PresidentialElection
Latest
Apple News' 2020 presidential election coverage includes livestreams
Like Apple's done during previous election years, it's announced special dedicated Apple News coverage for the presidential election, just in time for those tricky caucuses. Sources will include most major US news networks and outlets, including CBS, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Fox News, NBC, ProPublica, Reuters, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
You'll be able to contribute to 2020 presidential campaigns via Alexa
With debates underway and just a few months until the first primaries, 2020 presidential election campaigns are in full swing, and you'll soon have another way to donate to your favorite candidate. Campaigns can sign up to receive contributions via Alexa and, from next month, you'll be able to donate between $5 and $200 to participating candidates through Amazon's voice assistant.
UK officials want to know if Russia meddled in the Brexit vote
UK officials are wondering if Russia tampered with its Brexit referendum and they've now officially asked Mark Zuckerberg to look into whether Facebook possibly played a role, The Guardian reports. Damian Collins, the UK's chair of digital, culture, media and sport committee sent Zuckerberg a letter saying that the committee was investigating fake news and wanted Facebook to provide them with any information it had on politically-divisive advertisements purchased by Russian actors.
Russian hackers reportedly stole NSA cyber defense material
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Russian hackers stole documents detailing how US agencies defend their networks against cyberattacks, how they breach foreign networks and the computer code they use to do so. Sources told the publication that the stolen files were identified through Kaspersky security software used by an NSA contractor that had taken classified material from the NSA and saved it on his come computer.
Facebook knew about Russian meddling well before the US election
Despite once saying that it was "crazy" to believe Russians influenced the 2016 election, Facebook knew about a possible operation as early as June, 2016, the Washington Post reports. It only started taking it seriously after President Obama met privately with CEO Mark Zuckerberg ahead of Trump's inauguration. He warned that if the social network didn't take action to mitigate fake news and political agitprop, it would get worse during the next election. Obama's aides are said to regret not doing more to handle the problem.
Facebook, not presidential ambition, is why Zuckerberg’s on tour
There's been a lot of speculation around whether Mark Zuckerberg is or is not planning to run for office. From his nationwide tour to his rejection of atheism, there have been quite a few moments that could be interpreted as a lead-up to a presidential bid, but I don't think that's what is happening with Zuckerberg and neither does Nathan Hubbard, former Ticketmaster CEO and Twitter VP.
Engadget's Election Day liveblog
Engadget's editors will be watching the election results roll in all night. If you want to know what they're reading, where they're tracking the vote and what is capturing their attention on social media tune in here to the Engadget election liveblog. And, if you've got questions not answered by our guide to the candidates hit us up on Twitter and we'll do our best to answer them.
How the internet can help you vote tomorrow
Tomorrow is election day in the United States. More than a year of political maneuvering, partisan fundraising, polarizing debates and 24-hour election coverage comes to a close on Tuesday, November 8th. However, that's not where this wild ride ends. Tomorrow, US citizens and the electoral college will choose a new president to lead the country for the next four years, ushering in a new political era with any outcome -- whether Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. If you're an eligible voter and you want to be a part of this historic decision, there are plenty of digital tools designed to help you figure out where, when, how and why to vote.
Experts question if Trump servers shared info with Russian bank
A handful of computer scientists and DNS experts discovered that over the course of four months this year, a Trump Organization server irregularly pinged two servers belonging to the prominent Russian entity Alfa Bank, according to Slate. As former New Republic editor Franklin Foer reports, it is not clear what type of communication passed among the servers, whether emails or spam, but multiple experts agreed that the messages were sent in patterns consistent with human input. "The parties were communicating in a secretive fashion," DNS authority Paul Vixie told Slate. "The operative word is 'secretive.' This is more akin to what criminal syndicates do if they are putting together a project."
Anonymously speak to a Trump supporter with 'Call a Deplorable'
If this Presidential race has got you stuck in a political echo chamber on Facebook, then maybe you just need a safe space to ask someone how on Earth they could possibly hold different political views than yourself. That's the intention behind CallADeplorable.com and CallAnElitist.com, anyway -- an opposing pair of new sites that popped up in advance of tonight's third and final Presidential debate.
Amazon Alexa can answer your debate and election questions
Since your racist uncle is not a reliable source, many Americans have turned to Alexa for information about the presidential election. It's hard to say whether that's good or bad, but Amazon has taken notice and released new commands for its AI assistant ahead of the next debate. You can now ask questions about the time and channel of the debate, where it's happening, and afterwards, who won.
Donald Trump's video apology goes out over Facebook, Twitter
Hours after the Washington Post published a video of Donald Trump in 2005 stating, among other things, that "And when you're a star, they let you do it...You can do anything. Grab them by the p---y," the candidate issued a video response that went out over social media. Despite Trump's reputation as a heavy Twitter user (in 2012 he tweeted "I love Twitter.... it's like owning your own newspaper--- without the losses.") it was published first on Facebook and then later on Twitter.
Court overturns New Hampshire ban on ballot selfies
In the state of New Hampshire, proud voters can legally snap a selfie after filling out their ballot paper. Hurray! As NBC News reports, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston has upheld a lower court ruling which concluded the state-wide ban was unfair. Since 2014, legislation has made it illegal for citizens to photograph and share their ballot markings on social media. According to politicians, the law was intended to combat potential vote-buying schemes -- the argument being that shady individuals could use them to track and verify influenced votes.
Clinton and Kaine will answer your questions on Quora
Donald Trump's Reddit AMA was a bizarre affair, as the Republican candidate answered just a dozen questions while mods banned some 2,000 accounts. Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, will go in a completely different direction with a group Q&A on Quora, the hive mind site that answers any question, however idiotic. The session is now open, and the top question so far is "how will [Hillary Clinton] address Trump supporters' major concerns?"
John McAfee says he'll have 'no problem' becoming president
You know that it's a topsy-turvy year when John McAfee isn't the most preposterous candidate vying for the White House. The antivirus millionaire has been talking up his chances with US News and believes that he'll have "no problem" becoming president. He feels that America's dissatisfaction with the current political process gives a third-party candidate like himself a genuine shot at the title. In fact, he feels that if he can't win in 2016, then "the Libertarians should just give up."
The 2016 presidential race according to Facebook 'likes'
The data-minded folks over at FiveThirtyEight have teamed up with Facebook to find out what parts of the country support which candidate via an interactive map. While FiveThirtyEight stresses that this is in no way a representative sample (Facebook users skew heavily younger, low-income and female, for instance), it's still interesting to see where candidates stack up in terms of page likes.
VR video brings you closer to presidential candidates
Sure, you can watch political debates and rally replays to get a feel for a presidential campaign, but what's it really like to be swept up in the fervor of a meet-and-greet or stump speech? The New York Times might help you find out. It just released a video for its VR news app that takes you inside campaign events for Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. In each case, you get a better sense of what it's like for the audience, not just people on stage -- you can see who's attending and how they react to key moments. Even if you don't care for the speeches themselves, this could help you understand the vibe around a given candidate just as well as if you were really at the venue.
Square accepts your political donations with a tweet
You can now donate to a political candidate without leaving Twitter, thanks to a new venture between the social network and payment company Square. Once candidates have registered with Square, they just need to tweet a "$Cashtag," which will automatically add a "contribute" button to the tweet. When Twitter users click the button, they'll be able to choose an amount, add a debit card number, then send the donation or retweet the $Cashtag to followers. According to the WSJ, Republicans Ben Carson and Rand Paul have already agreed to sign up, as has Democrat Bernie Sanders.
John McAfee is running for president in 2016
Oddball anti-virus software pioneer and self-described "eccentric millionaire" Joh McAfee is throwing his hat into the increasingly crowded field of candidates for the 2016 presidential election. The Hill reports that McAfee filed paperwork to run for president with the Federal Election Commission today and says that campaign director Kyle Sandler confirmed the application's authenticity. Shortly afterwards, McAfee himself launched what appears to be a new campaign website and said on Twitter that he'd make an "official announcement" tomorrow at 6PM ET.
AT&T launches VoteHub, brings the presidential election to your pocket
Need yet another constant stream of election information? AT&T's joined up with the Pew Center to bring election coverage to your pocket, courtesy of VoteHub. The new app is a "nonpartisan clearinghouse for essential voter information," including candidate info, AP press coverage, election results and the requisite social sharing through sites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+. The app's available now for Android, with an iOS version coming in the near future.
