As of Wednesday, 24,024,621 million early and absentee ballots have been counted in the United States, NBC News reports.
There are six days to go before Election Day, and at this same time in 2014, during the last midterms, fewer than 13 million early or absentee ballots had been counted. The NBC News Data Analytics Lab has been focusing on several key states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas — and found that in each state, the six-day-out total is higher now than it was in 2014.
Of the early voters this year, 43 percent are Republicans and 41 percent are Democrats; at this time in 2014, 44 percent were Republican and 40 percent were Democrats. Catherine Garcia
Morale is low at Customs and Border Protection, Politico reports, and Border Patrol agents are apparently none too thrilled with President Trump.
In a deep dive published on Monday, Politico detailed the dysfunction that has plagued the Border Patrol for years. There was reportedly hope that a White House led by Trump, who ran a 2016 presidential campaign centered on being tough on the southern border, would give the agency its time in the sun.
Turns out, two years in, that's not the case. Workforce morale is reportedly terrible, as it always has been, and it's been difficult both to recruit new members and retain old ones. And, despite the president's promises, the Patrol has made no progress toward hiring 5,000 new agents. In fact, the Trump-era Border Patrol is actually smaller than it was during the Obama years. Their pilot ranks are especially depleted; since Trump took office, the agency has reportedly been unable to meet four out of five requests for helicopter assistance.
That's seemingly doubly disappointing for those in the agency now, though, considering the high expectations for Trump.
"The results haven't held up to the hope," said one former Border Patrol union official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity. "The agents thought they were going to be the belles at the ball [under the Trump administration]. Trump is not delivering." Read more at Politico. Tim O'Donnell
Game of Thrones and Veep should come out of Tuesday's Emmy nominations announcement ready to dominate this fall.
The two HBO series that ended in recent months are already favorites to win in the top categories of Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series respectively at September's show. But experts on the awards website Gold Derby also see Better Call Saul, Killing Eve, Ozark, Pose, Succession, and This Is Us as series likely to join Game of Thrones in the drama category, while the comedy category should be rounded out by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Barry, as well as Fleabag, GLOW, The Good Place, The Kominsky Method, and possibly Russian Doll.
Fleabag may have been snubbed during its first season, but star Phoebe Waller-Bridge is thought to have a shot at a lead actress in a comedy series nod, with Russian Doll's Natasha Lyonne also potentially joining her, although Veep's Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a shoo-in to win. Jim Carrey, Michael Douglas, and Don Cheadle may also join past nominees like Barry's Bill Hader in the lead comedy actor category, and Jim Parsons could receive recognition for The Big Bang Theory's last season.
On the drama side, Thrones' Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke should be nominated in the lead actor categories after previously being snubbed, although some experts, including those at Vanity Fair, predict Harington will be left out in the Winterfell cold again as Succession's Brian Cox, Pose's Billy Porter, and Bodyguard's Richard Madden instead get nods.
Still, the Thrones cast should fare well overall, and some prognosticators believe Sophie Turner will score a nod in the supporting actress category alongside repeat nominees from the series. The show isn't expected to take much of a hit despite the divisive nature of its final season, but we'll get a better sense of its reception among voters when the nominations are unveiled on July 16. Brendan Morrow