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Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Josh and for this week's select, I've

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Speaker 1: chosen our episode from May twenty seventeen on voter suppression.

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Speaker 1: Once in a while, we do a topic where, no

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Speaker 1: matter how hard we try, it just turns out to

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Speaker 1: be a one sided thing. We don't pick those topics

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Speaker 1: because they're one sided. They just turn out that way

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Speaker 1: despite our best efforts. So take a gander at this

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Speaker 1: episode and see what you think about all that.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff you should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the podcast me. I'm Josh Clark.

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Speaker 1: There's Charles w Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry Jerome Rowland.

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Speaker 1: You put the three of us together in a room,

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Speaker 1: shake it up, pick out some of the chess hares.

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Speaker 1: You got stuff you should know?

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Speaker 3: All right? That was gross.

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Speaker 1: I thought you'd like that.

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Speaker 3: You ready to get angry on this one.

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to keep it cool, man. I woke up

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Speaker 1: yesterday and said, I really want to tick off a

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Speaker 1: significant portion of our listeners. So what could what topic

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Speaker 1: could we do? And I thought voter suppression perfect.

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Speaker 2: Well you know what, man, I've been trying to think

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Speaker 2: about the why this bugs me so much voter suppression

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Speaker 2: obviously bugs me because it's not right. Sure, But what

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Speaker 2: really bugs me, I think is that if you're in Washington,

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Speaker 2: DC and you're in government, like everyone knows about this

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Speaker 2: stuff and everyone talks about it frankly when the microphones

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Speaker 2: aren't around, right, Like, do you watch the show Veep?

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Speaker 1: I love it. I've only seen season five, but man,

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Speaker 1: it is so good.

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Speaker 3: Like supposedly, that's kind of how it is.

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Speaker 2: Sure Like, when the microphones aren't around, they all talk

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Speaker 2: about politics in very frank terms. But as soon as

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Speaker 2: you get on television or in front of a microphone,

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Speaker 2: you have to tell the party lines on both sides

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Speaker 2: with this rhetoric crap, and it ends up you can't

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Speaker 2: even really talk about the things.

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Speaker 1: Well no, but plus also, I think one of the

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Speaker 1: reasons that that is the way it is is because

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Speaker 1: you got to feed the sheeple like a certain like

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Speaker 1: you said that company line or that party line, because

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Speaker 1: if you really talked about what was really going on,

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Speaker 1: some of the people who agree with your BS would

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Speaker 1: otherwise disagree with the actual thing that's going on.

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Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Well, yeah, and let's just

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Speaker 2: go ahead and say it. And this one on voter suppression. Historically,

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Speaker 2: the Republican Party has purposely done things to try and

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Speaker 2: keep certain people from voting because they probably vote Democrat, right,

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Speaker 2: And they can't just say that, so they say, no,

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Speaker 2: it's really about voter fraud, right, that's a big problem.

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Speaker 2: And Democrats want those votes, and they say it's because

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Speaker 2: they just want a very inclusive democratic process us, but

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Speaker 2: that's not true. They want those votes because they're probably

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Speaker 2: going to be Democrat.

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Speaker 1: Votes, right, and Democrats will do anything, including voter fraud,

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Speaker 1: to get people to the polls or to get those votes.

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Speaker 1: That's the current, that's the argument that's going on right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know what I'm saying, though, like neither

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Speaker 2: one of them can say those things, so they have

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Speaker 2: to stand behind these two kind of bogus reasons, and

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Speaker 2: it's just infuriating.

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Speaker 1: Right. So the reasons these bogus reasons, ostensibly bogus reasons,

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Speaker 1: are that if you take measures to make it a

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Speaker 1: little difficult to vote, what you're going to do is

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Speaker 1: protect the integrity of the electoral system. Right, This is

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Speaker 1: the Republican's viewpoint. If you do that, then there's going

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Speaker 1: to be a couple of things. One, you're going to

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Speaker 1: cut down on fraud, which again, the Democrats are just

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Speaker 1: total fraudsters when it comes to voting as far as

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Speaker 1: Republicans are concerned, right, And then it's also going to

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Speaker 1: in some cases, sure, it's going to make it a

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Speaker 1: little difficult for some people to vote. But the Republican

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Speaker 1: way of thinking is, if you really care about voting,

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Speaker 1: you're going to do whatever it takes to get to

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Speaker 1: that poll and register and vote. And if you don't,

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Speaker 1: if just a couple of simple barriers will keep you

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Speaker 1: from doing that, then nuts to you, man, I don't

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Speaker 1: care about your vote, Yeah, and ts for the Democrats

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Speaker 1: who you probably would have voted for. That's like, that's

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Speaker 1: the that's the argument in public that you're talking about,

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Speaker 1: that you're saying is bogus, when it's really these people

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Speaker 1: who are having access issues to voting because of the

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Speaker 1: laws that the GOP is putting up are more likely

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Speaker 1: to vote for Democrats. So hence these are these are

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Speaker 1: targeted attempts to block people from voting for Democrats. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's that's the reality of it. Allegedly, we should say,

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Speaker 1: chuck like there's just calling it voter suppression. Is kind

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Speaker 1: of controversial in and of it.

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, no one likes to use those words because

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Speaker 2: on the one side, like you said, they there's like

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Speaker 2: it's not about voter suppression, it's about like, you know,

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Speaker 2: what's wrong with having to have an ID to go

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Speaker 2: cast a vote?

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Speaker 1: Right? I mean on its face it makes sense. Sure,

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Speaker 1: you know, they say you have to have ID to

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Speaker 1: buy alcohol. If some clerk decides that he wants to

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Speaker 1: see your ID, you have to show it to him

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Speaker 1: or you can't buy alcohol. What's the problem with that?

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Speaker 3: You know?

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Speaker 1: Well?

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Speaker 2: Right, and then you go to some parts of Texas

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Speaker 2: and they say, well, you can use your your gun

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Speaker 2: license to vote, but don't use your student ID.

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Speaker 3: That doesn't count.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: So, like it's the fact that they're all very targeted,

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Speaker 2: and everyone will see as we go through this, it's

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Speaker 2: very targeted. Like and we'll bring up specific cases where

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Speaker 2: you know, they find out like oh Man, leading up

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Speaker 2: to the election where Barack Obama's first elect president's election,

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Speaker 2: we saw a surge and increase in black voters in

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Speaker 2: this county. So let's go to that county specifically and

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Speaker 2: introduce some legislation that's going to make it harder for

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Speaker 2: them to get to the polls specifically there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, like so it's maddening, Oh it is.

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Speaker 1: It's infuriating. Even I was reading kind of the other

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Speaker 1: side on this by a guy named David French who

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Speaker 1: writes for the National Review, and he was saying even

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Speaker 1: he was like, if that happens what you just described,

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Speaker 1: it should be vigorously litigated that that there's no excuse

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Speaker 1: for that. For anything that's that's specifically targeting like minorities

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Speaker 1: or the elderly, or making it difficult for any group

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Speaker 1: that to to like purposefully making it harder for them

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Speaker 1: to vote and targeting people like that, then yeah, it

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Speaker 1: should be litigated and those those rules should be thrown out.

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Speaker 3: Well, and that happens.

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Speaker 2: It is liticated, litigated, and quite often reports do say

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Speaker 2: like you can't do this, and they say, all right, well,

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Speaker 2: we won't do it again.

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Speaker 3: But it worked on this election.

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Speaker 1: Right Well. One of the reasons why this we're currently

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Speaker 1: in the midst of a really massive wave of voter

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Speaker 1: suppression laws that are sweeping the country right now, and

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Speaker 1: one of the reasons why it's being allowed to go

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Speaker 1: on is because just like in Citizens United, the Roberts

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court said, you know what, things are fine. We're

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Speaker 1: just going to get an important provision of the Voting

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Speaker 1: Rights Act of nineteen sixty five. And we'll talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about that in a minute, but it

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Speaker 1: basically said, you, these states, in these specific districts in

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Speaker 1: these states have a history of voter suppression, and we,

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Speaker 1: the federal government, are going to keep an eye on

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Speaker 1: you so much so that you can't make any changes

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Speaker 1: to your voting procedures without the federal government approving it.

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Speaker 1: And in twenty thirteen, I believe, the Supreme Court said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, we're fine, we're post racial. We had

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Speaker 1: a black president. We don't need that anymore. And they

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Speaker 1: overturned that provision of the Voting Rights Act, and it's

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Speaker 1: allowed again this this massive wave of voter suppression laws

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Speaker 1: to be passed in this country.

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Speaker 3: Man, we're already riled up.

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Speaker 1: It's tough. It's tough not to be. You know, what,

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Speaker 1: were you gonna say, should we take a break?

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Speaker 3: No, not a break. I was gonna say it. Should

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Speaker 3: we just go back and talk about history a little bit?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, let's man, because the history is much easier to stomach.

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Speaker 2: Yeah right, Okay, So and you put this article together

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Speaker 2: with our own article and a bunch of other good stuff. Yes,

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Speaker 2: nice work, thanks, But you point out that very astutely,

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Speaker 2: that it's not in the constitution the right to vote.

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Speaker 3: This has been.

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Speaker 2: Left up to the states over the years, even though

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Speaker 2: we've had you know, amendments since then that obviously allowed

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Speaker 2: certain people the right to vote. It wasn't just originally

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Speaker 2: included like, hey, everyone can vote. Everyone has the right

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Speaker 2: to vote in this country.

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Speaker 1: Right and no. Originally the only group that the that

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Speaker 1: citizens of the United States could vote for was the

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Speaker 1: House of Representatives, the Senate, and the president and the

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Speaker 1: president still this is the case, were elected by an

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Speaker 1: electoral college, right correct. So eventually they added Senate seats

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Speaker 1: for people to be able to directly vote for. But

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Speaker 1: in the first presidential election in seventeen eighty nine, the

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Speaker 1: one that where George Washington won and was elected to

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Speaker 1: the presidency, the first presidency of the United States, like

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Speaker 1: six percent of the population in the US at the

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Speaker 1: time were eligible to vote. And that was it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was only white men and freed African American

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Speaker 2: slaves in just four states.

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Speaker 1: I saw six six states. I was really surprised to

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Speaker 1: see that.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, who owned property?

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Speaker 1: Right, that was a big one.

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Speaker 3: Right, So that left like eight guys.

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Speaker 1: Right they were allowed to But yeah, you had to

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Speaker 1: own property, and that was the big division at first,

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Speaker 1: even apparently more so than by race. It was by

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Speaker 1: whether you were a landowner a property owner.

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Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, and you had to be twenty one.

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Speaker 2: There were certain religious restrictions too, So, like you said,

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Speaker 2: that ended up six percent, six percent of the population

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Speaker 2: could vote.

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Speaker 1: That's right.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I'm going to cut them a little slack

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Speaker 2: on the first election, say that they were trying to

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Speaker 2: get it together. But six percent is an alarmingly low number.

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Speaker 2: But they probably thought that was the six percent of

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Speaker 2: people that mattered, right.

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Speaker 1: I guess it's more inclusive than the one percent, but

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Speaker 1: it's still pretty pretty low. We're in the single digits here,

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Speaker 1: you know.

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Speaker 2: But like you were saying, it's a class distinction. Distinction

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Speaker 2: was really kind of the biggest deal. And that changed

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Speaker 2: a bit when war veterans who fought for independence from

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Speaker 2: Britain stepped up and said, hey, a lot of us

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Speaker 2: are not landowners and we helped free this country.

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Speaker 3: Can we vote?

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Speaker 2: And little by little states said all right, you know,

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Speaker 2: you don't have to own property.

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Speaker 3: It's eighteen fifty.

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Speaker 2: And let's just say all white males can vote in

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Speaker 2: some African American males, but definitely not women.

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Speaker 1: Right, not yet, Just give us another seven decades or so. Okay,

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Speaker 1: we're just trying to keep our heads from spinning over

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Speaker 1: letting people who don't own property vote exactly. So in

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Speaker 1: that bizarre did you know that the first group to

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Speaker 1: agitate for voting rights was white men who didn't own

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Speaker 1: land or veterans? I didn't know that either. So something

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Speaker 1: really big happened in the middle of the nineteenth century

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Speaker 1: that changed things as far as voting went. And that

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Speaker 1: was the Civil War, Yeah, and the Thirteenth Amendment that

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Speaker 1: and in slavery, followed by the fifteenth Amendment that granted

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Speaker 1: suffrage to all men in the United States.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

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Speaker 1: But again it's not women.

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Speaker 2: Right, And it should have said dot dot supposedly, because

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Speaker 2: that fifteenth Amendment is what unleashed sort of the first Like.

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Speaker 3: Before there was just voter suppression.

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Speaker 2: They were like, no, you just can't vote, and now

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Speaker 2: they said, well, you can vote, and so they had

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Speaker 2: to be creative with their voter suppression, right.

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Speaker 1: And at first there was a period of reconstruction in

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Speaker 1: the South after the Civil War where federal troops they

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Speaker 1: I guess it was led still by General Ulysses Grant

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Speaker 1: if he wasn't president by now, where federal troops were

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Speaker 1: occupying the South under martial law, right, and they were

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Speaker 1: enforcing the fifteenth Amendment and other laws that had come

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Speaker 1: into effect after the Civil War, and it was like

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Speaker 1: black people could hold office, they could vote, they could

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Speaker 1: live in this transition period from slavery into freedom, and

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Speaker 1: they were doing it on the auspices of the Union Army.

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Speaker 1: But then the Union Army with drew pretty prematurely, I

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Speaker 1: think in the eighteen seventies early eighteen seventies, and it

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Speaker 1: went from the reconstruction South, which ended up lasting just

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Speaker 1: a few years, to what became known as the Jim

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Speaker 1: Crow South, which was basically slavery by any other name

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Speaker 1: than slavery.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's when the Dixiecrats, which were conservative Democrats, I guess,

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Speaker 2: conservatives of the day, that's when they started to get

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Speaker 2: creative and said, all right, well, we have this new

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Speaker 2: fifteenth Amendment, so let's try and think of a lot

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Speaker 2: of ways. Even though the law says that black men

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Speaker 2: can vote, that we can keep them from doing so.

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Speaker 2: So how about a literacy test, and not only just

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Speaker 2: a literacy test, but maybe one only in English, so

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Speaker 2: that way there's no way an immigrant can vote if

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Speaker 2: they can't read English.

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Speaker 3: Or maybe some.

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Speaker 2: Poll taxes where you have to pay a dollar to

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Speaker 2: register to vote.

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Speaker 1: But in like twenty sixteen money that was like eight

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Speaker 1: hundred dollars. Actually looked it up, it's nine thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: In the early nineteen hundreds, I looked up like taxes,

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Speaker 2: it was a dollar fifty to register and that would

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Speaker 2: be like forty three dollars today. Yeah, but you know,

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Speaker 2: for a poor person who you know is maybe waffling

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Speaker 2: on whether or not to bother voting, sure, charging them

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Speaker 2: forty three dollars is probably going to seal the deal.

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Speaker 2: And George actually had accumulative tax apparently for many years

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Speaker 2: where every year, like if you were forty years old,

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Speaker 2: every year from the age of twenty one that you

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Speaker 2: weren't registered to vote, you would have to pay per

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Speaker 2: year when you first registered to vote. Oh wow, So

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Speaker 2: that was clearly targeting like a freed slave in his

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Speaker 2: fifties would then have to pay a cumulative tax from

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Speaker 2: the age from twenty one up to fifty. And you know,

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Speaker 2: and again that just basically meant no one was going

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Speaker 2: to register.

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Speaker 1: Well, there were a lot of Grampa the clause laws too,

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Speaker 1: which basically said that if you were registered to vote

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Speaker 1: prior to the fifteenth Amendment, or your grandfather was registered

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Speaker 1: to vote prior to the fifteenth Amendment, you you were

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Speaker 1: eligible now under these Jim Crow laws. But most black

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Speaker 1: people in the South were not registered to vote, nor

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Speaker 1: were their grandparents prior to the fifteenth Amendment, so that

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Speaker 1: basically just stripped them of their voting rights automatically as well.

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Speaker 1: And you mentioned the literacy test too, Chuck, did you

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Speaker 1: look into those at all?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean some of them.

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Speaker 1: Some were like like recite the US Constitution. Some of

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Speaker 1: them some were like that twenty pages long. And they

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Speaker 1: would be administered by white Democrats. And again Democrats at

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Speaker 1: the time were the party of Conservatives. We should do

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Speaker 1: an episode on that on when the parties switched.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, names, we've chatted about that before.

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Speaker 1: So it would be left up to this poll worker

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Speaker 1: who was administering the literacy test. It would be left

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Speaker 1: up to their judgment whether the person passed or failed. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: like it was up to them. It wasn't an objective test.

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Speaker 1: It was a subjective test.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And so the end result of this is in nineteen forty,

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Speaker 2: nineteen forty, not eighteen forty, these suppression campaigns worked so

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Speaker 2: well that only three percent of eligible voters African American

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Speaker 2: Southerners were registered to vote by nineteen forty.

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Speaker 1: And you know, it's probably one of the worst parts

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Speaker 1: about that is that I'll bet in nineteen forty that

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Speaker 1: the average white person considered black people politically disengaged in

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Speaker 1: this country because of statistics like.

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Speaker 3: That, Oh right, say, like, oh, they don't even vote.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they don't even care about politics. I mean three

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Speaker 1: percent of them are registered to vote even, you know. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And this wasn't limited to the south, kind of up

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Speaker 2: north and nationwide there were things going on.

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Speaker 3: Notably, there was a for naturalized citizens.

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Speaker 2: It was very long residency requirements basically to try and

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Speaker 2: keep immigrants from voting for a long time.

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Speaker 1: Especially the Chinese. Apparently did you know that I did not.

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Speaker 1: There was an eighteen eighty two law. It's pretty on

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Speaker 1: the nose. The Chinese Exclusion Act, and it said, if

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Speaker 1: you're Chinese and you're an immigrant, you're not allowed to

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Speaker 1: become a citizen, which meant they couldn't vote. And this

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Speaker 1: is on the books in the United States until nineteen

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Speaker 1: forty three.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this stuff is in ancient history. That's why it's

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Speaker 2: so shocking, you know. Yep, So nineteen twenty comes along

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Speaker 2: and women were finally given the right to vote thanks

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Speaker 2: to the Nineteenth Amendment, And you mentioned the Voting Rights

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Speaker 2: Act of nineteen sixty five, which finally got rid of

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Speaker 2: the Jim Crow voting laws officially in the South. But

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Speaker 2: that didn't mean that suppression intimidation didn't still go on.

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Speaker 3: No.

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Speaker 1: You know, like whenever the federal government decided that it

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Speaker 1: needed to lend a hand and assist the black population

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Speaker 1: of the Southern States in gaining their citizenship, that there

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Speaker 1: would be a huge backlash to that. And initially it

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Speaker 1: meant the formation of the Clan, and then after the

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Speaker 1: Civil Rights Act, the clan again experienced this huge resurgence

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Speaker 1: in popularity and membership, and acts of white terrorism just

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Speaker 1: became the norm. And now that we're looking back on it,

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Speaker 1: you know, we think of like the Civil Rights movement.

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Speaker 1: When I think of that, I don't think of it

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Speaker 1: as actually agitating for civil rights. I think of it

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Speaker 1: as agitating for full citizenship and equal treatment under the

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Speaker 1: law and everything that makes up civil rights. But you

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Speaker 1: don't think of it as like, really, at the basis,

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Speaker 1: what the civil rights leaders were agitating for were things

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Speaker 1: like protection of their voting rights, access to the polls

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Speaker 1: just says any white person would enjoy. And that march,

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Speaker 1: that very famous march from Selma to Montgomery. Did you

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Speaker 1: see that movie Selma?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 1: I saw.

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Speaker 3: I haven't seen that one.

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Speaker 1: It's a great movie. Have you seen either thirteen or Thirteenth? Oh?

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Speaker 3: No, I'm dying to see that one too, Dude.

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Speaker 1: That one that's amazing. It's just amazing. It's really well done,

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Speaker 1: and the stuff they're talking about is just so eye opening.

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Speaker 1: It's great. Like it's one of those ones you'll watch

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Speaker 1: more than once, I'm sure. Yeah, but that march from

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Speaker 1: Selma to Montgomery was a march for voting rights. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it actually helped usher in this Voting Rights Act

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Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty five because the Alabama State Patrol I believe,

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Speaker 1: I'm like horseback with batons and whips and night sticks

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Speaker 1: and tear gas just ruthlessly beat these unarmed, peaceful protesters

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Speaker 1: in the street of Selma, and it was all captured

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Speaker 1: on national television in broadcasts, and it really changed the

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Speaker 1: mood of the nation as far as that goes. And

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Speaker 1: it actually was supremely counterproductive to people who were against

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Speaker 1: black voting because it helped protect black vote by the

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Speaker 1: federal government through the Voting Right Tech to nineteen sixty five.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Another thing that came with that act was an official

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Speaker 2: ban on any quote test or device in quote to

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Speaker 2: qualify voters on the basis of literacy, education or.

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Speaker 3: Fluency in English.

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Speaker 2: And then it took all the way till nineteen sixty

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Speaker 2: six until poll taxes were banned, which was kind of

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Speaker 2: way later than I thought.

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Speaker 1: Well, it was like the next year.

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Speaker 3: Well no, I mean just period.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, No, those Jim Crow laws were basically done

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Speaker 1: away with after a century. Yeah, as they were around

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Speaker 1: for a century in one form or another.

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Speaker 3: Unbelievable. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And then finally during Vietnam, they finally lowered the age

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Speaker 2: voting age to eighteen and nineteen seventy one post Vietnam

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Speaker 2: because veterans were like, hey, I can be drafted and

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Speaker 2: shot and killed for my country, but I can't vote.

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Speaker 3: And they all went, yeah, it's a good point.

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Speaker 1: That is a good point to argue that one.

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Speaker 2: You want to take a break, Yeah, man, all right,

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Speaker 2: we'll be right back and talk about the eleven voter

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Speaker 2: suppression techniques as why.

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Speaker 4: Sk as tough.

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Speaker 2: You should note, all right, we're back, and before actually

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Speaker 2: we move on to some of these eleven techniques. My

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Speaker 2: question for you, sir, at the basis of all this

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Speaker 2: is voter fraud. Is what the argument is for a

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Speaker 2: lot of these, especially with IDs, So is that, like,

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Speaker 2: is voter fraud real?

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Speaker 1: So, I mean everything I came across that strike me

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Speaker 1: as legitimate, although I'm not sure how legitimate, like say

404
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Speaker 1: a conservative might find it, but like the Brookings Institution,

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Speaker 1: to me, it's definitely left leaning. But I would also

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Speaker 1: say that it's quite a legitimate think tank. Right, But

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Speaker 1: the studies that I've come across, I'll say, no, it's

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Speaker 1: not really a thing like the It's basically a specter.

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Speaker 1: It's a potential possibility, but it's in actuality it's not

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Speaker 1: a thing. And one thing I saw was that this

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Speaker 1: came I'm not sure where this one came from. But

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Speaker 1: eighty six convictions. I have three hundred million votes cast

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Speaker 1: in the last few elections. I would say that's probably

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Speaker 1: about ten to twelve elections. There's only been eighty six

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Speaker 1: convictions for voter fraud. And the other issue with this, specifically,

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Speaker 1: specifically with voter ID laws is that most of those

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Speaker 1: cases of fraud where people have actually been convicted of

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Speaker 1: voter fraud were mail in ballots, and so like a

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Speaker 1: voter ID card is not going to do anything for

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Speaker 1: that because you don't produce ID to mail in a ballot.

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Speaker 1: So the idea that there is a big problem with

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Speaker 1: voter fraud is ostensibly not real, although of course Trump

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Speaker 1: is going to he's carrying out an investigation and he's

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Speaker 1: formed a commission, so I'm very curious to find out

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Speaker 1: what they find. But even if it were a real thing,

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Speaker 1: from the pattern that we're seeing, the voter ID laws

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Speaker 1: aren't going to help anything anyway.

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Speaker 2: So so far as it actually makes a difference in

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Speaker 2: an election outcome, it is negligible.

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Speaker 1: No, And I have to say there are It's not

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Speaker 1: like the people who are who say, especially rank and

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Speaker 1: file GOP members, right, not necessarily like high elected officials,

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Speaker 1: but just like the average GOP party member. It's not

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Speaker 1: like they're lunatics for believing that there's such a thing

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Speaker 1: as widespread voter fraud, right, Like this is a big

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Speaker 1: dram that's beat on the conservative side in conservative media,

437
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Speaker 1: But there's also like instances in the past that can

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Speaker 1: be pointed to saying like see, see, this is what

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Speaker 1: they do. Like Acorn definitely didn't help anything. Acorn was

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Speaker 1: a community organizing group that had been around since I

441
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 1: think the eighties, and they were dedicated to getting lower

442
00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 1: income minority people who traditionally had trouble accessing the polls

443
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,960
Speaker 1: or voting, getting them registered and getting them to vote right.

444
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: So they were very much aligned with the Democratic viewpoints

445
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:09,000
Speaker 1: of universal access, universal participation in elections, and they were

446
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 1: very much a left leaning organization. They were associated with

447
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 1: Obama very famously, and then equally famously, they were this

448
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: disgraced organization because they were accused of voter fraud, a

449
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,719
Speaker 1: voter registration fraud to be specific. And the way that

450
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,359
Speaker 1: this happened was they would send out people to canvas

451
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 1: neighborhoods and they would give them a quota and if

452
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 1: they met their quota, then they would say, get paid

453
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 1: a bonus or something like that. Right, So these Acorn

454
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 1: workers were given and these were just the same people

455
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 1: who were also maybe on the next Tuesday coming by

456
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 1: your house to see if you wanted to donate to

457
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 1: the Sierra Club too. Right, they were given an incentive

458
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:50,400
Speaker 1: to create fake registrations, and a lot of them did they.

459
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 1: And when these investigations were launched in multiple states into

460
00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: Acorn and voter registration fraud, it was found that these

461
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,880
Speaker 1: people weren't trying to pave the way for fraud at

462
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 1: the polls, but that they were creating fake registration forms,

463
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:11,560
Speaker 1: very frequently duplicate registration forms for the same person to

464
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,560
Speaker 1: get paid for work they hadn't done to get paid

465
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,920
Speaker 1: from Acorn. That was the extent of it. So Acorn

466
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 1: ended up disbanding, but they left a huge, huge blemish

467
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:27,640
Speaker 1: on the argument from the liberal side saying we don't

468
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 1: engage in voter fraud. Well, you're crazy for even thinking that.

469
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 1: Now forever, conservatives, especially people who aren't who are let's

470
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 1: just say conservatives, can point to Acorn for the rest

471
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:43,360
Speaker 1: of the tourney, the rest of the time and be like, look,

472
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:45,679
Speaker 1: you guys did that. So, yes, there is such thing

473
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 1: as voter fraud in my mind, and you can't persuade

474
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,120
Speaker 1: me otherwise. And as long as there's that kind of division,

475
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 1: you're not going to be able to persuade anybody if

476
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: there's no such thing as voter fraud.

477
00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,879
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point, all right. Should we talk

478
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 2: about the eleven techniques?

479
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:08,359
Speaker 1: I'm pretty tired, man, I don't know, Yes, all right?

480
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:13,680
Speaker 3: Number one, number one on our list. Voter caging?

481
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: Who was that? Was that? Your carson? Oh?

482
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 3: No, sort of a casey case I mean here the

483
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 3: top forty guy.

484
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:22,600
Speaker 1: That was pretty good.

485
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 2: Did you ever hear that great outake when he had

486
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,080
Speaker 2: to read the dead Dog letter?

487
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 1: Pretty wonderful that that taught me to just shut up

488
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: when a micst Was it?

489
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:34,680
Speaker 3: Dead dog? Was that it?

490
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,639
Speaker 1: But it was? It was a pretty funny out take.

491
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 3: Man, God bless him? All right.

492
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 2: Voter caging is when uh, you send mail on unford

493
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 2: forwardable mmhm, that's really a mouthful mail which cannot be forwarded.

494
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,600
Speaker 2: Uh send that mail to an address uh that is

495
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:07,000
Speaker 2: on the voter rolls, and when it's not, when it's

496
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:11,000
Speaker 2: return undelivered. Basically, they challenge and say this person no

497
00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 2: longer lives at this address, so they can't vote.

498
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 1: Right, which in and of itself is not scientific. It's

499
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 1: not illegal. It's when you target, say Democrats, I think

500
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 1: specifically minorities, it becomes illegal. You can't target any minority group,

501
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,480
Speaker 1: but I believe you can target the opponent's party like

502
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,480
Speaker 1: registered party members. But the whole point is you're saying

503
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 1: this person doesn't live there or else they would have

504
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: gotten their mail, and because they don't live there, their

505
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 1: vote can't count. They should be purged from the roles.

506
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:48,200
Speaker 3: Right.

507
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 2: Very famously happened in nineteen fifty eight when this literature

508
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 2: was sent to eighteen thousand registered Democrats, and then again

509
00:28:56,040 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty one when Republicans sent thousands of letters

510
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:06,000
Speaker 2: to minorities blacks and Latinos in New Jersey.

511
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 3: And that one actually calls.

512
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 2: Such a stir that the RNC got together with the

513
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 2: DNC and said, you know what, I'm going to consent

514
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 2: here with a consent decree, and we're not going to

515
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 2: do it anymore. Right.

516
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:23,080
Speaker 1: They didn't just do that out of the goodness of

517
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 1: their hearts. The DNC sued the RNC for that nineteen

518
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,280
Speaker 1: eighty one election because there was a lot of dirty stuff.

519
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 1: And to this day, the RNC, if it does any

520
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 1: if it undertakes any voter suppression techniques, wants to create

521
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 1: any changes in voting regularity, it has to get approval

522
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:47,440
Speaker 1: by the courts first.

523
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 2: Correct, But that doesn't stop it from happening because now

524
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 2: it's just third party groups can do it now, Yeah,

525
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,280
Speaker 2: because they're not part of the RNC officially or the DNC, right,

526
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 2: and so it still happens. Yeah, what about these flyers.

527
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:06,760
Speaker 1: These so these kind of fall into a larger category

528
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 1: of misinformation campaigns, right right, you got flyers, you got

529
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: robo calls.

530
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:14,520
Speaker 3: These are just so brazen.

531
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:20,880
Speaker 2: They really are, like literally robo calls that say, hey,

532
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,520
Speaker 2: you're your Democratic candidate has basically already won, so you

533
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 2: just stay at home and relaxed tomorrow.

534
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't forget to vote on November fifth, Latino voter,

535
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 1: even though election days November fourth.

536
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:36,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so And you know, I was about to say,

537
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,000
Speaker 2: how do they get away with it? But it says

538
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 2: right in here, who is it, the co director of

539
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,480
Speaker 2: the voting rights group Advancement Project. It says, basically, you know,

540
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 2: they're usually anonymous, So like, how do you how do

541
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,680
Speaker 2: you go after someone you wait around at mailboxes?

542
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: You could arrest the mail carrier.

543
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 3: I guess, oh, I mean you think about that.

544
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 2: I was thinking that they were just dropped in the mailboxes,

545
00:30:58,600 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 2: but I guess they are mail.

546
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:04,440
Speaker 1: These guys with these like handlebar mustaches and like black

547
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 1: capes come in hand deliver these things.

548
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 2: So basically there's no way to trace this stuff. So

549
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 2: as a as a minority in a minority neighborhood, you

550
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 2: might get a flyer and a robo call saying a

551
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 2: wrong date like you said, or don't bother your candidate's one,

552
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:27,800
Speaker 2: or you know, mail your absentee votes to this address,

553
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 2: which is incorrect.

554
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is like really really underhanded stuff, super

555
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,640
Speaker 1: illegal stuff. But again you can't unless you can trace

556
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 1: it back to somebody who specifically and purposefully carried out

557
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:45,239
Speaker 1: this campaign. Yeah, that you can't do anything about it

558
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 1: except go public and say no, no, no, don't listen

559
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 1: to that.

560
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, because what happens is you get a Hispanic

561
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 2: voter on the nightly news that says I got a

562
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 2: call that said I could vote by phone, and half

563
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 2: the people watch and that probably think well, I like,

564
00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 2: this guy probably didn't even understand that phone call, so

565
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 2: it's chalked off as that when in fact he really

566
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 2: did get a phone call saying he could vote by phone.

567
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, yeah, that happened in Nevada in two thousand

568
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 3: and eight.

569
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 1: I think that it's sor ry Nevada. It'll always be

570
00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:21,960
Speaker 1: Nevada to me. I'm sorry, Nevada. I know it tries

571
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 1: you guys, bat poop, but it's true. Nevada, Nevada. What else, Chuck,

572
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 1: This is a big one. I got one. You're ready. Yeah,

573
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:36,720
Speaker 1: fell any disenfranchisement, fell in disenfranchisement.

574
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:38,880
Speaker 3: Yeah.

575
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 1: So there used to be apparently the Greeks are the

576
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,160
Speaker 1: ones who came up with this, but it was really

577
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: codified in the West through medieval Europe, where if you

578
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 1: were a convicted bad guy, you would would undergo what

579
00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:04,520
Speaker 1: was called a civil death right. Yes, so much so, Chuck,

580
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 1: that you could be murdered by another person and you

581
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 1: were no longer protected by the laws, so the other

582
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:13,640
Speaker 1: person would get away with it, Scott free right. One

583
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,720
Speaker 1: of the things that you lost was any kind of

584
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 1: representation you might have or being able to participate in

585
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 1: any kind of community processes right that carried over to

586
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 1: the United States, but it really started to gain ground

587
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 1: over the right after reconstruction, during the beginning of the

588
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:38,480
Speaker 1: Jim Crow period, where a lot of state legislatures enshrined

589
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 1: in their state constitutions that if you were convicted of

590
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 1: a felony, you lost your voting rights, and in some

591
00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,160
Speaker 1: cases you lost them forever. You had to appeal to

592
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: the governor to restore them. Some states said you lost

593
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,160
Speaker 1: them while you're in prison. Other states said you lost

594
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 1: them after, say, if you were parolled, whenever your sentence

595
00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 1: was fully finished. But to some degree felon's lost their

596
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 1: right to vote and it's stuck around.

597
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,759
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I got the current stats here.

598
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 2: Okay, there are only two states right now that allow

599
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:15,520
Speaker 2: an incarcerated felon to vote.

600
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:16,960
Speaker 3: Do you know what those are?

601
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 1: One is Vermont? Yeah, is the other? I want to

602
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 1: say New Hampshire, but I don't know.

603
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,399
Speaker 3: That that would be an obvious guess. But Maine.

604
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,319
Speaker 1: So close? Crazy maners, It's that Canada rubbing off on.

605
00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:40,040
Speaker 2: Voting rights restored automatically upon release, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana,

606
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:46,200
Speaker 2: New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, in Utah.

607
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 1: You like the FedEx guy from the.

608
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 2: Eighth Rights restored automatically once released from prison and discharged

609
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 2: from parole, probationers can vote California, Colorado, Connecticut, New York

610
00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 2: restored automatically upon completion of sentence, including prison, parole and probation.

611
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 3: In a bunch of other ones.

612
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: That's good.

613
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,240
Speaker 2: How about this everyone, but these last two Okay, Voting

614
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:15,040
Speaker 2: rights restored dependent on type of conviction or outcome of

615
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 2: petition to the government Alabama, Delaware, Missippi, neb Outa, Tennessee, Wyoming,

616
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:25,840
Speaker 2: and only restored through individual petition to the government Florida, Iowa, Kentucky,

617
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:28,319
Speaker 2: and Virginia. So the ones that you did not hear

618
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 2: were upon completion, including prison, parole, probation.

619
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 1: So people might say, don't do the crime, right, sure,

620
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:43,120
Speaker 1: so if you like, on the one hand, it makes

621
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,880
Speaker 1: sense like you've given up some sort of civil liberties

622
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:50,839
Speaker 1: because you did commit some horrible, heinous crime. Other people say, okay, well,

623
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,160
Speaker 1: maybe once you've done your time, you should get your

624
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:58,960
Speaker 1: rights back. The problem is in the United States there

625
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 1: is a racial disparity between people who are convicted of felonies,

626
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: who are black, and everybody else. Right, Yes, So overall

627
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:16,319
Speaker 1: seven percent of the United States African American population as

628
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 1: a whole does not have the right to vote because

629
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 1: of a felony conviction. For the rest of the United

630
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:28,439
Speaker 1: States overall, just one point eight percent. That's including all

631
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:32,080
Speaker 1: every other race. Right, So there's out of the gates.

632
00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:37,000
Speaker 1: There's disproportionately more convicted felons among the African American population

633
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,759
Speaker 1: in the United States than everybody else. Right. But then

634
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,839
Speaker 1: when you start boiling that down to voting rights on

635
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:49,280
Speaker 1: a state level, it becomes painfully clear that this certainly

636
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:54,840
Speaker 1: seems strategically targeted. These laws. In Florida, one in four

637
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:59,319
Speaker 1: of Florida's black residents in twenty sixteen couldn't cast a

638
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:04,640
Speaker 1: ballot because they were disenfranchised for being felons. Yea, one

639
00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: in four.

640
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,840
Speaker 2: Florida was one of the ones that one of the

641
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 2: four states where you had to have an individual petition

642
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 2: approved by the government.

643
00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:16,520
Speaker 1: Right. So one quarter, and that's not saying one quarter

644
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,440
Speaker 1: of the voting population of African Americans in Florida, that's

645
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:28,879
Speaker 1: the whole population, right. And since African Americans have traditionally

646
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 1: voted Democrat. Any law that says you're a felon you

647
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 1: can't vote right, you can just leave it at that

648
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:40,600
Speaker 1: and make your own your own surmises about it.

649
00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:41,839
Speaker 3: Right surmises.

650
00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:47,560
Speaker 1: So word now sirmationians sermations. That's what I was looking for.

651
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:50,000
Speaker 3: Voter ID laws.

652
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:53,960
Speaker 2: That's sort of obviously a big one because it's probably

653
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 2: when you hear most about in the news. As of

654
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 2: this year, thirty two states have laws requiring or requesting

655
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:06,640
Speaker 2: ID when voting. West Virginia is coming in twenty eighteen,

656
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:10,440
Speaker 2: so that would make thirty three states.

657
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:12,760
Speaker 3: And we mentioned Texas earlier.

658
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 2: That's one of the states where they say like, oh, well,

659
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,560
Speaker 2: you can use your gun permit, but you can't use

660
00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,080
Speaker 2: your college student ID, even though the state has issued

661
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:22,720
Speaker 2: both of those.

662
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:26,080
Speaker 1: Right, because if you're a student, you're possibly more likely

663
00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:28,439
Speaker 1: to vote Democrat. If you are a gun owner, you're

664
00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:31,279
Speaker 1: probably more likely to vote GOP right.

665
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 2: And if you're talking nationally, eleven percent of Americans don't

666
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 2: have current state issued photo IDs. There's a lot of

667
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:47,680
Speaker 2: reasons why. Maybe you're elderly or disabled or both and

668
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,920
Speaker 2: you can't drive, so a you don't need a driver's license. B,

669
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:55,120
Speaker 2: you have a hard time getting to the DMV just

670
00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:57,959
Speaker 2: to get an ID like a non driving ID, state

671
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 2: issued ID, sure to vote. And once again, historically these

672
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:09,440
Speaker 2: people might be more apt to vote Democrat. So it's

673
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:11,799
Speaker 2: hard to not look at it along those lines.

674
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 1: Right, And a lot of people say, well, there was

675
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:18,120
Speaker 1: this commission back in I think two thousand and five,

676
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:22,399
Speaker 1: American University sponsored a bipartisan commission to look into voter

677
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:26,359
Speaker 1: ID laws, right, whether they suppressed voting, whether they would

678
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:29,720
Speaker 1: prevent fraud. And it was led by former Reagan Chief

679
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 1: of Staff James Baker and former President Jimmy Carter, Right.

680
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:35,879
Speaker 3: Two opposite sides of the coin.

681
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, but two statesmen, you could make the case. Sure.

682
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:45,359
Speaker 1: So what they found is that both groups concerns were valid. Yes,

683
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 1: voter ID could prevent voter fraud. Yes, voter ID laws

684
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:56,800
Speaker 1: would suppress voting. So they suggested the government minorities specifically, Yeah, minorities, women,

685
00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 1: the elderly, and the disabled are who are most likely

686
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 1: to be affected by voter ID laws. And the poor right, Yes, sorry,

687
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:12,200
Speaker 1: the elderly, the poor, women, the disabled, and minorities. Yes,

688
00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:15,919
Speaker 1: all five of those groups tend to vote Democrat. Two

689
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 1: so voter ID laws could be enacted to prevent frauds

690
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: of this commission. But if you're going to do that,

691
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:27,960
Speaker 1: you need to basically give out IDs, and you have

692
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:33,800
Speaker 1: to make access to these IDs extremely easy. And so Texas,

693
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 1: who has a very strict ID law you have to

694
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,800
Speaker 1: show a photo ID to vote and only specific ones

695
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:43,399
Speaker 1: said okay, well, then we'll undertake this. We'll give away

696
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,600
Speaker 1: free IDs, but you've got to produce some documents to

697
00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:50,200
Speaker 1: get the ID. So, for example, you might need to

698
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 1: produce a birth certificate. If you don't have your birth certificate,

699
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 1: you have to go get a copy of it. And

700
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:58,360
Speaker 1: if you were born before nineteen fifty, then you have

701
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:01,319
Speaker 1: to go to wherever out whatever county you were born

702
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:03,680
Speaker 1: in because they're not computerized records. You have to go

703
00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:06,600
Speaker 1: to the county clerk's office, get it, pay forty two

704
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,040
Speaker 1: dollars for the copy, and then come back and get

705
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:12,040
Speaker 1: your ID. And hopefully you also remember the other two

706
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:14,920
Speaker 1: pieces of documentation that you have to bring with you

707
00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 1: to get this free ID. And this investigation, I actually

708
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,880
Speaker 1: think it was a court case found that in the

709
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:24,839
Speaker 1: fifteen months leading up to the twenty fourteen midterm elections,

710
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:30,880
Speaker 1: Texas's free voter ID registration drive managed to issue just

711
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,800
Speaker 1: two hundred and ninety seven IDs for the entire state

712
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:35,360
Speaker 1: over a fifteen month period.

713
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,360
Speaker 2: Well, and this whole thing with you have to go

714
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,879
Speaker 2: to the county where you were born, if you're basically elderly, right,

715
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 2: like you've ever driven across Texas.

716
00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:45,880
Speaker 1: Well, Plus, if you're poor, remember that poll tax. You

717
00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 1: calculated the dollar fifty poll tax in Texas. It came

718
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:51,800
Speaker 1: out to be about forty something dollars. Well, it costs

719
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:53,719
Speaker 1: forty two dollars to get a copy of your birth

720
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:57,480
Speaker 1: certificate to get that free ID. Some people say that's

721
00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:00,480
Speaker 1: a modern poll tax. Almost down to the penny, that's

722
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 1: a modern poll tax. If you are poor, if you're broke,

723
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 1: if you have trouble making ends meet, forty two bucks

724
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:11,359
Speaker 1: is a lot. Yeah, And if you're on the fence

725
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:13,000
Speaker 1: about voting, like you really want to.

726
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:16,200
Speaker 2: Vote, and that's what you can get there to begin with. Right,

727
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:18,600
Speaker 2: so you was born in Lubbock, but I live in

728
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,280
Speaker 2: San Antonio.

729
00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:22,759
Speaker 1: Right, and I don't have a car. So all of

730
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:27,360
Speaker 1: these things like these are to a person who believes,

731
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 1: if you really want to vote, you're gonna you're gonna

732
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,200
Speaker 1: make it through hell and high water to vote. Yeah,

733
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:36,799
Speaker 1: all of these excuses that we've just thrown out are

734
00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,120
Speaker 1: just falling on deaf ears, right. Yeah, but if you

735
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 1: really step back and put it into context and really

736
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:44,440
Speaker 1: think about it from a realistic point of view, like

737
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,040
Speaker 1: these are hardships, This is tough stuff, and if you're

738
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 1: a voter and you really want to vote, it could

739
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:55,640
Speaker 1: dissuade the average person from doing that. And from everything

740
00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:59,400
Speaker 1: I've read, it is really easy to overlook how difficult

741
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,680
Speaker 1: it can be to get an ID. For people who

742
00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:04,880
Speaker 1: already have an ID and use them every day and

743
00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:07,440
Speaker 1: have probably had one ever since their parents took them

744
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:09,319
Speaker 1: to the DMV when they were sixteen to get their

745
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:13,560
Speaker 1: first driver's license, it's really easy to act like it's

746
00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:16,800
Speaker 1: not a big thing to get an ID, when in reality,

747
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:22,640
Speaker 1: the poorer, the more disabled, and the more minority you are,

748
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:24,319
Speaker 1: the harder it actually is.

749
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:25,240
Speaker 3: Yeah.

750
00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:28,440
Speaker 2: There was a study in twenty fourteen by Rice University,

751
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:31,319
Speaker 2: and not to pick on Texas, but this, you know,

752
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:32,840
Speaker 2: to Rice University.

753
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:34,280
Speaker 1: I think Texas brought this on themselves.

754
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:40,560
Speaker 2: In the University of Houston, Texas's twenty third congressional district

755
00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:44,359
Speaker 2: found that twelve point eight percent of registered voters who

756
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:48,720
Speaker 2: didn't vote cited lack of required photo ID, so almost

757
00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:51,920
Speaker 2: thirteen percent didn't vote, and they said this because I

758
00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:56,400
Speaker 2: don't have the proper identification And only two point seven

759
00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:00,520
Speaker 2: percent of those people actually didn't have the right identify occasion,

760
00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:03,920
Speaker 2: so a full ten percent had the right ID and

761
00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:07,360
Speaker 2: didn't vote because they didn't think they did, which and

762
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:08,919
Speaker 2: you know what, we'll take a break and talk about

763
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:11,960
Speaker 2: it after this. But the reason that's not happening is

764
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:16,439
Speaker 2: because of things like billboards and poll watchers and other

765
00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:17,800
Speaker 2: intimidation techniques.

766
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:20,400
Speaker 3: So we'll talk about that right after this, as w.

767
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:42,640
Speaker 4: Y s K As you should know, all right.

768
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,200
Speaker 2: So I set that up with the study from Rice University,

769
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:48,800
Speaker 2: thirteen percent in the twenty third congressional district in Texas

770
00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:50,600
Speaker 2: did not vote because they didn't think they had their

771
00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:53,600
Speaker 2: right ID, even though ten percent of that thirteen percent

772
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 2: did have the right ID and just didn't vote because

773
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:01,040
Speaker 2: they were I don't know, misinformed by a billboard and

774
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:03,280
Speaker 2: scared to go to a polling place.

775
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:08,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, has that ever happened? Sure, it's happened. There's been

776
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:12,600
Speaker 1: plenty of billboards that have like prison bars or something

777
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:14,960
Speaker 1: on them. It says like voter fraud is a felony.

778
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:19,400
Speaker 1: And apparently these billboards that are sponsored by dark money

779
00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 1: groups that have no direct ties to say like the

780
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:27,960
Speaker 1: GOP or the campaigns of a candidate, are they sprout up.

781
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 1: They tend to sprout up in poorer neighborhoods, minority neighborhoods,

782
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:36,239
Speaker 1: neighborhoods that are more likely to be intimidated by billboards

783
00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:38,840
Speaker 1: like that, rather than just laugh at them and flip

784
00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:43,120
Speaker 1: them off. It's apparently the jury's out on whether they

785
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:46,360
Speaker 1: have an effect or not, but it is it's intended

786
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:47,560
Speaker 1: to be voter intimidation.

787
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:52,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, they use threatening language, like you said, like someone

788
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,799
Speaker 2: behind bars and all of a sudden, let's say you're

789
00:45:56,239 --> 00:46:01,200
Speaker 2: a newly naturalized citizen or you are are a felon

790
00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:05,279
Speaker 2: that's now out and cleared your parole and everything, and

791
00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:07,000
Speaker 2: you see those bars and you're like, well, I'm not

792
00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:09,359
Speaker 2: going to take a chance, right and going to vote

793
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:10,440
Speaker 2: because I might be locked up.

794
00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:16,840
Speaker 1: And again, the disingenuous argument number eighty ninety two is well,

795
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 1: if you're not a criminal, you got nothing to worry about, right,

796
00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:24,440
Speaker 1: which just completely disregards the psychological impact that something like

797
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:28,759
Speaker 1: bars and crime Fellon have on a person seeing a

798
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:30,600
Speaker 1: billboard that's shouting that at them.

799
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:34,479
Speaker 2: If you actually are you know, fight your way through

800
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,000
Speaker 2: that and say, you know what, I'm going to vote anyway.

801
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:39,000
Speaker 3: I'm not scared of the billboard.

802
00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:41,759
Speaker 2: And you might show up to your polling place to

803
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:45,759
Speaker 2: find what's known as a poll watcher, who are there

804
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:52,359
Speaker 2: to scout out potential voter fraud what has generally in

805
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:57,279
Speaker 2: many cases amounted to intimidation squads kind of right there

806
00:46:57,280 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 2: at the front door.

807
00:46:58,239 --> 00:47:01,839
Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you remember I said that the RNC got

808
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:03,680
Speaker 1: in a lot of trouble for the nineteen eighty one

809
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:04,960
Speaker 1: election for a bunch of stuff.

810
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:06,320
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, this is another one.

811
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:08,800
Speaker 1: One of the things that they had in this nineteen

812
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:13,000
Speaker 1: eighty one I believe New Jersey election was called the

813
00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:17,200
Speaker 1: National Ballot Security Task Force, and it was basically off

814
00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:23,719
Speaker 1: duty cops wearing guns, wearing blue armbands, patrolling polling stations

815
00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 1: who were basically ostensibly looking for voter fraud, but they

816
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:35,239
Speaker 1: court sided with the DNC's contention that they were meant

817
00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:40,560
Speaker 1: to intimidate voters who were likely to vote for Democrats.

818
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:41,759
Speaker 3: Well just because they were there with guns.

819
00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:45,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, like you don't want some dude just walking around

820
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:48,160
Speaker 1: like looking at you, watching you, you know, what are

821
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:51,000
Speaker 1: you doing here? Kind of thing like, No, it's not

822
00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:55,040
Speaker 1: what The polling station doesn't belong to one group. It

823
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: belongs to everybody, and no one should be made to

824
00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:00,759
Speaker 1: feel like they're a threat or they all are not

825
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:05,040
Speaker 1: welcome at this polling station. It's not that guy's polling station.

826
00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:07,520
Speaker 1: He doesn't have any right to walk up and down

827
00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:10,680
Speaker 1: with the gun, intimidating people. What a despicable thing to

828
00:48:10,719 --> 00:48:11,560
Speaker 1: do with your time.

829
00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:16,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, how about this. The Conservative group True

830
00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:20,680
Speaker 2: the Vote, their national elections coordinator was he was, you know,

831
00:48:20,719 --> 00:48:23,720
Speaker 2: talking about pole watchers. He said that he wanted voters

832
00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:26,799
Speaker 2: to quote feel like they are driving and seeing the

833
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:28,280
Speaker 2: police following them.

834
00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:31,279
Speaker 1: Yes, it's not how you're supposed to feel when you

835
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:34,400
Speaker 1: go vote no at the polling presecs like that's a quote.

836
00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:38,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, he wanted them to feel scared.

837
00:48:38,680 --> 00:48:40,680
Speaker 1: And that wasn't nineteen eighty one. That was from the

838
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen election.

839
00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:44,040
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, that got an old one.

840
00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:51,000
Speaker 1: No, so it's not. It hasn't just been say GOP

841
00:48:51,239 --> 00:48:54,880
Speaker 1: leaning voters who have done poll watching. There was a

842
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:57,240
Speaker 1: very famous case in the two thousand and eight election

843
00:48:57,680 --> 00:49:02,000
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia where the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense, which,

844
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:04,400
Speaker 1: as we pointed out in our Black Panther episode, is

845
00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:06,880
Speaker 1: not affiliated with the Black Panthers. They're kind of like

846
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:10,040
Speaker 1: this new offshoot group that took over the name.

847
00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:10,520
Speaker 3: Right.

848
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:15,760
Speaker 1: I think they were arrested for voter intimidation for basically

849
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:18,680
Speaker 1: doing the same thing but with the police baton rather

850
00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:22,719
Speaker 1: than say a gun. Yeah, yeah, I don't care who

851
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:26,440
Speaker 1: you are, what side you're on, don't intimidate voters at

852
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:28,879
Speaker 1: the polls. No. I don't know if I could if

853
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:32,319
Speaker 1: I said that clearly enough. Yet that's a disgusting thing

854
00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:32,600
Speaker 1: to do.

855
00:49:32,719 --> 00:49:33,960
Speaker 3: Josh is going to come after you.

856
00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:36,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm watching you.

857
00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:44,520
Speaker 2: Early voting is one thing that you say and you're

858
00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:47,839
Speaker 2: writing here that I agree with that. Like, who could

859
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:51,960
Speaker 2: argue with early voting because it works. People love it,

860
00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:56,680
Speaker 2: voters like it, elected officials like it. It's been a

861
00:49:56,920 --> 00:49:59,640
Speaker 2: really big success in the states that do it like

862
00:49:59,719 --> 00:50:02,040
Speaker 2: a lot. I think almost a third of this past

863
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:07,040
Speaker 2: election people early voted me included, right, So like everyone

864
00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:09,000
Speaker 2: should love this, right, sure.

865
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:12,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it really really works. It gets voter participation

866
00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:15,440
Speaker 1: up and like you said, the lines are not long.

867
00:50:15,560 --> 00:50:19,759
Speaker 1: There's not like long waits on election day. And yet

868
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:24,040
Speaker 1: despite that, despite everybody basically loving early voting, there have

869
00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:29,759
Speaker 1: been cutbacks since twenty eleven in eight states. Rather than

870
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:32,880
Speaker 1: this decades long trend which had been leading up to

871
00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:35,799
Speaker 1: know the I think two thousand and eight election, which

872
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:39,640
Speaker 1: is when it really came on, there's been cutbacks rather

873
00:50:39,719 --> 00:50:43,680
Speaker 1: than continuing forward with getting early voting out there. And

874
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:51,760
Speaker 1: these eight states are, except for West Virginia, GOP governored states.

875
00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:56,399
Speaker 1: And the reason why people who are critics of these

876
00:50:56,480 --> 00:51:00,440
Speaker 1: laws or changes to the rules point out the reason

877
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:02,560
Speaker 1: why that these are being done is because in the

878
00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:05,720
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight election, this early voting was used

879
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:09,799
Speaker 1: by far and away more by African American voters who

880
00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:14,680
Speaker 1: voted for Obama and the Democrats than white voters, and

881
00:51:14,760 --> 00:51:19,839
Speaker 1: specifically white GOP voters. Right, something like seventy percent of

882
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:23,680
Speaker 1: early of African Americans in the two thousand and eight

883
00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:27,160
Speaker 1: election voted early, compared to like fifty percent of white

884
00:51:27,239 --> 00:51:29,400
Speaker 1: voters in the two thousand and eight election. I'm not

885
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:32,680
Speaker 1: sure what the breakdown was for Democrat to GOP, but

886
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:36,239
Speaker 1: I'm quite sure it was lopsided in favor of the

887
00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:39,560
Speaker 1: Democrats in that right. So that happened, and then all

888
00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:42,920
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the midterm elections of twenty ten were

889
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:46,760
Speaker 1: just a blood bath for the Democrats and swept GOP

890
00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:52,880
Speaker 1: governors and legislatures into power. And as a result, early

891
00:51:52,960 --> 00:51:57,440
Speaker 1: voting was cut back under new laws that were introduced

892
00:51:57,480 --> 00:51:58,719
Speaker 1: in these new sessions.

893
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:02,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Sunday voting was a big deal too. Historic

894
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:08,120
Speaker 2: Black churches have had a great success story in organizing

895
00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:11,680
Speaker 2: this campaign called Souls to the Polls, where they would

896
00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:14,080
Speaker 2: get their church members to the polling stations on Sundays

897
00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:14,600
Speaker 2: to vote.

898
00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:16,120
Speaker 3: It's been a big success.

899
00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:19,440
Speaker 2: And so what happens when there's a big success for

900
00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:23,200
Speaker 2: a minority group organizing and getting registered is states pushback.

901
00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:28,120
Speaker 2: Ohio and Florida specifically banned voting on Sunday, the Sunday

902
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 2: before the election, sorry, not just any Sunday. And that's

903
00:52:32,640 --> 00:52:35,520
Speaker 2: when these the black churches had organized to vote for

904
00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:37,920
Speaker 2: the Souls to the Polls campaign, and it made a

905
00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:43,360
Speaker 2: big deal. More than eighteen percent of Floridians who voted

906
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:45,920
Speaker 2: on the last Sunday of early voting in two thousand

907
00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:49,720
Speaker 2: and eight did not vote at all in twenty twelve

908
00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:53,319
Speaker 2: because well maybe not just because they weren't allowed to vote,

909
00:52:53,320 --> 00:52:56,040
Speaker 2: but that right was taken away from them, And so

910
00:52:56,120 --> 00:52:57,920
Speaker 2: eighteen percent didn't vote in twenty twelve.

911
00:52:59,160 --> 00:52:59,960
Speaker 3: So you do the math.

912
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:04,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and I mean that's that's a significant amount

913
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:06,720
Speaker 1: of voters in Florida alone.

914
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:11,040
Speaker 2: And again it's it's targeted like that. They do the

915
00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:14,960
Speaker 2: research and they find out the data on where these

916
00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:18,319
Speaker 2: votes coming from, when are they being cast, who is

917
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:23,640
Speaker 2: casting them? And now let's put in as many laws,

918
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:27,239
Speaker 2: let's bend the law however we can to try and

919
00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:31,840
Speaker 2: keep those people from voting. Yeah, like like there have

920
00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:33,840
Speaker 2: been there was who was a gun. There was a

921
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:37,520
Speaker 2: legislator in Pennsylvania that was that bragged during the Romney

922
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:40,759
Speaker 2: election like, hey, our voter suppression techniques are going to

923
00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:41,920
Speaker 2: give this to Romney.

924
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:44,160
Speaker 3: Right, this is a legislator.

925
00:53:44,680 --> 00:53:50,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true. So you know it's funny to some

926
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:56,120
Speaker 1: people listening right now, we sound paranoid. So early voting

927
00:53:56,600 --> 00:54:00,200
Speaker 1: is suppressed and as a result, it can it can

928
00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:03,520
Speaker 1: lead to voter suppression as well. Right, you've also got

929
00:54:03,920 --> 00:54:08,799
Speaker 1: voter registration. We already talked about acorn registering people, but typically,

930
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:13,360
Speaker 1: voter registration drives like the soul of the polls campaign

931
00:54:15,400 --> 00:54:21,440
Speaker 1: have an effect on Democrats' votes, so curtailing those can

932
00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:26,200
Speaker 1: lead to can lead to a suppression of votes among

933
00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:30,640
Speaker 1: Democratic voters. Right, Yes, And we've been picking on the

934
00:54:30,680 --> 00:54:33,560
Speaker 1: GOP basically this whole time, Dude. I went all over

935
00:54:33,880 --> 00:54:38,200
Speaker 1: looking for instances of Democrats doing robo calls and using

936
00:54:38,239 --> 00:54:43,480
Speaker 1: intimidating billboards, and I didn't find it. They're just not

937
00:54:43,640 --> 00:54:44,080
Speaker 1: out there.

938
00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:48,840
Speaker 2: If they are specifically robo calls deliver misinformation.

939
00:54:48,560 --> 00:54:55,480
Speaker 1: Right or send out deliberately misinforming flyers, or supporting laws

940
00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:58,719
Speaker 1: that and early voting, I didn't find it anywhere. This

941
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:01,440
Speaker 1: all seems to be, at least in this current incarnation,

942
00:55:01,880 --> 00:55:05,399
Speaker 1: a GOP led wave of voter suppression laws. Right. Yeah,

943
00:55:05,440 --> 00:55:10,080
Speaker 1: there is one type of voter suppression that Democrats do

944
00:55:10,200 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 1: favor though, basically across the board and around the country,

945
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:17,239
Speaker 1: and it's called off cycle off cycle election scheduling.

946
00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:21,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's when if you may notice that they'll they'll

947
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:24,120
Speaker 2: be an election and you're like, what, there's an election

948
00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:27,120
Speaker 2: coming up, Well, why haven't I heard anything about it.

949
00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:30,400
Speaker 2: It's because it might be for the city council or

950
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:34,320
Speaker 2: the local you know, it's it's very much local, locally based,

951
00:55:34,680 --> 00:55:41,880
Speaker 2: and Democrats they know that those are not very heavily voted.

952
00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:43,960
Speaker 2: You know, it's a very low voter turnout for that.

953
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:47,879
Speaker 2: So if it's a referendum on like something that has

954
00:55:47,920 --> 00:55:50,800
Speaker 2: to deal with the teachers or specific union or something,

955
00:55:51,280 --> 00:55:53,000
Speaker 2: they know about it and they're really going to turn

956
00:55:53,040 --> 00:55:56,399
Speaker 2: out to vote and basically have that one in the bag.

957
00:55:57,400 --> 00:56:00,920
Speaker 1: Right, And and teachers' unions in city workers unions and

958
00:56:00,960 --> 00:56:04,800
Speaker 1: basically any unions typically are democratic leaning, right Democrat leaning.

959
00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:11,359
Speaker 1: So through this off cycle election scheduling, by cutting down

960
00:56:11,360 --> 00:56:15,560
Speaker 1: on voter participation, they're increasing the impact that these Democrat

961
00:56:15,640 --> 00:56:18,520
Speaker 1: leaning groups have on that vote. Right.

962
00:56:18,640 --> 00:56:22,440
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, because everyone wants consolidated elections, like you pull people,

963
00:56:23,239 --> 00:56:27,000
Speaker 2: you pull people, sure, and it's like what everyone will say,

964
00:56:27,239 --> 00:56:28,920
Speaker 2: you know, I'd kind of really rather just vote on

965
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:29,959
Speaker 2: everything all at once.

966
00:56:30,719 --> 00:56:36,279
Speaker 1: Right. But this, this idea of controlling local elections, especially

967
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:43,320
Speaker 1: local school boards, leads to accusations of controlling developing minds

968
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:46,719
Speaker 1: of America's children. Sure, so Republicans have taken notice of

969
00:56:46,719 --> 00:56:51,560
Speaker 1: this strategy, and this is from this great article from

970
00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:56,160
Speaker 1: Eton Hirsh from five thirty eight, and he talks about

971
00:56:56,200 --> 00:57:01,640
Speaker 1: a political scientist named Sarah Anzia who who was studying this,

972
00:57:02,239 --> 00:57:04,360
Speaker 1: and she found that between two thousand and one and

973
00:57:04,360 --> 00:57:09,920
Speaker 1: twenty eleven, over two hundred bills aimed at consolidating elections

974
00:57:09,920 --> 00:57:14,920
Speaker 1: getting rid of off cycle elections were floated across the country.

975
00:57:15,480 --> 00:57:18,880
Speaker 1: Half of them specifically on focused on moving school board

976
00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:22,880
Speaker 1: election dates, but only twenty five became law. Most of

977
00:57:22,880 --> 00:57:25,680
Speaker 1: the time the bills were sponsored by Republicans and killed

978
00:57:25,680 --> 00:57:31,960
Speaker 1: by Democratic pushes. Yeah, so there is definitely voter suppression techniques,

979
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:34,600
Speaker 1: and apparently the Democrats will say, well, you know what,

980
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:38,800
Speaker 1: people who aren't that informed aren't going to turn out

981
00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:42,640
Speaker 1: for these off cycle elections anyway, that's good. And people say,

982
00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:44,800
Speaker 1: wait a minute, wait a minute, that's the same criticism,

983
00:57:45,200 --> 00:57:48,880
Speaker 1: the same justification that the GOP uses to justify their

984
00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:52,040
Speaker 1: voter suppression techniques, and you're using it for yourself. So

985
00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:56,120
Speaker 1: you know, that really sucks when people do that. What

986
00:57:56,200 --> 00:57:58,600
Speaker 1: is that called hypocrisy?

987
00:57:59,240 --> 00:58:00,000
Speaker 3: I think that's a word.

988
00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:05,280
Speaker 2: So you know this this is all still happening. I

989
00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:08,480
Speaker 2: mean a lot of these examples are kind of throughout history,

990
00:58:09,440 --> 00:58:12,480
Speaker 2: but this is still going on, and especially after the

991
00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:13,640
Speaker 2: two thousand election.

992
00:58:15,080 --> 00:58:16,200
Speaker 3: And this most recent one.

993
00:58:16,240 --> 00:58:20,880
Speaker 2: It's it's pretty clear that like a few thousand votes

994
00:58:20,920 --> 00:58:22,440
Speaker 2: can swing in swing an election.

995
00:58:22,880 --> 00:58:25,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so this stuff matters.

996
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:30,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, to fight it and whoever's trying to suppress votes,

997
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:32,640
Speaker 2: it can make a difference.

998
00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:37,480
Speaker 1: Right, and so specifically, well, there's this one study that

999
00:58:37,600 --> 00:58:41,840
Speaker 1: found after that huge surge, so you remember after the

1000
00:58:41,880 --> 00:58:44,560
Speaker 1: fifteenth Amendment was passed where.

1001
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:46,800
Speaker 3: Oh I remember, so.

1002
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:51,120
Speaker 1: The the the black population of men at least suddenly

1003
00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:53,840
Speaker 1: had the right to vote. It threatened the status quo.

1004
00:58:54,200 --> 00:58:58,640
Speaker 1: So the status quo the establishment went to come up

1005
00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:03,600
Speaker 1: with new loopholes and and issues to make barriers to voting.

1006
00:59:03,760 --> 00:59:07,240
Speaker 1: Right after the two thousand and eight election, there was

1007
00:59:07,280 --> 00:59:10,840
Speaker 1: a huge surge in African American voting. Threatened the status quo.

1008
00:59:11,080 --> 00:59:15,320
Speaker 1: So the establishment came up with new loopholes, right, and

1009
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:18,800
Speaker 1: there was a study from the University of Massachusetts. Should

1010
00:59:18,840 --> 00:59:22,160
Speaker 1: be totally disregarded because that's an elite academic education and

1011
00:59:22,200 --> 00:59:28,680
Speaker 1: therefore liars, but they did a study that the more

1012
00:59:29,160 --> 00:59:33,280
Speaker 1: states saw increases of minority and low income voter turnout,

1013
00:59:33,360 --> 00:59:36,760
Speaker 1: the more likely it was to have laws floated that

1014
00:59:36,880 --> 00:59:41,320
Speaker 1: pushed back on voting rights, that cut voting rights during

1015
00:59:41,320 --> 00:59:44,480
Speaker 1: this twenty thirteen study, and apparently there is this wave

1016
00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:50,240
Speaker 1: of voter id laws specifically that just hit the country

1017
00:59:50,560 --> 00:59:56,200
Speaker 1: after the twenty ten elections. There's ten blood bats. The

1018
00:59:56,280 --> 01:00:00,640
Speaker 1: country was suddenly just flooded with state and local bills

1019
01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:04,240
Speaker 1: that sought to require voter ID right and it came

1020
01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:08,040
Speaker 1: out of nowhere, seemingly somebody, this group called News twenty

1021
01:00:08,080 --> 01:00:12,600
Speaker 1: one's like journalism students who did an investigation under the

1022
01:00:12,640 --> 01:00:16,800
Speaker 1: auspices of the Carnegie Knight Journalism Foundation. They trace us

1023
01:00:16,840 --> 01:00:21,560
Speaker 1: back to ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and they

1024
01:00:21,600 --> 01:00:25,840
Speaker 1: deserve a podcast themselves, sure, for sure. But basically they're

1025
01:00:25,880 --> 01:00:28,080
Speaker 1: a group that was founded I think back in the

1026
01:00:28,160 --> 01:00:33,080
Speaker 1: seventies or eighties that brings together elected officials in the

1027
01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:35,840
Speaker 1: United States who pay something like one hundred dollars in

1028
01:00:35,920 --> 01:00:40,400
Speaker 1: dues every two years with corporations that pay thousands and

1029
01:00:40,440 --> 01:00:43,880
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars in dues every year, and they get

1030
01:00:43,880 --> 01:00:46,240
Speaker 1: them together and they say, hey, what do you need

1031
01:00:46,360 --> 01:00:50,200
Speaker 1: to make business easier for you? Oh, well, it would

1032
01:00:50,200 --> 01:00:53,640
Speaker 1: be great if we could get the Democrats to not

1033
01:00:53,760 --> 01:00:56,360
Speaker 1: vote quite so easily. So let's come up with some

1034
01:00:56,440 --> 01:01:00,000
Speaker 1: voter ID loss. They come together, they draft model ledge,

1035
01:01:00,760 --> 01:01:03,120
Speaker 1: and then the ALEC members go back to their various

1036
01:01:03,160 --> 01:01:08,200
Speaker 1: state legislatures or national legislatures and say, hey, I've got

1037
01:01:08,280 --> 01:01:11,240
Speaker 1: an idea, here's a bill, let's pass it. And so

1038
01:01:11,840 --> 01:01:14,960
Speaker 1: from this two thousand and nine meeting in Atlanta, actually

1039
01:01:16,800 --> 01:01:21,760
Speaker 1: a draft voter I D legislative model was produced and

1040
01:01:21,840 --> 01:01:24,760
Speaker 1: it suddenly just appeared everywhere around the country starting in

1041
01:01:24,800 --> 01:01:28,760
Speaker 1: about twenty ten. Yeah, so apparently that's what's going on

1042
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:33,240
Speaker 1: right now, that's behind this current wave of especially voter

1043
01:01:33,360 --> 01:01:36,960
Speaker 1: ID laws, but also voter suppression laws that are going on.

1044
01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:40,520
Speaker 1: Like the history in this country, a voter suppression is

1045
01:01:40,800 --> 01:01:44,360
Speaker 1: pretty shameful, but it's even more shameful that we're doing

1046
01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:45,520
Speaker 1: it again, it seems.

1047
01:01:45,800 --> 01:01:46,200
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1048
01:01:46,360 --> 01:01:49,400
Speaker 2: North Carolina is a pretty good example of recent years.

1049
01:01:49,880 --> 01:01:54,800
Speaker 2: In twenty thirteen, there was a law that led by

1050
01:01:54,800 --> 01:01:57,920
Speaker 2: the GOP that did a bunch of things that eliminated

1051
01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:02,680
Speaker 2: same day voter registration, cut a full week of early voting,

1052
01:02:03,720 --> 01:02:07,160
Speaker 2: It barred voters from casting a ballot outside their home precinct.

1053
01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:11,280
Speaker 2: They said you could no longer straight ticket vote. And

1054
01:02:11,320 --> 01:02:13,760
Speaker 2: then they got rid of a program that would pre

1055
01:02:13,760 --> 01:02:17,800
Speaker 2: register high school students who would be voting age by

1056
01:02:17,840 --> 01:02:21,320
Speaker 2: election day scrap right high school students that wanted to

1057
01:02:21,360 --> 01:02:25,240
Speaker 2: vote that would pre register them said no, too dangerous.

1058
01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:29,560
Speaker 2: Yeah so, and had one of the most strict voter

1059
01:02:29,640 --> 01:02:32,360
Speaker 2: ID requirements in the country. This one actually went to

1060
01:02:32,400 --> 01:02:36,840
Speaker 2: court and it was struck down and the judge ruled

1061
01:02:36,920 --> 01:02:41,680
Speaker 2: that it quote, I'm sorry that the intention to suppress

1062
01:02:41,720 --> 01:02:46,760
Speaker 2: African American voters was quote with almost surgical precision, and

1063
01:02:46,800 --> 01:02:50,560
Speaker 2: the court noted that lawmakers first studied which racial demographics

1064
01:02:50,680 --> 01:02:54,120
Speaker 2: use which voting methods, then moved to eliminate those favored

1065
01:02:54,120 --> 01:02:57,480
Speaker 2: by black residents. So like they actually found out they

1066
01:02:57,520 --> 01:02:59,880
Speaker 2: did these studies and looked at the data and said,

1067
01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:01,960
Speaker 2: all right, this is how black people are voting in

1068
01:03:01,960 --> 01:03:05,120
Speaker 2: North Carolina, so let's try and make that much more

1069
01:03:05,120 --> 01:03:06,120
Speaker 2: difficult for them to do.

1070
01:03:06,160 --> 01:03:06,320
Speaker 3: So.

1071
01:03:06,720 --> 01:03:09,880
Speaker 1: I think the judge that overruled or struck down those

1072
01:03:10,160 --> 01:03:13,120
Speaker 1: that basket of laws also said that it read like

1073
01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:16,720
Speaker 1: it was written in nineteen oh one. Yeah, so North

1074
01:03:16,720 --> 01:03:19,640
Speaker 1: Carolina got pantsed in front of everybody because I guess

1075
01:03:19,680 --> 01:03:22,960
Speaker 1: they were too aggressive. But plenty plenty of other states

1076
01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:28,640
Speaker 1: were able to pass new laws of varying strictness as

1077
01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:34,400
Speaker 1: far as voting suppression goes since twenty eleven.

1078
01:03:34,120 --> 01:03:36,200
Speaker 2: Well, North Carolina just got pants this week for the

1079
01:03:36,280 --> 01:03:37,480
Speaker 2: racial jerrymandering.

1080
01:03:37,800 --> 01:03:41,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, jerrymandering is another episode we need to do too.

1081
01:03:41,160 --> 01:03:41,960
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1082
01:03:42,160 --> 01:03:45,600
Speaker 1: So the whole thing comes down to here. I think

1083
01:03:45,640 --> 01:03:48,840
Speaker 1: we said earlier too, Chuck is with these laws, right,

1084
01:03:49,600 --> 01:03:54,040
Speaker 1: there's kind of a litmus test that's emerged. Are the

1085
01:03:54,120 --> 01:03:57,920
Speaker 1: results of these laws more likely to be to prevent

1086
01:03:58,880 --> 01:04:05,280
Speaker 1: voter fraud or to suppress votes? And ironically, it seems

1087
01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:08,680
Speaker 1: like it's going to be Donald Trump's commission that could

1088
01:04:08,720 --> 01:04:12,400
Speaker 1: conceivably put an end to this debate with what they

1089
01:04:12,440 --> 01:04:17,880
Speaker 1: find with the voter fraud investigation, which, seriously, I cannot

1090
01:04:17,960 --> 01:04:21,200
Speaker 1: tell you how interested I am in finding out what

1091
01:04:21,240 --> 01:04:24,400
Speaker 1: they find and hearing all the grizzly details from it.

1092
01:04:25,400 --> 01:04:27,560
Speaker 3: You think it'll be on the note or on the

1093
01:04:27,640 --> 01:04:28,120
Speaker 3: up and up.

1094
01:04:29,200 --> 01:04:32,480
Speaker 1: I don't know, But I don't know. If it's not,

1095
01:04:34,920 --> 01:04:37,640
Speaker 1: we'll hear all about it. I can tell you that.

1096
01:04:38,480 --> 01:04:40,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know, man.

1097
01:04:40,480 --> 01:04:42,560
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm very curious to see what they what

1098
01:04:42,640 --> 01:04:44,560
Speaker 1: they find, or even if it just falls away. I

1099
01:04:44,560 --> 01:04:47,160
Speaker 1: think the worst thing for this would be if it's

1100
01:04:47,320 --> 01:04:51,120
Speaker 1: just allowed to just fall to the wayside, because I mean,

1101
01:04:51,160 --> 01:04:52,960
Speaker 1: if we can get it out in the open and

1102
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:55,400
Speaker 1: discussed and investigate it and all that kind of stuff,

1103
01:04:55,560 --> 01:04:58,720
Speaker 1: I mean, who knows, they maybe they did. What if

1104
01:04:58,720 --> 01:05:02,240
Speaker 1: they legitimately found that massive voter fraw is a huge problem,

1105
01:05:02,320 --> 01:05:04,680
Speaker 1: well then sure maybe we should have voter ID laws.

1106
01:05:04,680 --> 01:05:07,400
Speaker 1: Who knows. But if they find that that's not the case,

1107
01:05:07,440 --> 01:05:10,040
Speaker 1: then we can say, all right, this law is going

1108
01:05:10,080 --> 01:05:13,520
Speaker 1: to suppress votes. There's no such thing as massive voter fraud,

1109
01:05:13,800 --> 01:05:18,040
Speaker 1: so this law should be struck down. Just let people vote, Yeah,

1110
01:05:18,280 --> 01:05:20,040
Speaker 1: you know, agreed.

1111
01:05:19,800 --> 01:05:23,000
Speaker 2: Like, who is one person to say, you know that

1112
01:05:23,080 --> 01:05:26,960
Speaker 2: they're not as up on politics and they don't they

1113
01:05:27,000 --> 01:05:29,360
Speaker 2: don't really take the time, so they shouldn't be allowed

1114
01:05:29,360 --> 01:05:29,720
Speaker 2: to vote.

1115
01:05:29,720 --> 01:05:31,280
Speaker 3: I mean, that is so anti American.

1116
01:05:31,640 --> 01:05:33,640
Speaker 1: You have to be an elitist to think like that,

1117
01:05:33,800 --> 01:05:37,840
Speaker 1: Like that's an elitist thinking, we're regardless of what your

1118
01:05:37,880 --> 01:05:45,200
Speaker 1: party affiliation is. Yeah, you got anything else? No, Well,

1119
01:05:45,240 --> 01:05:47,040
Speaker 1: this is probably the last one we'll ever be allowed

1120
01:05:47,040 --> 01:05:48,440
Speaker 1: to record. So it's been.

1121
01:05:48,400 --> 01:05:50,600
Speaker 3: Nice, Chuck, I've enjoyed working with you.

1122
01:05:50,920 --> 01:05:54,840
Speaker 1: Been nice, Jerry. If you want to know more about

1123
01:05:54,960 --> 01:05:57,320
Speaker 1: voter suppression laws, you can type those words in the

1124
01:05:57,360 --> 01:06:00,720
Speaker 1: search bar at HowStuffWorks dot com. And since I said

1125
01:06:00,800 --> 01:06:03,080
Speaker 1: voter suppression, it's time for listener mail.

1126
01:06:06,320 --> 01:06:06,560
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1127
01:06:06,560 --> 01:06:09,360
Speaker 2: And you know what before I do listener mail to

1128
01:06:09,480 --> 01:06:12,880
Speaker 2: listeners who are upset at us right now, like send

1129
01:06:12,920 --> 01:06:17,480
Speaker 2: us in a thoughtful, researched email of refutation.

1130
01:06:18,880 --> 01:06:21,360
Speaker 3: You know, m hm, that's what I want to see.

1131
01:06:22,480 --> 01:06:24,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I'd like to think, like, give me.

1132
01:06:24,320 --> 01:06:30,720
Speaker 3: Some proof of stuff. Yeah, all right, I'm.

1133
01:06:30,560 --> 01:06:33,760
Speaker 2: Gonna call this fan theory. Oh, this is a good

1134
01:06:33,760 --> 01:06:37,360
Speaker 2: one that you picked out. Yeah, Josh, I really enjoyed

1135
01:06:37,360 --> 01:06:38,920
Speaker 2: your show guys on the crazy fan theories.

1136
01:06:38,960 --> 01:06:40,760
Speaker 3: Thought i'd share one. It came up with a couple

1137
01:06:40,800 --> 01:06:41,400
Speaker 3: of years ago.

1138
01:06:41,840 --> 01:06:45,160
Speaker 2: It involves to kill a mockingbird, go set a Watchman,

1139
01:06:45,360 --> 01:06:49,400
Speaker 2: which was the famous sequel to that book, and Back

1140
01:06:49,440 --> 01:06:51,840
Speaker 2: to the Future Part one, and Back to the Future

1141
01:06:51,880 --> 01:06:54,920
Speaker 2: Part two, which was the very famous sequel to Back

1142
01:06:54,920 --> 01:06:56,600
Speaker 2: to the Future Part one.

1143
01:06:56,880 --> 01:07:00,200
Speaker 3: Right, I added that nice. Did you know that the.

1144
01:07:00,120 --> 01:07:03,920
Speaker 2: Courthouse steps in the movie adaptation of Mockingbird the very

1145
01:07:03,960 --> 01:07:07,080
Speaker 2: same as the courthouse in the Back of the Future movies.

1146
01:07:07,480 --> 01:07:08,600
Speaker 1: I did not know that, did you?

1147
01:07:09,080 --> 01:07:10,000
Speaker 3: Well? I didn't.

1148
01:07:10,240 --> 01:07:12,520
Speaker 2: I've been on the universal lot and walk those steps though,

1149
01:07:13,320 --> 01:07:15,600
Speaker 2: so I was just like, in my mind, I was thinking, well,

1150
01:07:15,640 --> 01:07:19,280
Speaker 2: it's just a movie lot, dude. So he says, aside

1151
01:07:19,640 --> 01:07:22,640
Speaker 2: from it being on the universal lot, the reason for

1152
01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:25,320
Speaker 2: this has to be that both To Kill a Mockingbird

1153
01:07:25,360 --> 01:07:27,320
Speaker 2: and Back to the Future take place in the same town.

1154
01:07:29,080 --> 01:07:29,800
Speaker 3: Well that's not.

1155
01:07:29,640 --> 01:07:32,080
Speaker 1: True, no, but still to Kill It with the chuck.

1156
01:07:32,840 --> 01:07:34,760
Speaker 2: To Kill a Mockingbird depicts the town in the nineteen

1157
01:07:34,800 --> 01:07:37,920
Speaker 2: thirties and the trial that exposes the deeply racist tendencies

1158
01:07:37,920 --> 01:07:40,640
Speaker 2: among its people. This is why in nineteen fifty five

1159
01:07:41,080 --> 01:07:44,240
Speaker 2: it would have never occurred to a black malt shop worker.

1160
01:07:45,560 --> 01:07:49,560
Speaker 3: I believe Goldie, Is that not right, future mayor Goldie.

1161
01:07:49,080 --> 01:07:51,480
Speaker 2: That he could one day become mayor until some guy

1162
01:07:51,520 --> 01:07:53,840
Speaker 2: from the future accidentally suggests it.

1163
01:07:54,920 --> 01:07:56,400
Speaker 3: This is falling apart from me already.

1164
01:07:56,640 --> 01:07:59,280
Speaker 1: I love this idea, and Back to the Future too.

1165
01:08:00,200 --> 01:08:04,680
Speaker 2: Marty steals a sports almanac from twenty fifteen which winds

1166
01:08:04,760 --> 01:08:07,760
Speaker 2: up in Biff's hands in nineteen fifty five, creating an

1167
01:08:07,800 --> 01:08:11,040
Speaker 2: alternate timeline from that point forward. Some twenty years after

1168
01:08:11,120 --> 01:08:14,720
Speaker 2: To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout returns home and Gossett a watchman,

1169
01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:20,360
Speaker 2: but it's set in the alternative timeline, which is why

1170
01:08:20,439 --> 01:08:23,200
Speaker 2: at least one character, Atticus Finch, seems very different.

1171
01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:27,120
Speaker 3: Is any like racist in this sequel?

1172
01:08:27,439 --> 01:08:29,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's Marty McFly's fault.

1173
01:08:30,280 --> 01:08:32,880
Speaker 2: Go Setta Watchman was written in nineteen fifty seven. It

1174
01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:36,840
Speaker 2: is the To Kill a Mockingbird of the alternate timeline.

1175
01:08:37,320 --> 01:08:40,040
Speaker 2: To Kill a Mockingbird was published in nineteen sixty. Is

1176
01:08:40,040 --> 01:08:43,040
Speaker 2: the version of the book written in the timeline. Marty

1177
01:08:43,080 --> 01:08:44,840
Speaker 2: fixes when he burns the almanac at the end of

1178
01:08:44,880 --> 01:08:48,360
Speaker 2: Back of the Future two. I'm completely lost on that one,

1179
01:08:48,640 --> 01:08:51,320
Speaker 2: and he says, how fitting that Gosetta Watchman was published

1180
01:08:51,360 --> 01:08:54,759
Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen. Yeah, and that bit.

1181
01:08:54,680 --> 01:09:01,920
Speaker 3: Of fan theoryishness is to you by Brian McBurney.

1182
01:09:02,400 --> 01:09:07,160
Speaker 1: Nice job, Brian. That was outstanding. It did have its poles.

1183
01:09:07,800 --> 01:09:10,599
Speaker 1: There's a little rough around the edges, but you're using

1184
01:09:10,640 --> 01:09:12,280
Speaker 1: your noodle and I like it.

1185
01:09:13,200 --> 01:09:17,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's better than Angela Lansbury is a serial killer.

1186
01:09:17,960 --> 01:09:21,200
Speaker 1: It is. If you want to get in touch with

1187
01:09:21,320 --> 01:09:23,599
Speaker 1: us like Brian did, and send us a really cool

1188
01:09:23,640 --> 01:09:26,400
Speaker 1: fan theory you thought of yourself. That holds up. You

1189
01:09:26,400 --> 01:09:29,080
Speaker 1: can send us both and Jerry and Noel and Frank

1190
01:09:29,160 --> 01:09:32,679
Speaker 1: the Chair an email to stuff podcast at HowStuffWorks dot

1191
01:09:32,680 --> 01:09:34,600
Speaker 1: com and as always, join us are a home on

1192
01:09:34,600 --> 01:09:38,160
Speaker 1: the web. Stuff Youshould Know dot com.

1193
01:09:39,400 --> 01:09:42,280
Speaker 3: Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For

1194
01:09:42,360 --> 01:09:46,560
Speaker 3: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

1195
01:09:46,680 --> 01:09:48,519
Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.