coint has more voters than they had planned on the with the ballot on demand machines that they decided to use at their sthrilet locations. but we expect that early voting will alleviate that conjection and we have told voters not to expect long lines on voting day. >> we learned that he has already spoken with a number of the county clerks planning to, the possibility at least of a recount. what have you done to make some plans for some of the, i think there are seven or eight competitive house races in ohio? >> well, there's not just competitive house races but also a very competitive governor's race. so in my state, the secretary of state drafts directives that carry the force of law for the boards of elections. so in crafting for instance, the unofficial canvasing directive, we have provided for very specific evidence-based

recording of information so that when the unofficial canvas is complete, there later is a complete canvas or official canvas later on, that we will know how many military votes are still outstanding from within the united states, outside the united states, the overseas votes, as well as even the number of e over votes for what we call a double bubble where the person has overemphasized the vote by voting for their candidate and putting in a write in. because in ohio we have a law that says the voter intent must be expressed >> for house and for governor. you left out one of the races. the open senate seat there in ohio. you ran in the democratic primary, the lieutenant governor lee fisher is trailing badly in the polls. would you have been in the same position or do you think you would have performed better in the general election? >> well, that remains to be

actually it will never be decided because for the ohio voters it's what they're going to get is an election where they can make their choices and a secretary of state who is more than fully engaged in the process of making sure that every vote counts. and that we have a very good, smooth election here in ohio. >> we've been talking about the different balloting systems that are being used. can you explain to us the different types that are used throughout the state by different counties? >> ye yes. we have primarily the touch screen and the optical scan ballots. for the viewers, the touch screen of course is the electronic recording of the votes at the time that the voter places their vote and then the optical scan of course is the paper ballot that the voter can place into the precinct scanner themselves. we have about 47 counties using

the debolt system. the remainder, except for two using the es system and the other using hart. it's a variety but it reflects the diversity of the people of the state of ohio and we have overriding rules that deal with the reporting of the votes, they'll all come in electronically, we'll be reporting those then through our election at reporting system on election night. >> we learned from secretary busher in colorado that they have a 25-day maximum under state law if there is a recount in order to certify results. is there any such limitation in ohio? >> it's actually a building of days upon days. once the unofficial canvas is done election night, there's a ten-day period for the military and the overseas ballots to come in, as well as the late absentee ballot that is are post marked at least the day before the elecked. and then there will also be the provisional ballots. the official canvas has to

begin between 11 to 15 days after the election. so it could extend a little bit after that to get the official canvas and it's at that point that any recount would begin. and a statewide recount would be done by the counties. we have a very specific process where if it's an electronic volting machine, there's a v pat daut trail that is actually a percentage is hand coutted and compared with the electronic result. if they don't match within two votes, then they go on and do a larger sample with the potential of having to do an entire hand count of the county. but having done this since 2008 in this particular process, we think that things should go smoothly. the boards of elections have had a couple of years to get some new procedures under their belts, and we don't anticipate a lot of problems. >> question for both secretaries ofs. there have been advertisements that have been running in some states that some groups are

suggested intended to intim date people from going to the polls. specifically directed towards perhaps hispanic americans. have you seen any ed in your state of colorado and then later secretary bruner in ohio at any attempts of voter suppression this year? >> i have not. i'm not perhaps the best person to ask that question because i don't watch a whole lot of television advertising but i've not seen any and i've not been told of any. >> and secretary brunner. >> well, we just learned about a situation of a mcdonald's operator in northeast ohio who put letters in his employee's pay checks saying that if they did not vote for particular candidates, which in this case happened to be republicans, that it could affect their ability to get raises later on. i think the reports are that this was done without knowledge that this clearly violates ohio law. i have just appointed an

attorney from northeast ohio, former prosecutor, who is going to be investigating this for me. and we'll be reporting this to the ohio attorney general. there are a lot of folks up in arms about this, as they should be, because an employer cannot attempt to influence his or her employees with to vote for a particular person or against a particular person with the incentive that it could affect their employee benefits in the future. >> for both of you we've heard charges across the country i think that there is voter fraud going on. i feel like after the last couple of elections this has just become sort of the go to excuse even before election day. have you seen any instances of voter fraud in either colorado or ohio or anywhere around the country? >> we are actually investigating an instance where in very southern ohio in

lawrence county where two individuals took absentee applications to various voters, had them fill them out. but the return address were to a couple of po boxes. clearly, a problem, because as the board of elections spot checked with the voters, the voters had intended for them to go to them in their rezz dense. so when we see an instance like this and it could be voter suppression, voter infilm dation, voter fraud, voter registration fraud, we get on it right away because it's important that when people vote that their vote is not diluted by someone who should not be voting. and it's also important that everyone who is entitled to vote have the opportunity to vote. >> secretary, have you seen any instances in colorado? >> the instances of voter fraud are very, very rare in colorado. like most states, we have a online voter data base, the

name, address, and information about every single voter is on that data base. it's a public record. and folks comb through that. obviously candidates prepare their walk lists and their get out the vote efforts based on that list. and i have said many, many times, if anyone sees on that list someone who is not eligible to vote, let us know. contact our office. and we just don't get that information. so i'm -- you're always concerned about the possibility of voter fraud, but we seem -- we see very, very few instances in colorado. >> we are just about out of time with both of you. for wrapup question, we've heard a lot about the details and i think you helped our audience understand a great deal more about the level of planning that's going into election 2010. but let me ask both of you, what is keeping you up at night these two days going into election day?

>> well, as i said, every count is the nightmare -- a recount is the nightmare, even worse since i'm on the ballot also, would be a recount in the secretary of state's office. that's the number one thing that i worry about. the procedures that we've been working on and making sure are open and transparent regarding a recount i think are very, very solid and we're making sure that those are communicated well to our county clerks so that we're all on the same page if that should happen. >> well, then the twin of that question or the flip side is, how confident are you going into election day that all the systems are in place? >> i'm very, very comfortable. we've been talking to the county clerks daily, and the election in colorado is running quite smoothly right now. >> and secretary, the same questions for you. first, what are you most concerned about as we go into the election day itself?

>> my greatest concern really has more to do with whether or not we'll have a recount. already we're seeing public records requests of, for instance, the board of elections of all the names of their provisional voters who will be voting provisionally on election day, which means i suspect that some of these campaigns are expecting very, very close race. and the important thing will be that our boards of elections follow the correct procedures. we have imnume rabble directives that give them the instructions of what they need to do. but what, when things get really tough is when either side attempts to litigate the results of an election. i myself am a former judge, a former election attorney, so i understand the intensity that goes into that. and the last thing that we want to see is anything that would shake the confidence of the voters. clearly in ohio we're prepared for this election. if we have a recount there will

be frustration on the parts of people because we won't know for certain what the results of our election are. but our election officials are well trained, prepared, and ready to move forward to conduct everything fairly and according to the procedures that we've carefully set out. so we're confident that ohio will do well even if we have to suffer through the difficulties of a recount. >> many thanks to both of you as you start the busiest week of your job. ohio secretary of state, and colorado secretary of state. thanks to both of you for being on c-span's "newsmakers" today. >> thank you. >> we appreciate it. >> let me turn to our two guests in studio in washington. jessica of politico. reed of hot line, also knee deep with all your staff in this year's election. we heard two confident secretaries of state, but what they also seem to be pretty confident of is that there are going to be court challenges

going forward? is this the way of the world for elections in the united states from where our society is is? >> i think minnesota gave us a new standard, and both parties have been preparing definitely for this. we've seen fund raising appeals come out from both sides saying we have to be ready to go on november 3rd. and it's almost inevitably going to be either the house race, several senate races so dedloked in the polls. so it's not going to surprise journalists. but i think what you did see from both of them is that people want to minimize the time and the length. they don't want the elections running out months, especially if it does hinnage on one or two seats that could control the senate. that people want that resolved very quickly but also very fairly as well. >> both sides have already sort of readied their fleets of lawyers roont the country there are a number of organization that is prepare for the two

weeks after the election, after the 2000 when every lawyer went to the fla and had a working revasion. but now the national public association has a fleet of volunteer attorneys who are ready to get on planes on election night or the very soon after, the morning after, and fly out to these contested races. it was very telling in minnesota that the lead election lawyer on the democratic side, a guy named mark, was in minnesota very shortly after election day and really took control sort of explaining to reporters what was going on, explaining to reporters how the democrat's view of the process. the republican side was handled through a press aide and it was a little less smooth. so i think it's -- after the lessons of minnesota we're going to see a lot of very high powered lawyers going to these

seats and really taking over the process. >> the law, which is help america vote act, which came out of the 2000 recount was intended to make voting more easy, more accurate and easier, because all of the counties in florida had different methods. what struck me in listening to the colorado secretary of state, that we've replaced papor complexity with electronic complexity. >> it's very telling. i think a lot of election officials have seen these touch screen machines. they are the newest technology. and we're seeing around the country election officials taking those away, going back to papor ballots, going back to optical scan ballots. i think everybody agrees at the moment the optical scan ballot is probably the one that everybody would like to see. it's got an actual voter mark, it's an actual tangible piece of paper that you can go back and hand count. it's not going to print out a receipt that a voter will have

to take. given the sheer number of machines, there will be bugs somewhere. things will have to be reprogrammed. so with that actual paper ballot, i think that's what most people would prefer. i was surprised to hear that 47 counties in ohio are using the touch screen machines. >> because they have a tradition of county by county decision making here, you heard secretaries of state who are dealing with different kinds of equipment that are tabulating votes. then we have paper ballots, early voting, overseas voting. it seems rather complex to ensure the final tally. >> that's why it does take so long in recounts and you get down into the nitty-gritty with that. but i think one thing that is helping alleviate that is in the different methods that people vote, it's important to encourage to get people more engaged in democracy, it's amenable to our lifestyle that you can early vote, you can

request an absen tee ballot now. and people don't have time to wait in line for hours and hours. so i think that's something that we're seeing especially both in so many states continue to stress. >> one thing they told suss that their states have no fault absentee voting. that is you request a ballot. you don't have to have a reason to vote absentee. you don't have to be out of town, visiting a sick relative in the hospital. you can vote absentee if you don't want to go to the polling place. washington state and oregon have already gone to all mail-in ballots. it has improved turnout in states. some people like that, some don't. but it has improved turnout. and i think that this new trend is going to continue to grow around the country and become common place in states where right now you have to have a reason to get an absentee ballot. >> all of this change in how people vote has changed the

parties' and candidates' strategies. so we'd be remiss not to end with where we are overall. what is your sense of where the electorate is? >> i think with the house, republicans are increasingly confident. we've seen several projections come out over the last week upwards of 55, some people saying as many as 60 seats. but we did see several stories out this morning saying that the republican senate is looking less likely. all the cards would have to fall in their favor to definitely attack the republicans or running with and i think several early closing states especially should give us a good idea on election night. indiana and kentucky have the earliest closing times that will sort of give us a feel of whether this is going to be as big of a republican tidal wave. >> and how about the governor's mansions? >> a bloody field for democrats. republicans are going to have a very good night. one interesting thing that

early voting has done is it has taken the republicans 72-hour program and made it obsleet. what we're now seeing is a 720 hour program, one that stretches back for 30 days. people have been running their turnout operations at if you will steam since very early october. so turnout is going to be higher than the average mid-term this year. >> thanks for being here on this sunday morning. >> thank you. >> and thanks for watching. we have lots of politics ahead on c-span on this sunday leading into november 2nd balloting. thanks for being was. -- with us.

>> c-span's local content vehicles are traveling the

country visiting congressional districts to look at the most closely contested house races in this year's mid-term elections. you can promise low taxes, balanced budgets, promise to bring our troops home safely. but when you're handed the keys to government it's about choices and what choices are we going to make as a nation to move our country forward, working to help middle class families towards prosperity. . when the other side starts telling you that you can't .

>> >> our inwum bent is jim boachry. and it was a republican district. and looking to unseat him is republican jim ren aci, a businessman, a former mayor.

the 16th district is kind of a unique district. the candidate has to be balanced. he has to be able to understand the needs of an urban population but also a rural population. one of the thing that is you'll find is the republicans in advertising and speeches, they are in a way having to juxtapose john with nancy pelosi. if you hear an advertisement for the republican party, you will hear that john voted with nancy pelosi 89 -x percent of the time. the democrats are focused on we've goten better over the last few years, stay with us. >> congressman baun bow cherry. he says he's ibbednt but who is his real boss? first he was against president obama's health care reform. but when speaker nancy pelosi

needed his vote, congressman john botchry did it. 93% of the time he voted with nancy pelosi. nancy pelosi can count on him. what about us? the national republican congressional committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> to think that the republicans are trying to maybe tap into the fact that people are unhappy with some of those votes, like health care. i think the economy. i mean, there's, no matter where you're going to go you're going to find a lot of unemployment. it's a heavy manufacturing area. we've lost a lot of those blue collar jobs over the last 10, 20 years. if you go to ashland, worcester, if you go to canton, you're going to find that same unemployed people, need jobs. i think that especially this year they're trying to find that candidate who is going to help them get a job and turn this economy around. >> i've been retired since 2005

but my company, the hoover company, has left canton. and 15 years ago, they started going to texas. ten -- excuse me. to mexico. >> so from 2005 to now, there are young people working there, husbands and wives, both losing their jobs at the same time, losing their insurance from canton it made a devastating -- those jobs are leaving here. and they're not coming back. my husband is a small business owner, and he had to let people go. it's affected everyone somehow. you know, everyone seems to know somebody who has been affected by losing jobs or being taken from full time to parttime and it's just --

>> i think with boachry being there, this will be his second year in congress. the longer he stays in, the more familiarity he is going to have with those voters who don't always vote on the party line. so i think the republicans in a way know that if they want to take this seat, this is prime pickings. i also think that too many folks in washington run for office to get to the next election. they're afraid to take positions because it might cost them their job. quite frankly, washington is full of those types of congressmen. i ran for office not just to win elections, but to get things done. . . i