, the meeting of pennsylvania's 20 electors. at 2:00 p.m., michigan 16 elect his vote in lansing. eastern, 38 texas electors vote. that we are live with john after theuthor of people vote, a guide to the electoral college. watch the electoral college vote today. live starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. this morning, the national constitution center's jeffrey rosen produced today's meaning previews today's meeting of electors. track being done to coronavirus vaccination efforts. also a preview of congress.

ahead including negotiations on government funding and coronavirus relief. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journalism next. host: good morning. it's monday, december 14 20 20. members of the electoral college are set to meet today. biden is expected to end the day with 306 votes and a gatherings have put the unique american electoral college system back in the spotlight. do you think the electoral college should be changed or even abolished?

.202) 748-8001 democrats (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8002. socialp with us on media. at c-span wj. on facebook it's facebook.com/c-span. startn go ahead and calling in now. ofmped to face his moment truth. all eyes are waiting the electoral college meeting. capitalsening in state around the country. you to several state capitals around the country so you can watch the proceedings live. here's where we will be taking eastern.:00 a.m. at noon to pennsylvania.

2:00 p.m. eastern to michigan. 3:00 p.m. to texas today. as that's happening today, we are asking you this morning if you think it's time to abolish the electoral college. today's lead editorial in today's new york times. the headline on that lead editorial, why getting the most votes matter. enough toe we are old count, we are taught that the biggest number beats the smaller number. it is the essence of fairness. everyone is a fan of majority rule until they realize they can win without it. republicans have been gifted the white house while losing the popular vote. that theurprise

commitment of republicans to majority rule along with other democratic norms has plummeted. the editorial board writing that joe biden will be the next president because he won the electoral college but he should really have the job because he won the most votes. are asking you this morning what you think about it. want to hear your thoughts. on phone lines split up as usual. tyrone is on the line for democrats. they should have been abolished the electoral college mainly because it's a vestige of slavery and has always been put in to make sure that rich white men remain rich white men. constitution was -- by rich

white men. a system they put in that would disadvantage them? there should be a constitutional amendment at least every 50 years to update it to the times of today. most americans couldn't vote. women, poor white men. host: if the electoral college is one thing you would like to see changed, what else do you want to see change? what else are the vestiges of that system? you still with us? we will go to sue out of massachusetts. an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think that our whole electoral system in this country needs to be changed. i think the fact that you have a national office, president,

being voted on a gazillion different ways depending on what state you are in is ridiculous. that's what has caused our problems right now. i think we need to have a national election system. that's just the start of it. concept of thee college and the fact that you pretty much have large cities electing your president. but our whole system does not work. that's why we are in the mess we are in today. host: this is john out of shine a, texas. i believe the electoral college should not the

abolished. they have seen history repeat itself. the democrats take control of the senate. it will become complete majority. they are going to run roughshod over us. they have no respect for the minority and it's going to destroy this country. it's a very sad day where we can no longer respect each other. if we destroy the electoral college, the country is gone. that's all i have to say. host: here is a defense of the electoral college from a piece in the news. if conservatives, voters in smaller states and supporters of the constitution don't start to fight back to protect the electoral college, the nation could face a situation where the matterates that

california and florida. the founders would have understood the concept. sure thatd to make the smaller states had a making ae shot difference. states like utah, montana and maine would become an afterthought in presidential college the electoral were abolished. republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. today's vote count will be 2021.ied for this week, congress has plenty of other work to do. on a look at the week ahead

--itol hill, we join katrina christina marcos. explain where we are at this morning and what we might be seeing on the floor of the house or senate today and tomorrow. >> senators are working on a proposal for covid relief and planning to introduce the bill today. the first would contain widesions that have bipartisan force. part which receive government funding and the liability shift from coronavirus related lawsuits. so they are planning to today.ce that bill later only speaker's

mitch mcconnell are involved in these talks that they are likely to go anywhere. host: does that mean that more than $700 billion piece, is that likely to pass sooner than that smaller piece that contains the state and local provisions, the liability protections that have been more controversial over the past week or soon? >> -- has been suggesting that lawmakers put aside those points because congress is running out of time. government funding runs out this friday and lawmakers have been hoping to use the government spending bills as a vehicle for coronavirus release -- relief. they're hoping to get that done

as soon as possible this week because that train is leaving the station. it's possible they could move forward with the next controversial one. host: could that train be delayed? we saw congress push off that funding deadline. could they push that off again this friday on the clock ticks down on the latest continuing resolution? >> it's certainly possible. coronavirus resolutions have been at an impasse. possible they will have to extend their deadline. last week they were extending it from the 11th to the 18th. now we inching closer to the holidays. that will give incentive to get the relief out.

host: final question, what else is on congress to do list before they get out of town for the end of this congress? a bill also need to sign to fund the government. it's unclear if they will have agreements to keep agreements -- agreements to keep carrying , they are also working on that and hoping to reach an agreement as soon as possible. we on the ndaa? the house and senate passed it with overwhelming majorities. it is something that normally law, butdesigned to

president trump has been renaming military bases that currently are confederate leaders. to veto has promised that bill and if he does, it would send it back to congress which would then be a position to do a veto override. in the house, it passed with a bipartisan majority but republicans including kevin mccarthy have indicated that even though republicans voted for the underlying bill, they will vote to sustain, to sign with president trump and prevent a veto override. tests yet another loyalty as president trump leaves office. host: christina marcos covering it all up the hill.com.

appreciate your time this morning. college getsral set to meet in state capitals around the country asking about your opinions of the electoral college shouldn't even still be around. would you abolish it. that's our question this morning. peggy called in on that line for democrats. good morning. caller: hello? host: i'm listening. go ahead. caller: i don't think the electoral college should be abolished, but i think it should only be used if there is a tie or close count in the popular vote. host: how close would a close count be in your mind? won thesidents have presidency without the popular vote.

with 45ncy adams thousand fewer votes than andrew hayes, and rutherford b 264 thousand fewer votes and samuel tilden. in 1888, engine harris. -- benjamin harrison. with 540 4000 won fewer votes than alcoa and of course president trump with two point 8 million fewer votes than hillary clinton good joe's next out of the bronx. mccright. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? caller: i believe in the electoral college. if i have to advise the democrats, number one thing i would tell them, look at the history of the electoral

college. it's always in favor of the democrats because of the states that they control. the big states that have the big electoral college. it's almost impossible for the republicans to even get 200 electoral college. win theemocrats always electoral college. plus i would say at 90 or 99% of the time, they also win the popular vote. i will not even think of telling the democrats to try to abolish the electoral college. i don't know where they get that from. they should not even try that at all. the little things i want to put in this morning. host: we are going to stick into the electoral college. is there anything else he wanted to add? theer: i just want to tell

biden people that joe biden, please take -- for the ag. this man is a nice man. people love him from main street. him just what i want to tell the biden. please take this man for the ag. next out ofis walden new york. republican. caller: good morning. i typed this show every morning and i happened to get up early so now i'm listening to it live. i saw the question, should the electoral college be abolished. i'm a big fan of the electoral college. i believe in it. but the electoral is based on population could with all these illegals coming in and raising our population, look at new york.

our electoral numbers, i think it's like 40 or 30 something. it doesn't matter if it's abolished or not. it's basically based on population. i'm an avid watcher of c-span and every morning i said, i wonder if they are going to mention the topic of the biden crime family, but you guys haven't put that on yet? why is it? why is it when trump with the russia, you have that on every morning. why aren't you talking about the biden crime family? host: we've talked about hunter biden on this program. it is likely something we will talk about again down the road. this morning as the electoral college is meeting around the country, we are asking your thoughts on that system that we have in this country and whether you think it should be a polished.

phone lines for republicans, democrats as usual. do not believe the electoral college should be abolished. kind oft -- i find it strange that usually the party that loses is the one that wants it abolished and the ones that win have no problem with it could so i give next time the democrats lose, they will want it abolished and the republicans will keep it around. i believe no present -- no president should just be elected as someone who we like. just because we win the popular vote does not make you a perfect president. the electoral college is kind of used to even that out good you could be a popular president or unpopular and still win it enough to be a great president. without it, we are just voting

for somebody we like. was 20 years ago this past weekend that the bush v gore decision came down. plenty of people after the 2000 election questioning the need for the electoral college. do you think this time around with joe biden set to receive do electoral votes today, you think democrats today are more inclined to the electoral college? there will beow, a few who will. 90% who saye over to leave it alone and 90% republicans will say we've got to do something with it. biden should if lose and the republicans should win, you watch and see. now all these republicans will call for it to be abolished, it's perfect the way it is, leave it alone. that's just the way it works i

guess in politics. host: that's tim out of atlanta, georgia. we will talk more about the history and structure of the electoral college in the 8:00 a.m. hour. we will be joined by jeffrey rosen. some notes on the electoral college, 538 electors will cast their votes today. of 270 electoral votes is required. the district of columbia has three electors. of total number congressional members in the delegation, that is house placenta. doesistrict of columbia not have senators. and d.c. use a winner take all system. we will dive a lot more into that system with jeffrey rosen coming up in about 40 minutes

this morning. ourmple question to viewers, should the electoral college be abolished? morning sir. yes i do believe it should be abolished. i think in the age of communications with the computer and every kind of social, i think education is there. everybody can be educated and well informed. i think it it lends easily to a popular vote. so everybody should be educated enough to make their decision. and besides, at the risk of sounding elitist from long island, it's called electoral. educated ands be let's not be buffoons. the caller before was

talking about how many electoral coats -- votes you have. is it 29? caller: that i don't know, sir. -- how educated am i? host: chris, good morning. forefathersink the -- as little as eight states the united states and you would never see a republican president again. the gentleman before me talking about new york, new york city itself controls the entire state of new york. if you took all of new york state.

new york story -- state is 90% republicans. we will lose the united states. thank you. host: gretchen is back in new york. caller: good morning. you like on a new york circuit. i think it should be abolished and especially these last elections, i just remember with won thethat in 2016 she popular vote but not the electoral college in the same thing with trump and i would like to know. i doubt -- i know you don't answer questions. or many of the last seven eight elections had the republicans won the popular vote and not the electoral college. thank you very much. have a happy holiday. is in stanton michigan.

caller: good morning. i am for keeping the electoral college. there are a couple of reasons. theou do eliminate electoral college, eventually you might as well just eliminate the state borders. it's going to become just a government of a true democracy instead of a republic it is what we actually have here and which we enjoy. supposing you come down to an election that's very very close. that would result in a nationwide recount. every precinct. they have one or two votes that could go one way or the other could greatly swing the election one way or the other. you'reust think that opening up a can of worms if you happen to do away with it. i think it's a good system right

now. unfortunately it has worked against the democrats a couple times in the last couple decades. host: what would you say to folks where the winner of the electoral college is not the popular vote winner? why shouldn't the majority decide? >> i think the reason why it's happening is a lot of the city tend to vote for one party versus a royal area. i live in a rural area. it's pretty much republican. those thattates, aren't heavily populated don't rely on a lot of government programs. people have to fend for themselves more or less. state and want a free why should we be dictated? look at california, then you got

the great lakes which are high in level. what's to stop people in california from dictating that we are going to pump water from the great lakes to california? is it givesbeauty states at least some voice to citiesom policies of the totally taking over the rural areas and of course vice versa could also happen. i think it's a great system and i think it should be left alone. the work of the electoral college officially ending january 6 of 2021. story on that and what could happen that day from today's new york times. the headlines, last-ditch bid to overturn the vote in congress could put pence on the spot.

the president's most loyal backers in congress onplotting a final challenge the floor representatives. constitutional scholars say that effort is all but certain to fail. and deeplyin a messy divisive spectacle that could vest president mike pence to declare that the president has indeed lost the election. be episode could particularly torturous, forcing him to balance his loyalty to mr. trump with his constitutional duties and considerations about his own political future and whatever happens there will play out in front of the cameras on the floor of the house and you can watch it all on c-span when it does. january 6, 2021. if you want to watch what happens in the state capitals

when electors meet, you can watch today starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern. we will take you first to mike pence's home state of indiana. c-span, onre on c-span.org. you can listen as well throughout the day. halle is next out of washington. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to abolish the electoral college simply because i've been a write in candidate for use and every time i mention something, people don't know about a situation, going on. they are not being educated about all of the rights and people are not meeting all of the people. i have been traveling to the rural areas of every state i can get to.

i have used my own funds. the more i have gone, the more i have been told, you just need to get on the ballot so i can see your face. the electoral college to me doesn't allow people like me, right in candidates the proper ability or even vote casting notice. we get nothing. democrat, we want republican or an independent may be. but if there is some quiet little person like myself out there who is trying to make a ripple in time to change something, we won't feel so separated and segregated. anduse i'm in washington olympia and i'm literally four blocks from the capital. always screaming and hollering outside my hotel. saturday.g off and i'm a disabled veteran. and when i think about the voting rights of everyone i've

fought so they could vote. how may times have you run for office? caller: since 2008. host: what offices have you sought? caller: the office of president of the united states. it is the only one i don't have to pay for. a lot of people did not know that. state senators, my local police force convinced me to run for u.s. congress against patty mers. and then i broke my arm in a car accident. host: what are your top two issues? caller: my top two issues are the racial divide and classifications of people. because i -- i am an eager. my -- a negro. my birth certificate literally says that. people don't understand what that means. i am fighting people about that. that is not what my election should be about.

it should be about the things i am trying to change or fix in my country to feed people, to house people. those are the things i am worried about. as a service member veteran, i am worried about veterans care and our kids getting education and why are we sick with bad doctors? those are the things that i am looking at and things i think should be fixed in the nation. i am not worried about how much money another country is making because my country is suffering from crime everywhere and people hate each other. and it is like are you serious? come on, we are the united states. and then i realized it is things like the electoral college, who abolished the pledge of allegiance so no one has allegiance to the united states anymore. host: that is halle in washington state. this is maxing out of new baltimore, michigan, a democrat. good morning. caller: -- host: maxime, are you with us?

then we will go to doug in ellisville, illinois. you are next. ahead: please, let me go and say everything great you have already had an independent guy on their who said the same thing i have. the answer is to expand the number of electoral votes because we have not added any exemptions like when nixon was president and the population was 200 million people. now it is 330 million people. you have all of these house districts. you need to add house districts to the total. because you have house district where one person is representing as many as 750,000 people and that is not adequate representation. what you need to do is take the small estate -- smallest state in the union, in population, which is wyoming, it has about 600,000 people, and use that as

the baseline and the template for redrawing the districts and you get better representation. you get one of the for people.ves they are less prone to gerrymandering, the districts themselves. the popular vote and the electoral vote will align more closely with each other. in our history, the democrats won with the popular vote and the electoral vote being where they won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote. you would still keep the every state gets two electoral votes. caller: you don't abolish the system, you increase the number of house districts. that way people are better rep in it. host: got it. this is shelley out of

farmersville, louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning. very interesting topic this morning. i would like to say i am in favor of the electoral college. it was designed by our forefathers for a good reason. the reason is just as relevant today as it was when they designed it. if you disenfranchise smaller states without a large electoral college, then the decisions of the country will always be made on those with liberal ideas and using city and business minded stuff over farmers and things of this nature. and also, i have to say this. i am not trying to be ugly by any stretch of the imagination. a lot of people are complaining --ut the electoral had electoral college has to do with slavery. and blacks were not being represented.

yes, they are. thelarger the state is, larger the population the state has, the more represented as they have in the house. twoy state only gets centers. they have a larger influence as far as voice in our laws and regulations being made. greater would be a disservice to much of the whole of america. host: going back to the historic 3/5 compromise deal for accounting persons, counting slaves in this country, going back to the original creation, that was his concern that this was a system built from that and he said slavery and racial issues are baked into the

system. that was his call from earlier in the show. the problem with my nature of something that needs to be change, that can be addressed. but just to overwhelmingly forge the entire system this problem or that problem or this problem to that group or this problem to that group is not fair. to america as a whole. until we, asd americans, can learn to say americans and leave blacks, weltities, female, male, -- wealth, money out of everything, we will never be at peace. no one is entitled to something that someone else has. god gives us all the same talents. a lot of people use there's

better. a lot of people are satisfied with not doing as much. that is fine. that doesn't make them wrong. that makes them have made a choice. but that choice does not need to be placed at the burden of someone else for them to divvy up their money. it is after 7:30 on the east coast, asking you on the first hour about the electoral college bridge should it be abolished, having this conversation on the day the electoral college is gathering. here is a few stories we are watching and keeping track of for you throughout this week, including the ongoing discussions about the next coronavirus relief deal. we are expecting a new bill coming later today. that might split the 908 billion dollar bipartisan proposal into two parts. there is still some discussion

about whether another round of stimulus chest -- checks might be included in whatever final built might be signed. president trump advocating for another round of stimulus checks. among those who agree our senator josh hawley, a republican of missouri. and senator bernie sanders, the independent from vern not -- vermont. we will see what happens in the days to come. the congress is trying to package that as part of the omnibus spending deal, the deal that has to be signed to fund the government and avoid a government shutdown. we have a ticking talk -- clock to see if congress can come up with the deal. the trump administration acknowledging yesterday that hackers, acting on behalf of foreign government, almost certainly of a russian intelligence agency, broke into a range of key government networks, including the treasury and commerce department and had

access to their email systems. officials said a hunt was on to determine if other parts of the government had been affected by what looked to be one of the most sophisticated and among the largest attacks in federal systems in the past five years. --ional security blatant related agencies were targeted the it is not clear whether the systems contain highly classified material. we will update you on any developments on that front. back to your phone calls on whether the electoral college should be abolished. this is carl from arlington, vermont. democrat, good morning. go ahead. , backe will go to maxine in new baltimore, michigan. caller: can you hear me now? host: yes. you try to call in early. caller: thank you for sticking -- host: thank you for sticking with us. go ahead with your comment. caller: i am against abolishing

the electoral college. you my opinion on the electoral college, it is a moot point now. we have lost confidence in our government. we have lost confidence in our courts. of collapse. verge if america collapses, the rest of the world will feel the pain. i think it is time for the world court to be consulted and stepped in and help the united states heal itself. 70 million people who voted for trump feel totally disenfranchised. they have lost all hope in this government. and when people lose confidence in the government, it cannot survive. we do not have an abraham lincoln to keep it together. texas is already talking about seceding from the union.

longer not be too much before others follow suit. before that happens, i suggest that the supreme court, who has done nothing and just wants to wash their hands of everything, that we consult the world court and step in and help the united states right their wrongs. , is that something you would ever advocate for for another issue of some sort of international body stepping in and telling the united states what to do? caller: i wouldn't, other than our country is going to collapse. if we collapse, the whole world is going to suffer. ok? any others, i would not. no. this is too series. you have to be blind in one eye and can see out of the other to see where we are headed.

the signs are all there. our media has deceived us. us.courts don't even hear all the affidavits that have been signed, they won't even recognize them. the supreme court's won't even hear us. so, what else is there to do it? we are ready to collapse. you have 70 million people who voted for nothing. host: you talk about recognition. will you ever recognize joe biden as the 46th president of the night states? caller: no. no, i will not because joe biden , along with his son, hunter, have been milking this cow for years. i trust him no further than i could throw him. i am sorry to say but he is not a leader. he is not someone who can bring this country together. no one can bring this country back together. you have too much drift. you have racial issues.

court issues. host: how do you think donald trump did on bringing the country together? caller: i don't know. i really don't know. i really couldn't say. i am not a political person. but i can see where we are headed. donald trump, people may love him or hate him. that is not the point. we have over 70 million people who voted for him. they have been told to sit down, be quiet and let us run this show. missionat is maxine in -- michigan. andre is next out of virginia, democrat line. good morning. caller: i think it should be abolished. i think when the founding fathers brought it together, there were two main reasons. that politicians go to small that was campaign and

when the regular guy was smart -- didto vote for the not think the regular guy was smart enough to vote for the presidency. that has changed. now, you have a lot of smaller states dictating what happens. i would say this. the past two election cycles ago, both parties were coming to virginia and campaigning. i had the opportunity to listen to everybody. when was the last time a democratic presidential nominee went to alaska to campaign. when was the last time a republican went to california to campaign? i think if you were to eliminate , may be perhaps 11 a is not the key, but if you can come up with a system where the politicians can go to every single state, the bottom line is democrats are not going into republican states

to talk to republicans. republicans are not going to democratic states to talk. to five stateswn every year like florida, ohio and three other states. i think that is part of the problem. the young lady was just talking right before me. to eachot talking other. i think the electoral college might be part of the problem. host: there are battleground states that presidential candidates go to every cycle. do you think people are doing a better job of talking to each other in those states? the issues you have, are they playing out better in states where the politicians are visiting every four years? frank, at least the politicians are going there to make the case -- their case. ago, a how four years lot of latinos voted for hillary .

this year, they voted for trump. they had the opportunity to listen to the nominees. i think it helps and creates a better system. probably not the best. but i think it will be better than what we have now with politicians going to all states vote --every single not just i need to hunt attorneys -- 270 votes. that is a problem. host: good morning. caller: yes. am a 74-year-old widow. sixve voted for the past years. i feel the electoral college sit stay. i am praying for the republican party because i feel they have lost their minds. because the president won the 2016, only because

of the electoral college and not the popular vote. the republicans were all right with that then. but now, since he did not win, not only the popular vote but will not be winning the electoral vote, the republicans want to do away with the electoral college. and so, that is why i feel, you know, the electoral college has to stay. democratsthat the also fixed the popular vote. that is not right, either. host: that is bobby in new jersey. annette is in alexander city, alabama. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i am so proud to be on this show. i have tried to call often. in my opinion, the electoral college levels the playing field. you win the popular vote in each the 270 accumulate

total. i think that was very smart. this way, we are all in it together. we already know large states like new york, california, they are democrat. texas, they will vote mostly republican. instead of having a battle between those states, everybody is in. mainek main only has -- has only four electoral votes. you may need all of those oats. so, politicians are forced to fight for every electoral vote , mored of the huge populated states. you are winning the popular vote when you win the electoral college votes in that state. now, you move on to the next and hope that state will be called for you. as such, your tally starts to add up. i think that it is very fair and

very smart. so, just like your show. [laughter] i love your program and i love you as a moderator. so, thank you so much for taking my call. host: annette in alabama. battleground -- rick is in the battleground state of ohio, dayton, ohio. caller: as far as the electoral college, i think it should be illuminated. .hat is all i will say other than the fact that there are 70 million plus people who voted for trump. but 80 plus million voted for biden. and the news is not reporting the part of it as trump is greatest loser of all time. biden is the greatest winner of all time by the popular vote. why can't we just except that? that those 80 million are not going away and 4 million -- four years from now, they will be

back and i will be one of them? thank you. host: joe is in wisconsin. independent, go ahead. think it should be held in place because it is fair to the small states. i think they should change the percentage of votes cast in each state. when you look at the percentages of votes for independence or -- independents or republicans or democrats and percentagewise, split up whatever the states votes are and make them fair to everybody. i think that way, everybody's vote would count. but we need the electoral theire to keep states too. smaller states should feel that they are important to double. host: joan from wisconsin. an interesting story.

a state that's also much attention leading up to election day, on election day and in the weeks after election day. the state lawmakers said they cannot choose trump electors. georgia governor brian kemp warning state law because that they cannot appoint pro-trump presidential electors. he said this while speaking at the biannual into two -- institute for georgia legislators about appointing their own electors was not an option today. an oath to taking uphold the laws and constitution of our stay. now more than ever, it is important to remember the thousands of brave women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for ande laws, the constitution all that they protect. this is according to usa today. the hill story noting those comets. georges secretary of state, brad, have been singled out over their refusal to overturn

results of the presidential election in the peach state. that is the story from the hill newspaper as you can see on your screen. diane is in ann arbor, michigan, democrat. good morning. host: -- caller: thank you for taking my call. i am in favor of abolishing the electoral college. how many times have we, the voters, american voters voted for one candidate, more of them voted for one candidate and we ended up with the other candidate? host: it is five times. 1888, 2000 and -- , 2000 and 2016. caller: look at a large state like wyoming.

i don't think they are as populated as many states. are they talking about people, square miles? i am not sure of that. quite frankly, the people who live in these smaller states are part of the total pot. if we got rid of the electoral college, they would be part of the total pot for one candidate for another and collectively. far ason't see -- and as representation, each state gets two senators. that has been divvied up for everybody. so, i don't feel like anyone should feel left out. we are adults here. we are represented. and i think each voter should be represented by abolishing the electoral college. thank you. host: john from pennsylvania, republican, you are next. caller: yes. i think that the electoral college should be abolished.

the weight i look at it, and i thek the way it is, is that popular vote should be considered the vote of the citizens of the united states of america. the electoral college vote is actually the vote of the citizens of the united states and the noncitizens. electoralk at the vote, it is based on the census. and if you look at the way the census is done, they never discounted citizens. they counted people. the only people -- they never just counted citizens. they counted people. --

people they said should not be considered in the census where the native americans. and for years, they considered the 4 million slaves as 3/5 of a person. got all themstates extra votes. that is why the black man got the vote before the -- before any woman got the vote. byause they realized abolishing slavery, the slaves were considered citizens. now they could vote. when they got citizenship, they could vote. they had to do something there and they gave the black men the right to vote. but, i don't see how you could consider it anything else. than the popular vote being the vote of the citizen. everything i heard on the

in order to vote in a national election, a federal election, you have to be a citizen of the united states. the amount of electors that are there, they are determined by the census. crazys what made it so with texas. texas is probably one of two states that has the largest noncitizens in it. they consider all of them citizens when they take the census. why texas has 38 electoral votes and california has 55. it is because they consider them -- all of them people that are living here that are not the amount of

electors the states have. talk withu can jeffrey rosen. ll be here in a few minutes. we will talk about that issue with him. on should messages the electoral college be abolished, limit the electoral college creed that allows the --ce of the majority people limit the electoral college. that allows the boys of the majority to be overruled by the minority. this from jb, saying it does not matter, as long as the ultrarich corporations are funding both money and -- parties, propaganda will move to concentrated areas. get big money out of politics if you want real change.

this is michael out of oaklawn the city. -- oklahoma city. caller: to me, it seems like the theft of democracy occurs within those 48 states that have the winner take all policy. that discards all of the risk of those votes. they don't get counted. i have been voting for president's since 1972 -- presidents since 1972. every one of my votes, living in oklahoma and texas, has been the presidency. every other election, every other election in this whole country is decided by who gets the most votes, from people, not from the states, but from the people. and the popular vote should be what counts. thinkmichael, do you maine and nebraska are doing it right? caller: they are on the right track. that is definitely more proportional. the other thing is the congress

and three fourths of the state would never overturn this. this could not be done that way. i would encourage everybody to contact their state legislatures and try to get -- legislators and try to get an initiative on the ballot. i think the people understand the idea of one man, one vote and they would likely -- gladly joined the compact, of i don't know how many states it is, but of the states that say the popular vote overrides what the electoral vote looks like. vote forctors would electorsr -- their would vote for the winner of the popular vote. whoever gets the most votes wins. host: the national popular vote is something we will talk about with jeffrey vohs and josh jeffrey rosen as well. kathleen has been waiting. we want to get her in.

kathleen, pasadena, maryland. democrat. caller: i completely agree with the last caller. he took my comments and that is what i think we should do. thank you. host: kathleen in pasadena, maryland. our last caller in this first segment of the washington journal priest stick around, we will be joined by jeffrey rosen to discuss today's -- washington journal. stick around, we will be joined by jeffrey rosen. joins us toca vaccine registries and what's being done to track covid vaccination efforts. ♪ >> tonight on the communicators, journalist developer james paul

discusses the book the tangled web we weave. -- james ball discusses the book the tangled web we weave. >> that keeps crating the biggest businesses in the world. how come the internet, this thing that we were all told was going to equalize us and connect us, how come it keeps creating these are really powerful companies and really powerful individuals? watch the communicators -- >> watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. for ourwith c-span continuing coverage of the transition of power as president-elect joe biden moves closer to the presidency. today, the electoral college votes. watch live coverage beginning at 10:00 eastern and throughout the

day as electors in states across the country cast their votes. on january 6, live at 1:00 p.m. eastern, a joint session of congress to count the votes and declare the winner for president and vice president. finally at noon on january 20, the inauguration of the 46th president of the united states. our live coverage begins at 7:00 a.m. eastern. from the statehouse to congress to the white house, watch it all live on c-span, on the go at c-span.org or listen, using the free c-span radio app. washington journal continues. host: c-span viewers are familiar with jeffrey rosen, joining us today, the day the electoral college were vote -- will vote for the president and vice president. explain exactly what happens today. guest: today, electors will meet in their states and cast their

votes for the president. whereis a formal process there is certifications that have to be crated. there are two certificates, a andification of discernment a certification of who actually won the vote. in both of those certificates, there are six copies of each and they are transmitted to the , thedent of the senate vice president as well as the , and thosef state certificates are counted on january 6 when congress meets to actually elect the president and recognize his victory. host: a complicated system. why do we have a? -- have it. have it because the

framers put it in the constitution. i am honored to be here to discuss it with you and the viewers on this important day. national constitution center interactive constitution. if you are watching at home, go to constitution center.org and click on the electoral college provision, which is article two, section one. and you will find that we have assembled the top liberal and conservative scholars on the electoral college, nominated by the conservative federalist to write what they agree the electoral college was intended to do and separate statements on whether they disagree and whether it should be kept today. inie is now a representative congress. let's begin by talking about the basic history. begin byscholars acknowledging that the electoral

college supporters and critics would agree that it departs from democratic norms. then, they note that the way it works today, as you were discussing in your interesting segment before we join, today, on aates appoint th winner take all basis. historically, there has been more variety. in the first presenter election, five state legislatures, connecticut, georgia, g south carolina, and new jersey -- in four states, they voted all of the electors. virginia had 10 congressional districts. the general assimilate divided the commonwealth into 12 presidential districts and conducted the popular election. from a single member district at the congressional district, elections for multimember districts and so forth. thererom the beginning,

was a wide variety of ways the electors were chosen. our current system of single-member districts in every state, except for two, was not present at the founding. host: is the term electoral college in the constitution? caller: let's take out the text. section article two, one, here we go, each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislatures thereof may direct a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representative to which the state may be entitled in the congress for he that is the first part of the clause. but, no senator or representative or person holding an office of trust under the united states shall be appointed and elector. it goes -- an elective. it goes on to say that they shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for two persons. it is in bold because that was amended by the 12th amendment,

which was passed after the election of 1800, when thomas jefferson and his running mate got identical votes and both claimed the office. the house of representatives chose jefferson. that is an amazing story. alexander hamilton ended up supporting thomas jefferson rather than aaron burr at the last minute, provoking the famous duel between hamilton and burr. soon after, the 12th amendment was approved and made it impossible for a president and vice president both to tie. in other words, for there to be separate votes cast. i needed to read the whole text to answer your question, no. the words electoral college not appear in the constitution. host: jeffrey rosen with us until 8:45 eastern. if you had a question about the constitution, specifically the electoral college, now would be a good time to call. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000

0. independents, (202) 748-8002. we are talking about the electoral college today, when the electors are meeting around the country. you can watch many of them on c-span. our coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern prayed we go to indiana first. delaware, pennsylvania avenue. 2:00 p.m. eastern. texas at 3:00 p.m. eastern. you can watch on c-span.org. you can listen to it on the free c-span radio app. whereere ever been a day the formality of the electoral college meeting has gotten as much attention as this one has in the wake of president trump continuing to dispute the election results? guest: that is a great question. i would think not. because the main dramas in the past have come from which

certificate to count. the most contact -- contested election was 1876. they are, the state of florida sent two slates to congress. one certified by the state legislature and the other, certified by the governor. and it was such a mess that past andasked -- electoral -- passed and electoral count act, which certificate to count in a dispute. we have not had tv and this much transparency before. even previous contested elections, 2016 was not as ittested and bush v gore, was not the meeting of the electoral college that was sick again but the supreme court's decision to stop the vote counts. i would say that this may be one of the most closely watched

meetings of the electoral college in american history. host: georgia governor brian kemp, one -- warning stay law makers -- state lawmakers that they cannot be a faithless elector. remind us that is. caller: and elector that votes for a candidate other than who he or she is pledged to vote for. there have been a couple of times where electors have done this. there have been 157 faithless electors. 71 of those folks were challenged because the candidate died before the electoral college casted votes. three votes were not casted because they chose to obtain. on the personal initiative of the electors. the most famous example was from uel milese sam was the first faithless elector. he pledged to vote for john

adams put voted for thomas jefferson. his vote did not affect the outcome prayed jefferson lost and people were angry -- outcome. jefferson lost and people were angry at him. what? do i choose samuel mild? no, i choose him to act, not to think. the phrase i choose him to act, not to think embraces the understanding of electors early on. that they are supposed to be ministerial agents. they are not supposed to decide who the rest candidate is, which is some framers quote. agents of the political parties. it was a really important supreme court case, just from last june. check it out.

kagan- justice elena wrote it for a unanimous court. it is so readable. she has some great lines in there about peculiarities of the electoral college. in that opinion, the u.s. supreme court unanimously said states may punish faithless electors. fine them. whatever the framers originally thought about the electoral college being independent, after the 12 minute, it was a means for carrying -- amendment, it was a means for carrying out the party. jeffrey rosen joining us via zoom. the background is the national , a beautifulcenter building inside and out. plenty of callers want to chat with you. i will let you get to it. this is derek in lakeland, minnesota. independent, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span.

good morning, america. jeffrey, thank you for being on today. i appreciate the work that you do. i have a question. as an independent, someone who does not believe in the legitimacy or the honesty of the country, theng our only reason we have faith in our country is we abide by the law and we have a constitution. and you cannot just pass laws that are unconstitutional as a country. let's go to the state in which you are at. whether you're there right now are not, the state constitution of pennsylvania is one of the oldest constitutions as far as states in our country. is, what my understanding the supreme court of the state of pennsylvania as well as the legislature has violated the state supreme court in regards to voting and how the voting

took place this year in the smokescreen of the global pandemic. what is your opinion about what happened in pennsylvania and how when a supreme court of a state does not abide by its own constitution? can you explain that? get into that limit. thank you. guest: absolutely. thanks for your devotion to the rule of law. you are right that the rule of law and the constitution are the one shining ordeal of this country. suggest, you believe the supreme court of pennsylvania, in particular, in extending the

deadlines by which absentee ballots could be counted, might have violated state law. basically, the court wrongly decided that in balancing equities, people needed more time to read absentee ballots. that part of the case was litigated and went up to the u.s. supreme court. and at least some justices, including justice samuel alito, said he thought the supreme court also violated the law. that the law did not give the court the discretion to change the deadline. he said it was too late. thatdered that the ballots were late received and late counted be segregated, not counted with the other ballots. that is what state officials did. we can become vent that whatever you think about the merits of this legal question, those late received ballots had the -- had

no impact on the result. they were not counted in the final totals. other justices disagreed. they said the state court should have a complete discretion to construe their own state constitutions. and the state constitution empowered the court. it is a thing the courts do all the time in the interest of the voters -- they do all the time in the interest of the voters. therefore, the court was right. the significant question is federalism. this is what divided the u.s. supreme court. a group of justices, including chief justice john roberts and the other conservative justices thought that when federal courts change deadlines that are imposed by state legislatures, the u.s. supreme court should intervene because the legislatures under article two of the constitution have authority to appoint the electors. chief justice roberts joined the liberals in that pennsylvania case, saying that when states

construe -- state courts construe their own state constitution, it is not the business of federal judges to second-guess a state court in interpreting its own state constitution. chief justice roberts sided with the liberals on that case. 2000, therere in was an example of the u.s. supreme court at the head of the federal judiciary committee second-guessing florida's construction in its own state constitution. incredible lack of respect for state courts and will only increase distrust of the legitimacy of state courts throughout the country. justice ruth bader ginsburg agreed. all of this is to say there is a vigorous dispute on the u.s. supreme court about whether or not federal courts should defer to state courts when safeguards are construing their own state constitution in counting electoral votes. that is the core of the debate

of what is going on in pennsylvania. center.org --tion national constitution center.org is the website. plenty of writing and scholarship about it on the website there. jim is next out of belton, missouri. democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? so, just a couple of things. peopleinto a group of that would argue the framers did not get everything right. i believe that we see that more every day. is second thing i would say we have become, here in america, overly litigious, as it were. and so we lay ourselves open to this. and then a third thing i would like to bring up is that the majority of people in the country, the majority of people

who might be asked the question is america a country of majority rule, sadly, we are finding out that that is not a hard and fast rule. thank you for taking my call. you guys take it easy. host: mr. rosen? guest: very important points. the framers did not get everything right when it comes to a litigious country. all of them deserve a serious response. the framers did not get everything right for they would not have said they got everything right. that is why they designed the amendment process. although they disagreed about constitutional conventions should be resorted to. the constitution center just did a fascinating thing called the constitution drafting project. we asked three teams of

conservative, liberal and libertarian scholars to draft a constitution from scratch for 2020. we said imagine you are starting from the beginning. give us your best constitution. you know what is so fascinating? all three teams chose to keep the constitution and perform it rather than completely abolish it. this is what most surprised us. reinforcing your point, two of the three teams, the conservative and progressive team agreed we should abolish the electoral college if we were starting from scratch. they would have both elected the president with a national popular vote, using ranked, choice voting. even the libertarian team did not reject the possibility of a national popular vote. the team leader endorsed it in a new book. that is a pretty powerful reinforcement of your point. these were extremely distinguished teams of scholars. they disagreed about a lot. they agreed with you that when it came to the electoral college, the framers did not get

that right. and the conservative and progressive team would have replaced it with a national popular vote. later on in the show, i can give you the argument on both sides about whether or not to keep the electoral college, which you can find. i will end by reinforcing your important point in that way for you can check that out at the constitution drafting project on the constitution center website. host: on whether america should abolish the electoral, gallup with a poll finding 61% of theicans prefer amending constitution to use the popular vote instead. the preference for electing the president based on who receives the most votes nationwide, 89% of democrats, 60% of independents and 23% of republicans shared that view. this is david out of texas, a republican.

you are on with jeffrey rosen. caller: i want to refer back to what the guy was saying about the parties. i felt that way myself until reading about madison and monroe. especially munro, which started with the era of good feelings. republicans or democratic -- they had all of federal offices. political parties on a national basis did not play a part in the president show elections until after the jacksonians. you did not have things being decided by political parties. states were putting up candidates and nominating them and so on. feelings whichd sounded like a great idea was working out quite well until madison announced, like other presidents, that he would not be running for reelection.

creating a free-for-all among his cabinet and his administration where people were jockeying for position to be nominated. it was a disaster. the party system, as i understand it, it started with martin van buren, he had a lot to do with it. the reason i called was not that. people forget, this thing of majority rules, look at how many founders talked about what they were doing in the constitution and how they were putting the government together to avoid the tyranny of the majority. there would not be a united states, there would not have been a constitutional ratification without the connecticut compromise. madison's first proposal was for representatives in bout -- both the house and the senate. virginia was the biggest state at the time.

both in population, white voters, and also a wealth standpoint. they were not replaced with new york until the 1820. the small states rejected the idea of just a majority vote along the lines. this come from eyes they came up with, giving each state two senators and then merging the count of the senators to the representatives to create this house of electors, the as being people voting one on one, based on their population. the senate was still being voted on, being elected by the people. those people voted indirectly. part of givings something back to the states. the constitution, which was part of a surprise, the constitutional convention was

not what they were expecting to have happened. that is probably why we have never had one since. host: let me let jeffrey rosen jump in. go ahead. guest: i love your passion for history. it is great you are reading about the history of the parties. about how influx things were during the madison and monroe administration. a great what i have -- book i have been reading, a biography of john quincy adams. life, alled a public private life. it goes through his diaries to show his inner thoughts. , he is the son of john adams, the leader of the utter list party. james madison appoints him secretary of state. james monroe -- madison sends him to russia. james monroe appoints him secretary of state. he goes on to win the presidency

. and then there is the incredibly contested election of 1824, where john quincy adams loses the popular vote and the electoral college vote. but because there is no majority in the electoral college, it is decided by the house of representatives, which votes for adams rather than andrew jackson. jackson graciously accept his defeat to adams and even greets him at adams' reception, noting his victory but then goes on to call it a corrupt bargain and defeats adams water years later. and adams does not attend jackson's inauguration. presidents noto to attend his successors inauguration. the other is his father, john adams. you give lots of good examples where it is not designed to be

majoritarian. most notably, the house rather than the senate. all we can say, and i am being descriptive. there are arguments on both sides. the electoral college, after the 12th amendment, was not primarily designed to be a majoritarian body. they abandoned the idea of exercising independent judgment. it was supposed to be an agency of the party well. -- will. you might question whether the electoral college is a good system because it does not allow either for independent judgment and in some cases -- host: fort wayne, indiana. this is wes, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. host: you are on with jeffrey rosen. caller: i like you the best. i think it should be abolished because it is too confusing. most people do not understand

the electoral college at all. i feel like it is just too confusing. the popular vote should win, period. the electoralon vote. ,ven though he's president there has been tampering in our system. on.w i feel like it is not necessary anymore. host: is it to double confusing? too confusing? guest: i think that is the best argument. it is just too confusing. it takes a lot of us are like me to understand it either. run kind of way is that to a system? maybe this is a good time to just rehearse the arguments on both sides for the electoral college because everyone is interested in this. and i will just go straight from

the interactive constitution because those are our two scholars. first, when they describe together what the argument for and against it are, it is credited with observing an important dimension of state-based federalism in our presidential elections. and argues it works to guarantee our presidents will have national support. the two argument's are that it preserves federalism, it preserves the state's ability to express it selves as an independent entity. and it guarantees the president will have nationwide support. they will not just be elected from a couple of big states but will have to get support from states across the country. critics argue the undercurrent circumstances, it consigns most states in the union as spectators and drags down voter turnout in the states.

and it swing states dramatically polarizes while reducing voter turnout. the objection is it is not nationwide support. it is just five states. one of them spent the past couple of months talking about -- we spent the past couple of months talking about michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania. now it is georgia and arizona. the swing states get the attention and the rest of the states, none. this was written in 2015. it talks about the electoral college reducing voter turnout. case, were turnout was higher than ever. we want to dig in further to hear the arguments for and against, but i'm going to stop there. if anyone wants to hear more arguments, just ask. host: there are folks who want to change the system. one of our viewers brought up the national popular vote compact. can you explain what that would

do and whether that would be legal, possible? i am sticking how to my interactive constitution. scholar talkse about and endorses this national popular vote initiative. the members of this coalition, , have agreed to cast the electoral vote for the winner of the national popular vote rather than the winner in their states. there are currently 165 electoral votes represented. tying it to the results in the national popular election, the compact would replace the current state by state constitution, guaranteeing the

electoral college winner is the popular vote winner, establishing elections in which every vote counts, incentivizing candidates to campaign all over america because you want to get every vote you can. it increases campaign activity 38 spectator states turnout.ng up voter he talks about the critics of vote, whoal popular defend the way the colleges working today and says defenders are not troubled by the fact that sometimes there is dissonance between the popular vote and the electoral college vote. the constitutional argument is states don't have the power to enter into a compact.

this defies the plain language and history of the operation, says jamie raskin. winner take all is nowhere to be found in the constitution. it was used by three of the first 13 states when the first election took place. ofre have been a lot of ways awarding popular votes. there is no reason to require winner take all. is an 1840 two statute that requires single-member districts for congress. you could have different ways of assigning congressional districts. that is the beginning of an answer to your question about whether or not it is a good idea to have the national popular vote.

jamie raskin does not mention an argument against the national , which vote initiative is that you would need congressional consent for any interstate compact. there is a question about whether this could go into effect without congressional consent. is an uphill battle. it is not clear to current congress with the senate in hands of republicans would be thely to not ratify compact. host: to sykesville, maryland. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a couple comments.

you have the popular vote. it is written such that at the end of the day that each state will have two electors who will have to come out and cast votes and then find out for whatever reason and elector can do otherwise then represent the people which it is supposed to cast those votes for, that is the scariest thing i can think of. i would never have thought there was a possibility of that. tell, the country is divided now. social media and the media is part of the reason that is part of the case. that is where c-span comes to play. it is a great platform where people can air their views. there is also a danger that anybody can call in and say any

thing and it 90% of the time, whatever they say goes unchallenged. people call in to say dead people voted in pennsylvania, illegal aliens, and all sorts of crazy things. causeare the things that more division. people believe those things. and there is not true is nobody to push back. part of the division we are experiencing is a lot of things get said on tv and no pushback. i think it is part of one of the problems we are having in this country. i don't know what the solution is going to be, but something needs to be done. that is dangerous. think people being able to call in and offer their opinions is a feature of the system we set up here.

we appreciate your feedback. focus onif we could the electors themselves. in usa today, in their piece, they note most electors are not household names, but some are more well-known, such as stacey abrams will be in elector today. bill clinton and hillary clinton will be electors in new york. how are these folks chosen? states haverent different ways of choosing them. they can be political activists, officials, donors. you want to ensure they are going to vote for the candidate they are pledged to support, avoiding the problem our last color talked about. withtend to be people

close connections to the parties. host: lake charles, good morning. caller: i am sure you are familiar with the contention that the electoral college is rooted in the 3/5 compromise that it renders the electoral college illegitimate. that line ofs reasoning, are they questioning the apportionment of congress? compromiseree fist invalidate the electoral college but not the apportionment should of congress? that is a good question. rootedctoral college is .n the history of slavery the number is equal to the whole

numbers of senators and to which thees state may be entitled in congress and therefore states like virginia, which counted their slaves as three fist of a person got in electoral college boost. the first five presidents were from virginia. seven out of the first nine, everyone was from virginia at the beginning because of this boost. that an say isn't argument against the senate, as well? it is, to some degree. that was part of the desire for small states to accept the senate as a compromise was to preserve their power to preserve savory -- to preserve slavery.

madison, wanted popular election vote houses of congress. they wanted something that would favor the bigger states. whereas, smaller states like new jersey, which were not concerned about slaveholding, championed the senate. the senate was not primarily a slaveholding system. we make a good point that there is a boost in the original system that came from enslavement. it would have operated before theabolition of slavery in 13th amendment. any defense of the electoral college today would have to make clear there was no residual boost to those former slaveholding states and would have to have other grounds.

maybe this is a good time to note the arguments for the electoral college. james caesar is our nominated scholar. he said the founders had four objectives for the electoral college. it was created to provide the presidency with a basis of try to, second, they find popular bases for the presidency. they have the discretion to choose among the most fit of the candidate. the founders were concerned about a demagogue. it is meant to challenge the major political figures who have thoughts of achieving high office. i read that, professor caesar gives us four original

justifications for the electoral college independent of the slaveholding boost or bonus and those are worth putting into the mix. tot: for folks who want follow-up up on the scholarship, -- erie, pennsylvania. caller: i know you are in a hurry. i was discouraged the last election. elections, i am voted into my position. i thought about not doing it again because i have seen so many who i have thought were disenfranchised. their votes did not count. i was disheartened the last time. theseght you said

voters, that represent if they do not vote the way the voters ask them to, if they say, we are going to vote for whoever we think, they would only get fined $1000. that is it? there are people who would charge -- you would pay them more than that to change their vote. would pay them more than that to change their vote. i think the electoral college should be abolished. host: how many times have you been a judge of elections? caller: you get voted in every few years. probably eight years now. host: you thought about not doing it again. caller: i did. i sent a letter to my county telling them i was discarded -- i was disheartened by the vote. back?what brings you

are you going to do it again? thisr: i did do it for election. i enjoy it and i am very involved with the electoral process. it was just very disheartening. i do want this to be abolished. penalties for faithless electors, jeffrey rosen? caller: thank you for -- guest: thank you for sharing your concerns, which are distressing for the reason you described. not one ofa, it is , soe states that punishes electors in pennsylvania would others, vote for although this is rare. it has never made a significant

difference in american history. all i think we need to do is to reading from a list, pick the electors, and as it happens,no,'s -- as it i know some of them. the pennsylvania attorney general is one of the pennsylvania electors, along with former state senators, including connie williams, state house members, and so forth. the mayor of scranton and the members of the philadelphia council. we can be confident they are not going to be faithless and they will vote for the candidate who -- the state of pennsylvania

it has been a time when public servants like you and our federal judges, and our state elections officials who count ballots, have behaved with great devotions to the rule of law and the institutions have worked and by doing your job in a nonpartisan fashion, because of your devotion to the united states of america, we have ensured our election was free and fair and that democracy would survive. please keep doing that important work and thank you for your service. if there were faithless electors and enough to change the outcome in certain states, electoral college vote today is not the end of the process. you talked about this at the beginning. a reminder that january 6, congress meets in a joint session.

the vice president will preside in his role as president of the senate. what could happen if there were enough faithless electors to change the results? could that be one last place to are thehe election results that happened on election night? guest: that is when congress meets to count the votes. the real question is, will there be objections to the electoral votes, submitted in writing and signed by at least one member of the house and one senator? you need to -- you need concurrence to file an objection. if there is an objection to the state electoral votes, the house and senate withdrawal to their respective chambers and there is a debate for two hours unless rules.ses change their

houses separately agreeing to the objection otherwise be objection fails in the votes are counted. this procedure has been invoked twice. in 1969, a representative anected to count the vote of elector from north carolina. the chambers decided to reject the election. it did not make a difference and nixon one. the second example was voting irregularities in ohio. what could happen today?

some house members said they are going to object. they could get a senator to join them. that would mean both houses would separate, debate whether or not to accept pennsylvania's electoral votes if one of those people alleges voter fraud. you would need that house and senate to agree. since the house is democratic and since the senate, several senators say they believe vice president biden was properly elected, you might be unlikely to get a majority of the senate there. .t is unlikely the chances are basically near zero that the state would be rejected and although there may be more drama on january 6, in the end, we can predict that any

objections will be rejected and vice president pence ultimately well-received the tabulations from the counters and we can expect the vice president will be recognized as the president of the united states. host: that process will take place on the floor of the house in front of the cameras. today, it is the electoral college vote in state capitals around the country. you can start that starting at 10:00 a.m., pennsylvania at noon, michigan at 2:00. texas at 3:00. can spend your day watching the electoral college vote counts. rosen, weeffrey appreciate your time. we will see you here down the road. thank you for helping us understand the electoral college process. you, c-span

viewers, for educating yourself. host: up next, we will be joined by rebecca coyle. we will talk about vaccine registries and what is being done to track the covid vaccination. stick around. we will be right back. >> listen to c-span's podcast. zach smith reported with the iowa press citizen, joins us to discuss the race in iowa's second congressional district. the congress will be decided by the house of representatives. state electors of the electoral college cast their votes today for president of the united states.

watch c-span's coverage as the results come in. froming at 10:00 a.m. indianapolis, indiana, and the meeting of its 11 electors. at 11:30, delaware meets in dover. at noon, from harrisburg, the meeting of pennsylvania's 20 electors. at 2:00 p.m., michigan's electors vote in lansing. electors.m., 38 texas meet in austin. at 8:00 p.m., we are live with .ohn fortier we talk about the results. watch the electoral college vote today. live starting at 10:00 a.m. online, orc-span, listen on the c-span radio app. "washington journal" continues. host: with covid vaccines on the

way, a conversation about how to keep track of the data. coyle, explain what the association does and why vaccine registries are considered a tool in the fight against these viral diseases. you for having me. they are a tool for helping capture all of the immunization given to a person, particularly in a specific area. this and how we operate in this space, all of the states, with the exception of new hampshire, all of the operating immunization registries. where we fit into this is more

of a membership organization where we are working with all of the states and also with cdc. out whereelp figure records need to go and thinking about how they need to be develop, working to that decision for testing the system to make sure they can pull the information that is going to be needed, likewise making sure everything is helping out across-the-board. we have been involved from the there are acause lot of new things that are bubbling up here. end,nt to make sure in the every system is doing the same thing and that we are not trying to compare apples and oranges. of vaccines a lot as children. is that going to the state registries that you are talking about? do people get a say as to

whether their information goes into a vaccine registry? guest: a lot of that depends on where you live. some states have rules that say all of your information will go into the system unless you choose to opt out. others say you have to decide whether or not you go in there or not. if you don't want your information in there, there is a way to get your information out. host: why does this help in the fight against these viral diseases, for people who are more concerned with personal privacy? what is the general good you would advocate for with these systems? guest: it is a delicate balance, for sure. time whereack in these systems were developed and the purpose behind that, they are developed as a way to make sure somebody was not falling

behind on the schedule. if they saw multiple providers, they would be able to look at , we want toand go make sure you are vaccinated and fully vaccinated. an individual does not have to go to their high school that they went to or their elementary school to find old records to piece together their immunization history. it provides a system, meaning that what you receive as a child will be there as you age. , thishat helps us look at is more of the higher level, we want to make sure we are monitoring safety. this person received so many doses. were there any outcomes that were unanticipated or unusual? we want to make sure we can match that to make sure we can

check those things. for an individual worried about their privacy, and i think everybody should be worried about their privacy, it is important to know the systems are safe and secure. the purposes stated are for immunization information. it is primarily used at the aggregate level. it is rarely used at the individual level. that would be in a physician's office. if you look at the population and make the determinations, are there additional areas that need outreach or need more vaccines? it can be used to detect those lower immunized areas. in a situation like covid, where we want to make sure the population is receiving the vaccine, we are going to want to know what percent of the population has received a

vaccine. it will be important to look across the communities. they are local and focused on that area and will be able to say we need increased immunizations in this area and we do not needed as much in the other area. vaccine registries is our conversation in this section of "washington journal." phone lines are split up regionally. if you are eastern or central, it is (202) 748-8000. mountain, (202) 748-8001. medical professionals, (202) 748-8002. in, you are calling talk about the local systems here. is there a federal vaccine registry? if someone moves from state to state, how do they keep track of it? is a huge challenge

we have. there is not a federal system. it is allstate-based, governed by the state rules. issues we have is between people who move between jurisdictions or people who live in multiple jurisdictions. records match together? that has been a significant challenge, primarily because it is a policy related issue. it has to rise to the level of the governor or someone within the health department that is able to sign a memorandum or agreement with another state to exchange that data. we have several states exchanging data, but there is not a freeway of information that is going between states.

for people residing in two places over the year, we know they are getting care in two places, so that is a huge issue. we can require leadership at the national level who will say, during covid, we know the information needs to flow. things will be different during this particular area and we have sign thateople memorandum of understanding to be able to exchange that data. hopefully, you will be able to receive care in any state and have that record follow you wherever you may be. host: the trump administration rushing to implement and untested tracking system. they talk about the vaccine management system. guest: it is a federally developed system. , think about a mass

vaccination clinic manager. it allows a lot of features for standing at these clinics. people can select an appointment time. it will capture the basic ,nformation and it will also whatever is capturing the information today, during this covid time, all of that information is set to flow up to cdc. it flows to the cdc to the clearinghouse and the data clearinghouse will strip off identifiable information and that will go into a data aggregator that will provide ability toks and

look more broadly to see what is happening. is ouraccine registries topic. our phone lines are open. central, (202) 748-8000. mountain pacific, (202) 748-8001 . medical professionals, (202) 748-8002. i have several questions. the first is, if someone has already had the virus and has antibodies, why can't they be tested for that and not have to take a vaccine whose side effects won't be known for two years? c-span showed the senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee about alternative treatments for the disease and they had a --tor on their who is the

they testified under oath that the efficacy of iver maxton -- in hydroxychloroquine , which has been banned from being prescribed. those are the only things that could be used. the other things you have to wait until you are in the hospital. the nih suggests nothing unless you are in the hospital. these drugs are to be used within the early stages of the disease and they can be cured within two days. who profits from this? getlength of time to everyone vaccinated will be very long and many people will die. host: that is maria out of new jersey.

the caller bringing up a couple of issues. wantup whichever one you first. guest: one of the questions often asked -- if you already had the illness, do you need to receive a vaccine. so far, they are saying we think you do, but within a certain period of time, you may be want to wait to get the vaccine. with anything that is new, we do not know the duration. we didn't even know this vaccine was around the corner last year. here we are, we have a vaccine. this is a well tested vaccine. this is great for any vaccine. that longitudinal peace, we want to know what is going to

happen, one of the ways the registry is going to be useful, this is going to make records for individuals so they know what vaccine type they had. theywill report when received those doses. when they start to look out further, post vaccination, we will double check and make sure, was there anything that was not expected or anything we did not anticipate, looking at the things that could roll into this. that is where the registry will play a great role in this evaluation. i want to talk about the security of the registry. this after the u.s. agencies. officials admitting a breach of email systems at the treasury and commerce departments. how secure are these state

registries and does that make people less confident in the wake of these stories in creating a federal registry with more personal information? necessarilynot creating a new registry. the system that is in place is designed to strip off the personal identifiable information. the pieces that will be contained in that data aggregator at the federal level will not have that information. across-the-board, privacy, security, it is really important. it is up to the jurisdictions of the state health departments who will be overseeing that. there are individual contractors who will have to be held to higher standards.

as with everything, it is an evolving world. we want to make sure folks are aware all the time. we spent time diving into the privacy and security. it is up to the states to oversee that. our hope is that they are taking the utmost precautions. coyle.ebecca website. to note the lambertville, michigan. you are next. good morning. i am curious as to what rebecca thinks, how is the government going to get the logistics of

government fails from everything they do? i don't understand how the pass aians cannot even covid relief bill for people who are about to lose everything, but we are supposed to trust them with this vaccination that was manufactured in nine months. i have done the research. it takes 10 to 15 years for a viable vaccine to be properly tested and managed and followed. in nine months, we don't even know what the side effects are. , the tell you right now polls are saying 30% to 40% of the american people are not going to take this. i believe it is higher than that. people are not going to trust

this vaccine, they will not trust the government with their information. i don't see this happening at all when congress will not give money to the states to make this happen. thank you very much. it is one of those, where the concerns are real. is it the things to note is not the federal government that is operating the system. the federal government said we are not going to do this. it was left to the states. what gets missed in the federal conversation are the roles of the state and local health departments. they have been around for a long time. they have operated under multiple candidates now.

i hear your concerns, but this is a local operation. the ones in your community every day, these are the folks who are going to be running the situation. host: george, good morning. caller: i have a question. -- shouldcdc says minorities receive the vaccines much faster than any other nationality? my next question, will there be a time when the federal governmentor state will enforce these vaccines? that is my question. have a great day. i don't have a crystal

ball in terms of what is going to happen. typically, the regulations for the requirements for a vaccine has been at the state or local level. it is too early to determine whether or not a school -- a state is going to require a vaccine. early on in the situation. in terms of priority groups and who should be receiving vaccines, acip is making those recommendations and your states can execute that. some are making prioritization based on the population they are serving. are small brushstrokes of what you can do and how to do it

, that is at the local level. can a vaccine registry encourage people in a certain area to get the vaccine? on twitter, i support a registry, the ability to track how many have and have not received the vaccine. helpful it will be encouraging others to get the vaccine. guest: this is important. the general public is wary of the vaccine. those numbers are starting to go up. we have good data coming out of clinical trials. registry plays a role in this, you are looking at your population that you are serving. at the state level, you are looking at your entire state to see where the vaccines are going and looking at the coverage of assessments. what is the uptake?

efforts into focus specific areas? maybe they are less reluctant -- more reluctant to take it in areas. around move the vaccine to make sure you are getting priority populations vaccinated. we want to make sure this is a long-term, effective vaccine, and see across-the-board what does it really look like and 2025. we have the data that will support some of those long term investments. looking back, making sure we did not get anything wrong or that if there are changes, we are able to make changes. host: california, john. you are on with rebecca coyle. caller: i might be a little off topic. i got in late. i did not realize you change the topic to the vaccine, but i

think it fits. the problem you are going to have getting people to take the vaccine as we have an illegitimate, dishonest press. that was proven in this election tenfold. there used to be just a slight bias in the press. you had to look for it. .ronkite, all of those guys it turns out they were liberal, but you did not hear that. given propaganda daily. guy on your payroll, i don't know if he is gone, but he tried to rigged the debate. you are not going to get people to listen to the reporters in the press until that changes. go for yourdo you news? who do you trust. caller: i listen to fox, msnbc.

i want to see how corrupt they can be. i try to watch george stephanopoulos. i want to see how biased they can be. i go for my news. the new york post, the wall brzezinskinal, mika was slamming the wall street journal over an article they did about joe biden. -- how was mrs. trump treated? if she had a d by her husband's name, she would have been on the cover of every national magazine, hailed as the next jackie o. she was either ignored or

criticized instead. it is corrupt. you can deny if it is corrupt. your own organization had corruption in it. it is a matter of record. we can prove it. you has to change before worry about the electoral college or who is going to line up for this vaccine. the 75 million people that voted for trump may not have been right, but they are sick of hearing this garbage how does our national media. i can give you 10 examples that happened in the last week of media bias. host: that is what we do here, we give you a chance to express your opinion and views and we show you what is happening on capitol hill. i hope you keep watching and we can continue to have this discussion about the media, certainly a conversation we often return to.

for this morning, we are on with rebecca coyle. we want to focus on vaccine registries while we have her. james, newark, new jersey on the line for medical practitioners. caller: good morning. two things. one question and one statement. peopleout the homeless and people in prison? this.atement is i have had [indiscernible] , yet. i will tell you the recipe, how to get rid of it.

he is talking about homeless individuals. how will you ensure that population is included in what you're trying to do? guest: it goes back to what i was mentioning earlier. this is going to be a state and local effort, so the local health departments are aware of where target populations are this is not being managed at the federal level. it is being managed at the local level, so those populations are known and will be vaccinated. host: robert, philadelphia. people are asking how this came out so quickly. it is because covid-19 is a sars covid virus. they have had these viruses on

their shelves for years. they keep tweaking the vaccine to fit the virus. the virus is always mutating. it changes things, but it does it so fast but it makes mistakes. discussion ofthe vaccine registration. we are talking about vaccine registrations, vaccine registries. of people wereot asking how it got there so quit. that is robert in philadelphia. this is david in clinton township. go ahead. your previous desk in the previous segment, you had a call or complain you do not correct anybody. .hey make false statements you said everyone is entitled to their opinion.

i agree with that, but a false statement is not an opinion. thank you. host: william, chattanooga, tennessee. do you have a question about the vaccine registry? caller: i am skeptical. i have crohn's disease and other conditions. i have been fine this whole time. fast how they rolled this out, but i do trust the science. the public ishow -- it is time to move on. trump lost. you are riding the wagon we have been riding the last four years. once explain what happens

that takes place with vaccine registries. guest: that is something many of us have been waiting behind the scenes to try to get everything ready. let's take a hospital for example. they start vaccinating. that information will go into their system that they have utilized and that information immunizationto the information system in that jurisdiction in the state will take that information and one file.ed into that file will be uploaded into the cdc clearinghouse. off thewill strip personal identifying information and all of the different jurisdictions that have been administering vaccines will be compiled and by tomorrow

morning, will be able to look out there and say, ok, this is how many doses were administered, where they were administered. they are still working to see what today is going to look like. today is that day one, everyone is going to have a little trouble that just happens. we will identify opportunities for improvement and by the end of the week, as more vaccine is out there and being administered, things will run seamlessly. by and large, that is how it is going to work. hopefully we will have some good numbers to work with. been -- jane has been waiting in jacksonville, florida. you for mandatory vaccinations and do you

personally know every ingredient in the covid vaccine? they have proven these malaria type drugs are working. local doctors are prescribing cure covid.ping is it about the money? we are talking about mandatory news andon the wondering if that is what you are for and if you personally know what is in this vaccine. host: are you for mandatory vaccines and mandatory registration? --er: -- caller: guest: a wise individual told me to make sure we understand why we need a vaccine. there is a situation where maybe that is not enough and you have to make sure your population --

smallpox is a perfect example, where we need to make sure we are vaccinated because it is highly contagious. it is important to look at where we are in the process. it is too soon to think about making this in a mandatory vaccine. it requires fda approval for any kind of vaccine to be required. it is too soon to talk about that. it is not a reality for now. att is the best way to look it. experts are looking at this carefully. as the population gets vaccinated, maybe we don't have to have this conversation any longer. host: for those who choose to get the vaccine, are you mandatory registration? going to fall down

to the individual in terms of what they believe is right and where their information need to go. where have a right to say their information is contained. at this point, it is up to the individual. from a public health perspective , i encourage you. it is helpful for those .onitoring we want to know what percent of population has been vaccinated so we can monitor and make adjustments. we always plan for vaccine preventable outbreaks. knowing we have a highly vaccinated population help with that in the background. this is a little different. it was not a vaccine preventable disease, but that is why we want to track it, so we can prevent these outbreaks and hopefully don't reach the scale we see with covid. the american visit

immunization registry associate. rebecca coil is the executive e is the -- rebecca coyl executive director. we have about half an hour left. our lasting to spend half hour hearing from you, individuals around the country who have experienced covid. if you have had it, or a family member has had it, give us a call. what has happened with your experience? phone lines, we will put on the screen for you. you can start calling now and we will be right back. ♪ >> use your mobile devices and go to c-span.org for the latest

video to follow the transition of power. biden, news conferences and event coverage at c-span.org . state electors of the electoral college cast votes today for president of the united dates. watch c-span's coverage as the results come in. starting at 10:00, from indianapolis, indiana, in the meeting of its 11 electors. at 11:30, delaware's three electors meet. at noon, from harrisburg, the meeting of pennsylvania's 20 electors. at 2:00, michigan's dickstein 16ctors -- michigan's electors vote. at 8:00 p.m., we are live with to talk about the

results. watch the electoral college vote 10:00 life starting at a.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. tonight, on the communicators, a discussion of the book the tangled web we weave, about the history of the internet and today's problems. this don't look at technology that keeps creating monopolies, that creates the biggest physicist in the world. all five of the biggest publicly listed companies are tech companies. we do not go, how come the internet, this thing that was going to equalize us and connect us, how come it creates these powerful companies and individuals. >> watch the communicators

tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. nearly 300,000 americans have died from coronavirus in the united states. more than 16 million americans have had coronavirus. on this day, shots are starting a go into arms, there is discussion about the next coronavirus relief package. we are setting aside this last half hour to hear from you. if you or a family member has had covid, we want to hear your stories and experiences. we will put your numbers on the screen. brock is up first. good morning. caller: good morning. to our soldiers home andt to

abroad. and everybody dealing with a pandemic. there's a lot of anxiety going around. and i want us to stay positive. diedother's girlfriend early. she was a young, pretty black girl about 28. she worked at the airport. within two weeks of her catching the virus, she died. my brother was destroyed, he wanted to take a lot of drugs and i had to be there to keep them from overdosing, things like that. he was in a bad place. covid affects not only the person, but definitely the people around them. and i wanted to say about the vaccine, you know, i feel like -- about taking it, i listen to all of the stations, not just one. i am listening to dr. fauci, dr.

birx, everybody, because i understand they want people to be safe. precautionske collectively, we can be a much better state. but working in the food field, you know, i realize that with many things, people do not feel the same about it. and i feel like people are going -- it's going to take for you to lose a loved one, for you to be affected seriously for you to take it as serious. and we need to understand hat. as much -- that. as much as we want people to put their seatbelts on, people still do not wear their see both today and they do not understand it can save lives. so, i feel like we need to unify more. i appreciate what you do it c-span. i know it is hard for people to distinguish truth from fact, but just to know that c-span is doing their best.

and i appreciate them. host: thank you for sharing your story. thanks for those words. brock in new jersey. phone lines, if you have tested covid positive, 202-748-8000. a family member that has tested positive, 202-748-8001 is the number. speaking of new jersey, the governor of new jersey was on abc this week and he talked about controlling the coronavirus in the next few weeks, so the vaccine can have its desired impact. here is what he had to say yesterday. [video clip] >> for all the good news, the vaccine exemplifies that, the next number of weeks will be hell, i fear. so we are begging people to please do not let your guard down, even when you are in private settings.

we think somewhere between 60% to 80% of transmission is in private settings now. celebrate holidays small with immediate family. we know that stinks, but that is your down payment for a more normal one next year. social distancing, face coverings, the basic stuff we cannot let up for the next 6-8 weeks because they will be challenging. we will get through it, but we cannot let our guard down. >> do you worry that the vaccine might make people less inclined to follow these instructions? >> i do. i take the other side of it which is, listen, we will put shots in the arms on tuesday morning. this is coming. by april and may, i think everybody will have access to these vaccines. this is not forever, this is a short sprint, so do the right thing. i think the concern on the other side israel when people -- is

real, when people say the vaccine is around the corner, i will take my chances. but go the first route, not the second. host: that was new jersey governor phil murphy yesterday. we are hearing about your experiences with covid this morning. amy has tested positive. she's in richmond, virginia. caller: hello. i tested positive on november 13. and i had a very mild case. that theit was so mild only reason i got tested was my doctor's office suggested i do because i had no fever, ever. i had fatigue. and i had slight pain in my chest. know, when you go to a doctor's office, they are always taking your temperature. and to me, that is not full proof at all, because i never

had a temperature. so i could have gone in, took my temperature and i could have passed it on. and nobody else i know around me has had it. and so i think i got it on election day when i worked at my polls, even though i had mask on most of the time. that's the only place where i think i could have contracted it. also, it is amazing to me how the virus affects people so differently. and people get really sick they die from it, and people like me, i did not have to go to the hospital or anything like that. i found when- and i did have it, i had to tell people i had been around to get tested, and we were trying to

decide, should we take the short or long test. i found that there were so many factors involved that it was hard to know what to do. host: a meek mill you thought you got it when you were working -- amy, you think you got it when you were working at the polls? what were the rules. ? was there social distancing? were notace coverings recovered -- required. if somebody showed up without a mask, it was not under our jurisdiction to say, you need to wear a mask before you vote. most people did wear masks. as far as social distancing, we did practice social distancing. only a certain amount of people were allowed in at one time. we did a good job with that. of course, social distancing was not always possible because, say theyder person came and needed assistance, then the bowling officer -- polling

officer would be close to them, helping them fill out their ballot. but i think because i was in an enclosed place all day from 5:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., um, you know, they say that those aerosols can hang in the air for several hours. so, there were a couple times i would take my mask off when i was in the room, to eat a snack or something. i did not leave it offer a long time, but there's just so many -- host: do you think you will be a pull worker again -- poll worker again down the road? caller: yes. i have been doing it for two years. i will be won because they are greatly needed. and -- one because they are greatly needed. and the ages of the officers are very old, so leaning a younger

generation coming to be poll workers. host: do you mind if i ask how old you are? caller: i am 59. host: we appreciate the call. james, out of atlanta on the line for the folks at that have tested covid positive. caller: yes, i tested positive. i had some mild symptoms way back in january. i was sweating profusely, i had a fever, i was blowing blood clots out my nose. but all of this is donald trump's fault. he knew that this was an airborne disease. he said it himself. none of his supporters wear masks. he was holding super spreader events. put the blame where it belongs, jump. -- trump. they don't care nothing about none of these things. callbelieve -- they

themselves christians, but they are none of that. presidente got to be because he exposed the racism from white people, people i thought were alright. as long as they are all -- on top, this is all about power. host: james, you bring up the economy. major pushl hill, a this week to pass a new coronavirus relief package. the current negotiations based on that bipartisan proposal that $908 billion, a bill from that group of republicans and democrats. it looks like it will be split into two different components, a $748 billion component that covers $300 a week in additional unemployment benefits, $300 billion in small business aid, $35 billion for health care providers, and other measures as

well. that is the less controversial side of this package. the other half of that is the package that will include state and local aid and liability protections. we talked about it earlier this morning in an interview with christina marcos from "the hill." that is what we are watching for this week and how the packages it will come together and what may or may not be included. a story from the washington times noted that president trump is pushing for another round of stimulus checks to be included in the final deal, supporters on both sides of the aisle pushing for that to be included, including the senator republican from --. one of the original sponsors in the senate of the bipartisan package is joe manchin, the democrat from west virginia. he was on the sunday shows yesterday, talking about what

could happen this week for coronavirus relief. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> your plan is a lot of talk that negotiations have fallen apart. >> it has not fallen apart. we have been meeting for the last month. we were on the call all day yesterday. we will get on the call today. we will have a bill produced for the american people, $908 billion. there's a lot of parts to this bill. in the spirit of compromise, you have to work through all of that. but in the end, you cannot let perfect be the enemy of the good. individually, if we put a bill up, certain members will not vote for certain parts of the bill, but you put it altogether and look at the good it is for our country, and in the most emergency way that we needed. we are trying to get through the toughest first quarter we have ever faced. we have people without nutrition, people without shelter, people without paychecks because they are unemployed. hospitals are being

overburdened. we have health-care workers, schools that need to be attended to. this covers all of that. and we give small businesses a chance to survive until the first quarter. by then, we should come out with a vaccine and that will be helping us. and joe biden will be our president and make a determination on what more is needed. this is strictly an emergency measure. host: joe manchin yesterday. we are back to your phone calls about your experiences with covid or your family members' experiences with covid. we have a caller on the line from missouri. caller: i have two brothers that have tested positive for covid. and i think that the vaccine that we have now, there is a lot of distressed in the government -- distressed in the government and media. and the american people are not unwise to it, they see through

it. and when you have illegal ballots being counted, that discounts the legal ballots. it's upsetting and it is not fair. and the american people know what's fair and not fair. host: do you think that you will get the vaccine? caller: i do not know. i don't know. i'm really concerned about the andenforcement, the fbi, getting people into the government and looking at the corruption. host: what did your brothers tell you, the ones that had coronavirus, are they encouraging you one way or the other? caller: to get the vaccine? host: yes. caller: no, they are not encouraging it one way or the other, but they do recognize the media lying to people, the

mainstream media. and they recognize the dishonesty in the election process. voting is not verifiable. there have been thousands, possibly millions, of illegal votes cast and that needs to be looked at. host: what evidence do you point to for that? ofler: foxes and -- boxes ballots that have been completed by the same hand or printed out with only presidential selections. they're obviously fraudulent. and forgery. host: where are you seeing the boxes? caller: in lots of cities. they were shipped in from new york city. this is rampant.

and i do not believe it is just in the major cities. it's in other cities they have not looked at. california has a lot of problems. anyplace where there has been systematic mailing of votes. host: pam is in hot springs, arkansas on the line for those who have had a family member test positive. caller: yes, i have a cold right now. and it's kind of like the flu. i went and got medicine last night from walgreens to handle it, but fortunately none died. but -- that i know. no one i know has died. they had covid. and i'm just saying i am like this woman. i saw videos where postal workers said, i have a car -- my car is jammed with ballots, do

you need some? i saw a postal truck burned with ballots in it. this stuff is out there. host: on your symptoms, do you think you have covid right now? caller: no, i think i have the flu. host: at what point would you get a test? caller: i am not, because it does not matter. and i do not trust our news. this is where we are at. we do not trust the news, we do not trust the doctors like dr. fauci, we do not trust the tech companies, like bill gates, we do not trust obama. host: i got your point on that. on the covid test, why don't you think it matters? caller: because if i feel like i have the flu, i probably have the flu. and i do not need to go find out anything else if i am doing ok,

which i am feeling fine. i just took some alka-seltzer plus to dry up my sinuses. get this had to pandemic out so they could justify the number of fraudulent ballots that came in and try to overtake our government. host: ok. terry in nashville. on the line for those who had a family member test positive for covid. good morning. go ahead. caller: yes, my husband, who is health compromised, tested positive for covid-19. i'm health compromised. i have diabetes. i did not catch it. i have a son that is 29 who lives at home with us, and he has stage iii kidney failure. this andwe talk about

have this conversation on the day that vaccines are starting to go into arms, do you have a sense of when you and your family, with your medical conditions, where you would fall in line for getting the vaccine? caller: we have not discussed it. i probably will get the vaccine. and i'm sure that my son will probably get it as well. in my husband, too. host: thank you for the call. also on the shows yesterday, fox news, was the scientific head of operation warp speed. he talked about the idea of distributing vaccines and when the u.s. would reach herd immunity. here's a little bit of what he had to say. [video clip] >> we need to have immunized about 75 or 80% of the u.s. population before herd immunity

can be established. we hope to reach that point between the month of may and june. it's, however, critical that most of the american people decide and accept to take the vaccine. we are concerned by the hesitancy, the level of hesitancy that we see, but we hope now all the data is out and available to be discussed in detail. that people will keep their minds open to listen to the data and hopefully agree that this is a very safe vaccine, and therefore take it. host: that was on fox news yesterday. we are taking your phone calls this morning for another 10 minutes. at 10:00 a.m., we will take you ovi to the beginning -- live t the beginning of electoral college voting that will take place around the country, starting in indiana this morning. then to delaware at 11:30 a.m.

eastern. pennsylvania at noon, michigan at 2:00 p.m., in texas at 3:00 p.m. you can watch that here on c-span, c-span.org or listen to on the free radio app. back to your phone calls. tom in virginia on that line for those who have had a family member test positive for covid. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call, i appreciate your program. i live near richmond, virginia. my wife, who in the month of may, around memorial day, she was -- she became very ill. and she went into work the following day, then she learned someone at work, who had been out the previous week, had tested positive. comeey asked her not to back until she was tested. meanwhile, she became very sick.

bedridden anywhere from 10-15 hours a day, very weak. we had to get her to be tested, so she was tested. then we had to wait for results, which took several days. and long story short, she was sick for a good three weeks in our house, in my house. her, at thato get time, hydroxychloroquine from her primary physician, but they would not release it. they said she had to go to the hospital if she came to the point where she could not breathe. at that time, i did not want to admit her to the hospital because that was like disappearing into the unknown and we would be cut off from each other. and i did not want her to be isolated. staye made the decision to

together. and eventually, after three weeks of the virus, she slowly returned her strength and was ok. but the amazing thing about it was --t at this time, i wife isears old and my older than i am by several story short,ong she recovered. and even though we were together in the same house, she wanted me to sleep separately. i wanted to stay together. same house, same bedroom, same kitchen, same utensils, same s ofa watching tv, and i never had so much as a sneeze, other than an occasional dust sneeze.

i think the reason i did not attach to the virus was because i was taking a lot of vitamin d3 taking z c, i was got through amazon and over-the-counter. and after three weeks, she did recover and return to work after her recovery. they said, you can come back to work after the quarantine. host: the decision to stay together, did you ever waiver? caller: i called my primary physician and i said, i have direct exposure. my wife has the virus. the coronavirus. and i requested a prescription of hydroxychloroquine because i was researching that this was it was a presented cure,

even if you had the virus it would knock it out. but he would not authorize it. so, of course, we were very disappointed and we almost panicked, but we overcame it. now, another incident i want to share with you -- i may add that my wife is a german phobic. she cleans everything. she was washing her hands, all the lysol. even when she was at work she was wiping down everything and keeping the doorknobs and everything clean. and even though she took all these precautions, she still came down with a virus. host: i'm glad that you are both feeling better. thank you for the story. mark in florida. on the line protested -- for those who tested positive. caller: i not only tested positive, i had it and i lived with it for several weeks and i could not get out of bed. it was real.

all these people talk about crazy cures, this that, it is not real, is this or that, let me assure you, israel. -- it's real. even now i still have some side effects hanging onto me. ance then, i have taken contact tracing course. it was online. host: what did you learn? caller: where they taught me is the way our country has been behaving, it's a recipe for disaster and we will be living with this for a long time, as well as people do not take it seriously. even the vaccine, is wonderful as it may be, it's not going to clear the country. not with the behavior we have been engaging in. host: do you think people's behavior will ever change? caller: apparently not.

you have people calling you saying my wife had it, and then it turns out that they did not want to do any of the stuff involved. i wanted the hydroxychloroquine, mad because they did not get a quack cure. but they do not do what has to be done and now it is even worse. i'm fully recovered. my wife and i were social before, even now we go for a walk here. i live near the beach, we go to the beach. people are not doing anything. i should not say that. that's the rare bird actually has a mask on, besides me and my wife. tothought we wanted to go our favorite place when it opened up. it was packed, shoulder to shoulder, very little masking. so, again, even with the vaccine coming -- and have to the people that call you say they will not

take the vaccine. how this is even going to go away? we need to prepare. i have taken health courses. i like to live through -- like to learn this stuff, especially when i have lived through it. but it cannot go away. we are preparing. the current president had been preparing us to live around it. host: bradley is next. only a few minutes left. bradley is in carthage, new york on billing for those who have tested positive. caller: i am calling from north carolina. host: sorry about that. caller: you are good. i tested positive and my wife tested positive. we did not know we had it, that is how mild it was. we lost taste and smell. my opinion is it's nothing but a political stunt in my book. i just do not see where the real harm is in all of this. from the a gift

democratic party since it started. host: nearly 300,000 americans are dead. caller: well, i could see that. i have seen article saying if you come in with a heart attack, you died, but you test positive for covid, they will count as a covid death. so there are too many faults, false stories that i still do not trust. i bet there is only 10% of the dead that are actually covid deaths. host: diane in arlington, texas. good morning. you had a family member test positive? we have two minutes or so. caller: i will stick right on topic. my daughter tested positive. we will see how it turns out. she is 30 years old. she works for amazon. naturally, she is around a lot of people. my husband is with the airline. when they gave other funding and

everything, people get upset, but things still operated. the airlines are still in total operation, even during the down times. yes, i will definitely get the vaccine. husband -- my husband will get the vaccine. my son will. my daughter is questioning it. it is because of what she reads on social media, which brings a fear to me. and i will finish by saying that i hope one day i do not wake up and find out that every morning the media and social media and everybody got together on a plan of how to manipulate us, because i still have faith that our country would not do that. and i do trust c-span, at this point. i have not seen it being manipulated. so i do tune into you every day. host: diane in arlington, our .ast caller today we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m.

pacific. we will not take you to the indiana state capital. the electoral college is getting ready to meet. getting readyeges to meet around the states. we will go to delaware at 11:30 a.m. and delaware, pennsylvania -- then following delaware, pennsylvania, michigan in texas. we will see you back here tomorrow morning. have a great monday. announcer: coming up on c-span, it is electoral college