Democrats in the US Congress on Tuesday failed to pass a legislative package intended to protect voting rights across the country.
The failure came during a Republican push to enact sweeping new voting laws in states they control.
The legislation failed to advance by a 50-50 party-line tie after Democrats fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass the legislation as the result of a procedural mechanism in the upper chamber called the filibuster.
President Joe Biden appointed Vice President Kamala Harris to oversee the protection of voting rights. But if this failed vote is any indication, she will continue to face an uphill battle.
"Democracy is in peril, here, in America," the White House said before the vote in a statement supporting the legislation.
“The right to vote – a sacred right in this country – is under assault with an intensity and an aggressiveness we have not seen in a long time.”
The White House said the bill would have expanded "the tools available to the Justice Department to enforce the voting rights of all Americans".
“In state after state, new restrictive laws on voting and efforts to replace non-partisan election administration with partisan processes designed to overturn the will of the voters have become more widespread.”
Republican legislatures in at least 14 states have enacted 22 voter restriction laws this year, the Brennan Centre for Justice at the New York University School of Law said.
"In a backlash to 2020's historic voter turn-out and unprecedented vote-by-mail usage, state lawmakers have imposed a variety of significant restrictions on mail voting and in-person voting," the Brennan Centre wrote in an analysis of the latest crop of voting laws.
This year's wave of legislation surpasses the record set in 2011, when 14 states passed 19 voting laws.
These laws, passed mainly in Republican-held states during the administration of Barack Obama, largely focused on increasing voter identification requirements, despite the lack of evidence that doing so would substantially prevent voter fraud.
Critics argued that the laws would hinder turn-out among non-white voters, who are statistically less likely to have an acceptable form of identification.
Similarly, voting rights advocates say that the latest crop of voter laws, described by Republicans as "election integrity" laws, would largely reduce turn-out among non-white voters, who overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.
Republicans have largely relied on former president Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 elections as a political justification for the new laws.
Conversely, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell derided Democrats' failed voting legislation as a "partisan power grab" on the Senate floor before the vote.
Democrats walked out of the Texas state legislature last month to deny Republicans the quorum they needed to pass an expansive new voting law, although the governor has called a special session next month to push the law through.
Ms Harris met Texas Democrats in Washington last week to praise their walkout, which she framed as an attempt to protect the right of Texans to vote.
"What we are seeing are examples of an attempt to interfere with that right and attempt to marginalise and take from people a right that has already been given," Ms Harris said.
“What’s happening right now in Texas is, of course, a very clear and current example of that.”
Among other things, the Texas voting bill would curtail postal voting, introduce new limits on voter registration, reduce polling locations largely used by non-white voters and increase criminal penalties for breaches of these proposed laws.
It would also ban voting before 1pm on Sundays, hindering black churches that traditionally drive voters to the polls after services – although Republicans now say the provision was a mistake.
Key swing states such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Michigan passed similar laws this year.
These laws would also reduce access to ballot drop-off locations, make it harder to vote by mail, increase voter identification requirements and curtail efforts by municipalities to shorten voter lines.
The wait time to vote in-person typically varies based on the racial demographics of a given locality, with white voters throughout the US usually enjoying much shorter, sometimes instantaneous wait times at the polling locations that primarily serve them.
Conversely, queues at polling stations that primarily serve non-white communities can be notoriously long, often forcing voters to wait for hours to cast their ballots.
Black voters face some of the longest queues in Georgia, which in March passed one of the most restrictive voting laws, including a provision to make it illegal to provide food and water to voters queuing up for hours at the polls.
The Supreme Court opened up the floodgates for many of these laws to pass in 2013 when the justices voted five to four in favour of dismantling key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which sought to protect the rights of black Americans to vote after decades of racist Jim Crow-era policies severely limited their access to the polls.
Although the Voting Rights Act required certain states – largely in the south – that had upheld segregationist policies to obtain federal permission before altering their voting laws, the Supreme Court ruling eliminated this requirement.
The court’s conservative justices argued the requirement was no longer necessary because it was based on data that was more than 40 years old.
The conservative-dominated Supreme Court is expected to rule on additional cases later this year that could further curtail the Voting Rights Act.
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
Manchester City (0) v Liverpool (3)
Uefa Champions League, quarter-final, second leg
Where: Etihad Stadium
When: Tuesday, 10.45pm
Live on beIN Sports HD
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
RACE CARD
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10pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (T) 1,400m
