Politics
Is the surge of early voting good or bad for Donald Trump?
The US election is little more than a week away, but already, the turnout of early voters has surpassed that of the 2016 election.
It is reported that roughly 60 million people have already cast their vote, which suggests that this election could have the highest voter turnout in more than a century.
The states of Texas, Florida and California, two of which were won by Donald Trump four years ago, have witnessed the most votes thus far. However, worryingly for the President, it is predicted that the majority of those ballots have gone in Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s favour, once againcementing his place as the overwhelming favourite in the next US President odds.
Pressure has been mounting on President Trump for months now, as he continues to fall further-and-further behind Mr Biden in the polls. The president has been criticised for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests.
However, the Democratic nominee, who has appeared in public much less during his campaign trails, might not hold as big of an advantage as originally reported in the hugely decisive battleground states.
With the election just around the corner, the pair are ramping up their campaigns in the battleground states, with both candidates trying to win over the voters in the some of the most crucial part of the United States.
In Florida, which has an influential 29 electoral votes, Biden has a reported lead of 1.7%, whilst the Barack Obama’s former vice president holds a healthier advantage of 5.4% in Pennsylvania, which is the state with the second most electoral votes (20). President Trump, who is believed to be planning a whopping five rallies a day in the final straight, is returning to Pennsylvania, where he won by less than 45,000 votes in 2016, on Monday to try and turn the tides.
Mr Biden’s biggest leaders are in Michigan (7.4%) and Wisconsin (6.8%), whilst he is also in front in the polls in North Carolina (2.7%) and Arizona (3.7%). This means, in terms of the battleground states, President Trump is leading in just Ohio and Iowa, both of which are extremely slender advantages – 1.8% and 0.1% respectively.
Of course, these polls might not be a fair reflection of how the election will pan out. In 2016, the polls massively underestimated the number of Trump supporters, whilst the number of people polled that said they would vote of Mr Biden, might not actually cast their ballot.
Additionally, Hilary Clinton had a massive advantage in the polls throughout the entirety of the 2016 election. However, Trump ended up pulling it back through the electoral college.
The surge of early voters does not mean that the Democrats can get ahead of themselves and are guaranteed victory. This is because it is believed that a large majority of the early ballots are from Democrats, women, and black Americans, whilst people wanting to avoid crows on election day are also part of early voters.
The Republicans themselves believe that the majority of their supports will turn out in number on November 3rd, so whilst Biden has shot into an early, the drama of the 2020 election is far from over!
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.