Ballot Ruling Twist On Election Day; NY Scanners Failed; Why Stockpiling Went Viral Globally

Hello, all you freedom-loving people. Westchester County battled scanner failures as Americans voted today, and the Ninth Circuit Court restored the Trump administration's ability to ask states to set aside disputed ballots. That came after SCOTUS rejected their bid over 20,000 California mail-in ballots. And as governments remind people to keep days of emergency food at home, hackers hit supermarket freezers across Europe. Okay, let's get into it. Tens of millions of Americans cast their ballots in the midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress. Republicans currently hold narrow majorities of 218 to 214 in the House and 53 to 47 in the Senate. So Democrats need a net gain of three seats in the House and four in the Senate to take control of Congress. Key Senate battlegrounds include Michigan, Maine, Texas, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, and Nebraska. And dozens of governor's races are also up for grabs with critical contests in Texas, Wisconsin, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, and elsewhere. President Trump told Fox & Friends in a phone interview today that he expects Republicans to do better than many pollsters are forecasting. He said, I think the results are going to be better than you think. President Trump said that his tour over the past month drew packed stadiums and that his rallies would have a big impact on the elections. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, after casting his ballot in New York City this morning, that Democrats are nauseously optimistic about retaking the Senate. Schumer said that Democrats are closer to winning back the Senate than anyone expected a year ago. So how did the Justice Department respond on Election Day? The Justice Department urged voters to report any criminal activity or civil rights violations that they see at polling locations. The DOJ asked anyone who encounters violence, threats, or intimidation at a polling station to call 911 immediately. Meanwhile, election officials in one key New York county spent much of the day dealing with a county-wide equipment problem. Ballot scanners across Westchester County, New York, stopped accepting ballots early this morning, but officials said that voting continued and every ballot will be counted. County Executive Ken Jenkins confirmed that the problems began when polls opened at 6 a.m. and they affected polling locations throughout the county. Representative Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, posted on X at 7.23 a.m. that there was a problem with every ballot scanner in the county. At the time, Lawler said that officials did not yet know whether the ballots or the machines were at fault, and he urged voters to stay in line and not to leave without voting. All of the ballots that have been cast already that are in the emergency orange bag will be transported from the polling site after 9 p.m. by police escort. To a central location at the Board of Elections to be counted at the Board of Elections. Those ballots will not be opened at the polling site. I want to be clear, there's no shenanigans going on here. Well first as far as Westchester County goes there was an issue with the thickness of the ballot and the formatting of the machines and so none of the machines were accepting the ballot across the entire county and so as is often the case when there's an emergency they take the ballot and they put it in an emergency voting bag. Every ballot will be counted and everybody should be rest assured that their vote will count. They should wait on line. I know the lines may be Maybe impacted a little bit. With some delays, but do not leave the line. Make sure you vote. Your vote will be counted. The machines are being fixed. I'm hopeful that it'll be fixed this morning, but bottom line is every ballot will be counted. New York Attorney General Letitia James also said on X that her office was monitoring the issue and that she was in touch with the state and local boards of elections. The Westchester County Board of Elections initially blamed the thickness of the paper ballots, but later they issued a correction that removed the word thickness from their statement. The board's updated statement said that an issue with the paper ballots was preventing the machines from accepting them. Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that she had been told the problem could be related to the wrong size of paper, and she said that determining the exact cause is up to the county board of elections. Ballots that cannot be scanned are being placed in orange emergency ballot bags, which officials say will remain secure, monitored, and counted under election procedures. The issue has drawn attention because Westchester is a key battleground in New York's 17th congressional district race between Lawler and Democratic challenger Kate Connolly. Connolly also urged voters to stay in line, saying that every vote will be counted. Whether scanning of the ballots will take place on site or at a central location after voting concludes has not been decided, but Jenkins expects that the emergency ballots will be scanned in the evening, and he does not anticipate vote counting to drag on for weeks. Meanwhile, the legal battle over mail-in ballots reached the Supreme Court just one day before Election Day. Yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's latest appeal. The White House had requested that California set aside 20,000 mail-in ballots, alleging that some of them may have been cast by non-citizens. This move had once again thrust the Supreme Court into the spotlight of the midterm elections with just one day remaining until Election Day. Justice Elena Kagan was assigned to handle the emergency petition from California. She denied the Trump administration's appeal, and she did not refer the case to the other justices. Previously, a lower court ruled that the White House's list of 20,000 mail-in ballots was unreliable. The federal government has no authority to compel California to verify the citizenship of these voters. It also stated that if officials were to comply, it would cause chaos. As Election Day approached, the controversy surrounding these 20,000 California ballots was rapidly escalating. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in an emergency filing earlier in the day that the justices urgently needed to act. He said, once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there's no way to get the challenged ballots back. The Democratic Party and immigrant advocacy groups had questioned the authenticity of the list. And they warned that the lawsuit was paving the way for the disenfranchisement of voters. California stated that verifying voters' citizenship late in the election cycle is impractical, and they criticized the Trump administration for refusing to disclose the source of the list. A lower court had upheld California's government's position. Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration's appeal by a two-to-one vote. They stated that the practice of storing ballots separately could have catastrophic consequences for the entire electoral system. While continuing to pursue the appeal, the Trump administration also issued subpoenas to local election officials and they announced that they would file criminal charges against so-called non-citizens who attempted to register to vote. Another federal judge ruled yesterday that the federal government Must stop sending states lists of individuals whom the government has confirmed or suspects are non-U.S. citizens but who are registered to vote. In a 30-page ruling, District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia noted that the federal government's widespread disclosure of these lists to the states likely violated the Privacy Act. The law prohibits the government from disclosing personally identifiable information unless officials meet specific exceptions. Furthermore, officials have never issued a systems of record notice, even though the Privacy Act requires the government to issue such a notice when establishing a new database. In a ruling, Chutkan wrote that this violated the procedural requirements of the Privacy Act. The judge also ruled that there is no legal authority granting the federal government the right to collect lists of registered voters and transmit the information to the states. The appeals court for the Ninth Circuit has stated that the federal government may pressure states to set aside ballots that were allegedly cast by non-citizens and threaten that election officials who allow non-citizens to vote may face criminal prosecution. However, the full bench of the appellate court subsequently and promptly revoked the order, stating that the case would be heard by the full bench. But then today in a split ruling, the Ninth Circuit reinstated the three-judge panel order from yesterday. They granted the Trump administration's request to put a temporary restraining order on hold while the appeal moves forward. So with today's ruling, the restrictions are once again on hold. That means that for now, the Trump administration may again ask states to set aside those ballots and warn election officials that they could face prosecution. Throughout U.S. history, the party of the incumbent president has often suffered defeats in the midterm elections. And this is also what everyone is focused on in these midterm elections, whether the Republicans can retain their majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. In a media interview yesterday, President Trump said that he was considering granting Elon Musk and other White House aides preemptive pardons To protect them from retaliatory investigations by Democrats. When asked whether Musk might be arrested and his assets seized, if the Democrats regain control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections, President Trump said they won't. It's talk. But if it's talk, we'll have to protect them. In a pre-taped interview with the New York Post, host Miranda Devine continued by saying, big balls, they want to arrest him. And President Trump responded, I can tell you this, if they do, we'll just have to protect those people. After Devine suggested that President Trump should preemptively pardon them, President Trump signaled that he'd have no problem with it. And this is because that's what Biden did. Several Democrats have already floated the idea of launching investigations into Musk and his ties to the administration. Politico reported in October that the Democrats are eyeing possible probes into Musk's time leading Doge and into the government contracts that SpaceX and Tesla have been awarded and his alleged role in the restricting of SpaceX's networks in Ukraine. And in addition to Musk, President Trump also specifically called for the protection of key aides who work with him at the White House or in government agencies. President Trump said, I would if I needed to. Sure, I would not even think about it. I'd do it. I did it for J6. A new wave of cyber attacks targeting refrigeration and freezing equipment has once again swept across Europe. Last month, cyber attacks on the refrigeration systems of hundreds of supermarkets in France caused widespread disruptions. According to French police and the French National Cyber Security Agency, hackers took control of the cooling systems at up to 700 supermarkets in France in October. Hackers. Remotely altered the temperature controls of the cooling units to a maximum of 50 degrees Celsius and they extended the defrost cycles causing widespread food spoilage and even fires. Some stores suffered losses ranging from tens of thousands to over 100,000 euros or about $110,000. As of yesterday, dozens of supermarkets and stores in at least seven European countries have been affected. The scope of the attack has now expanded to include Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Finland, and Estonia. Most supermarket refrigeration units in Europe are connected to the internet for remote maintenance and fault alerts. Hackers Primarily exploited security vulnerabilities in controllers from manufacturers such as Denmark's Danfoss to tamper with temperature controls after disabling the alert systems. The European Commission issued a statement yesterday warning that cyber security threats are increasingly affecting the daily lives of ordinary citizens. The recent hacker attack in Europe has reminded me of the reports that have been circulating online recently, urging citizens of several countries to stockpile at least three to seven days worth of food and water. On October 22nd, the British government urged every household to stock up on three days worth of bottled water and non-perishable food. On October 26th, Japan's Minister of Disaster Management announced that on November 2nd, the government would issue a special request to the entire nation calling on all citizens and local authorities to prepare for disasters. The next day, the prefect of the Normandy region in France also issued a statement reminding residents to prepare 72-hour emergency kits. Social media quickly pieced these announcements together into a narrative. A trending topic summary on X listed the United Kingdom, France, and Japan side by side, noting that at least 30 other countries have similar recommendations. Many posts have questioned why various countries are simultaneously urging their citizens to stock up on canned goods. Speculation about World War III and EBS and the end of the world have followed. Some people have also begun to panic, frantically stockpiling daily necessities After reviewing government documents from the United Kingdom, Japan, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, and other countries, a reporter from the Epoch Times found that claims of an end of the world or war appear to be an over-interpretation. But this wave of global food stockpiling orders largely stems from civil defense policies that various countries have been developing for many years. It just so happens that they were both born in the same fall. The British government's initiative is part of its Be Ready campaign. Be Ready is the first phase of the three-year public awareness campaign by the British government, succeeding the government's disaster preparedness website, which launched in May of 2024. The examples cited by officials are very commonplace. Ordinary emergencies such as last winter's storm and this summer's wildfires. The idea of preparing enough food in Japan for at least three days, preferably a week, is not a new concept. Rather, it is a standard that prefectural and municipal governments have long included on their disaster preparedness webpages. The new development is that the Disaster Prevention Agency was established on November 2nd. Japanese officials chose to issue the announcement on the day that the new agency was established in the hope that people would support themselves voluntarily. The more that people can support themselves, the more effectively aid can be directed toward those who truly need it. And governments around the world have a surprisingly consistent interpretation of the 72-hour rule. In the first few days following a major disaster, rescue resources are limited and must be prioritized for the most urgent areas. The Dutch government put it most bluntly. Rescue workers cannot be everywhere at once, so most people will have to fend for themselves during the first 72 hours. Rowena Hill, a professor of resilience and disaster science at Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom. points out that evidence from around the world shows that individuals, families, and communities that are prepared in advance fare better during disasters, and preparedness should start at home and in the neighborhood. However, three days is merely the minimum consensus. If you arrange the documents from various European countries in chronological order, you'll find that they were were not released simultaneously, but were issued gradually over a two-year period. The number of days also varies from document to document. In November of 2024, Sweden released the fifth edition of If a Crisis or War Breaks Out. Urging the public to be self-sufficient for at least one week without social support. In March of 2025, the European Commission released the Preparedness Alliance Strategy, encouraging residents to stockpile supplies sufficient for at least 72 hours. That same year, safety guidelines or similar manuals that were published in Poland and France also advised the public to stockpile enough supplies for at least three days. The Netherlands had originally required a two-day supply of essentials, but ultimately decided to align with other countries and increased it to three days. Among governments, Germany has the highest standards. The German Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance has long recommended that people stockpile supplies for 10 days. However, it notes that even a three-day supply is helpful. So, since most of these policies are old, why has this round attracted so much attention? After reviewing publicly available information, reporters discovered that, firstly, the timing of the policy announcements may be considered coincidental. Secondly, anxiety is stemming from geopolitical conflicts and the rolling blackouts across Europe. Ever since the conflict between the US and Iran broke out, British tabloids have been linking the EU's 72-hour proposal to a third world war in their reporting. But they may just be peddling fear in the tabloids to drive up web traffic. The British government's implementation report also drew attention to new conflicts in the Middle East and Europe's growing provocation of Russia. In this context, any recommendation to stockpile supplies could easily be interpreted as a warning of war. Thirdly, We have real-life examples of infrastructure vulnerabilities. Last April, a massive power outage on the Iberian Peninsula affected more than 50 million people. This year, there have also been incidents in which hackers targeted refrigeration systems at stores. Food supply chains are more prone to temporary disruption than they used to be. And fourth, we have the traffic economy and the truthers. The owner of Start Prepping UK, a British website specializing in disaster preparedness supplies, told The Guardian that traffic to the site had increased by 700 percent since the public awareness campaign was launched in August. Some websites have even spun these recommendations into news stories, claiming that the U.S. Pentagon is predicting the end of the world. With the rapid development of AI, there is an increasing amount of this kind of misleading misinformation. Some content creators even weave a vast web of information, a mix of truth and falsehood, to lure their audience step-by-step into a carefully crafted narrative, thereby driving web traffic. And AI can tailor messages to different demographics and even stir up emotions among audiences by weaving narratives, thereby subtly altering public perception. AI can quickly, cheaply, and in large quantities generate text, images, videos, and other content. It can also analyze our vulnerabilities and manipulate us. In the past, it might have taken a team of people a long time to produce a set of promotional content, but now AI can quickly generate a large number of versions and then tailor them to different audiences. These content creators not only fabricate false information, but also ensure that it continues to spread. Stirring up emotion is their most effective tool. Once people experience strong emotion, then they tend to share the message with others. Intense anger, extreme sadness, profound grief, and overwhelming excitement are what boost posts on social media. These emotions are exactly where fake news find its easiest entry point. In response to these fake news tactics, experts recommend. That whenever people come across a message in the future and find that their emotions are suddenly running very high, whether they feel extremely angry, extremely sad, or extremely excited, then they should immediately be on their guard. Don't rush to share it right away. Instead, ask yourself, is this true? Could something like this really happen? When people resume their rational thinking, then the likelihood of being deceived decreases. And that's a wrap for this episode. Thank you so much for your support of FrontPage. Please remember to leave a comment below the video or just an American flag emoji. This is really helping us to be seen all around the world. The more people who watch FrontPage, the more freedom-loving people the world will have. And please hit the like button and hit the notification bell after subscribing. And please share this video with your friends and family. Because everybody deserves to know the truth.