Your Survival Guide To The Elections Plus News From Around The World

PNUT GALLERY

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 PNUT4PREZ: FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

 #PNUT4PREZ: Election Day Survival Guide

We wanted to give you all the gift of a final election drinking game, but you’d probably end up in the hospital if you drank every time a state was called (or Wolf Blitzer said “key race alert”). Instead, we’ve created an Election Day Survival Guide to make you sound marginally more intelligent while watching the results roll in tonight.

Know The Basics: To win the election, Trump or Clinton needs at least 270 electoral votes. There are 538 electoral votes in total. Each state gets as many “electors” as they have members of Congress. This corresponds to 435 members of the House + 100 Senators + 3 electors for the District of Columbia = 538 electoral college votes.

Know Your Swing States: We know it gets confusing and the importance of each state seems to change daily. Here are the core swing states: Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, and Nevada. Other states like New Hampshire, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan and one lonely electoral vote in Maine could plausibly be up for grabs.

Know Your Talking Points:

1. The earliest indicator of the night will be New Hampshire. It’s small but mighty with only four electoral college votes. However, If Trump wins there then he’s likely surged enough to win the whole thing. And if Hillary wins New Hampshire then it becomes much more difficult for Trump to win without a massive upset in the midwest (Wisconsin and Michigan are considered reliably democratic) or by winning Pennsylvania.
2. The two other East Coast states that might call the election are North Carolina and Florida. If Hillary wins either of those states then it’s basically over for Trump.
3. If things are looking up for Trump in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio, we might still not know the outcome until Nevada is called. Early voting trends indicate that Latinos are coming out to vote in Nevada, which is a good sign for Hillary given Trump’s campaign rhetoric. So even in a worst case scenario for HRC, she might be able to hold him off there.
4. Clinton’s ground game gives her an edge over her candidate on election day.
5. Trump has repeatedly touted the existence of a “silent majority” of white, working-class voters disenfranchised by Washington politics. His path to 270 hinges on how big and mobilized this “silent majority” really is. Vox’s Matthew Iglesias claims that another “silent majority” consisting of professional women and Hispanic voters have been galvanized by Trump to go out and vote for Clinton. How this election breaks depends on which of those two “majorities” bothers to go vote on Tuesday.
6. Control of the Senate will also be on the ballot tomorrow. There are 34 seats up for reelection; Democrats need to win 15 of those 34 seats to claim the majority and Republicans need to win 21. Keep an eye on Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina, which are especially close.

Know Your Rights: The Department of Justice (DOJ) will be sending monitors to 67 locations across 28 states to ensure that voters are not intimidated and have fair access to vote. Voting restrictions have already resulted in fewer polling places and longer lines in 2016. If you feel intimidated or are blocked from voting, call the Justice Department voting rights hotline at 800-253-3931.

To Stay Amused And Informed: Play around with this interactive map to see how many elector votes it will take Hillz or The Donald to get to lucky number 270. And, of course, sh*ts and giggles follow us Twitter where Daily Pnut will be live-tweeting through the evening.

PNUTTY VIDEO: 10 Memorable Moments From A Crazy Campaign

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 AROUND THE WORLD

 Election Exhaustion? Here Are The Other Headlines:

Hong Kong: China barred two pro-independence politicians from entering Hong Kong’s legislature, though they were technically sworn in last month. You might remember the popular activists Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus “Baggio” Leung for refusing to declare their allegiance to China during their swearing-in party. China responded by blocking the pair from holding office and deeming their “oaths” invalid. This is likely to catalyze even more protests while Hong Kong scrambles to replace the activist legislators and recover from what is arguably China’s most direct intervention in Hong Kong’s legal system since Chinese rule began in 1997.

Nicaragua: We know, this was supposed to be the non-election section, so we’ll keep it brief: President Daniel Ortega won his third consecutive term in a landslide election that many think was rigged. Whether true or not, many of Ortega’s opponents had urged people to boycott the election and not vote, which is never a helpful strategy. Vice President Rosario Murillo – who happens to be President Ortega’s wife – called the results “an exemplary, historic election.”

France: Paris is the latest city to take part in protests to end the wage-gap between men and women. The feminist newsletter Les Glorieuses urged female employees to leave their offices and places of employment at approximately 4:34pm yesterday, since women are basically just “volunteering” after that point. Employees at Paris City Hall and other large institutions participated and plan to continue this protest until the end of the year, effectively taking 38.2 days off, scaled to the global wage disparity.

Syria: With the battle to take back Mosul from ISIS control underway, US is turning its attention to the Syrian city of Raqqa, hoping to isolate the city that remains under ISIS control. But to do that, US officials are now asking Turkey for backing. There is just one problem: the Kurds were already hired to do that job. In fact, Syrian Democratic Forces, which is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab armed groups, have been leading the operation in Raqqa and claim the US had agreed that Turkey wouldn’t play a role in the attack. Even with ISIS as the common enemy, convincing the Turkish government to join ranks – especially when jailing pro-Kurdish political leaders is their #1 hobby – might be a hard sell.

Janet Reno: The first American woman to serve as attorney general died at age 78 from complications with Parkinson’s disease. Reno was a two-term attorney general under the Clinton administration and served longer than any attorney general in the previous 150 years. She had a tumultuous tenure that included everything from the federal raid of a cult in Waco, Texas to the custody battle of Elian Gonzalez, a child and Cuban refugee.

UK: Bad news for those about to begin their holiday shopping: Ava Braun’s panties are no longer on the market. While Hitler’s wife’s underwear isn’t at the top of most people’s Christmas or Chanukah wish lists, they did sell at auction for nearly £3,000 to a private collector based in the UK.