Kanye West Won’t Be on Ballot in Arizona: Campaign Update
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris worked out with water bottles during the lockdown.
(Bloomberg) -- Kanye West won’t be on the presidential ballot in Arizona, though he qualified in Mississippi. A federal judge said Texas couldn’t discard mail-in ballots without giving voters a chance to respond. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said President Donald Trump welcomes Russian interference in the election.
There are 56 days until the election.
Other Developments:
Kanye West Won’t Be on Presidential Ballot in Arizona
West won’t be on the Nov. 3 ballot in Arizona after the state Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling disqualifying his bid as an independent presidential candidate on grounds he is a registered Republican in Wyoming.
But West has qualified to appear on the ballot in Mississippi as he awaits court rulings about whether he’ll qualify in three other states.
The Mississippi State Board of Election Commissioners ruled Tuesday that West qualified as an independent candidate after his campaign submitted enough signatures on Friday, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Court rulings are still pending in Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia about whether he’ll appear on the ballot in those states, and he’s also qualified in at least Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont. -- Brenna Goth, Mark Niquette
Judge Orders Texas Not to Throw Out Mail-In Ballots (8:23 p.m.)
Texas was ordered by a federal judge not to reject any mail-in ballots on the basis of a signature mismatch, without notifying voters and letting them respond.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio said it’s unconstitutional to reject a voter’s signature and discard their ballot without giving them notice and a chance to cure or appeal that decision. The judge provided specific procedures –- including how quickly and how many times –- the state must call and mail a voter when a signature has been flagged as a mismatch.
The challenge was brought by a group of people –- including a doctor whose handwriting was hard to read and others with disabilities who have trouble writing at all –- who say their signatures are never the same. -- Laurel Brubaker Calkins
Kanye West Will Be on Presidential Ballot in Mississippi (4:02 p.m.)
West has qualified to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot for president in Mississippi as he awaits court rulings about whether he’ll qualify in four other states.
The Mississippi State Board of Election Commissioners ruled Tuesday that West qualified as an independent candidate after his campaign submitted enough signatures on Friday, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Court rulings are still pending in Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia about whether he’ll appear on the ballot in those states, and he’s also qualified in at least Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont. -- Mark Niquette
Pelosi Says Trump Welcomes Russian ‘Intervention’ in Campaign
Pelosi accused Trump of welcoming Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election.
“They’re trying to jeopardize the integrity of elections to undermine the effectiveness of democracy. The president welcomes their intervention,” Pelosi said on Bloomberg Television on Tuesday. “That is most unfortunate and in many cases not even legal.”
Pelosi said the American people and not Russian President Vladimir Putin should decide the election. The White House has denied that Trump has sought Russian help in either the 2016 or 2020 elections, calling such allegations a “hoax.”
Pelosi also called on Republicans to support funds for the Postal System to ensure mail-in ballots are processed in time. She warned that problems with mail in voting are “probably going to happen.”
“So you better vote early, but only once. Not illegally as the president has suggested more than one time,” said Pelosi. -- Erik Wasson
Trump, Biden Even in Key Battleground Florida (2:48 p.m.)
Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are basically tied in Florida, one of the key battlegrounds in the November election less than two months before the vote.
Trump and Biden both have 48% support in the state among likely voters, according to a NBC News/Marist poll released Tuesday. Among registered voters, Trump leads Biden 48% to 47%. Four years ago, Trump won Florida, worth 29 electoral votes, by slightly more than 1 percentage point.
Trump is supported by Latino voters in the state, 50% to 46%, but Biden is polling better among senior citizens -- 49% to 48%. In 2016, Trump bested Hillary Clinton with that demographic, 57% to 40%.
As with voters nationally, Floridians favor Trump on the economy, 53% to 40%. They lean toward Biden when it comes to managing the coronavirus, 49% to 40%, and on handling race and race relations, 51% to 37%.
Biden has a strong lead among Black voters, 83% to 11%. He is ahead with women, 57% to 40%, and with independents, 51% to 40%. Trump leads with men, 58% to 38%, and white voters, 56% to 41%. The poll has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points and was conducted over the phone Aug. 31-Sept. 6. -- Emma Kinery
Trump Campaign Belatedly Tries to Lower Debate Expectations (2:28 p.m.)
After months of saying that Biden is just shy of senile, the Trump campaign now argues that the Democratic presidential nominee is a master of debate.
In a call with reporters on Tuesday, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said he’s been watching Biden’s performances in preparation for the Sept. 29 debate.
“Here’s what we’ve learned when we watch Joe Biden’s debates: He’s really good,” he said. “There were 12 Democrat debates in the 2019-2020 cycle, he’s debated for vice president on the national stage before, he decisively won his debates in 2012 and in 2008.”
Trump himself said something similar, tweeting in 2012 that Biden and Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan had “very different styles” but each was “totally effective in his own way” after the debate.
But that’s a change of tone from the last few months during which Trump has argued that Biden has lost a step. “Biden can’t put two sentences together,” he said in a Fox News interview in July. “They wheel him out. He goes up -- he repeats -- they ask him questions. He reads a teleprompter and then he goes back into his basement.”
Biden Appeals to Cuba’s Patron Saint (1:17 p.m.)
Biden referenced his own Roman Catholic faith as he reached out to Cuban-American voters in Florida, as polls show him under-performing Hillary Clinton’s numbers in the must-win state.
In a statement released by the campaign, Biden pointed out that Sept. 8 is the feast day for Our Lady of Charity, or La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, the patron saint of Cuba, noting that his and Jill Biden’s “faith serves as the bedrock of our life.”
“Jill and I pray that the love and compassion ‘Cachita’ inspires will fill the hearts of believers around the world,” he said in the statement.
A poll released Tuesday by the Miami Herald found Biden underperforming Clinton’s numbers among voters in Miami-Dade County, an area where Democrats need to do well to offset losses elsewhere in the state.
The poll of 500 likely Miami-Dade voters found Biden leading Trump 55-35, a 17-point margin that is well below Clinton’s 30-point win in 2016. Taken Sept. 1-4, the poll had a 4.4 percentage point margin of error.
Harris Used Water Bottles to Work Out During Lockdown (9 a.m.)
When weights sold out during the coronavirus lockdown, Kamala Harris turned to water bottles.
In a video chat with former President Barack Obama released by the Biden campaign, the California senator said that she had to get creative to stay fit when the coronavirus led to a home gym boom.
“For months, I couldn’t find weights, to order weights, they were sold out, so I had these liter water bottles that I filled, of course, with water and used them as hand weights,” she said.
Obama said he also had to improvise in order to work out while campaigning.
“There were times where I was like in a little Iowa town and the only treadmill was in the back of a beauty salon and I’d be walking by, women be looking, why is this guy there,” he said, mimicking women sitting under a hooded hair dryer.
Biden Ramps Up Questions About Trump’s Health (6:33 a.m.)
Former Vice President Biden responded to the Trump campaign raising questions about his health by stepping up his own attacks.
Asked by a local Pennsylvania TV news station about the Trump team’s claims that he’s “lost a step,” Biden raised similar questions about the president.
“Look at how he steps, and look how I step,” Biden said. “Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps, OK? Come on.”
After a speech in mid-June at West Point, Trump walked slowly down a ramp in a moment that was widely shared on social media, becoming fodder for late-night comedians and an anti-Trump Republican group.
Trump later tweeted that the ramp was “very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” although it was sunny that day.
Democratic State Officials Take Aim at Trump
Trump’s suggestion that mail-in voters in North Carolina try to cast a ballot in person as well has led to a forceful response from Democratic state officials who don’t typically get into verbal tussles with a president.
On Monday, a day before a slated visit by Trump to the state, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein released a statement along with 24 other attorneys general noting that voting twice is illegal, as is encouraging it.
“Anyone who intentionally votes twice faces serious legal consequences,” he wrote. “So do those who direct others to engage in this illegal conduct.”
Meantime, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold tweeted Monday that she will refer any cases of double-voting for prosecution and would consider adding Trump to the referral as well.
“In Colorado, we take double voting seriously and refer all suspected cases for legal enforcement,” she wrote. “If it makes sense, I will include @realdonaldtrump in the referral for prosecution. He may not have presidential immunity anymore depending on the election.”
Biden Still Lags Trump on Twitter
A grassroots attempt to get Biden to 10 million followers on Twitter by the end of Labor Day fell short, as he ended the three-day weekend with 9.2 million.
The informal campaign began Saturday evening, when a Biden supporter’s account called “Jill Biden for FLOTUS” asked people to follow Joe Biden.
“Can We Please Get @JoeBiden to 10M followers before the End of Labor Day?” read the tweet. “Pass it on.”
The tweet was retweeted tens of thousands of times, promoted by everyone from actress Alyssa Milano to former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. But Biden ended Labor Day still well shy of Hillary Clinton’s 28.5 million followers -- or Trump’s 85.8 million, much less former President Barack Obama’s 122.3 million.
But while Trump may be reaping more free exposure getting his message out, Biden has said recently that the president should “get off Twitter” and focus more in issues like reopening schools safely.
Coming Up:
Trump will speak about the environment at an event in Jupiter, Florida, and then head to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for remarks.
Biden will visit Michigan on Wednesday.
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