Election certification disputes in a handful of states spark concerns over 2024 presidential contest

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By Nicholas Riccardi and Joey Cappalletti, Associated Press

In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, two Republican members of a county canvassing board last month refused to sign off on the results of an election that led to the recall of three GOP members of the county commission. They did so only after state officials warned them it was their legal duty to record the final vote tally.

In Georgia’s Fulton County, which includes the Democratic-voting city of Atlanta, a group run by members of former President Donald Trump’s administration last week sued so a Republican member of the local elections board could refuse to certify the results of the primary election.

And in Arizona, GOP lawmakers sued to reverse the state’s top Democratic officials’ requirement that local boards automatically validate their election results.

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The past four years have been filled with battles over all sorts of election arcana, including one that had long been regarded as an administrative afterthought — little-known state and local boards certifying the results. With the presidential election looming in November, attorneys are gearing up for yet more fights over election certification, especially in the swing states where the victory margins are expected to be tight. Even if those efforts ultimately fail, election officials worry they’ll become a vehicle for promoting bogus election claims.

Trump and his allies have tried to use the tactic to stop election results from being made final if they lose. In 2020, two Republicans on Michigan’s state board of canvassers, which must certify ballot totals before state officials can declare a winner, briefly balked at signing off before one relented and became the decisive vote. Trump had cheered the delay as part of his push to overturn his loss that ultimately culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

During the 2022 midterms, some conservative, rural counties tried to hold up their state election results, citing the same debunked claims of voter fraud that Trump has made.

In New Mexico, rural county supervisors refused to certify the state’s primary vote until they were threatened with prosecution. In Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, two Republican supervisors who refused to certify the local vote totals said they had no doubt their own county’s tally was accurate but were protesting the counts in other counties that gave Democratic candidates for governor, attorney general and secretary of state their victories.

Responding to the certification controversies, Michigan’s Democratic legislature passed a law making clear that state and local canvassing boards must certify election totals. The two Arizona county supervisors are currently facing criminal charges filed by the state’s Democratic attorney general.

Democrats and nonpartisan groups say the thousands of local election oversight boards across the country aren’t the place to contest ballot counts, and that state laws make clear they have no leeway on whether to sign off on their staff’s final tallies.

“Election authorities don’t have the discretion to reject the results of an election because of their vibes,” said Jonathan Diaz of the Campaign Legal Center, adding that lawsuits and recounts are the proper recourse. “They’re there to perform a function. They’re there to certify.”

But some Republicans argue that’s going too far. Kory Langhofer, the attorney suing to overturn the election procedures manual’s directive in Arizona that was issued by the Democratic attorney general and secretary of state, said he didn’t support the effort to block certification in Cochise County in 2022. But, he argued, locally elected boards of supervisors have to have some discretion to police elections.

“It seems to me the system is stronger when you have multiple eyes on it,” Langhofer said. Of the efforts to block certification in 2020 and 2022, he added, “I hope that’s behind us.”

Democrats doubt that’s the case. They note that the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump organization run by former officials from his administration, filed the lawsuit in Georgia to let Fulton County Elections Board member Julie Adams vote against certifying elections. Adams’ four other board members voted to certify last month’s primary but Adams abstained last week, contending she couldn’t accept the results given prior election administration problems in the county.

“This action will re-establish the role of board members as the ultimate parties responsible for ensuring elections in Fulton County are free from fraud, deceit, and abuse,” the institute wrote in its release announcing the lawsuit. The group did not respond to a request for comment.

Fulton County is the heart of the Democratic vote in Georgia, and anything that holds up its totals in November could help make it look like Trump has a large lead in the state.

“Trump and MAGA Republicans have made it clear they are planning to try to block certification of November’s election when they are defeated again, and this is a transparent attempt to set the stage for that fight,” Georgia Democratic Party chair and Rep. Nikema Williams said in a statement.

In Michigan’s Delta County, clerk Nancy Przewrocki, a Republican, said the two GOP canvassers had requested a hand recount of the votes, which is beyond the scope of their position. The canvassers eventually voted to certify the May election after receiving a letter from the State Elections Director Jonathan Brater, which reminded them of their duties and warned them of the consequences of failing to certify.

Still, Przewrocki said she’s concerned about what could happen in November if a similar situation arises.

“I can see this escalating, unfortunately. I’m trying to keep our voters confident in our voting equipment, and this is completely undermining it when there’s really nothing there,” Przewrocki said.

Following the Delta County incident, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats, issued a reminder to local canvassing boards throughout the state warning them of their legal obligation to certify election results based solely on vote returns. If they don’t, there will be “swift action to ensure the legal certification of election results,” along with “possible civil and criminal charges against those members for their actions,” Benson warned.

Michigan is an example of the futility of the tactic. The new state law makes it clear that canvassing boards can’t block certification, but Benson said in an interview that she still worries such an effort, even if legally doomed, would help spread false allegations about the November election.

“Misinformation and talking points emerge that enable others — particularly politicians — to continue to cast doubt on the accuracy of election results,” she said.

Riccardi reported from Denver and Cappelletti from Lansing, Michigan. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta and Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico, contributed to this report.

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Israeli strike kills at least 33 people at a Gaza school the military claims was being used by Hamas

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By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY (Associated Press)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike early Thursday on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza killed more than 30 people, including 23 women and children, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said that Hamas was operating from within the school.

It was the latest instance of mass casualties among Palestinians trying to find refuge as Israel expands its offensive. A day earlier, the military announced a new ground and air assault in central Gaza, pursuing Hamas fighters it says have regrouped there. Troops repeatedly have swept back into parts of the Gaza Strip they have previously invaded, underscoring the resilience of the group despite Israel’s nearly eight-month onslaught.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Palestinians look at the aftermath of the Israeli strike on a U.N.-run school that killed dozens of people in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Witnesses and hospital officials said the predawn strike hit the al-Sardi School, run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees known by the acronym UNRWA. The school was filled with Palestinians who had fled Israeli operations and bombardment in northern Gaza, they said.

Ayman Rashed, a man displaced from Gaza City who was sheltering at the school, said the missiles hit classrooms on the second and third floor where families were sheltering. He said he helped carry out five dead, including an old man and two children, one with his head shattered open. “It was dark, with no electricity, and we struggled to get out the victims,” Rashed said.

Casualties from the school strike arrived at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, which had already been overwhelmed by a stream of constant ambulances since the central Gaza incursion began 24 hours earlier, said Omar al-Derawi, a photographer working for the hospital.

Palestinians look at the aftermath of the Israeli strike on a U.N.-run school that killed dozens of people in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 6, 2024. An Israeli strike early Thursday on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza killed more than 30 people, including 23 women and children, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said that Hamas militants were operating from within the school. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Videos circulating online appeared to show several wounded people being treated on the floor of the hospital, a common scene in Gaza’s overwhelmed medical wards. Electricity in much of the hospital is out because staff are rationing fuel supplies for the generator.

“You can’t walk in the hospital — there’s so many people. Women from the victims’ families are massed in the hallways, crying,” he said.

Hospital records and an Associated Press reporter at the hospital recorded at least 33 dead from the strike, including 14 children and nine women. Another strike on a house overnight killed six people, according to the records. Both strikes occurred in Nuseirat, one of several built-up refugee camps in Gaza dating to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes in what became the new state.

Palestinians mourn relatives killed in an Israeli strike on Israeli strike on a U.N.-run school in the Nusseirat refugee camp, outside a hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Footage showed bodies wrapped in blankets or plastic bags being laid out in lines in the courtyard of the hospital. Mohammed al-Kareem, a displaced Palestinian sheltering near the hospital, said he saw people searching for their loved ones among bodies, and that one woman kept asking medical workers to open the wraps on the bodies to see if her son was inside.

“The situation is tragic,” he said.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, said in a post on X that 6,000 people were sheltering in the school when it was hit without prior warning. He said UNRWA was unable to verify claims that armed groups were inside.

An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, said that the army wasn’t aware of any civilian casualties in the strike. He said that intelligence indicated that combatants had used the school compound to orchestrate some of the attacks on Oct. 7 and that at least 20 fighters there were using it currently as a “staging realm” to launch attacks on Israeli soldiers. The military gave no evidence for its claims and released a photo of the school, pointing to classrooms on the second and third floor where it claimed combatants were located.

A Palestinian looks at the aftermath of the Israeli strike on a U.N.-run school that killed dozens of people in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

The military said it took steps before the strike “to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians … including conducting aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence information.”

UNRWA schools across Gaza have functioned as shelters since the start of the war, which has driven most of the territory’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes.

Last week, Israeli strikes hit near an UNRWA facility in the southern city of Rafah, saying they were targeting Hamas. An inferno ripped through tents nearby housing displaced families , killing at least 45 people. The deaths triggered international outrage, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire was the result of a “tragic mishap.” The military said the fire may have been caused by secondary explosions. The cause of the explosions has not been determined.

Israel sent troops into Rafah in early May in what it said was a limited incursion, but those forces are now operating in central parts of the city. More than 1 million people have fled Rafah since the start of the operation, scattering across southern and central Gaza into new tent camps or crowding into schools and homes.

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Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which combatants killed some 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. Israel’s offensive has killed at least 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its figures.

Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in residential areas.

The United States has thrown its weight behind a phased cease-fire and hostage release outlined by President Joe Biden last week. But Israel says it won’t end the war without destroying Hamas, while the group is demanding a lasting cease-fire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have threatened to bring down the coalition if he signs onto a cease-fire deal.

Israel has routinely launched airstrikes in all parts of Gaza since the start of the war and has carried out massive ground operations in the territory’s two largest cities, Gaza City and Khan Younis, that left much of them in ruins.

The military waged an offensive earlier this year for several weeks in Bureij and several other nearby refugee camps in central Gaza.

Troops pulled out of the Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza last Friday after weeks of fighting caused widespread destruction. First responders have recovered the bodies of 360 people, mostly women and children, killed during the battles.

Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.

Chef Justin Sutherland to reopen Pearl & the Thief in downtown Minneapolis

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Chef Justin Sutherland is finally bringing back Pearl & the Thief, his restaurant that briefly operated in Stillwater.

The new version of Pearl & the Thief, a restaurant focusing on seafood and southern fare, will be in the Mill District of downtown Minneapolis in the O2 Luxury Tower at 250 Portland Ave.

Sutherland is partnering with Sherman Associates, the owners of the building, and Restore Restaurant Holdings, featuring chef Vincent Francoual. The two chefs will jointly curate the menu, which will include former favorites like Tennessee hot octopus and crab risotto, but will also feature new recipes that Sutherland has been collecting during his world travels. Additionally, the restaurant will feature a high-end whiskey bar and craft cocktails.

Smoked crab risotto from the Pearl and the Thief pop-up, pictured in September 2020. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

“I am beyond excited to partner with Restore Restaurant Holdings and Sherman Associates to bring Pearl & the Thief back to life in Minneapolis. It is hands down my favorite concept I’ve created, and I have been patiently waiting for the right time, location, and partners to make it a reality once again,” Sutherland said in a news release. “I am especially excited for the opportunity to collaborate with Chef Vincent who is a staple and visionary in the Twin Cities dining scene. … After spending the last few years traveling and cooking alongside some of the greatest chefs in the world I have been truly inspired and can’t wait to get back to leading a kitchen.”

O2 will also feature the third location of Big E, Sutherland’s egg-sandwich-focused restaurant. The two spaces will take up about 5,000 square feet and an additional 2,000 square feet of outdoor patio space on the corner of Washington and Portland avenues.

The restaurants are shooting for a fall 2024 opening.

Sutherland is a television celebrity at this point, competing on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” serving as co-host of TruTv’s syndicated “Fast Foodies,” and winning “Iron Chef America” among many other appearances. Besides the other two locations of Big E, he also operates Northern Soul locations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and The Preserve at Grand View Lodge in Nisswa, and has recently announced that he will lead the culinary operations at Golden Thyme Coffee and Cafe in St. Paul.

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Check out the new Vikings alternate uniforms aptly dubbed ‘Winter Warrior’

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After designing an alternate uniform last season that paid homage to the franchise’s rich history, the Vikings decided that this season they’re simply going to lean into Minnesota’s climate.

In a series of posts on social media, the Vikings unveiled an alternate uniform on Thursday morning, aptly dubbing it the “Winter Warrior” collection. The aesthetic is almost entirely white from head to toe, a marking the first time in franchise history that the Vikings won’t be rocking a purple helmet when they take the field.

The plan is for the Vikings to wear the “Winter Warrior” collection when they host the Chicago Bears in primetime on Dec. 16.

The decision to roll out the “White Warrior” collection comes partially in response to how much the fan base has gravitated to toward the “Winter Whiteout” theme over the past couple of seasons. In those games, the Vikings wore their their white jerseys and their white pants, finishing the look with their purple helmets.

In a release, Vikings director of brand and design Alicia Dreyer noted how the fan base was clamoring for a white helmet to tie everything together.

“It’s a two-year process to create new uniforms and helmets,” Dreyer said in a release. “We appreciate the fans’ patience and hope they are as proud and excited of the result as we are.”

In a release Vikings art manager Jackie Ramacher emphasized how the alternate uniform celebrates the toughness of Minnesotans across the state.

“We are not only bonded by our harsh, cold winters, we embrace them,” Ramacher said in a release. “It’s fitting that the Vikings wear the coldest uniforms in the NFL.”

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