Moscow has described as “malicious slander” reports that fake bomb threats directed at polling locations in four battleground states in the United States election – Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin – originated from Russian email domains and were part of an interference operation.
Several polling sites targeted by the scares in Georgia were briefly evacuated on Tuesday.
“None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in a statement, noting that many of the hoax bomb warnings “appear to originate from Russian email domains”.
An FBI official said that Georgia received more than two dozen threats, most of which occurred in Fulton County, which encompasses much of Atlanta, a Democratic Party stronghold.
Threats against 32 of the 177 polling stations in Fulton County, Georgia, led to five locations being briefly evacuated. The locations re-opened after about 30 minutes, officials said, and the county was seeking a court order to extend the location’s voting hours past the state-wide 7pm (00:00 GMT) deadline for closing.
The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains. None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far. https://t.co/j3YfajVK1m
About an hour before polls were to close, officials in DeKalb County, Georgia, said they received bomb threats against five polling places.
Officials in the overwhelmingly Democratic suburb said voting had been suspended at the locations until police confirmed there were no bombs. A court order would be sought to extend voting, which is routine in Georgia when a polling place is disrupted, officials said.
Bomb threats were also sent to two polling locations in Wisconsin’s state capital Madison, but did not disrupt voting, the head of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Ann Jacobs said.
A spokesperson for Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state, said there had been reports of bomb threats at several polling locations, but none was credible. Benson’s office had been notified that the threats may be tied to Russia, the spokesperson said.
Adrian Fontes, a Democrat and Arizona’s secretary of state, the chief election official in the swing state, said four fake bomb threats had also been delivered to polling sites in Navajo County, Arizona.
Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger laid the blame directly on Russia.
“They’re up to mischief, it seems. They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election, and if they can get us to fight among ourselves, they can count that as a victory,” Raffensperger told reporters.
The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC said insinuations about Russian interference in the election were “malicious slander”.
“We would like to emphasise that Russia has not interfered and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including the United States. As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed, we respect the will of the American people,” the embassy said.
US intelligence officials have accused Russia of interfering in previous US presidential elections, especially through cyber-operations in the 2016 race which the current Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, won against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The US later indicted 12 Russian military intelligence officers for their alleged roles in interfering in the 2016 election.
A senior US cyber official said her agency had not seen any significant incidents on this Election Day.
Cait Conley, of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters there had been little evidence of significant disruption to election infrastructure.
“At this point, we are not currently tracking any national level significant incidents impacting security of our election infrastructure,” said Conley, whose agency is responsible for protecting critical American infrastructure, including election infrastructure.
In a race against time, United States presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have traversed the nation’s swing states in a bid to woo undecided voters and bag crucial Electoral College votes that could decide the winner of the 2024 US election.
Even if both White House hopefuls secure their traditional blue (Democratic) and red (Republican) states, the Electoral College votes from those are unlikely to be enough for either candidate to reach the magic number of 270 needed to cross the threshold to victory.
This year, the seven closely watched swing states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina.
Here’s a brief look at some of the key issues shaping the swing states and both candidates’ stance on them:
(Al Jazeera)
Arizona: Immigration
Since 1952, Arizona has voted Republican in all but one election (1996) before Joe Biden flipped it in 2020 for the Democrats.
This time, polls show Trump leading marginally.
Arizona is a border state, and many polls have shown immigration and border control as key issues for many of its residents. In a May poll by CBS News, for instance, 52 percent of the respondents said recently arrived immigrants from Mexico had worsened living conditions for them.
Here is how both candidates plan to tackle immigration and border security:
Harris on immigration
Vice President Harris believes the US immigration system is “broken” and in need of “comprehensive reform”. While she has pledged support for a border security bill that would increase detection technology to intercept drugs and has promised to add 1,500 border security agents, Harris has also promised an “earned pathway to citizenship” and an increase in the number of employment-based and family visas.
Trump on immigration
Overall, Trump blames immigrants for rising housing, education and healthcare costs.
Trump’s plans include deporting millions of undocumented migrants by force, sealing the border to stop the “migrant invasion” by using the military on the US-Mexico border, and constructing detention facilities.
The former president wants to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires asylum seekers to stay in Mexico until their immigration cases have been resolved. Trump also wants to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented parents.
The Republican candidate wants to impose ideological screening of immigrants but has proposed automatic green cards for foreign graduates of US universities.
Georgia: Cost of living
Traditionally a Republican stronghold, this southern state went Democratic in 2020 – but only just. The votes in Georgia were counted three times, including once by hand, but that did not stop Trump from controversially attempting to overturn the results.
This time, perceptions about the state of the economy could determine how Georgia votes. A September poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, in partnership with the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, found that 41 percent of Georgia’s voters viewed the economy as the single biggest issue for them.
How do both candidates propose to ease the burden of inflation – which is not yet down to pre-COVID-19 levels?
Harris on cost of living
Harris has promised to cut taxes for “more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans” by restoring Child Tax Credits and Earned Income Tax Credits. She has also pledged to increase Long-Term Capital Gains Tax from 20 percent to 28 percent, and the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent to pay for this.
In order to help lower the cost of living, the vice president has proposed a federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries.
Trump on cost of living
Trump has pledged to “end inflation” and significantly increase the Child Tax Credit while cutting government spending and bringing down the corporate tax rate to 15 percent.
Michigan: Israel’s war on Gaza
The state of Michigan was a key stop in Vice President Harris’s last stretch of campaigning and here is why: Harris wanted to make a last-ditch effort to win over the continent’s largest Arab-American community that has been angered by the Biden-Harris administration’s unequivocal support for Israel in its war on Gaza.
While pre-poll numbers show Harris with a slender lead in the state, Trump will hope that his “Muslim supporters” will help him win in Michigan.
More than 100,000 uncommitted voters in the state have declared that they will not endorse Harris or Trump and some may opt for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, who has pledged to press for a ceasefire and halt weapons sales to Israel.
Harris on Gaza
While Harris has promised to work towards ending the war in Gaza, “allow Palestinians to realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”, she has also backed Israel’s “right to defend itself” and has rejected an arms embargo on the US ally in the Middle East.
Trump on Gaza
Trump has not revealed specific details about what he would do on the issue of Gaza. However, during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July, Trump urged the Israeli leader to “get his victory” over Hamas. He said the killings in Gaza had to stop but that Netanyahu “knows what he’s doing”.
That rhetoric is in line with Trump’s actions during his first run as president. His government recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, prompting anger among Palestinians. He negotiated “normalisation” deals between Israel and several Arab nations under the Abraham Accords and he pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel also opposed.
However, he has also argued that he will push for peace – and get it.
Pennsylvania: Fracking
President Joe Biden’s home state of Pennsylvania offers 19 Electoral College votes, the most among battleground states – and could prove to be the state that determines who wins the election.
In recent days, Harris has gained ground there, according to Democratic strategist Anish Mohanty. “Things have changed in this election over the last few days and the vice president has pulled off her campaign effectively,” Mohanty told Al Jazeera shortly after polls opened on the East Coast. Mohanty alluded to racist remarks against Puerto Rico by a comedian at a Trump rally recently as a turning point for the campaign: Pennsylvania is home to more than 480,000 Puerto Ricans.
But in addition to concerns over political divisiveness, immigration, the state of the economy and abortion, Pennsylvanians are concerned about an issue specific to their state: Fracking.
Fracking is a form of oil and gas production that environmentalists say is bad for the environment but which is the source of a huge number of jobs around the state. The practice causes earth tremors and has a high environmental cost since the procedure consumes large amounts of water, in addition to releasing methane, a greenhouse gas.
An October poll found that the state’s residents are divided on fracking: 58 percent backed it, while 42 percent opposed it.
Harris on fracking
Harris famously opposed fracking when she ran for president four years ago but in late July, her campaign officials confirmed that she will not seek to ban fracking if elected.
Harris wrapped up her campaign with a final, glitzy event in Philadelphia, where iconic talk show host Oprah Winfrey introduced her.
The vice president called on “everyone” in Pennsylvania to vote.
“You are going to make the difference in this election,” she told her supporters.
Trump on fracking
Meanwhile, Trump supports fracking and has said he will once again withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will also remove environmental regulations, such as restrictions on fossil fuel production, deemed “burdensome”. He had withdrawn from the Paris pact during his first term – President Joe Biden had recommitted the US to the agreement when he came to power.
Wisconsin: Healthcare
Up until 2016, Wisconsin had been a reliably blue state for decades, but Trump was able to spring a surprise, beating Hillary Clinton by wooing mostly white, working-class voters who were unhappy about wages, poverty and rising healthcare costs.
Four years later, Biden was able to bring the state back into the Democratic Party’s fold.
This time, multiple opinion polls have suggested that healthcare is the most pressing issue for voters, in a state that has been badly affected by the country’s opioid crisis.
Harris on healthcare
Harris has said she will lower the cost of pharmaceutical drugs, strengthen the Affordable Care Act, and lower healthcare premiums. If elected, she will also work with states to cancel medical debt for more people, she has promised.
Trump on healthcare
On the other hand, Trump says he is “looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act, which he calls too expensive.
Nevada: Unemployment
While Nevada has the fewest Electoral College votes – six – among the swing states, they could still be crucial in such a close race.
Nevada suffers from the highest unemployment rate among all US states – only Washington, DC has a higher joblessness rate – as well as high costs of living.
Harris on unemployment
Harris has promised to review which federal jobs require a college degree if elected president.
“We need to get in front of this idea that only high-skilled jobs require college degrees,” Harris said at a rally in October, promising she would tackle this on “day one” of her presidency.
Trump on unemployment
At his October rally in Nevada, Trump promised to tackle inflation, but in a more recent rally this month, did not address the issue of unemployment.
Al Jazeera’s John Holman, who attended Trump’s November rally in Nevada, noted that while Trump concentrated on migration, the primary concern for voters in Nevada is the economy.
“This is the state with the highest unemployment in the US. It’s been hit hard with inflation. Gas prices, in particular, are high, and it’s a state that has never completely recovered from the pandemic,” Holman said.
North Carolina: Abortion
North Carolina is the only one of this year’s swing states to have been won by Trump in 2020 and although Harris does not necessarily need to win North Carolina, any scenario in which she does will make her path to 270 a lot easier.
Trump can also get to 270 without North Carolina but doing so will be very difficult.
Abortion is a key issue in the state, according to polls. The state reduced the legal limit for abortions from 20 weeks of pregnancy to just 12 weeks in 2023 after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade court ruling granting the right to abortion.
The ruling left the issue largely unresolved and turned the current election into a referendum on fundamental rights for women.
Democrats are hoping that the issue of abortion will motivate white women, who have historically favoured Republicans and 60 percent of whom voted for Trump in 2020, to now vote for Harris instead.
Harris on abortion
The vice president, hoping to become the first female president in the country’s history, has said she will prevent a national abortion ban from becoming law and will sign any bill passed by Congress that restores the legality of abortion nationwide.
Trump on abortion
Meanwhile, Trump has said abortion laws are for individual states to decide and said he will not sign a national abortion ban. However, he has not signalled that he would oppose states – like North Carolina – adopting restrictive measures against reproductive rights.
Much attention has been paid to the historic race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, but the results of down-ballot elections will determine whether the new president will actually be able to implement a legislative agenda next year.
With Republicans defending a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats to wrest back control of the lower chamber, and both parties are going all out to win.
Here are tenHouse races to watch this year:
Arizona’s first congressional district
Republican incumbent David Schweikert is running for re-election in this toss-up district, which covers north-east Phoenix and Scottsdale. As one of 16 House Republicans representing districts that JoeBiden won in 2020, Schweikert is vulnerable, and Democrats have identified the seat as one of its top targets this year.
After post-2020 redistricting moved the district to the left, physician Amish Shah won a crowded Democratic primary there in July. Given that Schweikert secured re-election by less than one point in 2022 and a recent Democratic internal poll showed the two candidates virtually tied, this race will be a hard-fought sprint to the finish line.
California’s 45th congressional district
Republican congresswoman Michelle Steel has emerged victorious from some tough political battles in the past, as she won re-election by five points in 2022, but Democrats hope to bring an end to that winning streak this year.
A recent poll showed Democrat Derek Tran with a narrow lead over Steel in this district, which covers parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties. The Cook Political Report gives Democrats a two-point advantage in the district, but Steel has proven adept at overcoming difficult odds.
Iowa’s third congressional district
Freshman Republican Zach Nunn was previously favored to win re-election in this Des Moines area district that Trump narrowly carried in 2020. Nunn flipped the seat in 2020 after defeating incumbent Democrat Cindy Axne by less than one point.
This time around, Harris is in a strong position to win the district, and Democrat Lanon Baccam’s strong fundraising record has helped put the seat in play for his party.
Maine’s second congressional district
Democratic incumbent Jared Golden is running for a fourth term in this perpetual swing district that Republicans have repeatedly tried and failed to flip. Golden defeated former Republican congressman Bruce Poliquin by six points in 2022, even though Trump carried the district by six points two years earlier, according to data compiled by Daily Kos.
But this time around, Republicans believe they have a strong candidate in Austin Theriault, a state representative and former professional racecar driver who held a slight lead over Golden in a recent poll. Golden has proven politically resilient in this right-leaning district, so a loss could point to broader electoral problems for Democrats in November.
Michigan’s seventh congressional district
Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin’s decision to run for Senate has created an opening in this bellwether district, which both parties have identified as a key target this year.
Former Republican state senator Tom Barrett is running again after losing the 2022 election to Slotkin by six points, and he will face former Democratic state senator Curtis Hertel. The Cook Political Report has described the district as “the most competitive open seat in the country”, so the results here could have much broader implications in the battle for the House.
Nebraska’s second congressional district
This district will play a key role in both the presidential race and the battle for the House. Like Maine, Nebraska allocates a portion of its electoral votes based on congressional districts, and Harris is favored to win the electoral vote of the second district.
With more attention on the second district because of the presidential race, Republican incumbent Don Bacon is facing some tough headwinds in his re-election bid. Bacon defeated Democrat Tony Vargas by just three points in 2022, and recentpolls show Vargas opening up a small lead in this year’s rematch.
North Carolina’s first congressional district
Freshman Democratic congressman Don Davis is running for re-election in this north-eastern North Carolina district, which shifted to the right after the latest round of redistricting.
Much to the relief of Republican strategists, Laurie Buckhout won the congressional nomination over Sandy Smith, a hard-right firebrandwho lost to Davis by five points in 2022.
Republicans are hopeful that Buckhout’s impressive résumé as an army veteran and founder of her own consulting firm, combined with the more favorable district lines, will be enough to unseat Davis. But the incumbent held a six-point lead over his Republican challenger as of late September, one survey found.
New York’s 17th congressional district
Mike Lawler made headlines when he defeated incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney, then the chair of House Democrats’ campaign arm, by less than one point in 2022. This year, Maloney will face off against former Democratic congressman Mondaire Jones in this Hudson valley district that went for Biden in 2020.
Lawler did not get dealt the worst hand from New York’s redistricting process; that distinction goes to fellow Republican freshman Brandon Williams, whose Syracuse-area seat went from Biden +7 to Biden +11, according to the Cook Political Report.
All the same, Lawler will face stiff competition in a race that will be closely watched for broader electoral trends in November. If he cannot hold on to the seat, it could spell trouble for Republicans up and down the ballot.
Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district
This seat may be harder for Democrats to flip, as the Cook Political Report gives Republicans a five-point advantage in the district. The hard-right views of Republican incumbent Scott Perry, who allegedly played a “central” role in Trump’s campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, could allow Democrat Janelle Stelson to pull off an upset.
Stelson, a former local news anchor, has focused her pitch on attacking Perry as a symbol of a dysfunctional Congress, and her message appears to be resonating with voters. One poll conducted in October showed Stelson leading by nine points, forcing Perry’s allies to allocate more funding to the race.
Virginia’s seventh congressional district
Democrat Eugene Vindman, who first attracted national attention for his role in Trump’s first impeachment trial, is facing a tougher than expected fight in this Virginia district that covers some of the Washington exurbs.
Democrats are looking to hold the seat, which was left open after congresswoman Abigail Spanberger chose to launch a gubernatorial campaign rather than seek re-election.
Internal polls show Vindman running neck-and-neck with his opponent, Republican Derrick Anderson, despite the Democrat’s hefty fundraising advantage. A loss in this bellwether district, which Biden won by seven points in 2020, could spell trouble for Democrats’ hopes of retaking the House.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — It’s been more than three decades since Nevada voters overwhelmingly approved a law allowing abortions until 24 weeks of pregnancy. Now they must decide if they want to make it a constitutional right.
Nevada is one of nine states where abortion rights are on the ballot, as supporters in the state and elsewhere try to strengthen abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that made abortion legal nationwide for 50 years.
It’s a key issue that could drive voters to the polls in Nevada, a crucial presidential battleground, even if abortion access has been protected by state law since 1990.
Here’s a closer look at the key ballot measures in Nevada:
Abortion rights
The 2024 election is only the first test of the measure seeking to enshrine the right to an abortion until the fetus can survive outside the womb, known as “fetal viability” which doctors say is after 21 weeks, with exceptions to save the mother’s life or protect her health. Voters would again have to approve it in 2026 in order to amend the state constitution.
It wouldn’t expand current abortion access in the state, but supporters and organizers of the initiative say it adds an extra layer of protection. State laws in Nevada are more vulnerable to change — the current 1990 law could be reversed by another voter referendum — but proposed changes to the state constitution have to pass in two consecutive elections.
Las Vegas resident Laura Campbell, 36, said she supports the initiative to strengthen Nevada’s abortion access. Without it, Campbell said she isn’t sure she would be alive today.
At 27 weeks, she said she learned that her pregnancy was nonviable, meaning the fetus couldn’t survive outside her womb. Her doctor took her hand and promised to take care of her.
“I was able to come out of that healthy and able to get pregnant again,” Campbell said. A year later, she gave birth to her daughter, now 3. “I could have been a tragic story.”
Opponents say the proposed amendment goes too far because it doesn’t clearly define “fetal viability.”
“It opens up a huge can of worms,” Davida Rochelle, 68, said.
Anti-abortion group Nevada Right to Life also said in a recent ad that the initiative is “deceptively worded” because it doesn’t make clear that abortion is already legal in the state.
Voting process
Two different measures going before voters could alter the way Nevada residents cast their ballots.
An initiative to open up primaries and implement ranked choice voting would fundamentally change elections in a key swing state where nonpartisan voters outnumber registered Democrats and Republicans, and where 42% of voters do not belong to one of the major parties. Supporters of the measure say opening up primaries would give a voice to more than 1 million voters in the state who currently do not have a say in the nomination of major-party candidates for Congressional races and statewide office.
If it passes, all registered voters in Nevada starting in 2026 can vote in primary races for Congress, statewide office and the state Legislature. It would not affect presidential primaries and races for elected office at the local level.
Under the proposed system, the top five primary candidates, regardless of their political affiliation, would move on to the general election, in which voters would rank by preference up to five candidates. The first candidate to receive more than 50% of the vote would be declared the winner.
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If none of the candidates immediately win the majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes would then be redistributed to the voter’s next highest ranked candidate. The process would repeat until a winner is declared.
The citizen-led initiative has faced opposition from both Republican and Democratic party leaders who say ranked choice voting is too confusing.
Another measure on the ballot would require that voters show photo identification at the polls. It’s the first time the Republican-led measure is going before voters and would have to again pass in 2026.
Slavery as punishment
Nevada voters this election could vote to reject slavery or indentured servitude as a criminal punishment, which is still on the books in the state constitution.
Around 10,000 people are currently imprisoned in Nevada. Some make as little as 35 cents an hour.
There is no formal opposition against the proposed amendment.
Latinos have grown at the second-fastest rate of any major racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate since the last presidential election. An estimated 36.2 million are eligible to vote this year, up from 32.3 million in 2020. This represents 50% of the total growth in eligible voters during this time.
Every year, about 1.4 million Hispanics in the U.S. become eligible to vote.
Although then-President Donald Trump made gains among Hispanics in 2020, a majority of Latino voters (59%) voted for current President Joe Biden that year, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of validated voters. In presidential elections, turnout rates among Hispanic Americans have typically trailed those of some other groups.
As the next presidential election approaches, here are five key facts about Hispanic eligible voters in the United States, based on our own projections for 2024, as well as Census Bureau data for previous years. (Eligible voters in this analysis are defined as citizens ages 18 and older residing in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Not all eligible voters are actually registered to vote. Detailed demographic information about Hispanic eligible voters is available in the drop-down box at the bottom of this post.)
This post is one in a series that explores the eligible voter population in the United States in 2024. For this analysis, we examine the detailed demographics and geographic distribution of Hispanic Americans who were eligible to vote in the U.S. in 2022, with projections of the eligible voter population in November 2024.
“Eligible voters” refers to U.S. citizens ages 18 and over. The analysis focuses on persons living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In this analysis, Hispanics are those who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino and can be of any race; the Black and Asian populations include persons identifying with only one race, more than one race and both Hispanics and non-Hispanics.
The analysis is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Surveys from 2022, 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2008, and the 2000 U.S. decennial census provided through Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) from the University of Minnesota.
Projections for November 2024 are based on population projections by race, Hispanic origin and nativity developed by the Census Bureau together with data from the American Community Surveys (IPUMS) of 2010-2022. Projected values of the share who are U.S. citizens by age are based on trends drawn from the 2010-2022 American Community Surveys (IPUMS).
Read other posts in this series
Latinos are projected to account for 14.7% of all eligible voters in November 2024, a new high. This share has steadily increased over the past two decades and is up from 13.6% in 2020. In 2000, by comparison, Hispanics made up just 7.4% of U.S. eligible voters.
The number of Hispanic eligible voters has increased from 32.3 million in 2020 to a projected 36.2 million in November 2024. This in turn is a 153% increase since 2000, when 14.3 million Hispanics were eligible.
California is home to a quarter of all Hispanic eligible voters. Some 8.5 million out of the nation’s 33.7 million Hispanic eligible voters, or 25%, lived in California as of 2022. The next biggest states by number of Latino eligible voters are Texas (6.5 million), Florida (3.5 million), New York (2.2 million) and Arizona (1.3 million).
Together, these five states hold about two-thirds (65%) of all Hispanic eligible voters.
In New Mexico, 45% of all eligible voters are Latino, the highest share of any state. New Mexico is also the only state in which Latinos make up a higher share of the total eligible voter population than any other racial or ethnic group. This includes Americans who are White alone and non-Hispanic, who account for 40% of New Mexico’s eligible voters.
In California and Texas, Hispanics are about a third of the eligible voter population (33% and 32%, respectively).
California and Texas are also the only states where non-Hispanics who are White and no other race make up a plurality, but not a majority, of the eligible voter population (42% in California and 47% in Texas). In both states, Hispanics hold the second-highest share among major racial and ethnic groups.
The states with the next-largest Latino shares of eligible voters are Arizona (25%), Nevada (22%), Florida (22%), Colorado (17%) and New Jersey (16%).
A narrow majority of Latinos in the U.S. are eligible to vote. A little over half of all Latinos (53%) were eligible to vote in 2022.
But the share varies widely by states with a Latino population of 50,000 or more. In New Mexico, 66% of Hispanics are eligible to vote. By contrast, Tennessee (36%) and Maryland (39%) had the lowest percentage of Latinos among eligible voters.
Latinos are considerably less likely than Americans overall to be eligible to vote (53% vs. 72%). This is partly because the nation’s Latino population includes a large number of people who are too young to vote or who are not U.S. citizens:
29% of Latinos are under 18, compared with 22% of the U.S. overall.
19% of Latinos are not U.S. citizens, compared with 6% of the total U.S. population.
Latino immigrants who are not eligible to vote include permanent residents (green card holders) and those in the process of becoming permanent residents; those in the U.S. on temporary visas; and unauthorized immigrants.
Hispanic eligible voters tend to be younger than eligible voters overall. Only 33% of Latino eligible voters are ages 50 and older, compared with 48% of all U.S. eligible voters.
Latino eligible voters differ from the broader electorate in other ways, too. For example, 21% of Hispanic eligible voters have a bachelor’s degree or more education, compared with 33% of U.S. eligible voters overall.
Detailed data on Hispanic eligible voters by state in 2022
Police escorts, sealed containers and chain of custody documentation: These are some of the measures that Pennsylvania counties take to secure ballots while they are transported from polling places to county facilities after polls close on Election Day.
The exact protocols vary by county. For instance, in Berks County, poll workers will transport ballots in sealed boxes back to the county elections office, where they will be locked in a secure room, according to Stephanie Nojiri, assistant director of elections for the county located east of Harrisburg.
In Philadelphia, local law enforcement plays a direct role in gathering ballots from polling places.
“Philadelphia police officers will travel to polling places across the city after the polls close and collect those ballots to be transported back to our headquarters at the end of the night,” said Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein, who serves on the board that oversees elections in the city. “Each precinct is given a large canvas bag, and the containers that hold the ballots are placed into that bag and transported by the police.”
After polls close in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, poll workers will transport ballots in locked, sealed bags to regional reporting centers, where the election results are recorded, said David Voye, division manager of the county’s elections division.
From there, county police escort the ballots to a warehouse where they are stored in locked cages that are on 24-hour surveillance.
Poll workers and county election officials also utilize chain of custody paperwork to document the transfer of ballots as they are moved from polling places to secure county facilities.
For instance, in Allegheny County, chain of custody forms are used to verify how many used and unused ballots poll workers are returning to county officials, Voye said. Officials also check the seals on the bags used to transport the ballots to confirm that they are still intact.
There are similar security procedures for counties that use ballot drop boxes to collect mail and absentee ballots. In Berks County, sheriff’s deputies monitor the county’s three drop boxes during the day, according to Nojiri. When county elections officials come to empty the drop boxes, which are secured by four locks, they unlock two of the locks, while the sheriff’s deputies unlock the other two.
Officials remove the ballots, count them, record the number of ballots on a custody sheet, and put the ballots in a sealed box before they transported back to the county’s processing center.
“There’s all kinds of different custody sheets and all that, again, is reconciled in the days after the election,” Nojiri said.
Philadelphia has 34 ballot drop boxes, which are emptied daily and twice on Election Day by election workers, according to Bluestein. The bags used for transporting ballots from drop boxes are also sealed, and workers who are returning these ballots complete and sign a chain of custody form.
“The transportation of ballots is done in a secure, controlled manner, and the public should have confidence in the integrity of that ballot collection process,” Bluestein said.
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This story is part of an explanatory series focused on Pennsylvania elections produced collaboratively by WITF in Harrisburg and The Associated Press.
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The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here.
Donald Trump began hurtling through four Maga rallies across three battleground states – and delivered a dark and dystopian speech about the supposed “migrant invasion” of murderers and drug dealers – while Kamala Harris put all her last chips on Pennsylvania in a frantic final day of campaigning from both candidates.
With the polls showing the contest essentially deadlocked between two vastly different political visions, both the ex-president and the vice-president were scrambling on Monday to drive home their message. Though early voting has smashed records across the country, there is still everything to play for in cajoling undecided and unengaged voters to the polls on election day.
Trump began in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he took to a sports arena on Monday morning to deliver what is likely to be one of his last speeches as a presidential candidate. In a 90-minute address dominated by his virulent stance on immigration, he announced that if elected he would impose a new round of tariffs against Mexico unless it stopped the passage of undocumented migrants across the southern border.
He threatened Claudia Sheinbaum, the newly ensconced Mexican president, that he would impose tariffs on all Mexican goods coming into the US. “I’m going to inform her on day one or sooner, that if they don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country, I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send into” the US, he said.
In an impressive display of stamina for a 78-year-old, Trump was scheduled to stage four rallies by the end of the final day of campaigning. After Raleigh he is set to address two back-to-back rallies in the supremely important battleground of Pennsylvania, in Reading and Pittsburgh.
During his address in Reading on Monday afternoon, Trump implored attenders to hit the polls on election day, saying “we have to turn out and vote tomorrow, we’re going to vote, vote, vote”.
“You built this country, I have to tell you, you’re going to save this country, too because you know, if we win Pennsylvania – not me – if we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax,” Trump said later.
Trump asked those in attendance: “are you better off now than you were four years ago?” He then quickly swooped into promises of prosperity and invoked racist tropes about immigrants.
“With your vote tomorrow, I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals coming into this country, and I’ll bring back the American dream.”
He will close out his conversation with American voters with a late-night event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In contrast to Trump’s three-state dash, Harris was putting all her last chips on Pennsylvania. She started in Scranton, a quizzical location to kick off the final day given it is the birthplace of Joe Biden from whom she has tentatively been attempting to disassociate herself in recent days.
Next, she appeared in Allentown, a majority Latino city in the heart of the Lehigh Valley, one of the most competitive parts of the state. Speaking in a college gymnasium, she was preceded by a series of speakers who appealed directly and bluntly to the area’s Puerto Rican population and asked them for their vote.
“I stand here proud of my longstanding commitment to Puerto Rico and her people and I will be a president for all Americans,” she said. Her Allentown rally was the first of three rallies in Pennsylvania on Monday, the only state she is visiting, underscoring its importance to her campaign.
Her comments came after almost all of the speakers directly appealed to Puerto Rican voters, highlighting the racist joke a comedian made at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rall in which he called Puerto Rico a floating “island of garbage”.
Harris did not mention Trump at all by name during her remarks, which lasted just under half an hour. But she did allude to ushering in a new era of politics, and she urged Pennsylvanians to make a plan to vote.
“We have the opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of politics that has been driven by fear and division – we’re done with that,” she said. “America is ready for a fresh start.”
Elizabeth Slaby, an 81-year-old, was the first person in line for the rally. She arrived at about 6am. She was a registered Republican for more than 50 years, but after the attack on the US Capitol, she changed her voter registration.
“I never thought I’d see a woman president and now I’m so, so excited,” she said.
Then she will make an appearance in Allentown and Pittsburgh, before culminating her unexpected bid for the White House in Philadelphia. Her last word will be issued from the legendary steps of the Museum of Art, immortalised by Sylvester Stallone in the 1976 film Rocky, where she will be joined by a host of celebrities including Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.
In the final hours of the race Trump has been showing signs of wear and tear. His voice is hoarse, he looks tired and his energy levels are relatively low.
“The voice is holding up, just about barely,” he told the Raleigh crowd.
Trump spent much of his Raleigh speech veering off his scripted remarks and embarking on long verbal rambles, which he has called his “weave” and claimed was a sign of his “genius”. His peregrinations included the anti-climb panels he ordered to build his border wall, his wife Melania’s bestselling book, Elon Musk’s rocket launches, the grass that was growing on Nasa runways before he came along, and air conditioning and steam baths for dogs.
Women cheer for Donald Trump during a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Trump denigrated leading Democrats, starting with his presidential rival. He called Harris “low IQ” and in a bizarre riff imagined her “turning, tossing, sweating” in her sleep.
He also called Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the US House, “crazy as a bedbug”, Barack Obama the “great divider”, and said he was waiting to “hit back” against the former first lady Michelle Obama after she had criticised him.
But the thrust of his closing argument was focused on immigration, and the supposed 21 million unauthorised migrants – “many of them murderers” – whom he claimed had been let into the US by the Biden administration. Even for a presidential candidate who has centered his campaign in anti-immigrant rhetoric, his closing remarks were dire.
“They’re killing people. They’re killing people at will,” he said, giving gruesome details of specific murders committed by undocumented migrants. “They just walk right into our country and they kill people.”
Trump’s Raleigh stop marked his final appearance in North Carolina, a critical battleground state that he needs to win if he is to have a clear shot on returning to the White House. Though Democrats have only won the presidential race here twice since Jimmy Carter in 1976 (the other time being Barack Obama in 2008), Harris is running neck and neck against Trump.
The Guardian poll tracker shows Trump ahead by just one point – well within the margin of error.
In tune with the rest of the country, North Carolinians have been voting early in historic numbers. More than 4 million have already cast their ballots, substantially more than in 2020 and 2016, with the party alignment roughly evenly split between Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters.
As part of his last push to secure victory on election day, Trump repeated the lie that the Biden administration and the federal disaster agency Fema had done nothing to help stricken families in western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. Even that falsehood was tied to immigration.
“Fema did a horrible job,” Trump said. “The administration, they’re still not there. You know why? Because they’ve spent all their money on bringing in murderers. They spent all their money on bringing in illegal migrants.”
In fact, Fema’s budget for housing undocumented migrants is ringfenced and has no impact on the agency’s work dealing with disasters. Fema is channeling millions of dollars of federal money to the hurricane-hit region.
Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage:
A presidential campaign that has careened through a felony trial, an incumbent president being pushed off the ticket and multiple assassination attempts comes down to a final sprint across a handful of states on Election Day eve.
A presidential campaign that has careened through a felony trial, an incumbent president being pushed off the ticket and multiple assassination attempts comes down to a final sprint across a handful of states on Election Day eve.
Published [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]
Here are the presidential candidates’ positions on the economy, immigration, foreign policy and more.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have spent months pitching their different visions for the United States.
The presidential candidates, representing the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, diverge on most of the policies advocated to solve the country’s problems while only agreeing on some.
Al Jazeera has taken a closer look at their campaign platforms and promises to compare their positions on the key issues facing the US.
Economy and Manufacturing
Kamala Harris:
Cut taxes for “more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans” by restoring Child Tax Credits and Earned Income Tax Credits
Increase long-term capital gains tax from 20 percent to 28 percent, and corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent
Federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries
Focus on Harris’s ‘Opportunity Economy Agenda’, which the campaign frames as a “plan to help small businesses and entrepreneurs innovate and grow”
A goal of 25 million new business applications in her first term by raising startup expense tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000
Resist “unfair trade practices” from China or any other country “that undermines American workers”
Ensure the US is a leader in the “industries of the future”, such as semiconductors, clean energy and artificial intelligence
Would consider significantly increasing the child tax credit
Cut government spending
US becomes the biggest energy producer in the world “by far”, and brings down the cost of energy
Bring supply chains to the US, stop outsourcing, turn the US into a “manufacturing superpower”
Prevent the importing of Chinese-made vehicles and protecting the US automobile industry
Nativist economic policy – “Buy American, hire American”
Increase tariffs on foreign-made goods, while bringing down taxes
Immigration
Harris:
Says immigration system is “broken”, and needs “comprehensive reform”
Supports border security bill that would increase detection technology to intercept drugs
Add 1,500 border security agents
Provide an “earned pathway to citizenship”
Increase legal immigration by increasing the number of employment-based and family visas
Trump:
Deport millions of undocumented migrants in the “largest deportation operation in American history” using military and National Guard
“Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” by using military troops on the US-Mexico border and constructing detention facilities there, reinstate ‘Remain in Mexico’, which forces asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico until their immigration court cases have been resolved
End birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents
Impose ideological screening of immigrants
Proposed automatic green cards for foreign graduates of US universities
Blames immigration for rising housing, education and healthcare costs
Housing
Harris:
Build three million affordable homes
Reduce regulations to make it faster to build homes
Penalise companies that hoard homes and drive prices up
Provide first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 for downpayments
Trump:
Reduce mortgage rates by bringing down inflation
Open up some federal land for homebuilding
Reduce housing costs by reducing the number of immigrants, who Trump blames for rising prices
Workers’ rights
Harris:
Sign pro-union legislation such as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which would limit the power of employers to interfere in trade unions, as well as protecting striking workers
End taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers
Fight to raise the minimum wage and end sub-minimum wages for tipped workers
Both Trump and running mate JD Vance reject the PRO Act, Trump has floated the idea of firing workers who are on strike
Foreign policy
Harris:
Protect US forces and interests “from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups”, and ensure Iran never becomes a nuclear power
Back Israel’s “right to defend itself”, and ensure Israel has the ability to do so, rejecting the arms embargo
Work to end the war in Gaza, “allow Palestinians to realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”
Stay ahead of China and hold it responsible for human rights violations, while supporting “Taiwan’s ability to defend itself”. Opposes pulling out of an economic relationship with China, instead focusing on “protecting American interests”
Support Ukraine against Russia for “as long as it takes”
Trump:
“Peace through strength” that will “prevent World War Three”
Focus on the threat of China and “secure strategic independence” from China while revoking Beijing’s “most favoured nation” status. Trump has also said that he wants a “good relationship” with China and has praised President Xi Jinping, saying Taiwan should pay for US protection
Stand with Israel, seek peace in the Middle East
End the war in Ukraine, no commitment for additional aid for Ukraine against Russia
Crime and Justice
Harris:
Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, while requiring more background checks and supporting red flag laws that prevent guns from getting into the hands of “dangerous people”
Invest in law enforcement
End opioid epidemic
No presidential immunity for crimes committed while in office
Supreme Court reforms, including requiring Justices to comply with ethics rules and imposing term limits
Trump:
Stop the “migrant crime epidemic”
Defeat foreign drug cartels and end gang violence, called for the death penalty for drug dealers
Provide police with immunity from prosecution
Supported rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders in line with criminal justice reform law passed during his presidency
Environment
Harris:
Build on Inflation Reduction Act, which included green initiatives designed to tackle climate change
Continue US global leadership on the climate
“Fight for the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis”
Trump:
Withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Cancel electric vehicle mandates
Remove environmental regulations, such as restrictions on fossil fuel production, deemed “burdensome”
Push back against the Inflation Reduction Act
Push for nuclear energy
Education
Harris:
Ensure affordability of childcare and preschool for children
End the “unreasonable burden of student loan debt” and make higher education more affordable
Oppose private school vouchers and tuition tax credits
Trump:
Close the Department of Education, make the states responsible for education
Has proposed giving money to families to spend on private school tuition and homeschooling
Cut federal funding for schools pushing “critical race theory” and “radical gender ideology”
Deport “pro-Hamas radicals”, make “college campuses safe and patriotic again”
Abortion
Harris:
Prevent national abortion ban from becoming law
Will sign any bill passed by Congress that restores the legality of abortion nationwide
Trump:
Says abortion is a state-level issue, and has said he will not sign a national abortion ban, but did not say whether he would veto any law passed by Congress
Healthcare
Harris:
Lower the cost of pharmaceutical drugs, extend $35 cap on insulin to all Americans
Strengthen Affordable Care Act, and lower healthcare premiums
Work with states to cancel medical debt for more people
Guaranteed right to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), warned against some Republican efforts to restrict it
Trump:
Says he is “looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act, which he calls too expensive
Supports increased access to IVF
Would “probably” disband the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, calling it “a very expensive solution”
Election laws
Harris:
Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Acts, which would enshrine voting rights protections and expand vote-by-mail and early voting
Trump:
Emphasises false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen
Calls for same-day voting, voter identification, paper ballots and proof of citizenship
