so have javascript code listens touch events on elements in document. document.addeventlistener("touchstart", touchhandler, true); document.addeventlistener("touchmove", touchhandler, true); document.addeventlistener("touchend", touchhandler, true); document.addeventlistener("touchcancel", touchhandler, true); that works fine except want listen events on items of class of datacard ( .datacard ) , of children not anchors <a> . so how thought fix through creating jquery selector, using jquery earlier in page, , calling .addeventlistener() on that. didn't work. this tried: $('.datacard, .datacard *:not(a)').addeventlistener("touchstart", touchhandler, true); $('.datacard, .datacard *:not(a)').addeventlistener("touchmove", touchhandler, true); $('.datacard, .datacard *:not(a)').addeventlistener("touchend", touchhandler, true); $('.datacard, .datacard *:not(a)').add...