Emily Lawler
@emilyjanelawler
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Politics editor @Freep . Formerly @MLive , @MIRSNews . Send tips & cat pics to elawler @gannett .com.
Detroit, MI
Joined August 2008
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‘Those women from Michigan’ led the state through its toughest year yet.
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Tonight I covered an active shooting at the university that taught me how. The whole time I was quietly devastated.
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Ingham County Clerk
@BarbByrum
traces election undermining directly back to president
@realDonaldTrump
.
She calls on the board to certify, not delay based on "idiotic and unfounded conspiracies"
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Gov. Whitmer announces indoor dining will resume in Michigan on Feb. 1.
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Per
@nytimes
, 7 of the top 10 metro areas with the worst COVID-19 surges nationally right now are in Michigan.
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Everybody has a favorite stove burner and it’s the front right one, correct?
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Michigan Supreme Court orders abortion rights petition be certified for the ballot:
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People are doing a gridlock protest against Whitmer's stay-at-home order in downtown Lansing. This exact scenario is a fear I've heard from locals.
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I’m across the street from the MSU union, where I see a sheet covering what appears to be a body on the sidewalk. Others on the scene seeing the same thing.
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Personal news:
Next week I'm hanging up a decade's worth of reporter credentials and picking up an editor's pen
@MLive
.
Many thanks for trusting me with your coverage over the years, and I look forward to bringing you the best political (& more!) news from the best team.
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JUST IN:
@GOPChairwoman
&
@MIGOPChair
pen a letter to the Board of State Canvassers asking them not to certify Michigan’s election results at Monday’s meeting. Instead, they ask them to adjourn for 14 days & audit Wayne County results first.
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JUST IN: The Michigan Bureau of Elections staff recommendation is that the Board of State Canvassers certify the Nov. 3 election results at its Monday meeting.
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Who's gonna tell gen z Michiganders how miserable flared jeans are in winter? Freezing air shooting up your legs, can't tuck them into boots, all wet and heavy, salt stains running up your shins...
I remember 2000-2006 and our geography is not compatible with this trend.
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Thanks, but I'm not in the habit of asking male peers to explain my own reporting to me?
Chad is smart. So are the medical experts I interviewed (including about other metrics) and reported on in this story about a topic I've covered for months.
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My dad butt dialed me and I just listened to him talk about how skillful sailboat captains are for a while so that's probably gonna be the most wholesome part of my week.
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In the course of reporting this story, I sat on the Capitol steps for ten minutes waiting for a source. In that time, a state representative sexually harassed a woman walking into the capitol. That's exactly how prevalent this is. That's exactly how shamelessly this happens.🧵
Butt pinches, threesome requests and a glass ceiling: sexism is systemic in Michigan’s political culture
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This month marks a decade since I graduated college and started covering Michigan politics full-time. The longer I’m in this industry, the more I see how problematic the economic barriers to entry are. I’m here because I’m good, but also because, frankly, I can afford to be (🧵)
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It’s hard to explain the level of scrutiny the university’s handling of this will face, but I’m going to try. Properly handling sexual assault & harassment is MSU’s glaring weak spot and this is the biggest imaginable test. 🧵
A bombshell report from
@kennyjacoby
of
@USATODAY
— MSU Football Coach Mel Tucker is accused of sexual harassment ➡️
+
@Graham_Couch
’s column for
@LSJNews
➡️
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One thing national political groups miss about Michigan every cycle: we're weird.
We're hard to predict. We're extremely plugged in. Our press corps is incredibly strong. The media strategy you deployed in a dozen other states isn't gonna carbon copy very well here.
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This speech has garnered national attention, including now from
@POTUS
.
I didn't wake up on Monday morning thinking that, by Friday, I'd answer a phone call saying, "Hi, Mr. President." I'm humbled by
@potus
reaching out to discuss my speech, why we do this, and what it means for the soul of the nation. We can, and we will.
#HateWontWin
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22 degrees out and the guy in front of me at the coffee shop is wearing shorts & sandals. Never change, Michigan.
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!!! HUGE bucket list item for me to see the northern lights and can’t believe I saw them visiting my parents in my hometown! Michigan has my heart with this one.
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Hi there, I'm the editor 🙋
You have my cell and we talk regularly, so dragging my work through the mud on Twitter while simultaneously claiming to be a champion of local news is an interesting choice.
Today’s lesson in why
#EditorsStillMatter
: The governor line-item vetoed a $240 per-pupil increase for public charter schools, not a $35 million PER-PUPIL increase.
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Michigan congressman Paul Mitchell leaves Republican Party over its refusal to accept Biden’s win via
@PolarBarrett
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Since he’s making news, I’ll break it — congrats
@CraigDMauger
on being
@SPJDetroit
Journalist of the Year!
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Publicly available information points to only one difference between yesterday, when MSU celebrated Mel Tucker, and today, when it suspended him.
Journalism.
Subscribe:
📰USAT
📰Freep
📰LSJ
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All the national news about Democratic governors dropping mask mandates right now hits weird in Michigan, where under a Democratic governor we haven’t had one in ~9 months.
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I covered Gov. Rick Snyder for 8 years, including through some very controversial decisions and protests. I never saw a Ken doll.
@emilyjanelawler
@GovWhitmer
@JScottPark
Why is that sexist? If the Governor were male don’t you think that would be a Ken doll? 😂
But don’t let me deter you from making the entire protest about this single protestor.
Carry on.
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I’ve crossed the Straits of Mackinac by bridge, water and air and I think the aerial view is the best. Enjoy! 🚁
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AG
@dananessel
is acting governor today as the governor and others are out of the state. So far, she says her term has been a resounding success.
"Job numbers have remained steady and I haven’t had to declare war on Ohio."
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A few weeks ago, a number of women were brave enough to begin telling me their stories about being sexually harassed by Virg Bernero.
A few days ago, I reached out to Bernero for comment.
Yesterday, he ended his mayoral candidacy.
Ex-mayor’s sexual harassment ‘really did ruin my life.’ Virg Bernero ends election bid as women speak up
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I’m seeing police cars from as far away as Oakland County. This is a true interagency effort.
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My resolution was to bike 2,023 miles in 2023, and today I finished my last mile! There are many indoor trainer miles in my total but I wanted to make the last one outside, wind in my face, feeling like a kid again ❤️ 🚲
Do me a favor and crush a goal of your own in 2024!
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I didn’t think through a quick
@meijer
run with Christmas and a snowstorm coming. They don’t have estimated wait times but I’m hoping to check out before New Years.
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Halfway in, a snap analysis: Dixon started off acknowledging this was probably many Michiganders' first time seeing her, which is true due to her lagging fundraising/ad buys. She's making a good first impression -- smart, engaged, clear and quick-witted.
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I shouldn't be the only female reporter on this shortlist.
I was the only female reporter in lots of rooms/scrums over the years and that is NOT the current lay of the land. The press corps has diversified, but who insiders follow/take seriously/recognize hasn't. Catch up🧵
Behold, the Twitter accounts most followed by Michigan state lawmakers
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As if today isn't nuts enough in this town, a deer just ran into our office window. In downtown Lansing. A city of 116,000. WHAT IS HAPPENING
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Michiganders — did you already vote absentee for Pete Buttigieg? You can spoil that ballot and cast a fresh vote. More on how that works, from
@PolarBarrett
:
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Butt pinches, threesome requests and a glass ceiling: sexism is systemic in Michigan’s political culture
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Every year I make Christmas cookies for the legislative spokespeople to thank them for answering all my late-night phone calls & odd requests. I’ll be the first to admit this year’s design is a little lame.
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🚨🚨🚨 Breaking (cookie) news! After many years of baking to de-stress after big news days, I've started a cookie company: The Cookie Press.
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From protests at their homes to a kidnapping plot, Michigan’s top elected officials faced a number of threats this year. I asked
@GovWhitmer
,
@dananessel
&
@JocelynBenson
if they were targeted more violently because they were women:
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President
@realDonaldTrump
cites Michigan as one of the “Democrat-run” states that is still shut down. It’s almost like being in prison, he says.
Michigan’s stay-at-home order ended June 1:
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Social distancing milestones: It's been a year since I've been sick with anything.
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Come Nov. 3, “I anticipate seeing the largest turnout in the history of the state,” says
@GovWhitmer
on
@thereidout
.
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Things I think we can stop pretending are still because of COVID & just acknowledge are saving entities money:
- closed drinking fountains/bathrooms at parks, gyms, etc.
- hotels not servicing your room every day
- restaurants/stores having scaled-back days/hours
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Because this is an article written by me, a verified human? And humans make mistakes? I'm not sure what answer you seek but thanks for being👏incredibly👏dickish👏about👏it👏.
PS. Deleted the dangler, which is by far not the worst mistake I've made in a decade of reporting.
From a G.O.P. source: “Like holy shit how does a sentence just abruptly not get finished but left in the article any way?”
@emilyjanelawler
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Michigan's election results are certified with 3 ayes and 1 (Norm Shinkle) abstaining.
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When I started covering the Capitol in 2011 there were very few women reporters on the beat. This is the press desk on the House floor today.
Honored to work with power women
@MikenzieFrost
,
@kasbenal
,
@Cheyna_R
,
@LindsayVanHulle
,
@DNBethLeBlanc
&
@michpoligal
(not pictured).
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Me to everybody on Mackinac Island for the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference: Oh I’m staying in the city
“The city”:
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Me: I'll share a funny and relatable story about a Thanksgiving meal mix-up on Twitter
Readers:
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When COVID hit the news cycle,
@MLive
tapped me to lead a breaking news team handling it. But today, I'm stepping back into my role as a lead reporter on our statewide team covering the Gov. Whitmer administration.
See you at the Capitol! 🙌
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Spoke with a student waiting for his roommate’s sister — wants to be a friendly face when she’s released from her locked-down classroom (his roommate is locked down elsewhere.) He tells me students want to live, want to graduate.
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In a recent
@freep
editorial board interview, AG a candidate Matt DePerno kept returning to the date Dec. 4, 2020, saying he’d reported “an actual crime” regarding voting security in Antrim County to Dana Nessel.
So,
@Dave_Boucher1
started digging.
🧵
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A little throwback: on this day one year ago the news of the day was
@GovWhitmer
banning e-cigs.
I know how time works but still feel like that was approximately eleventy lifetimes ago.
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A lot of bluster and a stark reality: Michigan legislature has no plan to stop surge of COVID-19
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Journalism like this takes work, and
@Dave_Boucher1
got to the bottom of it. If you value reporting that cuts through the noise on a complicated issue like this, please consider subscribing to
@freep
.
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Took a vacation and biked across the state last week. Back in action now!
PS. I biked between two Great Lakes, no idea why I decided to take my only selfie in front of a junkyard.
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Extremely relevant info from
@JocelynBenson
earlier this week: audits can’t be conducted until after elections are certified.
JUST IN:
@GOPChairwoman
&
@MIGOPChair
pen a letter to the Board of State Canvassers asking them not to certify Michigan’s election results at Monday’s meeting. Instead, they ask them to adjourn for 14 days & audit Wayne County results first.
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I just want to publicly out myself for confusing the words "disperse" and "disburse" in a story recently. My only defense is that these words are virtually indistinguishable when filtered through the Michigan accent.
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A year ago today,
@LaurenMGibbons
and I published a story at
@MLive
that laid bare the pervasive sexism and harassment women face in Michigan’s political culture. This absolutely, unequivocally persists. Chronologically: (🧵)
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'If John goes, in my mind, we all should go" - MSU Trustee Mitch Lyons
Crowd response: "YES"
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I ordered a bagel with cream cheese & a Diet Coke from Daily Bagel and the total came to $5.17.
… have I hit peak Lansing?
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I’m floored by how expensive this is for the area.
My first full-time job in Lansing paid $27,500.
A lawmaker at ~$72k would be pushing 50% of their take-home pay to rent one of these.
And downtown is the city’s least vibrant area so this isn’t paying for location.
There’s no point in building new housing in downtown Lansing if this is the price point.
This listing for the new City View apartments advertises 1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartments (660 - 889sq ft) for $1,590 - $1,944/month
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The election worker who gave me my ballot recognized my name and told me she appreciated my work and STOP I'M GLOWING I will be taking this energy all the way into the 4 a.m. stretch.
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Figured now was a good time to debut this, too! So excited to live here 💙
Here-here, by the way — not clocking in from a suburb, promise.
Caught in a short traffic jam this morning that felt very Detroit-specific
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CONGRATULATIONS DR. LAWLER!
My sister
@alyssajolawler
got her PhD in Biology from
@CarnegieMellon
today. My friends have asked me to stop bragging about her. But I can’t because she taught herself how to program neural networks in two weeks and is gonna change the world ❤️
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I tried to buy a brisket for Thanksgiving, but accidentally ordered a corned beef brisket on
@Shipt
. So we went with Irish Thanksgiving, and threw in a birthday cake since we missed my birthday on St. Patrick’s Day. A very happy St. Patbirthtricksgiving to you & yours.
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Her first year in office,
@GovWhitmer
made waves by flying a rainbow flag on the governor's office for pride month. This year, she renamed the Cass Building to the Elliott-Larsen building after Michigan's civil rights law.
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I filled out an online form that asked for my title, so I put "Reporter." Turned out they meant Mr./Mrs., so I keep getting emails addressed "Dear Reporter Lawler..." and I don't hate it.
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Gov. Whitmer has a message for Michigan's educators.
"You're not failing us. We have been failing you."
#MISOTS19
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Alright I’m going for smart and focused here but this background is my actual house so there’s a 150% chance the tastefully blurred books include volumes on cats, bike trails and home canning.
#NewProfilePic
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I will not keep getting parking tickets in 2024
I will not keep getting parking tickets in 2024
I will not keep getting parking tickets in 2024
Thanks for the ride
@RideCATA
!
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It is my second pandemic birthday 🎉
And for these 24 hours I traditionally claim to be 100% Irish. This is patently false, but Lawler is an Irish last name so let’s all roll with it.
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The perfect greeting card doesn’t exis—
IS THAT RACCOON EATING A MICHIGAN-SHAPED S’MORE?!
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My bike commute is back, baby! Excited to be working out of the
@MLive
office again sometimes 🚲🗞
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All of these reporters are great. So are Michigan’s female capitol reporters I frequently see skipped over on lists like this:
@michpoligal
@Cheyna_R
@LaurenMGibbons
@DNBethLeBlanc
@MikenzieFrost
@rbeggin
@LindsayVanHulle
@kasbenal
All great follows who report with authority.
8. For ongoing coverage of Michigan policy and politics, follow...
@jonathanoosting
@detroitnews
--
@paulegan4
@freep
--
@ChadLivengood
@CrainsDetroit
--
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Whitmer says "go blue" for U-M men's & women's basketball teams in the NCAA tournament. For a twice-minted Spartan, this takes some work (but she noted her kids are wolverines now.)
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Tune in to an ALL 👏 WOMAN 👏 REPORTER 👏 PANEL 👏 on
@WKAR
's Off The Record this weekend.
Host Tim Skubick,
@Cheyna_R
,
@DNBethLeBlanc
and I talk budget with Rep. Aaron Miller of the
@MIHouseGOP
.
#mileg
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I can't shake the feeling that "I'm not a cat" is 100% what a cat impersonating a lawyer would say.
A lawyer using Zoom had to let a judge know that he wasn’t a cat after inadvertently activating a face filter
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Well here's a gaming bill change under the Senate subs nobody advertised: The Senate deleted existing requirements that a person applying for a casino license 1) disclose financial connections to elected officials and 2) disclose political contributions.
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Michigan’s Democratic primary obviously hinges on candidates, but also provides a comparison between three starkly different media strategies.
Thanedar - mostly paid media (ads)
El-Sayed - mostly national media
Whitmer - mostly Michigan media
Curious to see results.
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I am on furlough and won’t be reporting or editing for
@MLive
this week.
I also won’t be tweeting.
I took times like this 2018 snap for granted. If you are relying on local news right now you’re relying on reporters like these. Consider subscribing.
(📸 by
@CoryPMorse
)
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I've been confused by people accusing Rep. Cynthia Johnson of doxxing the person testifying. The spelling of the name of somebody who testifies is public & something I routinely get from committee clerks so I can spell it correctly when I'm reporting on a hearing.
Rep. Cynthia Johnson shared a voicemail in which a person called her the n-word & said she should be lynched with lawmakers in the House. She said a Republican rep responded like this. Of note, the names of those speaking before House committees is public information.
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Working from home but my husband and I are still doing that thing where we cut off weird little pieces every time we walk by and pretend we’re not going to eat the whole paçzki
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Gov. Whitmer on
@thereidout
says she’s confident mail-in ballots will be counted. Along with AG Nessel & SOS Benson “we are all working together to make sure that every vote gets counted.”
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