e that candidates are raising, f course, it's an issue and the economy is doing well, they are happy with pocketbooks and happy with stock portfolios are looking, but hasn't been big issue just asn we haven't seen been big issue anywhere this year. >> samara klara joining us to talk about the senate race, thanks for beingra here. >> yeah, my pleasure, thank you. >> there's more on this election day, more washington journal ahead here on c-span, we will take a quick break, when we come back, we will talk with debra of the nonpartisan group vote.org about efforts to increase voter turnout including try to make election day a national holiday, we will be right back. ♪ >> 2018 election results will start to come in as the polls close across the country tonight, the first polls close at 7:00 p.m. eastern in states

such as virginia and georgia, ohio, west virginia and north carolina close half hour later. much of florida closes at 7:00 p.m. as well except for the panhandle where they close at 8:00 p.m. polls in pennsylvania, new england states and several southern states including mississippi and most of texas also close at 8:00 p.m. arizona, wisconsin and new york are among number of states with polls closing at 9:00 eastern, polls in montana, nevada, utah and iowa close at 10:00 p.m. california and hawaii close their polls at 11:00 p.m. eastern, there are no polling sites in oregon and washington state but vote by mail ballots are due by 11:00 p.m. alaska closes voting at midnight eastern.se c-span, your primary source for campaign 2018. which party will control the

house and senate? watch c-span's live election night coverage starting tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern as the results comest in from house senate and governor races around the country, hear victory and concession speeches from the candidates and then wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern we will get your reaction to the election taking your phone calls live during washington journal. c-span, your primary source for campaign 2018. >> washington journal continues. >> it is election day 2018 and joining us from san francisco is debra clever founder and ceo of vote.org, we will be talking for much of the next half hour about efforts to increase voter turnout, first of all, debra, welcome and tell us about your organization, what do you focus on and why did you found it initially? >> oh, wow, why i found it initially goes back to 2000

election, we had 60% voter turnout in america and as a result the presidential election came down to repeated recount in a single county in florida, it was ultimately decided by the supreme court and basically just horrified that turnout was so low in this country that a single county could decide a presidential election so i started one organization in 2004, another in 2008 and vote.org in 2016. >> typically what's your target audience for getting that message out, first time-voters, folks who have been voters a long time but just typically don't show up at the polls? >> okay, so this is going toos e very slately nerdy but we target low propensity voters, people less likely to vote and historically in the u.s. low propensity voters are young people and people of color. and low-income people. >> the organization has

headline, u.s. trails most developed countries in voter turnout, so tell us about the efforts --t how do you target potential low propensity voters as you call them? >> a wide tactic, you need to contact someone about 7 times to sell them your product, we look at registered people as potential leads and then ballots cast as actual sales, literally just corporate marketing only in this case we are not trying to sell you goods we are trying to sell you voting itself and so what we do is we aim to contact someone at least 7 times and we dodo this by fully saturating ay inexpensive media channel that we could buy including billboards, text messages, radio ads, social media and sometimes we do this by working with companies to make sure that

people have time off to vote. >> our guest is debra cleaver founder and ceo of vote.org, we welcome your comments. we are talking about voter turnout. here is how we divided the phone lines on election day, if you've voted (202)748-8000, if you're plan to go vote today (202)748-8001 and if you're not voting (202)748-8002. how do you ensure that your efforts are seen as and are actually nonpartisan, your efforts are turning out voters regardless of party? >> well, so we never mention a political party or a candidate, wewe literally just tell peopleo go vote on tuesday november 6th, for example, we have 2600 billboards up right now all over america and all the billboards say vote tuesday november 6th and everyone thinks the government put them up which is great, it's fine, we are happy

to do the work that the government should be doing but we never tell someone who to vote for or why, literally, we just tell them to go vote. >> do you find, does your organization found that partnering with celebrities or political people like president obama, celebrities like taylor swift, we read an article about driving the vote in tennessee, do you think that helps or hinders the actual turnout effort? >> oh, my god, so we did not know that taylor swift was going to tell her instagram followers how important it was to vote and then tell them to come to vote.org, well registered 400,00 people to vote in 4 days after taylor swift told her fan base to come tose vote.org, we would say that celebrities when they are heart felt and sincere can be extremely effective at increasing turnout. >> were those 400,000 -- i didn't hear, were they in one state or across the country?

>> nationally. >> wow. >> over 63% of them were under 30 which is taylor's fan base. >> what does the term rolling mean and what efforts does your organization do to try to stop that? >> okay. so vote rolling in this case, do you know what rick rolling is? >> no. >> okay. so i'm going to teach you a little bit about internet culture right now. rick rolling is when young basically trick someone into clicking a link that takes them to athlete's video of never going to let you down and that's called rick-rolling and i have no idea how they got started, the internet is a wild place, but a few weeks ago someone started posting that he knew the real reason that ariana grande and the man from saturday night live, i don't know his name had broken up and link and everyone

wants to know why they broke up, apparently this is why interesting gossip and news and so people started clicking on it and it was taking them to vote.org and then that just went viral on twitter and people referring to it as vote rolling because it's a spoof on rick rolling but in this case we didn't want to stop it, people were landing and registering to vote. >> lastly, a number of calls waiting, in terms of joining us in west w coast, polls opening fairly soon, reports on the east coast of heavy turnout and certainly in early election we brought number of articles so far, early voting across the country at very strong to record levels, what's your thought on that? >> i think early voting is great, we are one of the only countries in the world that votes on a workday which decreases voter turnout so early voting is a great way to vote on the weekend and i think it's just ain good sign.

we've had record early voting this year and i think we will have record turnout, i think we will have record shattering turnout in this election. so early voting is great and i know from my mom and my aunt both of whom are on the east coast that the lines are already very long at the polls which is al a good sign. >> we would love to hear your experience voting this morning or your early-voting efforts if you -- if you've voted, debra cleaver founder and ceo of vote.org. martha, good morning. >> good morning, thanks for taking my call. i have a couple of thoughts i would like to share. first, this whole campaign, i've gotten three text messages a day fromth people trying to get my

vote and i don't think that's acceptable and another thing in iowa we now have privatized medicaid and i'm 38 year's old, my mother is 75 and i have oldest brother who is 50 who is autistic and now that it's privatized from the republicans that has totally messed with them financially and i'm hearing all this socialism fear-mongering from a lot of these republicans and republican corridors and i think i it's wrong, it's not really socialism, it's basically societal, like we need to help people and there's so much hate on both sides, thank you for

taking my call. >> martha in marian, iowa, your thoughts. >> i know the text messages can be annoying but they actually have shown to increase turnout and i think that we can all put up with just a little bit of annoyance if it means it's going to get some people who otherwise wouldn't have voted to the polls and i also agree that it's important that americans have health care and we are one of the few nations, civilized nations in the world that doesn't provide universal health care, so i can't really speak to privatization of medicare but i can say that health care is important.s >> let me ask you about text messaging, i want to point article of new york times six types of mistoifción watch for and what to do if you spot it. they write about suspiciousfo text, they write text messages are the breakout technology of 2018 campaign and many campaigns have been using peer to peer to encourage apps to turn out tuesday, if you're on a campaign or party's voter

list, you may receive legitimately text messages tuesday encouraging you to vote offering you a ride to polls but beaware of any text messages that tells you voting hours or locations that have changed or new forms of id required or voter registration is not valid. >> does your organization use it in a way to encourage participation? >> vote.org was actually the first organization to use peer to peer text messages to register voters and increase turnout. we were pioneering, we were the first group to do this, we ran probably the largest text campaign this year, we sent 38 million text messages, so we are really strong believers in text message.

we clearly identify that we are nonpartisan trust worthy group. you get information telling you that polls have changed, hours have changed and not registered to vote, you should double check that, double check with state possible and never trust any message that comes to you from and an unidentified group. >> bret in river side, california, not plan to go vote this year. >> yes, thank you for taking my call. i'm not proud that i'm not voting, i've always voted until the last 10 years. i see -- i see myself as part of the problem if i vote now if. i vote republican, if i vote democrat, it doesn't matter, there's just a constant divide and war between the parties, so, you know, no one gets anything done, nothing is ever accomplished until there's a

viable third party, you know, we are going back and forth. again, i'm not proud of this but i don't see that my vote is effective anymore. i don't see any of these politicians really working for the people, it's all about the party, it's all about division. i see us going into civil war eventually, frankly, i don't -- i'm not trying to be a fear-monger but that's where this is going. >> histh vote doesn't count? >> do you mind if i ask you v a question? >> he's left. if you want to make a comment. >> there are propositions because i know a lot of people frustrated by the politicians themselves especially in california, we get to vote on all of the proposition which is are basically the laws themselves. i haven't voted yet today because the ballot is so long,

there's about 8 pages of things for me to vote on, even if i didn't vote for the candidates themselves there's still so many things to vote on so i hope that brat will reconsider and if he's still registered to vote go down to polls today and at least vote on propositions. >> let's hear from adam in wisconsin who has already voted, good morning. >> hi, thank you for taking my call. so i just we wanted to kind of comment on what today perhaps means and bipartisanship that we have and i think there's been kind of labeling of this referendum on trump and so i think expectation management might be in order for some folks who maybe perceive it that man and trump is a businessman and he would be able to work with either party. they may not get everything they want if they are a democrat or if they're a republican but could be interesting just to see

how it shakes up things in the nexthi election. >> thanks a dam. debra cleaver. >> 80,000 people will be elect today office this year so i d think there's a lot more on te ballot than trump and trump and i are both native new yorkers so i will say that he is a businessman but perhaps not the most successful businessman. >> here is stewart in ohio plan to go vote today, stewart, go ahead. >> yes, sir. thank you so much for answering my call. i plan to vote today, the thing that bothers me the most is i would like for you to ask your callers how can a person vote when you v have people taking ay their health care, public assistance and they are so poor but yet they still don't vote

for their own interest but they vote and things are being taken away from them. >> let's address the issue of the vote denial or problems at the polls as we sit here on election day morning what's your sense broadly across the country sabout accessibility to the polls, efforts to make sure that the polls -- that voter lists are accurate. >> so first i should say if anyone encounters anyone at the polls trying to dissuade from voting they should call national election protection hotline 866-our-vote, if you are registered, there's no one that should try to stop you from voting, this year has been interesting because there are some elected officials who seem to be trying to decrease turnout using some tactics of dubious

legality, you know, at the same time this is american ande, the people get to choose the politicians not the other way around. >> headline in the columbus dispatch this morning summing up the election day morning, it's up to you now, the picture of early-day voting in the columbus area. we go to maryland, john who has already voted, good morning. >> good morning, sir, how are you doing? first of all i would like to thank c-span, awesome coverage, i listen to you every morning as i'm driving to work. one of the things that i've noticed and i've served this country in the military for 12 years and i've never seen it as divided and fractured as what it is today and it's sad because you realize that there's a lot of people that have come a long way to sacrifice to see this country running the way that it is running it's terrible. i'm all about having a national holiday for voting because it's important. you can have a national holiday for columbus, a

guy who murdered people, why can't you have a national holiday for voters, i mean, it's like one right that every american has that people choose to misuse and abuse and that's the sad part about that. >> debra cleaver, you mentioned we are the only country that votes duringth workweek? >> that's an excellent question. i can't imagine why we don't have a holiday and as the caller suggested columbus is holiday, i suggest we switch them, instead of celebrating columbus day and instead of giving people time off on columbus day we should give on election day. they are not even far apart. they are only a month apart. >> in alexandria, northern virginia suburbs, plan to go vote today -- planning to vote today is greg, good morning. >> good morning, i'm concerned when we speak about low propensity voters, we are also

talking about low-information voters. that person who has little awareness of history civics, economics, you know, you can go down the list of critical issues is getting the same vote that i am, i used to beat a big advocae for get out and vote, everybody should be voting thinking that that would make them more -- moreti likely to inform themsels but i don't see that being the case at all. so what responsibility do you have when you're advocating vote to go make sure people know what the heck is going on? >> well, i would say for starters there is a ballot guide on our website that let's people know exactly what's going to be on their ballot today. ballot ready and ballot pdo to provide this information and, you know, i can see how someone might argue that people should have to pass basic civics test because they are allowed to vote but we would get

a question who gets to design civics test and if there's someone like me, i'm an expert that only i would pass my own text. this is not a requirementwo to vote. it's an interesting idea intellectually but it's not a practical idea and the few times in our country that we have passed requirements for people really have only served to disenfranchise people of color. >> have your efforts have been widely accepted or run in opposition in some states in your voter registration? >> we've definitely had states pushing back, texas stands out, texas makes it really challenging to register to vote, probably the most difficult state in the country not only do they not offer online voter registration which is a common sense optioner offered by almost every other state in america but in order to register people in

texas you need to be deputized which is, i mean, on the one hand rounding up a posse, maybing everybody a deputy and on the other hand has chilling effect on voter turnout. i would say that the state of texas has had issues with us and we have had issues with the state of texas but i imagine over the next few years we will work together because i refuse to believe that texas does not want people to register to vote even if they behave that way. >> viewers and c-span radio listeners too, debra cleaver's organization, vote.org, that's the website, if you don't know where to go, you can find out, you can find polling place by clicking right there and typing address and it will bring that information. all information is across 50 states in the district of colombia, correct? >> yes, it is and over 1 million people have used the polling

place locater just in the past 2424 hours. >> wow, okay. louis is up, washington, d.c., good morning. >> hello. >> you're on the air. >> i'm in washington, d.c. and along with the rest of the people that live in washington, d.c. we are only allowed to vote in the presidential election, no other national election do we have a voice in. we have holmes norton but they do not have a vote and republicans r don't want washington to have a vote because most of us are democrat and the republicans don't want us to have a vote, say in government but they are happy to tax us. and i want to thank you for this program and ms. cleaver, thank you for your organization. >> louis, thanks for your call, gos ahead. >> i was going to say a, you're

quite welcome, b, no taxation without representation and dc, puerto rico andep guam should be states. >> supporter on twitter about the idea of a holiday, sally tweeting, great idea a for national holiday switch, yes, to voters day, no more columbus day. let's get another call here also from -- excuse me, this one is from wilmington, north carolina, and alexis, go ahead. >> i have to say this is my first -- can you hear me? >> yes, i can, go ahead. first timeis is my hearing c-span in about 3 months and i did not know how important you are and i want to thank you for being on the air and if you can do anything about spreading it because all i was able to do was listen on live stream and i can't watch it without having cable so i was very glad to hear

this morning and i was compelled to call in on the national level people that voted for trump will vote for trump and are christian, i'm talking to you, at what point do you say, i'm a christian first and my pocket comes second because that's what's up against this election besides the real racial issue that has bubbled up, thank you to the man in office and i say thank you -- you really find out who your friends out. >> we will -- >> you find out who your friends. >> we will let you go there, alexus. she's talking about president trump, let's move discussion to

2020, how would you -- what would your organization do in terms ofni voter registration presidential election? >> our goal to presidential election is run a program that's ten times bigger than what we did this year, so this year we registered 1.2 million people. doing some quick math, that should put us at about -- let's say we want to register about 12 million people in 2020 and then we want to run an even larger get out the vote drive than we ran this year. thiss year it's pretty huge, 30 million people. .. ..

on this election day to find out if you don't know where to vote what some of the issues are. thanks so much for being with us. >> guest: thanks for having me. >> host: we haven't half hourr more of your phone calls and comment on election day as we look live to the tenth congressional district polling place in the tenth congressional district. that race barbara comstock republican incumbent. jennifer west and the democratic challenger in which considered to be a very close race. open up our phone lines begin for you to hear about your election to experience and your thoughts on election day. we will get to your phone calls

momentarily. we are joined on the phone by thomas hicks, chairman of the u.s. election assistance commission. on this election day, tell us about your organization, your role on this election day. >> caller: good morning,ol bill. the united states election assistance commission was formed in 2002 to help states administer elections by providing additional information, by providing funds and the certification of voting machines on a voluntary basis. we have about 25 employees. we given about $4 billion to the states since 2002 and in 2018 we gave about $380 million to the states to help with the administration of the process. mostly within cybersecurity, shoring up the systems to be verified, purchasing voting

equipment for by showing up their voter registration system or helping with theio election audits. >> host: on the issue of cybersecurity in the week ahead of the election, the defense secretary james mattis at an event c-span covered this past week said the number one responsibility for u.s. cyber command was the protection of the u.s. election system. how does your organization interface with cyber command and also with homeland security on this election day? >> caller: through the designation of critical infrastructure, the e.a.c. sits as cochair of the government court in council and we work closely with the department of homelandnd security and states n the issue of cybersecurity. i believe that we are light years ahead of where we were in 2016 in terms of getting

information out to the states and having states follow that information back to the federal government. one of the major problems in 2016 was states did not who to talk to in terms of getting information to come when threats were being laid out. they could talk to us but when cyber issues came up that needed homeland security to get information out to the states, homeland security was talking to the states but not to the right people. with the help of the e.a.c. we have rectified a lot of those issues moving forward this election. >> host: you mention $380 million authorized by congress and as grants to the states. the e.a.c. website e.a.c..org with a breakout of how states are using that money, 36.3% of the money come when $34 million on cybersecurity talking about.

20% on voting equipment. voter registration nearly 14% election audits of the actual results i .6% and 2% on communication. if you had to look at one area where you thought statess could do a better job, or deficient in the effort or funding available do you think that might be? >> caller: since with such a diverse country, what would work in maine is not going to minister to work in california. california might need a better registration system, but maine might need something entirely different so i can't just pin point one thing over all. but i would say that the e.a.c. has worked with the states to identify issues that they have and help withel the purchase of new voting equipment through and rfc process or with our testing and certification process to

look at different typesca of machines they could work with. but also with voter registration. since those systemsth are web-based systems, a lot of states are working towards rectifying to ensure that those are fortified against attack throughst the web. >> host: how confident are you in the security of the u.s. election system of the states, across the country and their election systems? >> caller: i'm very confident. we know there's going to be issued but that doesn't necessarily mean those are issues that are cyber related. there are issues with every election, whether not that poll workers waking up, opening up polls a little late or long lines, the rain happening. we can't control the weather. so that will be issues on election day, but i have confidence with contingency

plans and the election officials that are out there, that the election will run as smoothly as possible. >> host: its early on election day but any news updates you want to tell us about, about any problem areas so far? the pulse of an open for a couple ofup hours. >> caller: so far we we've not heard too much. we've heard about long lines but that'sth a good thing. it means americans have confidence in the process and that they are out there exercising their democratic rights to exercise the right to vote. >> host: thomas hicks, chair of the u.s. election assistance commission. those of you on twitter might want to add him today. thomas hicks, thanks so much for being with us this morning. >> caller: thank you, bill. >> host: let's continue with your calls and your thoughts on electionou day. we we'll go to steve and rosemot minnesota was alreadydy voted. thanks for waiting and good morning. >> caller: good morning i'm just calling to say that the

polls at local polling place, they sent out and mail in ballots and think the best thing ever. you get the ballot init the mail and you filll it out, you sign it, have somebody else that is a registered voter sign on the outside ballot with you and put in the mail and mail it back and i think you'd be surprised how many people would justrp start voting that never voted before. >> host: so you are hooked now in terms of early voting. no more going to the polls for you. you like the mail in ballots trickett absolutely. it's the only way to go. >> host: we are keeping our eye on the tenth congressional district, a polling polling place in their of barbara comstock district are also looking at news organizations across the country. let's look at kansas, lawrence,

kansas, and polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. voting underway and eric and county clerk predictss record turnout for midterm elections from the lawrence world. here's missouri, , richard is planning to vote today. hi there. >> caller: yeah, i'm getting ready. my wife hase to clear her hairp before we go down to pull. we live in a small area. you know, missouri seems to be important this time. claire mccaskill, you know, got a close race. she is really a moderate. she is, am i still on? >> host: go ahead. you on the air, go ahead. >> caller: claire is really a moderate democrat, i guess call them. you i am more of a liberal democrat but anyhow, she's got a close race and we will have to see how it goes. there's been talk about racism.

maybe the republicans are not racist but all of them i know personally, even relation and friends, they are all, there's no doubt in my mind that are racist. after obama got elected, the tea party come in to be on strictly republican and that's what, that's how decide who is racist. i've beenn pretty loyal republican and democrat all my life, one or the other but this country really divided. i hate to see it but as old as i am it really doesn't matter anymore. i'll let you go. >> host: that's richard in missouri. imperial missouri next. not votingta this election. >> caller: well, i guess it's because i'm extremely, extremely down. i do not see a blue wave coming. i feel that the red wave is

going to happen because of how gerrymandered our country is that the reason i called in today was because of two of your guests. professor davidson from the university of missouri st. louis said that jefferson county was going to be important. i live in jefferson county. it's been gerrymandered into three different parts. i'm voting with people from the lake of theke ozarks which is practically across the state from me, as well as people from west dalton which is way up the mississippi riverh to the north of st. louis. >> host: because the way that shape oftr the district? >> caller: yes. we are very, very gerrymandered. and when ms. cleaver was taught by how important was to get out the vote, i kept wondering about back in the day of clinton when

paul ryan andhe some other stard thinking about how could they make sure that we turned red, they decide they would get the state legislatures and gerrymandered the whole country, andd i think they have done ani don't see how there's going to be a blue wave. now, i was heartened i demand that you just had called from misery, and maybe, just maybe,, he might make me think maybe i should still get out today. but i can't help thinking that paul ryan most be thinking be careful what you wish for. >> host: that is anita in imperial missouri. thanks for being with us this morning. on a blue wave one of those states we may see some indication of that is california. join us is berkeley institute of government, governmental studies pollk director mark dicamillo joining us.

in california there are many, many congressional districts. what's the sense you have of where some of the ski district stand in terms of democrats winning back control from those republican seats? >> caller: right. there are probably seven to ten districts that are held by republicans that are seen as at least somewhat competitive this year in california. the berkeley poll that i direct hold in eight of them in mid-september and actually the "new york times" has updated our poll in six o of those district. what we're seeing is the democrats appear to be ahead in about two or three of the districts. that is ath little less prominet than it was in mid-september when we did our poll, it would look like maybe four or five. we will have to see how the

turnout is. everything relates to turnout. in california many, many voters vote by mail. in fact, of the 20 million voters, 13 million of them have been sent mail ballots. it's going to be pretty much an election that will be determined by those who choose to fill up those mail ballots. >> host: any sense of how many have returned those ballots? we heard about a record return so far in early voting in other states. >> caller: right. as of yesterday it was about 4 million, and you know, we are expecting the turnout perhaps in the 11 billion range. i that would be my expectation for this election. a lot of those mail ballots get turned inct right on election dy and actually according to state law, they allow any valid that is postmarked on election day to be counted. they are actually coming in in the days after the election. it's going be interesting, if

the nation is waiting for california and if that's going to decide the house, you know, one thing that is a problem in california is that we probably will not have all the ballots counted for about a week so we may have a long time of waiting if that's what it comes down to. >> host: why does it take so long? >> caller: it's the late arriving mail inn ballots. i would suspect three or 4 million will be showing up at the registers office today. they can't count them today. they've all the other ballots that they are setting up either the precinct ballots in the earlier mail in ballots to be counted. i think you don't have about 70% of the vote counted by the end of the night tonight. it's going to be a frustrating experience if you're waiting for the house to be turned by two or three three or four districts in california. >> host: broadly on the house races, and francisco chronicle over the weekend and the

headline here's what's at staket for california in tuesday's election writing that president trump is barnes from in the country to get out the vote event evangelist he make it moree bargained for in california is likely to play a large role. the results will probably -- becoming speaker of the house, but it remains to be seen if it will leave a check on trump, like with nancy pelosi, or with kevin mccarthy." guest: yes, it is ironic >> caller: it is ironic that no matter which party wins, it may be that the speaker will be a california whether republican or a democrat that is interesting. when we did our poll it's definitely a referendum about trump. when you look at the supporters

of republican candidates, they pretty much on board with trump. those are supporting the democrats are opposed to trump thinking not doing a good job. it's a high correlation with how people feel about the president when they're voting in the congressional elections in this state. >> host: the berkeley institute of governmental polls. mark dicamillo is the director. does your organization due any day of polling in terms of what people are thinking as they go or as they leave the polling places? >> caller: now. no, we're shut down we did a statewide poll poll this past week in which we are measuring references in the governor's race, i'd u.s. senate race, other statewide elections but that was the last of our polls. >> host: thanks so much for being with us this morning getting us some insight on to the california races trekkie thank you very much. >> host: 15 minutes left on "washington journal" on election day 2018.

this is the polling place in the tenth of district in northern virginia. the tenth congressional district. barbara comstock is the republican incumbent. jennifer laxton the democratic challenger. we continue with their calls. nancy is in athens, georgia. she is already voted. >> caller: i'm a little bit nervous because this is the third time i've tried to get through but it just have something to say that i've been listening to, i have an unusual stand because i'm originally from mississippi and i now live in georgia. i'm a social worker and the thing that's most disturbing to me that i've heard this morning over andst over again is the difference between the black people who are calling in and the white people who are calling in. i am not prejudiced at all. i have a daughter who's is engaged to a black individual. my parents raised me to not look at race,at to look at the perso,

look at the inside of the person. and it's very disturbing to see what's going on here in georgia right now with our governor's race. oprah and president obama, john legend, all these people were coming come here and kind of stirring up racialst divisiveness, you know. i don't think they would be here if stacy abrams was a white democrat running on the same stance that she has, and it's just sad to me as as a person o has fought for racists to get along. and i ige have represented welfe mothers for a long time, and as a christian it's just sad to me to see not the difference between the republicans and the democrats but the way, and it didn't start during trump's

administration. itit started during obama's administration. when he got in, i didn't vote for him but but i cried becausi had hoped that this country would come together against racial lines. but instead of that it seems like we have gone so far backwards that it is very disheartening to me. i somebody would like to see us all be americans and not i'm a a white american, i'm an african-american. just i'm an american. that's what i would like to get back to. >> host: light-year from steve next. port st. lucie in florida. go ahead. >> caller: thank you so much. i have pre-existing cancer and my republican vote died when john mccain died. today it's a referendum on whether the american people think that checks and balances is a good idea for our country.

and any time one party gets too much power, it's bad for the american people. so i'meo encouraging everyone, i voted straight democrat this time and i'm a libertarian. and ian encourage everyone to do the same so we have checks and balances on this government. the main thing down here in florida is people are not talked about is amendment number four and that's the felon voter rights. we believe that that will lower the recidivism rate down here if we bring those felons back their voting rights. so iac encourage anyone yes on number four. we will need -- to register all those people for the 2020 election. and rick scott, red tie rick, did not vote for rick scott picky is been the worst governor the state is polluted all over. we cannot blue-green algae in

lake okeechobee and a little town of stewart just got hammered two out of the last three years, and that is a republican county.op i'm just hoping that people don't vote rick scott there because he does not deserve our vote in florida is polluted as of the thing is been bannon port st. lucie florida. a couple of tweets, this one from senator chris murphy say he is live in the car on his way on to vote. also heard on the hill millennials today are texting out the vote.in this one from mickey welsh tweeting congresswoman marco rubio arrives with the family and snowden alabama. and from the candidate for

senate in tennessee represented marsha blackburn, thank you for your support. calls in joliet illinois. are you there? good morning, illinois. are you there? we will try that. we will go to sunrise beach, sunrise beach missouri. mike has already voted. go ahead. >> yes, sir. me and the wife was number three and four are voting place this morning. and it appeared to be kind of heavy voting comingot out but wt i'd like to bring up as most of my friends that are democrats are going to vote democrat regardless of what you try to do, you know, to tell them to like take theal person off about instead of just voting one way. i'd like to see some kind of legislation t that limits the te

that you could start taking out ads. what i'm worried about is we're going to start airing ads for the 20 election. and we're just getting over all the ads we've been bombarded with for the 2018 election. so it like to hear your view, start up some kind of legislation that will give us like a year break before we have to hear it again. so thank you. >> host: thank you. the gazette eastern iowa. this is the front page. i would governor's race all about turnout. that the democratic candidate fred hubbell. governor reynolds in iowa. another story, ing will among te of restoring voting rights. one of three states along with kentucky and florida that permanently disenfranchises people with felony convictions unless they complete the states restoration process and get approval from the state government. grayson is in north carolina.

go ahead. already voted. >> caller: yeah. i wanted to say, we are in buncombe county and this district also has three districts. we have been saturated with ads. it's been a very whole lot of ads, but i've already cast my vote and, of course, glad to,, but we get all the commercials from surrounding districts. there is cos., there's like one district takes up three counties like 118, 119. 119. you throw all the circle around and like the other caller said, her account has three districts. we do, too. it's been a very, it should then a lot, a very hectic election cycle and always kind of throws a monkeywrench in the rest of

north carolina because this county doesn't get a lot of news from eastern north carolina. it's just been a very kind of hectic, i think it's been a good election cycle. people are glad to have, glad to be able to vote. this is another one of those counties that has three districts. >> host: lets you know that you from north carolina. v tony from durham voting early. hi there. >> caller: good morning. i would like to say, you know, this election is very important. the callers that are called in, don't take it personal that some of the people are with the racial divisiveness. what it is, it's right whether they want to do right or wrong. if they want to vote for someone

that is for killing babies and bringing illegal people toin ths country, that's not for americans because they do not hire americans, whether you're black or white. with all of their, you know, you know, there idolatry should i say, because these psychic shops have opened up in this country. i mean just like almost every corner. but don't take itt personal. god is separating the week from the -- [inaudible] whether the what to do the right thing or not. so you know i mean, i voted for trump and i voted all the red in this election year. so hey, you know, big, i love donald trump. >> host: that's totally in north carolina. reaction on twitter as well. this one from ms. liner sank our

ap government kids are listening from janesville, wisconsin. we have first-time voters comes to election inspectors helping out in the city. is it?ys what time time to drain the swamp. vote democrats to send them home. trump inspires so many to vote against him. what is being done to make sure the boat is legitimate? and if pulses like charlie cook, mark penn, doug turn out to be wrong again, please invite them on "washington journal" to explain how they are perpetually wrong and always in the same direction. a few moree calls. we hear from linda in tennessee has a a keeper on the tenth congressional district polling place in northern virginia. linda, good morning. >> caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i voted a straight red, and i'm independent but i'm going to change the straight republican. and there's a lot of democrats.

they are also changing to republican. [inaudible] the economy is good here. people hollering they can't get a job. there's signs everywhere. a lot of people just don't want to work. thank you. >> host: paul from new jersey planning to vote today. good morning, paul. >> caller: how're you doing? >> host: fine thanks. >> caller: listen, i'm really worried that the election is going to go the same way it went two years ago when we had the horrible election years. i have -- dedicated and committed trump zealots. would you like to hear them? >> host: go ahead.

>> caller: the five idus. i do ignore obama's triumphs. i do invent obama interpreted. i do insist t on trump. i do ignore obvious treason. and i idolize outrageous trickster. >> host: okay. that's paul in new jersey and we had one more here from alex in maryland who is already voted. .. >> kind of incoherent about certain laws. i think they're just being made visible now. i think it's important to recognize them, important to recognize marginalized voices. so, again, probably, probably

something that people who are not in position to be disadvantaged by these laws unfairly have to notice because these voices are much more audible, these problems are are much more visible. so i think, you know, it doesn't need to be a tool of division, it can be a really important tool in restoration, and i really hope you would consider these voices as legitimate. >> host: gallup has a poll as the elections, as campaign comes to a close, a poll on top issues nationing congress or, certainly -- facing congress or, ercertainly congressional races. the top three as very important, number one, health care. 80% of respondents said that. 78% saying economy is a very important issue. equally, 78% also saying immigration. a look at some of the other issues according to gallup as people go to the polls and we continue with a but more calls,

we hear from ted in jackson, tennessee. welcome. >> caller: yes, sir. yeah, i'm going to vote today, ask i might add -- and i might add that i voted for trump, but i'm not going to be brainwashed by trump, ask i'm voting for phil bredson. he's a common sense man, says he'll take trump policies that are good for tennessee and use them, policies that are bad, he'll go against them. now, what kind of -- what more could you want from a candidate? and not only that, but -- [inaudible] taken millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry. that's part of the opioid problem we have here. i just can't vote to somebody that's sold out the pharmaceutical industry, you know? so that's -- i'll be voting today, and i'll be definitely voting for phil bred seven, a good guy. >> host: janice, welcome. good morning.

>> caller: good morning. thank you forer c-span. >> host: thank you. you're on the air, janice. >> caller: yeah, i voted democratic all the way, voted on october 18th, thank goodness for our mail-in voters. i would have really, the rest of country, you need to go to your mail-in votes. that's the best way to vote. anyway, blue wave, go. >> host: washington state, washington state and oregon, two of states that don't have polling places, they have mail-in votes which are due at 11:00 tonight. so a final check of the closing times and things to watch for tonight. new york times with this piece, but you'll find them in a number of papers, what to watch for, 9 p.m. closings led by gretchen whitmer, michigan's almost all-female ticket is sent to create big gains. racesimportant senate

dominate this western collection of states, two women vying for the open seat in arizona vacated by jeff flake, and senator dean heller, a republican, faces a tough re-election in nevada. in north dakota senator heidi heitkamp is considered the host vulnerable if democrat. 11 p.m. closing, this is 11 p.m. eastern, what to watch for, if control of the the house comes down to california, you hay well go to sleep. the notoriously slow-counting state has multiple swing tickets and allows mail-in ballots all the way until election day. so we heard that a bit earlier. one more here, midnight to one a.m. for the -- we'll be up on c-span doing the election coverage tonight, midnight to one a.m., what to watch for. a governor's race in alaska, surprisingly, became competitive after bill walker, the independent incumbent, dropped out and endorsed democrat, senator mark begich. the race had been a close three-way battle but now that it's just a democrat versus

republican, the seat isst up for grabs. by onene a.m., voting will be completed in all states. to las vegas, we hear from from tammy. good morning. >> caller: hello. i love your show. and i wanted to say i voted for prosperity and against identity politics. the banks got bailed out, and mid-america got gutted out. i grew up in kansas city. obama said those jobs weren't coming back, and trump is working to fix it. things like steel, it needs to be made in america. national security threat. plus, if you're an environmentalist -- which i know a lot of democrats are -- do you want steel and tons of plastic crap shipped across the globe? it doesn't make sense. if also calling people racist for wanting secure borders, why am i going to vote for that? i lived in l.a. for 15 years. when you bring in millions of uneducated third world poor, they cannot compete in an expensive, high-tech economy. they have no choice but to turn

to government. then you get terrible schools, hospitals closed everywhere, services are terrible. they all only get worse, and then it's coupled with extremely high taxes. i moved to las vegas because of that, and i brought my job -- my business and my jobs when i did. and it's not racist to point out that immigration is an issue. >> host: well, let me ask you about dean heller race. are you voting for his re-election? since you've already voted, tammy, in nevada. >> caller: oh, of course. i voted red across. i did not want the -- the did you hear that clip of obama a minute ago? he said don't go back to judging people by skin color. what do we hear, people that are not racist that just want the immigration problem solved? >> host: all right, tammy, we'll hear one more call from nick in silver springs, maryland, who's already voted. you're on air. >> caller: hey, how are you? i just have to say i'm 48 years old, and i still get goose bumps when iol vote. and i justps want to do a call-t

to those throughout history from 1776 through the suffrage movement, through the civil rights movement who helped secure and expand right to vote for usri americans. and i think it's very unfortunate there are people who don't even bother or who don't understand the link between their lives and what happens in washington and the state capitols and is who they vote for. so many people have fought and died for this great experiment in american democracy, and we've got to, we've got to continue to expand and fight for it, but most of all, we've got to honor the right. >> host: thicke in silver springs -- nick in silver springs with some historical perspective to help us wrap up here on "washington journal." more ahead and, obviously, our election coverage tonight which we'll be telling you about shortly.y. thanks for tuning in this morning, we'll talk about th elections, who won, who lost and what's still undecided tomorrow morning ott to "-- morning on "washington journal." seven a.m. eastern. we'll see you then.

>> today is, of course, election day, and here's a tweet from 5:38 about women running for office. in the u.s. house, 237 women are are running compared with the previous high of 167 in 2016. in the u.s. senate, 23 women are are running compared with the previous record of 18 which was sent in 2012. and there on your screen a graph showing the increase in the number of female candidates this year. that's a total of 255 female candidates running for the house and senate on ballot today. and again, in that from 538 and the center for american women in politics. >> 2018 election results will start to come in as polls close across the country tonight. the first polls close at 7 p.m. eastern in states such as virginia and georgia, ohio, west virginia and north carolina close a half hour later. much of florida closes at 7 p.m. as except for part of the

panhandle where they close at 8 p.m.. polls in pennsylvania, the new england states and several southern states including and most of texas also close at 8. arizona, wisconsin and new york are among a number of states with polls closing at 9 eastern. polls in montana, nevada, utah and iowa close at 10 p.m. california and hawaii close their polls at 11 p.m. eastern. there are no polling sites in oregon and washington state, but vote-by-mail ballots are due by 11 p.m.. alaska closes voting at midnight eastern. c-span, your primary source for campaign 2018. >> which party will control house and senate? watch c-span's live election night coverage starting tonight at 8 p.m. eastern as the results come in from house, senate and governor races around country. he