WEBVTT - Making Our Votes Count (with Sherrilyn Ifill) 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to How to Citizen with barrattun Day, I show 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:10.680 where we reclaim the word citizen and use it as 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.160 a verb and learn how to wield our collective power. 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:23.320 I'm barrattun Day. In this episode, we are continuing our 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:29.560 focus on voting, that super expression of people power, and 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:31.520 we've been talking to folks who are on the front 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:35.159 lines of this issue in many different ways, and in 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.840 this episode we're talking to someone who's been a long 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.800 time warrior on behalf of people power. She has the 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.320 job that Third Good Marshall used to have. That's how 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.959 dope and committed. She is. Her name Sherlyn Eiffel. Her 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.560 job President and Director Counsel of the n double a 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.400 CP Legal Defense Fund. I had the opportunity to virtually 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.640 join and meet Carolyn Eiffel during a voting of it 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:03.880 a few weeks ago. And when I tell you I 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.759 would do anything, she says, I mean it. If Charyln 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:12.120 Eiffel says, double check your voter registration, I'm triple checking. Actually. 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.399 If Charyln Eiffel says be patient on election Day and 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.360 beyond to wait for these results, I'm gonna be the 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:23.920 most patient, most zen, most calm person you can even imagine. 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.400 And if Charyln Eiffel asked me to take out her garbage, 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.360 I will do that. I will be at your place, Carolyn. 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.720 I will do this because I assume it is for 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:36.000 the benefit of the many. It is for the people, 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:38.440 and I know I'm right because I'm right about you. 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.800 In this conversation, you know Charylyn who breaks it down. 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:47.280 She says, we need to operate at the highest levels 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.880 of citizenship during this election. I love that phrase. She 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.840 reminds us of the history of efforts to deny and 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:59.320 suppress black people's votes, but also the history of overcoming 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:04.120 those efforts. Here's Cheryl and if President and Director Council, 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:15.720 which I might add is a very very dope job title. Hello, Hey, 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.079 how you doing. I am fired up, I'm ready to go, 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:24.000 I am tired, I am eager, I am impatient all 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:29.680 those things. How are you also angry? Yeah, you know angry. 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.440 I have my moments of disappointment, but you know, mostly 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.400 it's just you just have to keep fighting. Sherylyn. You're 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.840 at the double A CP Legal Defense Fund. This historic 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:43.280 institution been around since fighting on behalf of human rights, 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:48.639 Black rights voting rights. How has the history the legacy 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:52.480 of black voter suppression in the US evolved to what 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.120 it looks like now, you know, how is now different 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.520 from them. It's a bit of a loop back. But yeah, 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.120 I mean it's in just sing because I think people 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.440 now are talking about voter suppression as though almost it's 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.680 a new thing, Like people get that there was the 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.880 Edmund Pettis Bridge, there was the Voting Rights Act, and 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.840 then there was voter suppression you know, in fourteen and 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.760 fifteen and sixteen, you know, but that's actually not how 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:18.680 it works. As a matter of fact, my first sint 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.000 at the Legal Defense Fund was when I was a 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:23.400 year out of law school, after I finished a fellowship 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:25.440 at the A. C. L U. I joined then double 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:27.959 a CP Legal Defense Fund and litigated voting rights cases 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.600 for five years. That was in So we've been at 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.079 this for a very, very long time, you know. Third 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:38.760 Good Marshal's first huge Supreme Court win was in nineteen 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.080 forty four. It was a case called Smith versus all Right, 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:44.240 in which the Supreme Court struck down the use of 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.040 the all white primary election in the South. That was 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.560 Third Good Marshall's case, and really his first big Supreme 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.600 Court wins. That's nineteen forty four. We were founded in 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:55.320 nineteen forties, so that's four years after the organization was created. 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.440 And I say all of that because I think people 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.880 have truncated the arc of voter suppression and don't fully 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.960 understand that the effort to keep black people from participating 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:09.400 fully in the political process has been around forever and 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.119 marked most of the twenty century, and now has come 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.920 back with intensity in the twenty one century. And the 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:20.279 intensity was created really by the Supreme Court's decision in 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:25.960 June Shelby County versus Holder, and that basically eliminated a 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:30.000 key portion of the Voting Rights Act of that had 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:35.560 been really effective in getting out ahead of voter suppression tactics, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.920 and the elimination of that particular section kind of opened 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.440 up this new explosion of voter suppression and even worse, 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:48.279 allowed it to metastasize beyond kind of a regional problem 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.839 in the South into kind of every corner of the country. 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:54.680 And when you say voter suppression, you know, I have 0:04:54.800 --> 0:05:00.320 images of a variety of tools and techniques in voting, 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:04.120 you know, removing polling sites to just drag out the line, 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:09.440 so people bail on the process, or to impose confusing instructions, 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.880 or to sue. Even there's this legal battles on the 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.600 other side of this. What is the map of voter 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:21.000 suppression techniques look like, Well, I think you've named some 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.520 of them. Voter persh is something that has really come 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:29.120 back into vogue as well, since you talked about moving 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:34.440 polling places, closing polling places, consolidating polling places, actions that 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:38.560 were taken even this week by the Texas governor restricting 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.919 the number of drop off boxes for absentee ballots to 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.359 one per county. This is a decision he made with 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.280 a stroke of a pen, just one person, deciding that 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.760 now there will only be one drop box for absentee 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.280 votes per county. That could never have happened under preclearance 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.640 prior to He would have had to submit his desire 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.159 to make that change to a federal authority, to the 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.240 Attorney General, or to the d C. District Court to 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:05.839 get approval. And when he submitted it, the Department of 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.400 Justice would have heard from organizations like the Legal Defense 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:12.159 Fund and other civil rights organizations, from local African American 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.480 and Latino groups describing the effect of the change on 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.839 them and most likely would have denied preclearance and prevented 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.920 the governor from imposing that new restriction without a lawsuit 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:27.279 ever having been filed. So the landscape is not only 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.040 the actual mechanisms of suppression, but the way in which 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:34.520 they are allowed to go forward. And we're running behind 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:38.040 them right filing cases, but they're already in place. And 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.479 so it's the full gamut that you talked about. Its 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:45.520 voter intimidation. You know, it is terrible voter id laws 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:49.919 that are targeted at African American and Latino voters. You know, 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.400 it's the full gamut. And it's an actual disgrace to 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:58.960 see the kind of active creativity that goes into trying 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:03.160 to keep sitizens of this country from voting. This will 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:07.279 sound naive, but I mean it sincerely on behalf of 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:12.280 myself and any listener. Why do you think people in 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:18.120 a democracy with these authorities would work so hard to 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:24.960 make it so hard to vote? Power power and white supremacy. 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:29.040 And I say that intentionally. I say those words very 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:35.280 intentionally because you know, in twenty four when I used 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.240 to talk about white supremacy in the context of voting. 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.160 In fact, at that point. We were challenging Texas voter 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:43.560 I D law that was the most restrictive voter i 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.160 D law in the country. It was passed right after 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.440 the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County versus Holder. The 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.840 state kind of resuscitated a voter I D law that 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:54.680 they hadn't been able to get pre cleared, and it 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.360 was this law. And this law was regarded as the 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.680 most restrictive because it really was pretty explicit in shutting 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.840 down the kinds of government issued I D that you 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.640 needed to use to be able to vote, and so 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.600 identification forms that blacks and Latinos white be more likely 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.960 to have, or Native Americans might be more likely to have, 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.120 were now disallowed. But you could use a concealed gun 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.760 carry permit as your I D to vote. So we 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.840 litigated the case along with a number of other groups, 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.800 and the Federal Court found that the law was passed 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.840 with the intention of discriminating against black and Latino voters. 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.520 The same thing was found in North Carolina Omnibus voter 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:37.280 Suppression Bill. Federal Court finds that the North Carolina legislature 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.160 with surgical precision, that's the words of the court, with 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.760 surgical precision identified the provisions that would be likely to 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.839 suppress the black vote. Voter ID law in Wisconsin, same 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.240 found to be intentionally discriminatory. So what I was saying 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:56.880 then was that this was white supremacy, right. You know, 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:00.240 when legislators meet and decide they want to key some 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.160 of their own citizens, black and brown citizens, from voting, 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:09.000 and that they create provisions intentionally designed to suppress those votes, 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.320 that in itself is white supremacy. And people would clutch 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.360 their pearls when I would say this. We didn't start 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.120 talking again about white supremacy until Charlotte's film because people 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:24.800 think of white supremacy as being Nazi flags, marching torches, um, 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.840 you know, terrible slogans and all of that is true. 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.360 That is a part of white supremacy. But there is 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.560 also a more genteel form of white supremacy, and that 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.800 is when elected legislatures dressed for work in their suits 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.280 and dresses and march into the state house, meet and 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:45.959 convene and pass laws designed to keep their fellow citizens 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.720 from voting based on race. So what is the reason 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:53.439 white supremacy? The desire to hold onto power? And it's ugly, 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:55.760 it's ugly. To say it. It's ugly for it to 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.400 be the truth, but it is the truth. And again, 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.199 it's the truth, not because Sheryl and Eifel says it's 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.640 the truth. It's the truth because a federal court in 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.480 Texas said it, because the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.680 said it about North Carolina, because federal corton Wisconsin said it. 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.280 And so we have to confront that and be honest 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:26.600 about your organization operates in a number of states, and 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.680 I imagine you see things happening on the ground that 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:31.600 we might not get a view of if we're paying 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.720 attention to national media or in our particular state, depending 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.640 on where they are. What are you seeing, if anything, 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:42.920 with regards to misinformation and disinformation targeting the black community 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:47.400 right now? Well, I would say the biggest disinformation campaign sadly, 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.880 has been conducted by the President of the United States 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:53.400 around absentee voting. And we saw this in the beginning 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.200 of the summer. It became important this year because of 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.600 the COVID nineteen pandemic. We filed suits in a number 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.920 of states. We work mostly in the South. I think 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.400 people forget that the majority of black people still live 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.040 in the South. Black people live in the South, and 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.280 it's also the place, obviously where some of the most 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:13.600 intransigent suppression efforts and forms of white supremacy exist, although 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.800 certainly around the country and we do work outside the 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.559 South as well, But in any case, we began filing suit, 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:23.040 particularly in the South, because of the COVID nineteen pandemic 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.560 and because of our recognition that black and brown communities 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.840 were being hit incredibly hard and are hit incredibly hard 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:34.199 with COVID nineteen infection and death. And I was particularly 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.880 moved after the primary election in Wisconsin, which you may recall. 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:39.640 You know, there was a case that went to the 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:42.280 Supreme Court. Spreme Court decided not to to hear it 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.000 to not disturb the fact that the Circuit Court had 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.640 put a stay on a decision by the district court 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.320 that there would be more time to return absentee ballots. 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:52.640 It was a very modest district court decision, but the 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.679 Supreme Court basically just ignored the reality on the ground 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:57.520 that this was going to mean that people had to 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.960 come out and risk their lives and the very weak 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.720 that the Supreme Court decided not to disturb the decision 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:08.480 that stayed the district courts. Expansion of early voting was 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.640 the same week that we learned that although you know, 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:18.040 the black population of Milwaukee is black people constituted of 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.160 COVID deaths in Milwaukee. So it was a week when 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:24.120 it was very starkly clear the toll that COVID was 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.240 taking on our community. And as you may recall, they 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.600 were there are these amazing pictures of the lines of voters, 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.559 of people wearing masks, and I was torn between my 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.760 absolute outrage and fury that people had to risk their 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.760 lives to vote, and also my sense of just admiration 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:42.560 and respect and humility that black voters were determined to 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.199 participate in the political process and came out to vote 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.520 with their masks on, standing in line for hours. But 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.240 we set about then filing these cases trying to expand 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.640 absentee voter opportunities in the South. We were attacking in 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.240 particular really onerous requirements like an Alabama, to file an 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.240 absentee vote, you had to get the signature of two 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.319 third party witnesses, plus have a copy of your government 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:06.880 issued photo I D sent in with the ballot. So 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.040 you have to interact with three other people, two people 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.720 designed ballot and somebody to get this copy. The Secretary 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:14.640 of State of Alabama said, well, they should just go 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.920 to Kinko's. So here it is. We have elderly black people. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.960 Have you seen their grandkids, right, because they're suffering from COVID. 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.360 So we filed suit and actually just two weeks ago 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.800 we won in the trial court. We'll see what happens 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.160 with the appeal, but we won in the trial court 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.360 relaxing those requirements. But almost immediately at the beginning of 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.800 the summer, the President the United States started tweeting this 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:38.160 crazy misinformation about absentee voting, that absentee voting is fraudulent, 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.319 that it's illegal, that it's a plot of the Democrats, 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.680 which is it's actually ironic because Republicans mostly in the 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:49.040 past with the voters who used absentee voting. Um in fact, 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.560 the black population for the most part, had issued absentee 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.840 voting because black people actually like to vote in person. 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:56.800 You know, we have souls to the polls for early 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.360 voting that churches take up. It's part of our kind 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:01.560 of civic co l Sure, it calls to mind our history. 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:03.839 I meant, even I really like to stand in line 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.560 and and vote, and so Black people had not actually 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:10.960 been big absentee vote casters, but with COVID nineteen, we 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.080 thought it was important that we ensured that this avenue 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.160 was open, particularly for our elderly voters. And suddenly we 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:21.400 got this crazy misinformation coming from the President, which and 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.960 and NonStop he hasn't stopped filing suit in Pennsylvania against 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.200 the use of drop boxes and regularly giving people a 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.440 lack of confidence in absentee voting. And this was all 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.680 happening at the same time that quite suddenly the United 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:38.400 States Postal Service was under attack from the new Postmaster General, 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.560 and we were seeing all these delays in mail, and 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:42.240 we also have a suit, by the way against United 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:44.960 States Postal Service, So all of this was happening at 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.320 the same time. I think the effect has been what 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.480 you see actually this week, because we're already in the 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.040 general election, there are it's early voting happening all over 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.720 the place. You may have seen the incredible lines in 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.520 Ohio of people just standing in line to participate, we 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.240 saw in Illinois, are in Minnesota, we saw it in 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.240 Virginia the first day of early voting. People want to vote, 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.280 and they want to vote in person. People are also 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.680 sending in their absentee ballots. There's a record number of 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:14.600 absentee ballots that have been cast already for this general election. 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.040 But fighting through that misinformation about you know, absentee voting 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:24.080 as a legitimate, legal, safe form of voting has been 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.520 really a challenge this summer. Yeah, I don't know how 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.680 to keep up the energy. I'm exhausted just hearing that. 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:34.200 And I pay attention to this stuff. On the flip side, 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:39.080 you know, what is restoring or bolstering your confidence that 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:43.360 people will exercise their constitutional rights? And what are you 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.280 most excited about in terms of your own organizations work 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:49.840 to boost that confidence. You know, it's a crazy thing. 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.840 You end up in the most difficult time periods, and 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.520 if you're a civil rights lawyer, you know you're so 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.760 often talking about issues that people are ignoring or pretending 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.200 are not there. And then suddenly everybody is talking about 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:02.920 the very and they see it. Right. But you know, 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.440 the scales have fallen from America's eyes and people can 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:07.680 see it. So there is an excitement about that that people. 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:09.920 I don't have to explain to people what voter suppression is. 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:11.400 When I say that, people know exactly what I'm talking 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.680 about right, so that wasn't always true. So that's exciting 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.920 seeing people really do what we We have a campaign, 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:20.280 and we've had this campaign for years called Prepared to Vote. 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.040 So every year, because of course elections happen not every 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.920 four years, but every year, we launch a campaign called 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.600 Prepared to Vote. We do on the ground election protection work, 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.240 but we're always providing information before the elections so people 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.760 can be prepared because we really believe that, you know, 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:37.920 voting is not something you just wake up, you know, 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.280 the morning of election day and say, okay, I'm gonna 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.280 vote today, but you actually have to get yourself ready, 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.360 and this year more than any other because if you're 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:45.800 gonna vote in a person, you need ppe, if you're 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.000 gonna vote absentutey to apply for the ballot and so forth. 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.000 So seeing people do that, seeing people prepared to vote 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:54.640 has been amazing. We partnered with Lebron James on his 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.160 More Than a Vote initiative to try to get new 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:01.240 poll workers because once again COVID teen has meant that 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.440 poll workers who are mostly elderly. Most of our poll 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:06.960 workers are senior citizens, a quarter of them are over age. 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.080 Seventy poll workers are the nice people we see sitting 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:10.840 at the table when we come in, they check us in, 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.000 they make a sign, they give us, you know, polling 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:14.560 machine to go to, they give us the sticker that 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.399 says I voted. And but they're mostly elderly, and because 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:19.560 of the pandemic, we wanted to make sure that we 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.479 were protecting our seniors, and so we really have been 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:26.639 putting out a call to encourage young people to become 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.439 poll workers, and so we joined with Lebron James is 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.080 more than a Vote campaign to do that. We started 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.880 it three weeks ago and we've already signed up twenty 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:40.560 five thousand new poll workers. Thoud so to see people 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.680 responding to the call, especially for young people, responding to 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.280 the call to work the polls. You know, I've been 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:47.560 saying this is a time where we need to be 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.879 at our highest level of citizenship, and I feel like 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.760 that's what I'm seeing. The other thing is one of 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:54.679 the you know, things I've been talking about for a 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:57.280 very long time, is the failure to pay attention to 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.560 local elections. So most of us go into voting booth, 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.600 we vote for the president or the senator, or the governor, 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:07.040 the mayor, you know, whatever other high salient selections. And 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.159 then if we look at ballots when we get information 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.879 back after the election, what we find is what we 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.080 call drop off, which means people vote for those top races. 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:18.200 Then they get to the d A race, they don't vote. 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.760 Then it says pick three judges, no votes cast. Then 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.560 it's the shriff election. People don't vote, So we have 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:26.760 that or we have people who vote in those elections, 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:28.959 but they actually don't know anything about those candidates, right, 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:30.399 so they know a lot about who they want to 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:32.439 vote for president, maybe who they want to vote for 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.720 governor or senator, but they actually don't know about the 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.240 person who's running for sheriff, when in fact, the sheriff 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:40.359 is the person who's gonna make a decision about whether 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:44.720 they form a relationship with ICE and engage in immigration activities. 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:47.560 Is the person who evicts people, and we're looking at 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.239 potentially millions of evictions over the next few months if 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:53.119 we don't get some serious COVID relief happening. So people 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.359 forget about those elections. People want criminal justice reform, but 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:59.160 they're not informed about who their district attorney candidates are 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:01.520 and what they stay and for, and so We've been 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.840 really pushing this issue of local elections, and I would 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.760 say this year it feels like the breakthrough year when 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:11.000 I hear people talking about local elections in ways that 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.400 I have never heard it before. I still say people 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.720 should pay attention to the Railroad Commissioners in Texas. I 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.000 haven't heard people talking about that yet, but they should. 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.399 That is that is a very important regulatory agency and 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:23.760 they run every six years. But I have heard people 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.840 talking about school boards, and I have heard people talking about, 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:28.720 you know, the city council, and I have heard people 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.560 talking about the d A races and that's very encouraging 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:45.960 as well. What are your calls to action to someone 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:48.359 listening to this right now, how can they help ensure 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.320 we have an actual, free and fair election. Well, the 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:53.320 first thing is to be informed when we are in 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.320 this like sea of misinformation. So we have the misinformation 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.719 coming from the President about absentee voting, there's misinformation on 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.480 faith book. We don't know what the Russians are doing, 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:04.240 but we know that they are a huge threat, and 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:06.960 we know that they targeted African American voters on Facebook 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.520 more than any other group in the election, and so 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:12.480 we have to presume that that is happening right now. 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:14.840 So the first thing is to get good information and 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.760 rely on good sources of information. We have a terrific 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:22.080 micro site voting dot n a A c p LDF 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.800 dot org, voting dot ana A c p l d 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:26.560 F dot org, which is a kind of a one 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:28.720 stop shop and you can get all your information there. 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.320 So please stop passing bad information. Something you just heard 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:36.000 that somebody just sent you that you haven't actually ensured 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:38.879 is accurate, because our community really really needs to be informed. 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:42.280 So that's number one. Number two. Prepared to vote is real. 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:44.360 You have to make a plan to vote. So if 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.440 you are going to vote absentee, you need to request 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.280 that ballot. You need to look to figure out what 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.919 the rules are in your jurisdiction for returning the ballot. 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:53.399 What do you need to do, what do you need 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:55.719 to have in it? Who can bring it back if 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:57.800 you decide you want to bring it back personally to 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.720 the Board of Elections. How does that. I've heard people 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.880 saying things like, oh, I'm gonna go around and help 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.399 people get their absentee ballots that please don't help. Please 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:08.800 please check the law in your state because it may 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:12.280 be illegal right. States have different rules. In Louisiana can 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:14.280 only be a family member. In some places, the voter 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.320 has to actually by writing designate who can return the ballot. 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:19.240 So we don't want people making mistakes because we don't 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.320 want ballots not counted, and we don't want people prosecuted 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:24.720 for voter fraud on the other end of this election, 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:28.760 So that's important. Also, the prepared to vote also means 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:32.080 like preparing, like actually looking at the sample ballot for 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:34.880 your jurisdiction. One of the things that contributes to long 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:37.000 lines is when you go into the voting booth and 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:41.160 that's the first time you're reading the ballot initiative that's 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:44.120 on the ballot, or you're reading the bond issue where 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:46.080 they want to raise money for the library, or the 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:49.600 constitutional amendment, and so you're in there for fifteen minutes 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:53.600 slow reading this constitutional amendment for the first time. No, sir, 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.760 no ma'am, I need you to download that ballot, that 0:21:56.840 --> 0:21:59.920 sample ballot a week before, two weeks before, and educ 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.000