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Biden judge rules Iowa can check ballots of potential noncitizens in blow to ACLU

Biden judge rules Iowa can check ballots of potential noncitizens in blow to ACLU

A federal judge has allowed Iowa officials to continue disputing ballots cast by potential noncitizens, less than two days before Election Day. Judge Stephen Locher, an appointee of President Biden, ruled in favor of the Hawkeye State on Sunday. The state was being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of four recently-documented U.S. citizens and the League of Latin American Citizens of Iowa. Iowa officials, including Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, have recently been attempting to investigate over 2,000 names on voter rolls that may belong to noncitizens. During a press conference on Oct. 30, Pate said that officials “have questions” about noncitizens voting illegally, and that they “need answers.” NIKKI HALEY PENS SUPPORTIVE OP-ED IN FAVOR OF TRUMP AHEAD OF ELECTION DAY: ‘EASY CALL’ “That is why none of them have been taken off the voter rolls,” Pate said, according to the Des Moines Register. “But we do owe an obligation to make sure that they are citizens now.” “That’s why we’ve asked the county auditors, through the poll workers, to challenge those votes, to allow them to confirm their citizenship status, so that we can count their vote as well.” In the case, the ACLU had argued that the state’s efforts threaten the voting rights of recently-naturalized citizens. Judge Locher found that Iowa officials would not remove anyone from voting rolls, but instead require them to use provisional ballots. TRUMP CAMPAIGN CLARIFIES AFTER CANDIDATE JOKES ABOUT SHOOTING ‘THROUGH THE FAKE NEWS’ IN PENNSYLVANIA The ruling came a day after a shocking poll found that Vice President Kamala Harris has a three-point lead in Iowa, contrary to previous reports that Iowa is a safe red state. The Trump campaign disputed the results immediately, favoring Emerson College’s polls instead. “Emerson College, released today, far more closely reflects the state of the actual Iowa electorate and does so with far more transparency in their methodology,” the campaign memo read. The ACLU did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Massachusetts residents claim they’re being trolled with fake Harris postcards saying migrant family moving in

Massachusetts residents claim they’re being trolled with fake Harris postcards saying migrant family moving in

Residents in a Massachusetts community claim they’re being trolled with fake Kamala Harris campaign postcards informing them that a migrant family would be moving in with them because of their support for Vice President Harris. One of the residents of Shrewsbury told NBC10 Boston that she received the postcard after she put a sign in her yard supporting Harris and Tim Walz. “It really creeped me out,” the woman, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10. The postcard, made to look like mail from the Harris-Walz campaign, thanked her for putting up a sign and showing her support, and alerting her that a family from Nicaragua would be moving into her home. HARRIS ASKED HOW SHE’S ‘FEELING’ 48 HOURS FROM ELECTION, TELLS REPORTERS TRUMP ‘LOST’ IN 2020 “That’s when I realized it was an obvious attempt to try to either scare me or rage bait me and make me upset,” the woman explained. “It’s really sad that the country has come to this point where you can’t put a lawn sign out and support a candidate without being harassed with something like this.” Another Shrewsbury resident claimed to have received a similar postcard in the mail, except hers said she’d have a family of five from Guatemala moving in. “It makes me angry,” the woman, who also did not want to be identified, told NBC10. “But if the takeaway is ‘Don’t put up a lawn sign in support of a political candidate,’ I feel the exact opposite. Next time there’s an election, I’ll put up three signs in my yard.” KAMALA HARRIS BLASTED FOR ‘SCRIPTED’ SNL APPEARANCE DAYS BEFORE ELECTION The resident added that she reached out to the Shrewsbury Democratic Town Committee, which told her to file a police report. She was also advised to report it to the post office in case any federal mail laws may have been broken, NBC10 reported.  A third resident in the Shrewsbury community posted her postcard on Reddit, which matched similar wording from the other residents. “Thank you for supporting Kamala! We are so appreciative of you putting out a yard sign. But now we need your continued help,” the postcard reads. 105 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS YET TO DO FORMAL PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE The postcard is addressed to “Resident” with a Kamala Harris logo posted on the front of the postcard. “We will be moving a family of 4 from the country of Belize into your home on 11-3-2024. They will need food, toiletries, and transportation. Thank you!” the card reads. It is not clear where the postcards came from as there was no political organization or return address listed.  “Well, someone sure seems to be upset with my choice of yard sign. I thought it was pretty funny, so I decided to share it with you all. I could seriously use the help with the leaves, if true…,” the caption read on the Reddit post.  Democratic and Republican voters have expressed to Fox News that they believed that border security is a big issue this election cycle. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security said the terrorism threat environment in the U.S. will remain high over the next year, largely due in part to terror groups exploiting weaknesses at the southern border. “Over the next year, we expect some individuals with terrorism ties and some criminal actors will continue their efforts to exploit migration flows and the complex border security environment to enter the United States,” the DHS assessment stated in October. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign, Shrewsbury Police, and Shrewsbury Democratic Town Committee but did not immediately receive a response.  Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays contributed to this report. 

Georgia Republicans, Trump campaign file lawsuit to halt counties ‘illegally accepting’ early voting ballots

Georgia Republicans, Trump campaign file lawsuit to halt counties ‘illegally accepting’ early voting ballots

Georgia Republicans and former President Trump’s campaign say that they are continuing to take legal action against “coordinated efforts” by Democrat-heavy counties to accept ballots after the early voting period ended.  A statement from the Georgia Republican Party, which was obtained by FOX Business on Sunday, detailed the party’s latest efforts to stop counties from counting ballots that were hand-delivered over the weekend.  The lawsuit names seven counties: Clayton County, Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Fulton, Chatham and Athens-Clarke. Fulton County houses the capital of the state, Atlanta. In the letter, chairman Josh McKoon claimed that these counties were “illegally accept[ing] ballots this weekend AFTER the end of early voting on Friday.” TRUMP, HARRIS NECK AND NECK IN BATTLEGROUND STATES WITH UNDER 48 HOURS UNTIL ELECTION DAY, POLLS FIND “The Georgia Republican Party, in conjunction with the RNC have filed suit in federal court to halt the counting of these ballots,” McKoon wrote. “At minimum, we want to sequester the ballots that were submitted without proper oversight of our election observers.” “Additionally, we have requested Georgia’s Secretary of State and Attorney General get involved to resolve this matter and find answers to the burning questions we all have,” he added. McKoon said that the Republican Party intends to find out how a 501c3 organization “knew to inform voters within 15 minutes of early voting closure that six Democrat[ic] counties would be extending their weekend hours.” “Why didn’t these six counties inform the state board of elections, their county board of elections, the Secretary of State, or their local governments about their plans to essentially extend early voting?” the letter asked. “Who gave the order to Fulton and Chatham County officials to bar poll observers from monitoring the process? Why did they do this?” McKoon concluded the update by urging Georgia Republicans to “keep our foot on the gas.” “We will keep the public informed all along the way,” the Republican said. “However, this doesn’t change our overall mission. We MUST keep our foot on the gas and turn out voters on Tuesday like our lives depend on it. Because it does.” LIZ CHENEY BASHES TRUMP IN NEW KEY BATTLEGROUND HARRIS AD AS ELECTION HITS FINAL SPRINT The Trump campaign released a statement on Sunday identifying themselves as one of the suit’s plaintiffs. “At the last minute several heavily Democrat counties announced they would open their offices over the weekend to receive mail ballots,” the campaign said in a statement. “This is illegal, so we immediately filed a state court lawsuit. In a win for election integrity, the counties retreated from plans to keep drop boxes open over the weekend, but we continue to fight the illegal re-opening of the centers in state and federal court.” “This is a clear, partisan violation of the law intended to boost Democrat efforts in Georgia,” the campaign’s statement added. “With just two days until our country’s most important election, it is critical for officials to follow the law and run the election in a fair and transparent manner.” The new legal action comes a day after a similar lawsuit brought by Republicans was struck down. On Saturday, a judge in Fulton County dismissed a lawsuit about normally-closed offices allowing voters to hand in their ballots over the weekend. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer had rejected all arguments presented by GOP attorney Alex Kaufman, who claimed that absentee ballots should not be hand-delivered and accepted after the early voting period ends. “I find that it is not a violation of those two code sections for a voter to hand-return their absentee ballots,” the judge claimed. Fox News Digital reached out to the Georgia Republican Party for additional comment. Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Trump campaign clarifies after candidate jokes about shooting ‘through the fake news’ in Pennsylvania

Trump campaign clarifies after candidate jokes about shooting ‘through the fake news’ in Pennsylvania

Former President Trump’s campaign issued a clarification after he joked about shooting “through the fake news” at a rally on Sunday. Speaking in Lititz,Pennsylvania,, less than two days before Election Day, Trump made the remark while speaking about the July 13 assassination attempt against him. “I have a piece of glass over here, and I don’t have a piece of glass there,” the Republican candidate said to his supporters, gesturing to the bulletproof glass surrounding him.  “And I have this piece of glass here. But all we have really over here is the fake news,” Trump added. He appeared to reference the gaggle of journalists in front of him at the time. TRUMP, HARRIS NECK AND NECK IN BATTLEGROUND STATES WITH UNDER 48 HOURS UNTIL ELECTION DAY, POLLS FIND  “And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind,” he joked, causing the audience to laugh. On Sunday, the Trump campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung released a statement arguing that the candidate’s remarks “had nothing to do” with journalists being hurt. “President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about,” Cheung said. “The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else.” The spokesperson added that Trump’s remarks were about “threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats.” “In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also,” Cheung said.  BILL MAHER JOKES ABOUT UNDECIDED VOTERS BEFORE ELECTION: ‘CHRISTMAS EVE SHOPPERS OF POLITICS’  “There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!” In response to the remarks, Harris campaign rapid response director Ammar Moussa accused Trump of “violating the Ninth Commandment.” “Trump is spending the closing days of his campaign angry and unhinged, lying about the election being stolen because he’s worried he will lose,” Moussa said in a statement. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth and will walk into the Oval Office focused on them – that’s Vice President Harris.” Trump’s remarks came as he and Harris were neck-and-neck in national polls on Sunday. Pennsylvania is a major swing state that is expected to be a deciding factor in which candidate wins the Electoral College. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” and claimed that Harris made a grave mistake by not picking Josh Shapiro, the Keystone State’s governor, as her running mate. “Shapiro might well have won the state of Pennsylvania for her,” Cruz said to host Maria Bartiromo. “But the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat[ic] Party could not imagine, could not tolerate, such a thing.” Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

Harris asked how she’s ‘feeling’ 48 hours from election, tells reporters Trump ‘lost’ in 2020

Harris asked how she’s ‘feeling’ 48 hours from election, tells reporters Trump ‘lost’ in 2020

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Harris was asked at the top of a press gaggle of reporters in Detroit, Michigan, “Simply, how are you feeling and have you submitted your ballot?”  Harris, 48 hours from Election Day, admitted that “everyone’s a little tired” and “sleep-deprived.”  “I am feeling great, I am looking forward to these next 48 hours to continue to talk with the voters and talk about the stakes and talk about the future of our country,” Harris said, “Which I think is bright when we’re working with the same spirit of building community, building coalitions and building the strength of our economy and our country. I have, I actually just filled out my mail-in ballot, so I have voted.”  Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator before she was elected vice president in 2020, declined to answer about how she voted on Proposition 36. The California ballot measure would reverse criminal justice reforms made in her home state in recent years.  KAMALA HARRIS BLASTED FOR ‘SCRIPTED’ SNL APPEARANCE DAYS BEFORE ELECTION “I’m not going to talk about the vote on that because honestly it’s the Sunday before the election, and I don’t intend to create an endorsement one way or another around it,” Harris said. “But I did vote.”  The initiative, if passed, would make the crime of shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It also would give judges the authority to order people with multiple drug charges to get treatment. Harris also addressed election integrity concerns, telling reporters former President Trump “lost” in 2020.  NATIONAL POLLS SHOW TRUMP, HARRIS IN TIGHT RACE AS ELECTORATE IS UNHAPPY WITH CHOICES “So here we are on the Sunday before the election, and I would ask in particular people who have not yet voted to not fall for his tactic, which I think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won’t matter,” Harris said.  ‘Suggesting to people that somehow the integrity of our voting system is not intact, so that they don’t vote. And again, I think that it is a tactic.”

Fetterman unleashes expletives aimed at Trump in CNN interview, concedes 45 has ‘connection’ with PA voters

Fetterman unleashes expletives aimed at Trump in CNN interview, concedes 45 has ‘connection’ with PA voters

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said on CNN that former President Donald Trump has a “connection” with Keystone State voters, before launching expletives aimed at Trump and mocking the former president’s campaign in Pennsylvania.  “I’ve been saying this, whether it was Biden or then became Harris, I said it’s going to be very close. And Trump definitely has a connection with voters here in Pennsylvania, and that’s why it’s going to be close,” Fetterman said Sunday morning on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Fetterman joined host Dana Bash, who pressed the senator about Trump recently highlighting voter fraud concerns in the battleground state, which Fetterman brushed off with expletives.  VOTER REGISTRATION PROBES LAUNCHED IN CRUCIAL KEYSTONE STATE COUNTIES AMID CLAIMS OF POTENTIAL FRAUD “It‘s the same sh-t he played in ’20, and it didn’t go anywhere,” Fetterman said.  FETTERMAN CALLS TRUMP’S SUPPORT IN PENNSYLVANIA ‘ASTONISHING’: ‘YOU CAN SEE THE INTENSITY’ “It’s the same, sad story that he had in ’20, and I would like to remind everybody that Biden wrecked his sh-t by 80,000 votes,” the Pennsylvania senator continued. “… He’s gonna try to lie and claim these baseless things. But we’re gonna have a new team leading America and that’s going to be Harris—but it is going to be close.” Bash asked Fetterman about one Truth Social message specifically that Trump posted on Thursday about alleged “cheating” in the toss-up state. Election investigations were launched in both Lancaster and York Counties last month, after election officials discovered likely fraudulent voter registration applications, not ballots.  “We caught them CHEATING BIG in Pennsylvania. Must announce and PROSECUTE, NOW! This is a CRIMINAL VIOLATION OF THE LAW. STOP VOTER FRAUD! CHECK OUT KAMALA’S NEW SLEAZEBAG LAWYER. WE ARE ON THEM ALL THIS TIME! Who would have ever thought that our Country is so CORRUPT?” Trump posted to Truth Social last week.  FETTERMAN ISSUES WARNING TO DEMOCRATS AFTER ELON STUMPS FOR TRUMP IN PENNSYLVANIA Fetterman responded to Trump’s message by putting his hands to his face to feign anxiety before saying: “It made me tinkle hearing that.” “But that’s why I’m asking you this question. How worried are you about this being a repeat? Because he didn’t win, but it caused a lot of problems,” Bash later asked of Trump’s Truth Social post and concerns over potential voter fraud.  TRUMP CAMP TAKES VICTORY LAP FOLLOWING ELECTION CASE LEGAL WIN IN BATTLEGROUND STATE “I’m not worried about it. It’s just like a thing. It’s the same thing that he tried in 2020. And, you know, we had an absolutely a secure election. And now, there are there was voter fraud in Pennsylvania and there was a handful of Republicans and they had their dead moms voting for Trump,” he responded.  Political eyes have been locked on Pennsylvania ​​as Keystone State voters are championed as the ones who will likely determine the outcome of the federal election. Trump narrowly won the state in 2016 when he successfully campaigned against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but lost the state in 2020 against President Biden.