Author: Reporter

President Joe Biden worked forcefully on June 28 to quell Democratic anxieties over his unsteady showing in his debate with the criminally convicted ex-president Donald Trump, as elected members of his party closed ranks around him in an effort to shut down talk of replacing him atop the ticket. President Biden’s halting delivery and meandering comments, particularly early in the debate, fueled concerns from even members of his own party that at age 81 he’s not up for the task of leading the country for another four years. “I know I’m not a young man … I don’t speak...

Marta Moehring voted the way she prefers in Nebraska’s Republican primary, in person at her West Omaha polling place. She did not even consider taking advantage of the state’s no-excuse mail-in ballot process. In fact, she would prefer to do away with mail-in voting altogether. She is convinced fraudulent mailed ballots cost former President Donald Trump a second term in 2020. “I don’t trust it in general,” Moehring, 62, said. “I don’t think they’re counted correctly.” But now Republican officials — even, sometimes, Trump — are encouraging voters such as Moehring to cast their ballots by mail. The GOP...

It could be a well-rehearsed zinger or an offhand, too-loud sigh. Notable moments from past presidential debates demonstrate how the candidates’ words and body language can make them look especially relatable or hopelessly out-of-touch. They also can showcase candidates at the top of their policy game or suggest they are out to sea. Will past be prologue when President Joe Biden and convicted felon Donald Trump debate in Atlanta on June 27? “Debates, being live television events, without a script, without any way of knowing how they are going to evolve — anything can happen,” said Alan Schroeder, author...

The nation’s cybersecurity agency launched a program in February aimed at boosting election security in the states, shoring up support for local offices and hoping to provide reassurance to voters that this year’s presidential elections will be safe and accurate. Officials with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency introduced the program to the National Association of State Election Directors and National Association of Secretaries of State, which met in the nation’s capital. For state and local election officials, the list of security challenges keeps growing. Among them: potential cyberattacks waged by foreign governments, criminal ransomware gangs attacking computer...