States given clearance for mail-in voting as US supreme court thwarts Trump | First Thing
Civil rights groups have praised verdict on administration’s last-ditch attempt to change midterm voting processes. Plus: all you need to know about last night’s Emmys Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here Good morning. The supreme court has rejected Donald Trump’s mail ballot restrictions, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting in the midterm elections already under way. The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they have used for years. Civil rights groups lauded the decision. “The supreme court has done the right thing,” said Robert Garcia, a Democratic representative from Long Beach, California, adding: “Donald Trump tried to illegally interfere with our elections and undermine vote-by-mail for millions of Americans and failed. We will keep fighting to protect the right to vote of every single citizen in this country.” What has a DHS whistleblower said about “voter fraud” investigations? An anonymous whistleblower said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyers told officers investigating “voter fraud” they would not be held responsible for violating state laws around accessing voter registration information. The whistleblower also expressed concern about the reliability of the data DHS was giving officers to review, as well as the lack of transparency into where the data came from. Why is Trump facing a bipartisan AI backlash? Democrats and some Republicans have been pushing in US Congress for guardrails on the world’s most powerful AI companies. Trump dismissed the anxieties, describing them as a “HOAX” and “conspiracy”, but looked increasingly isolated as members of both major parties acknowledged the risks and expressed a desire to act before it was too late. Why is Texas governor Greg Abbott pushing back against datacenters? Drought-prone Texas has fast become the heart of the US’s datacenter boom, and the Republican governor has directed state regulators to penalize datacenters that fail to comply with state laws requiring them to disclose their water use. What international responses have there been? China has dismissed what it said were “fearmongering” calls to block Beijing’s AI industry, however the top Chinese spy chief warned the evolving technology could threaten Communist party rule. The president of the European Central Bank, meanwhile, has warned Europe must develop its own AI technology and build more datacenters in order to nullify the threat of being cut off by the US or China. Continue reading...
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