Daily News Roundup

THURSDAY NOV 5

Americans on both sides of the political divide have vented their anger and frustration over the undecided presidential contest at scattered protests across the United States.

Dozens of supporters of US President Donald Trump chanting “Stop the count!” descended on a vote-tallying centre in Detroit on Wednesday local time.

Another vocal pro-Trump group descended on Phoenix, with Joe Biden holding a narrow lead in the crucial state of Arizona.

The Detroit protests started shortly before AP newsagency declared Mr Biden had won the state of Michigan.

Video shot by local media showed angry people gathered outside the TCF Center and inside the lobby, with police officers lined up to keep them from entering the counting area.

They chanted “Stop the count!” and “Stop the vote!”

The demonstrations came as Trump’s campaign team says it has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and now Georgia, laying the groundwork for contesting the outcome in undecided battleground states that could determine whether the US President gets another four years in the White House.

Suits in Pennsylvania and Michigan states are demanding campaign observers have better access at locations where ballots are being processed and counted, the Trump campaign said.

Justin Clark, Mr Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said the campaign was “suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers”.

He said they were also seeking to intervene in a Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court that dealt with whether ballots received up to three days after the election could be counted.

The Trump campaign later filed a lawsuit in a third state, Georgia, to require a county there to separate and secure late-arriving ballots to ensure they are not counted.

Mr Trump is running slightly behind Democratic Party rival Joe Biden in Michigan.

The President is ahead in Pennsylvania but his margin is shrinking as more mailed ballots are counted.

There have been no reports of fraud or any type of ballot concerns out of Pennsylvania.

The state had 3.1 million mail-in ballots. Those votes take time to count and an order allows them to be counted up until Friday if they are postmarked by November 3.

The Trump campaign also said it would ask for a recount in Wisconsin, a state that was called for Mr Biden on a 0.6 per cent margin, according to Edison Research.

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien cited “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties”.

The actions came as election officials counted votes in several undecided states that are crucial to the outcome of the presidential election.

Mr Biden’s campaign has welcomed the ongoing vote count and a campaign attorney has said they are ready for any legal fight

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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has hit out at her Queensland counterpart for “rubbing in” the Maroons’ State of Origin win via text message instead of taking the state border issue seriously.

Ms Berejiklian said on Sunday night she sent a text to Annastacia Palaszczuk to congratulate her on her re-election as Queensland Premier and reiterate her desire to speak about the border closure to Sydney.

But she said she received no reply until last night when Ms Palaszczuk bragged about Queensland defeating NSW in the Origin I match.

“She replied ‘Queenslander, great game’ or something to that effect,” Ms Berejiklian said today.

“She didn’t mention borders or thanks for the congratulations.

“I didn’t know whether to be shocked or bemused frankly.” 

Ms Berejiklian urged the Queensland Premier to take the consequences of the border closure seriously.

“I’m worried about jobs and people not seeing their families and she just rubbed in the fact that Queensland won the game … that’s fine.”

“I don’t want to make light of the situation, because yes we all have fun in sport, but the reality is that people are suffering because the border is there and we’re doing everything we can.”

This Monday Queensland relaxed their border, allowing visitors from regional NSW to travel north, but more than 5 million people in Greater Sydney remain locked out.

The 32 local government areas in Sydney continue to be treated as COVID-19 hotspots by the Queensland Government — a decision Ms Berejiklian said she was 

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The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has announced the event will be going ahead in 2021 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

Attendees will be seated with the event taking place on Saturday, March 6.

About 10,000 revellers usually join the world-famous parade as it heads down Oxford Street — but this time around, up to 23,000 spectators will be seated at the SCG instead.

Organisers say the parade will move away from large floats and focus on outlandish costumes, puppetry and props to entertain the crowds.

Mardi Gras CEO Albert Kruger said he was looking forward to the glittering event’s “rise to the occasion” within the limitations of the pandemic.

“Mardi Gras has always been the epitome of creative expression through art and culture; two things severely impacted by COVID-19 this year,” he said.

“The 2021 parade may look different to how it has been in the past, but we feel very lucky to be able to give this opportunity to our communities during these times.”