www.youtube.com/c/DreamIAS Current Affairs, 2nd to 15th August, 2020 International Running Mate Matters Presumptive U.S. Democratic nominee and former Vice-President Joe Biden has picked Kamala Harris, Senator from California of Indian descent, as his vice-presidential running mate, a fillip to his party’s connect with African-Americans, the Indian-American community, women and its core base of mainstream liberals. Ms. Harris — her late mother and cancer researcher Shyamala Gopalan hailed from a Chennai-based family, and Jamaican father Donald Harris, a retired Stanford professor — made a name for herself as a tough lawyer, politically ambitious enough to throw her hat in the ring as a Biden challenger in the Democratic primaries. In a close parallel to former President Barack Obama picking his Democratic primaries rival Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, Mr. Biden chose Ms. Harris from amidst a cohort of strong candidates, including former NSA Susan Rice and Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren. In picking Ms. Harris, Mr. Biden has consolidated his position at the helm of the Democratic Party mainstream, ensuring a convergence of views with his vice-presidential nominee on race relations, policing and criminal justice reform, immigration, the health-care insurance industry and education policy. The timing of her selection could not be better — as an outspoken leader on racism and a woman of colour, the symbolism of Mr. Biden picking her will offer hope to many, including ‘Black Lives Matter’ activists. What Is A Running Mate? The Constitution of the United States provides for both a president and a vice-president, explains Edelson. Under the current system, the presidential candidate for each of the two major parties, the Democratic and the Republican party, chooses a vice presidential running mate. This process is also applicable to smaller political parties, says Edelson. “The running mate is simply the vice-presidential candidate. Voters vote on the two— presidential and vice-presidential candidates—as a team.” The system isn’t unique to the US. There are other countries where a similar process exists, for instance, Brazil, Indonesia and Palau, where the running mate of the presidential candidate is automatically made Vice-President. What Is the Historical Background to the ‘Running Mate’Mate’ System in the USUSUS?US ??? The running mate system in US politics was never formally adopted in law, but has existed since at least 1864. “Under the original system, the vice-president was simply the presidential candidate who received the second most electoral college votes in the presidential election. This led to an odd result after the 1796 election, when the vice president, Thomas Jefferson, was a political opponent of the president, John Adams,” explains Edelson. However, Edelson says the US Constitution was subsequently changed in 1804 by the 12th Amendment “to provide that the electoral college would separately select a president and a vice-president, rather than simply choosing the runner up in the presidential election as the vice-president.” Shatabdi Tower, Sakchi, Jamshedpur www.youtube.com/c/DreamIAS Here Is How Postal Voting in The US Works As the US presidential election is set to take place in November, many states are making postal voting options more easily accessible due to the coronavirus pandemic – which has impacted the US harder than all other countries. President Donald Trump, however, has stridently opposed mail-in options, tweeting on Thursday, “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” Previously, Trump has even said that should plans to expand postal voting succeed, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” Voting Amid Coronavirus Ever since the novel coronavirus pandemic has reached the US, many have pushed for the expanded use of postal ballots as opposed to in-person voting to ensure social distancing, a critical measure adopted around the world to halt the outbreak. President Trump’s Republican party has been resisting these efforts – with its legislators and court appointees at both state and federal levels working against the expansion of postal balloting. Republicans have argued that postal voting could increase risks of voter fraud, and have accused Democrats of using the pandemic as a pretext to further election reforms. Earlier this week, Trump made claims of a “rigged election” and that votes, specifically in New York state, were “missing”. Experts, however, have called these fears exaggerated, and insisted that such malpractices are exceedingly rare in the US. Difference Between MailMail----InIn and Absentee Voting Even before his tweet, Trump has repeatedly hit out at “mail-in voting” while defending “absentee voting”– a distinction rejected by several experts who say that the process is nearly the same for both; their difference mainly arising due to the terminology used by individual states. Unlike in India, where the Constitution provides for a separate rule- making Election Commission that is independent of the executive in government, all US elections–federal, state, and local– are directly organised by the governments of individual states. According to the White House website, the US Constitution and laws grant the states wide latitude in how they administer elections, resulting in varying rules across the country. What Different States Stipulate While every single state allows postal voting, some do so only in certain circumstances. In 17 states, mainly in the South and the Northeast, voters are provided absentee ballots if they provide an “excuse” as to why they cannot be present in person on election day. Thirty–three states and the District of Columbia have “no-excuse absentee voting”, where voters can get an absentee ballot without providing justification, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The states of Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington have “vote-by-mail”, where every registered voter is sent a ballot without a request. The 2020 EEElectionElection Although individual states continue to have different postal voting rules, most of them are making these options more easily accessible due to the pandemic, and are inching closer to vote-by-mail. According to federal election data, around 24 per cent of voting during the Shatabdi Tower, Sakchi, Jamshedpur www.youtube.com/c/DreamIAS 2016 election, which Trump won, happened through postal ballots. This year, that proportion is expected to surge significantly. Why Has Trump Cited the Action by India To Order Bans on TikTok, WeChat? US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning any transactions by the US or by US citizens on the Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat. The order will be effective 45 days from August 6. Trump said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in India had, while announcing the ban on 59 Chinese apps “asserted that they were stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India”, and that the US too, therefore, needed to ban any transactions on such apps as a protective measure. What Does the Order Mean in Practical Terms? The order states that 45 days from now, no US citizen or any citizen on whom US laws apply, will be allowed to carry out any transactions with either ByteDance or any of its subsidiaries, which include TikTok, or with Tencent Holdings, which owns WeChat. The executive order also bans any transactions with the owners of these apps. This means that users of TikTok and WeChat will not be able to spend any money on or through the app to purchase anything. Although users will be able to use the app and still upload their videos on it, companies will not be able to use it for brand promotions or use influencers to advertise their products. The executive order could be a blow for TikTok. The US has been a big market for the app, from where it has been generating a lot of revenue. According to reports, ByteDance had expected a revenue of $500 million in 2020 from the US alone. WeChat, which is a ‘super app’ that allows users to do just about everything from chatting to hailing rides to buying things online, is not very popular in the US. However, Tencent Holdings had recently planned to expand its presence in the US and had set up a new office in the country. The executive order can put paid to those plans of the company. Why Were Transactions on The Two Apps Banned? In his executive order, Trump also took on China for its aggression against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, and the apps from that country censoring any news on these. What Happens to The MicrosoftMicrosoft----TikTokTikTok Deal Now? Global software giant Microsoft was reportedly in talks to buy TikTok’s operations in the US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The company’s Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella had even met Trump to discuss the plan. Later, executives from the US administration hinted that Microsoft had time until September 15, after which the app in its current form would be banned from the United States. With the executive order giving a window of 45 days, Microsoft, if still interested in buying TikTok either wholly or partially, will have to complete the deal by September 22. WeChat could also look to hive off its US operations to another company, and exit the country. U.S. Examines If Riyadh Has Nuclear Goals U.S. intelligence agencies are scrutinising efforts by Saudi Arabia to build up its ability to produce nuclear fuel that could put the kingdom on a path to developing nuclear weapons. Spy agencies in recent weeks circulated a classified analysis about the efforts underway Shatabdi Tower, Sakchi, Jamshedpur www.youtube.com/c/DreamIAS inside Saudi Arabia, working with China, to build industrial capacity to produce nuclear fuel.