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Northern Virginia county reports 4,000-vote tallying error in 2020 presidential race

A northern Virginia county is acknowledging that it underreported President Joe Biden’s margin of victory over Donald Trump there in the 2020 presidential election by about 4,000 votes, the first detailed accounting of errors that came to light in 2022 as part of a criminal case. The admission Thursday from the Prince William County Office of Elections comes a week after prosecutors from the Virginia Attorney General’s office dropped charges against the county’s former registrar, Michele White. Counts were also off in races for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, though by lesser margins. VIRGINIA DROPS LAST REMAINING CHARGE AGAINST DC-AREA ELECTIONS OFFICIAL In a statement, the county’s current registrar, Eric Olsen, emphasized that the mistakes did not come close to affecting the outcome of any race and “did not consistently favor one party or candidate but were likely due to a lack of proper planning, a difficult election environment, and human error.” In the presidential race, the county mistakenly shorted Biden by 1,648 votes, and overreported Trump’s count by 2,327 votes. The 3,975-vote error in the margin of victory was immaterial in a contest that Biden won by 450,000 votes in Virginia and by more than 60,000 votes in Prince William County. In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Mark Warner was shorted by 1,589 votes and Republican Daniel Gade was shorted by 107 votes. Warner won statewide by more than 500,000 votes. And in a U.S. House race, Republican Robert Wittman was shorted by 293 votes. He won by more than 80,000. The details released Thursday were the first extensive response about the errors since White was initially charged in 2022 with corrupt conduct, making a false statement and neglect of duty. Prosecutors from the office of Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares dropped the charges against White with little explanation, and court records lacked details on the alleged misconduct. Only on Thursday did it even become public which candidates benefitted from the mistakes. Olsen said Thursday that he was restricted from being more forthcoming about the errors while the criminal case was litigated. In a phone interview, Olsen said the majority of errors occurred in so-called “split precincts,” in which one precinct is home to two different congressional districts. The county’s voting system did not split the presidential vote by congressional district. The state system required them to be split that way. The errors occurred trying to conform the county data with the state requirements, he said. Other mistakes highlighted faults in the county’s validation process. For example, Olsen said he first discovered the mistakes when he noticed that Precincts 607 and 608 displayed identical presidential votes. Someone had entered one precinct’s data into the other by mistake. “It seemed like an obvious typo,” said Olsen, who replaced White as registrar and eventually reported the irregularities under his predecessor to state officials. The case against White is the only criminal prosecution brought thus far by a special Election Integrity Unit that Miyares formed in 2022. Miyares’ office said the unit was created in part to fulfill a campaign promise “because Virginians expressed concerns to him about our elections as he traveled across the Commonwealth.” Critics, including the NAACP, said the unit was formed to pander to election deniers. JUDGE DROPS FELONY CHARGES AGAINST VIRGINIA ELECTIONS OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF 2020 MISCONDUCT White’s attorney, Zachary Stafford, said the allegations that White was responsible for the incorrect numbers were disproven by pretrial statements from a government witness, and that prosecutors wisely dropped the charges. He said the county’s Electoral Board is the one that certified the election results, and White became a scapegoat. “The board certified incorrect results and they, and the attorney general’s office, attempted to assign blame to Ms. White for their mistakes,” Stafford said in a written statement. Virginia’s most recent redistricting has dramatically reduced the number of split precincts that caused Prince William County problems in 2020. Olsen, the elections official, says new procedures and systems are in place to prevent errors. “Mistakes are unfortunate but require diligence and innovation to correct. They do not reflect a purposeful attempt to undermine the integrity of the electoral process and the investigation into this matter ended with that conclusion,” Olsen said in a statement.

Embattled Wisconsin elections czar is legally holding position, judge rules

A Wisconsin judge ruled Friday that the state’s top elections official is legally holding her position and that the commission that appoints her is under no obligation to name a new leader, handing yet another defeat to Republicans who have tried to oust her. The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission deadlocked in June on a vote to reappoint Meagan Wolfe as the administrator of elections in the presidential battleground state. The three Republican commissioners voted in favor, but the three Democrats abstained to block the nomination from going before the state Senate because that would have then allowed Republicans there to fire her. Actions by the commission require a four vote majority. Wolfe has been the subject of conspiracy theories and targeted by threats from election skeptics who falsely claim she was part of a plot to rig the 2020 vote in favor of President Joe Biden. Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin, and his win has withstood two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a conservative law firm’s review, and multiple state and federal lawsuits. WISCONSIN JUDICIAL COMMISSION DISMISSES COMPLAINTS FILED BY FORMER STATE COURTS DIRECTOR The fight over who will run the state’s elections agency, known as the WEC, has caused instability ahead of this year’s presidential race for Wisconsin’s more than 1,800 local clerks, who actually run elections. “I agree with WEC that the public expects stability in its elections system and this injunction will provide stability to protect against any further legally unsupported removal attempts,” Dane County Circuit Judge Ann Peacock wrote in her order Friday saying that Wolfe holds her position legally. Senate Republicans voted in September to fire Wolfe, despite objections from Democrats and the Legislature’s nonpartisan attorneys, who said the Senate didn’t have the authority to vote at that time because Wolfe was a holdover in her position and had not been reappointed. Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to challenge that vote, and in court filings, Republican legislative leaders changed course and claimed their vote to fire Wolfe was merely “symbolic” and had no legal effect. They also asked the judge to order the elections commission to appoint an administrator for the Senate to vote on. Peacock, in her ruling Friday, said Wolfe is legally serving as administrator of the elections commission as a holdover given that the commission deadlocked on whether to reappoint her. The Senate’s vote to remove her had no legal effect, Peacock ruled for the second time, and the commission has no duty to appoint a new leader while Wolfe is serving as a holdover. The judge also ruled that a legislative leadership committee has no power to appoint an interim administrator while Wolfe is serving. She also ordered Republican legislative leaders not to take any action contrary to her ruling. Wolfe did not respond to a message seeking comment. Republican legislative leaders — Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu — also didn’t return messages.

NC Gov. Cooper gets tentative win in legal battle over environmental board’s makeup

A North Carolina judge has prevented for now an environmental regulatory board from canceling its lawsuit while state courts examine Gov. Roy Cooper’s arguments that legislative changes in the board’s makeup prevent him from carrying out effectively laws to control pollution. Superior Court Rebecca Holt’s agreed with Cooper’s lawyers during a quickly scheduled hearing Thursday to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the Environmental Management Commission from dismissing its complaint against the Rules Review Commission, according to court records. Holt also scheduled another hearing next week to weigh the Democratic governor’s request to extend the blockage of the dismissal while Cooper’s own broader litigation challenging the Republican-controlled legislature’s recent alterations to several state boards and commissions continues. The governor and GOP legislative leaders have fought for years over the balance of power in the two branches of government. NORTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL JOSH STEIN HAS RAISED $5.7M SINCE JULY FOR HIS RUN AT GOVERNORSHIP Legislation approved in the fall over the governor’s veto ended Cooper’s control over a majority of seats on each of the panels, which he contends violates the state constitution and veers from recent state Supreme Court opinions by preventing him from carrying out state laws in line with his policy preferences. A three-judge panel Nov. 1 granted a preliminary injunction freezing those changes involving the Board of Transportation and two other boards. But it declined to block the alterations at two other panels, including the Environmental Management Commission, where until recently a governor chose nine of the 15 positions, with the General Assembly picking the other six. Now two of the governor’s slots have been given to state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, a Republican, so Cooper no longer holds the majority of panel seats. Over the last two months, however, Cooper’s attorneys collected new legal ammunition to fight the Environmental Management Commission’s changes. First, the newly-constituted commission picked a member appointed by the legislature to serve as chairman, unseating Cooper’s appointee. And earlier Thursday, the commission voted 8-7 to dismiss its lawsuit against the Rules Review Commission over the rules panel’s objections to the environmental panel’s new discharge limits in surface waters of an synthetic industrial chemical that’s considered by regulators to be a carcinogen. The Cooper administration opposed the lawsuit dismissal. Cooper “is likely to succeed in showing that he has in fact lost control of the EMC, and the EMC has exercised its control inconsistent with the Governor’s views and priorities” on carrying out laws, the governor’s attorneys wrote Thursday. Holt’s decision later Thursday granting a temporary restraining order was first reported by the Carolina Journal news site. Lawyers for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, who are lawsuit defendants, have defended the changes to the boards. In particular, the GOP lawmakers have pointed out that a majority of elected officials within the executive branch still choose members of the Environmental Management Commission. Another pending lawsuit challenges portions of a new law that strips the governor of his authority to appoint elections board members and give them to legislators. Another three-judge panel have put the election board changes on hold while a lawsuit continues.

Missouri teams to petition for legal sports betting ballot initiative

Missouri’s professional sports teams announced Friday that they have launched an initiative petition drive to put the legalization of sports betting on the November ballot. The initiative is an attempt to sidestep the Missouri Senate, where bills to allow sports betting have repeatedly stalled. Missouri is one of just a dozen states where sports wagering remains illegal more than five years after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to adopt it. Vermont became the latest state to join the trend, launching mobile sports betting on Thursday. LEGAL ONLINE SPORTS BETTING COMING TO VERMONT NEXT MONTH, GOV. SCOTT ANNOUNCES Although sports betting has expanded rapidly, the odds for additional state legislatures to embrace it appear iffy in 2024 because of political resistance and the sometimes competing financial interests of existing gambling operators. The Missouri sports teams said they began circulating petitions this week and will gather signatures this weekend at a St. Louis Cardinals offseason event and a St. Louis Blues home game. Other teams in the coalition include the Kansas City Chiefs, the Kansas City Royals, and the Kansas City Current and St. Louis City soccer teams. Supporters have until May to submit the roughly 180,000 signatures of registered voters needed to qualify for the ballot. “We are united in our goal of supporting the legalization of sports wagering in Missouri in a reasonable, safe and responsible way that is good for our teams, our fans, our Missouri teachers and our other citizens of Missouri,” Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. The proposed constitutional amendment would allow each of Missouri’s 13 casinos and six professional sports teams to offer onsite and mobile sports betting. Teams would control onsite betting and advertising within 400 yards of their stadiums and arenas. The initiative also would allow two mobile sports betting operators to be licensed directly by the Missouri Gaming Commission. The sportsbook companies DraftKings and FanDuel each contributed $250,000 earlier this week to a newly created campaign committee backing the ballot initiative. Under the initiative, at least $5 million annually in licensing fees and taxes would go toward problem gambling programs, with remaining tax revenues going toward elementary, secondary and higher education. If approved by voters, state regulators would have to launch sports betting no later than Dec. 1, 2025. SPORTS BETTING IN GEORGIA SEES RENEWED SUPPORT AMID OPPOSITION The Missouri Gaming Association, which represents casinos, declined to comment about the sports teams’ initiative. Although sports betting bills have previously passed the Missouri House, consensus has been elusive in the Senate. Republican state Sen. Denny Hoskins has insisted that sports wagering be paired with the regulation of legally questionable slot-machine-style video games that have popped up in convenience stores and truck stops. Casinos have opposed that, and the two sides have remained at odds. “It should be all or nothing,” Hoskins told The Associated Press before this year’s legislative session began. Online sports wagering companies, casinos, professional sports teams and video gaming terminal interests have combined to hire about 80 lobbyists in Missouri.

NM Gov. Grisham pushes gun control, public safety as Legislature reconvenes

New Mexico’s governor presented a broad suite of legislative proposals on gun control and enhanced penalties for violent crime Friday, vowing to forge new pathways through the complex landscape of constitutional law in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to expand gun rights. The announcements by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat, puts public safety at the forefront of a 30-day legislative session that starts Tuesday. The fast-paced session is limited to budget negotiations — and initiatives chosen by the governor. “The constitutionality questions are beginning to be very complicated in the arena of gun violence,” Lujan Grisham said. “We are going to continue this effort, following what is going on around the country. … There will be others who will follow in our footsteps, creating their own public safety corridors, which in effect also make New Mexicans safer.” NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR’S GUN RESTRICTION ORDERS TO BE REVIEWED BY STATE SUPREME COURT Germane proposals will include a ban on guns at public parks and playgrounds with felony penalties for violations — expanding a hallmark of the governor’s ongoing declaration of a public health emergency related to gun violence and drug abuse. The governor’s emergency orders, which suspend the right to carry firearms at parks and playgrounds in Albuquerque in response to a string of shootings that have killed children, is being challenged by gun advocates in federal court. Meanwhile the state Supreme Court considers whether the governor overstepped her authority under state law. Democratic legislators are seeking a 14-day waiting period for background checks on gun purchases and a minimum age set to 21 on purchases of semiautomatic rifles and shotguns. A proposal from Democratic state Rep. Andrea Romero of Santa Fe would place new limitations on assault-style weapons to reducing a shooter’s ability to fire off dozens of rounds a second and attach new magazines to keep firing. A list of more than 20 public-safety bills, sponsored mostly by Democratic legislators, extend beyond gun safety to a panhandling ban and expanded criminal provisions related to retail theft as local stores have resorted to padlocking clothes. The proposals also include felony penalties for teachers and coaches who ignore hazing incidents in the wake of alleged locker-room assaults involving New Mexico State basketball players. Republicans in the legislative minority vowed to oppose bills that infringe on Second Amendment rights, and the fate of gun restrictions may hinge on a handful of Democratic lawmakers in regions of the state with a strong culture of gun ownership. Republican Senate Leader Craig Baca of Belen said deliberations about crime on Friday “took a hyper-partisan turn with the announcement of several anti-Second Amendment measures targeting New Mexico gun owners who only want to protect themselves and their families.”

Biden confronted by hecklers shouting ‘go home’ during Pennsylvania visit: ‘You’re a loser’

President Biden received a hostile welcome from swing state voters in Pennsylvania during a visit to several small businesses to tout his Bidenomics economic plan. “Go home, Joe!” one onlooker yelled as the Pennsylvania-raised president walked into a bike shop in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. “You’re a loser!” another yelled. “Loser!” During the president’s visit, he swung by a running shoe store, bicycle shop and coffee house in the eastern Pennsylvania downtown. BIDEN SAYS AUSTIN HAD LAPSE IN JUDGMENT FOLLOWING HOSPITALIZATION DEBACLE, SAY HE STILL HAS CONFIDENCE IN HIM DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST BIDEN BOMBING YEMEN OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE “My name is Joe Biden and I work for the governor and the senator,” the president joked as he stepped into the Nowhere Coffee Co. along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania. Biden’s pitch on Friday was that his Bidenomics has been successful in small-town America. At a firefighter training center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Biden pointed to recent consumer sentiment data and said that people are feeling better about the economy. “If you notice, they’re feeling much better about how the economy is doing,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question. “What we haven’t done is letting them know exactly who got it changed. … Everybody’s doing better and they believe it. They know it. And it’s just beginning to sink in.” In 2020, Biden won the surrounding Lehigh County with 53.2% of the vote. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Texans with smaller student loans could see federal debt canceled as soon as February

Texas borrowers enrolled in the SAVE loan repayment program will have their debt canceled if they took out $12,000 or less and have been repaying for at least 10 years.

Late Sen. Herb Kohl memorialized as proud Wisconsinite, diehard Bucks fan

Former U.S. senator and owner of the Milwaukee Bucks Herb Kohl was remembered Friday for his love of both the city where he grew up and the state of Wisconsin at a memorial service attended by sports, political and business leaders. Kohl, 88, died Dec. 27 after a brief illness. Speakers, including former President Barack Obama’s strategist David Axelrod, joked that the spotlight-shunning Kohl had ordered up a snowstorm to dampen attendance at his own memorial held at the Fiserv Forum where the Bucks play. HERB KOHL, FORMER NBA TEAM OWNER AND US SENATOR, DEAD AT 88 “I’m not here to mourn Herb,” Axelrod said. “I am here to celebrate this extraordinary life and to say how grateful I am that he was part of my life.” Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig spoke of his lifelong friendship with Kohl. The two met as 6-year-olds in grade school in Milwaukee and met weekly for lunch up until his death. Selig talked of Kohl’s devotion to Milwaukee, most famously demonstrated by his purchase of the Bucks franchise in 1985 to keep it from leaving the city. “His only goal was to keep the Bucks in Milwaukee and he sacrificed willingly to do so,” Selig said. Kohl sold the Bucks in 2014 and contributed $100 million toward construction of Fiserv Forum. In 2018, the Bucks won their first NBA title since 1971. Kohl’s nephew, Dan Kohl, said his uncle had a knack for remembering not only the names of Kohl’s employees but their spouses and children as well. Over his 24 years as a senator, Kohl never boasted about his accomplishments, Dan Kohl said. Kohl’s greatest legacy will be the scholarships he gave to teachers and children across the state, which were just some of his numerous philanthropic efforts, Dan Kohl said. Kohl never married or had kids, but Dan Kohl said that dozens of his relatives from across the country and from Canada and Israel came to Milwaukee for the memorial. Other attendees included U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, Gov. Tony Evers, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Dallet, state Rep. Greta Neubauer, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson. Kohl served in the Senate from 1988 to 2012 and was succeeded by Baldwin.

Michigan anticipates tax revenue rebound following 2023 slump

Michigan’s tax revenues will see a slight decline this year before rebounding for the next two years after that — in large part because of tax policy changes implemented by newly powerful Democrats who were working last year with a record surplus, state officials projected Friday. Economists in the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration outlined their projections for the state’s tax revenue during a conference Friday in Lansing. The projections will be used by lawmakers over the next several months to craft the state’s annual budget. The projections show that the state’s tax revenue will total close to $31.5 billion this year, a slight increase from previous projections but close to $400 million less than the previous year. The economists estimated that tax revenue will jump by close to $1 billion in each of the next two years. MICHIGAN PROGRAM LAUNCHES TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO PREGNANT WOMEN AND FAMILIES IN FLINT The projections Friday come “as things return more to normal,” said Eric Bussis, the chief economist in the state’s Department of Treasury. The economic outlook followed a year in which newly powerful Democrats passed the state’s highest ever budget — $82 billion — with a surplus that had been projected to exceed $9 billion because of federal pandemic aid. As a result of the high tax revenues, the state’s income tax rate was lowered to 4.05% from 4.25%. The rate will return back to 4.25% after Michigan’s attorney general ruled that the law lowering the tax was meant to be temporary. In addition to the tax rate cut, Democrats passed a number of other tax policy changes that contributed to the slightly lower estimated revenue for 2024. Lawmakers attempted to provided relief to retirees by phasing out taxes on public and private pensions, and the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit was significantly expanded from the current 6% to a 30% match of the federal rate. Economists added Friday that a nearly month-and-a-half-long autoworker strike targeting Detroit’s three carmakers did not have a significant negative impact on revenues. EX-MICHIGAN HOUSE SPEAKER AIDES PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO EMBEZZLEMENT FROM NONPROFIT FUNDS Friday’s projections will help provide lawmakers with an idea of how much they can spend in this year’s legislative session, which kicked off on Wednesday. Democrats will once again control the legislative agenda but they will no longer have full control of the state Legislature. The state House is currently tied 54-54 after two Democrats vacated their seats after winning mayoral races in November. Whitmer, now in her second term, will outline her policy priorities for the year in her sixth State of the State speech on Jan. 24. The governor is expected to prioritize education, economic development and a paid family and medical leave plan that she called for last year but which was never passed. The House and Senate Fiscal agencies will hold a second revenue estimating conference in May.

Israel rejects genocide charges in Gaza, asks ICJ to dismiss case

NewsFeed Israel has rejected South Africa’s claims it is carrying out a genocide against the people of Gaza and has asked the International Court of Justice to dismiss the case. Published On 12 Jan 202412 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)