IT: Final 2020 presidential debate, and... 🧮 Will you demand every vote be counted?

Welcome to Thursday, October 22nd, Rays and Dodgers...

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will face off for their second (third?) and final debate Thursday night.

The topics: Fighting COVID-19, American Families, Race in America, Climate Change, National Security, Leadership.

Join us at 9pm tonight here, where we'll be live-blogging the key quotes and moments from this final tête-à-tête.

On the Radar

Iran, Russia Threaten Election Security

Officials from national security agencies are warning the public about efforts by Iran and Russia to undermine the 2020 election.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe provided the following update Wednesday:

“We have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran, and separately, by Russia. This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos, and undermine your confidence in American democracy."

 Ratcliffe added:

“If you receive an intimidating or manipulative email in your inbox, don’t be alarmed, and do not spread it. This is not a partisan issue. I’ve had conversations today with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, and there is complete unanimity in the U.S. government in our resolve to combat the enemies of freedom.”

Are you concerned about efforts by Iran to intimidate voters by email?

Under the Radar

Ballots Count

The coronavirus pandemic, rampant falsehoods about voting security, misrepresentations about mail-in ballots, and a hobbling of the Postal Service have set the stage for a full-blown election crisis.

One crisis scenario: Attempts are made to stop or interfere with the counting of ballots. 

“Overtime count” is the canvass after Election Night that tallies late-reporting precincts, unprocessed absentee votes, and provisional ballots. About 20 years ago, the overtime count began to grow and trend increasingly blue

President Trump has already intervened to protect Republican electoral prospects against overtime counts. In the 2018 Florida gubernatorial and senatorial elections, the blue shift saw Ron DeSantis’ lead in the governor’s race to shrink by 18,416 votes while Rick Scott watched his Senate margin fall by 20,231 votes.

On November 12, six days after Election Day, Trump tweeted:

“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible—ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!”

A similar scenario could play out at an even larger scale this presidential election. Read about it here, then:

Today Could Be The Most Important Election In Your Lifetime

• West Virginia has begun early voting, joining Louisiana, Utah, Wisconsin, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, and North Dakota, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Kansas, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, Maine, Montana, Illinois, New Jersey, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming, Minnesota, and South Dakota. Check your voter registration status here.

And, in the End…

It's Eat a Pretzel Day.

Here's one of the earliest depictions of the braided bread:

Pretzel depicted at a banquet of Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus, from the 12th century Hortus deliciarum.

What's your pretzel dip of choice? I like a good spicy mustard or chocolate shake,

—Josh Herman

Talk to us via email at editorial [at] causes.com. And don’t forget to keep in touch @Causes.