future of the affordable care act. you can join in the conversation on facebook and twitter as we take your calls. washington journal is next. ♪ ist: good morning, it saturday, october 17. with 17 days, here's a question. more than 20 million americans have already voted in person, by mail, or by drop boxes. we would like to hear about your approach to the cycle and by what method are you casting your ballot and tell us why. here are the numbers to call. if you're voting in person early your number is (202) 748-8000. if you are using the mail your number is (202) 748-8001. and if you're voting in person on election day your number is (202) 748-8002.

for those not voting this year you can call us at (202) .48-8003 we begin with a story from the associated press this morning about early voting. a record avalanche of early votes has transformed the 2020 election. you can see pictures of folks voting in durham, north carolina for the beginning goes like this. more than 22 million americans have already cast ballots in the 2020 election. a record shattering avalanche of early votes. the pandemic has transformed the way the nation votes. 22.2 million, that's as a friday night, ballots submitted,

representing 15% of all votes cast in the 2016 election. even as eight states are not yet reporting their totals and voters still have more than two weeks to cast ballots. americans rushed to vote, leading that a record of 150 million votes may be cast and turnout rates could be higher than any presidential election since 1908. the story goes on to say that so far, the turnout has been lopsided with democrats out in 42 republicans by 2-1 states. republicans have been bracing themselves for this early advantage for month as they watch president trump rail against mail-in ballots and raise in unfounded worries about fraud. polling early voting suggest that this has turned the rank-and-file away from a method of voting that traditionally they dominated.

>> you say the only way we lose this election is if we -- if it is rigged. that's not true. either candidate can lose fair and square without fraud. >> that's the way i wanted to be. but when i see thousands of ballots, unsolicited ballots being given out by the millions, and thousands dumped in dumpsters. when you see ballots, trump military ballots from the great military, dumped in garbage cans. >> we could go all night, which we won't. we could go one by one. but you are talking about 150 million votes. your an fbi director says there's no evidence of widespread fraud. >> that he's not doing a good job. pick up the papers every day, in000 in ohio, 50,000 another location, north carolina, 500,000 applications

in virginia. there is tremendous problems. bulimia tell you, let's talk about -- but let me tell you, talk about the peaceful transfer. they spied on my campaign and got caught. and they tried to take down a duly elected sitting president. and then they talk about lee except peaceful transfer question -- talk about will you accept a peaceful transfer? yes i will but i want an honest election. when i see thousands of ballots dumped in a garbage can in a have my name on it. in fact no is evidence of widespread fraud. you are sowing doubt about our democracy. >> how can you say that. you read newspapers and watch the news. >> yes, i do. >> everyday they're talking about ballots that are fraudulent. >> and millions that are being processed now. >> but you can win a race by 1%.

>> why are you laying the groundwork for that? >> you know what, i don't want that to happen. i wanted to be clean. i really feel we are going to win. environment, this process of early voting gives the democrats a tactical advantage in the final stretch of the campaign in many critical battleground states, democrats have banked a chunk of voters and turn time and money to harder to find infrequent voters but that does not necessarily mean that democrats will lead by the time that balance are counted. both parties anticipate a swell of gop votes which could in a matter of hours dramatically shift the dynamic. talking here about voting and how are you voting. we will get to your calls and a couple of minutes. florida,first to professor michael mcdonald, he's in the political science

department. thank you for joining us. you have something called the u.s. election project, you track early voting. you updated your website at about 1:00 today, the numbers now up to 24 million folks voting early. what's your reaction to that number, 24 million. putting into perspective. aret: most of those numbers coming from me and i am running some additional numbers this morning of states recorded this morning. they are always reporting. there's always more numbers to be reported. we are at 24.8 million as of this morning and i still have more to process. we are adding about 3 million vote today at this point. that's only going to increase as we get closer to election day. that's unprecedented. we are running at 10 times the level we did in 2016. that was a record in 2016.

we had never seen anything like this before. we are also seeing a lot of democrats voting early. it's very likely, almost inevitable, that we will see lots of republicans the later on . what's unusual is not just a large number democrats voting, it's that it usually at this point in time we are usually seen more republicans voting early than democrats. because usually we have a large number of male ballots being counted. in past elections that has been a preferred way for republicans to vote. we expect that when we get to the in-person loading period that we will see more republicans voting because they have been listening to president trump and are heating his call that male his call ballots are tainted -- mail ballots are tainted in some way.

democrats really need to shine during the in-person early voting period. thate do expect usually it's republicans. we just have to get through this thing. if i could take one step back. there is a good news story. the system is working. we were very concerned that because of the coronavirus it would be difficult for election officials to conduct an election . there was even talk about failed elections. i think we have laid those concerns to rest. we have 24 million people voting. will vote. we will hold an election, we will not cancel elections. it's going on now. i encourage you to think about making plans on how you're going to participate in the election. host: what's driving folks to get out early? what are the factors? before thenew even

voting period started that we were going to see a record mail inf male in -- ballots go out. over 80going to see .illion mail ballots we start off with a supply of early voting which had never been seen before. part of the supply issue, and part of it is a demand issue. voters are interested in voting. as soon as voting is being offered, in person early voting record are seeing numbers in places like georgia and texas and north carolina. long lines of people waiting to vote, eager to vote in person. and people returning in mail ballots. and why are they doing that? they could have heeded the call

of election officials, that they needed to flatten their curve for the demand of mail ballots. there were concerns that a large number ballots would be coming in later in the election process which would overwhelm officials. it's good that we are seeing lots of people vote now but spreading over many days the demand that the officials have to meet. that's helping them manage their running of the election better in a time of coronavirus when we want more people to vote by mail and there will be fewer polling locations. so we needed to process more people over a longer period of time. it's a good news story. lots of people are voting and they are successful at doing it. the other part is the fact that whether you love him or hate him, the people made up their minds about donald trump. they have made their judgments.

they did that a long time ago. the polling approval rating for donald trump remain very flat during his presidency. events that would move his approval rating up or down have not really affected his approval rating. it's very unusual for a president. once we got to the campaign season and we started seeing the polls on the matchups between biden and trump, those numbers have also remained fixed over time. people know who donald trump is. they have come to a judgment as to whether or not they want him to be president. people are voting because they have the opportunity to express their desires to see who the president will be. host: and before we get to our calls, what are the big takeaways for the parties, looking at these numbers in these early voting processes? what are you thinking about for the future? guest: if you look at these

anders, they are so unusual so pro-democratic. when i say pro-democratic, should be clear, we are looking at the people who have voted in party registration states. i don't know how many people voted, just registered democrats or republicans -- i don't know how the people voted, just whether they were registered democrats or republicans. we are seeing many registered democrats vote and that's an unusual thing. you can come to the conclusion that this has to be good for biden because you see these numbers. i would say no. there are still lots of play left in the election. we have yet to get through the in person early voting period. we are already seeing signs of republicans voting in person early. a periode still having of time to go as well as election day. buckle your seatbelts for a

roller coaster ride. i think we still need to get through this. but if you have not voted yet, make your plan. are in a nof you mail state. you want to mix you get the ballot in and follow the instructions closely. the number one reason people disenfranchise themselves is because they don't follow instructions on mail-in ballots. read them closely, sign where you need to sign, seal the envelopes and deliver them before the election so that if election any problems officials can fix those problems and you can make a good plan to vote. thank you for joining us this morning. guest: you are welcome. host: a lot of calls coming in.

florida, voting in person already. tell us about your experience, why you went in early. caller: i will be voting monday, when early voting opens in florida. early is for voting that it leaves me free to help others get to the polls. we have about nine days of early .oting and as a loyal democrat, i work hard to get the vote out. we are very excited about the enthusiasm we have here in florida for joe biden and kamala harris. i always vote early. what if i got sick? what if i were in the hospital? many years ago i missed a vote because i was in the hospital election day. so now i go to early -- so now i

vote early, giving me two weeks before the actual votes to get my ballot counted, to get it in. a lot of people don't trust the mail. that, i have friends sending their ballots by fedex, or going to the post office and getting return receipt requested to make sure that the ballot gets to the supervisor of elections. this is the most important election of our lives. for more years of chaos, or a new start to heal this country. host: thank you for calling, harold is calling from topeka, kansas, how are you voting this year? caller: i'm going to walk into the booth and vote on election day. the second point, when he was speaking at his rally he said people are giving me ballots come on requested. here in topeka, i have one in my

hands comments the third i have gotten comments coming from springfield, missouri. the center for voter information. the third point, is steve moderating the next debate? third debate, a kristen welker will be hosting that debate in nashville, this coming thursday. that's the next and final presidential debate. caller: i thought it was maybe steve. was he scheduled to do one? host: yes but that debate was canceled by the commission. caller: then i guess it's up to kristen welker. i was hoping steve would be involved. but whoever the next moderator bideney have to ask tougher questions prayed they cannot say did you do this without backup questions for they don't do that to donald. they hound him terribly. my fourth point, i would like to ask mr. mcdonald what he thinks

i should do to find out who is behind this letter from springfield, missouri, that i did not request, which is wanting me to vote at home. this is a vote at home ballot request form. i would like to know who he things i should speak to take care of that. on andur guest has moved we are taking open phones now. -- is in newthe jersey. that's one of those states where the governor send ballots to everyone, whether they asked or not, am i right? caller: no, i always have to request a ballot at the beginning of the year. i did request my ballot, i have received it, and i voted. and i received a confirmation that my vote has been received. host: what motivated you to vote early and by mail this year?

caller: i heard the postmaster general indicate that he had reduced the effectiveness of the 10%.in voting by about i always vote early but i wanted to vote particularly early this time because i wanted my ballot to get in and to know that it had gotten in. this is the most important election of my 88 years. host: and you tracked your vote, how did you do that? caller: as a matter of fact i did not have to. i received a card from my county clerk saying thank you for sending in your vote. host: that's eugene, from new jersey. frank is in new york. how are you voting this year? caller: i will be voting in

person. i do that every year. york, new york is all most always voting democratic. for me it comes down to the swing states, it always does. which brings up questions about the electoral college end if we will ever do anything with that. played early you .n the show with savannah she questioned him on where your evidence and he would say don't you read the papers and there's this story in that story. but when she asks what paper, what story, -- he's like a creating innuendo. saying things without backing it

up. he said that there were more people at his inauguration and never before which was untrue. that all of hillary's 3 million votes that she one -- won were fraudulent. but he never really gives any evidence. show you had -- she was talking to the seniors and i was watching that. to me, not obvious others obviously, but to me that he knows how to sell people. , a sucker is born every minute. york, most new yorkers know this guy and that

he's a cheat. that's how he does things and that's probably why he's afraid. it's an unprecedented time with the virus and it is scary. computers can make mistakes and all kinds of things can happen. host: frank, thank you for your thoughts. we want to get in some other viewers. back to the election project map. the interactive map, 24 million as professor mcdonald shows us. some of the bigger states highlighted in florida. 2.6 million plus votes in texas, california 2.9 million plus. they updated these numbers earlier this morning. 24 million votes early so far. judy is calling from massachusetts. how are you voting this year? are you with us? caller: yes.

i am. already, for biden, they said that they election was spied on, and that was wrong. they found no proof that trump was spied on at all. he lies too much. he has a nasty mouth. my granddaughter was only 10 years old when he was running into thousand 16 and when she heard how nasty he was, the way he was running for president, she was really hurt. she couldn't believe a president , running our country was so nasty. about yourell us experience early voting, where ?id you go how is your experience?

are you still there? caller: yes. host: before we move on, what was your early voting experience like? where did you go? how are the lines? caller: i did not go in person, i mailed it in. host: were going to move on to joseph, in compton, california. good morning. caller: good morning america. i would like to thank the county supervisors for all of the good .ork they are doing everybody knows in america, we have 50 elections run by different counties. the counties are running these elections. there is no fraudulent work going on here. but i would also like to address the biden campaign. why don't we call him joseph? biblical campaign, let's use his name.

host: and joseph i wanted to ask, how are you voting? caller: we were able to vote over the weekend with a three-day day period. it's beautiful here that we can now represent america and serve our country and do like we are supposed to and vote. it's open. donald trump is a fraud, everybody knows it. america is beautiful. come together. vote. let the best group win. joseph in california. some stories about ballots in in paper include this piece the new york times, ballots delayed after demand overwhelms a printer in ohio. they write as the presidential election goes to the final stretch in late summer, counties in ohio and pennsylvania worry that a deluge of absentee request would swamp their capacity.

they contract with midwest direct but when it came time to print and ship ohio ballots early last week it was midwest direct that was overwhelmed. thatal ohio counties expected absentee ballots to land in mailboxes are now scrambling to print them themselves or find a last-minute contingency plan less than three weeks before election day. and in pennsylvania, nearly 30,000 ballots sent to voters in allegheny county, including pittsburgh, went to the wrong address. the company lists tens of thousands of requests weeks in advance and their inability to meet demand was underscoring the stress that mail-in voting has put on the nations election process with the coronavirus pandemic curtailing in-person voting. writing that this is the primary outside provider of absentee ballots for 16 ohio counties but many have their own in-house operations.

that's one of the stories out there on the election happening with 17 days to go. kathy, in michigan, how are you voting? what method are you using? caller: election day at the polls. host: tell us why, is it something you have always done? did you consider early voting at all? caller: i considered early voting, but my husband and i both feel that voting at the polls is the safest way, unless our governor closes down the governor -- closes down the polls because we know the governor likes to close everything. we are voting for president trump. media.a lot of unfair if you really hate the person, you just have to look at the good he has done for this country. host: ok. kathy calling there. roy is on the line in florida. caller: asked that woman when

she loses her social security and health insurance how she will feel. i am voting early, in person. corrupt,he system is that's what i think. in onil does not come time. he could see it is slowed down. i have not gotten my water bill in a month. there's obviously something going on. i will vote straight blue ticket. i used to be republican but no more. i want this to end. host: when you see something is going on, what do you mean? caller: there something going on with the ballots. why did they send you so many down here? and governor desantis will do everything for his pal trump to win the election. it's obvious what's going on. people are fooled by this man and he has defiled the bible right in front of the church in lafayette square, where i played at.

my family is from there, they work for the government, and this circus is not the way government should be. host: roy from florida, from those interested or may be concerned about the mail. the postal service with a full-page ad in the wall street journal. if you plan to vote by mail, vote ahead. deadlineheck the state and make sure you have ample time to continue the process trade we are ready to deliver for you read it's an appeal by the u.s. postal service to get moving if you are looking to vote ahead of time. lawrenceville, georgia, mail-in voting, jewels is calling. you are doing met -- malin this in this year? caller: we are doing absentee voting, this is my first time voting i'm super excited. us why you have chosen this method?

get thei did want to experience because it's my first time voting of being outside and waiting and participating in something that our ancestors fought for for a long time. how does it feel to be voting for the first time? caller: i'm excited to be honest. it's a great experience. i have been looking at the debates in deciding who i want to vote for. i'm looking at the international affairs budget because that's really important to me. i've not seen either candidate address that and i would love that they could address those issues before i vote. i am voting is literally and i'm hoping this issue is addressed. host: where is lawrenceville? ,aller: it's metro of atlanta

it is outside of atlanta but it is in georgia. in atlanta they are having a lot of problems. a lot of people are taking seven hours to get a vote in. that's a little ridiculous to read they are shutting down a lot of polls. the polls are still up by my house so i can go vote with these so hopefully it will not take 10 hours. host: thank you. here's a picture of that associated press story of people waiting in line this past monday decaturr, georgia -- in , georgia. more calls in a moment about how you are voting this year. we want to hear what method you are using, and if you have already voted, what was your experience like. here's former president barack obama with a new ad urging -- urging people to get out and vote. [video clip] >> the 2020 election is not a few weeks away, it's already here. millions of americans are

already voting. make sure you stand up with your vote. there will always be reasons to think your vote doesn't matter. that's not new. what is new is a growing movement for justice, equality, and progress on so many issues. it's really the tipping point. this only continues if we win the election. but it will be close. it could come down to a handful of voters like you. so i am asking you to bring this home. leave no doubt. vote early. ♪ biden campaign has called on barack obama, the former president, to campaign for the democratic nominee. barack obama will be in philadelphia this coming wednesday. we don't have a time for that event but we will bring that to you live on c-span. joe is calling from charleston, south carolina.

how are you voting? caller: good morning. paul, i voted friday week ago. it took my wife and i about an hour and a half in line to vote. in 2016 it took about 30 minutes. in 2012 i walked in and walked out. it's really gained in popularity. and i guess in the past they have drive up voting. people driving up and delivering their ballots which had been mailed to them more absentee ballots or whatever it's called. people at the election commission headquarters were taking the ballots from their cars and verifying identification. it's really popular. i will do it again. i don't mind sharing with you that i voted for trump, and south carolina -- you know that trump will carry south carolina, but more important is the senate race. host: what's the latest?

caller: it's hard to say. i think lindsay will win. when you get away from the coast a lot of people vote in from the northeast and change the demographics. people are voting blue on the coast. the funny thing is that they are escaping with they call an oppressive tax code and it seems like they want to vote for it again. i don't understand that. but lindsay is pro-life and when you get to the upper state and the we call the bible belt people against abortion will vote republican. it's a simple as that. he played a clip earlier in the show of savannah guthrie questioning donald trump. something that i don't think that will bode well for democrats or energizes trump's votes, or maybe get people to come out, trump not only has two debate biden when there is a debate. he has to debate the moderators. that doesn't sit well with me.

he comes out and has to be in a defensive posture and he knows he's going to be attacked. i wish i had a better mouthpiece for my feelings and beliefs than trump, but that's always got. we voted in south carolina. i'm in berkeley county, the biggest geographical land area in the state. it is crowded and people are really doing it. host: thank you for sharing your experience. al, calling from tennessee. tell us the story about your vote this year. caller: i'm voting early in person. i'm doing that because i'm a volunteer poll worker. i'm volunteering for the county where i live. is reason i'm doing that because i'm there is a good citizen to make sure only valid votes are counted and no in valid votes are counted. i have run for public office.

i have seen the corruption that when entire voter rolls are used for either your own i bought the entire voter role and sent a card to every person. i would say half of those cards it my campaign were trashed i asked the post office and they said those voter rolls are so old and have not been purged that that's what happens. only about half of the voter role is accurate. this, i believe the greatest threat to our freedom and liberty in this country is the democratic party and the mainstream media. and i had taken an oath to be fair as a poll worker. and i will be.

but i will tell you what. the mainstream media, and sadly, c-span included, has not taken that oath. it's a shame. host: that was al, from tennessee. text.iewer sent us a i grew up in connecticut and voted absentee last week, dropped it at a townhall dropbox. sam, and california, another text, and filling out my valid at home and i will walk to the polling place and drop it and ask for my eye voted sticker to son, the hat that my submariner gave me many years ago. couple of inoted a stark county, each time i requested a ballot the board of elections told me that absentee ballots are not counted unless the results of at least one issue on the ballots are closer than 1% so i am voting in person. story, here's

what people think the results will be and when they will be known. deep divisions and views of the election process and whether it will be clear who won. a large majority of voters say it's important for americans to know who won the election within a day or two of election day. but half say they are very are somewhat confident that this will happen, including nearly identical shares that support president trump and joe biden. there are deep disagreements over several aspects of the election and voting process, including weather will be clear which candidate won even after the votes are counted. recorders of registered voters support biden and are confident the country will know the winner after the votes are counted, including 30 who are very confident. a much smaller majority of trump supporters, 55 percent are confident that americans love a clear sense of who won, 13% saying they are confident the

winner will be clearly known after the votes are counted. at pew research pray go back to more calls. marianne in lakewood, new jersey. , i voted already voted for trump. because the democratic party is 83 -- i am 83 years old and have been through quite a few elections. the democratic party, which i used to belong to come are not the same democratic party from years ago. andhave become very vicious i'm disgusted with you. and i just wanted you to belonged tot obama the underground bomber. dieet the babies in syria and president trump had to step up and take care of those babies

at the border and they don't even know who the parents are. he let four men diane benghazi. whatt to remind you all of president obama did. should put his head in the sand with his outfit and don't come out again. host: words from marianne, new jersey. frank, in delaware, good morning. caller: good morning. i am voting for the president of the united states. i agree with the woman from new jersey. obama should stay the hell out of it. host: by what process are you voting? caller: i will be standing in line. i do not trust the mail in voting. i know back in 1960, what happened in chicago when they ripped off nixon and those

people came out and voted for kennedy. that's what i understood about voting. democrats will cheat. make no mistake. a vote where you have to present who you are, they will never do that because that's the right thing to do. host: any concerns about long lines or the pandemic in terms of your presence at the pulse? -- polls. caller: whatever it takes, five have to cast my ballot and wait two hours i will do it. because voting is important. host: thank you for calling. we are doing this for another 20 minutes and at the backend of the program as well. how are you voting? we are asking what method are you voting this year? in person, early, on election day, by drop in box? by mail? cnn is following up on the

dueling town halls from thursday. or people watch biden on abc msnbc, andon nbc, another network. easily surpassing the nielsen ratings for trump. that was the results that nobody expected. in the trunk townhall was simulcast by two of nbc's channels, msnbc and cnbc. channels and those biden on one network still prevailed. the trump townhall had 10.9 million viewers on nbc and on msnbc 1.8 million, cnbc about 720,000. was 13.5ss audience million, still fewer than biden's audience on abc alone.

we have mali -- i'm sorry, holly on the line from fort lauderdale. how are you voting? caller: i am mailing in my ballot. i have already done so. there's a lot of information on the privacy jacket, it tells you how you can drop off your ballot. the website you can do it out. and the address if you want to drop it off in person. i followed that information and i know my ballot has been received and counted already. i did wait a few days before i tracked my ballot to give it time to process it and everything. you can find a lot of information and instructions on your privacy jacket. you choose to do the mail in early? caller: in 2016i did the same way. i wanted to make sure that as soon as i had my ballot i dropped it off within a few days. i wanted to make sure there was enough time for them to tabulate

it and count it because this is an important election. calling.nk you for new york times.com wants you to know about how quickly your absentee vote will be counted. they do a state-by-state timeline, a lot of voters are asking these questions. which of the states will have a result and winner on election night? they break them down this way, when mail and absentee ballots are preprocessed, we will leave the camera hovering over this while we take another call. upon receipt, you can see some of the states like arizona, georgia, minnesota, and nevada. florida, iowa, michigan, new hampshire before that. and on election day has pennsylvania, wisconsin, alabama, and mississippi.

a lot more detailed information. how quickly will your absentee vote counted. robert, in covington, kentucky, good morning. caller: good morning. i sent in a ballot request about a month ago and i have not received it back, so i'm starting to get worried. but there's plenty of time. was theanted to say , you hadn-trump debate a panel on and one of the harris's was kamala sister that explained all of the lies that trump was telling during the debate. so they prepared you to look for these things. that wasn't right. and you had people calling and saying things like everyone knows that trump did this or that. did they understand what everyone means?

because they are including his millionich is over 40 and they have a loyal base and they are saying everyone. host: thank you for your call. to new york city, denise, good morning. caller: good morning. early and i'mng going to the poll. i want my vote to be counted the day of. trust thedon't mail-in ballots. i have seen what happens with the post office, how it was slow down even here in new york. the mail has been slowed down, they've taken out certain machines that they use in the post office. i don't trust it. your polling is place, nearby?

caller: it's in walking distance. host: any concerns about long lines or the pandemic which hit new york city hard? caller: i was can ago on november 3 so i thought that if i had gone early in the morning -- but since we have early voting, we have had a couple of days before. .o i'm not worried i don't the lines will be as long because we have more days. host: i got it. thank you. that's denise from new york. back to kentucky with a text message. i have been voting mailing since 2016, i have an autoimmune disease and a splenectomy which makes me a very high-risk for the coronavirus and voting by mail is critical. i dropped my ballot in the mail yesterday. person,da, voting in

will not vote by mail based on 2016 mail-in voting numbers, one out of every eight mail-in voting was not counted. 14 million votes will not be in orlando.ts might if you can vote in person and make sure vote is counted. and greg now on the line in mechanicsburg, pa. caller: i think you're doing a very good job, you always do a good job. but i think you are right down the middle. unfortunately some people have not been down the middle. i have called many times on the comment line (202) 748-8003 --(202) 748-8000for those who are listening. if you cannot get in monday through friday, colin and -- call in. there have been a few comments about mr. scully and i have

called in about him. i think he showed his true colors. as to this issue on voting. my roommate/girlfriend will also vote, it takes 30 seconds to dry there. i franklyl church, don't go to church but this should not be a problem. any method is subject to abuse. any method is subject to abuse. the answer that president trump gave to miss guthrie's question was an excellent answer. in the what happened biden-obama administration, and other he's running for president, what they did, there's no doubt they did wasthing to spy on -- if i

donald john trump, would i be concerned about them doing something like that in the election? i would. it's perfectly legitimate concern. is the mainstream media saying there's no evidence of fraud. that's what they used to say. now they are saying there's no evidence of widespread fraud. this is an issue. everybody has to vote the way they think they should vote, no system is perfect. my suggestion is to go in person. host: greg, calling from pa. other new stories. a budget deficit tripling in 2020, now 3.1 trillion as spending rose to bolster the economy during the pandemic. the wall street journal also has a piece in the section, gop senators in the white house are split on a deal.

we have heard a lot about negotiations but now within the republican party there's a big difference in terms of a price tag. the senate is coming in this week to take up a smaller and more targeted version of a relief bill which will deal with small businesses. we do expect that effort to be blocked by democrats but we will see what happens on the senate floor this coming week. the washington post has the group abortion rights calling for feinstein to lose her judiciary committee post following the here it's. they were heavily involved in the efforts to stop and calling for the ousting of feinstein as the judiciary committee's top democrat. of naral.om the head during the trump presidency she critics,the target of and especially when it comes to

judicial nominees. james is calling now, from newport news. how are you voting this year? caller: i have already cast my .ote early and in person what was your experience like? caller: there was only one person in front of me, i cast my vote in the same way in the early afternoon. any problems.ave host: what do you make of the number of early voters this year? 24 million and rising, quickly. that.: i saw -- so earlysourly and there were not a lot of people are. -- there were not a lot of people there.

mark, from westwood, new jersey. caller: good morning, thank you for c-span. i voted two weeks ago. every registered person in new jersey gets their ballot by mail , because our excellent governor, governor murphy, wants to protect us during the pandemic. my wife and i filled out our ballots and i dropped them in a drop box which is about a mile away. there are many drop boxes. it's already been counted. this state does a great job. i'm a poll worker and i know for a fact they are very careful. and i've never seen any fraud in all my years working as a poll worker. i feel really sorry for the people in red states like georgia and texas who have to wait in line for hours. i commend them. i appreciate what they're doing

for democracy. and all the people from red states are calling and saying there's all this voter fraud, i've never seen any in my stay but i will tell you one thing. there is voter suppression. those red states are making it hard to vote on purpose because when many people vote, democrats win. host: as a poll worker, what's going to be different to new jersey this year? especially dealing with the pandemic? what are you anticipating? caller: i did work the primaries, we are only open for people who are handicapped. a lot of people will come in who are republican, they will demand voting in person and they will have to fill out a provisional .allot i went through this in the last election in the last election and the same thing will happen. they will come in and start griping that they don't trust the mail in voting and we let them fill out a provisional ballot. that's just what happens here.

the vast majority of people will vote by mail, safely, and we will not have to wait in long lines and be exposed to the virus. host: mark, a poll worker, in new jersey. michelle, in florida. good morning. withr: i will vote early early voting starting on monday. trump.be voting for you guys are really good about fromng newspaper articles the new york post and the new york times and the washington post. but i watched c-span quite a bit , i have not this morning but i did hear your reading some of the articles. have you yet read any from the news coming out now about joe

biden and his son? the corruption they are and were involved with? host: tell us what you are reading. caller: the billions and billions they get from china, , and the proof in the new host: nowarticles that you say there is a joe biden piece in the new york post that's in our queue. lashes out writes the post after being asked about hunter biden's expose. will finally answer the explosive new york post report that allegedly males show millions trading on his father's influence. his responses i have no response. after not being asked about the the formertroversy,

vp spoke to reporters on friday following the campaign events in michigan. when he was approached about the son, bidenut his went after the journalists. saying i know you would ask that, i have no response, it's another smear campaign. those are the questions you always ask. that's one of the follow-up pieces in the new york post. amos is calling from texas. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. is this woman in florida when looking at joe biden. owes $400 states million to these other countries that can do harm against us. and why can't he release his tax

returns so everybody can see it? as it says -- i voted yesterday, we voted in houston, texas. we waited for three hours in line. it was well worth it. why the governor of texas was trying to restrict people from voting. they are scared. -- what in tell it, saw -- you can write this down, joe biden will win texas. , the line yesterday was massive, people are angry, they are tired of this president, he's a liar. .e won't tell us the truth he tells us the virus can't harm you. and there was a completely different story.

back in february was a violent -- a virus from china. i blame him personally for how he has destroyed the country because of his inept ditty -- his ineptness. he has no leadership skills and is a liar. last call is harry, from georgia. caller: thank you for taking my call. i filled out my ballot two weeks ago. , received, from my gas company a late charge because they say they have not received my mail. i usually mail in my bills because i'm old-fashioned. i'm a two tour vietnam veteran and i like to do that. i called the bank to cease the check cleared, the bank told me no, they have not received anything. so i went to the post office and the lady at the bank says have you checked the post office.

i went to the post office, the supervisor says we are having trouble with the mail. paid, i am paying late fees on it and i'm afraid ist my mail-in ballot probably caught up in this foolishness. thank you paul. host: thank you for calling. we will do this again at 9:30 and take more of your calls on how you are voting. we are taking a short break. when we come back we will talk about voting rights with emory university professor carol anderson, author of one person no vote, how voter suppression is destroying our democracy. later we will turn to the future of the affordable care act and legal and political challenges to it with grace marie turner of the conservative galen institute. you are watching washington unit -- washington journal. ♪

♪ >> 61 million americans have some form of disability. yet, we are in less than 3% of films and tv shows. the majority of those roles are portrayed by nondisabled actors. ultimately, as somebody with a disability, we want to see ourselves represented. ultimately, not only are we seeing ourselves represented but it will help destigmatize disabilities. generalesentation in gets society used to everybody. and ultimately it makes the world a more inclusive place. >> makes no vicki founded the easter seal disability challenge in response to seeing disabilities underrepresented in front of the camera. he will talk about this years entries injuries and winning

films. nick at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. c-span2 has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. today at 5:00 p.m. eastern, jennifer on her book big dirty money. which looks at the repercussions average americans face from the -- when the rich break the law to accumulate more wealth. in his book, the spy masters, chris talks about -- talks to former cia directors and provides an inside look at the intelligence operations. on sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern onafterward, candace owens why black americans should vote republican in her book blackout. theis interviewed by chairman of the american conservative union. watch book tv on c-span2.

watching c-span. your unfiltered view of government. cabled by america's television company as a public service. and brought to you today by your television providers. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us now from atlanta is carol anderson. she is the author of one person, no vote. how voter suppression is destroying our democracy. good morning, professor anderson. guest: good morning. host: we point out you are also a professor at emory university in african-american studies -- in the african-american studies department. you detailed voter suppression efforts in 2016 and 2018. what did you see then and what are you seeing now in 2020? guest: actually, i am seeing it double down. what i saw then was an effort coming after the shelby county

holder's decision in 2013 by the u.s. supreme court. the clearance provision of the voting rights act. and what i saw immediately afterwards, two hours afterwards, texas implement it a law that the court said is racially discriminatory. i saw alabama implement a voting rights law one day after the shelby county decision. in the preclearance state, almost 1200 polling stations have been shut down. places where people go to vote. millions had been purged from the voter rolls.

for reasons that federal law says you can't be removed. i saw these states really doing whatever they could to remove american citizens from the voter rolls and to block american citizens right to vote. and the framing of all of this paul claims, assertion. he was the cofounder of the heritage foundation. when he said i don't believe in i don't wantnt, everybody to vote. because, frankly, our leverage goes out as the voting populace goes down. that is what i am seeing -- i .aw in 2016 in 2018. we are seeing it now in the midst of a pandemic. where states are not figuring out -- there are states that are

going you have your right to vote and we will protect that and your safety in the midst of a pandemic. instead, we are seeing a version of the old jim crow days. if you are going to vote, you will risk your life to do so. by making it harder, i requiring voter republics. you have to have your absentee ballot notarized, saying that covid-19 is not an acceptable for wanting an absentee ballot. host: phone numbers on the bottom of your screen for our guest, carol anderson. republicans, call (202) 748-8001 . .emocrats, (202) 748-8000 .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 carol anderson is in african-american studies professor at emory university in atlanta. author of one person, no vote, how voter suppression is destroying our democracy.

take us closer to where you are in the state of georgia, making a lot of news in the recent days and weeks. we have seen long lines. tell us what is happening in your home state right now. we have seen the long lines in georgia. to vote. really --long lines we make it sound like it is either voter enthusiasm or that happenstance because the first day was a holiday. officials knew the first day of early voting was a holiday. election officials also knew that there was incredible demand to be able to vote this year. that voter turnout was going to be probably record-setting. because we saw that in the june primary. what we found in the june

primary, a study was done. and it found that voting precincts that were 90% or more minorities, that the wait time was 51 minutes. on average. but in voting precincts where the 90% of the eligible voters were white, the weight count was six minutes. -- wait count was six midst. that is -- minutes. that is a disparity in poll workers and the size of the precinct. all of that is feeding into the long lines that we saw here. you also saw people's determination to vote, which you should not have to wait in line for 11 hours to vote, that is a failure of the state to provide the kinds of resources necessary for a free and fair election. before we get to the

calls, i wanted to read you some comments from the heritage foundation about mail-in voting. we have been talking about early and mail-in voting this morning. one person writes that advocates of vote by mail do not understand the extent of snafus on american voter rolls. they don't understand the hundreds of thousands of duplicate registrations that exist. they don't understand the problem of placeholder registrations where many registrations do not have full addresses. those who do not understand have chosen to turn a blind eye to these and other glaring problems. add that the simple fact of vote by mail is entirely dependent on whopostal service, routinely delivers you your neighbors mail, any thoughts about that? guest: yes. so many. universally, vote by mail is used in five states in the united states. .nd they don't have a problem they are able to do it.

the pointing out of the post office is really fascinating, given that president trump said that he is withholding funding from the post office so that it cannot deal with the exponential increase in mail-in ballots. that you had louis dejoy, the postmaster general, ordering the dismantling of sorting machines that could provide ways for the post office to really do this work. and again, what we have here is that the voting rolls are managed. in fact, they are overmanaged. millions ofremoving eligible voters from the rolls. a concern about

mail-in ballots. generally, republicans use mail-in ballots much more than democrats. this is the fact that in the that of a pandemic, democrats are moving toward mail-in ballots as a way to protect their right to vote and their right to be safe. to be healthy. use by democrats incredibleogged this -- caused this incredible search ofut concern -- surge concern about mail-in ballots. trump has said mail-in ballots are corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. he urged his republicans in florida to use mail-in ballots. it is not the message that is the concern. it is who will be using it that is the concern. calls forill take

carol anderson. bill from new jersey. independent caller. caller: thank you. good morning to both of you. i would like to mention that there is voter suppression of a different kind, when people do not get all of the facts from the media. for example, the biased presidential debate commission, [indiscernible] twitter, abc,e nbc, etc. biden family and hunter biden quid pro quo, a dirty moneymaking deal in ukraine, in china and in other countries. lastly, thank you for letting me make this common. there is a reason all of the

police organizations in our country are supporting president trump. parents of allon races want safety and school choice, which is why they are voting for president trump, which the media has not mention. host: thank you very much for a let's get a response from carol anderson. bill, carol anderson is making the point -- carol, bill is making the point that media is the problem. therefore, suppressing them. what is your take on that? the new york post story has been so thoroughly debunked. when you read through that horrific story, you see how illogical it is. you see how -- and they have the metadata on that supposed emails that show that the emails were laptop months after the

was supposedly dropped off. it is clear that this is part of the russian disinformation campaign. into --eat to lose into our ooze campaign. that is designed to create this contempt for a free press. create an aura of illegitimacy and corruption .round joe biden and what it -- what we don't see that trump owes $1 billion to somebody.

that ivanka has trademarks, while she was in the white house, with china. what? that the corruption is so deep that you have so many of trump's advisors who have pled guilty, who have been incarcerated. and yet, the aura of corruption -- this is projection. and if you are going to require toit is going to require us read from multiple new sources. and to develop critical thinking skills. kind ofwe can be the engaged, informed citizenry that needsemocracy desperately. -- and that this democracy needs desperately. host: going to robert. caller: good morning.

i am 84 years old. i have seen a lot of elections. -- with problem when people calling for trump. womenings he said about that you can document. he said it was a hoax about the virus. all of these things, if it was obama who said all of these things, ain't no way he would be president. host: the main topic is voting rights in campaign 2020. any observations? they are putting only republicans are trying to keep people from voting. they are trying roadblocks. arele calling for trump

trying to find justifications for stuff. i would like to hear her remarks. host: let's hear from our guest. guest: so, the reason why we are seeing all of these voter suppression policies in place is that, i will do a quick history lesson. late 1960's, the had beendemocrats who blocking civil rights legislation and were part of the anti-party of lincoln, right? upset because lyndon johnson signed the civil rights and voting rights act. they can't believe that they are now in the party that believes that black people has rights. moved in, seeing an opportunity, to break open the solid democratic cell and

get more congressional representatives from areas that have been previously blocked off to them. they moved them in, thinking that they could control white supremacy which is the bedrock of theional principle southern democrats. the republicans could not. that toxicity took over and it moved the party further and further to the right. so far to the right that in this diverse america, the way that the policy recommendations and the platforms for the resonate withnnot the vast majority of americans. and so, the republicans have had to figure out do we broaden our base? do we expand our policy or do we suppress? and the republicans chose door number two. they had to reevaluation -- they

had a real valuation -- reevaluation in 2004 and 2005 and after mitt romney's loss. the response was double down on suppression. that is what the supreme court decision, shelby county, allowed them to do. that is why in north carolina, the court circuit says that north carolina's voter suppression loss targeted -- african-americans with almost surgical precision. this is why in texas, the judge ruled that the voter id laws not a racially discriminatory impact, they had a racially discriminatory intent. , in this growing, diverse america, how do we stem

the tide? how do we keep as many of those voters away? how do we make voter suppression voter depression? where it feels like it is impossible for your vote to have a difference? barriersll put as many up there to dissuade you from voting. to vote.t difficult that is the game plan. guest is carol anderson who is an african-american studies professor at emory university in atlanta. person,f the book one no vote. how voter suppression is destroying our democracy. we will take phone calls for just under 30 more minutes with our guest. we have sharon. sharon is on the line in california, on the republican line. thank you for waiting perio. caller: good morning.

i am listening to a lot of the conversation. one thing, right off the bat, since we have gotten it put through that virtually everybody in the unite states will get a mail-in ballot, right there, don't we sort of solve any of the problems of any kind of suppression that might be taking place at voting stations, etc.? that is .1. points number one. point number two, the cdc came out with a statistic saying that even seniors, 95 plus percent of them will survive covid. to go it dangerous at all and vote regularly? if you are a virus person, you can do the mail in. all of us managed to get to the grocery store and everywhere else we need to get. if we wanted to vote in person, we could do that. my third point is, you know, you

seem like a smart, lovely woman. but why are we telling our brothers and sisters, our african-american and american children or our latino american children that they are not smart enough to go get ids and vote? that anybody that wants to vote certainly can vote. i guess you guys all know who i'm voting for. who i believe loves all americans. that's it. god bless. you: carol anderson, i saw shaking your head at your last comment. what did you hear that concerns you? guest: so much. we are not all having massive mail-in ballots. one of the things that is happening, there are cities that are putting barriers in mail-in ballots. so that, in the midst of a pandemic, where over 8 million americans have contracted the andase, where over 200

10,000 -- 210,000 people have died, we are telling folks that they are going to get -- need to get witness signatures on their mail-in ballots. we are telling folks that they are going to need to have their mail-in ballots notarized so that the social distancing that was part of the underlying architecture for the need for these mail-in ballots, in the midst of a pandemic, are being undermined. myth that everybody is doing mail-in ballots is not accurate. the second point, i can't even remember it now. i will go to the third point. the third point that why are we telling black children or latino children that they are not smart enough. let me explain how voter id works.

thatay voter id works is it is there for the middle-class norm that everybody has a voter id. that is what it is so effective. the way that the legislatures have written these voter id laws, it is not that every id counts. state -- these states, like north carolina, have racial data on who has what type of id. and then they decided, based on that data, to privilege the kinds of ids that whites have. and to exclude the kinds of ids that african-americans have. so, it is not every id. there is an intent behind this. and what it also does not deal with is that the structural barriers, the economic barriers

to access these ids. so, for instance, in georgia, to get your id, you need to have three different types of documentation. and that documentation from a a resident has -- racialank account -- has implications, given the structural inequalities in the united states. given the income disparities in the united states. given the wealth disparity in the united states. so, this is like the poll tax of the days of old, where it can be discriminatory -- it cannot be discriminatory because everybody has to pay it. but everybody does not have to go through centuries of slavery

and unpaid labor. everybody did not have to go through the black codes which was slavery by another name after the civil war. everybody did not have to go through sharecropping and the theft of your wages. the theft of your labor in that system. on the surface, you get equity. but you coil back the lairs of that wonderful democratic language and what you see as a ourpool of inequality that indership has tapped into order to skew access to the ballot box. in order to stop key constituencies, key groups of american citizens from being able to access the ballot box. linesen you see 11 our linesn georgia -- 11 hour

here in georgia, that is not by accident. when we see that whites have an average of six minutes and african-americans and latinos and asian americans have an average of 51 minutes, that is not by accident. , whatto think through would your time look like when you will hop in there and vote in six minutes? or, when you have to go in there and vote and i will have to take an hour. the kinds of calculations you have to make about the rest of your day come into being. we have got to be cognizant. and interrogate how these systems work and what they are designed to do. oft: we will get to more your calls in a couple of

minutes. carol anderson, we mentioned the courts a couple of times earlier. i wanted to get your take on the new makeup of the supreme court. assuming the nomination of judge barrett goes through next week. i want to show you a short clip from the judiciary committee hearing with senator kamala california asking judge amy coney barrett if voting discover nation still exists. here is that exchange. do you agree with chief justice roberts, who said voting discrimination still exists. do you agree with that statement? >> senator harris, i will not comment on what a justice said or whether an opinion is right or wrong and endorse that proposition? . it a proposition or a fax? ct? are you saying you don't agree with a fact?

>> i am not going to make a comment. i will not say i endorse either the majority or the dissent in the case of shelby county. are you disputing a known fact? >> senator, i am not sure what you are getting at with asking me to endorse the fact or whether any particular practice constitutes voter discover nation. i am very happy to say that i think racial discrimination still exists and we have seen evidence of that this summer. >> [indiscernible] >> senator harris, there have been cases, we talked in this hearing about the wisconsin case that went up to the courts involving voting. pinonk anything, any in -- opinion that i would express, and i don't mean to signal that i disagree, what i am going to say is i will not express an

opinion because they have been charged issues. i will not engage on that question. host: carol anderson, what did you make of that exchange and the hearings in general as they related to voting rights. and again, the future makeup of related to voting rights? and again, the future makeup of the court? guest: i have to go back of it. given that mitch mcconnell held the nomination of merrick garland on the pretext that we were in the middle of an election and that it should be left up to the voters to decide who the rep sedatives will be, who will nominate and confirm the next justice of the u.s. supreme court because it is a lifetime position, that to then have this -- it was a sham.

of a confirmation hearing. it is just -- it is part of the basement of our democratic institution. judge amy coney to even really because sheh or to say -- thought through, but to say that racial discrimination happens at the voting booth, happens in our unconscionable, unconscionable. the court cases are clear. .he data are clear

law did, iter id 20% of8% of whites and african-americans from voting. it is clear. to have someone who wants that --ition in a fraudulent manner.nt it just compounded the travesty that is happening to american democracy right now. the reason that we are seeing enormous voter turnouts is because americans are fighting for this democracy. we want our institutions to work. we want them to be

representative. we want them to be responsive. that does violence to the principle that mitch mcconnell put up there. host: judy, good morning. caller: hello. i am a widow of a vietnam veteran. he fought hard. got the medal of valor. it took until the time he passed away to just recently to get my

benefits. i feel very strongly about the voting mechanisms that we are going through. the not buy any of nonsense. i feel that we should go back to the old ways of people going to the polls and voting, personally. , the takes armed guards police, the sheriff's department, what ever we have to for a fewballot boxes vote, justple try to opening it up. i had polio as a child.

if they do not want to, that is their business. i do not agree with anything about any of this. i am grounded. were fighting in and out. this. me restate happening.erson is it's not like there is some mandate that everyone must votes by mail-in ballots. part of what is happening is trying to respond to the fouravirus that has killed

times as many people in a matter of months, four times as many monthsns in a matter of as died over 20 years. how do we protect our people. one of the ways we protect our lessen theo try to number of folks who are in loss in the midst of a pandemic that is transmitted via the air. eight color a new jersey talked about the polls are open for

those who are disabled. so we've got a lot of myths out there and to have sheriffs and police at the polling station is not protection. in fact, it is intimidation. --is intimidation because of not only the history, but the present. george floyd, eight minutes, 40 seconds. breonna taylor, jacob blake. relationship of the black community with the tension. fraught with

it is like having the police there to keep african-americans away. the 2000is and election in jacksonville, florida whose that up a virtual checkpoint charlie the only road leading into the black precinct. we saw here in georgia under poll consolidation they set up the voting precinct for african-americans in the .heriff's office when we think of the history of this nation in terms of systematically denying the right to vote, what we need to be

thinking through is how do we ensure the right to vote for american citizens. for those mothers who are loving their children, for those fathers who are loving their honoren, how do we american democracy through the vote? what we have now is dishonoring. we're going to move on to marlton, new jersey, for democrats. this is lose for carol anderson. good -- this is liz. hi, liz. caller: good morning. good morning, ms. anderson. i think the mail-in voting, the to stir upays that

his of voters, to claim he won the election when he's probably going to lose the election. we need to concentrate on what is the voter's right? right is guaranteed in the constitution when the bill of rights expanded it to women like myself and others who were not initially allowed to vote. i think thees, party, particularly the republican party, they are not carrying the day on the popular vote. they didn't carry it in the 2000 election. they did not carry it in the 2016 election. can't getcided they the majority of the american people to vote for them. get as fewto try to of the other side voting.

that is not a sensible plan. it's not what the constitution was written or. i think we need to make as few barriers as possible there for the american people. they managed to kill off over , so00 new jersey voters standing in line with people, who make ithose their constitutional right to spread disease, that's not real appealing to me. you always have people who work , who are in the poor status in life and disabled people and not all minorities -- i think the callers who are for

restrictions on voting want to stick it to minorities. it's not all minorities. it's also your uncle who is 80 and lives alone and has trouble getting to the polls. liz, thank you for your call. let's hear from carol anderson. absolutely. the coronavirus is real. it's not a hoax. anding out how to hold election in the midst of a pandemic and having people safe is why you are seeing the questions about mail-in ballots. out moreg to spread days of early voting so you do not have everyone funneled in on election day. that can increase the

possibility of contracting this lethal disease. as i said before, the heritage want good said, you government because you want everybody to vote. i don't want everybody to vote. candidly, our leverage goes up as the voting populace goes down. when we understand that is the framework, the paradigm, the recipe, the rest of it makes sense. host: another call from new jersey, and independent caller. mickey, down to the last few moments of the program, or the segment. mickey, go ahead please.

caller: i agree that all citizens should be allowed to vote and that we need to work -- but illegal aliens and noncitizens, we have to have a way to keep them from voting. if you allow noncitizens to vote , then you might as well send your ballots to russia and china and iran and north korea. that weto balance it so make sure american citizens can make but we also have to sure that noncitizens are not andng in our elections clear out our voting rolls so dead people are not voting in their elections and people are not voting two or three times. how can we work together to bring this about? , thank you for

calling. final thoughts, carol anderson. with: what he is dealing is the language about voter fraud, people coming in and stealing the election, noncitizens voting, voting multiple times. the data are clear. there is a study from 2000 until 2014. there were one billion votes cast in the united states and there were only 31 cases of voter impersonation fraud. out of one billion votes. over 15 years. votings to noncitizens -- the heritage foundation, in reallyge study that's murky, but when you pull it all back, what they found were 41 over of noncitizens voting

four decades. -- all of these emigrants stealing our elections s stealing our elections have been amplified and magnified disparate recently to strike fear in american citizens who are then willing to put in place these devices that actually block american citizens from voting. that's what we have to know. that's what we have to understand. has been carol anderson, and african-americans that he is professor at emory university in atlanta. also author of "one person, no : how voter suppression is destroying our democracy." thank you for talking to us.

guest: thank you. host: our next topic will be the affordable care act and legal challenges to it. we will be back. ♪ >> american history tv on people, exploring the and events that tell america's story every weekend. "huntinge book eichmann" on the capture of nazi war criminal adolf eichmann. then an event at the virginia center for civil right -- civil war stories. then the final debate between ronald reagan and walter

mondale. then the second debate between george h w bush and michael dukakis. "reel.m. eastern on speech," john kennedy's religious freedom and then it ronald reagan. -- and then ronald reagan. >> "the contenders," about the men who -- "the contenders," about the men who ran for president but lost. next, hubert humphrey. monday at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span3. with the senate confirmation

hearings for judge amy coney barrett concluded, watch the next steps in the process. committeeeastern the will vote on the confirmation thursday and then on c-span two, the full senate begins a debate on amy coney barrett's confirmation. stream on-demand on c-span.org or listen live on the c-span radio app. >> you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. -- journal"ngton continues. us, grace-marie turner. the mission of the galen institute? guest: we are a nonprofit think tank. ,e have written several books and we have a plan coming out health carehe

choices plan 2020, and we are helping to allow competition and markets to solve problems in the health care sector with better protections for the vulnerable. you have written you would like to see the trump administration sees the offense on the health care issue this campaign. what are you suggesting the president do this limited time we have before voting? what thing he has not done a good enough job in doing is helping the american people stay ahead of the important changes already made over the last four years that he has done primarily true executive orders. he's talked a lot about getting rid of the individual mandate, but he has done a lot through executive orders to try to give people more choices, lower cost,

empower states to do a better job of taking care of their more vulnerable patients. he has executive orders, health .eimbursement rearrangement some of them are in court being challenged. he wants to make sure that with transparency, people can learn and there has been a lot that the administration has done. they have lowered premiums in the individual market. doubled in the first four years of the obama administration and the last several years, the premiums of not only leveled, but gone down slightly. there has been targeted reform.

targeted reform to address specific problems. host: let me jump in with phone numbers. if you're getting insurance through the affordable care act, call this number --202-748-800./ if you get insurance through .our employer, 202-748-8001 those who do not -- 202-748-8002. 3.eryone else, 202-748-800

premiumstentimes now, can be as much as a family's mortgage. they are finding that deductibles are so high they often cannot afford to access care. but we believe that vice president biden keeps talking about his main plan is to fix the affordable care act. pouring our money into it is not point to fix it. from theto be fixed bottom so there is more competition and we draw people back into the health insurance market that have been pushed out because of high cost and we have a plan for that. host: it's called the health

care choices plan. , before we turner get to callers, dig in a little deeper. of the things we've seen with the affordable care act is trying to run the health care system from washington just doesn't work. maine,, mississippi, california are just too different. we need to allow states to fine-tune their insurance markets to provide people the .ind of choices they need to do that, states soy need more flexibility, our plan would devolve resources from washington and ultimately

they also want people who are trapped in we want themans, to use the value of their subsidies. it would rather have that plan. plan ofse the entitlement to purchase the medicare advantage plan that many people find provides them better access. there are 60 different recommendations on their plans.

really, it is targeted to the individual market. changes thatay of would target specific problems, give people more choices. they do a better job of taking care of people with pre-existing conditions. the affordable care act essentially put everybody into the same medical costs. many people dropped over the market -- too many people have dropped out of the individual market because the premiums have become so expensive. better job of taking care of people. there are other kinds of risk

plans with subsidies that they are not driving up premiums for everyone else. within the states they have received waivers to do this. this draws more people back into the market because their but moreare lower, importantly it allows people with higher medical costs because of pre-existing conditions to a better plan. host: grace-marie turner our guest is. -- our guest is grace-marie turner. good morning. miss grace, thank you for being there today. i'm a retiree. portion of the

medical payments from my former employer, which is a small amounts. they have a schedule of every two weeks or so and if you go to the hospital the price is excessively high. i want to know what is the government doing to keep the understandts down, i so can get the same drugs much cheaper. what plan to they have to keep the insurance companies from taking advantage of us seniors?

the guest is still here, are you and medicare? host: i think the guest is gone -- i mean the caller is gone. guest: it's hard to know because we have quite a mosaic of health plans with medicare, medicaid, tri-care, the state children's health insurance program, the .ffordable care act it sounds like she has supplementary coverage through her employer, but without knowing what the a sick coverage is, it's hard to know how to .ddress those problems if she is being asked to come in every couple weeks, i wonder if you may have a chronicle -- a chronic condition they want to monitor.

but without more information, it's hard to know what to do such a help, but i would be happy, off-line, to talk with you. host: let's hear from steve. good morning, steve. caller: good morning. i had health insurance when the insurance.alth when obama passed the affordable i got kicked off my insurance. you can get into any doctor. i'm an epileptic. thank you very much, barack obama. now? steve, what you doing you have to pay your own way? caller: i can't pay it. they tried to push me on medicare and medicaid. i don't want anything from the government.

i haven't touched the government since the 1970's. thank you. aboutstate concerned obamacare, the current affordable care act. any thoughts? guest: unfortunately too many people did lose their coverage, coverage they liked, because it required policies to cover such an extensive list of services that really in many cases it may be policy on affordable. i'm particularly concerned about our caller because it's important to have elves insurance because you never know will headmajor events -- the affordable care act was designed to allow anyone to purchase a policy any criteria.u meet

i would like to talk to our ca ller offline and find out if there may be some options you may want to look at, like short term duration plans. the trump administration has allowed these policies to be available through the years -- the premiums can be lower, there should be other options for the caller and i would really like to talk to you about how to do that. medical to have that protection. , the grace-marie turner trump administration, as we know, is going to the supreme .ourt november 10 about the aca they want to overturn it.

what with that mean for protections for people with pre-existing connections? this is a case brought by state attorneys general, because the affordable care act was basically upheld in 2012 by chief justice roberts individualinitial mandate me not because the two shall as a mandate, but it's constitutional as attacks. when congress eliminated the tax associated with the individual decisionthat meant the of 2012 is being called into question. that is what is before the court. many people who watch the court court's very unlikely the would overrule and repeal the entire act. back toecide to send it

a lower court to address the structural changes. it may do nothing. but the important thing is that it's notis ready -- the court strikes us down and nothing happens. every single member of congress haveth sides of the aisle said we will tax people with pre-existing conditions, so law and can pass a new the plan we are proposing is a really important framework that will allow people to not only keep their pre-existing protections, but it would be better coverage. there's an opportunity to make improvements with wife president biden saying that he wants to fix the affordable care act, the centerpiece of his policy

he is acknowledging that there is much that needs to be fixed. the affordable care act was passed more than 10 years ago. premiums --afford not with deductibles that are so high they cannot afford to .ccess care host: we want to show you a s, from arizona and iowa, about the issue of pre-existing conditions. [video clip] >> arizonans know that martha mcsally will do anything to win. her worst lies are the ones

about her own record. she voted to eliminate protections for pre-existing health protections. i support mark. >> i'm r. kelly and i approve this message. -- i am mark kelly and i approve this message. >> i have diabetes. it's a pre-existing condition. my sister always at my back still does today area no one messes with my sister. >> i'm joni ernst. i approve this message because no americans should ever be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition -- not in my family or yours. host: what do you make of the information that is out there and available for folks to learn about these issues?

guest: there are some may scare tactics and it's unfortunate. people are scares -- scared. many people are losing health insurance because they can't afford it. it will provide them access to care and in order to do that we need to let the market work better. burdened by so many rules and regulations from washington, we are figuring out what to people really need? if they haveknow, insurance they have insurance that can keep that insurance going forward. there are already a lot of provisions on the books to provide for that. the protection is in the individual market.

what we need to do is stop scaring people and say what is the problem? do you have a pre-existing condition? let's talk about a solution. maybe your state provides a better option than the federal system that is not serving so many people will. --people. story, we had a woman from colorado right to us who have had hepatitis be and she ultimately needed a liver transplant. she cannot afford her health and she wenticy into what was then the colorado high risk rule. she got her liver transplants. -- transplant. she got her transplant medication. then obamacare came along and she was put in the same pool as

everyone else. her premiums went up. the coverage diminished. she had a harder and harder time . she had to pay out of pocket for many medications. she was saying colorado did a better job of taking care of them when she was thrown into this same insurance pool with everybody else. we have learned of the state has capacity to do this. we have guidelines for the criteria that the state must me et. one of the key ones is a specific amount of this grant needs to be devoted to providing options for people. like janet who needed a liver

tonsplant to give them -- give them options. host: michelle from maryland. michelle? caller: good morning. good morning paul. paul.d morning, i just want to make this point. the conservatives demonize the aca. the aca allowed my sons to stay on my plan until the age of 26, which was a good thing. know, the conservatives have done such a good job at demonizing the aca when the aca is no more than what i look at -- the fha. it's not government insurance. ant like the fha, if you get

fha loan you get a loan from a private bank, but the government underwrites it in sets limits on what the private bank can charge you in terms of fees and charges and interest rates to make it more affordable. aca, it's the same thing. the same thing. the aca is insurance you're getting from the private market, but the government undergirds it or underwrites it so the private insurance company puts limits on what the private insurance company can charge you. i think the caller was steve. he said that the aca was so that for him, his insurance went up. headmitted during the call was offered, he qualified to go on medicaid or medicare and he did not want to do that. so it wasn't that the problem was with the aca.

was the fact that he did not want to transfer to medicare and medicaid. and the supreme court case is so important because what the conservatives want to do is they really want to get the supreme court to set the precedent that mandating insurance is unconstitutional. that will impact the ability to back to the drawing board and improve upon the aca and set the precedent that is against universal health care, imposing that every american is insured like they do it every other country successfully. host: michelle, thank you for your thoughts. michelle, you're very, very well-informed. let's talk about the individual mandate. it was one of the least popular provisions of the law, the

provision to allow children to remain on their parents' policies was one of the more popular ones. but with the government forcing people to purchase a private product with their own money was really the question and that government canhe force you to purchase with your own money, what else can it do? chief justice roberts upheld it by saying, well, a penalty is really attacks. is up forcing you -- really a tax. it really does get to the was the of also, affordable care act successful in getting to universal coverage? i was in the gallery on the house floor when it passed in 2010.

member after member were saying, finally we will get universal coverage. the affordable care act is going to get us there. whod 28 million people still don't have health it cane, and obviously be so expensive they can't afford it they can't afford the premiums. we keep going back to the issue of affordability. if we can make health coverage more affordable, then we do not need to have a trillion dollars in rental money going into the individual market in order to attain that coverage. , gettingng cost down these kinds of policies that meet their needs and their family's needs is really the path forward.

ahope that we can find bipartisan path forward, whatever happens with the election. host: we have robert in clinton maryland. good morning -- clinton, maryland. good morning. caller: can you hear me ok? host: yes. caller: you have a very nice speaking voice and your very andincing, but the aca medicaid help the poor people in this country. you're talking about people on medicaid purchasing additional policies. because on medicaid now they don't have money. it is a simple fact. the aca gave an opportunity to the poor people in this country to have health care. you people want to take that away. why would you want to do that?

companiese insurance want to make more money of the poor people in this country and the trump administration has been in office all this time and never come up with a plan that would do anything for anybody as far as health care is concerned. host: thank you, robert. grace-marie turner, want to respond to robert? guest: i want everyone to have health insurance. we wanted to be affordable. people who run medicaid often find they have to go to an emergency room for routine care toause it's so difficult find a physician who can afford to see them. a physician friend of mine talked about taking care of a patient with a serious long condition. spent a long time with him. for got the check back

seven cents. afford tons cannot take patience from medicaid and all of the price controls, we are saying let people on medicaid have the option of the dignity of private coverage that would allow them to access a physician, access care that will and it can be done with the same premiums. give the market the operator to respond -- opportunity to respond. we see outd crisis, quickly the market can respond and they are really counterproductive where they

repurpose their assembly lines. it is warp speed developing treatment and vaccines that would have taken years because the fda is working with companies to facilitate retesting. -- the testing. if there were more quite operation between government and the market i think many of these problems could be solved and we have seen this happen with the covid crisis. when states get waivers that allow them to take some of the money that is currently being spent in the exchanges and repurpose that, they can do a better job of providing development programs that provide better care, so there are a lot of solutions.

after my conclusions being in washington for a very long time is washington is really out of its element trying to micromanage something as complex as our health care system. we need to power down back to .octors and patients and we want to provide extra support to people who are lower income. that reminds me of the caller's concern or he said the white house and republicans in congress do not have a replacement plan for the aca. if it goes away there isn't something to go in his place. why do you think that is? what's your take on that? as you know when congress

was addressing this issue in 2017, the big issue was the replacement plan and john mccain decided he was not for the replacement plan. that's really what happened. of about 100n policy experts from around the country, leaders that are really studied health care and have ideas about how to make the system work better for people all have come up with this plan. it's actually the infrastructure that congress could use to develop legislation, but frankly there is no way this is going to get through in this congress. the house of representatives has a very different idea. i testified four times before congress last year on medicare for all. they have a different approach. they think if the government controls at all, they can fix it

. we believe we need to get the government out of the way. i want to respond again to the concerns the color talked about having her 26-year-old son stay on her policy. you could purchase a policy for $50, $100 a month. does premiums are 400, $500 a month. this costs a lot more. there are bigger problems than locking in the affordable care act. problemcreasingly a that more and more low income people are enrolled in.

terrence calling from birmingham, alabama. good morning. caller: good morning, can you hear me? host: yes. is on -- weife , because she had to have a bigger surgery and i really could not afford -- i do work and i could not afford to put her on my plan. we are renters, too. that's the majority of our money. we are in alabama, so we only have blue cross blue shield. they are the major one, but they are so expensive. when we have the surgery, when she had the surgery, we had to come up with a hundred dollars out-of-pocket -- $500

out-of-pocket. my issue is, i guess i'm more afraid of is if something goes away because alabama does not do anything with concern to health away i'm afraid they won't have anything in the first place. get medicare. afraid that with my daughters and my wife, i can't afford to put her on my insurance -- you make that much .n alabama the try to keep it so level. the insurance is very important.

fear,s the biggest there's very little competition. host: grace-marie turner. your reaction? guest: thank you. -- i haveassure you had conversation with people on other sides of the aisle. something controls like the health insurance in alabama. subsidized based on income. but alabama could do a better

job. there's no competition in alabama. and the prices just go up and up and up. it you need to have other options. one of the things that a lot of , comparingfinding these accounts with health -- to have held -- health insurance, but to do it in a way that is not so expensive that you lose it because you cannot afford to pay. unfortunately, millions of people are in that position. they have had to drop coverage. we need to get premiums there and in order to do that, we need haveve people to

administrationhe that could provide your employer for that options coverage as well. that is something that can't --n they had more experience in these markets because so many of apply to all parts of the country and in alabama, i understand there are the particular problems in your but there are several to do a-- resources better job of making those policies affordable. >> good morning.

thank you for your guest. thank you for c-span. about a lot of concern what i'm hearing. i am a totally blind 82-year-old. i received exactly $1200 -- i'm month, which is a combination of disability, , and as happens, my former husband passed away before he is been with my replacement long enough that i had to share that stipend. . was on medicaid i would love to know how i can afford to pay anybody any

premiums. pockettime is picking my every day. we need truth telling about what options truly are if we allowed the republicans to complete their 10-year effort to destroy the aca. thank you. trouble had a bit of hearing the caller. host: she was making the point she is paying a landlord and money has become a significant -- a significant issue. -- guest: it sounds like she should qualify for supplementary medicaid coverage

as well. support.d qualify for she has the health coverage that she needs. it would not affect her coverage. once again, i think it is -- suret to shore people whatever the supreme court -- for sure people that whatever the supreme court decides i think it's highly unlikely piece of in court will reverse course -- highly unlikely the supreme court will reverse course. this affects a small segment of the market and congress has -- we can give people

more choices, more affordable and make sure they have health insurance they can afford things there are so many going into insurance companies to be able to purchase in alabama. they have a coverage that works for them. >> let's get one last call in. this is michael in los angeles. >> good morning. i'm concerned about her perspective because i am a cancer patient. i am considered terminal and

inoperable. my health insurance can only do so much. i took my health in my own hands. pure extractis, oil, and my cancer cells are dying and my doctors are amazed. able to cannabis is legally, nationally, given the freedom to be taxed and applied towards the health care program. i think that would address the need to correct the affordable care act. it seems like the affordable care act was written by insurance lobbyists and passed by congress, who are now getting the feedback from the american people, and the american people's interests have not been met by the aca. needsa needs to meet the -- the aca meets the needs of

the insurance industry and not the american people. sin tax of cannabis. veterans can use cannabis to help them with their psychological problems coming back for more fair. the science is out there. it is in australia, spain, israel, and it is only the american medical industry. the fact that hospitals now operate for profit. these are elements that are preventing the affordable care act from working, and it is congress that is preventing it, policymakers that are preventing it. host: michael, thank you for calling. final but from our guest, grace-marie turner. -- thought from our guest, grace-marie turner. guest: i hope you continue to improve and get the treatment you need however that is structured. that is one of the things that is important, people to get the

care they need, to make sure that it is the best care for them. host: grace-marie turner is president of the galen institute . galen.org is where you can read about their plan. thank you for your time. caller: thank you, -- -- guest: thank you, paul. we will take another timeout. when we come back, more of your calls about how you are voting this year. -- inethod are you using person, by mail, drop boxes? if you are voting in person, (202) 748-8000. --you are a male in voter malil in voter, (202) 748-8001 . all,u are not voting at

(202) 748-8003. tell us what method. we will be back. ♪ >> do i let my people run it well, or badly? if they run it badly, they will blame me, but more importantly i went to help people. he has already cost 10 million people there health care that they had from their employers because of his recession. > with less then two weeks before the election, watch the second presidential debate between donald trump and joe biden thursday from obama university -- from beaumont university in nashville, tennessee. for livepan.org/debate or on-demand streaming of c-span's debate coverage. ♪ inthe presidents, available

paperback, hardcover, and e-book from public affairs, presents biographies of every president, inspired by conversations with historians about the leadership skills that make for a successful presidency. as americans go to the polls next month to decide who should lead our country, this collection offers perspective into the lives and events that forged each president's leadership style. to learn more about the presidents and the book's featured historians, go to c-span.org/thepresidents, and order your copy today wherever books are sold. ♪ weeks away from election day, november 3, when control of congress and who occupies the white house next year will be decided. stay with c-span to hear president trump and joe biden make their case to the american public and watch debates in some of the hotly contested house and

senate races. campaign 2020 coverage every day on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app, your place for an unfiltered view of politics. >> washington journal continues. host: open phones now. again, how are you voting? whatnt to get your take on method you are using at the polls. one of the headlines comes from the bbc. they are observing the u.s. election process. early voting records are smashed amid waves of enthusiasm. pensioners,lks, queuing up to vote in indiana this month. we have seen many images like this this morning and this week in the news. we have been asking people this morning about how they are going to vote. we have mark on the line from chester, virginia.

mark, tell us your situation and what you will be doing this year. caller: good morning. i like to always vote in person. i always have my whole life. i really do not trust the mail in system. there is one line i never mind standing in. i am a republican, but i always found steve to be fair, and i think the guy should make a public apology to the washington journal audience about misjudgment and i think they should give him his job back. i want to see him back on the air. host: we did address the issue friday on this program. if you want to read a statement from steve scully at this network, go to our website. you will be able to see it there. we have crystal from west palm beach, florida. how are you voting this year? caller: i voted already by mail. like -- butdo not

in palm beach, for the governor's race, to santos lost by less than .1 percent. wasater found that there fraud in palm beach and broward and the votes are under seal. in person voting now. host: what was your process through the mail? was it easy? caller: i was a little concerned flap thatadditional has to be folded over. i mean, i am highly educated. i do not have a problem with trying to, you know, follow directions, but that extra step where the ballot has to go inside a fold and then put in the envelope was something i made sure i paid extra attention to. host: are you able to track that ballot at this point online?

have you gotten any kind of receipt or anything? caller: i have not gotten a receipt. i do intend to track it. i have not done so as yet, though. i am so concerned. the fact that they actually found inaccuracies in two counties in an election that hinged on .1% as a result of the in person voting, i mean, that kind of undercuts everything that people are believing in as far as in person voting. host: ok. thank you for calling, crystal. on to boston. mary is calling. how will you be voting this year? caller: in person. host: tell us why. caller: and i am going on election day because, the way i feel, if i can stand in line at a grocery store, or any store,

with a mask on, because in massachusetts, pretty much everybody has to have a mask to go into any store, whether it is the government or the people that own the businesses. so i feel that way. to me, women fought for the right to vote. i have voted since i was 18 and nothing is going to stop me. i will do like i do in the grocery store, keep my distance. that is all. host: mary from boston. that bbc story says state election officials across the u.s. reporting record numbers of voters casting ballots ahead of election day. more than 22 million americans at the time of this piece had voted by friday, either in person or by mail according to the u.s. election project. at the same point in 2016, about 6 million votes had been cast. experts say the surge correlates to the pandemic, which has caused people to seek alternative ways of election day voting.

ist u.s. election project run by professor michael mcdonald at the university of florida. we had him on the program earlier today from gainesville, where he talked about his website. you can see his interactive website called the u.s. election project. of today, hasas about 20 million people voting early. you can see the map here. you can click the state of your choice. california, 2.9 million people have already voted. texas, 2.6 million plus. million, the 4 largest early voting states so far. we have chapman calling from columbus, georgia. good morning. caller: how are we doing? host: doing fine. caller: i went in early and voted. monday.n the polls

i was in line about six hours. it did not matter to me how long i stayed in. i went ahead and voted. tell us about this six-hour line then. was the line distanced? gosh, did you bring food? what was the experience like? guest: -- caller: it was distanced. they were passing out water, small snacks and stuff. the camaraderie with people. -- i was tired when i got home. i told my wife it didn't matter because i just wanted to be doing the right thing. ballot, but in

did not actually mail it in. [indiscernible] i just went ahead and voted. host: what was it that made you choose the line versus the mail in? not trust the mail in. i did not trust it. i said it, i do not trust it. if there's something that goes wrong, i was kind of concerned. i was kind of scared. host: ok. thank you for talking to us. pam is calling from california. what part of the state? caller: ventura county. santa barbara.

have a drop off because we -- gosh, we have so many drop off boxes they give us where you can go to drop off, but i chose to go all the way to ventura county government center to drop it off. they have drop off boxes between fillmore, santa paula, before i even get to ventura, but i chose to go directly to the elections and drop them off there. one of my friends said she mailed hers in and got a text back that told her they had received it. we are fortunate to be in an area in which they are organized and i feel confident that our votes will be counted, but with your speaker, everybody is experiencing different things because mailboxes are being picked up, other places are

about the identification of people to kind of circumvent them from getting even registered to vote, so everybody has different experiences, so that is what i am finding by listening to your broadcast today. host: yeah, we're hearing a lot of different experiences and different concerns about voting, making them do it one way or another. we have talked about the impact of the pandemic on voting. we have talked about long lines. let's hear from tony in gillespie, illinois. you are waiting for election day. caller: yes i am. cannot wait. i have always felt that that is a special day for me to express my own opinion. i have always been more -- leaned more towards blue at one time, but the last -- as i got

older, have seen things here in my own area, and the county, how things operate, and i just don't trust the mail. i won't be that person that walks -- i would rather be that person that walks in line and get my name registered to vote and know that i did all i could to vote red. that is just the way i am. host: all right, tony. thank you for calling. president trump will hold another rally today in michigan at 5:00 eastern. we will have it live on c-span. that is our live coverage today. we will have an event with joe biden tomorrow at 1:00 in the afternoon. more live coverage this week. we will see a lot of the state race debates on c-span, the house and senate and governor's braces. we will have supreme court highlights from the nomination hearing, the confirmation hearing with judge barrett at

10:00 today. and tomorrow again at 10:00. and to let you know, the house remains out of session. the house plans to come back if and when there will be a covid relief bill. the senate returns monday for more nominations. we expect that the supreme court nomination of judge barrett, if voted out of committee, would it come to the floor as early as thursday, perhaps friday. watch c-span2 for senate coverage. we have barbara calling from grayson, kentucky. good morning. caller: i agree with your last caller completely. -- i, we have set aside think it is a day we have set aside for voting and we should be there. i have not been out of the house but a dozen times since february, but i'm going to stand in line. if there is a big line, i will stand there until my vote is cast. host: thank you, barbara.

this is bryn mawr, pennsylvania. jen is in bryn mawr. caller: thank you for having me. i hope you are well. host: you are welcome. caller: i am an independent voter. i was registered for the primary. because i signed up for the primary by mail because i was scared about covid. my tv is not synced. i was first to sign up for a mail-in ballot for that. because i am an independent and undecided voter, i would like to wait for election day in case one of the campaigns comes out with some sort of shocking thing that could help me decide. i hope not. i surely hope not, but i want that freedom. i am quite unsure about turning in the mail-in ballot because of the chances of fraud. i feel very stuck, where i would

like to cast my ballot on election day because it is such a fraught election, but because of pennsylvania laws i have the mail-in ballot. host: on to saint pete. deborah, go ahead. caller: i have already voted by mail in florida. so has my husband. in the past, we voted in person. a little bit more exciting with all the crowds, but we wanted to make sure that not only was the ballot counted. i called to make sure that my elections advisor office has received it and that they have validated that the signatures were correct. so you can do that in florida. i do not know about that in other states, but we do it well here. host: all right. saint, deborah. thank you for calling. are you doing mail in, drop in

boxes, voting early in person, will you wait until november 3 in person? other headlines. the washington post lead story -- the supreme court announced it will review president trump's attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from factoring into how congressional seats are determined. move billions of dollars in federal funds away from states with large immigrant populations. that is in the washington post. the wall street journal and other papers, including the one in california, talking about u.s. wildfire grants. the trump administration reversed its decision, refusing governor newsom's request for relief funds following major wildfires in september that have burned through nearly one point my -- nearly 1.9 million acres.

president trump approved his request after newsom and trump spoke on the phone. grateful for his response, mr. newsom said. this also in the new york times about a vaccine. pfizer says it will not apply for vaccine authorization before mid november. they write that the chief executive of pfizer said friday that the company would not apply for emergency authorization of its vaccine before the third week of november, ruling out president trump's assertion that a vaccine would be ready before election day, november 3. we go on to ruby in houston. good morning. caller: yes. i have a problem. theallot was sent to me on september, and i hadn't received it. ok. and called and told them they told me to send in a letter

and sign it. we are seniors. this time, we wanted to vote at the polls to get it done early. i am afraid we will not get a chance to vote because we do not even have a ballot to take to the polls. the governor has made it very inconvenient for us, for the drop off boxes. i am just waiting and do not even know if i will be able to vote. host: so, what is next? what is your recourse? who else could you call? caller: i don't know. i don't know. host: that was ruby from houston. kathleen is calling from temple hills, maryland. good morning. caller: hi. how are you? host: doing fine. caller: great. for 35 years, i went to the polls every year, for

presidential elections. i really do not believe in the mail-in ballots because they can get lost. you have got voter fraud. i don't know how graphic that is, but i urge people to vote personally. thank you. host: ray is calling from syracuse, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: doing fine. what will you do this year? caller: going in person because i do not trust the male in. i live in new york. i hear a lot of people calling in. it is pretty obvious to me. i think i can understand this, that people will either trust or not trust the male in -- mail-in. --tes do not understand people do not understand that mail-ino the mal --

and it is safer. until you have seen corruption, you do not believe it is possible. it is a vexing issue because not everybody will be able to see it. you have to kind of be looking for it, but that is just the way it is. you have to see it. host: thanks for calling, ray. alicia in arlington, tennessee. good morning. caller: hi. this is alicia. i am voting early. i am going in. i was going to do a ballot, but i thought about, during the 2016 election, how russia actually got into five different ballots -- five different election machines. they didn't do anything, but they showed up in five different states, texas and all. it is like, ok, they are telling

us to be afraid to vote with the mail-in, but if they went into those five different .tates and didn't do anything if they actually got into machines. and vote ine person, but the flashing about 2 million, but that is not really the problem, and actually going to vote on the machines like we usually do is where we really get a problem. felicia from arlington, tennessee. we have a couple other messages coming in. this one by twitter. worker, so election i will not work on election day." that is paul. another viewer by twitter who says they are voting in person.

"we have had too many intense storms. i will not assume we will have a safe, sunny day november 3." "voted absentee last week. dropped my ballot off at the ballot box." kathleen, springtown, texas now, you are on the air. go ahead, kathleen. caller: hello. 72-year-old conservative. my husband and i are vietnam veterans. we voted this week, early, here in texas. i wanted to address the woman who called in from houston. we have never gone to the polls with a ballot. the only thing that we have to take here in texas is show our driver's license and we are able to vote. also here in texas, i asked them

at the polling station. i have a 91-year-old mother. concerned about her coming into vote, and they told me i could drive her to the polling station, they would come out and do a curb voting for so, bring it out to the car, we are really kind of fortunate, i think. rap aboutaking a bad our voting system. we votedd military, absentee in all sorts of foreign we find it very important to go in person, even if we have to stay in line and person and do our patriotic duty. make kathleen, what do you in the dispute in texas over the drop boxes, the governor's pursuit of having one per county?

people have been concerned and complaining about it. caller: i really do not have a problem with that. people are able to get to the polling stations where they can leave off their ballots or they can go to the dropbox. i just do not see a real issue with any of that. i have more of an issue with just mailing random ballots out to people. i believe in absentee ballots because we have had to sit at our kitchen table, being military in foreign countries and in other states, and vote that way. so i did not have a trouble with absentee ballots, it is just this mailing it out randomly. host: all right, kathleen. thank you for calling. tom from illinois. what part of the state?

caller: right on the bulge between missouri and iowa, right along the river. host: got it. go ahead. caller: i am a county board member. i have a different perspective on this. we have to count the voting machines. spent $4.3orgets, we billion on voting machines for this country. damne the dam machines -- machines. it is now costing us more in postage and everything else. if people are out of the country and you have a reason why you cannot. but we spent four point $3 billion on those machines and now they want to disband them. host: what do you think of the pandemic and people who want to stay out of lines for their health? caller: you are a mask, you social distance -- you wear a mask, you social distance. sure they are doing

other things that are way more going to cause the pandemic than going to vote. iraqis were shot when they left the polls, got purple on their fingers. put this in perspective. we are so afraid. madewhole thing has everybody afraid. i am a farmer out here and i have not stopped one day. i have been all kinds of places and have not stopped. i visit the county board meetings where all of our restaurants and businesses are going broke because the governor said they couldn't work, and then we have to charge them real estate taxes. where did they get the money? host: all right, tom. i want to get one more collar in. john from knoxville, tennessee. hey, john. caller: thank you. i am going to go today and vote early for president trump.

tennessee makes it very easy. machines, about 10 different locations around knoxville. i talked to several people yesterday who are really fired up because of the hateful, rude way that savannah guthrie treated the president, and i think what she did the other night is going to really help president trump, but we are having a heavy early voting in some three rural counties last night on the news. double that voting was what it had been an 2016. upx county, though, is only 8% since 2016, but heavier everyplace. host: all right. heard from john. thank you for calling this morning. stories about how folks are voting this year. that is it for this edition of the washington journal. we will be back tomorrow,

sunday, 7:00 eastern as we are for another addition of the show. enjoy your saturday and we will see you back here tomorrow. ♪ >> you are watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government, created by america's cable television companies as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. will vote. senate next week on the confirmation of judge amy coney barrett to be associate justice of the nation's highest court. the senategh, judiciary committee must send the nominee to the senat