Election category, Page 125
Court: Money owed can’t block voting rights for N.C. felons
A North Carolina court ruled Friday that outstanding restitution, fees or other court-imposed monetary obligations can’t prevent convicted felons from voting if they’ve completed all other portions of their sentence. The ruling, which may face appeals, could pave the way for an influx of thousands of felons to have their...
Georgia candidate’s post removed for inciting violence
ATLANTA — Facebook removed a photo illustration showing a Republican congressional candidate in Georgia posing with a rifle next to three Democratic House members, saying Friday that it violated the social media platform’s policy against inciting violence. The illustration, a montage of four photos, was posted Thursday by Marjorie Taylor...
Westmoreland County hiring poll workers to handle heavy expected voter turnout
Westmoreland County will hire as many as 1,800 poll workers for election day. Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said recruiting has been underway for the last several weeks to have each of the county’s 307 voting precincts fully staffed on Nov. 3. “We’re going to take as many poll workers...
Trump fires up enthusiastic crowd at campaign stop at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe
President Trump glided into a Trump Country crowd in Westmoreland County on Thursday evening to rave reviews. The crowd of several thousand at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe erupted into screams of U-S-A!, U-S-A!, U-S-A! as Trump exited Air Force One into the twilight evening, vowing that “61 days...
Heavy rains don’t dampen enthusiasm of Trump supporters ahead of Westmoreland rallyVideo
Frequent and sometimes heavy rains Thursday could not keep supporters of Donald Trump from flooding Arnold Palmer Regional Airport hours before the president’s scheduled campaign rally. Drenched crowds stood in line at the Unity airport waiting to board buses to take them to a fenced-in holding area in front of...
Dems blast Trump policies, ‘chaos’ ahead of president’s Westmoreland County rally
Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli on Thursday issued a scathing rebuke of President Donald Trump ahead of his visit to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity. “To put it simply, Donald Trump is simply not up for this job. Pennsylvanians have suffered at the hands of a weak and incompetent...
Biden meets Jacob Blake’s family to start Wisconsin trip
KENOSHA, Wis. — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden began a visit to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday by meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, the Black man whose shooting by a white police officer sparked days of sometimes violent protests. Biden spent more than an hour in...
Facebook moves to target misinformation before electionVideo
With just two months left until the U.S. presidential election, Facebook says it is taking more steps to encourage voting, minimize misinformation and reduce the likelihood of post-election “civil unrest.” The company said Thursday it will restrict new political ads in the week before the election and remove posts that...
Westmoreland outsources mailing of ballots, calibration of voting machines
Westmoreland County will spend an additional $350,000 to beef up its ability to hold an election and count votes this fall. Commissioners on Wednesday approved a contract with a private mailing company in Cleveland to send ballots to voters, and finalized a deal with the Nebraska-based firm to test touch-screen...
House OKs changes to mail-in voting law; Wolf threatens veto
HARRISBURG — In the shadow of an increasingly strident presidential campaign, Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives approved changes to the state’s fledgling mail-in voting law Wednesday, but in highly partisan fashion. The Republican-penned bill passed, 112-90, on a near party-line vote in the battleground state where President Trump’s campaign and the...
7 write-in primary ballots discovered uncounted from Unity polling place, to be counted next week
An unopened envelope containing seven provisional ballots cast at a Unity polling precinct in June was discovered among stored voting equipment more than a month after final results were certified, Westmoreland County officials revealed Wednesday. Those votes will be opened and counted next week. They could change the outcome of...
Pa. implements OmniBallot tool for blind voters in November election
Blind voters in Pennsylvania will be able to use a federally approved, cloud-based electronic platform to vote remotely in the November, and subsequent, elections. The Pennsylvania Department of State will implement Democracy Live’s OmniBallot tool in response to a state court’s ruling that the previous paper ballot system used in...
Super PACs turn to Western Pa. voters for testimonials in presidential contest
On the surface, Janie and Shawn share little beyond their small-town Western Pennsylvania roots. But now, they are sharing 15 minutes of fame, thanks to their testimonials in ads supporting Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Identified only as 82-year-old Janie from Westmoreland, the tiny, blue-eyed woman who sports a halo...
Trump lashes Biden, defies pandemic on White House stage
WASHINGTON — Facing a national moment fraught with racial turmoil and a deadly pandemic, President Donald Trump accepted his party’s renomination on a massive White House South Lawn stage Thursday night, boasting of helping African Americans and defying his own administration’s pandemic guidelines to address a tightly packed, largely maskless...
GOP Convention takeaways: Pence pounces while crises swirl
WASHINGTON — Republicans proceeded with the third night of their national convention, but many Americans — particularly those in the path of Hurricane Laura — were focused on more immediate concerns. Here are some key takeaways: Pence takes on attack role The attack role often assigned to vice presidential candidates...
Black GOP House candidate praises Trump in convention speech
SALT LAKE CITY — A Black conservative running for Congress in Utah declared at the Republican National Convention that America needs more leaders like President Donald Trump who stand by their principles, won’t compromise and “will stand up to the lawlessness supported by the radical left.” Republican Burgess Owens on...
Turbulent reality collides with GOP convention plans
WASHINGTON — Turbulent reality is clashing with the smooth, steady image Republicans are hoping to paint of President Donald Trump and his leadership on the third night of the GOP’s convention. A potentially catastrophic hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, wildfires have ravaged huge areas of California, protests...
Takeaways from GOP convention: Promoting power, positivity
WASHINGTON — The second day of the Republican National Convention started with a decidedly different, more positive tone, with an emphasis on Americans who say have they benefited from President Donald Trump’s policies. Here are some takeaways from the second night. Leveraging the White House Three ruffles and flourishes. The...
Trump supporters eschew formal platform at RNC
While Republican party leaders were gathering in a socially distanced ballroom in Charlotte, N.C., to nominate President Donald Trump for a second term this week, a steady stream of Trump supporters from far and near were lining up in Unity to troop through the Trump House. The old two-story frame...
Several arrests precede Charlotte’s pared-down share of RNC
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Several protesters and a person who illegally entered a secure area were arrested in the hours before North Carolina’s scaled-back share of the Republican National Convention on Monday, local police said, noting that the event itself was conducted without disruption. Hours later, after a group of demonstrators...
Sean Parnell, GOP challenger to Conor Lamb, gets high-profile speaking slot at RNCVideo
Murrysville native and former Army Ranger Sean Parnell, the GOP challenger seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, scored a primetime speaking slot on the first night of the Republican National Convention. Parnell, 39, a former platoon leader in Afghanistan who recently moved from Cranberry to Ohio Township, said he’s...
Most of W.Pa. delegation will watch GOP convention from home
When he was elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, Scott Avolio was looking forward to being part of the conversation about the party platform going forward to President Trump’s reelection campaign. Now, like hundreds of other delegates, Avolio, a Greensburg lawyer and first-time convention delegate, has found...
Trump’s vision of American greatness at center of convention
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans will aim to recast the story of Donald Trump’s presidency when they hold their national convention, featuring speakers drawn from everyday life as well as cable news and the White House while drawing a stark contrast with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Trump is looking to...
Trump delivered on some big 2016 promises, but others unmet
WASHINGTON — He’s broken his pledge never to take a vacation or play golf for pleasure. His plan to update the nation’s infrastructure has become a running punchline and he’s dropped his threat to throw Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl out of a plane without a parachute. But behind the drama,...
N.Y. gov OKs clerical fixes on mail-in ballots, with a twist
NEW YORK — Anticipating a wave of mail-in voting this fall, New York state will now give voters a chance to correct missing signatures and other clerical errors so their absentee ballots can be counted — but the exact provisions haven’t yet been made public after last-minute negotiations between Gov....
