>> the discussion on iran having some technical difficulties with the video coming to us from the heritage foundation. we are going to try to work to get the signal back. we will take a look at some today's ""washington journal." day and is election

joining us is deborah cleaver the founder of vote.org here will talk about efforts to increase voter turnout. welcome and tell us about your organization. would you focus on and why did guest:nd it initially this goes back to the 2000 election, where we had a 50% voter turnout in america and as a result the presidential election came down to a repeated recount in a single county in florida. and it was ultimately decided by the supreme court. so basically just horrified that turnout was so low in this country, that a single county could decide the presidential election. so i started one organization in 2004, another in 2008, and then vote.org in 2016. host: what is the target audience, first-time voters, folks who do not typically show

up at the polls? guest: this will be very nerdy, but we target low propensity voters, which means people who are less likely to vote. and historically in the u.s., low propensity voters are young people and people of color. host: the -- guest: and low income people. host: the organization's fact -- says the u.s. trails most developed countries in voter turnout. so tell us about the efforts -- how do you target potential low propensity voters as he called -- you call them? guest: a wide array of tactics. basically, we borrow heavily from traditional marketing, which says you need to contact someone about seven times to sell them your product. so we look at registered people as potential leads. and then ballots cast as our actual sales. it is like corporate marketing, only in this case we are not try to sell you goods, we are try to

sell you voting itself. so what we do is we aim to contact somebody at least seven times. and we do this by fully saturating any inexpensive media channel we can buy, including billboards, text messages, radio ads, social media, and sometimes we do this by working with companies to make sure people have time off to vote. host: our guest is debra cleaver, vote.org founder and ceo. we welcome your comments. we are talking about voter turnout. here is how we have divided the phone lines on this election day. if you have already voted 202-748-8000. , if you are planning to vote today, 202-748-8001. and if you are not voting, 202-748-8002. how do you ensure that your efforts are seen as, and are actually, nonpartisan. that your efforts are turning out voters regardless of party.

guest: we never mention a political party or candidate. we literally just tell people to go vote on tuesday, november 6. for example we have 2600 , billboards up right now, all over america, and all of them say "vote, tuesday, november 6." everybody thinks the government put them up, which is fine. we are happy to do the work the government should be doing. we never tell someone who to vote for or why. we literally tell them, go vote. host: do you find, has your organization found that partnering with celebrities or popular former political people like president obama, or taylor swift -- we read an article about driving the vote in tennessee -- do you think that helps or hinders the turnout effort? guest: oh my god. we did not know that taylor swift was going to tell her instagram followers how important it was the vote, then

tell them to come to vote.org. we registered 400,000 people to vote four days after she told the fan base to come to our website, so we would say celebrities, when they are heartfelt and sincere can be extremely effective at increasing turnout. host: were the 400,000, i did not hear it clearly, where they in one state or across the country? guest: nationally, but over 63% of them were under 30, which is taylor's fan base. host: what is the term, what does the term vote rolling mean? and what efforts does your organization do to stop that? guest: ok, so vote rolling in this case, do you know what rick rolling is? host: no. guest: i will teach you a little bit about internet culture right now. rick rolling is when you basically trick someone into clicking a link that takes them

to rick astley's video of "never going to let you down." i have no idea how it got started. the internet is a wild place. but a few weeks ago, somebody started posting that he knew the real reason ariana grande and the man from saturday night live, i do not know his name, had broken up. and there was a link and everybody wants to know why they broke up apparently it is , interesting gossip, so people started clicking on it and it was taking them to vote.org. and it went viral on twitter and people referred to it as vote rolling. it is a spoof on rick rolling. in this case, we did not want to stop it. it was great. people were registering to vote. host: before we go to calls, we have a number waiting, in terms of you joining us on the west coast, polls opening up fairly soon there. reports here on the east coast of early turnout.

and in early election we have read early articles so far about early voting having record levels. what is your thought on that? guest: 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 is a good sign. we have had record early voting this year, and i think we will have record turnout and record shattering turnout in this election. early voting is great. i know from my mother and my aunt, both of whom are on the east coast, that the lines are very long at the polls. which is a good sign. host: we want to hear your experience voting this morning. if you have already voted, 202-748-8000. voting today, 202-748-8001. and not voting, 202-748-8002. debra cleaver, vote.org founder and ceo is with us.

now we go to marion, iowa. martha, good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i have a couple thoughts to share. first, this whole campaign, um, i have gotten three text messages a day from people trying to get my vote. and i do not think that is acceptable. and in iowa, we now have privatized medicaid. and, um, i am 38 years old. and my mother is 75. i have a brother who is 50 who is autistic. and have to be on that. and now that it is privatized from the republicans, um, that has totally messed with them financially. and i am hearing all of this

socialism fear mongering from a lot of the republicans and republican supporters. and i really think that that is wrong. and it is not really socialism, it is basically societal. we need to help people. and there is so much hate on both sides. thank you for taking my call. host: that is martha in iowa. debra cleaver, your thoughts? guest: i know the text messages can be annoying, but they have been shown to increase turnout. and i think that we can all put up with just a little bit of annoyance if it means it is going to get some people who otherwise would not have a -- would not have voted, to the polls. and i also agree it is important americans have health care. and we are one of the few nations, civilized nations in the world that is not provided universal health care. i cannot speak to the privatization of medicare, but i can say that health care is important.

host: let me ask about text messaging. i want to point out this article from the new york times this morning about six types of misinformation to watch for in what to do if you spot it. they write about suspicious text messages. they say text messages are the breakout technology of the 2018 campaign, and many campaigns have been using peer-to-peer texting apps to encourage voters to turn out. if you're on a campaign or a party's voting list, you may receive legitimate text messages encouraging you to vote, offering a ride to the polls, but beware any text messages that tell you the voting hours or locations have changed, new forms of id are required, or that your voter registration is not valid. debra cleaver, the role of text messaging in this campaign, does your organization use text messaging as a way to encourage registration and participation? guest: vote.org was the first organization to use peer-to-peer text messages to register voters

and to increased turnout. we were pioneering in 2016, the first group to do this. we ran probably the largest text campaign in america this year. i believe we sent 38 million text messages. so we are strong believers in text message. we clearly identify ourselves and we are a nonpartisan trustworthy group. but i agree that if you get information telling you that the polls have changed, ours have -- the hours you are not have changed you are not registered to vote, you should , double check that with your state, and never trust any message that comes to you from an identified group. host: we have a lot for folks who are not voting. we will get your thoughts from brett. not planning to vote. caller: i am not proud i am not voting. i am 60 years old. i have always voted until about the last 10 years.

i see, i see myself as part of the problem if i vote. if i vote republican or democrat, it does not matter, there is a constant divide in a war between the parties. so, you know, no one gets anything done. nothing is ever accomplished. until there is a viable third party, you know, we're just going back and forth. again, i am not proud of this, but i do not see that my vote is effective anymore. i do not see any of these politicians really working for the people. it is all about the party. it is all about the division. and i see us going into civil war eventually -- see us going into civil war, eventually. i'm not trying to be a fear monger. that is how i see it. host: he is saying his vote does not count? he is the color in california --

r in california. guest: can i ask a question? host: i'm sorry, he has left. guest: i was going to ask about the propositions. i know a lot of people are frustrated by the politicians themselves, but in california we get to vote on the propositions, which are basically the laws themselves. i have not voted yet today because the ballot is so long, it is on my desk at home and we have about eight pages to vote on. even if i did not vote for the candidates themselves, there are so many things to vote on. i hope that brett will reconsider and if he is still registered, go down to the polls and vote on the propositions. host: let's hear from adam in wisconsin who has already voted. good morning. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i wanted to comment on what today means and the hyper partisanship we have. i think there has been kind of a belittling of the election as a

referendum on donald trump. i think expectation management might be in order for some folks who perceive it that way. just because i think donald trump is a businessman and i think he will be able to work with either party. so they may not get everything they want if they are a democrat or republican, but it could be interesting to see how it shakes up things in the next election. host: thanks, adam. debra cleaver? guest: 80,000 people will be elected to office this year, so there is a lot more on the ballot than donald trump. trump and i are both native new yorkers, he is a businessman, but perhaps not the most successful. host: stewart in akron, ohio. planning to voting today. -- vote today. caller: 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 have people taking away their health care, public assistance, and they are so poor, yet they still do not vote for their own interests. but they vote and things are being taken away from them. host: debra cleaver let's , address the issue of the vote denial or problems at the polls. as we sit here on election day morning, what is your sense broadly across the country about accessibility to the polls, about efforts to make sure that the polls -- that the voter lists are accurate. guest: first i should say that anybody who encounters anyone at the polls trying to dissuade them from voting, they should call the national election protection hotline,

866-our-vote. if you are registered, there is no one who should be trying to stop you. 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. but at the same time, this is america and the people get to choose the politicians, not the other way around. host: headline in the columbus dispatch this morning summing up the election day morning, "it is up to you now." with a picture of early date voting in the columbus area. now, john. he has already voted. good morning. caller: i want to thank c-span. i listen to you every morning. one of the things i have noticed, i have served in the military for 12 years and i have never seen it as divided and

fractured as what it is today. and it is sad, because you realize there are a lot of people who have come a long way to sacrifice to see this country running the way it is running and it is terrible. i am all about having a national holiday for voting, because it is important. if you can have a national holiday for columbus day, a guy who literally killed and murdered people, why can't you have a holiday for voting? i mean, it is like the one right every american has that people choose to misuse and abuse. that is the sad part about that. host: debra cleaver why is there , not a holiday? we are one of the only countries that votes during the work week. guest: that is an excellent question. i cannot imagine why we do not have a holiday. suggested caller columbus day is a holiday, so i , suggest we switch them, instead of celebrating columbus day and giving people time off on columbus day, we should have time off on election day. they are not very far apart from each other, only a month apart.

so it is not really clear why we have not made this change that would increase turnout. host: in the alexandria area, northern virginia suburbs, planning to vote is greg. good morning. caller: good morning. i am 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 can go down the list of critical issues. that iing the same vote am. i used to be an advocate for voting, thinking that would make people more likely to inform themselves, but i do not see that as the case at all. what responsibility do you have when you are advocating voting to make sure that people know what is going on? guest: um, well, i would say for

starters there is a ballot guide on our website that lets people know exactly what is going to be on the ballot today. we work with ballot ready and ballot pdo to provide the information. and i could see how somebody might argue that people should have to pass a basic civics test before they are allowed to vote, but then we would get into questions on who would design the civics test and if it is somebody like me, i'm an expert, but maybe i would only pass the test. this is not a requirement to vote. it is an interesting idea, but it is not a practical idea. and the few times in our country that we have passed requirements for people before we let them vote have only served to disenfranchise people of color. host: have your efforts been accepted, or have you run into opposition in some states with the voter registration efforts?

guest: we have some states who have pushed back at us for registering voters. texas stands out. texas makes it very challenging to register to vote. the most difficult stay in the country to vote. they don't offer online registration, which is a common sense option offered by every other state, but in order to register people in texas you need to be deputized. which is, on the one hand it is kind of funny, it is like rounding up a posse, but on the other hand it has a chilling effect on the voter turnout. so 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 that 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. host: we want to remind our viewers and c-span listeners that the organization vote.org,

that is the website, and on their front page -- if you do not know where to go, you can find out what is on the ballot there. find your polling place there. type in your address and it will bring up that information. that is across all 50 states and the district of columbia, correct? guest: yes, and over one million people have used the polling place locator just in the past 24 hours. host: louise is next up in washington, d.c. good morning. caller: hello. host: go ahead. caller: i am in washington dc, and along with the rest of the people who 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 a couple of people in congress, but they do not have a vote. and of course, the republicans don't want washington, d.c. to

have a vote because most of us are democrat and republicans do not want us to have a say in government. but they are very happy to tax us. and i want to thank you for this program. and debra cleaver, thank you for your organization. host: thanks for the call. go ahead, it debra cleaver. caller: you are welcome and i . agree, there should be no taxation without representation. and dc, puerto rico and guam should be states. host: there is support on twitter about the idea of a holiday. "great idea. yes to voters day. no more columbus day." -- "columbus day." we will get another call here. this from wilmington, north carolina. and alexis, go ahead. caller: i have to say, this is my first time. can you hear me? host: yes, we can.

go ahead. caller: this is my first time talking to c-span and i did not know how important your 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 the livestream, i cannot 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 donald trump will vote for trump. and our christians, i am talking to you. at what point do you say i am a christian first, and my pocket comes second? because that is what is up against this election. besides a real racial issue that

has bubbled up, thanks to the man in office. and i say thanks because you really find out who your friends are. host: we will let you go. alexis and debra cleaver, she is talking about president trump. let's move the discussion forward to 2020. what will the organization doing terms of voter registration heading into the presidential election? guest: so our goal for the presidential election is to run a program that is 10 times bigger than what we did this year. so this year we registered 1.2 million people, um, doing some quick math that should put us at about -- it is a little early -- 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. this year was about 30 million people.

so if we go 10 times bigger than that, that would be every person in america, so we probably will not get that big. but the plan is more of the same. turnout in the presidential elections is generally about 65%, we think we can reach 75% if we work really hard. again, we are nonpartisan, we do not care who you vote for, we just care that you go. host: that is debra cleaver with us from san francisco. vote.org founder and ceo. thank you for being so much with us. guest: thank you for having me. >> 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. west virginia, north carolina close a half hour later. florida closes at 7:00 p.m. as

well except for part of 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. arizona, wisconsin, and new york are among the number of states with polls closing at 9:00 eastern. polls in montana, nevada, utah, and i will close at 10:00 p.m. california and hawaii close 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. c-span, your primary source for campaign 2018. will control the house and senate? watch c-span's life election night coverage starting tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern.

your victory and -- here between concession speeches. we will your reaction and take phone calls live during ""washington journal." we are your source for campaign 2018. talking about midterm elections early this morning. this is a half an hour. good morning, everyone.