblemSolved, USA TODAY
Coronavirus cases hit new daily highs this week in Russia, and Germany and the U.K. announced plans Tuesday to expand virus testing as European countries battled rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
Nations reintroduced restrictions to try to get ahead of a virus that has caused more than 1.2 million deaths around the globe, over 270,000 of them in Europe, according to Johns Hopkins University, and is straining health care systems.
New measures took effect Tuesday in Austria, Greece and Sweden, following a partial shutdown imposed in Germany on Monday and tighter rules in Italy, France, Kosovo and Croatia. England faces a near-total lockdown starting Thursday, although schools and universities will stay open.
Infections spiked in Russia, where authorities reported 18,648 new cases Tuesday. It was the fifth straight day of more than 18,000 confirmed new cases, compared to the country’s daily record of over 11,000 in the spring.
Russia has the world’s fourth-highest reported coronavirus caseload with over 1.6 million people confirmed infected, including more than 28,000 who have died in the pandemic.
Wisconsin health officials reported a record 5,771 new coronavirus cases and 52 more deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, along with a testing positivity rate tracking ever higher.
Hospitalizations rose by 247 in the state, which for weeks has ranked as one of the nation’s worst hot spots for the virus. The state’s daily average of new cases has risen by 44% over the past two weeks, making it fourth-worst in the country for new cases per capita, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University.
The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Wisconsin had risen over the past two weeks to 14.72% as of Monday.
Wisconsin has recorded 2,102 deaths from the virus.
Kentucky’s coronavirus-related deaths surpassed 1,500 on Tuesday as the COVID-19 surge continued with the sixth-highest number of daily virus cases reported in the state, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
The state posted 11 virus-related deaths, raising Kentucky’s death toll to at least 1,503, he said.
“That is a grim milestone,” Beshear said at a news conference. “And it appears that we are going to lose a significant number of additional Kentuckians unless we pick it up, unless we do better.”
The Democratic governor also stressed the need to wear masks in public and to follow social distancing and other health guidelines.
Beshear reported 1,795 new virus cases statewide Tuesday, increasing the total number of cases to more than 111,000 since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, virus-related hospitalizations in Kentucky continued to rise, with 1,037, the governor said. The state’s positivity rate was 6.24%.
Former U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, the Republican candidate for Indiana attorney general, has tested positive for COVID-19 after developing “some symptoms,” his campaign announced Tuesday.
Rokita faces Democratic candidate Jonathan Weinzapfel in Tuesday’s statewide election. Rokita had been quarantining with his family after he was informed “by a person unconnected to any campaign activities that he was exposed to COVID-19,” Rokita’s campaign said in a statement.
The campaign said Rokita “just recently tested positive after developing some symptoms” and is doing well and working from home. Rokita planned to watch Tuesday’s election returns there with his family.
The cruise industry has jettisoned hopes of restarting operations this year.
Days after Carnival and Norwegian extended a halt on cruises through the end of the year, the group that represents cruise lines said Tuesday that its members have agreed to extend the suspension of U.S. sailing operations for the rest of 2020. The announcement comes just days after the U.S. government effectively lifted its no-sail order despite a global spike in coronavirus infections.
Cruise Lines International Association – which includes cruise giants Princess, Carnival and Royal Caribbean – said that its members have voluntarily opted to maintain the current suspension of cruise operations in the U.S. through the end of the year.
Members “will use the remainder of the year to prepare for the implementation of extensive measures to address COVID-19 safety” with the guidance of public health experts and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the association said.
The Big Ten college football game between No. 11 Wisconsin and Purdue has been canceled as COVID-19 positive cases increase around the Badgers' football program. The game will not be rescheduled and is declared no contest.
This is the second consecutive game cancellation for Wisconsin. The Badgers didn't play at Nebraska last week. In order to qualify for the Big Ten championship game, teams need to play at least six games during the eight-game regular season.
Wisconsin would have to avoid another cancellation to qualify to play in the title game.
“I share in the disappointment of our student-athletes and staff,” Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said. “We have seen a level of improvement in our testing numbers, but not enough to give us confidence to resume normal activities and play our game on Saturday."
►In El Paso, the UTEP football team's struggle to get on the field took another blow, as Florida International announced it would not be able to play the Miners on Saturday.
This is the third time an opponent has postponed a game against UTEP in the last four weeks and this game will be the least likely to be rescheduled under Conference USA's stated goal of prioritizing division games for the two weeks in December set aside for makeup games.
– Mike Carmin and Bret Bloomquist
The United States reported 586,641 new cases in a week ending Monday, breaking records for the ninth day in a row.
A USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows 21 states set records of new cases in a week while five states had a record number of deaths: Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Forty states had more cases in the latest week than in the week before and a higher rate of positive tests, an analysis of COVID Tracking Project data shows.
The world reached 47 million coronavirus cases Tuesday. The last 1 million cases were reported within 57 hours.
Even though nearly 100 million ballots from early voting have already been cast, Americans are still heading to the polls to vote in-person on Election Day despite COVID-19 cases surging in most parts of the country.
Henry Monreal, 75, was the first in line at Fire Station No. 7 in El Paso, Texas. The suffering brought on by COVID-19, in his city and the rest of the country, has motivated him to cast his ballot.
“People are reflecting on the pandemic,” he said. “People are losing their jobs. They need help.”
Immunocompromised Alejandro Guzman Stein, 67, planned to vote by mail this year but returned to his home in Miami last week to find his absentee ballot never arrived.
That’s why he made the trip to the Miami-Dade County Auditorium on Tuesday to cast his vote – a bottle of hand sanitizer in his pocket, a mask over his nose and mouth, a scratched-up visor covering his face. Stein said he took the risk because of a sense of responsibility ingrained in him by his parents.
“This is life or death for me,” he said. “I wanted to vote by mail. But I had to come. It’s more than a right. It’s a duty.”
A polling place in Sebastian, Florida was shut down Tuesday after the elections supervisor’s office learned a person with COVID-19 had walked through the building at some point in the last few days.
– Alan Gomez, USA TODAY and Aaron Bedoya, El Paso Times
Artificial intelligence technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can detect virus infection in a COVID-19 patient using a voice recording of their cough, according to a report published Tuesday in the IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology.
The technology detected 99.9% of COVID-19 cases in groups of 25 people where five people tested positive, and 95% of groups with three positives. Overall, researchers were able to detect 98.5% COVID-19 positives from a forced-cough recording, including 100% of asymptomatic cases.
The study organized a 1 to 10 ratio of positive cases to control subjects, comprising of 2,660 people who were COVID-19 positive. Participants from all of over the world provided a voice recording of them coughing on an average of three times and filled out a questionnaire about symptoms and diagnosis.
“This non-invasive, free, real-time pre-screening tool my prove to have a great potential to complement current efforts to contain the disease in low-infected areas as well as to mitigate the impact in high-infected areas, where unconscious asymptomatics may spread the virus,” researchers said.
While children represent only 11.1% of all coronavirus cases in the United States, that number is steadily growing, according to a report released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. A look at its findings:
Over 61,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported this week – the highest since the pandemic began.
Nearly 200,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported from Oct. 1 to Oct. 29.
Over 853,000 children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic.
Forty-nine states, New York City, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam provided age distributions of reported cases. Texas reported age distribution for only 6% of cases, Massachusetts only reported cases added in the past two weeks, and the state of New York does not provide age distribution.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said the federal government is requiring states to share residents' personal information as part of its COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. But the Democratic governor said he will not take part in the plan as the information can be used to track undocumented immigrants.
"The data use agreement says the information will be used by CDC, HHS, and other federal partners," Cuomo said during a conference call.
He added, "Why would you possibly need a person's driver's license number or Social Security number or passport number before they receive a vaccine? Why? There is no legitimate health reason. This is just another example of them trying to extort the state of New York to get information at DHS and ICE to deport people."
El Paso hospitals reached a record number of COVID-19 patients Monday as intensive care units hit overcapacity, officials said.
The growing hospitalizations occurred amid continuing confusion, debate and legal wrangling over El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego's ordered shutdown of nonessential businesses.
As of Monday morning, there were 978 people hospitalized for COVID-19, including 273 in intensive care and 234 on ventilators, city-county public health officials said.
COVID-19 resources from USA TODAY
In your inbox: Stay up to date with the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic from the USA TODAY Network. Sign up for the daily Coronavirus Watch newsletter.
Stay up to date with the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic from the USA TODAY Network. Tips for coping: Every Saturday and Tuesday we'll be in your inbox, offering you a virtual hug and a little bit of solace in these difficult times. Sign up for Staying Apart, Together.
Every Saturday and Tuesday we'll be in your inbox, offering you a virtual hug and a little bit of solace in these difficult times. On Facebook: A lot is still unknown about the coronavirus. But what we do know, we're sharing with you. Join our Facebook group, Coronavirus Watch, to receive daily updates in your feed and chat with others in the community about COVID-19.
Contributing: The Associated Press