Texans quick on the draw

HOUSTON: Just two weeks out from the US presidential election, Texas is leading the country in early voting, with more than four million ballots already cast, according to the US Elections Project, a count run by Florida University.

The election in Texas, traditionally a conservative bastion that has backed Republican candidates since 1980, is under close scrutiny, with some polls showing Democratic challenger Joe Biden might be in a position to edge out President Donald Trump.

The number of votes already cast in the large southern state is already equal to 45 per cent of the total number of ballots cast in 2016.

Early voting started last Tuesday in Texas and the participation rate has already nudged out the more populous state of California.

Almost 30 million people have already voted across the US. Conservative Texas governor Greg Abbott, who has the backing of the President, has in recent months sent mixed messages on his support for early voting, which Americans have adopted in huge numbers this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On October 1, Mr Abbott limited the number of places where voters could cast their ballots early without using the postal service, creating logistical hurdles in some counties such as Houston and Dallas where millions of voters live.

Trump pans ‘idiot’ Fauci WASHINGTON: Donald Trump went after top government scientist Anthony Fauci in a call with campaign staffers, calling the hugely respected and popular doctor an “idiot”.

Dr Fauci had said in a TV interview he “wasn’t surprised” that Mr Trump had caught COVID-19 considering his cavalier approach to social distancing and wearing masks.

A furious Mr Trump responded: “People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots who got it wrong. This guy is a disaster. If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths.”

The pandemic has killed almost 220,000 people in the US so far.