Morning Briefing Nov 4: Why there still might not be a winner on US election night

He was a bit nervous performing the task on live TV.

The polls have opened in the US with Americans lining up to vote in one of the most bitter elections they’ve seen in decades.

But with nearly 100 million people having already cast their ballots in early voting, election night may look very different this time around.

The Washington Post reports Joe Biden’s campaign team expect Donald Trump to falsely declare victory later today before all the mailed-in votes are counted, a method of voting preferred by Democrats.

The Guardian reports there will likely be “aggressive court fights across the country” that will determine the election outcome and have spoken to these three experts to get an idea of how that scenario might play out.

Americans have also spent the past week preparing for disorder, with fears violence will erupt whatever the election outcome. Security has been beefed up around the White House with shops also boarding up around the country.

1 NEWS will have extensive live coverage of the election results as they roll in later today. Simon Dallow will be hosting an election special from 4pm with correspondents Anna Burns-Francis and Jack Tame reporting live from the Trump and Biden campaigns.

It’s Tame’s third US election and he says he’s been stationed at the losing candidate’s headquarters for the past two. If the Tame presidential curse strikes again, it’s looking like bad news for Biden.

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Second worker tests positive

Another staff member at the Sudima managed isolation facility in Christchurch has Covid-19.

The person is a close workplace contact of the case reported on Monday and is currently isolating at home before being moved into managed isolation.

Both workers interacted with the international fishing crew at the Sudima facility, 31 of whom have the virus. The mariners’ stay in isolation is being extended for another 48 hours as a precaution. 

The Ministry of Health says both new cases have limited numbers of contacts and believe the incident is “currently well contained”.

But anyone who is concerned about exposure to the virus is encouraged to get a test at the pop-up testing centre opening in the Princess Margaret Hospital car park from 11.30am today. 

Border back in spotlight

Experts are at odds over what the latest community outbreak of Covid-19 means for our border processes.

Microbiologist Dr Siouxie Wiles has praised the Sudima staffer for coming forward after experiencing symptoms in between routine testing and says processes at the border “are working really well”. 

Public health expert Michael Baker also says the response to community cases has “got a lot more sophisticated” and believes officials are able to detect and respond to border cases “in a much more effective way”.

However, another public health expert, Nick Wilson, says the new community cases are a sign the border system needs an urgent review.

He says the border incursions are “system failures” and has repeated his calls for purpose-built quarantine facilities .

Kiwis are also being urged to keep doing their bit in the fight against Covid, following ongoing concerns that people have become complacent about contact tracing and wearing masks. Health Minister Chris Hipkins has urged New Zealanders to continue using both at Level 1

Covid benefit criticised

Documents show Māori are about half as likely as Pākehā to get the Covid Income Relief Payment from Work and Income.

RNZ reports information between June 8 and August 28 shows applications by those who identify as Māori were unsuccessful at nearly twice the rate compared to New Zealand Europeans. Applications by Pacific people were also less likely to succeed.

The Ministry for Social Development says staff have no discretion over whether the 12-week payment is granted, and that people are either eligible or they're not.

AUT law school director of Māori and Pacific advancement Khylee Quince says it’s an example of unintended, systemic racism with the payment “[maintaining] the income of Pākehā middle class New Zealanders”.

More Melbourne Cup controversy

Twilight Payment won the Melbourne Cup at Flemington yesterday (and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern continued her own winning run by drawing Twilight Payment in the Labour Party office sweepstake) but the event is mired in controversy again after pre-race favourite Anthony Van Dyck had to be put down after fracturing its leg .

It’s the seventh horse to die in eight years at the race and has renewed criticism of the racing industry. 

In New Zealand, animal welfare group SAFE is unhappy the Government has a Racing Minister role in Cabinet while the ministerial role with a focus on animal welfare is outside Cabinet.

SAFE chief executive Debra Ashton told 1 NEWS the racing portfolio should be scrapped.

Other news of note this morning:

- Police in Vienna have carried out several raids and arrested 14 people after a gunman killed four people in the city .

- Geoff Simmons has stepped down as The Opportunities Party's leader, citing family commitments .

- The Southern DHB plans to develop two new birthing units in the Central Lakes area, after a series of births in ad-hoc conditions.

- RNZ reports nothing from the $18 million set aside for community pharmacies in June has been paid out, with pharmacy owners saying the grants criteria is too tough.

- Four Toi moko (mummified Māori heads) have been returned to New Zealand from Germany.

- And questions are being raised over a Papua New Guinea company which claims to have a probable Covid-19 cure and has received millions in government funding. 

And finally...

They were appointment viewing during Level 4 lockdown and now the 1pm Covid-19 briefings have seen Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield nominated for TV Personality of the Year .

Whether he was making jokes about rugby nicknames , being comically lost for words over people injecting themselves with disinfectant, or just calmly relaying facts, Bloomfield built up quite the fanbase via those 1pm briefings.

He says he’s “humbled” by the TV Personality of the Year nomination but adds that being a TV star is “not something I dreamt about in my childhood – or my adulthood, for that matter”.

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