q rich
By SARAH PARVINI, GARANCE BURKE and JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration — among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools — some of them powered by AI — help make life-altering decisions for immigrants, including whether they should be detained or surveilled. One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency’s supervision. The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant — with a pending case — will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case. “The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote. Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location. Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending. In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app. Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender or other protected traits. DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI , but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden’s AI policy when he returns to the White House in January. “DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP. Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges — such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country — that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how they plan to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history. Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, “limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.” SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers. ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people. In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.” But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people “may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.” Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said. On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead. The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” “In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said. That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs. “It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call. GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years.Tafara Gapare throws down 19 points and a highlight dunk, and Maryland beats Bucknell 91-67Metallurgical Coal Market is set for a Potential Growth Worldwide: Excellent Technology Trends with Business Analysis
Hail Flutie: BC celebrates 40th anniversary of Miracle in Miami
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration is urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young as 18. A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private consultations, said Wednesday that the outgoing Democratic administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilization age to 18 from the current age of 25 to expand the pool of fighting-age men available to help a badly outnumbered Ukraine in its nearly three-year-old war with Russia. The official said “the pure math” of Ukraine's situation now is that it needs more troops in the fight. Currently Ukraine is not mobilizing or training enough soldiers to replace its battlefield losses while keeping pace with Russia's growing military, the official added. The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia's February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months. But with time running out, the Biden White House is also sharpening its viewpoint that Ukraine has the weaponry it needs and now must dramatically increase its troop levels if it's going to stay in the fight with Russia. White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett in a statement said the administration will continue sending Ukraine weaponry but believes “manpower is the most vital need" Ukraine has at the moment. “So, we’re also ready to ramp up our training capacity if they take appropriate steps to fill out their ranks,” Savett said. The Ukrainians have said they need about 160,000 additional troops to keep up with its battlefield needs, but the U.S. administration believes they probably will need more than that. More than 1 million Ukrainians are now in uniform, including the National Guard and other units. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been hearing concerns from allies in other Western capitals as well that Ukraine has a troop level problem and not an arms problem, according to European officials who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic conversations. The European allies have stressed that the lack of depth means that it may soon become untenable for Ukraine to continue to operate in Russia’s Kursk border region . The situation in Kursk has become further complicated by the arrival of thousands of North Korean troops , who have come to help Moscow try to claw back the land seized in a Ukrainian incursion this year. The stepped-up push on Ukraine to strengthen its fighting ranks comes as Ukraine braces for President-elect Donald Trump to take office on Jan. 20. The Republican said he would bring about a swift end to the war and has raised uncertainty about whether his administration would continue the vital U.S. military support for Ukraine. “There are no easy answers to Ukraine’s serious manpower shortage, but lowering the draft age would help,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "These are obviously difficult decisions for a government and society that has already endured so much due to Russia’s invasion.” Ukraine has taken steps to broaden the pool of draft-eligible men, but the efforts have only scratched the surface against a much larger Russian military. In April, Ukraine’s parliament passed a series of laws, including one lowering its draft-eligible age for men from 27 to 25, aimed at broadening the universe of men who could be called on to join the grinding war. Those laws also did away with some draft exemptions and created an online registry for recruits. They were expected to add about 50,000 troops, far short of what Zelenskyy said at the time was needed. Zelenskyy has consistently stated that he has no plans to lower the mobilization age. A senior Ukrainian official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine does not have enough equipment to match the scale of its ongoing mobilization efforts. The official said Ukrainian officials see the push to the lower the draft age as part of an effort by some Western partners to deflect attention from their own delays in providing equipment or belated decisions. The official cited as an example the delay in giving Ukraine permission to use longer-range weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory. The Ukrainians do not see lowering the draft age to recruit more soldiers as a substitute for countering Russia’s advantage in equipment and weaponry, the official said. Conscription has been a sensitive matter in Ukraine throughout the war. Russia’s own problems with adequate troop levels and planning early in the war prevented Moscow from taking full advantage of its edge. But the tide has shifted and the U.S. says the Ukrainian shortage can no longer be overlooked. Some Ukrainians have expressed worry that further lowering the minimum conscription age and taking more young adults out of the workforce could backfire by further harming the war-ravaged economy. The senior Biden administration official added that the administration believes that Ukraine can also optimize its current force by more aggressively dealing with soldiers who desert or go absent without leave. AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller and AP writer Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv contributed to this report.
Lions CBs Terrion Arnold, Ennis Rakestraw Jr. out vs. Colts
None
Trump nominee Pete Hegseth speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill following his nomination. Pete Hegseth , the former National Guard officer who President-elect Trump has tapped to lead the Department of Defense, said he's had "great" conversations with senators amid efforts to shore up his confirmation and was "standing right here in this fight." On Thursday, Hegseth said he refused to back down from a fight as his nomination remains in limbo amid drinking and sexual misconduct allegations. He has denied any wrongdoing. "We've had great conversations, about who I am and what I believe," Hegseth said of his meetings with senators. "And, frankly, the man I am today, because of my faith in my lord and savior Jesus Christ and my wife Jenny right here, I'm a different man than I was years ago." TRUMP TRANSITION SIGNS AGREEMENT FOR FBI BACKGROUND CHECKS Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's nominee to be defense secretary, is joined by his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, as they walk through the basement of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) "And that's a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate," he added. "And I know from fellow vets that I've spent time with, they resonate with that as well. You fight, you go through tough things in tough places on behalf of your country. And sometimes that changes you a little bit." An email was recently leaked from Hegseth's mother, Penelope Hegseth, in which she was critical of his past relationships with women. She joined "FOX and Friends" on Wednesday morning to set the record straight, saying she wrote the email in an impassioned moment after her son's divorce, but apologized hours after sending it. Hegseth's mother also said she did not believe any of the accusations against him. TRUMP FLOATS DESANTIS AS POTENTIAL DEFENSE SECRETARY REPLACEMENT IF HEGSETH FALTERS Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's nominee to be defense secretary, and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, attend a meeting with Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump is reportedly considering nominating Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as defense secretary in place of Hegseth amid the allegations against him. But Hegseth brushed off the potential replacement, telling reporters that he was prepared to fight. "As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I'm going to be standing right here in this fight, fighting to bring our Pentagon back to what it needs to be," he said. Hegseth also told reporters that he doesn’t answer to the media, only to Trump, God, his family and the senators slated to vote on his confirmation. On Thursday, Hegseth said the conversations with senators have been "robust, candid at times with great questions on policy and personality." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "So we're going to earn those votes," he said. "We're fighting all the way through the tape. I'm grateful to have the president's support, because his vision for this Department of Defense is to bring it back to its core capacity of deterring our enemies and, if necessary, defeating those enemies." Fox News Digital's Aubrie Spady contributed to this report. Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to louis.casiano@fox.com .JERUSALEM — Israel approved a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah militants on Tuesday that would end nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the war in the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire, starting at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday, would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza , where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable. Hours before the ceasefire with Hezbollah was to take effect, Israel carried out the most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs since the start of the conflict and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 42 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities. Another huge airstrike shook Beirut shortly after the ceasefire was announced. Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. There appeared to be lingering disagreement over whether Israel would have the right to strike Hezbollah if it believed the militants had violated the agreement, something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted was part of the deal but which Lebanese and Hezbollah officials have rejected. Israel's security Cabinet approved the U.S.-France-brokered ceasefire agreement after Netanyahu presented it, his office said. U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden administration spent much of this year trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza but the talks repeatedly sputtered to a halt . President-elect Donald Trump vowed to bring peace to the Middle East without saying how. Still, any halt to the fighting in Lebanon is expected to reduce the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas and exchanged direct fire with Israel on two occasions earlier this year. In this screen grab image from video provide by the Israeli Government Press Office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a televised statement Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel. Netanyahu presented the ceasefire proposal to Cabinet ministers after a televised address in which he listed accomplishments against Israel’s enemies across the region. He said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would further isolate Hamas in Gaza and allow Israel to focus on its main enemy, Iran. “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said. “For every violation, we will attack with might.” The ceasefire deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance. Biden said Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce, but that the deal "was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” A police bomb squad officer inspects the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in a backyard in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Tuesday Nov. 26, 2024. Netanyahu’s office said Israel appreciated the U.S. efforts in securing the deal but “reserves the right to act against every threat to its security.” Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the ceasefire and described it as a crucial step toward stability and the return of displaced people. Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday it had not seen the agreement in its final form. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state," he said, referring to Israel's demand for freedom of action. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” Rescuers and residents search for victims Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in Beirut, Lebanon. Even as ceasefire efforts gained momentum in recent days, Israel continued to strike what it called Hezbollah targets across Lebanon while the militants fired rockets, missiles and drones across the border. An Israeli strike on Tuesday leveled a residential building in central Beirut — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Israel also struck a building in Beirut's bustling commercial district of Hamra for the first time, hitting a site around 400 meters (yards) from Lebanon’s Central Bank. There were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military said it struck targets linked to Hezbollah's financial arm. The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously were not targeted. The warnings sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, with mattresses tied to some cars. Dozens of people, some wearing pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed overhead. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a major presence, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, is headquartered. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said peacekeepers will not evacuate. Israeli soldiers inspect the site Tuesday Nov. 26, 2024, where a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in a backyard in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel. The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few miles from the Israeli border. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 20 miles north of the border. Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have exchanged barrages ever since. Israeli security officers and army soldiers inspect the site Tuesday Nov. 26, 2024, where a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in a backyard in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel. Israel escalated its bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes. More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon. Chehayeb and Mroue reported from Beirut and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporters Lujain Jo and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Economy to face biggest test when IMF programme ends: Humayun Akhtar
Is the World Series champions’ plucking of another starting pitcher bad for baseball? Or should other organizations just try harder?
No. 17 Clemson 51, The Citadel 14
A 25-per-cent U.S. tariff on Canadian goods would be "devastating" for the province's lumber and forestry industries, British Columbia Premier David Eby said Wednesday ahead of a meeting with fellow premiers and the prime minister. Eby was scheduled to participate in the virtual meeting to discuss U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose the tariffs unless Canada and Mexico stop illegal border crossings and prevent illicit drugs from entering the United States. Eby said the lumber and forestry sectors are already strained by a recent increase in duties amid the ongoing U.S.-Canada dispute over softwood lumber. The tariffs are "unjustified," and they would hurt Americans as much as they would Canadians, Eby said after the first meeting of his new cabinet in Victoria. B.C. Premier Eby says Canada will negotiate from 'position of strength' on U.S. tariffs Duties on Canadian lumber have helped U.S. production grow while B.C. towns suffer. Now, Trump's tariffs loom "It's going to result in more expensive wood for building homes and building things in the United States. (It) doesn't make any sense," he said. B.C. is a source of natural gas, wood products, minerals and other products that U.S. businesses depend on, Eby said, and the tariff would hinder jobs and opportunities in the province while making "life more expensive for Americans." B.C. has been a major exporter of lumber and forestry products over the years. (CBC) Marty Warren, the Canadian national director for the United Steelworkers union, said the Canadian forestry industry — which is largely based in B.C. — is already reeling from high U.S. duties on softwood lumber imports as part of a longstanding dispute. "Now the fear is that with the current tariffs on lumber, it's really starting to affect our operations," he told CBC News. "And if there's any increase in the tariffs on softwood lumber ... we'll start to take casualties. Some more mills will shut down, more workers will be laid off." WATCH | B.C. businesses urge quick action after tariff threat: B.C. businesses call for quick action on Trump tariff plan 21 hours ago Duration 2:40 B.C. businesses fear they may soon be at the mercy of a brewing trade war between the US and Canada. This after US president-elect Donald Trump said he’d impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods the day he takes office. CBC's Katie DeRosa has more. Warren said the softwood lumber dispute, which has been ongoing for two decades, will need to be resolved fast if the Canadian forestry industry is to survive. "We've got to sort it out and, with Trump's tweet, it's concerning that big issues like softwood lumber and many other issues are not going to be solvable, and I hope I'm wrong on that with his administration." Premiers 'unified,' Eby says The B.C. premier said he believes B.C. has a strong case to make for the tariff being "badly placed" if Trump's priority is to reduce costs for Americans. The tariff would be paid by U.S. importers of Canadian products, potentially driving down demand. Eby and officials in Ottawa have called for a united front in dealing with Trump's tariff plan, which the president-elect announced on social media on Monday. B.C. officials have repeatedly raised concerns with Ottawa over organized crime and illicit drugs, such as fentanyl, in relation to border security, according to Eby. "It's a priority for us. It has been for a while, we've written to Ottawa about it." B.C. businesses brace for the higher tariffs Trump promised How forestry could shape B.C. election's outcome in the north But Eby said it "doesn't justify the tariffs." The premier said Trump's tariff plan "doesn't make economic sense," and it's not necessary to address the serious issues at the border. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Quebec Premier François Legault have both said Trump's concerns about the border are legitimate and need to be addressed. Legault said Wednesday that Ottawa shouldn't try to deny that there's a problem and instead present a plan to reassure Trump that Canada's border is secure. WATCH | U.S. president-elect issues tariff threat: Trump threatens 25% tariffs on Canada, Mexico on 1st day in office 2 days ago Duration 2:24 In a post on his Truth Social platform, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all goods from Canada and Mexico until both countries stop what he called the ‘invasion’ of undocumented migrants and drugs crossing the U.S. border. Eby said he believes the premiers are "unified" when it comes to the tariff threat. "There are 13 of us, plus the prime minister. It's a big group of people with different political perspectives, but on this issue of ensuring that we're protecting the people in our country from these unjustified tariffs, I believe we're completely in-line on that question." Eby said he planned to meet with business and labour groups in B.C. following the call to discuss the strategy to protect B.C. jobs and families. Donald Trump threatens 25% tariff on products from Canada, Mexico How seriously should we take Trump's tariff threat, and how could it affect Canadians? The premier also said B.C. has to "redouble" its efforts to diversify its trading partners, noting a trade mission to the Asia Pacific region in 2023. "In Korea, in Japan, Singapore, these are really important relationships for British Columbia, and they will provide some buffer for us in moments like this." Eby said B.C. is not in the same position as Quebec or Ontario in terms of the potential impact of the tariff, but the province is still exposed. "These unjustified tariffs do threaten the prosperity and security of many families in our province. So I'm going to make sure that we're advocating strongly at the team Canada level to respond to this, [as a] unified front across Canada." Eby also told reporters the first day of the next legislative session will be Feb. 18. The NDP government will deliver a budget that reflects B.C. residents' priorities around affordability, health care, economic growth and public safety, he said.
Netanyahu's office says his security Cabinet has approved ceasefire deal with Hezbollah
Why this solo dolphin in the Baltic Sea can’t stop talking to itselfNoneIn the early morning following Election Day in 2020, Claire Woodall, then Milwaukee’s elections chief, mistakenly left behind a USB stick carrying vote totals at the city’s central absentee ballot counting facility. Election conspiracy theorists quickly seized on the mistake, accusing Woodall of rigging the election. Their claims were baseless, but the mistake increased scrutiny on the city’s election staff and led Woodall to create a checklist to make sure workers at central count didn’t overlook any critical steps in the future. This year, despite the checklist, Milwaukee election staff at central count made another procedural mistake — and once again left the door open to conspiracy theorists. Somebody — city officials haven’t said who — overlooked the second step outlined on the checklist and failed to lock and seal the hatch covers on the facility’s 13 tabulators before workers began tabulating ballots. For hours, while counting proceeded, the machines’ on-off switches and USB ports were left exposed. After election officials discovered the lapse, city officials decided to count 31,000 absentee ballots all over again , a choice that led to delays in reporting results. Results from the large and heavily Democratic city ultimately came in at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, only a few hours later than expected, but a time that conspiracy theorists implied was a suspicious hour for vote totals to change . Their posts echoed claims from 2020 that used sensationalized language like “late-night ballot dumps” to describe the reality that in big cities, absentee ballots take time — yes, sometimes late into the night — to collect, deliver, verify and count accurately. In fact, the results in Milwaukee couldn’t have arrived much sooner. Under state law, election officials can’t start processing the hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots until the morning of Election Day. This year, they got a late start because of delays in getting workers settled , but were still expecting to be done around 2 or 3 a.m. Then it became clear the midday decision to redo the count would add more time to the process. But those explanations have done little to curb the false conspiracy theories that have been proliferating on the right, including from losing U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde. Election officials have for years known that the slightest mistakes, or even perceived errors, can trigger false claims. In this instance, the failure to follow a critical security step occurred in the state’s most scrutinized election facility, despite new procedures meant to reduce such errors. For people with a conspiratorial mindset, such an oversight can’t be explained away as just a mistake, said Mert Bayar, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public. The errors can provide conspiracy theorists a feeling of validation because those errors make a “conspiracy theory more realistic ... more believable.” For those people, he said, election errors are instead perceived as “part of a plot to steal an election.” Instead of considering the 2024 Milwaukee mistake a simple oversight, Bayar said, conspiracy theorists may think that the tabulator doors “cannot be left unlocked unless they’re trying something tricky, something stealth.” Genya Coulter, senior director of stakeholder relations at the Open Source Election Technology Institute, said Milwaukee can still fine-tune its processes and checklists. “I don't think anybody needs to be demonized,” she said, “but I do think that there needs to be some retraining. That would be helpful.” Milwaukee error initially drew complaints, but not suspicion It was an election observer who first noticed the open tabulator doors and alerted election officials. Around 2 p.m., Milwaukee’s current election chief, Paulina Gutiérrez, went from tabulator to tabulator, monitored by Democratic and Republican representatives, to lock all of the doors. Two hours later, she made the call to rerun all ballots through the tabulators. The tabulators had been in full view of partisan observers and the media, but behind a barrier that only election officials and some designated observers, like representatives for both political parties who accompany election officials during some election processes, can enter. Any tampering would have been evident, Gutiérrez said, and there was no sign of that. For that reason, some Republicans at central count opposed recounting all the ballots and risking a delay. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who went to central count on Election Day to learn more about the error, said he didn’t think anything nefarious happened , though he said the election operation there was “grossly incompetent.” Coulter said the decision to start the counting over again was “the right call for transparency's sake.” Hovde, who lost his Senate race in a state that Donald Trump carried, invoked conspiratorial language to describe what happened. “The results from election night were disappointing, particularly in light of the last minute absentee ballots that were dropped in Milwaukee at 4 a.m. flipping the outcome,” he said Monday in his concession speech. “There are many troubling issues around these absentee ballots.” In an earlier video , Hovde criticized Milwaukee’s election operation and spread false claims about the proportion of votes that his opponent, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, received from absentee ballots. That led to a skyrocketing number of posts baselessly alleging election fraud in Wisconsin. One prominent conservative social media account questioned whether the tabulator doors being left open was a case of sabotage. In a statement, the Milwaukee Election Commission said it “unequivocally refutes Eric Hovde’s baseless claims regarding the integrity of our election process.” Why Milwaukee’s results were late There’s no proof of fraud or malfeasance in Milwaukee or anywhere else in Wisconsin on Election Day. But a few key factors combined to delay Milwaukee’s results until 4 a.m. First, Milwaukee central count workers started processing and tabulating ballots around 9 a.m., long after the 7 a.m. start time allowed under state law. The delay was a matter of getting dozens of central count workers organized and at the right station in the large facility. The more high-profile one was the failure to close the tabulators, which prompted the decision to count 31,000 absentee ballots all over again. But both of those slowdowns could have been less consequential had Wisconsin election officials been able to process absentee ballots on the Monday before Election Day, as some other states allow. Such a change could have allowed election officials to review absentee ballot envelopes, verify and check in absentee voters but not count votes. An effort to allow election officials to do so stalled in the state Senate this year . Checklist change could ‘improve transparency’ Milwaukee election officials may have avoided the situation entirely — and could avoid similar situations in the future — by modifying their central count checklist, said Coulter, from the Open Source Election Technology Institute. Currently, the checklist states that at the start of Election Day, the tabulator doors should be locked and sealed. It’s not clear why that step was skipped. Gutiérrez didn’t respond to questions for comment about who was in charge of the process or whether that person faced disciplinary action. But the step likely wouldn’t have been overlooked, Coulter said, if the checklist required the official in charge of locking the tabulators to be accompanied by a representative from each major political party. “That's a relatively painless change that ... I think it would improve transparency,” Coulter said. “There needs to be an emphasis on having two people from different political affiliations performing all duties that involve the tabulator,” she said. Another pre-processing step on the checklist calls for people working at the tabulators to make sure the numbered seals pasted over the tabulator doors are intact. It doesn’t call for checking that the tabulator doors are locked. To avoid a repeat situation, Coulter said, “they should also check to make sure that the door to the power button is properly locked, and what to do if it isn't.” Election officials recognize the scrutiny they face over errors, Coulter said, and they sometimes focus more on avoiding mistakes than running election operations. “It's like a racecar driver ... If you focus on the wall, you're going to wind up hitting that wall,” she said. “You have to train your mind to think about the curve and not the wall, but unfortunately, it's really hard for election officials to do that, especially in high-pressure jurisdictions.” Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org . Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Wisconsin’s free newsletter here . This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Knights face tall road task vs. Sam Montembeault, Canadiens
Anti-Emetic Drugs Market which was USD 7543.13 Million in 2022 is expected to reach USD 12840.23 Million by 2030