Latisha Lawson rushed through the wind and cold, determined to cast her ballot at one of downtown Detroit’s dozens of early voting sites.
“I’m a little bit worried about election fraud, but I just have to trust the process and pray that it all works out,” Ms Lawson, 32, said on Sunday.
She is one of millions in Michigan and across the US who cast their ballots before Tuesday’s election.
As people trickled in and out of the quiet polling station in the early morning, many spoke about a charged atmosphere around this election, with some concerned that it could boil over into voter intimidation and even violence on election day.
We are hoping that people don't bring their guns to the polls, that we don't have any issues and that the responsible gun owners will realise that it does make people uncomfortable
A recent poll by The Detroit News found that 72 per cent of likely voters in Michigan were concerned about post-election violence, and almost 64 per cent were worried about foreign interference in the election.
President Donald Trump spent months questioning the integrity of the vote, making repeated unproven claims of fraud and dysfunction with mail-in-ballots, and urging his supporters to protect the election.
"I'm urging supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully," Mr Trump said during the first presidential debate on September 29.
"If it's a fair election, I am 100 per cent on board. But if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can't go along with that."
His son, Donald Trump Jr, posted a video that urged people to join the “army for Trump’s election security operation” and warned that the Democrats planned to “add millions of fraudulent ballots” to cancel votes for his father.
Michigan is considered a battleground state in this month’s election. Mr Trump won by a margin of 0.2 per cent in 2016, a little fewer than 11,000 votes.
The president’s calls are being answered in Michigan by dozens of conservative groups, including the Election Integrity Fund, which has trained more than 500 poll watchers to monitor Tuesday’s vote.
On their website, the group published a 39-page training manual on how to be a poll watcher.
Among the many points are tips to bring food and water and to brace for a long day, as well as how to report incidents and challenge a vote.
“If you care about your vote, you should care enough to protect it," an advertisement for the Guard the Vote operation read.
"We need an army of volunteers to make sure the Dems don’t play games with all those absentee ballots that will need to be counted."
Under law, registered poll watchers have the right to challenge people’s eligibility to vote and report actions by election workers.
But they cannot speak to voters or handle election materials.
Grass-roots organisations such as All Voting is Local have responded to these conservative calls by making sure they have enough of their own observers at polling stations.
“I’m confident that if anything happens we’ll be able to deal with it,” said Aghogho Edevebie, the Michigan director for the group.
“People should feel free to cast their ballot and make their voice heard.”
But others are more worried about conservative poll watchers being sent to minority communities in places such as Detroit that predominantly vote Democrat.
They believe their presence could lead to people not casting their vote.
“We drove here from Chicago, so that shows you how concerned we are,” said a liberal poll observer outside an early voting site in inner-city Detroit, about 450 kilometres from his home.
Guns at polling sites
There are also concerns in Michigan that some poll observers could be armed.
Michigan is an open-carry state, which allows people to wear holstered guns at public polling sites.
Michigan’s Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, tried to ban openly carried guns at voting sites this year, to ensure no voter felt scared or intimidated.
But a judge blocked the order and an appeal has been lodged at Michigan’s Supreme Court.
“People have been open-carrying at polling stations for at least 20 years in Michigan,” said Jim Makowksi, a conservative lawyer who opposed the ban.
“It’s a first amendment freedom of expression type of thing. This is how people express their political views.”
Mr Makowski said simply carrying an “inanimate metal object” without threatening behaviour should not be considered intimidating to other voters.
Regardless of the outcome in the courts, several law enforcement agencies in Michigan said they would not be able to enforce a ban based on lack of legal grounding.
“We’re hoping that just because people can they won’t,” said Bob Stevenson, the executive director of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police.
“We are hoping that people don't bring their guns to the polls, that we don’t have any issues and that the responsible gun owners will realise that it does make people uncomfortable.”
Mr Stevenson said the fact that most polling stations in Michigan were at churches and schools, places that ban people from carrying firearms, would be enough.
But he said law enforcement in the state was prepared to respond to any calls of voter intimidation.
"We're confident we can stop intimidation. We'll be watching for that. We have laws for it and we're confident that we can stop that from happening," Mr Stevenson told The National.
He said there was a heightened awareness around this election and that people could expect to see more police officers at polling stations.
A recent report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project highlighted Michigan as a possible site for election-related violence, with the presence of active militias and far-right groups such as the Proud Boys.
“Traditionally, the police have tried to avoid being at polling locations, because to some people that could actually be considered intimidating,” Mr Stevenson said.
“But I think the population will recognise the reason we’re there is for their protection.”
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Poacher
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MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20SCE%20Studio%20Cambridge%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sony%20Computer%20Entertainment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsole%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PlayStation%2C%20PlayStation%204%20and%205%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
GRAN%20TURISMO
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Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
Voy!%20Voy!%20Voy!
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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Indoor Cricket World Cup Dubai 2017
Venue Insportz, Dubai; Admission Free
Fixtures - Open Men 2pm: India v New Zealand, Malaysia v UAE, Singapore v South Africa, Sri Lanka v England; 8pm: Australia v Singapore, India v Sri Lanka, England v Malaysia, New Zealand v South Africa
Fixtures - Open Women Noon: New Zealand v England, UAE v Australia; 6pm: England v South Africa, New Zealand v Australia
