Let your voice be heard!

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It's been a long time coming, but Election Day is finally here. Though a record number of us have already cast our votes by mail/absentee ballots or through early voting, for those of you heading to the polls today, think ahead. Wear your mask. Bring hand sanitizer. You might experience lines that wrap outside the polling place, so dress for the weather and bring some water and a snack. And please remember to thank the election volunteers at your polling place. Seven months ago, it wasn't entirely clear how states would adapt to run elections amid a pandemic. Thanks to the quick work of state and local officials and tens of thousands of volunteers who stepped up to help, we're near 100 million votes cast with minimal issues and on our way to historic turnout. Let's do this, America! —Mindy Finn

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** The final pitch
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Last night, President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden presented their dueling visions for the nation's future for the last time in the seemingly endless 2020 presidential campaign. And today, Americans are choosing which vision they prefer. Biden has held a consistent lead in national opinion polls and appears to have multiple paths to victory in the Electoral College. But don’t count Trump out. He is close enough in several battleground states that it could be a very long night. And with so many mail-in votes yet to be counted in key states, we may not know who the next president is for a day or more. Hang in there! —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])
* — "Something must be done!" In a new threat last night, Trump criticized the Supreme Court decision in Pennsylvania to not interfere with a state decision to allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 to be accepted through Friday. Trump tweeted, "The Supreme Court decision on voting in Pennsylvania is a VERY dangerous one. It will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets." —RawStory ([link removed])
*
* — Do fence me in. Preparing for unrest in the nation’s capital, authorities put back into place a "non-scalable" fence around the entire perimeter of the White House yesterday. The fencing was last used during protests against police brutality in the summer. This extra layer of security marks the most high-profile example to date of authorities preparing for unrest following the election. —CNN ([link removed])
*
* — One final sweep. This morning, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has presided over several lawsuits aimed at U.S. Postal Service election mail delays, ordered the USPS to sweep its facilities for any remaining mail ballots by 3pm today and rush their delivery within the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Arizona, where polls show a tight race between Biden and Trump. —The Hill ([link removed])

MORE: Who has already voted in the US election and when will votes be counted? —The Guardian ([link removed])


** Birx finds her voice again
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After being out of the spotlight for months, Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is speaking up and sounding the alarm about a new and deadly phase in the coronavirus pandemic. Echoing Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health officials, she is pleading with the Trump Administration for "much more aggressive action," even as President Trump continues to assure that the nation is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic. ([link removed])
* — "We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic … leading to increasing mortality," Birx said in a report released yesterday. "This is not about lockdowns—it hasn't been about lockdowns since March or April. It's about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented." ([link removed])
*
* — The report contradicts Trump on numerous points. While the president holds large campaign events with hundreds of attendees, most without masks, she explicitly warns against them. While the president blames rising cases on more testing, she says testing is “flat or declining” in many areas where cases are rising. ([link removed])
*
* — With more than 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 being diagnosed each day, Birx says the essentials include continued testing, increasing personnel around the country before the crisis point, and "consistent messaging about uniform use of masks, physical distancing, and hand-washing with profound limitation on indoor gatherings." —The Washington Post ([link removed])

MORE: Cases of COVID-19 in children is rising, with highest 1-week spike yet —CNN ([link removed])


** McKew: Buckle up. It's going to be a wild ride
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"Part of seeing disinformation and conspiracies for what they are is knowing the landscape of possibility. You need to be prepared for what may happen, and what you might see, and what may come—because you need to not panic and amplify perceptions of unrest and potentially worsen any unrest. When we’re in this strange realm of potential political violence, amplifying bad information can lead to real harm—of individuals, of institutions and ideals, and of the objectives you aim to achieve. We're all on edge. The next few weeks, especially in the information domain, will require extraordinary calm, precision, and endurance." —Molly McKew on ([link removed]) Stand Up Republic ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Molly McKew served as an adviser to then-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili from 2009 to 2013. She is an expert in information warfare specializing in U.S.-Russia relations.

MORE: Right- and left-wing extremists expect violence from the other side —Defense One ([link removed])


** The Director of Disinformation
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Surprisingly (or perhaps not), the primary source of disinformation in the 2020 campaign has not been Russia—or any foreign state, for that matter. It's been the White House, and aside from the president himself, a key culprit is Richard Grenell, whose resume includes stints as acting director of national intelligence, ambassador to Germany, and a special envoy for peace talks between Serbia and Kosovo. He's also a notorious social media troll. ([link removed])
* — On Sunday, Grenell tweeted a photograph showing former Vice President Joe Biden maskless on a plane, along with an image of Biden wearing a mask while outdoors, suggesting that Biden is a "phony" whose mask use is nothing more than a public pose. But the photo of Biden without a mask is from November 2019, before the pandemic began. ([link removed])
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* — Last week, Grenell retweeted a false claim by an account with the username "Heshmat Alavi" that lobbyists for Iran had "established ties with the Biden/Harris circle." This claim includes multiple layers of falsehoods, primarily that Alavi "appears not to exist" but is instead a composite persona created by the radical Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e-Khalq, or MEK. ([link removed])
* — Grenell also made several false claims during remarks at the Republican National Convention in August aimed at bolstering Trump's false assertions that former President Barack Obama secretly launched a surveillance operation on the Trump campaign. So the moral of the story? When Grenell says anything, consider the source, and fact check, fact check, fact check. —Mother Jones ([link removed])

MORE: 'Putin could only dream of it': How Trump became the biggest source of disinformation in 2020 —The Guardian ([link removed])
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** NYT Ed Board: Voting should be easier
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"Representative democracy works only when a large majority of people participate in choosing their representatives. That can happen only when those in power agree that voting should be as easy and widely available as possible. Yet today, one of the two major political parties is convinced it cannot win on a level playing field—and will not even try. What would a level playing field look like? For starters, it would have more polling places, more early-voting days, and shorter voting lines." —The New York Times ([link removed])

MORE: Harris County voters will only have one drive-thru polling site on Election Day —The Texas Tribune ([link removed])


** Vienna terror attack kills four
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At least four people were killed and 14 others wounded in a shooting spree in the city center of Vienna, Austria, yesterday. Police shot and killed a gunman, according to Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer, who described the suspect as an "Islamist terrorist." ([link removed])
* — The attack began when the gunman opened fire near Vienna's main synagogue, which was closed and unoccupied at the time. The gunman then fired randomly into bars and cafes that were crowded on the last night before a nationwide coronavirus lockdown. ([link removed])
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* — Nehammer said the suspect was a 20-year-old dual citizen of Austria and North Macedonia who was sentenced to 22 months in prison last year for attempting to travel to Syria to join ISIS. He was released seven months later. ([link removed])
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* — Several other arrests were made and at least 15 additional homes searched. Residents of Vienna were told to stay home today as authorities try to determine whether there are additional attackers or accomplices. —NPR ([link removed])

MORE: Austria reimposes coronavirus lockdown amid surge of infections —Axios ([link removed])


** Carter & McCain: Trust the process
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"Any president seeking to maintain power in defiance of an election result would find opposition from every branch of American government, including political leaders of both parties, the judiciary, and the military—yes, the military too. And no challenger could hope to usurp a credible outcome. The one thing we can all agree on is that American democracy is more important than party politics. It is what ensures that we have robust party politics, after all." —Jason Carter & Cindy McCain in ([link removed]) The Economist ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Jason Carter, a Democrat, is the chair of the Carter Centre and grandson of former President Jimmy Carter. Cindy McCain, a Republican (and supporter of Joe Biden for president), is the chair of the McCain Institute and wife of the late Sen. John McCain.


** 'This is the most important thing I could do'
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A 104-year-old New Yorker named Ruth went viral over the weekend when her early voting story and passionate call to vote were shared online. "She was born before women had the right to vote," said journalist Faith Salie, who accompanied Ruth to early voting in Saturday. The centenarian's first vote? Franklin Delano Roosevelt. ([link removed])
* — Ruth was asked if this was one of the most important votes she has ever cast in her lifetime. "This is hands down, without exception, and I'm talking about the first World War, the second World War, and every other election before or since. This is it," she replied. "That's why I'm so thrilled that I'm still alive." ([link removed])
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* — Ruth wasn't alone. Early voting saw record numbers across the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic, with both parties turning out in full force. Voters on both sides have cited this election as the most important of their lifetimes. ([link removed])
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* — Ruth could not be filmed as she cast her ballot due to voting rules, but she was seen exiting the polling place to cheers. Later, Salie shared video of Ruth saying she felt good about the vote. “Now I can die happy,” she said. God bless you, Ruth. —The Hill ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Would you like to suggest "An American Story" from your local news? If so, please forward a link to the story to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . Thank you!

To me, this election couldn't be clearer. Which candidate doesn't care if you, your loved ones, and our frontline workers get sick or even die from COVID-19? Which candidate (and party) is trying to take away your vote? Which candidate is inciting violence, rather than trying to quell it? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are on the ballot today. Please vote! —Carole L., New York
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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Got feedback about THE TOPLINE? Send it to Melissa Amour, Managing Editor, at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

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