WEIRS BEACH, N.H. – The oldest motorcycle rally in the world is taking place this week in New Hampshire.

The Laconia Motorcycle Rally began in 1916. It missed seven years over the decades due to national and world events, but this year marks its 95th anniversary.

One of the events that drew large crowds this week is literally called the World's Oldest Motorcycle Rally, which features bikes from the 1930s.

For Charlie Sinclair, executive director, World Motorcycle Association, the rally is a great experience.
"For people that have either been to New Hampshire before or have not been here before, to experience everything that the state has to offer,” he states. “For riding capabilities here, we have so many nice roads through the mountains, along the coast. It's just a great experience overall."

The area is filled with festivities, including Harley-Davidson demonstrations, rodeos and burrito eating contests.

New Hampshire's Division of Travel and Tourism estimates the nine-day event brings in $100 million for the state.

Last week, the rally kicked off with an annual run in honor of Peter Makris, who owned the popular Naswa Resort in Weirs Beach. Sinclair says that Makris was always a big champion of Motorcycle Week.

"He was as a member of the Red Hat Brigade back in the 50s and 40s, into the early 60s,” Sinclair relates. “Peter is a former Marine. He gets a lot of support there and then, they raise funds for the Laconia Fire Department and the Make-A-Wish [Foundation], New England Easter Seals – several charities benefit from that."

On Saturday, bikers ride the New Hampshire Motor Speedway track and then go on a 32-mile ride around the Lakes Region, with a goal of raising $76,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of New Hampshire.


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A Nevada democracy watchdog group said social media, blogs, websites and hyperpartisan news organizations are all working overtime to spread disinformation in an effort to influence the midterm elections in November.

One debunked claim said voting machine algorithms are changing votes, which has driven two Nevada counties to move to hand-count their ballots, a much less secure process, and more vulnerable to manipulation.

Lisa Lynn Chapman, Nevada disinformation state manager at the Institute for a Progressive Nevada, said the problem with intentional falsehoods goes beyond the usual exaggerations sometimes heard on the campaign trail. She argued people need to be skeptical and try to pinpoint the source.

"Well, in general, trolls, white nationalists, men's rights activists, the 'alt-right' conspiracy theorists," Chapman outlined. "All manipulate social media algorithms to amplify their messages."

She cited one recent false narrative, which claimed undocumented immigrants are being registered to vote at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. Chapman added another falsehood going around blames undocumented immigrants for the fentanyl crisis in Nevada.

"In a recent report from the Cato Institute, U.S. citizens were 86% of the convicted fentanyl drug traffickers. This is 10 times the greater convictions of undocumented immigrants, for that same offense."

She warned people that lies about who is eligible to vote, as well as when, where and how to cast a ballot, are expected to surge in the coming weeks. Voters can check the Nevada Secretary of State's website for the correct information.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

As the midterm elections approach, there are concerns about whether Latino voters will turn out as much as they have in past elections.

In New York, 12% of voters in the 2020 General Election were Latino, up from 10% in 2018, according to a poll by Univision, including a lot of new and young voters.

Ameer Patel, vice president of programs for the group Voto Latino, pointed out with such divisive issues as abortion access, gun restrictions, the economy and democracy's integrity on the ballot this November, he hopes the stage is set for an even bigger turnout.

"We saw a surge of young Latinos vote for the first time in 2020 as well as 2018," Patel recounted. "One of our core emphases here, this cycle, is making sure the surge of voters that came out in 2018 and 2020 become repeat voters, and they vote again this election cycle."

Patel noted low voter turnout is often the result of a lack of information about the policies and proposals on the ballot. According to a Voto Latino poll, only 21% of those surveyed had heard of President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill. He added Voto Latino has been focused on getting more people registered to vote and explaining how every vote matters.

As plenty of states have changed their voting regulations, one challenge is making sure people know how voting is done in their state. Patel explained another hurdle in the upcoming election has been what he calls "voter depression."

"You have these negative actors talking about how voting doesn't matter, how neither politician or neither party really, truly cares about you," Patel acknowledged. "On a much more grand or common level, you have people that are running for office right now, talking about how the past election was stolen."

He added the persistent lies about the 2020 election have convinced some people elections are rigged, or the voting process no longer embodies the spirit of democracy. Patel stressed his group and others are working to counter these views and encouraging people to cast their ballots.

Ahead of the November midterms, the Texas Secretary of State outlined details last week for a campaign aimed at educating voters before the November election, noting there will be more oversight.

Gov. Greg Abbott approved an elections bill last year banning 24-hour polling places, tightening ID requirements and limiting drive-through and voting by mail.

Wendy Weiser, vice president and director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, warned new tactics -- such as candidates claiming election fraud even if they win -- could lead to an election crisis.

"We think that great candidates can and should use all of the procedures available to them under the law and review election outcomes," Weiser acknowledged. "But we need to do a lot to reinforce the norm of accepting the results of a valid election."

According to the political website FiveThirtyEight, Texas has more 2020 election deniers running for the U.S. House or statewide office than any other state, with 201 of 552 Republican candidates convinced President Joe Biden did not win in 2020.

Jennifer Morrell, partner at The Elections Group, said she recently visited with election officials in Austin and found them exhausted.

"So, I think it's imperative that we acknowledge that these professionals, while continuing to hold the oaths they've taken and administer elections in a transparent and bipartisan way, are not working in a normal environment," Morrell cautioned. "They're not operating under ideal circumstances."

Morrell explained ultimately, elections are a human process, and worries even a minor glitch in November could lead to charges Texas elections are not fair.

"My fear is that an innocent mistake, or even something more normal like long lines or the delayed opening of a polling location, will somehow be used to further undermine the work of these election professionals," Morrell stressed.

Training to be a poll watcher in Texas requires a Certificate of Completion from the Texas Secretary of State's Office. In-person early voting in Texas starts Oct. 24 and continues until Nov. 4. Election Day is the following Tuesday, Nov. 8.