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Georgia’s nearly 4 million early votes bode well for Trump, top state Republican says

Georgia’s nearly 4 million early votes bode well for Trump, top state Republican says

Georgia Republicans appear confident the state’s record-setting early voting numbers will favor their 2024 presidential nominee. “It’s been record turnout, something unbelievable — voting from all across the state,” Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones told Fox News Digital. “I think the enthusiasm, the momentum, is with President Trump.” The former commander in chief lost Georgia by less than 1% in 2020, and Republicans have poured enormous time and resources into winning it back Nov. 5. A significant part of that strategy has been convincing people to cast ballots early, traditionally a voting method more favored by Democrats. MIKE JOHNSON KICKS OFF SWING-STATE TOUR AS GOP CLINGS TO HOUSE CONTROL And both parties’ emphasis on early voting has had a seismic effect. During the early voting period between Oct. 15 and Nov. 1, nearly 4 million Georgians cast in-person or absentee ballots, more than half the state’s active voters. Over 700,000 people who voted already in 2024 did not vote at all in 2020, according to Georgia Votes. Meanwhile, the top three counties for voter turnout rates are rural areas won by Trump in 2020. Both of those factors, Jones argued, were favorable indicators for the ex-president. ‘ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VOID’: GEORGIA JUDGE STRIKES DOWN NEW ELECTION RULES AFTER LEGAL FIGHTS “We’ve got a lot of voters that voted in 2016 but didn’t vote in 2020. … What makes me believe that they are Trump voters is that most of them are … from parts of the state that are pretty strong Republican strongholds,” he said.  “You start breaking down where they live, where they were historically as far as the Republican cards they pulled in the past, and, like I said, the on-the-ground enthusiasm for [Trump] right now is pretty off the charts.” Asked why he believes some of Trump’s base did not turn out in 2020 but is voting now, Jones said, “I’ll be honest with you. I think that there are a lot of people that just felt like, you know, the president had the win in the bag in 2020. “Sometimes I wonder if that false sense of security might have hurt us back in 2020.” Nonetheless, it will likely be tough to get a full picture of how well Republicans’ early voting strategy has paid off until after Election Day. According to Georgia Votes, Hispanic voters make up the largest share of those who voted early in 2024 but did not vote at all in 2020, making up 37.6% of that number. FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’ That’s followed by Asian voters at 33.7%, Black voters at 19.1% and White voters at 17.7%. Roughly 72% of people who voted early in 2024 also did so in 2020 — about 2.6 million people. About 8.3%, just over 305,000 people, voted early in 2024 after voting on Election Day in 2020. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 

Harris, Trump ‘leave nothing on the field’ in final weekend before Election Day

Harris, Trump ‘leave nothing on the field’ in final weekend before Election Day

MILWAUKEE — Vice President Kamala Harris is urging her supporters to vote with the clock ticking down toward Election Day. “We’re going to get this done, but nobody can sit by the sidelines,” the Democratic presidential nominee emphasized as she campaigned in battleground Wisconsin. “You don’t want to look back on these four days and have any regrets about what you could have done.” Harris and the Republican nominee, former President Trump, held dueling rallies Friday night a few miles apart in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city. NOVEMBER SURPRISE: DISMAL JOBS REPORT HANDS TRUMP INSTANT AMMUNITION TO FIRE AT HARRIS Hours earlier, while campaigning in Michigan, another crucial Great Lakes swing state, Trump told his supporters “nothing matters except what happens on Tuesday.” “Just pretend that we’re one point down. We’re not. We’re up. But pretend that we’re one point down on Tuesday,” the former president stressed. He once again touted that he’s leading Harris, even though the latest polls continue to indicate it’s a toss-up. VICE PRESIDENT KEEPS HER DISTANCE FROM BIDEN IN FINAL STRETCH TO ELECTION DAY With time running out, the campaign strategy now shifts. “The closing arguments have been made. It’s not really about persuasion now. It’s about turnout. And that’s where all the energy of the campaigns are going to be directed,” longtime Republican strategist David Kochel told Fox News. Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, said, “At this point, people’s minds are made up. There are very few people out there to convince at this point. And if they’re deciding, they’re deciding between voting or sitting on the couch.” Harris and Trump on Thursday each held their final events in the western battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada, and Friday’s competing rallies were their last stops in Wisconsin ahead of Election Day. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION The razor-thin margins in those three states, along with Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina, decided President Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine if Harris or Trump wins the 2024 election. This weekend, both nominees will keep up the brisk pace. Harris campaigns Saturday in Georgia and North Carolina and makes multiple stops in Michigan on Sunday. On Election Eve, she crisscrosses Pennsylvania, which, with 19 electoral votes up for grabs, is the biggest prize among the seven battlegrounds. Trump campaigns this weekend in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. He also makes a detour on Saturday in Virginia, a one-time swing state that has leaned blue in presidential elections for two decades. The former president will hold a rally in the conservative southwestern section of the commonwealth. The former president made a similar stop in another blue-leaning state, New Mexico, Thursday. REPUBLICANS ARE RUNNING A ‘SUCCESSFUL’ EARLY VOTING CAMPAIGN IN BATTLEGROUND NORTH CAROLINA: NRCC CHAIR On Monday, the day before the election, Trump will campaign in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before holding his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same city where he closed out his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. But it’s not just the standard-bearers on the trail. The running mates — Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee — are fanning out across the country, along with top surrogates. Far from the spotlight, campaign staffers and volunteers are making their final rounds with door knocks, phone calls, texts and emails to make sure their supporters have already voted early or will cast a ballot on Election Day.  In an election within the margins, it could make all the difference. “It’s about getting people to the polls, getting absentee ballots returned, getting whatever remaining early vote there is left in the door and just leave nothing on the field,” Kochel emphasized. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Battleground state face-off: Harris, Trump hold dueling rallies miles apart

Battleground state face-off: Harris, Trump hold dueling rallies miles apart

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump held competing rallies at the same Friday night, just a few miles apart in battleground Wisconsin’s largest city. With just four days until Election Day, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees made their final stops in Wisconsin, where nearly all the latest public opinion polls indicate a margin-of-error race between the two candidates. “We got four days to get this thing done. Four days. No one can sit on the sidelines,” the vice president emphasized to her supporters. “For you who have not yet voted, no judgment, but please get to it when you can.” NOVEMBER SURPRISE: DISMAL JOBS REPORT HANDS TRUMP INSTANT AMMUNITION TO FIRE AT HARRIS The Harris campaign said that over 12,000 packed into the Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center, in West Allis, just yards outside the Milwaukee city limits. Trump, holding court at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum – the same arena where he accepted his party’s presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention in July – told his supporters “I want your damn vote.” VICE PRESIDENT KEEPS HER DISTANCE FROM BIDEN IN FINAL STRETCH TO ELECTION DAY Speaking ahead of Harris at her rally was popular rapper and songwriter Cardi B, who told the crowd she hadn’t planned on voting in the presidential election until Harris replaced President Biden in July atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket. “I wasn’t going to vote this year. … But Kamala Harris joining the race, she changed my mind completely,” the entertainer said. The rallies were Harris and Trump’s final appearances in Wisconsin ahead of Election Day – and it was the second time this week that the major party nominees held rallies on the same day in Wisconsin. “As of this weekend, the way to predict the winner is to flip a coin. It’s that close,” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor emeritus Mordecai Lee told Fox News. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION The Democratic and Republican Parties’ vice presidential nominees — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, respectively — have also both crisscrossed Wisconsin, and major surrogates — including former Presidents Obama and Clinton for Harris — have parachuted into the Badger State. Obama returns on Sunday. Both campaigns and their aligned committees and super PACs have also flooded Wisconsin airwaves with TV ads in the closing stretch leading up to Election Day next week. Wisconsin, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, are the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “blue wall.” Democrats reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election over Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton to win the White House. Four years later, in 2020, President Biden swept all three states by razor-thin margins to put them back in the Democrats’ column and defeat Trump. In Wisconsin, Biden carried the state by just over 20,000 votes out of more than 3.2 million cast. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Armed group in Bolivia takes over military post in latest flare-up

Armed group in Bolivia takes over military post in latest flare-up

The takeover is latest chapter in standoff between the Arce government and supporters of ex-president Evo Morales. An armed group in Bolivia has taken over a military post outside the city of Cochabamba while holding some soldiers captive, the armed forces said in a statement, ramping up tensions in the already restive Andean nation. Cochabamba, located in central Bolivia, is home to many supporters of former President Evo Morales. Friday’s standoff over the military post, located about 100 miles (160 km) east of Cochabamba, marks the latest escalation in Bolivia’s increasingly volatile and often violent politics. The military’s statement described the armed group as “irregular”, noting it had also taken control of firearms and ammunition, and stressed that such actions amounted to treason. Authorities urge group to disperse ‘immediately and peacefully’ It urged those responsible for the takeover to “immediately and peacefully” abandon the facility. “The lives of my instructors and soldiers are in danger,” warned an unnamed military official in a recording broadcast on local media. Televised images showed a row of uniformed soldiers with their hands behind their backs, possibly tied, surrounded by members of the armed group. Earlier on Friday, some soldiers stationed in the area as well as their families fled their homes, as police stations shut down to prevent further confrontations. After police and military units sought to remove a key highway blockade that connects Cochabamba with the city of Oruro, some protesters retaliated by launching dynamite at them from nearby hills. Police then hurled tear gas canisters at them. The seizure of the military outpost is seen as a response to efforts earlier this week by security forces under the control of President Luis Arce to dislodge highway blockades organised by supporters of Morales since mid-October. The two leftist leaders, both with roots in Bolivia’s ruling socialist party, have gone from close allies to bitter rivals in recent months as they jockey for position ahead of next year’s presidential election. In an address to the nation on Wednesday, Arce called for an end to the blockades, estimating that the disruptions to key transport routes have already cost the impoverished South American country’s economy over $1.7bn. Adblock test (Why?)

Supreme Court rejects bid by GOP not to count some Pennsylvania ballots

Supreme Court rejects bid by GOP not to count some Pennsylvania ballots

Republicans wanted some so-called provisional ballots to be rejected. The United States Supreme Court has dismissed an effort by Republicans to prevent the counting of provisional ballots in Pennsylvania – a move that would have meant thousands of votes were not tallied. Republicans in the state, which Joe Biden and the Democrats narrowly won in the 2020 US presidential election on their way to victory, had argued that “tens of thousands of votes” could be at stake and ought to have been rejected. Reports suggested that as of late this week, somewhere close to 9,000 ballots out of more than 1.6 million were returned, as they had arrived at election offices around Pennsylvania lacking a secrecy envelope, a signature or a date. The ruling is a victory for voting-rights advocates, who had tried to force various counties, especially Republican-controlled counties, to allow voters to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day if they had realised their mail-in ballot was to be rejected for any of a variety of errors. Provisional ballots generally protect voters from being excluded from the voting process if their eligibility is uncertain on Election Day. The vote is counted once officials confirm eligibility. The Associated Press said the court ruling could apply to thousands of ballots, and possibly more, according to elections experts. ‘The right to vote means the right to have your vote counted’ The Supreme Court justices left in place a decision by Pennsylvania’s top court that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected. Democrats had intervened on the side of the activists, arguing that if a defective mail-in ballot could not be counted, that person had not yet voted and a provisional ballot must be counted. Harris campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler and Democratic National Committee spokesperson Rosemary Boeglin said in a joint statement after the Supreme Court acted: “In Pennsylvania and across the country, Trump and his allies are trying to make it harder for your vote to count, but our institutions are stronger than his shameful attacks. [This] decision confirms that, for every eligible voter, the right to vote means the right to have your vote counted.” Adblock test (Why?)