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Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Black female mayor unleashes on white voters after being booted from office
A Missouri mayor publicly criticized her white voters, accusing them of turning their backs on Black women in leadership after voting her out in favor of a new, white candidate. Tishaura Jones, the former St. Louis mayor, suffered a staggering 28-point defeat to Mayor Cara Spencer last month, marking one of the worst losses for an existing mayor in the city's last 50 years, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. However, the 53-year-old politician blamed her loss to racial bias amongst her voters, accusing them of booting her from office because she is Black. 'I think St. Louis needs to have a conversation with itself about why it no longer trusts Black women to lead,' Jones said in an interview with St. Louis Public Radio on Thursday. 'My dad always told me - and it's an old phrase - that Black women have to work twice as hard to get half as much,' she added. 'Well, I feel like we work five times as hard and get nothing in return.' Just four years ago, voters from St. Louis's north side and its white progressive neighborhoods rallied behind Jones, propelling her into the mayor's office. Fast forward to last month's re-election, and Jones' voter base had ultimately crumbled - white progressive neighborhoods that once championed her shifted their support to Spencer, the very candidate Jones defeated in 2021. Explanations for the shift varied - disappointment in her activist base, missteps with grant programs, etc. However, voters on both the north and south sides repeatedly voiced frustration with Jones' handling of basic city services - from trash pickup to pothole repairs - as well as her response to the massive snowstorm that hit the state in January. What may have swayed voters was Spencer's straightforward yet resonant promise to St. Louis: a swift return 'back to basics', Post-Dispatch reported. Yet Jones believes that even her Black voter base on the north side turned away from her, claiming they held unrealistic expectations during her four years in office. In the radio interview published Thursday, Jones expressed frustration that voters overlooked a major achievement during her tenure - the city's homicide rate dropped by 40 percent from a record high in 2020 to a 10-year low last year. 'That's what the people wanted back in 2021,' Jones' said during the segment. 'And then they moved the goalposts to potholes and trash and snow removal.' She also emphasized her efforts to begin revitalizing north St. Louis after decades of decline, but said she was never truly given the opportunity to deliver lasting change for city residents. 'There's no patience there,' Jones said. 'The expectations there are so high to deliver and deliver immediately to address the decades of neglect in four years, and that is impossible.' In last month's re-election, Jones' voter base had ultimately crumbled - white progressive neighborhoods that once championed her shifted their support to Spencer, the very candidate Jones defeated in 2021 But for Jones, it wasn't just about the city's day-to-day issues. She believes her loss had far more to do with race - and the face that Spencer is a white woman - than with her record in office. During the interview, Jones shared that when she campaigned in south city - a neighborhood that supported her in the previous election - no one could provide a clear reason for why they were voting her out of office. 'And if you can't give me a reason or something that I have particularly done, then the only default is race,' Jones said, according to the Post-Dispatch. Jones' ousting follows the loss of three other Black female leaders from office, a point she highlighted during the interview. Cori Bush, a former US Representative, was voted out of office in 2024. Darlene Green, the former Comptroller, also lost re-election last month. Kim Gardner, the former circuit attorney, resigned in 2023 in the midst of a controversy. Jones asserted that not only do the residents of St. Louis need to reflect on their views of Black women in power, but the Democratic Party - especially the progressive Democrats - must also have that same conversation. She said she wasn't sure about the future of the progressive movement she once led, adding that she didn't know anyone who could carry on the work she had already started. According to her, others lack consistency and loyalty, according to the Post-Dispatch. Despite her comments on the radio show, Jones revealed that she has mostly tuned out of politics since her defeat, Post-Dispatch reported. Although she teased a 'comeback' on social media, she never hinted at anything political. Additionally, she shared that she's almost finished with a children's book she began writing while in office and is now exploring new career paths, including consulting, writing another book or starting a podcast.
India Today
05-05-2025
- Business
- India Today
Election Commission to launch single-point digital platform soon
In a significant step towards streamlining electoral services, the Election Commission of India (ECI) will launch a single-point digital platform called ECINET to integrate the commission's 40 existing mobile and web applications, the ECI said on Sunday. The ECI revealed that ECINET is under development to ensure smooth access to electoral services for nearly 100 crore voters and the entire electoral workforce. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is leading the effort and is expected to modernise India's electoral commission, in a press statement, stated that ECINET will consolidate popular applications like Voter Helpline, Voter Turnout, cVIGIL, Suvidha 2.0, ESMS, Saksham, and the KYC App, all of which have collectively recorded over 5.5 crore downloads. These facilities, hitherto accessible via individual portals, will now be accessible via an integrated app."The platform shall provide a smooth and user-friendly interface for electors, election officials, political parties, and civil society," the ECI #ECINET to facilitate electoral servicesA single-point App for stakeholders;to subsume over existing 40 IT AppsTo benefit nearly 100 crore electors & entire electoral machineryRead in detail : #ECI Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) May 4, 2025 The officials added that the decision has been taken to minimise complexity for users by doing away with the requirement of downloading and managing multiple applications. With ECINET, services such as voter registration, reporting of grievances, polling station information, and election statistics will be present at one digital is not only meant for the voters. It will benefit more than 10.5 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs), about 15 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) recruited by political parties, almost 45 lakh polling officials, 15,597 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), 4,123 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), and 767 District Election Officers (DEOs).As per the ECI, ECINET was created after taking extensive consultations with 36 Chief Electoral Officers, 767 DEOs, and 4,123 EROs. It is founded on findings derived from 76 in-house ECI publications. The platform is at an advanced development stage and will be subjected to stringent cybersecurity testing and trial phases before its public project is also a part of the Election Commission's move to enhance user experience (UX) and interface design (UI) so that citizens from all walks of life can access electoral services online. Authorities believe that this platform will help increase participation in the electoral process and narrow the digital deployment of ECINET is expected within the next few months, and additional information, including a launch date, will be available shortly.
Indian Express
04-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Coming soon, single EC app for voters, officials
The Election Commission is set to launch a single app and website, ECINET, that will subsume 40 existing apps for voters and electoral officials, the poll body said Sunday. The app is believed to be in advanced stages of development and testing and will likely be launched before the Bihar elections later this year. The new app will bring together existing platforms like the Voter Turnout app, the Know Your Candidate app and election results app, along with platforms for Electoral Registration Officers, Booth Level Officers and other stakeholders. The poll body said the unified platform was envisaged by CEC Gyanesh Kumar at the conference of Chief Electoral Officers held in March, along with ECs Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The Hindu
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Election Commission to develop new digital interface for voters, other stakeholders
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday (May 4, 2025) announced that it was developing a new, user-friendly digital interface for voters and other stakeholders such as election officials, political parties and the civil society. The new one-stop platform, ECINET, will integrate and reorient over 40 of the EC's existing mobile and web applications. It will subsume existing apps, such as the Voter Helpline app, Voter Turnout app, cVIGIL, Suvidha 2.0, ESMS, Saksham and the KYC app, which together had clocked over 5.5 crore downloads. The EC's new initiative comes amid allegations made by Opposition parties about voter roll manipulations, duplication of elector's photo identity cards (EPICs), as well as abnormalities in updating voter turnout data. The ECINET will have an aesthetic user interface (UI) and a simplified user experience (UX) by providing a singular platform for all election-related activities. This move is also designed to alleviate the burden of users, who currently have to download and navigate multiple apps and remember different login details, the poll body said in a statement. It has already reached an advanced stage of development and rigorous trials are being conducted to ensure smooth functionality, ease of use, and robust cybersecurity measures. It is being developed after an elaborate consultative exercise involving 36 Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all the States and Union Territories, 767 District Election Officers (DEOs) and 4,123 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) of their States and UTs and after reviewing 76 publications comprising 9,000 pages of the electoral framework, instructions and handbooks issued by the EC from time to time. The new digital interface will enable users to access relevant electoral data on their desktops and smartphones. To ensure that data are as accurate as possible, ECINET data will be entered solely by authorised EC officials. However, in case of any conflict, the primary data as duly filled in statutory forms will prevail. The platform was proposed by the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar during a recent conference of CEOs, EC sources said. The new initiative is expected to benefit nearly 100 crore electors and the entire electoral machinery comprising over 10.5 lakh Booth Level Officers, around 15 lakh Booth Level Agents appointed by political parties, nearly 45 lakh polling officials, 15,597 Assistant EROs, 4,123 EROs and 767 DEOs across the country.
