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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2020)
8A — THE OBSERVER TuESday, OcTOBER 13, 2020 NATION Technical problems arise as early voting starts in Georgia The Associated Press ATLANTA — Long lines of people eager to cast ballots formed as early in-person voting began in Georgia on Monday, Oct. 12, and problems soon developed in the state’s most populous county. Election officials in Fulton County were aware of an issue with the elec- tronic pollbooks used to check voters in at State Farm Arena, where the Atlanta Hawks NBA team plays, county spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez said. Technicians were on site working to resolve it, she said. The line began moving when the arena opened for voting at 8 a.m. and some voters were able to cast their ballots, but things ground to a halt a short time later when the pollbooks Sen. Graham leads Barrett court hearings By Laurie Kellman Associated Press WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is wielding the gavel in the performance of his political life. Once a biting critic of President Donald Trump, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman on Monday, Oct. 12, launched confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett in a bid to seal a 6-to-3 con- servative majority on the Supreme Court. Hanging in the balance could be the future of government health care during a coronavirus pandemic that’s claimed more than 214,000 Amer- ican lives. And Graham’s own career appears in jeop- ardy like never before. For Graham, the Repub- lican Senate majority and Trump himself, the hear- ings three weeks before Election Day could be a last stand. The proceedings are a display for voters of what it means to control the pres- idency and the Senate. But they also are a real-time test of whether that’s enough to counter a jaw-dropping $57 million fundraising haul by Graham’s Democratic opponent in the South Caro- lina race, Jaime Harrison. “Senator, how good is your word?” Harrison, 44, asked at a recent debate. Graham’s answer is complicated by his whipsaw shifts, particularly where Trump is concerned. He’s been friend and foe of the belligerent president. Now, they play golf. He once vowed to oppose any Supreme Court confirma- tion hearings in presiden- tial election years. This week, he is chairing Bar- rett’s, and predicting she’ll be confirmed to the high court this month to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. With early voting underway in South Caro- lina and many other states, Graham, 65, mounted the dais Monday amid his opponent’s withering fund- raising, his own state- ments as one of the Sen- ate’s most visible members, and Trump’s weak standing against Democrat Joe Biden in the final stretch of the campaign. The days leading up to the Barrett hearings were particularly challenging for Graham. On Friday, during a debate forum with Har- rison — who is Black — Graham denied there was systemic racism in South Carolina. “If you’re a young African American, an immigrant, you can go any- where in this state. You just need to be conservative, not liberal,” Graham said. Then Harrison’s cam- paign on Sunday rocked the political world with its fundraising haul, pro- pelled by contributions from around the country. stopped working with hun- dreds of people waiting. By mid-morning, the problem appeared to have been resolved and the lines had cleared at the arena, which is the largest early voting site in the state with 300 voting machines. Some people lined up before dawn to be among the first to participate in early in-person voting, which runs through Oct. 30 in Georgia. While voters must vote at their assigned polling place on Election Day, they can vote at any voting site in the county where they live during early voting. With record turnout expected for this year’s presidential election and fears about exposure to the coronavirus, election offi- cials and advocacy groups have been encouraging Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP People wait in line to vote Monday, Oct. 12, 2020, in Decatur, Georgia. people to vote early, either in person or by absentee ballot. Problems with the elec- tronic pollbooks were one of the issues that contrib- uted to hourslong lines in Georgia during the June primary election, along with high turnout, consol- idated polling places and shortages of poll workers. With Georgia emerging as a potential battleground state, surrogates from both the Republican and Dem- ocratic presidential cam- paigns were scheduled to travel to the state Monday. Jill Biden, wife of former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, was scheduled to appear at an event in DeKalb County with prominent state Democrats before trav- eling to Columbus to meet with military and veteran families. Meanwhile, Presi- dent Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. was set to travel to Savannah near the coast and Kennesaw, just outside Atlanta, to rally Republican voters. Facebook bans Holocaust denial, distortion posts Associated Press Facebook is banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust and will start directing people to authoritative sources if they search for information about the Nazi genocide. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new policy Monday, Oct. 12, the latest attempt by the company to take action against conspiracy theories and misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election. The decision comes amid a push by Holocaust survivors around the world who lent their voices to a campaign targeting Zuck- erberg, urging him to take action to remove Holo- caust denial posts from the social media site. Coor- dinated by the Confer- ence on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the #NoDenyingIt cam- paign used Facebook itself to make the survivors’ entreaties to Zuckerberg heard, posting one video per day urging him to remove Holocaust-denying groups, pages and posts as hate speech. The Anti-Defamation League has reported that incidents of white suprem- acist propaganda dis- tributed across the U.S. jumped by more than 120% between 2018 and last year. Tech companies began promising to take a firmer stand against accounts used to promote hate and violence after a 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Vir- ginia., where a self-de- scribed white suprema- cist drove into a crowd of counterprotesters. Zuckerberg said in a blog post Monday he believe the new policy strikes the “right bal- ance” in drawing the lines between what is and isn’t acceptable speech. “I’ve struggled with the tension between standing for free expres- sion and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holo- caust,” he wrote. “My own thinking has evolved as I’ve seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence.” Zuckerberg had raised the ire in 2018 when he said that posts denying the Nazi annihilation of 6 mil- lion Jews would not neces- sarily be removed. He said he did not think Holocaust deniers were “intention- ally” getting it wrong, and that as long as posts were not calling for harm or violence. Having Difficulty Hearing People with Masks? Mask wearing eliminates vital visual information like watching another’s lips move to understand speech. This is a problem for those with hearing loss. Miracle-Ear needs 15 qualified candidates to participate in a field test study in determining the benefits of a new hearing instrument in the La Grande area. Portland We have a limited supply of the Genius 4.0 test product currently on hand and ready for testing. We have also been authorized to offer significant discounts if you decide to take the hearing instruments home. If you choose not to keep them, there’s no risk or obligation of any kind. In an effort to accurately demonstrate the incredible performance of these devices, specially trained representatives will be conducting testing and demonstrations during this special event. In addition to an audiometric hearing evaluation, candidates will receive a fiber-optic otoscope exam, a painless procedure that could reveal common hearing problems such as excessive wax or damage to the eardrum, as well as other common causes of hearing deficiencies. EXPIRES Oct. 2020 9th Dates: August 5th 20, - August TO PARTICIPATE: Mention Code: 20JulyMask Mention Code: 20OctMask 1) You must be one of the first 15 people to call our office 2) You will be required to have your hearing tested in our office, FREE OF CHARGE, to determine candidacy. 3) Report your results with the hearing instruments to the Hearing Care Specialist over a three week test period. Qualified candidates will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis so please call us TODAY to secure your spot in the Product Field Test. Product Test Site: LA GRANDE 111 Elm Street La Grande, OR 97850 541-605-2109 BAKER CITY 2021 Washington Ave. Baker City, OR 97814 541-239-3782 ENTERPRISE 113-1/2 Front E. Main St. Enterprise, OR 97828 541-239-3877 Pursuant to terms of your purchase agreement, the aids may be returned for a full refund within 30 days of the completion of fitting, in satisfactory condition. See store for details.
