• Horror films have produced some of the most iconic figures in pop culture.
• But not all scary movies are completely fictional; some are actually based on real life.
• "The Conjuring" was based on the real-life Perron family in Rhode Island.

Horror movies are reliably successful at the box office — just look at "Obsession" and "Backrooms" this year.

They often have relatively low budgets, deliver strong box-office returns, and can create IP that leads to sequels and spin-offs for years to come. Plus, when Halloween rolls around, costumes and masks provide another bump to a studio's bottom line.

But creating a completely original, compelling, and terrifying horror story can be challenging. That's why some of the most iconic and successful scary movies are based on real-world events.

For example, "The Conjuring" franchise is based on the case files of real paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren. In total, the films have made almost $3 billion at the box office.

These are the real stories and crimes that influenced some of the most classic horror films of all time, including "The Exorcist," "Nightmare on Elm Street," and "Jaws."

"The Conjuring" is about the Perron family and the traumatic experiences they're having in their new Rhode Island home.

The Perrons (husband Roger, wife Carolyn, and their five daughters) moved into what was known as the Old Arnold Estate in 1971, The Providence Journal reported.

Almost immediately, the family reported paranormal activity, such as floating or moving furniture, doors opening and closing, disembodied sounds, and even being pushed, pulled, and hurt by unseen spirits.

Upon calling in paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, they found that the property was haunted by various ghosts, but that one particularly malevolent spirit, Bathsheba, was preying on them.

Bathsheba Sherman, who lived on the property in the 1800s, has been described as a suspected Satanist who was charged with the violent murder of her first child, though historians say she was never convicted of a crime or accused of witchcraft.

The property sold for $1.5 million in 2022. It has since been acquired by "Ghost Hunters" star Jason Hawes for $1.3 million, according to land records.

"The Conjuring 2" is about a girl being possessed by a demon in London.

The Hodgson family reported experiencing unusual phenomena in their London home in August 1977, such as furniture flying through the air, and objects hurling toward witnesses, The Daily Mail reported.

Most famously, however, Janet, one of four Hodgson children, claimed she was being possessed by a man named Bill Wilkins — it was later confirmed that a man by that name did, in fact, live in the house and died there of a brain hemorrhage, People reported.

While Janet later said that around "2%" of the haunting was made up, she maintains that the Enfield Poltergeist was real.

You can listen to audio of her while she claimed she was possessed to make up your own mind.

The third film is "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It," which is about the real trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson.

In the third "Conjuring" film, Ed and Lorraine are tasked with helping a young man, Arne, who murdered his landlord after getting possessed by a demon, which Ed witnessed. In his trial, the Warrens supported Arne using the defense of demonic possession, a first in the United States.

This is based on the real case of 19-year-old Johnson, who really did murder his landlord in 1981 and subsequently claimed he was innocent because he'd been possessed, as reported at the time by The New York Times.

Johnson (and the Warrens) claimed that a demon was exorcised from the body of 11-year-old David Glatzel and then moved to Johnson. His girlfriend claimed she heard Johnson challenge the demon itself to leave Glatzel and possess him instead.

Several months after Johnson's encounter with Warrens and the Glatzels, he stabbed his landlord to death, and then claimed he had no memory of the crime and was possessed.

In reality, this defense was rejected; his lawyers then pivoted toward the self-defense strategy, and he was convicted of manslaughter. He served five years in prison.

The fourth main film, "The Conjuring: Last Rites," is based on the Smurl haunting in the '70s and '80s.

In what's supposed to be the final cinematic appearance of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens, "Last Rites" is a loose adaptation of the alleged Smurl haunting, which took place in West Pittson, Pennsylvania.

Per The Times Leader, Jack and Janet Smurl, played by Elliot Cowan and Rebecca Calder, respectively, called the Warrens to their home in 1986 to address claims that a demon had slammed their 75-pound German shepherd into a wall, threw one of their children down the stairs, and even bitten Jack's ear.

"The Smurls are truly a family coming under a visual attack," Ed Warren said at the time. "The ghost, devil, demon — or whatever you call it — is in that home."

An exorcism was performed in that year, but it was, apparently, unsuccessful.

Of course, the Smurls had plenty of doubters, including a priest who stayed in their home for two nights and reported nothing suspicious. The Smurls eventually left West Pittson and moved to Wilkes-Barre, about 10 miles away.

The film dramatizes this story, but is mainly focused on passing the demon-hunting torch from Ed and Lorraine to their daughter, Judy (Mia Tomlinson).

"Annabelle," "Annabelle: Creation," and "Annabelle Comes Home" tell the story of an evil doll that terrorizes her owner.

Annabelle is a doll believed to be imbued with an evil spirit. While the real-life Raggedy Ann doll (viewable at The Haunted Warren Museum in Salem, Massachusetts) is much less creepy-looking than her movie counterpart, she is said to have terrorized her owner.

According to The New Haven Register, the story of the doll begins in 1970, when a nurse received it as a birthday gift from her mother. She soon began to notice that the doll would change positions by itself. She then started finding creepy notes with messages like "Help me" written on them. And she claimed she once found the doll leaking blood.

Once again, the Warrens were contacted for help. According to them, the doll wasn't possessed, but it was being manipulated by a spirit. They cleansed the home and took the doll to their museum, where it remains to this day.

"The Amityville Horror" connects the murders of the DeFeo family with a demonic presence in the house.

On November 13, 1974, at 3:15 a.m., Ronald DeFeo Jr. stole his father's gun and murdered his family in their home in Amityville, New York, claiming that voices in the house made him do it, according to PIX11.

He was later convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He died in 2021.

A year after the murders, in 1975, the Lutz family moved into the home and claimed to experience paranormal activity almost immediately, per ABC News.

George — the patriarch of the Lutz family — claimed to wake up frequently at 3:15 a.m. (the time of the murders) and hear gunshots. His daughter Missy gained an imaginary friend named Jodie. Missy says she did not know anything about the murders at the time.

The Lutz family fled their home only 28 days after moving in, sparking one of the greatest debates in paranormal history: Is the Amityville home haunted?

"The Haunting in Connecticut" is about a family that moves into a former funeral home, which turns out to be haunted.

"The Haunting in Connecticut" is based on the plight of the Snedeker family. Their name was changed to Campbell in the movie.

NBC Connecticut reported the Snedekers moved into a new home in the '80s to be closer to the University of Connecticut's hospital, since their son Phillip was undergoing treatment for cancer. The family soon realized that the house they had moved into used to be a funeral home.

According to his mother, Carmen, Phillip quickly became withdrawn and angry and started seeing a ghostly man who would tell him to lash out.

He was later committed due to a schizophrenia diagnosis. But after Phillip left, things reportedly got a lot worse for the rest of the family.

They eventually called in a priest — as well as the Warrens — to perform an exorcism.

"Veronica" is about a Spanish teenager who used an Ouija board to contact a dead loved one with disastrous consequences.

The film is based on a real Spanish teenager whose death was never solved, as Business Insider previously wrote.

In 1992, a student named Estefania Gutierrez performed a "makeshift séance" at her high school. A few months later, she died in the hospital after experiencing seizures and claiming to see shadowy figures.

The story gets even stranger: A year after Gutierrez died, her parents called the police because they were experiencing paranormal activity, similar to the shadowy figures their daughter had reported.

The police were skeptical until they, too, heard disembodied noises. According to Newsweek, the official report called the home "a situation of mystery and rarity."

"The Strangers" is a terrifying look into the mindset of monsters who commit crimes just because they can.

The poster for "The Strangers" claims that the film was "inspired by true events," though it's more of an amalgam of a few terrifying true tales.

Director Bryan Bertino said he drew his main inspiration from an experience from his childhood, according to the film's production notes.

"As a kid, I lived in a house on a street in the middle of nowhere. One night, while our parents were out, somebody knocked on the front door and my little sister answered it. At the door were some people asking for somebody that didn't live there. We later found out that these people were knocking on doors in the area and, if no one was home, breaking into the houses," said Bertino.

Fans of the film have also compared it to the Manson murders and the unsolved murders of the Sharp family, known as the Keddie Cabin Murders.

"The Exorcist," one of the most beloved horror films of all time, is about a preteen girl who becomes possessed by a demon.

"The Exorcist," is based on the story of a 14-year-old boy known as Roland Doe, who began exhibiting strange behavior in 1949, according to The New York Post. His family reported furniture moving on its own, scratches all over Doe's body, and loud, disembodied voices.

After a cross-country move and no change in Doe's strange behavior, his family enlisted the help of the Catholic church. One of the priests involved in the Doe case, Father Raymond Bishop, kept a diary, per The Daily Mail.

One of his entries stated, "At midnight, the Fathers planned to give (Roland) Holy Communion, but Satan would have no part of it. Even while the institution of the Blessed Sacrament was explained, his body was badly scratched and branded. The word 'HELLO' was printed on his chest and thigh."

Eventually, after multiple attempts, the "demon" was exorcised, and Doe returned to normal. He never spoke of the incident publicly.

His real identity was revealed by The Skeptical Inquirer in 2021: Ronald E. Hunkeler. Hunkeler died in 2020 at the age of 86. Before that, he'd been an engineer at NASA and, according to The New York Post, was always afraid his colleagues would find out about his past.

"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is also about a girl possessed by a demon.

The story of Anneliese Michel, a young German woman — renamed Emily Rose in the film — is tragic.

When Michel was a teenager, she experienced the first symptoms of her alleged possession. She was diagnosed with epilepsy, and given medication to help treat the disease, according to The Washington Post.

But the meds didn't help. Michel continued to have seizures, and she began to claim she was having visions and hearing voices telling her she was a sinner. She became depressed and turned to religion: At her peak, she was genuflecting (kneeling) 600 times a day, eventually rupturing her knee ligaments.

By the time Michel was 23, she had been treated with dozens of different medications (nothing helped), and had undergone 67 exorcisms in 10 months, the Post reported.

She eventually stopped eating and died of starvation in 1976. She weighed 68 pounds.

Her parents and two of her priests were later found guilty of negligent homicide for allowing her to starve, per the German outlet DW.

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is about a group of hitchhikers who pick the wrong family to catch a ride from — they end up being cannibals.

The main villain of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is Leatherface, who was based on real-life killer Ed Gein.

Gein, who grew up in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in the early 1900s, was obsessed with his mother; he rarely interacted with anyone besides her, and when she died, he spiraled, per Encyclopedia  Britannica.

Known as "the Butcher of Plainfield," he confessed to killing two women, but, more disturbingly, he took to robbing the graves of recently buried women.

He used their body parts to create something like a woman suit that he wore, pretending to be his mother, according to the book "Deviant." He also had lamps, belts, and bowls made out of human body parts.

Gein's story also partly inspired "Psycho" and "The Silence of the Lambs."

"Poltergeist" tells the story of a family who buys a haunted house built on top of a Native American burial ground.

The plot of 1982 classic "Poltergeist" was based on the Hermann family of Long Island, New York, who claimed to be haunted by a poltergeist that made objects fly through their home, according to Life Magazine.

The Hermann family eventually moved away, but they maintained that the house was haunted.

"When a Stranger Calls" is about a babysitter who's being terrorized by a mysterious caller inside the house with her.

The film is based on the real unsolved murder of 13-year-old Janett Christman in 1950.

As the Columbia Daily Tribune wrote, Christman was babysitting 3-year-old Greg Romack when she called the Columbia Police Department and told them to "come quick," but she hung up before the police could trace her call.

When the Romacks returned home, they discovered Christman's body in a pool of blood. She had been raped and strangled with a cord. The police eventually ruled that it had been an "inside job" — the killer knew the house and its layout well.

"Dead Ringers" explores the mysterious deaths of a pair of co-dependent twin brothers.

The Marcus twins shared a gynecology practice, an apartment in New York City, a house in the Hamptons — and eventually their deaths.

Apparently, 45-year-old Stewart and Cyril Marcus were addicted to barbiturates; when their decomposing bodies were found, their mysterious deaths were first ruled as being caused by an overdose, then by withdrawal (they may have been attempting to wean themselves off the drugs), The New York Times wrote.

The medical examiner told The New York Times that Cyril outlived his brother by a couple of days, and continued to live in the apartment before eventually dying himself. 

The film received a TV reboot on Prime Video in 2023, starring Rachel Weisz.

"Jaws" is the story of a small beachside town that's being terrorized by a vengeful shark.

The terrifying tale of the most famous great white shark ever is based upon a string of shark attacks on the Jersey Shore in 1916.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, 25-year-old Charles Vansant bled to death from a bite in Beach Haven, New Jersey. Five days later — and 45 miles north — a bellhop from Spring Lake also bled to death from a shark bite. 

The story only gets more terrifying. The same shark then swam 30 miles north and 10 miles inland, killing both a boy and a man trying to save the boy in a creek, NJ.com wrote.

Finally, the fifth victim was attacked 30 minutes later in the same creek — he survived.

According to NJ.com, George Burgess, an ichthyologist (a scientist who concentrates on the study of fish), called it the "most unique set of shark attacks that have ever occurred. "

"The Girl Next Door" is about a boy who tries to save his neighbor from her twisted adopted family.

The murder of Sylvia Likens is known as the "worst crime in Indiana history," the Indy Star reported. Likens was just 16 when she was found dead in the basement of her temporary home.

Her carnival-worker parents left Sylvia and her sister in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski, a mother of seven, paying Baniszewski by the week.

Three months later, on October 26, 1965, police found Sylvia's emaciated corpse, apparently covered in hundreds of wounds, Indianapolis Monthly wrote. Baniszewski — with the help of some of her children and a few neighborhood kids — had tortured the girl to death.

Baniszewski was sentenced to 21 years in prison, but she was eventually released on parole. The rest of the children who were involved served between two and seven years.

"The Possession" is the tale of a family being tortured by a demon inside a dybbuk box.

Jason Haxton bought the dybbuk box on eBay after an earlier owner posted a chilling account of the events that allegedly befell him after he bought it at an estate sale, My San Antonio reported.

He claimed that he bought the box for his mom's birthday and that she almost instantaneously had a stroke upon receiving it, Riverfront Times reported.

He also claimed that the final straw that inspired him to get rid of the box was when his sister, brother, and brother's wife all stayed over, and each one reported having the same exact nightmare, according to a reposting of the original eBay listing.

You might be wondering what exactly a dybbuk is. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it's a "disembodied human spirit that, because of former sins, wanders restlessly until it finds a haven in the body of a living person," originating in Jewish folklore.

"The Rite" is based upon the life of a real priest, Father Gary Thomas, and his time at the Vatican while training to become an exorcist.

"The Rite" is based on the life of Father Gary Thomas, a priest who is one of 14 Vatican-certified exorcists who works in the US, the Los Angeles Times reported. Thomas told the Times he's exorcised the demons from five people, and that he receives multiple requests for exorcisms daily.

Father Thomas trained for three months in Rome to become a certified exorcist, completing his training in 2005, The Telegraph wrote.

Similarly, the 2023 film "The Pope's Exorcist" is based on the life of real-life priest Father Gabriele Amorth.

Russell Crowe played Amorth in the 2023 film "The Pope's Exorcist," which was based on Amorth's memoirs, "An Exorcist Tells His Story" and "An Exorcist: More Stories."

Smithsonian Magazine wrote that Amorth said he'd performed over 100,000 exorcisms before his death in 2016. He was still performing them that year — and he even let "The Exorcist" director William Friedkin observe one.

Friedkin, who died just a few months after the film's release, wrote about the experience in Vanity Fair. "Out of a hundred people who seek my help," Amorth told Friedkin, "one or two at the most may be possessed."

"Wolf Creek" is about three backpackers in the Australian Outback who unknowingly hitch a ride from a sadistic murderer.

The horrifying tale of the backpackers in "Wolf Creek" is based on a real string of murders in Australia's Belanglo State Forest in the '90s at the hands of Ivan Milat, aka "the Backpacker Killer."

Milat maintained that he was innocent until his death in 2019, The Daily Mail wrote, but was convicted for torturing and killing at least seven people, all backpackers and hitchhikers. Some think that he killed even more.

"Eaten Alive" is about the owner of a Texas hotel who feeds people to his pet crocodile.

Eccentric bootlegger Joe Ball owned a Texas bar called the Sociable Inn in the early 1900s. He also kept multiple alligators in an enclosure near the saloon.

A known ladies' man, Ball had relations with various waitresses, bartenders, and hostesses — three of whom went missing. Turns out, Ball had murdered two of them, reported Texas Monthly.

Many believe he then fed them to his pet alligators, though there was never any evidence — his keeping them as pets was enough to cause concern and create rumors.

When the police came around for questioning in 1938, however, he shot himself in the heart, the San Antonio Express-News wrote.

"Open Water" tells the harrowing tale of a couple fighting to stay alive after their boat leaves them behind in the middle of the ocean.

Tom and Eileen Lonergan were scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1998 when they were left behind by their boat after someone messed up the head count. They were never heard from again, The Independent wrote.

According to the outlet, the diving company didn't even realize they were missing until two days later, when their passports and other personal effects were found on the boat.

Months after their disappearance, Tom's dive slate was found 100 miles north of their original disappearance. He had written "We have been abandoned" by the diving company, adding "Help!"

Their dive jackets and one of Eileen's fins eventually washed ashore, but there were no signs of a shark attack or any other violent activity.

Some believe they were eaten by sharks, while others maintain that it was a murder-suicide pact.

Their bodies were never found.

"A Nightmare on Elm Street" is best known for bringing Freddy Krueger, a serial killer who murders people in their dreams, into the mainstream.

The idea for this iconic franchise came from a Los Angeles Times article that Wes Craven, the film's writer and director, read about a boy who was too terrified to sleep after surviving the Killing Fields in Cambodia.

Here's what Craven said to Vulture about his inspiration: "He told his parents he was afraid that if he slept, the thing chasing him would get him, so he tried to stay awake for days at a time."

Craven continued, "When he finally fell asleep, his parents thought this crisis was over. Then they heard screams in the middle of the night. By the time they got to him, he was dead. He died in the middle of a nightmare. Here was a youngster having a vision of a horror that everyone older was denying. That became the central line of 'Nightmare on Elm Street.'"

Just as Vladimir and Estragon waited for Godot in Beckett’s famous play, the world may now be waiting for Xi Jinping in the present political drama. America is stuck in two wars. In Ukraine, it would like to reach a compromise with Russia. In the Middle East, it is trying to bring down Tehran’s regime, […]

The post Wars and the oil blockades may be waiting for Xi’s party congress appeared first on Asia Times.

Justice Department actions against state election laws highlight growing national conflict over voter registration lists and mail-in voting security.

Mail-in voting is an established mechanism in the United States election system. It lets eligible citizens cast their votes by mail instead of going to the polling place on Election Day.

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Over the past decades, state governments have modified vote-by-mail laws to lower administrative costs, increase turnout, and provide alternative access for citizens who face logistical challenges on election days.

In this in-depth article, we will explore the history of mail-in voting, its characteristics, and why the current Trump administration has sought to alter this voting system.

History and the Rationale for Mail-In Voting

Remote voting in the United States dates back to the American Civil War (1861 – 1865). During this war, Union and Confederate soldiers who were away from their districts were permitted to submit written absentee ballots so that deployment would not disenfranchise them.

Throughout the 20th century, the mailing vote expanded beyond military personnel. State governments initially granted absentee ballots to civilians who were ill, physically disabled, or traveling for business on Election Day. Later, lawmakers introduced no-excuse absentee voting, which allowed registered voters to request a mail ballot without providing a specific reason.

In November 1998, Oregon became the first state to conduct all primary elections entirely by mail. By 2000, Oregon conducted the first mail-in presidential election in the U.S., achieving a registered voter participation of over 80 percent. Following Oregon’s model, other states, including Washington, Colorado, Utah, and Hawaii, transitioned to universal vote-by-mail systems after 2020.

Several practical factors explain the implementation of mail-in voting. For voters, it eliminates common obstacles associated with in-person voting, such as work, child care responsibilities, and long lines at precinct polling sites.

For the U.S. administration, state-wide vote-by-mail reduces the need for temporary poll workers, lowers equipment purchases for physical polling locations, and decreases operational expenses on election days.

How Mail-In Voting Works and Its Security Record

Mail-in voting operates through structured legal protocols designed to maintain ballot security and track individual submissions. State election offices verify registered voter addresses and signatures, using databases before mailing official ballot materials.

After a voter completes their ballot, they can return it by U.S. Postal Service or place it in a designated local election drop box. Upon receipt, election workers process the ballot through signature verification procedures.

Empirical research shows that voter fraud in mail-in systems is extremely rare. Academic studies and data compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice indicate that the total rate of mail voting fraud over general elections averages 0.000043 percent, or roughly four cases for every 10 million mail ballots cast.

U.S. State election officials rely on barcoded envelopes, secure chain-of-custody procedures, and signature checks to prevent duplicate submissions and preserve election integrity.

Institutional Mechanics and the 2020 Pandemic Pivot

Mail-in voting requires precise administrative coordination between state election agencies, postal services, and voters. When the U.S. implements universal mail-in voting or no-excuse absentee voting, election authorities cross-reference voter registration databases to ensure accurate residential addresses.

Once ballots are printed, they are mailed to registered voters with instructions, a secrecy sleeve, and a pre-paid or postage-guaranteed return envelope.

Security throughout this process relies on multi-step verification systems. When a voter completes their ballot, they place it inside the secrecy sleeve, seal it within the signature-required return envelope, and sign a legal affirmation printed on the exterior.

Election offices process these returned envelopes by running them through automated sorting machines and optical scanners that capture the voter’s signature. Bipartisan teams of election workers compare the signature against official registration records, such as state driver’s license files or original voter registration cards.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 triggered a transformation in U.S. elections. To prevent viral transmission at crowded indoor polling places, numerous states rapidly expanded mail-in voting options, allowing millions of citizens to vote remotely.

According to reports from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, the voters by mail grew to 46 percent nationwide in 2020, more than doubling the fraction recorded in 2016. Conversely, the share of voters casting ballots in person on Election Day dropped from 60 percent to 28 percent.

Following the pandemic emergency, several states, including California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Vermont, permanently codified universal vote-by-mail systems into law, establishing remote ballot delivery as a permanent fixture of their electoral infrastructure.

Partisan Realignment, Demographic Realities, and the Red Mirage

The widespread adoption of mail-in voting reshaped traditional patterns of voter participation and introduced complex dynamics in how election results are reported. 

Despite assumptions that mail-in voting consistently favors a single political party, demographic and class analyses demonstrate that vote-by-mail systems benefit diverse working-class populations across the political spectrum.

Low-wage workers, hourly wage earners, agricultural laborers, and caretakers often lack the schedule flexibility required to stand in long lines during restricted polling hours.

Universal mail-in voting removes these temporal and economic barriers, facilitating participation for working families in both urban centers and rural conservative districts, such as in Utah and Montana, where mail-in voting has enjoyed long-standing bipartisan acceptance.

The differing timelines required to process mail-in ballots also created a phenomenon known as the “red mirage.” Because mail-in ballots require time-intensive signature verification, flattening, and manual extraction before they can be counted, many states process in-person votes first on election night.

This operational sequence frequently caused early vote counts to show a temporary lead for candidates who performed strongly among in-person voters, while subsequent processing of mail-in ballots altered vote totals over the following days.

This structural delay in reporting complete totals became a central focal point in post-election legal disputes and public debates over election administration.

Donald Trump’s Stance and Legal Action Against California

President Donald Trump has maintained a vocal opposition to mail-in voting. In public addresses, Trump has repeatedly alleged that universal mail-in voting systems lead to widespread election fraud and unfair outcomes.

Despite using absentee mail-in voting himself in past state elections, Trump argued throughout his campaigns and current presidency that expanding mail-in voting undermines public trust in election administration.

The Trump administration has taken direct executive actions aimed at curtailing mail ballot access. Policy changes and administrative decisions have altered operational procedures at the U.S. Postal Service, including adjustments to sorting equipment and delivery guidelines.

The Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit targeting California’s election procedures. California established a universal mail-in voting model by enacting legislation requiring county election officials to send a mail ballot to every active registered voter in the state.

The lawsuit by the federal government argued that California’s system creates risks of unlawful voting and challenged state oversight of its official voter registration lists.

Specifically, the federal complaint alleged that California had failed to conduct proper voter roll maintenance, citing federal lists regarding individuals flagged as noncitizens who were sent mail ballots.

The lawsuit sought a court order to block state election officials from counting certain mail-in ballots ahead of the elections. In response, California state officials, including the Attorney General and Secretary of State, defended the legal validity of universal mail-in voting.

State leaders noted that California law relies on signature matching, secure drop-box monitoring, and continuous voter file updates to verify voter identity and maintain system integrity, while arguing that federal interventions violate laws restricting voter roll changes close to an election. Courts continue to review these challenges regarding federal authority over state-administered election laws.

Mail-in voting Also Shapes Results

Mail-in voting remains an essential tool in modern American election administration. From its origins, mail-in voting has provided voters with a flexible, low-cost option to participate in national and local elections.

While the expansion of vote-by-mail systems during the 2020 pandemic increased overall voter turnout, it also intensified political debate over election administration and security measures.

Although empirical data show that voter fraud in mail-in systems remains extremely rare, legal and political challenges, such as federal lawsuits targeting state mail-in procedures, continue to shape the discussion surrounding electoral access.

The ongoing debates over vote-by-mail illustrate a continuing effort to balance security with public access in the U.S. election system. As states enact laws to regulate, expand, or limit mail ballot procedures, the future of mail-in voting will remain a central topic in discussions about democratic participation and legal policy.

A fire at Unit 1 of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Thermal Power Plant—located in Santa Cruz del Norte, in the western province of Mayabeque—was brought under control this morning. The incident took the unit offline and increased the projected impact on the National Electric Power System (SEN) during peak hours.

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The Electric Union (UNE) reported that the fire began at 06:55 local time and affected the plant’s Unit 1. “Unit 1 of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Thermal Power Plant in East Havana is currently offline due to a fire that broke out in the unit,” the organization stated on its social media channels.

According to a report by journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso, the fire was caused by an oil leak at the front of the rotor, which was detected by the operator on duty. The swift intervention of emergency responders and the implementation of safety protocols allowed the fire to be extinguished without any loss of life or injuries.

Following the fire, the area remains under preventive surveillance. Authorities indicated that Units 2 and 3 of the power plant are being prepared to resume operations, while the efforts of the workers and emergency teams who responded to the scene have been acknowledged.

The first text reads, “Once the fire was extinguished, established protocols for recovery and damage assessment were implemented. Many thanks to everyone who helped put it out.”

The second text reads, “Thanks to the urgent actions of the fire department—in coordination with the Electric Union and with the participation of workers, all directed by the provincial and municipal Defense Councils—the fire was successfully extinguished, with no impact on the remaining units.”

The loss of this unit has exacerbated the country’s power generation deficit. For the period of peak demand, the UNE anticipates an available capacity of only 740 megawatts (MW), against a peak demand of 2,900 MW.

In addition to the damaged unit, eight other thermal power units—out of the 16 that make up the country’s total generation capacity—remain out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance. Cuba is experiencing an energy crisis with social repercussions—manifested in prolonged daily blackouts—stemming from an obsolete electrical system and a decline in power generation capacity.

The National Electric System (SEN) is under strain as a result of the blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for more than six decades, which prevents the country from acquiring spare parts.

Compounding this is the energy blockade imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump via an executive order in January, which threatens any country that trades fuel with the island.

High gas prices are harming many Americans, forcing them to cut back or reduce their savings.

On Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department release data showing that retail sales rose 0.8 percent in September to US$745 billion, largely driven by higher gasoline prices that boosted consumer spending at gas stations.

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Excluding sales at gas stations, retail sales increased just 0.2 percent during the month, suggesting underlying consumer demand remained subdued.

While rising retail sales are generally seen as a sign of economic resilience, analysts said the September increase offered a less encouraging picture of consumer spending, as higher fuel costs accounted for much of the growth.

“Retail sales definitely looked weak in September,” said Dean Baker, a macroeconomist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Experts also noted that high gas prices are harming many Americans, forcing them to cut back or reduce their savings.

Gary Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said: “About 50 percent of households are living paycheck to paycheck, and if they are squeezed by gasoline prices, they have to cut back elsewhere. But the other 50 percent just reduce their savings to pay for higher gasoline prices.”

High energy prices could create a new wave of inflation. “The longer energy stays elevated, the more likely it generates a new wave of inflation. Another six months would run this risk,” Hufbauer said.

The data were released just weeks before November’s midterm elections, at a time when underlying prices are already high and gasoline prices threaten to make matters even worse. Republicans could take a beating at the polls over voters’ displeasure with high prices that show no sign of coming down.

However, even if Democrats take control of Congress, the party will have its work cut out after the dust settles, as pushing down gas prices means finding a solution to the war in Iran, which seems improbable at the moment.

At the same time, underlying inflation continues unabated. Experts said getting back to pre-COVID price levels requires the Fed to step in and raise interest rates. However, the central bank has shown no desire to hike rates to the 5 percent level, or higher, that economists say is needed to tame inflation.

Some experts noted that the GOP is caught between a rock and a hard place. Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West said, “Republicans are caught between fighting inflation and a slowing economy, which is a big problem for them in November.”

“Gas prices should drop when the Iran War ends, but it is not clear how (Donald) Trump brings that conflict to a reasonable conclusion,” West said.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: Xinhua

• The battle for voters in the 2026 midterm elections is playing out on the TikTok For You Page.
• One in four Americans say creator content has influenced who they voted for.
• Political candidates are scrambling to connect with more creators in order to reach voters.

Content creators are influencing much more than our coffee orders and skincare routines.

About one in four Americans (26%) say influencer content has affected who they've voted for, according to a survey of around 2,000 US adults conducted by Morning Consult in September, commissioned by Business Insider.

Creator content is an "underestimated avenue" for political campaigns, said Nicole Dunger, a founding partner at the marketing firm People First, which works with candidates and advocacy groups on their creator strategies. "It is a real player and a big player in this space now."

If 2024 was the podcast election, 2026 is shaping up to be the influencer one. Instagram and TikTok creators have joined Fox News hosts and personalities like Joe Rogan as go-to sources of information for voters.

Influencers like Jake Paul and Hasan Piker have emerged as main characters in politics this year.

Paul recently joined President Donald Trump in Ohio for a midterm rally, posting TikTok clips of his Air Force One flight. Piker, meanwhile, has become a campaign ally for progressives like Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed and a negative talking point for Fox News commentators.

As online attention has become a key asset in politics, influencers are helping candidates break through the noise.

A little over half of US adults (56%) told Morning Consult that creator content had affected their views on political or social issues to some degree. That figure jumped among Gen Z respondents, where close to three in four respondents said their views had been swayed by influencer posts.

For campaigns, the challenge is identifying the right creators to work with, particularly when many influencers don't regularly talk about politics.

"You have to have your base of people, your core supporters, and then you have to have a broader cultural space of people who don't always talk about politics," said Parker Butler, a managing partner at the digital strategy firm Luminary Strategies, which works on social strategy with Democratic candidates like James Talarico. "It's worth having different pockets of creators for different purposes."

Reaching creators with smaller followings than Piker (about 3 million Twitch followers), or Paul (around 21 million YouTube subscribers) is a focus in 2026, Butler said.

He said the goal is to shift the creator outreach strategy from "this person has a million followers" to identifying influencers who work in a particular niche a campaign is trying to reach.

Political chatter is moving from TV to YouTube

More and more, political discussions are playing out on digital platforms, whether that's podcasts, YouTube videos, or Twitch streams.

YouTube was the top source for political and election news among US adults in September, narrowly beating out TV, print, and X (formerly Twitter), according to a survey from Syracuse University.

About one in five Democrats and Republicans said podcast appearances could make them "more likely to support a candidate," according to a July through August survey of likely midterm voters from the podcast industry group Sounds Profitable. A smaller share of Independents (11%) said podcasts could make them more likely to back a candidate.

While campaigns see attention moving online, they're still spending the bulk of their ad budgets on TV.

Part of that may be because they're accustomed to buying TV spots. They're also reckoning with the fact that influencer marketing is harder to predict and measure, particularly as social-media feeds become more personalized and algorithmically driven.

"It can be very challenging, but you see the results in the end," Dunger said. "It's the same with door knocking. We know door knocking somehow works and has worked for so long, but it's not like we have those direct measurements."

India’s largest initial public offering (IPO) opens October 21, and investors in Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong are being asked a simple question: What is a Jio customer’s monthly bill worth? Jio Platforms, the Reliance-owned mobile carrier with some 524 million India-based customers, is selling 270 million new shares at 1,065 to 1,119 rupees each […]

The post Jio’s IPO seeks a tech multiple for old-school mobile business appeared first on Asia Times.

US President Donald Trump called Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a disgrace in an interview with Newsmax and questioned President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s will to settle the war on 15 October. His statements came after he made a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Russian diesel back into the US ahead of the mid-term elections in the US.

Kyiv says its long-range strikes have knocked out more than half of Russia's refining capacity, one of the few levers it controls on Moscow's war income, according to Ukraine's Defense Ministry. This is part of efforts to reduce the aggressor's capabilities to launch assaults, including the latest, during which four Russian regions fired 39 Iskander-M, North Korean KN-23, hypersonic Zircon, and supersonic anti-ship cruise Oniks missiles, Zelenskyy said.

Trump criticizes Zelenskyy over oil prices while remaining silent on Russian strikes

Earlier, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine stopped refinery strikes for three days to meet US wishes after Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” on 11 October. At the same time, Russia struck a Kharkiv heat-and-power plant within hours of the announcement, he emphasized.

Meanwhile, in the interview with Newsmax, Trump said Zelenskyy is only pushing world oil prices higher.

“Well, I think that’s a disgrace,” he said.

He added that Ukraine has other options: “There are a lot of targets that you can hit.”

At the same time, Trump didn't say a word about Russian strikes on Ukraine's civilian buildings and power infrastructure ahead of the winter.

Trump compares Zelenskyy to a circus showman

The US leader said he is “not a big fan” of Zelenskyy. He claimed both sides “would like to see it end,” but that he finds Zelenskyy “more difficult to deal with than Putin.”

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US weighs relief for sanctioned shadow fleet tankers, days after freeing Russian diesel

He also said that he believes the depletion of US ammunition stockpiles is linked to the aid provided to Ukraine under the Biden administration, rather than the war with Iran.

Ukraine has repeatedly offered to help the US counter Iranian drones during the operation. The New York Times reported that a Ukrainian team departed the day after the US made such a request.

Nevertheless, despite Kyiv’s offers and actions, Trump once again compared Zelenskyy to P. T. Barnum, the 19th-century American circus showman, saying that he received a tremendous number of Patriots and Tomahawks.

However, there is no public confirmation that Tomahawk missiles were transferred to Ukraine during the Biden administration.

Environmental association ZERO is calling for the proposed Foupana dam in the eastern Algarve to be rejected, warning that it could threaten the survival of one of Portugal’s rarest freshwater

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The Australian government has introduced its digital duty of care legislation to parliament today. The bill includes an “off switch” to allow social media users to opt out of recommender algorithms. If passed, Australians could choose to switch off their algorithmic recommendation and consume a news feed populated by the accounts they subscribe to. It’s […]

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On a recent episode of the Bulwark podcast, journalist Ron Brownstein described the election as a contest between “the wave versus the wall.” The wave being voter anger and President Donald Trump’s plummeting popularity. The wall being structural impediments to voters’ voices, such as gerrymanders and the Republican Party’s stark spending advantage. Now we know […]

The post Don’t let Musk and the billionaires buy America’s elections appeared first on Asia Times.