Harry Styles finally responded to the conspiracy theory that he’s secretly bald — and he’s just as confused as we are.
To recap, TikTok influencerAbigail Henry spread the rumor last month after reading a Reddit thread claiming an “A list musician/ occasional actor… has gone almost completely bald.” Henry believed Harry was the mystery celebrity because he once boasted about being able to escape public notice very easily — and, as she said, what could be easier than removing a toupee?
As it turns out, the hair on Harry’s head is, in fact, the real deal.
“What is it with baldness?” he asked Rolling Stone. “It skips a generation or something, right? If your grandad’s bald then you’ll be bald? Well, my granddad wasn’t bald, so fingers crossed.”
The “As It Was” singer first learned about the rumor from his friend and collaborator Kid Harpoon. “He’s completely obsessed with it,” Harry said. “He won’t stop sending me messages about [people] trying to work out if I’m bald.”
Speaking of viral trends, Harry also responded to how loudly people sing the “leave America” line when he’s performing “As It Was.” Multiple TikTok videos show the audience belting the line at the top of their lungs.
“They’re definitely reaching some decibels,” the Grammy winner joked. “It seems to be getting louder and louder right as I’m about to head back to tour America. So I’m intrigued as to what exactly will be shouted at that section when I’m in America.”
Harry got his answer — he’s currently performing in New York City for a Madison Square Garden residency and, apparently, the line hasn’t caught on in the states. In a viral TikTok video posted by iraiaaa.27, Harry seems stunned when no one shouts the line and he laughs while walking away from the microphone.
(NEW YORK) — With the emergence of COVID-19 and the recent surge in monkeypox cases, scientists and doctors who specialize in infectious disease are issuing increasingly dire warnings, saying wealthy countries can no longer afford to ignore small outbreaks abroad.
For decades, diseases that primarily affected lower and lower-middle income countries were relegated as “neglected” diseases, having less funding, fewer resources and little attention. Monkeypox, for example, has been smoldering quietly in Western Africa since 2017. Now, scientists are increasingly warning that global infectious disease outbreaks could become the new normal.
“I think it’s very clear that we’re living in a new age of pandemics,” said Dr. Jay Varma, a professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine.
“We’ve been dealing with infectious diseases since we appeared on this planet,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Although the advent of antibiotics, vaccines and basic sanitation measures have helped control infectious diseases, the acceleration of international travel in recent decades has unleashed viruses that may have otherwise been contained in one region.
“What’s occurring in one geographic area may not remain in that geographic area [because] a pathogen can travel by the speed of a jetliner,” says Adalja.
Experts say people tend to focus on problems closer to home, and tend to be unaware of diseases spreading beyond their borders.
“There’s sort of this false sense of security, that when something is spreading somewhere where you don’t live and don’t know anyone, it’s easy to think that it will just sort of continue that way,” says Stephen Kissler, Ph.D., a research fellow at the Harvard Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.
Oftentimes, officials work to limit travel to slow the spread of disease, as occurred globally during the COVID-19 pandemic or the Zika outbreak in the United States. But that strategy rarely halts the transmission of a virus.
“One of the important lessons of public health is that diseases don’t respect administrative borders and they certainly don’t carry passports or request visas,” said Varma.
Historically, less funding has existed to study viruses that primarily thrived outside U.S. borders.
“Public health [is underfunded]. Infrastructure is underfunded. And that’s especially true in resource poor settings where infectious disease burden is significant,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an ABC News contributor and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Now, there is evidence that pandemics are picking up pace. In the past 15 years, seven emergency declarations have been made by the organization — H1N1, Ebola (twice), Poliomyelitis, Zika, COVID-19, and just recently, monkeypox.
“Ultimately, these declarations are helpful, because they unlock resources, support, visibility, and education that are important in the sort of response to an emerging infectious disease,” Brownstein said.
But not every virus — or every country — gets such resources. Just this last week, scientists have been monitoring a few dozen cases of a new virus in China called the Langya virus (LayV). Because there’s limited evidence of LayV spreading between people, experts are not overly concerned at this time, but they note that dealing with new infectious diseases is not uncommon.
“We still see the sort of power architecture of the world, to be heavily imbalanced, towards countries that have historically, over the past 200 years, held the most power and political way. And that’s primarily countries in Europe and the United States,” said Varma.
In responding to COVID-19 — a truly global pandemic — governments scrambled to protect their own citizens first. The COVAX initiative aimed to share COVID vaccines equitably around the world, but never reached its full potential, experts say.
“When you have a sort of gift to the world, like the development of highly effective COVID vaccines, they’re immediately gobbled up by the countries that have the most power and wealth, leaving the rest of the populations around the world which don’t benefit from that wealth behind,” said Varma.
Pharmaceutical companies also serve as the lifeline for many that depend on vaccines or medications to protect themselves and their loved ones. Yet, the incentive to combat neglected diseases is limited — especially early in an outbreak, when very few people are sick.
“[Neglected diseases] are a small market compared to what a pharmaceutical company might be going after like high cholesterol or heart disease or something like that, that’s much more lucrative,” said Adalja.
Experts noted that the global health community increasingly works together to stop the spread of emerging diseases. But funding remains a consistent hurdle to ensure that outbreaks are contained quickly and efficiently.
“I do think that there’s always a window of opportunity, with any emerging outbreak, to do something and potentially prevent it from spreading more broadly,” said Kissler.
The seventh studio effort from the English rockers — and first since 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino — is called The Car and will arrive October 21.
According to a press release, The Car “finds Arctic Monkeys running wild in a new and sumptuous musical landscape and contains some of the richest and most rewarding vocal performances of Alex Turner‘s career.”
Frontman Turner also speaks about the record in a new interview with The Big Issue, sharing, “I think we’ve got closer to a better version of a more dynamic overall sound with this record.”
“The strings on this record come in and out of focus and that was a deliberate move and hopefully everything has its own space,” Turner explains. “There’s time the band comes to the front and then the strings come to the front.”
No new music from The Car has officially been released, and it remains to be seen whether Arctic Monkeys will be taking the same approach they did with Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, which was not preceded by any advanced singles. However, according to Setlist.fm, AM did debut a song from The Car, “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am,” live during their show in Switzerland Tuesday.
Here’s the track list for the Car:
“There’d Better Be a Mirrorball”
“I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am”
“Sculptures of Anything Goes”
“Jet Skis on the Moat”
“Body Paint”
“The Car”
“Big Ideas”
“Hello You”
“Mr Schwartz”
“Perfect Sense”
In a new interview in Men’s Health, Steve Toussaint is addressing critics who have commented about his casting in the new House of the Dragon series.
Toussaint plays Lord Corlys Velaryon, the head of House Velaryon and the richest man in Westeros.
To the magazine, he shut down critics who have suggested his casting doesn’t match what is portrayed in author George R. R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood novel, from which House of the Dragon is adapted.
“So many people are basing their idea of the history of this country [England] on a few films and stuff that were made in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, which don’t bear any resemblance to the truth,” Toussaint said.
“Historically, people of my hue and your hue, we didn’t just turn up here in the ’70s or the ’60s…”
“There are street names that tell you there were people who looked like us in this country even then, but for some reason, it seems to be very hard for people to swallow,” Toussaint added.
“They are happy with a dragon flying. They’re happy with white hair and violet-colored eyes, but a rich Black guy? That’s beyond the pale.”
House of the Dragon debuted over the weekend and marked the largest series premiere in HBO history, with nearly 10 million viewers.
Despite the casting criticism that Toussaint faced, he said it’s been “great” to know that there are people excited about the show.
“What has been wonderful is for every toxic person that has somehow found their way into my timeline, there have been so many others who have been so supportive and been like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t wait, this is going to be great!'” he said.
“Even when we were doing certain scenes, there would be supporting artists who would come up and go, ‘It’s great to have this representation.'”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 24, 9:13 AM EDT
Biden announces new aid package, congratulates Ukraine on Independence Day
President Joe Biden in a statement Wednesday said he was “proud to announce our biggest tranche of security assistance to date” to Ukraine: “approximately $2.98 billion of weapons and equipment.”
“This will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term,” Biden said.
Biden confirmed the money would come through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The USAI money can be spent on contracts with the defense industry to produce new equipment for Ukraine.
Biden in his statement also marked Ukrainian Independence Day, saying, “Ukrainians have inspired the world with their extraordinary courage and dedication to freedom.”
“Today is not only a celebration of the past but a resounding affirmation that Ukraine proudly remains — and will remain — a sovereign and independent nation,” he said.
He continued, “I know this Independence Day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks.”
“Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people to proclaim that the darkness that drives autocracy is no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere,” Biden said.
Aug 23, 4:39 PM EDT
2 Zaporizhzhya power plant employees killed in shelling in city of Enerhodar
Two Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant employees were killed on their day off when Russian forces shelled the city of Enerhodar, officials said.
-ABC News’ Yuriy Zaliznyak and Dada Jovanovic
Aug 23, 2:35 PM EDT
US to announce its largest single aid package for Ukraine
The U.S. will announce its largest single aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday, according to two U.S. officials. The package is expected to be valued at roughly $3 billion — though one official told ABC News some changes could be made overnight, and $3 billion is on the higher end of the estimates.
A senior U.S. official told ABC News the package will come from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds. Unlike presidential drawdown packages, which pull from existing U.S. equipment stocks, the USAI money can be spent on contracts with the defense industry to produce new equipment for Ukraine.
The U.S. has committed about $10.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Shannon Crawford
Aug 23, 1:54 PM EDT
Americans urged to leave Ukraine over Russian strikes on civilians
The United States is once again urging its citizens to leave Ukraine amid concerns Russia is ramping up attacks on civilians in the war-torn country.
In a security alert posted Tuesday on its website, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv urged Americans “to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so.”
“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days,” the embassy said in the alert. “Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Sources within the State Department said the heightened risk of a Russian strike on highly populated centers is most directly tied to Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday.
“The risks are really high,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News. “We are receiving information that there may be a provocation by the Russian Federation, by the occupiers. Therefore, we do not want large gatherings on such days. The days are beautiful, but … our neighbors are not.”
Aug 23, 9:10 AM EDT
Americans urged to leave Ukraine over Russian strikes on civilians
The United States is once again urging its citizens to leave Ukraine amid concerns Russia is ramping up attacks on civilians in the war-torn country.
In a security alert posted Tuesday on its website, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv urged Americans “to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so.”
“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days,” the embassy said in the alert. “Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Aug 22, 10:59 AM EDT
FSB accuses Ukrainian special services of assassinating Darya Dugina
Russia’s FSB is accusing Ukrainian special services of assassinating Darya Dugina, the daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugina, who was killed by an explosive this weekend.
The FSB said a Ukrainian national arrived in Russia on July 23 with her 12-year-old daughter and rented an apartment in the same Moscow building where Dugina lived, Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti reported. The woman allegedly trailed Dugina for nearly a month and then immediately left for Estonia with her daughter just after this weekend’s bombing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement that Darya Dugina was “a bright, talented person with a real Russian heart – kind, loving, sympathetic and open.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine is working under the assumption that Russian secret services are behind the killing, saying “Ru-propaganda lives in a fictional world.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Oleksii Shemyskyo
Aug 22, 9:13 AM EDT
Air raid sirens sound across Ukraine
Air raid sirens are sounding across Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russia could launch a “particularly ugly” provocation this week as Ukraine approaches its Independence Day on Wednesday.
In Kyiv, all public events are canceled and government employees have been told to work from home through the week.
In Kramatorsk, public events have been canceled for Tuesday through Thursday and public transportation has been stopped.
Aug 22, 6:16 AM EDT
Explosive under Putin ally’s car was remotely triggered, investigators say
An explosive device planted on the underside of Putin ally Alexander Dugin’s vehicle was remotely triggered, Russian investigators said.
Dugin’s daughter, Daria Dugina, was killed in a blast near Moscow on Saturday.
“A presumed explosive device planted on a Toyota Land Cruiser went off when the car was moving at full speed past Bolshiye Vyazemy in the Odintsovo urban district at about 9 p.m. on August 20, and the car caught fire,” the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement posted to Telegram. “The woman driving the car died instantly. The victim was identified as journalist, political analyst Daria Dugina.”
Alexander and Daria attended a traditional patriotic festival on Saturday afternoon, according to the Odinstovo administration. They’d planned to leave together in the same vehicle, but Daria instead drove alone.
The Russian Investigative Committee’s press service told Interfax that Daria was assassinated.
Detectives established that the bomb was planted on the underside of the driver’s side of the vehicle, the committee said. Russian media outlets had reported that the SUV belonged to Dugin.
“Detectives and specialists from the Main Forensic Department of the Russian Investigative Committee are continuing to examine the incident scene. In particular, a forensic technician examined the charred vehicle before it was taken to a special parking lot,” the Committee said.
Biological, genetic, physical, chemical and explosive examinations have been scheduled, the committee said.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Aug 21, 3:12 PM EDT
Daughter of Putin ally killed in car bomb; Schiff hopes it wasn’t ‘from Ukraine’
U.S. officials do not know who to blame for the car bomb that killed the daughter of political theorist Alexander Dugin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said during an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Daria Dugina, a 29-year-old TV commentator, was killed on the Mozhaisk Highway in the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday night by an explosive that had been planted in the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving, Russia’s state-run news agency TASS reported.
Alexander Dugin, often referred to as “Putin’s brain,” had just attended “Tradition” cultural festival with his daughter, according to TASS. Russian media outlets reported that the SUV belonged to Dugin.
The Russian Investigative Committee press office told TASS Dugina’s killing was planned and contracted.
Schiff said Sunday that he had not yet been briefed on the killing and that he “couldn’t say” who is behind it, adding that he hoped it was an “internal Russian affair” rather than something “emanating from Ukraine.”
“There are so many factions and internecine warfare within Russian society, within the Russian government,” Schiff said. “Anything is possible.”
Adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office Mikhail Podolyak denied Kyiv was involved in the explosion that killed Dugina during a televised interview on Sunday.
“I emphasize that Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with this, because we are not a criminal state like the Russian Federation, and even less a terrorist state,” Podolyak said.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Patrick Reevell
Aug 20, 2:10 PM EDT
Videos circulating online show smoke over Sevastopol
Videos circulating online show smoke rising over Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea.
The city’s Russian-appointed governor said a drone was struck down and fell through the roof of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Headquarters. Ukraine has not commented on the strike.
-ABC News’ Layla Ferris
Aug 19, 3:31 PM EDT
US to offer new $775M aid package to Ukraine
The U.S. has authorized a new $775 million military aid package for Ukraine, the Department of Defense announced on Friday.
The package will include more High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) ammunition and howitzers, as well as some firsts, including ScanEagle reconnaissance drones and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
The 15 ScanEagle drones are intended to help Ukraine identify targets and put the HIMARS and howitzers to better use, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
The 40 MRAP vehicles and other mine-clearing equipment will help Ukrainian troops cross dangerous terrain, according to the official.
“We know that Russia has heavily mined areas in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine. We know there’s a significant amount of unexploded ordinance,” the official said.
The new aid package follows a $1 billion package announced on Aug. 8.
Photography by Keith Getter (all rights reserved)/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — More rain is pounding the soaked South. Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are expecting 3 to 5 inches of rain over the next 48 hours, sparking flash flooding and river flooding.
The rain will continue to spread, reaching the Gulf by the weekend. Over the next five days, the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Fort Myers, Florida, will likely get 3 to 5 inches as well.
Louisiana and Mississippi were already hit by downpours this week, with several spots in Mississippi breaking daily rainfall records on Monday. Over the last 48 hours, rain totals climbed above 7 inches in Louisiana and reached 6 inches in Mississippi.
Meanwhile, areas along the California/Arizona/Nevada border, including Las Vegas, are bracing for downpours and possible flash flooding on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared a state of emergency in the wake of devastating flooding in Moab and other southern towns. The flooding killed a woman who was hiking in Zion National Park.
“We also urge everyone to take flash flood warnings very seriously. We mourn the loss of Jetal Agnihotri of Tucson and pray for her loved ones,” the governor said in a statement.
“I’m shocked by the size and scope of the flooding that swept through Moab causing damage to homes, businesses, and local infrastructure,” Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson added. “Fortunately, I’m hopeful for a full recovery.”
If you’re dying to attend a BTS concert even though the K-pop superstars are currently taking a bit of a break, book your tickets to South Korea now.
Earlier this year, the group had committed to doing a concert to help promote the city of Busan’s bid to host the World Expo 2030, an international exhibition that’s held every five years in a different country. The show, called “BTS in BUSAN,” will take place October 15 at Busan Ilgwang special stage in that city.
Admission to the show is free. One-hundred-thousand people are expected to attend in person, and another 10,000 will be able to watch a live broadcast in person at the Busan Port International Passenger Terminal Outdoor Parking Lot. There will also be an online livestream.
As previously reported, the show is part of BTS’ new role as PR ambassadors for the city’s bid to host the Expo. Busan is competing with Rome, Italy; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Odessa, Ukraine for the rights. The host city will be chosen in 2023.
Aquaman star Jason Momoa will switch from hero to bad guy for his role in the 10th Fast and Furious movie, and on Tuesday, he gave fans a glimpse of what to expect.
“Time of my life. I get to be the bad guy finally. I’ve been the good guy for a while,” Momoa told Variety during Tuesday evening’s red carpet premiere of season 3 of his Apple TV+ series See.
“He’s very sadistic and androgynous and he’s a bit of a peacock, the 43-year-old actor continues. “He’s got a lot of issues, this guy. He’s definitely got some daddy issues.”
But first, Jason will reprise his role as Arthur Curry in the DC Comics sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, slated to hit theaters March 17, 2023.
(NEW YORK) — After officials in Nye County, Nevada, accepted a pitch from a Republican nominee for secretary of state to stop using voting machines for the general election and move to hand counting instead, long-time county clerk Sam Merlino decided to walk away from the job she loved.
For Merlino, a Republican, the move was the last straw as her county continued to be consumed by unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
“It was just so disheartening after everyone had put in so much hard work, and then to have everybody question what we’ve been doing for years,” Merlino, who resigned two weeks ago, told ABC News. “I loved working with the voters, I was always at a polling place on Election Day. I loved the process.”
Since the 2020 election, states across the country have seen a slow exodus of election officials prompted by an unprecedented level of misinformation, harassment and threats, according to election experts and officials.
And now, with only three months until Election Day, election offices in at least nine states including Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and New Jersey have seen a new wave of departures and early retirements, ABC News has learned.
Elizabeth Howard, senior counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank that tracks election rules, told ABC News that the loss of so many local election officials is a “significant concern” because “there’s a huge amount of institutional knowledge that we are losing across the country.”
“Election administration has grown increasingly complex over the past few decades, and election officials are perpetually trying to balance technology with accuracy and reliability, and have an accurate voter registration list and make it as easy as possible for eligible voters to cast a ballot that’s accurately counted,” Howard said.
‘We can’t get our real work done’
In Gillespie County, Texas, the county’s entire three-person election department resigned last week due to threats and misinformation, a staffer told the Fredericksburg Standard.
“It is concerning that it’s happening this close to an election and that now the county officials are scrambling to put together a team that is going to be qualified and trained to run the election in November,” said Sam Taylor, spokesperson for Texas Secretary of State John Scott.
Taylor told ABC News that Texas has seen a 30% turnover rate among county officials over the past two years, with several officials across the state resigning due to threats of violence.
In a report released this month by the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, election administrators expressed concerns about staffing ahead of the midterms.
“[T]he job of an Election Official has changed dramatically over the years and it’s not a position that just anyone can learn in a few short months,” Arizona election officials said in the report. “It takes years to become an industry expert. The fact so many of us are leaving the field should concern every person across the country.”
The report detailed how false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election have led election administrators to face a combination of threats, lawsuits and misinformation that one election official said were “distracting us to the point where we can’t get our real work done.”
‘Disrespect and disdain’
Efforts to discredit and overturn election results have been fueled and supported on a national scale by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who pushed false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election after Donald Trump lost his reelection bid. This past weekend, Lindell hosted the “Moment of Truth Summit,” where hundreds of people gathered in Springfield, Missouri, to hear him and other election deniers rail against voting machines and discuss their ongoing efforts to contest the 2020 vote by, among other things, petitioning election officials for voting machine information and election data.
Among those who appeared at the event virtually was Colorado county clerk Tina Peters, who became a leading figure in the election denier movement last year when she was accused of and then indicted on election tampering charges after authorities say the election software she used for her county wound up in the hands of a consultant, and screenshots of the software appeared on right-wing websites. Peters pleaded not guilty in early August.
Peters, who in June lost the Republican primary in her bid to become Colorado secretary of state, detailed for summit attendees how she had paid for a recount in that race, and urged them to be “courageous” in confronting election results.
“Tina Peters lost, started talking about fraud and how election officials are in on it,” Matt Crane, the director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, told ABC News. “She lost by 15 points and yet she still requested a recount that’s taken time away from clerks who would have otherwise been working to prepare for the general election. All of that continues to put pressure on clerks.”
Like many other states, Crane said that Colorado has seen election officials resign or retire early, ahead of the November election.
In Florida, Supervisor of Elections Mark Early told ABC News that election officials in the state have “felt the hate” from 2020 election deniers.
“It’s the disrespect and the disdain that your neighbor might have for you nowadays,” Early said. “Now the threats are out there and people are looking at you out of the corner of their eye and just kind of shaking their head or just very blatantly coming up to you and saying negative things, even if it’s not a death threat.”
“All of this is taking a toll on our ability to conduct elections,” explained Early, who said there have been numerous resignations and early retirements. “We’re losing staff members.”
A former Georgia election worker testified at the House Jan. 6 hearings in late June that after former President Trump and his lawyers spread lies about her actions counting Georgia 2020 ballots, violent threats toward her and her family forced her out of her job.
“It’s turned my life upside down. I no longer give out my business card … I don’t want anyone knowing my name,” Wandrea Moss testified.
As more and more election administration posts are left empty, Howard said a recent Brennan Center survey showed that officials are concerned about who’s going to take the place of those leaving.
“Some of the election officials are concerned that the people that are going to replace the outgoing election officials believe the lies that have been told about how our elections run and are not going to understand how the system actually works,” Howard said. “Certainly, if you have somebody that is an election denier that’s responsible for running the election, that’s a concern.”
Even more concerning, Howard said, is that she expects another exodus of election workers after the 2022 election cycle — potentially leaving even more vacancies ahead of the 2024 presidential cycle.
‘It’s just too much’
Nevada, too, has seen a wave of resignations in at least half a dozen counties over the last few months as election deniers continue to challenge the 2020 results.
While numerous departing officials cite non-work-related issues as the reason for their departure, many point to how difficult their jobs have become over the last two years as they’ve faced increased scrutiny and mounting hostility from skeptics.
Last month, Washoe County Registrar of Voters Deanna Spikula resigned after 15 years with the registrar’s office. She told the Nevada Independent in January that she had received death threats and was concerned for the safety of her front-line election workers who face voters in person.
At the time, Spikula said she had already lost one staff member to another county department, but that she loved her job and was remaining in her position. But six months later — two weeks after Nevada held its state primary — she submitted her resignation.
“It’s just too much,” Washoe County Communications Manager Bethany Drysdale said of the harassment that local election workers have faced over the past few months, including being followed to their cars and being called “traitors.”
“It’s really difficult to pull the really long hours and face the animosity from the public,” Drysdale said. “Our interim registrar of voters is really focused on keeping hours down and making sure that nobody is too overwhelmed or too overworked leading up to the election, so they can really be here and give it their all during the election.”
In Pennsylvania, Berks County Elections Director Paige Riegner submitted her resignation this month following May’s state primary, after the Pennsylvania Department of State sued Berks and two other counties for excluding mail-in ballots that didn’t have the date handwritten on the security envelope.
And in Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County, election director Michael Susek resigned last month after only eight months on the job, to go work for an organization “committed to advancing election integrity and the profession as a whole on a national level,” according to local reports. His departure made him the state’s fourth county election director to step down since 2019.
‘Just overwhelming’
Robin Major, the Board of Elections administrator in Monmouth County, New Jersey, said that for small local election offices, losing just one or two staffers can put a significant strain on the department.
Major told ABC News that in recent months her office has lost two out of its eight staff members, with one of them retiring and another going to work in a different department.
“I think we’re seeing it across the state,” Major said. “We have seen a number of colleagues in our professional association who have decided to retire because the amount of work is just overwhelming and we’re not properly compensated” — a situation Major said has been exacerbated by a new statewide mandate requiring counties to conduct an election audit after every general election.
Major also said that “people questioning things” has put an extra burden on her office.
We’re getting an increased number of requests on a daily basis that are just impossible to fulfill,” she said. “So that puts on a lot of pressure, also, while you’re trying to run an election.”
Sylvia Albert, the director of voting and elections at the liberal watchdog group Common Cause, said that the increased retirements and resignations mean that the country must invest in “the infrastructure to train the next generation of election workers.”
“We’re going to run an election and we’re going to make sure people can vote — we’re just going to have to use all hands on deck,” she said of the upcoming midterms. “But we should be looking towards a long-term solution of proper investment in the election system.”
(NEW YORK) — Travis Snyder is in a fight for his life as he races to find a bone marrow donor in his seven-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia, a type of cancer that worsens quickly if not treated, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Snyder, 44, is being helped in his search for a donor by actor Jason Momoa, whom Snyder met in Hawaii shortly after he was first diagnosed with leukemia in 2015.
The Aquaman star has shared Snyder’s story on Instagram and urged people to register on Be The Match’s bone marrow registry to become potential bone marrow donors.
“He’s a friend that’s always been there for me,” Snyder said of Momoa in an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America. “When I mentioned the registry thing, he was kind of mad at me, and was like, ‘What? Why haven’t you told me this before?'”
Snyder continued, “Once he realized the awareness issue, he’s jumped in with both feet. I really love him and appreciate the support and awareness.”
Snyder, a father of three, was in good health and competing in triathlons when he said he began to feel achy and sick while traveling in London for work.
After he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia — a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes abnormal blood cells, according to the National Cancer Institute — doctors put him on a regimen of chemotherapy because they did not find a perfect match in the bone marrow registry.
Snyder went into remission for three years, but then his cancer returned in 2018.
Unable again to find a perfect match donor, Snyder underwent a bone marrow transplant with his brother, who was a half-match.
He was in remission again until the cancer returned this March, forcing Snyder to look again for a bone marrow donor.
Doctors have not yet been able to find a match for Snyder, which has inspired him to advocate for change to broaden the bone marrow registry to more people and raise awareness of the need for donors.
Two of the largest bone marrow registries in the world — United States-based Be The Match and Germany-based DKMS — currently have over 40 million potential donors on their registries combined, a small fraction of the world’s population.
Currently, nearly 150 people die from a blood cancer each day, according to Be The Match.
“This continued cycle of being sick and going through all the treatment and getting well for long enough that I get my life going again, and then coming back and going to the registry and nothing is there, I feel very passionate,” Snyder said of his commitment to growing the bone marrow registries. “Obviously on behalf of myself but the many, many people who don’t have a match in the database.”
Snyder, the founder of The Color Run, a series of 5K road races, said he is focused on applying the entrepreneurial spirit that has propelled his career to revolutionizing the ways people join bone marrow registries.
Each year in the United States alone, around 18,000 people are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses where a bone marrow transplant or umbilical cord blood transplant is their best treatment option, according to the Health Resources and Service Administration.
Snyder said he would like to see bone marrow donation become as common and well-known as organ donation, which people can volunteer for on their driver’s license.
Snyder is particularly focused on expanding the diversity of the bone marrow registries because of his own experience.
“We recently discovered that one of the reasons I’m unique is that I have Pacific Islander genetics, which is a surprise,” he said. “But Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are really underrepresented in all the registries, so the odds of finding a match are really low.”
According to Be The Match, the odds of someone who is Asian or Pacific Islander finding a match is 47%, while the odds of someone who is white is 79%.
Snyder’s doctor, Dr. Gary Schiller, a hematologist at UCLA, said that in addition to Pacific Islanders and Hawaiians, groups such as Asians, Native Americans and African Americans are also underrepresented. It is also more difficult for interracial people to find a donor, especially if they are in underrepresented groups, according to Schiller.
“For some reason, and there are a variety of reasons, for some ethnic groups it is more difficult than others,” Schiller told GMA. “It’s a combination perhaps of insufficient outreach but I think often it’s just insufficient understanding and reticence on the part of some individuals or groups to put themselves on the registry and donate.”
Schiller said doctors look for perfect matches when it comes to bone marrow donors in order to ensure the best chance for a successful recovery.
“Every one of our cells, with very few exceptions, wears markers on the surface. These markers are distinct for an individual,” he explained. “There are two pairs per cell — one pair from one’s father, one pair from one’s mother — and if we attempt to do a bone marrow transplant, we try to match at all of those markers.”
Schiller continued, “Some people have a collection of markers for which it is very hard to find a donor, even with 30 million people in the bone marrow registry.”
A main part of Snyder’s mission is making sure people know about the bone marrow registry and how easy it is both to join the registry and donate bone marrow.
All it takes to join the Be The Match registry, is to use the organization’s registration kit and give a swab of cheek cells, which entails rubbing a Q-tip-like item on the inside of your cheek.
The process of donating bone marrow is similar to donating blood, according to Schiller, who described bone marrow as “probably the easiest organ to donate.”
Snyder said that while he waits to find his own donor, he continues to see it as a “beautiful thing” that someone out in the world could be the person that saves his life. He said he wants people to realize the impact they could have by becoming a bone marrow donor, and what it means to a person like himself who is still in need of a donor.
“As an entrepreneur, I’m always interested in return on investment and making sure that what you put out, you get back in full,” he said. “And this is a huge return on investment situation for people because for a minor inconvenience to someone, it’s everything to someone else and their family.”
