Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some very intriguing stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on just seven days before the presidential election.
Virginia wants the U.S. Supreme Court to decide a critical issue regarding its voter rolls, a DA in a crucial swing state sues the world’s richest man over his million-dollar giveaways, and the top court in another battleground state issues a significant ruling that deals with mail-in ballots.
Also, Melania Trump makes a rare speech in New York City, and if you’re looking for the safest place in the country to live, we just found five states that you’ll definitely want to know more about.
Virginia Files Election Case in Supreme Court
Yesterday, election officials in Virginia asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to remove suspected noncitizens from its voter rolls, with only a week to go before Election Day.You should know that the appeal was directed to Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees emergency litigation from Virginia, and that the lead applicant is the state’s commissioner of elections.
The request to the nation’s highest court was made after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit earlier this week found unanimously that removing names from the voter rolls within 90 days of an approaching federal election appears to violate the National Voter Registration Act.
It’s worth mentioning that the Supreme Court previously decided that the courts should not change voting rules so close to an election, because doing so creates a risk of causing confusion.
However, Virginia says that the previously established legal precedent isn’t relevant in this case, because the names that are being removed from its voter rolls are not those of U.S. voters.
You should know that recently, a district court ruled that Virginia was free to cancel the voter registration of noncitizens individually, but could not systematically remove alleged noncitizens from its voter rolls.
Virginia objected to the district court’s decision, saying that the court was ordering the state and its election officials to place over 1,600 self-identified noncitizens back onto the voter rolls, in violation of both the law and common sense.
Philadelphia DA Sues Elon Musk
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is suing to stop Elon Musk from doling out $1 million giveaways to swing state voters.The DA filed the lawsuit accusing the tech billionaire and his political action committee called America PAC, which supports former President Donald Trump, of running an illegal lottery in Philadelphia as well as throughout Pennsylvania.
In the complaint, Krasner—who’s a Democrat—said that the suit is not about state and federal laws that prohibit vote-buying. Instead, he said that the filing is based on the state’s lottery and consumer protection laws.
Krasner also concluded that America PAC and Musk “must be stopped, immediately,” before the upcoming presidential election, because they hatched their illegal lottery scheme in order to “influence voters in that election.”
According to the DA, Musk allegedly failed to meet the state’s mandates for lottery operators, which require publishing a complete set of rules as well as detailing specific measures to protect the personal information of any participants.
Krasner also raised concerns that the selection of winners may have been rigged, because a number of them are individuals who have shown up at Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.
By the way, the suit arrives after Musk recently announced the eighth winner of his super PAC’s $1 million prize in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the billionaire has since doubled down on his pledge to give out more awards to registered voters in seven battleground states every day right up until Election Day.
To be eligible to win, participants must sign a petition on the America PAC website affirming their support of the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution, which protect the right to free speech and the right to bear arms. The online petition form also says that a person has to be a registered voter in order to participate; however, voting itself is not required.
Nevada Supreme Court Upholds Law on Mail-In Ballots
Yesterday, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that all ballots received by mail, even those without postmarks, can be counted up to three days after Election Day.In its ruling, the state’s top court turned away a challenge to a state law, which says ballots that arrive without clear postmarks will be counted as having been postmarked on or before Election Day, as long as they’re received no later than 5 p.m. on the third day after the election.
Nevada officials interpreted the law as enabling the counting of ballots without any postmarks at all, and earlier this year, the Nevada secretary of state’s office issued guidance spelling out those rules to county clerks throughout the state.
However, Republicans argue that the law says ballots must be “postmarked” in order to be counted, and that the only exceptions that can be made to the law are for those ballots where the postmark date can’t be clearly determined—meaning that postmarks are still required.
A couple of months ago, a district court ruled that the provision allows mail-in ballots without any postmarks at all to be counted, and the court said that Republicans had failed to show that it was in the public’s interest to not count those votes.
The state’s high court pointed out that the purpose of the bill was to expand the ways in which people could vote and to make it easier to cast ballots. They also said that if a voter properly casts their ballot in a timely manner, it goes against public policy to discount that vote due to a mistake made by the post office.
The court also said there’s no distinction between mail-in ballots where the postmark is unreadable, smudged, or even those without any postmark at all.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada called the decision “great news” for the state, while the Republican National Committee and the campaign of former President Donald Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Melania Trump Makes Rare Speech
The former first lady made a speech at her husband’s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.She began by referring to the audience as “the heartbeat of this great metropolis,” and she described New York City as the couple’s “hometown.”
Melania Trump also called New York City the “capital of industry,” and she said the city is a place where “titans of finance, fashion, and entertainment” meet. She also praised New York for producing “America’s most fearless leaders.”
However, in her remarks, Melania Trump discussed the city’s declining “quality of life,” and she linked this drop to “economic instability,” which she said has made it difficult for businesses there to thrive.
She also said that “crime is on the rise” in the city, and that public safety has “diminished,” although she did not provide any specific details to support her claims.
Melania Trump went on to say that both New York City and America “need their magic back,” and she called on the audience to share a vision that builds on the country’s greatness and creates a future that everyone deserves.
Melania Trump wrapped up her speech by introducing her husband to the crowd, calling him “our next commander-in-chief” as he made his way to the stage, where he hugged his wife and kissed her on the cheek.
By the way, Melania Trump has only made occasional appearances during this campaign cycle, and earlier this month, she released a memoir in which she expressed her support for abortion access and also discussed an assassination attempt made against her husband a few months ago.
Safest US States Named
A recent report from the personal finance firm WalletHub says that Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Utah are the five safest states in America.So you know, WalletHub compared every state using over 50 key safety indicators, and some of the categories included personal and residential safety; financial security; the condition of the roads; workplace safety; and emergency preparedness.
The data set also included assaults per capita, losses due to natural disasters, and even the unemployment rate.
One analyst from WalletHub pointed out that the safest states protect their residents in ways that include keeping crime rates low, maintaining safe roadways, and having strong job markets that keep people from falling into dangerous financial situations.
Vermont ranked first for financial safety, second for workplace safety, and sixth for personal and residential security. It also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, at just over 2 percent.
The three other New England states at the top of the list share high marks for financial security, personal and residential safety, and road safety.
Utah was the only Western state to be named in the top five, and workplace safety there was rated first in the entire country.
An officer with that state’s association of realtors told The Epoch Times that a number of people are migrating to Utah because they’re looking for affordable housing, shorter commute times, better access to outdoor recreation, and even because of politics.
By the way, Hawaii, Connecticut, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Wyoming round out the next five safest states, while Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, and Florida ranked at the very bottom of the list.
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Tuesday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
Don’t forget the News Brief Motto: We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from Ray Bradbury, who said: “I’m never going to go to Mars, but I’ve helped inspire, thank goodness, the people who built the rockets and sent our photographic equipment off to Mars.”
Bradbury was a brilliant American author and screenwriter.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
The Epoch Times News Brief program is written each day by David Ross.
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For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.
