WEBVTT - Voter Suppression is Solvable 0:00:15.076 --> 0:00:24.316 Bushkin. This is solvable. I'm Jacob Weisberg. When you look 0:00:24.356 --> 0:00:28.516 at modern democracies across the globe, we rank oh eights 0:00:28.636 --> 0:00:32.436 at the bottom. Currently, we're about twenty six out of 0:00:32.596 --> 0:00:38.116 thirty two in terms of turnout levels. Voting in America 0:00:38.196 --> 0:00:42.276 is optional. In twenty sixteen, over eighty two million Americans 0:00:42.276 --> 0:00:46.036 of voting age did not vote. Each year, people fite 0:00:46.036 --> 0:00:48.716 a variety of reasons for choosing not to vote, But 0:00:48.796 --> 0:00:52.636 what about people who want to vote and can't. Homeless people, 0:00:53.316 --> 0:00:56.316 people who are transient and move around a great deal, 0:00:56.756 --> 0:00:59.476 people who may have been furloughed and lost their jobs 0:00:59.636 --> 0:01:04.356 and have been displaced. All of these people are American 0:01:04.716 --> 0:01:07.556 citizens who deserve the right to vote. There was a 0:01:07.556 --> 0:01:11.116 Supreme Court case the cut back on the protections of 0:01:11.156 --> 0:01:13.556 the Voting Rights Act. Are we feeling the effects of 0:01:13.596 --> 0:01:20.196 that now? Every single day? Voter suppression is an urgent problem. 0:01:20.836 --> 0:01:25.476 Between twenty fourteen and twenty sixteen, over sixteen million citizens 0:01:25.756 --> 0:01:30.036 were removed from state voter registration roles, and in twenty 0:01:30.316 --> 0:01:34.956 sixteen alone, nearly one million ballots cast were rejected. I 0:01:35.036 --> 0:01:40.676 don't understand why people aren't angrier. There's nothing more fundamental 0:01:40.716 --> 0:01:43.436 in a democracy than the right to vote. Marching for 0:01:43.516 --> 0:01:49.156 the streets is absolutely one powerful vehicle for a reform. 0:01:49.796 --> 0:01:52.636 The other way that you can achieve meaningful reform is 0:01:52.636 --> 0:01:59.156 that the ballot box. Voter suppression is solvable. Kristen Clark 0:01:59.276 --> 0:02:02.436 is the president and executive director of the National Lawyer's 0:02:02.476 --> 0:02:06.036 Committee for Civil Rights under Law. The committee was established 0:02:06.076 --> 0:02:09.036 in nineteen sixty three at the request of President John F. 0:02:09.196 --> 0:02:13.556 Kennedy to target, in particular, the inequities confronting African Americans 0:02:13.636 --> 0:02:18.196 and other minorities. Clark sees the disenfranchisement of millions of 0:02:18.236 --> 0:02:22.236 American voters as central to her work. Here's our conversation. 0:02:23.036 --> 0:02:27.116 Voter suppression is solvable, and we can do it by 0:02:27.476 --> 0:02:35.556 restoring the Voting Rights Act and resisting efforts made to 0:02:35.596 --> 0:02:38.996 deny people access to vote by mail in the midst 0:02:39.076 --> 0:02:42.716 of the pandemic. You know, I think our listeners have 0:02:42.796 --> 0:02:46.836 at least some familiarity with the old voter suppression, the 0:02:46.916 --> 0:02:53.036 Jim Crow era poll taxes, literacy requirements, all those things 0:02:53.076 --> 0:02:57.196 that were supposed to be ended by the Voting Rights Act. 0:02:58.196 --> 0:03:00.556 But there's a new voter suppression that we're dealing with. 0:03:00.716 --> 0:03:04.876 How is it different from the old voter suppression. They're 0:03:04.916 --> 0:03:08.676 like cousins of the old tactics from the Jim Crow era. 0:03:09.596 --> 0:03:13.996 Long gone are the days of literacy tests and understanding clauses, 0:03:14.276 --> 0:03:20.196 and instead what we see today are equally nefarious efforts 0:03:20.236 --> 0:03:24.036 to make it harder for vulnerable communities to vote. Polling 0:03:24.076 --> 0:03:29.876 places consolidations, literally efforts to shut down the vast majority 0:03:29.996 --> 0:03:32.956 of polling sites in a community under the guise of 0:03:33.236 --> 0:03:37.196 wanting to save money or save expense, but in ways 0:03:37.236 --> 0:03:39.956 that we'll make it literally harder for people to vote. 0:03:39.956 --> 0:03:44.876 On election day, we see purging of the voter registration roles, 0:03:45.436 --> 0:03:49.596 and it'll be packaged as we're just cleaning up the roles. 0:03:49.796 --> 0:03:52.916 But often when you dig deep, what you find our 0:03:52.996 --> 0:03:58.796 efforts to remove African American and Latinos from the registration roles. 0:03:58.836 --> 0:04:03.156 People who are legitimately registered, who exercise that right and 0:04:03.236 --> 0:04:06.156 have every right to be there. So why do these 0:04:06.236 --> 0:04:13.036 kinds of procedural changes and rule change disproportionately affect Black, 0:04:13.116 --> 0:04:17.716 Latino and other minority voters. You know, our country has 0:04:17.756 --> 0:04:22.516 a long and sordid history of efforts to deny African 0:04:22.556 --> 0:04:27.036 Americans access to the franchise In nineteen sixty five on 0:04:27.076 --> 0:04:31.676 Bloody Sunday, when peaceful demonstrators, including John Lewis, were brutally 0:04:31.836 --> 0:04:37.316 assaulted while crossing the Edmund Pettit's Bridge in search of 0:04:37.516 --> 0:04:42.196 in the quest for the right to vote. Those horrible 0:04:42.236 --> 0:04:48.156 events gave rise to passage of the Voting Rights Act. Today, 0:04:48.236 --> 0:04:53.076 that racial history still looms heavy, and we continue to 0:04:53.116 --> 0:04:58.916 see states that have built into their DNA this desire, 0:04:59.316 --> 0:05:05.316 this unfortunate need to oppress people of color. African Americans 0:05:05.356 --> 0:05:08.636 and Latinos are growing in number in many parts of 0:05:08.676 --> 0:05:11.956 the country, and there is a correlation. We often find 0:05:11.996 --> 0:05:15.956 that it is in those very communities where white people 0:05:16.436 --> 0:05:20.796 seek to maintain and preserve the status quote seek to 0:05:20.916 --> 0:05:24.596 resist the change in demographic shifts that may be happening 0:05:25.076 --> 0:05:29.956 in their communities. So this ugly racial history is something 0:05:29.996 --> 0:05:32.396 that we have to confront, that we have to air 0:05:32.476 --> 0:05:36.276 out when we talk about voter suppression and when we 0:05:36.356 --> 0:05:40.716 talk about exactly why we need to restore the Voting 0:05:40.796 --> 0:05:45.076 Rights Act and have in place once again it's full protections. 0:05:45.996 --> 0:05:48.796 So the Voting Rights Act, past in nineteen sixty five, 0:05:49.036 --> 0:05:52.996 was supposed to prevent using those kinds of pretexts that 0:05:53.116 --> 0:05:57.796 have the effect of suppressing voting. There was a Supreme 0:05:57.796 --> 0:06:01.676 Court case, if I remember, maybe ten years ago, that 0:06:02.636 --> 0:06:05.516 cut back on the protections of the Voting Rights Act. 0:06:05.556 --> 0:06:09.436 Are we feeling the effects of that now every single day. 0:06:09.956 --> 0:06:15.076 That Supreme Court ruling Shelby County, Alabama versus Holder was 0:06:15.116 --> 0:06:18.756 issued in twenty thirteen and has literally opened up the 0:06:18.876 --> 0:06:24.356 floodgates to voter suppression efforts all across the country. Part 0:06:24.356 --> 0:06:27.716 of the Act required that certain states with very long 0:06:27.836 --> 0:06:33.916 and egregious histories of voting discrimination get federal review of 0:06:34.036 --> 0:06:37.036 any new voting change before it could be put into effect. 0:06:37.116 --> 0:06:40.876 And that federal review process was about looking to see 0:06:41.076 --> 0:06:43.396 if it's a voting change that would make it harder 0:06:43.956 --> 0:06:49.196 for African Americans, Latinos, or other protected communities of color 0:06:49.276 --> 0:06:54.716 to vote. And that Section five federal review process throughout 0:06:54.756 --> 0:07:00.236 the decades had done remarkable work in blocking literally hundreds 0:07:00.276 --> 0:07:04.876 of discriminatory voting changes from taking root, and it also 0:07:04.996 --> 0:07:09.076 had a powerful deterrent effect as well. The Supreme Courts 0:07:09.156 --> 0:07:13.156 its decision basically brought that federal review process to a 0:07:13.236 --> 0:07:17.396 grinding halt. I'll give you an example. On the day 0:07:17.516 --> 0:07:22.196 that the Supreme Court issued its Shelby County decision, the 0:07:22.236 --> 0:07:26.716 state of Texas moved forward with a discriminatory photoid law 0:07:27.076 --> 0:07:32.636 that had been blocked previously by this review process. It's 0:07:32.676 --> 0:07:38.356 a law that literally disenfranchised thousands of people who voted 0:07:38.636 --> 0:07:42.596 a year after year but simply didn't have one of 0:07:42.636 --> 0:07:47.556 the strict, narrow categories of photoid required by this law 0:07:48.156 --> 0:07:52.196 if you have a passport or a driver's license fine, 0:07:52.396 --> 0:07:56.916 a concealing carry permit fine. But under the initial iteration 0:07:56.956 --> 0:08:01.676 of the law, student ID didn't qualify. And the law 0:08:01.716 --> 0:08:04.676 also didn't think about the poorest of the poor in 0:08:04.716 --> 0:08:08.396 our country, people who don't fly, people who don't have 0:08:08.476 --> 0:08:10.716 driver's life since it is because they rely on public 0:08:10.756 --> 0:08:15.396 transportation and so forth. And so it's been a very 0:08:15.556 --> 0:08:20.996 messy picture since that Supreme Court ruling. That ruling one 0:08:21.076 --> 0:08:25.036 is one that absolutely has made it harder for people 0:08:25.036 --> 0:08:28.076 to have voice in our democracy. And because when you 0:08:28.156 --> 0:08:32.316 haven't been mentioned COVID nineteen yet, I mean, if in 0:08:32.396 --> 0:08:35.596 normal times you would be dealing with all these reverses 0:08:36.276 --> 0:08:41.036 to voting rights, and now we have voting is dangerous, 0:08:41.196 --> 0:08:44.916 potentially physically dangerous in a way no one would have expected. 0:08:45.356 --> 0:08:50.476 What's the Lawyer's Committee's approach to having a successful vote 0:08:50.476 --> 0:08:53.596 in November. Here's what we know, and here's what we're 0:08:53.636 --> 0:08:57.956 fighting for. States have to provide as many avenues as 0:08:57.996 --> 0:09:01.316 possible for people to have voice. They have to have 0:09:01.436 --> 0:09:05.916 a robust absence voting system that is streamlined and easy 0:09:05.956 --> 0:09:09.956 for people to participate in, one in which we're providing 0:09:10.356 --> 0:09:14.236 postage paid envelopes and easing the deadlines for people to 0:09:14.316 --> 0:09:18.756 request the ballot and return the ballot. That's key. We 0:09:18.876 --> 0:09:24.036 also need to provide expanded early voting opportunities, give people 0:09:24.076 --> 0:09:26.476 a period of two weeks to come out prior to 0:09:26.556 --> 0:09:30.436 election day to vote, and make that period one that 0:09:30.596 --> 0:09:33.916 is open and accessible so that people can comply with 0:09:33.996 --> 0:09:38.916 social distancing guidelines and so forth. But we have to 0:09:38.956 --> 0:09:43.796 also prepare for in person voting on election day, and 0:09:44.036 --> 0:09:48.316 what we've seen is that in some states where they 0:09:48.596 --> 0:09:54.036 reduced ninety five percent or more of polling sites, there 0:09:54.076 --> 0:09:56.796 have been really long lines because there are some people 0:09:57.116 --> 0:10:00.396 for whom the experience of turning out and voting in 0:10:00.476 --> 0:10:06.916 person is incredibly important to them. Wisconsin and Georgia have 0:10:07.036 --> 0:10:12.156 been two states where we've seen really significant problems this season. Wisconsin, 0:10:12.676 --> 0:10:17.436 particularly Milwaukee reduced upwards of about one hundred and eighty 0:10:17.476 --> 0:10:22.436 pulling sites to five, resulting in miserably long lines that 0:10:22.596 --> 0:10:25.996 stretched for hours on election day, and we saw a 0:10:26.036 --> 0:10:30.156 similar picture in Georgia. We're running out of time to 0:10:30.316 --> 0:10:34.916 get this right. But that three part strategy we deem 0:10:34.996 --> 0:10:38.316 really critical to a successful election season in the midst 0:10:38.356 --> 0:10:42.716 of this pandemic. So Kristen, let's break this solvable down 0:10:42.756 --> 0:10:45.516 a little bit. You mentioned these three aspects to it. 0:10:45.956 --> 0:10:48.196 First of all, you know, I think some people see 0:10:48.396 --> 0:10:50.596 mail in voting if you did it the right way 0:10:51.196 --> 0:10:55.476 as a kind of panaceist, send everyone who's registered a 0:10:55.756 --> 0:11:00.116 ballot within a prepaid envelope. You know. Absentee voting just 0:11:00.156 --> 0:11:03.756 has been a part of voting in our country for decades. 0:11:03.796 --> 0:11:08.876 It extends back to the eighteen hundreds, and it has 0:11:08.916 --> 0:11:11.836 been and done in ways where we've not seen fraud. 0:11:12.436 --> 0:11:18.636 So these baseless sham claims that we have seen put 0:11:18.676 --> 0:11:25.196 forth by the President are frankly very hard to understand 0:11:25.636 --> 0:11:29.196 given that he himself, his voted apps and Tee, his 0:11:29.316 --> 0:11:32.556 wife and daughter and many family members have voted apps 0:11:32.556 --> 0:11:36.956 and Tee, and you know, have made our work a 0:11:37.036 --> 0:11:40.476 little bit harder because there's some officials who are kind 0:11:40.476 --> 0:11:44.796 of heating his call and are throwing up unnecessary obstacles 0:11:45.396 --> 0:11:50.636 for voters. All the while, as we continue to wrestle 0:11:50.676 --> 0:11:53.476 with this pandemic that is continuing to have such a 0:11:53.516 --> 0:11:58.036 devastating impact on the public, why can't we just have 0:11:58.156 --> 0:12:04.156 mail voting for everybody? So in our experience, mail voting 0:12:04.196 --> 0:12:07.036 will not work for everybody. I'll give you an example. 0:12:08.036 --> 0:12:13.476 Utah when to one hundred percent vote by mail system 0:12:13.516 --> 0:12:16.676 a few years ago and didn't think about the unique 0:12:16.676 --> 0:12:20.916 needs of Navajo speaking voters in San Juan County, many 0:12:20.956 --> 0:12:25.396 of whom need oral language assistance in order to cast 0:12:25.436 --> 0:12:29.876 an effective ballot. San Juan County, we sued them and 0:12:29.956 --> 0:12:34.596 now they do provide in person voting opportunities for Navajo 0:12:34.716 --> 0:12:38.436 speaking voters and understand and appreciate that the law requires 0:12:38.836 --> 0:12:43.636 that they provide oral language assistance. We've also seen discrimination 0:12:44.156 --> 0:12:47.676 and voter suppression in some vote by mail systems, and 0:12:47.716 --> 0:12:52.396 this is an issue we're really paying close attention to. Now. 0:12:52.956 --> 0:12:55.756 I'll give you an example, an example from the twenty 0:12:55.796 --> 0:13:00.956 eighteen midterm election cycle in Georgia. We were monitoring what 0:13:01.036 --> 0:13:03.516 was happening across the state very carefully and found that 0:13:03.596 --> 0:13:07.956 Gwinette County was an outlier. They were rejecting absent see 0:13:07.956 --> 0:13:12.036 ballots that extraordin narrowly high rates. We went in and 0:13:12.076 --> 0:13:15.156 looked at the data and found that African American and 0:13:15.276 --> 0:13:19.436 Asian Americans were having their absence HEE ballots rejected at 0:13:19.596 --> 0:13:23.796 far greater rates than white voters. And we sued the 0:13:23.836 --> 0:13:26.596 county and found out that they were using things like 0:13:27.396 --> 0:13:31.396 this voter provided two digits of their birth year and 0:13:31.516 --> 0:13:36.196 not four digits. They were looking at minutia right. Really, 0:13:36.556 --> 0:13:40.276 and for all of those reasons, vote by mail may 0:13:40.316 --> 0:13:42.876 not work for everybody. There are some communities that just 0:13:42.916 --> 0:13:45.636 may not have faith and vote by mail and faith 0:13:45.676 --> 0:13:48.476 that their ballot will be counted, and so no matter what, 0:13:48.756 --> 0:13:51.556 they intend to go and vote in person on election 0:13:51.676 --> 0:13:55.236 day and feel more confident about showing up in person 0:13:55.756 --> 0:13:59.516 and voting. And then you also have homeless people and 0:13:59.676 --> 0:14:02.716 people who are transient and move around a great deal, 0:14:03.196 --> 0:14:07.116 particularly low income people, people who may have been furloughed 0:14:07.116 --> 0:14:10.276 and lost their jobs and have had to move around 0:14:10.316 --> 0:14:13.596 a lot and have been displaced. All of these people 0:14:13.796 --> 0:14:17.996 are American citizens who deserve the right to vote. But 0:14:18.356 --> 0:14:21.836 I point out those examples just to make clear that 0:14:21.956 --> 0:14:25.516 vote by mail may not work for everyone, which is 0:14:25.516 --> 0:14:29.236 why providing these three avenues is really critical to getting 0:14:29.276 --> 0:14:32.716 it right in twenty twenty. So tell me about early 0:14:32.796 --> 0:14:35.396 voting in person. That's the thing I know the least about. 0:14:35.436 --> 0:14:38.196 I've never done early in person voting. I'm not even 0:14:38.236 --> 0:14:40.716 sure if we have that in New York, where I live. 0:14:41.196 --> 0:14:45.636 How does it work? Yeah, Early voting opportunities sadly are 0:14:45.676 --> 0:14:48.556 not in place in every single state, but they are 0:14:48.876 --> 0:14:51.916 in many. It's another chance to go and vote, often 0:14:51.916 --> 0:14:56.476 at your local elections office or some designated site at 0:14:56.676 --> 0:15:01.196 periods of time before election day. It's helpful to people 0:15:01.276 --> 0:15:03.956 who may work on election day and may not have 0:15:04.076 --> 0:15:07.356 confidence that they can actually get off in time to vote. 0:15:07.956 --> 0:15:11.876 It's helpful for parents who may have childcare responsibilities that 0:15:11.996 --> 0:15:15.916 they can't maneuver around on election day, or people who 0:15:15.956 --> 0:15:18.196 just know that they may not be home or in 0:15:18.196 --> 0:15:21.676 their jurisdiction on election day. So it's just yet another 0:15:21.796 --> 0:15:26.116 avenue that gives people a chance to turn out and vote. 0:15:26.356 --> 0:15:30.396 I'll tell you that in places like North Carolina, early 0:15:30.476 --> 0:15:36.076 voting has become incredibly popular and heavily promoted by churches 0:15:36.116 --> 0:15:39.876 for example, that encourage sold to the polls, encouraging people 0:15:39.916 --> 0:15:43.276 to leave church on Sunday and go and early vote. 0:15:43.796 --> 0:15:46.996 So it is another way for people to have voice, 0:15:47.396 --> 0:15:51.036 and during the pandemic especially important because it's helping to 0:15:51.156 --> 0:15:56.476 ease that strain and burden that officials will otherwise experience 0:15:56.596 --> 0:16:00.436 on that one election day. How will we judge Kristin 0:16:00.516 --> 0:16:03.036 if we've had a successful election, or how will we 0:16:03.116 --> 0:16:06.716 judge how successful it's banned on November third? You know, 0:16:06.796 --> 0:16:11.556 sadly we saw voter turnout level drop in two sixteen, 0:16:12.316 --> 0:16:16.676 and in my view, we want a democracy in which 0:16:17.116 --> 0:16:22.556 we have high turnout, high participation rates, high numbers of 0:16:22.716 --> 0:16:26.356 eligible people who are registered to vote. To me, the 0:16:26.396 --> 0:16:30.796 measure of success is getting those numbers up and doing 0:16:30.876 --> 0:16:34.036 all that we can to help people overcome the unnecessary 0:16:34.116 --> 0:16:38.036 barriers that we often throw up that make it harder 0:16:38.076 --> 0:16:41.516 for people to vote. When you look at modern democracies 0:16:41.556 --> 0:16:46.436 across the globe, we rank always at the bottom. Currently 0:16:46.436 --> 0:16:50.756 we're about twenty six out of thirty two in terms 0:16:50.876 --> 0:16:55.236 of turnout levels, and that's because we don't have things 0:16:55.356 --> 0:16:59.796 like same day registration across the Board. We don't make 0:16:59.836 --> 0:17:03.596 election Day a holiday. We do things like purging the 0:17:03.676 --> 0:17:08.836 voter rolls, polling place consolidations of failing to account for 0:17:08.996 --> 0:17:12.036 the very real impact that the pandemic is having on 0:17:12.156 --> 0:17:16.996 people's lives. So if we can take steps now then 0:17:17.116 --> 0:17:20.036 get our numbers up across the board, that to be 0:17:20.236 --> 0:17:24.276 will be one measure of success. We run a program 0:17:24.836 --> 0:17:29.396 at the Lawyer's Committee called Election Protection. Election Protection is 0:17:29.436 --> 0:17:34.436 the nation's largest and longest running nonpartisan voter protection program. 0:17:35.076 --> 0:17:37.876 It came about in the wake of Bush fee Gore 0:17:38.436 --> 0:17:41.596 when the American public just started to pay a lot 0:17:41.636 --> 0:17:44.476 more attention to the way in which our elections are run, 0:17:45.236 --> 0:17:48.716 and we thought it was really critical that we provided 0:17:48.756 --> 0:17:55.396 a nonpartisan place where people can report issues, bring forth complaints. 0:17:56.076 --> 0:17:59.476 We hear from people and the hundreds of thousands who 0:17:59.476 --> 0:18:04.076 are reporting complaints happening all across the country by way 0:18:04.116 --> 0:18:07.316 of our eight sixty six our Vote Hotline, and we've 0:18:07.316 --> 0:18:11.436 got a network of thousands of trained legal volunteers who 0:18:11.476 --> 0:18:16.836 help resolve those issues one by one. But sometimes we 0:18:16.956 --> 0:18:20.476 learn about issues that are truly breaks in the systems 0:18:20.516 --> 0:18:24.476 that require litigation, and so it's been a busy season 0:18:24.556 --> 0:18:27.796 for us in twenty twenty, and we anticipate that it 0:18:27.836 --> 0:18:31.596 will remain busy until the bitter end. What can you 0:18:31.676 --> 0:18:34.516 do about that? At the Lawyer's committee. If someone says 0:18:34.516 --> 0:18:37.556 my polling place opened an hour late, it's an hour later. 0:18:37.636 --> 0:18:40.076 They can't go back in time. Do you is there 0:18:40.076 --> 0:18:44.796 some remedy for that? It's one of the most heartbreaking problems. Frankly. 0:18:45.476 --> 0:18:48.316 Sometimes we will go to court and we will sue 0:18:48.476 --> 0:18:51.196 to get an extension of the polling hours, as we 0:18:51.636 --> 0:18:55.956 did recently in Georgia. We saw an extension of the 0:18:55.956 --> 0:19:00.036 poll hours proved critical for voters in the Louisville area 0:19:00.236 --> 0:19:04.116 during their recent primary, where they had one polling site 0:19:04.156 --> 0:19:08.716 for an entire county and voters were driving up to 0:19:08.876 --> 0:19:12.636 that location trying desperately to get into the parking lot 0:19:12.676 --> 0:19:16.956 before six pm and ended up finding a door shut 0:19:16.956 --> 0:19:21.876 in their face. But a thirty minute extension was granted, 0:19:22.396 --> 0:19:26.516 allowing those people the opportunity to vote. So we will 0:19:26.596 --> 0:19:29.316 fight tooth and nail for voters and do all that 0:19:29.356 --> 0:19:33.716 we can to make sure that if and when states 0:19:33.876 --> 0:19:36.636 get it wrong on the front end, that they're giving 0:19:36.716 --> 0:19:40.316 people that extra opportunity on the back end to come 0:19:40.316 --> 0:19:44.596 back out. The frustrating part is knowing that there's some 0:19:44.716 --> 0:19:49.116 people who only have one shot on election day. That 0:19:49.156 --> 0:19:53.116 person who may have paid bus fare to get to 0:19:53.156 --> 0:19:57.636 a polling site and won't have bus fare to come 0:19:57.636 --> 0:20:00.836 back again later in the day. That parent who may 0:20:00.876 --> 0:20:04.836 have arranged childcare to go vote and just won't be 0:20:04.876 --> 0:20:06.996 able to do it again later in the day. That 0:20:07.076 --> 0:20:10.956 person who talked to their boss think got time away 0:20:11.036 --> 0:20:13.676 from work to go vote, who won't be able to 0:20:13.676 --> 0:20:17.836 get that time off again. That part kills me. But 0:20:18.396 --> 0:20:23.156 we still do everything in our power to make sure 0:20:23.636 --> 0:20:27.916 that we let officials know we're watching and we expect 0:20:27.916 --> 0:20:31.396 them to get it right, and that we're prepared to 0:20:31.396 --> 0:20:34.916 go to court to get people that extra time, to 0:20:34.956 --> 0:20:38.716 see what we can do to level the playing field. Kaysen, 0:20:38.756 --> 0:20:41.036 you're a lawyer. You keep a pretty cool head about this, 0:20:41.116 --> 0:20:46.516 But I don't understand why people aren't angrier. There's nothing 0:20:46.556 --> 0:20:49.116 more fundamental in a democracy than the right to vote. 0:20:49.356 --> 0:20:53.476 There are people actively and openly trying to take that 0:20:53.676 --> 0:20:56.436 vote away from people. I'm worried we're going to have 0:20:56.556 --> 0:21:01.316 a tremendous wave of anger on November third and after 0:21:01.996 --> 0:21:04.876 as a result of people being disenfranchised in all the 0:21:04.916 --> 0:21:08.156 ways we've talked about, but we need the anger now. 0:21:09.476 --> 0:21:13.356 We need the anger now for sure. One place where 0:21:13.356 --> 0:21:17.876 we are seeing anger is in the streets. I am 0:21:17.916 --> 0:21:22.316 heartened by the ways in which we're seeing people embrace 0:21:22.396 --> 0:21:26.676 the Black Lives Matter movement and really taking to the 0:21:26.716 --> 0:21:31.276 streets to channel anger about police injustice and racial injustice 0:21:31.276 --> 0:21:36.276 in our country. My hope is that in twenty twenty 0:21:36.436 --> 0:21:39.876 we will see people channel that anger as well to 0:21:39.916 --> 0:21:44.236 the ballot box, and that this will result in the 0:21:44.316 --> 0:21:48.316 higher turnout levels that we deserve. My hope is that 0:21:48.436 --> 0:21:53.556 for the people who are very incensed and enraged about 0:21:53.796 --> 0:21:59.676 police violence perpetrated against unarmed African Americans in our country 0:21:59.756 --> 0:22:04.916 will realize that marching for the streets is absolutely one 0:22:05.036 --> 0:22:10.116 powerful vehicle for reform. But the other way that you 0:22:10.156 --> 0:22:14.396 can achieve meaningful reform is at the ballot box. Your 0:22:15.036 --> 0:22:18.676 mayor is often the one who has the prerogative in 0:22:18.716 --> 0:22:22.756 the right to put in place a police chief. Your 0:22:23.276 --> 0:22:28.156 elected district attorney is the one who makes decisions about 0:22:28.196 --> 0:22:34.396 whether or not to prosecute an officer who used violence, 0:22:34.476 --> 0:22:39.036 so use force without basis your sheriff, a position that 0:22:39.196 --> 0:22:43.076 very few people pay attention to is often an elected 0:22:43.156 --> 0:22:47.356 person who makes decisions about how the jails are run, 0:22:48.076 --> 0:22:54.196 how they're responding to the pandemic. So with some aggressive 0:22:54.276 --> 0:22:58.076 voter education work, I am hoping that a lot of 0:22:58.116 --> 0:23:01.236 the angst that we are seeing in response to the 0:23:01.316 --> 0:23:06.396 deaths of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor and Rachiard Brooks 0:23:06.396 --> 0:23:10.236 and so many others will be energy that we see 0:23:10.796 --> 0:23:15.236 propel people to the ballot box this fall. Chris, and 0:23:15.276 --> 0:23:17.996 I wanted to ask you what brought you personally to 0:23:18.116 --> 0:23:21.716 the issue of voting rights and voter suppression. I know 0:23:21.796 --> 0:23:25.116 you've had a long career in civil rights law, and 0:23:25.156 --> 0:23:28.836 you worked in the New York State Attorney General's Office 0:23:28.996 --> 0:23:31.796 as head of the Civil Rights Division, But why is 0:23:31.836 --> 0:23:37.796 this your issue personally? So I started off my career 0:23:38.076 --> 0:23:41.156 at the Justice Department. It was my first job out 0:23:41.156 --> 0:23:44.476 of law school, working in the voting section of the 0:23:44.516 --> 0:23:48.396 Civil Rights Division, doing voting rights cases in the Deep South. 0:23:48.716 --> 0:23:55.036 And I can remember being in Louisiana, just outside Baton Rouge, 0:23:55.436 --> 0:23:59.636 and I was monitoring a school board election. Black voters 0:23:59.636 --> 0:24:04.756 had called the Justice Department to express concern about potential 0:24:04.836 --> 0:24:10.076 voter suppression and I remember stepping out side the polling 0:24:10.116 --> 0:24:14.036 site at this local school and seeing all of these 0:24:14.076 --> 0:24:16.916 cars doing a U turn and not coming to the 0:24:16.916 --> 0:24:20.356 polling place. And it was because a cop had set 0:24:20.436 --> 0:24:24.156 up a speed trap feet from the school. And this 0:24:24.316 --> 0:24:29.756 speed trap was absolutely having its intended effect of discouraging 0:24:29.796 --> 0:24:33.276 black voters from going and voting. And you know, I 0:24:33.316 --> 0:24:35.716 was able to use my power and position as a 0:24:35.796 --> 0:24:39.276 Justice Department attorney to call the local law enforcement office 0:24:39.396 --> 0:24:43.836 and they got that copper move. But remember thinking, my goodness, 0:24:44.076 --> 0:24:47.396 if voters didn't call us, if we didn't respond, if 0:24:47.396 --> 0:24:50.916 we weren't there, how many people would have been blocked 0:24:50.916 --> 0:24:55.476 from voting that day. So, you know, doing this work 0:24:55.516 --> 0:25:00.116 throughout the years and just seeing the Shenanigans, seeing the 0:25:00.236 --> 0:25:06.716 nefarious attempts, seeing these Jim Crow type tactics constantly rearing 0:25:06.756 --> 0:25:11.916 their head, just makes clear the work is important. And indeed, 0:25:11.956 --> 0:25:17.476 elections in our country come down to razor thin margins. 0:25:17.556 --> 0:25:23.116 You know, our elections are often hotly contested and every 0:25:23.196 --> 0:25:27.076 vote matters. And I'm a civil rights lawyer through and through, 0:25:27.156 --> 0:25:30.756 but I'm a voting rights lawyer at my heart, and 0:25:32.156 --> 0:25:35.436 there's sadly has never been a dull moment in the 0:25:35.476 --> 0:25:39.796 two decades during which I've been doing this work. What 0:25:39.916 --> 0:25:43.156 are a few things that listeners can do if they're 0:25:43.156 --> 0:25:46.836 concerned about having a fair and successful election in their 0:25:46.956 --> 0:25:50.916 local communities, and if they're concerned, as we all should be, 0:25:50.996 --> 0:25:55.156 about having a fair and successful election throughout the country. 0:25:55.476 --> 0:25:59.996 So a few things. One, Now is the time to 0:26:00.036 --> 0:26:03.396 get registered if you're not already, or to just confirm 0:26:03.436 --> 0:26:08.836 your voter registration status. Sadly, you know there are states 0:26:08.916 --> 0:26:12.596 that will move people on to the inactive list and 0:26:13.196 --> 0:26:16.676 you may not find out. So regardless of whether or 0:26:16.716 --> 0:26:19.756 not you think you're registered, now it's the time to 0:26:20.036 --> 0:26:24.116 just get registered or to check on your voter registration status. 0:26:25.076 --> 0:26:29.676 The second thing is we need more conversation to promote 0:26:29.796 --> 0:26:34.956 voter education in our communities and across the country. So 0:26:35.396 --> 0:26:39.356 open up conversations with folks. You may go to school 0:26:39.356 --> 0:26:42.116 with folks, you may go to church with folks, at 0:26:42.156 --> 0:26:47.196 home with family members about voting and why it's important. 0:26:47.636 --> 0:26:50.236 And it's about far more than just what's at the 0:26:50.276 --> 0:26:52.356 top of the ballot. It's about far more than just 0:26:52.436 --> 0:26:57.316 the presidential seat. It's about connecting the right to vote 0:26:57.436 --> 0:27:01.276 up to the issues that you care about that animate 0:27:01.396 --> 0:27:08.716 your life, whether again it's criminal justice, fairhousing, abortion, understanding 0:27:08.716 --> 0:27:12.196 and appiating how the right to vote links up with 0:27:12.396 --> 0:27:15.476 issues that impact your day to day life. Are the 0:27:15.596 --> 0:27:19.596 kinds of conversations that we need more of. The third 0:27:19.636 --> 0:27:23.516 thing is make a plan, Make a plan now to vote. 0:27:23.956 --> 0:27:27.836 There's still primaries happening, there's still special elections that will 0:27:27.876 --> 0:27:31.716 happen between now and November, and then there's big general 0:27:31.756 --> 0:27:36.556 election on November third. But now's the time to figure out, Okay, 0:27:36.996 --> 0:27:40.396 what are the rules for voting absentee in my state? 0:27:40.476 --> 0:27:42.716 If that's the way I want to vote? What's the 0:27:42.756 --> 0:27:46.676 deadline for requesting an absen see ballot? If that's what 0:27:46.716 --> 0:27:49.116 I got to do, what's the deadline for returning it? 0:27:49.916 --> 0:27:53.116 When can I early vote? What are the hours for 0:27:53.276 --> 0:27:57.596 voting on election day itself? Where's my polling place going 0:27:57.636 --> 0:28:00.116 to be? What's going to be on the ballot? Are 0:28:00.156 --> 0:28:03.596 there a bunch of local races, state races along with 0:28:03.636 --> 0:28:07.836 the congressional seats? Are there ballot initiatives that I should 0:28:07.876 --> 0:28:10.116 read up on now so that I can understand them 0:28:10.116 --> 0:28:13.996 and be ready on election day? What about my grandmother 0:28:14.556 --> 0:28:17.116 who needs a ride to the polls. Now, it's the 0:28:17.196 --> 0:28:20.356 time to really think through all of those questions and 0:28:20.476 --> 0:28:23.356