WEBVTT - Back to Biz with Katie and Boz: Stacey Abrams 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.440 Still living in manually taking notes, There is a better 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:05.560 way to start the new year with auto dot ai 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:09.000 automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot ai works for virtual 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.680 meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Sign up 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:13.320 on the web for free or download in the app 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.960 stores auto dot ai. That's O T T e r 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:21.440 dot ai. The moment you realized you were mistaking your 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:26.720 kids for co workers? Okay, team, I'm taking my fifteen Now. 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.440 What was the moment you knew it was time to 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.920 get back to work? Let's drop it up at career 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.559 Builder are simple customizable search tool let you search for 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.560 part time, full time, and even work from home jobs 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.000 so you can find a job that fits your lifestyle. 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:48.280 Get started now at career builder dot com. Still living 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.400 in manually taking notes, There is a better way to 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.319 start the new year with auto dot ai. Automatically get 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.480 meeting notes. Auto dot ai works for virtual meetings like Zoom, 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.680 Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Sign up on the web 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.280 for for your download in the up stores. Atter dot ai. 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:07.080 That's O T T E R dot ai. Hi everyone, 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.400 I'm Katie Curic and I'm Bozma st John and this 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.720 is back to biz with Katie and Bose Bose. I 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:17.840 don't know about you, but I'm super psyched today because 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.119 Stacy Abrams is such a rock star. And I'm sure 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.200 you probably agree. Oh yes, I certainly agree. She has 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.640 that black girl magic. It can't be bottled. Hers is 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.680 coming out of her ears, out of her toes everywhere. Gosh, 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:33.920 that magic. She's got it. Now, if you guys have 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.080 heard of Stacy Abrams, who probably know about her historic 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.960 run for governor of Georgia two years ago in two 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:44.679 thousand eighteen, she narrowly lost to Brian Kemp, who was 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.600 then the Secretary of State. And we'll be talking about 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:51.720 that obviously, bows right, and Stacy was the first black 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.720 woman in the US to win the nomination for governor period. 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.400 I'm talking first black woman. Did you did you hear me? 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:02.040 They did? Okay? Ever in the US like ever? Okay, Well, 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:06.240 I'm just saying she's history making. She was born in Madison, Wisconsin, 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:10.400 raised in Gulfport, Mississippi, and her family moved to Atlanta, 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.440 where both her parents got graduate degrees and became Methodist ministers. 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.840 So she's also a p K, otherwise known as as 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.320 Preacher's kid. That's oh, that's a new one for me, 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.000 Thank you. Bows. Yeah, and I know that her family 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:26.560 really focused on education and it showed with Stacy. She 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:30.040 graduated Magnicum Laudie from Spellman and then she got her 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.560 law degree from Yale, so she's quite the smarty pants. 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:36.960 She then served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:41.360 ten years. She's been an activist her whole life, fighting 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.680 particularly for voting rights. And she's got a new book 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.560 out Bows called Our Time Is Now. It's perfect for 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.320 this moment and this movement. It's a call to action, 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:54.919 to protest, but also to participate and vote during this 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:59.480 age of transformational change. That's right, this is perfect And 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.040 I'm so excited to have her on this show. You know, 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.280 not only do we share being p k's, but she's 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:11.880 also a fellow Trekky prosper baby, you know what. I'm 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.560 more of a Picard person. So we'll see where she is. Um, 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.280 we'll talk to her about her book, about November and 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:20.360 about all that has been happening in her home state, 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.840 from Georgia's primary debacle to the death of Ray Schard 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.200 Brooks in Atlanta. But first we want to get to 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.120 know her a little bit, so let's get to it. Okay, 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:34.040 So now here's the big question. Of course, are you 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:40.480 under the tutelage of Captain Kirk or Captain Picard? The card? See, 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:42.360 I knew, I knew it. I knew it all along. 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.480 I knew that we were sisters. I knew it. But 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:46.920 before you fall too deeply in love, I think that 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:50.240 Captain Picard is the archetype of a Star Trek captain. 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.280 But I think Captain Janeway had the hardest mission and 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.080 did the best work, you know what. Say, so let 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.520 me tell you something. Okay, we we are. I think 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.960 we're meant to be because the way I'm feeling about 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.080 Jane Way, I just wish that she had more of 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.840 an audience, you know, But that could also speak to 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:14.320 our issues anyway, exactly right, which is why she she was. 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.840 I love the card. He will always be the archetype. 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.960 But look, it's it's it is much harder to be 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.000 a captain when you are stranded and have to hold 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.760 your values with no one else holding you accountable. You 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:30.559 know what. This could just start off the entire conversation. Well, 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.680 except I feel very left out, ladies, because I don't 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.080 watch Star Trek I will say that. Just think about 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.120 it this way. In a pantheon of men who get 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.120 credit for everything, this was a woman who had the heart, 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.679 was sent away from everything, no resources, and still managed 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.719 to be just a badass. Yes, tell it. And I 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:52.800 feel like everything we need to know about life in 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.880 society we could learn on Star Trek. I'm gonna I'm 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:57.960 gonna have to start watching it, ladies, so I can 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.159 be part of this conversation. Welcome you into the cult, 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:05.400 Thank you, thank you, Live long and prosper. Right there 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:09.080 you go. Earlier I said, may the Force be with you, 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:14.040 and Bo said no, no, no, that's Star Wars, completely 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:18.719 different universe. Anyway, Well, we want to talk about your universe, 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.600 Stacy Abrams, because it's so fascinating. We have so much 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.240 to cover, and we wanted to start with learning a 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.440 little more about you as a person. I know that 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.000 you share a memory in your new book called Our 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.240 Time Is Now that kind of tells us a lot 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.640 about what you were like as a child that informed 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.159 who you became as an adult. And that was when 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.279 you were six years old and you got into your 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:47.680 only schoolyard fight. Wait for it, everyone over the nineteen 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:52.279 eighty election between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. I love 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:56.400 that you got into a fight at six about politics. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.440 Can you take us back to what you were fighting 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.640 about and what it tells us about who you were 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:06.240 as a kid. I grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi, which 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.840 was one of the more liberal places in the state 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:15.120 of Mississippi, but still fairly conservative. I went to elementary 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:19.400 school that was integrated, but I tended to end up 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:24.240 in classes. My classroom was predominantly white, and there was 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.440 a young woman in the class who she and I 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:30.560 actually became friends. But she we had this mock election, 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.960 and she called Jimmy Carter a communist and said that 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.760 he had destroyed America. And in our family, we grew 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:43.000 up watching morning news, we watched evening news like we 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.640 were steeped in politics. Not in a overwhelming way, but 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.520 it was what was playing. And when she called him 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.760 a communist, I told her to take it back. She wouldn't. 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.520 I challenged her to defend her accusations. I told her 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:00.279 that that Ronald Reagan was a fascist because I heard 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.640 that terminology used as well, and she threw a book 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.800 at me. I also, I'm the second of six kids. 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:08.960 So I was raised to understand that if you were 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.000 ever in an you know, in a confrontation, you should 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:14.640 use overwhelming force to end it as quickly as possible. 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.360 She threw a book, I shoved a desk atter. I 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:21.400 won harder lost, but you know I stood in my 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.960 I just threw in my ground. Wow, you really defended 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.920 yourself and and were you that sort of committed and 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:34.840 passionate throughout your childhood? I was? I mean, I'm not. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.400 I am not a high emotion person, but I am 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:43.800 very goal oriented. I had four younger siblings and an 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:48.120 older sister who was just incredibly kind to all of us. 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.120 She was three years older than I am. But in 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.160 our family, we were raised to believe that you're responsible 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:56.000 for those who were weak, who are vulnerable, who are 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.920 related to you. But we were also raised to have 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:04.000 strong opinions, not necessarily to be confrontational, but to believe. 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.120 And if you believed something, you should know why you 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.200 believed it. Yeah. Well, you also credit your parents with 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.160 getting you where you are. Did the lessons that you 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.960 learned in your upbringing or the insight about your parents 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.560 that they help you despite all the obstacles that they faced. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.480 So my parents when I was growing up, my mom 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.600 and dad were both um. They work, They were working people. 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.160 My mom was a college librarian. My dad was a 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:32.360 shipyard worker. My father was dyslexic, and even though he 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.280 had a college degree and is one of the smartest 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.640 people I've ever met, because he couldn't read functionally until 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.640 he was in his thirties, he couldn't get a job 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.400 in an office. And so this bright man with this 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:47.680 incredible mind, because he could not read and interact in 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.080 the way they expected, he worked in a shipyard, not 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.840 really using his mind, more using his strength. My dad 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.680 really was the first person who taught us about feminism, 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:03.400 because he believed that gender did not prescribe or circumscribe 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.080 what we were capable of. My mom was a college 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.679 librarian who sometimes made less money than the janitor who 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:13.800 cleaned the college, and she was raising six children with 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.400 my father. They were always struggling, but they always found 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.240 time and the impetus to make certain that our world 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:23.800 was broader than just the little house we lived in 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.960 on South Street. And so as a child, what I 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:32.359 internalized was this deep commitment to justice, a commitment to engagement. 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.199 The fact that our circumstances were never going to constrain 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:40.040 our capacity and our futures. And when they became ministers 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:42.880 I was fifteen. I mean they preached us our whole lives, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:46.280 but they formalized that when they were forty. And when 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:48.440 they became ministers. My parents, who had raised us to 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:52.200 believe the education was so critical, instead of simply saying, well, 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.760 we are we have this calling, they applied to graduate 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.079 school and at the age of forty were both admitted 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.959 to Emory University. Moved us to Georgia because they wanted 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:05.680 us to watch them not only meet their calling, but 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.440 practice what they preached, which is that if you're going 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:10.800 to serve others, you've got to know what you're talking about. 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:12.920 And even though they had both grown up in the church, 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:17.080 they knew they needed their edition of the Seminary to 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:21.479 make it stronger and to help them guide their parishioners. 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.040 And so what I learned from my family was just 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.839 this constant live what you say from what my parents did. 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.000 And I mean they had struggles and challenges, but they 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.520 never allowed those things to overwhelm them, including poverty, including discrimination. 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.160 You're listening to back to Biz with Katie and Bows. 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.880 When we come back, Stacy Abram shares what we can 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:48.400 do now to ensure a safe and fair election this November. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:58.240 Whether your event needed one room or an entire conference, 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.600 under Poppin has revolution and eye the way people come together. 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:05.160 With hoppin, you can host a fully fledged digital meetup, 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.360 complete with one on one meetings, hands on sessions, and 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.720 expo booths. And because everything is hosted in a single, 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.160 easy to use platform, it can be as big or 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.160 small as you want, remain convenient for anyone who wants 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.920 to attend, and give you access to data you never 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.280 would have known otherwise. Visit hoppin dot com to learn 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:28.560 more and get started. The moment you realized you were 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:33.760 mistaking your kids for co workers, okay, team, I'm taking 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:38.560 my fifteen now. What was the moment you knew it 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.480 was time to get back to work. Let's job it 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:45.840 up at career builder. Are simple, customizable search tool lets 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.520 you search for part time, full time, and even work 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:50.760 from home jobs so you can find a job that 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:55.679 fits your lifestyle. Get started now at career builder dot com. 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:59.360 Still living in and manually taking notes, start the new 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.479 year with auter dot ai degenerate automatic notes for meetings, interviews, 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.320 or lectures. With auto dot ai, you can search the 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.400 meeting notes, insert images, play back the audio, and share 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:11.560 them with your friends or co workers. You can capture 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:15.600 action items, remember meeting details, and keep everyone informed. Auto 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.800 dot ai works for in person or virtual meetings like Zoom, 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.640 Microsoft Teams, and Google meet. Sign up for free at 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.439 auto dot ai or download the app for free auto 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.320 dot ai. That's O T T E R dot Ai. 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:34.160 Let's return to our conversation with Stacy Abrams. It's interesting 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.560 to me that in your book you said thinking back 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:40.160 to your election back in that it still made you 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.280 angry today, by the way, makes me angry to f y, 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:48.239 I makes me angry to right. All of us are angry. Um. 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.160 And even though you know you must have been livid, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.160 uh when and excuse my language because you know we 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.360 both come from preacher parents, but I'm just gonna have 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.600 to say it. The ship hit the fan. You know 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:05.000 language is important, Okay, exactly? Um? But how how, how 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:09.000 how can Georgia be back in this place? Again quite 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:13.920 frankly the entire nation, but obviously Georgia where you are. 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.720 How can it be back in this in this place again, 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.200 what do you think happened and what is happening? What 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.400 happened in was the culmination of almost a decade of 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:30.480 voter suppression architecture, and the new Secretary State had no 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:34.000 interest in dismantling it. We filed a lawsuit in two 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.880 thousand and nineteen that articulated almost every one of the 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:42.520 challenges that people saw in real time last Tuesday. But 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.280 part of the issue was that when we told our story, 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:47.960 a lot of folks didn't believe us. They thought that 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.760 I was just, you know, espousing salary grapes, that I 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.559 was trying to explain away the result. And as I've 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.600 always said, I didn't contest the outcome of the election. 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.040 I could have filed a contest, I could have tried 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.160 to relitigate it, and I may or may not have 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:08.160 been successful. But the point for me in what I 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.040 didn't concede was to say that it's not about one 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.880 politician or one race. This is about an infrastructure that's 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:18.440 supposed to serve citizens, and it's not. It is stealing 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.600 their voices and denying their choices, and that is wrong. 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.480 But the problem we had was that there were tiny fixes. 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.040 I think galvanized out of either embarrassment or the lawsuits 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:34.200 we filed. But there was no structural determination that what 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.600 was what was a rye needed to be fixed until 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.600 it started hurting people other than the folks that wanted 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:45.080 to vote for me. What was so devastating on Tuesday 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.880 was that it showed the broken machinery of democracy can 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.320 spread everywhere. It's not just those you target. When you 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.600 break the machinery, you break it for everyone. And that's 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.560 why Republicans were standing in long lines. The Speaker of 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:01.320 the House, a conservative Republican, He had multiple counties in 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.960 his district that had to get court orders to extend 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:07.800 the lines because of the incompetence and the deliberate indifference 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.360 of the Secretary of State. You can't fix a problem 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:14.400 you don't acknowledge. We shake our heads at the terrible 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.720 nous of our elections, We shake our heads at the 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:21.240 stories of disentranchisement and voter suppression. But as politicians, we 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.920 were taught you don't say anything about it, because if 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:27.120 you do, you'll depress the turnout and people won't trust 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.840 the system. My point is, how can you trust a 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.920 system that doesn't trust you, that doesn't trust that your 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.960 citizenship is a sufficient reason for you to be able 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:40.680 to participate, which is why my response was not to concede. 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:45.040 I conceded the I acknowledge the legal sufficiency, but I 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.880 will not concede that the system is right. And what 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:51.360 I'm proud of is the fact that in this election cycle, 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:56.640 every single major candidate for the Democratic nomination talked about 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.840 voter suppression, talked about the attacks on our democracy. We 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.440 didn't simply whisper it in corners, but we called it aloud, 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.440 and that's allowing people to finally see it's not their fault. 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:09.840 Because the last piece I'll say is this voter suppression 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.920 is the most insidious when it convinces you that you're 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:15.960 the problem, that you should have known, you should have done. 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.160 You were in a long line because you didn't think 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:20.680 about it, or because people are so enthusiastic. No, you're 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.240 in a long line because people under people in charge, 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.760 under resourced your precinct and did not value your vote. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.840 And that is not right. I still can't get over 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:36.040 the fact Brian Kent, your opponent, ultimately declared the winner, 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.560 was the Secretary of State and in charge of the 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:44.360 electoral process. How messed up? Is that I just don't 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.200 get it. How can that be? I I gave a 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.680 talk to a group of foreign ministers UM at an 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:56.680 event last year, and when I described what happened, the 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:02.920 just look of just people were aghast. They were absolutely stunned. 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.760 Then the United States, the person who is in charge 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:11.200 of the elections got to be the contestant, the referee, 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.919 and the scorekeeper. It's like Tom Brady being allowed to 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.720 be the rest at his own super Bowl. He gets 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.440 to inflate the bole. I don't maybe don't want to 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.760 go down that, Maybe don't go into that, but it 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:27.120 is it is. It is that grotesque that we would 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:32.520 have a system that permitted the person responsible for making 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.360 sure people could vote, we allowed him to cherry pick 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.320 who would get to vote. And the reality is even 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.919 Chris Kobak, who has been cited by federal courts for 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.280 his aggressive voter suppression, even he had the grace to 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.639 step down and not oversee his own election, has that 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.440 changed at all? I mean, is there any hope that 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.280 there is going to be some forward movement? My belief 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.200 is that we have to set a baseline that says, 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:00.840 no matter where you live in America. This is the 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:05.040 basic guarantee of democracy in our elections. Number one, that 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.520 you can register and stay on the roles in America, 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:12.760 so automatic registration and then same day registration. We are 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:17.320 one of the few industrialized, democratized nations that puts the 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.679 responsibility on every single person to learn the election laws 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.640 of the state they move into. I'm a lawyer, I'm 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:29.080 a well trained lawyer. You're a Yale lawyer. I have 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:30.840 to spend a lot of time writing a book, and 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:32.840 I still can't tell you all the rules. And so 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:37.320 we need that baseline. The Heroes Act, which is currently 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:41.879 pending before the Senate passed the House bipartisan It says 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.120 we have to invest three point six billion dollars into 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.359 making sure our elections happen in November, because states are 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:50.520 going to see as we saw in Georgia, as we 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:53.600 saw in Pennsylvania, in Maryland, in South Carolina and North 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:56.720 and Nevada, we are seeing a massive increase in the 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.560 use of absentee ballots because people don't want to die. Uh. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.480 The states are hemorrhaging money because of quarantine, because of 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:08.800 shelter in place. The federal government's purpose is that it's 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:12.600 supposed to be the backstop in the moment of crisis 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.720 to assist our states and counties and our local elections officials. 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.359 So give them the money so they can scale the elections. 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:21.880 But the reason this matters is that it also puts 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.879 in place guardrails that says, at least for the pandemic, 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:27.600 everyone who wants to vote by mail can do so 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.960 you don't have to have an excuse. Alabama, for example, 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:34.720 says that you you must either be disabled over sixty five, 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.879 but having covid being exposed to covid ien is not 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.960 a valid excuse. The Attorney General and the governor of 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.080 Texas are fighting tooth and nail to make sure everyone 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.159 has to vote in person. And let's not forget that 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.440 in their February primary they'd shut down more than four 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:54.399 hundred precincts, which led to eight our lines in the 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:59.199 Democratic presidential primary. The reason they don't want absentee ballots 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.240 is that they don't want people to vote. And people 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.480 remember those lines from February, and if they get away 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.480 with it, you will see the competitive races and Texas 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:11.200 suddenly fall into the hands of Republicans because voters are 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.879 scared out of voting. M hm, well, speaking of fear, 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:20.400 I mean, I'm very nervous about November, and maybe very 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:24.560 nervous is putting it lightly. I'm sure given all you said, 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.720 you might have some fears as well. Um, what are 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:33.399 your your concerns about November? So the reason I wrote 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.639 Our Time Is Now is to articulate the fears, which 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:42.520 is that voter suppression is real, it's operational, and its 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.760 strongest protection is the ignorance of the voter. If you 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.760 don't know what you're facing, you can't beat it. And 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.359 so I wanted to write it down and really explain 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.520 so that people could understand that it's not you. Voter 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.280 suppression is the most effective when it convinces us it's 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:04.159 not worth five eating, because it's so inevitable that the 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.040 harm is done. I don't want people to be defeated. 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.080 I want them to be angry. I want them to 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:11.680 be energized. I want them to say, you're not gonna 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:13.199 take my vote for me. I may not want to 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:15.679 use it, but it's gonna be my choice, not yours. 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.919 But my hope is born of the fact that not 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:21.919 not only did I write this book, but I launched 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:26.440 an organization called Fair Fight that's working in eighteen states, 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.760 working to make certain that we can guarantee access to 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.040 the ballot and we can't guarantee it, but we can 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:36.399 mitigate the harm of voter suppression. We can increase the 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:39.480 number of volunteers willing to help, we can provide hotlines, 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:41.520 we can work in concert with those who are filing 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.560 lawsuits to knock down some of these barriers. And so 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:47.720 my hopefulness comes from the fact that we now that 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:49.520 we know what's happening, Now that we know what the 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:53.320 Republicans intend to do with their voter intimidation tactics, Now 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.120 that we understand that they're going to spend sixty million 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:59.840 dollars and raise an army of fifty thousand whole observers 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:03.560 to intimidate voters of color. Now that we know that 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:06.760 we can fight back. Because in every other election, we 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:10.040 just hope that people would follow the Marquis of Queensbury rules, 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:12.600 and if they didn't then we'd sue. We can't wait 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.280 for the harm to happen. We've got to interfere and 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:17.800 interceed now. And I'm proud of the fact that we're 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:21.560 part of a national coalition of organizations dedicated to expanding 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:23.920 access to the right to vote and protecting it from mayor. 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:27.760 You're listening to Back to Biz with Katie and Bows. 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:30.760 When we come back, Stacy Abrams on how we can 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:40.200 fix our policing problem. Here's another podcast you should add 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:44.080 to your listen list. All Worth Financials Money Matters. Every 0:22:44.080 --> 0:22:47.760 week host Scott Hansen and Pat McLean answer calls about investing, 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:51.639 social security benefits and retirement with straight talk that's straight 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:55.200 up entertaining. Everyone worries, well I have enough to retire. 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:58.280 That's why thousands have called into all Worth Money Matters 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:01.000 for advice on their financial future and found the smart 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:03.840 next steps to keep their retirement plan on track. There's 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.160 a reason Money Matters is one of the longest running 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:08.919 financial talk shows in the country. It's Scott and Pat's 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:12.280 entertaining experience knowledge. Whether it's how to deal with tomorrow's 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:15.720 inflation or the big costs of healthcare in retirement. They've 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:18.480 got action steps you can start taking every episode to 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:21.719