Biden says Secret Service ‘needs more help’ after apparent Trump assassination attempt

(GERMANTOWN, PA) — In the final sprint of the election campaign, local officials in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania have mounted an unprecedented push to engage some of the state’s newest and untested voters: 18-year-old high school seniors.

“They’re the largest registered bloc of voters in the city. It’s just a matter of getting them energized to come out and turn out to vote,” said Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein.

Fewer than half of 18- and 19-year-old voters nationwide cast ballots in the 2020 election, according to the Center for Information and Research on Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

But Pennsylvania teens have historically participated at a higher rate than the national average and may be helping to close the gap with other voting groups, experts say. More than 70,000 young Pennsylvanians reach voting age every year.

“There’s really been a much greater and much more visible investment in registering new voters and doing get-out-the-vote efforts in Philadelphia this year,” said political scientist Matt Levendusky at the University of Pennsylvania.

President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by just 80,000 votes in the 2020 presidential election. Both political parties say they are fighting for every last vote in 2024.

“Really it’s sort of a battle of inches between Trump and Harris. So the campaigns will really be trying to get all of these teenage voters out,” Levendusky said.

With razor thin polling margins in races up and down the ballot, state school district officials, city council members and nonprofit civic groups have joined forces to organize nonpartisan bus tours and student field days to target voting-eligible teens and educate them on how and why to cast ballots.

“We make sure they understand that elected leaders are being hired. When we vote, we’re hiring them to do a job. And when they don’t do that job, we have the power to fire them through our votes,” said Angelique Hinton, who helped create PA Youth Vote, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group leading the effort.

At Martin Luther King High School in Germantown, ABC News joined hundreds of high school seniors assembled for an outdoor field day of election-themed activities.

Students participated in a relay race to the ballot box, a mock election with sample 2024 ballots, and a tug of war meant to illustrate how the number of people on each side can sway the outcome of a contest.

“We want them to have that mindset — run to the polls on Election Day! We have the mock election so they can actually practice voting for the first time,” said Kamryn Davis, the PA Youth Vote program director.

Many of the students said they appreciated the outreach and felt increasingly empowered.

“I am following the political election a lot. I am into the debates, and I am watching the debates. So I do feel pretty positive about who I’m taking on voting for this year,” said Jymirah Wood.

She and fellow senior Janeeiah Simmons said they also volunteered to be poll workers on Election Day.

“I’m not, like, someone who’s super duper political myself,” Simmons said, “but I feel like in this year with the election, it’s really important because so many changes can happen depending on who wins.”

Still, voter apathy remains a big challenge in underfunded communities, organizers said. Many students told ABC News they worried about uncontrolled gun violence, rampant substance abuse, the rising costs of food, and the stress of a better future that often seems out of reach.

Several students said they were unfamiliar with the candidates or unhappy with the choices.

“We’ve just got to find the right language to connect with our young people,” Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said. “It is not lost on us that the students who are here today registering to vote may very well determine how the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania votes in the presidential election on November 5th.”

Senior and JROTC cadet Gio Arzu, the oldest of seven who works at a fast food restaurant after school to support his family financially, said he is imploring his classmates to participate.

“Don’t be scared to speak, to speak out. To get your voice out there and you’re good,” he said. “Just get your voice out there and just get your votes in.”

As the presidential candidates make their final pitch in Pennsylvania, many of the state’s youngest voters said they are listening.

“Especially coming from, like, an immigrant family, it’s a really important time to educate others on how one can make change and actually stepping up and doing something,” Rochelle Meneses said.

Added Gianna Tran: “I’m voting because I think there’s a lot of change that I want to see in, not just the city, but Pennsylvania state as a whole. And the only way to change it is through voting.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Some ex-pats living abroad, including active-duty service members and their family members, are sounding the alarm after Republicans in three swing states have tried to delay accepting and counting overseas absentee ballots.

And there is already fear among Americans at home and abroad that no matter what the result, the damage has already been done, according to Sarah Streyder, the executive director of Secure Families Initiative, a nonpartisan non-profit that advocates for military families’ rights.

“We are already hearing military voters from all states who feel discouraged from participating, if they have concern that their ballot won’t even be counted,” Streyder, who is stationed in England with her husband a Space Force member, told reporters in a video news conference with other advocates Friday.

Election officials and other political science experts say the suits filed in Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina in the last couple of weeks have no merit. The Republican plaintiffs, however, claim state election offices created loopholes that could allow ineligible people to vote through overseas absentee ballots.

GOP casts doubt on absentee ballots, election officials push back

On Sept. 30, five Pennsylvania GOP House members running for re-election — Guy Reschenthaler, Dan Meuser, Glenn Thompson, Lloyd Smucker and Mike Kelly — filed a suit against Al Schmidt, the secretary of the Commonwealth and Deputy Secretary for Elections Johnathan Ivlarks accusing them of providing guidance to local election offices to not allow ID requirements for their foreign absentee voters.

“The Commonwealth’s practice is an illegally structured election process which makes Pennsylvania’s elections vulnerable to ineligible votes by individuals or entities who could purport to be…eligible, register to vote without verification of identity or eligibility but receive a ballot by email and then vote a ballot without providing identification at any step of the process,” the plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania suit alleged.

Reschenthaler is the only member of the five plaintiffs with military experience as he previously served as a United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps attorney from 2009 to 2012, according to his bio. He was deployed to Iraq during his tenure with JAG.

The Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s office said in a statement that the lawsuit is “nothing more than an attempt to confuse and frighten people ahead of an important election,” and the state law ensures that all overseas ballots that are sent out are eligible.

“Ballots cast by ineligible voters occur at extremely low rates and are routinely investigated and prosecuted by the appropriate authorities when they occur. Individuals registering to vote must affirm that the information they submit is accurate, with any false statement subjecting them to a potential felony conviction, prison sentence and substantial fine,” the office said in a statement.

Pennsylvania election officials could not immediately provide ABC News data on how many absentee ballots have currently been sent overseas and how many of those ballots have been returned.

The Republican National Committee filed a pair of lawsuits in North Carolina and Michigan last week arguing their state rules are violating federal law and allowing ex-pats to vote despite never residing in their state.

In both suits, the RNC officials allege that the states’ election officials have not created a secure system to verify that an overseas voter is an American and have specifically called out provisions in their election laws that permit spouses or dependents of military or overseas voters to vote in elections based on the residency of the military or overseas voter.

“As a result, certain people who have never resided in Michigan (or perhaps anywhere else in this country) are registering to vote and voting in Michigan elections,” the plaintiffs in the Michigan case claim in their filing.

Similar language was used in the North Carolina lawsuit.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed amicus briefs this week seeking to dismiss her state’s case, contending that the plaintiffs have no standing in their claims.

“Challenging a decades-old statute in this frivolous manner is both irresponsible and abusive. Their actions are a clear attempt to sow doubt about the integrity of the election and suppress the legitimate votes of American citizens,” she said in a statement.

Nessel noted that absentee ballots have already been sent out to Michigan voters living overseas, and the RNC failed to file a timely notice of intent to sue under the Michigan Court of Claims Act.

Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, echoed that sentiment and maintained the state law allowing military family members to vote in the state is valid.

“North Carolina lawmakers adopted this law more than 13 years ago, as a way to implement a federal law that required states to make voting more accessible for military families and other citizens living abroad. It has been part of our state’s law for every election since then,” he said in a statement.

As of Friday afternoon, over 22,000 Michigan military and overseas voters have requested ballots for the general election, according to data from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. Of that number, almost 8,000 voters have already completed and submitted their ballots to be counted, the data showed.

As of Friday afternoon, 8,451 North Carolina absentee ballots have been requested by military members and 20,571 ballots have been requested by civilians living overseas, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Of those requests, 8,331 ballots were sent to the military members and 2,434 of those have been returned and accepted, the board said. There have been 20,449 absentee ballots sent to other ex-pats, and 10,481 of those ballots have been returned and accepted, according to the data.

Veterans, ex-pats furious over the move

Ray Kimball, a veteran who serves as an Arizona volunteer for the nonpartisan advocacy group Veterans for All Voters, told reporters on Friday he was furious about allegations made by officials who questioned the validity of absentee ballots back in 2020.

Kimball, a former Pennsylvania voter who said he mostly voted by mail when he was deployed overseas, said he was appalled that “partisan actors are doubling down,” despite the lack of evidence to their claims.

“I took that as a personal insult to what I and tens of thousands of Americans including service members and civilians abroad have been doing for years prior to this narrative,” he said.

One of the biggest concerns from legal experts and overseas voters is the request in all three lawsuits to segregate the foreign absentee ballots and stop counting them until the person can be verified.

Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, the president and CEO, of U.S. Vote Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides ex-pats with resources to help cast their vote, told reporters that this move was done to “just reduce the number of ballots counted overall.”

“It is a complete disenfranchisement of U.S. citizens,” Dzieduszycka-Suinat, who lives in Munich, said. “We are U.S. citizens. We do have a secure voting process.”

Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa Deeley told reporters that she has concerns that if the request is granted, it would put extra unnecessary work on the already overtaxed election workers.

“All that time, energy and effort doing that, that further chips away at people’s confidence in the election,” she said.

Lawsuits are just the beginning: Expert

Michael Traugott, research professor emeritus in the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan, told ABC News that the three suits are part of a strategy by Republican leaders aimed at sowing doubt in the election results in the months to come.

He predicted the three suits will be dismissed, especially in Michigan where he said the secretary of state’s office has been efficient for determining voter eligibility.

“They do this in a very careful and systematic way and it’s worked,” he said.

Traugott said that election offices will be prepared for these attacks but they may not be able to control the public relations damage that the suits cause.

Kimball, however, said he believed that the majority of voters want more access to their right to cast a ballot.

“Bottom line this should not be a partisan issue. We should get behind the idea of Americans voting wherever they are all over the world,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Wednesday announced that following a “strong” vice-presidential debate performance from running mate Gov. Tim Walz Tuesday night, he’ll embark on a weeklong travel and media blitz — including rallies, direct voter engagement events, fundraisers and two national TV interviews — that begins in battleground Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

“Walz will participate in more media interviews and engagements to reach key demographics and target voters that the campaign is working to win, combining national, battleground state, and specialty media interviews with high-impact digital engagements including with sports content creators and podcasts,” the campaign said.

Walz will also make his late-night TV debut as Harris’ running mate and be a guest on a “top pop culture podcast” during an upcoming swing on the West Coast, the campaign said — though specific details have not yet been disclosed.

Walz’s interactions with national media have been rare since he hit the campaign trail, with his only national interviews being the ABC News and MSNBC post-presidential debate interviews on Sept. 10 and the joint sit-down interview with Harris on CNN on Aug. 29.

Walz is kicking off the swing with a central Pennsylvania bus tour on Wednesday with Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman — a trip meant to be done with Harris, however her schedule shifted to focus on Hurricane Helene. On Wednesday, Harris visits Georgia to survey the storm damage, give updates on the government response and hear from local officials on the ground.

Walz’s Pennsylvania bus tour includes stops in Harrisburg and Reading before Fetterman joins him for a campaign rally in York.

Pennsylvania is a critical battleground state where both campaigns will focus their time in the remaining weeks until Election Day. Pennsylvania went for former President Donald Trump by over 44,000 votes in 2016 before President Joe Biden took it back by over 80,000 votes in 2020.

On Saturday, Walz will be fundraising, starting with an Ohio swing in Cleveland and Cincinnati. He’ll then travel to the West Coast to fundraise, with stops in California and Washington.

According to the campaign, Walz will also continue his campaigning with stops in the Sun Belt. He will make another visit to Reno, Nevada, to hold a campaign rally that was originally postponed in light of the Davis wildfires in September. He then goes to Arizona for a series of political events to kick off the start of early voting in the state.

“With just over 30 days until the election, the Harris-Walz ticket is entering the final stretch of the campaign aggressively, with a robust travel and media schedule to ensure that every American voter knows what’s on the line in November,” the campaign said.

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