chairman of the drum major institute, thank you very much for coming to washington post live. mr. king: thank you for your leadership every week on your show and all that you write about. host: thank you for joining us. please head to washington post live.com to find more information about all of our upcoming programs. thank you for watching washington post live. >> coming up shortly, president biden is scheduled to provide an update on the bipartisan infrastructure law. we will have live coverage of the president's speech when it gets underway here on c-span. right now, portion of this morning's washington journal. welcome back. we are joined by derek johnson, the naacp president and ceo get

to talk about voting rights, a debate that has been happening in washington. let's begin with your reaction to senators kyrsten sinema and joe manchin saying that they oppose changing the filibuster rules or the two voting rights bills being pushed by the president and other democrats. derek: you cannot be for voting rights protection and not be willing to make sure we implement policy to protect the right of voters across the country. this isn't just about two democratic senators, it's about all 100 senators. by a vote of 98-0, the senate passed the voting rights act. what happened between 2006 and now is the complete politicization of the right to vote and access to the ballot box. what should be a simple

administrative procedure to ensure that no state, no jurisdiction are discriminating against a certain population. or to make sure there is access to voting. because one party, quite frankly , have determined that they want to limit access to voting as opposed to expand the platform to attract new voters. host: the senators that voted to reauthorize the voting rights act are in the senate today. republicans say they would agree to reauthorizing, but democrats tied it to these pieces of legislation which they say is a federal mandate and are opposed to for various reasons. derek: i find that hard to believe because it is a standalone. there is nothing blocking them from adopting the john lewis

voting rights act. we really make sure that we protect -- this is not a partisan issue. this is about the right to vote. we have seen these type of postures before we have the right to fully engage. but before the 19 625 voting rights act, many african-americans across the country were denied access to voting because of the procedure rules. take the partisanship out of this. it's an issue that all americans can fully engage in. host: what do you think will happen today and in the coming days? what have you been told about holding this possible vote on these pieces of legislation? and what will your group do in response to the two democratic

senators that say they are not on board with changing the rules? derek: it's not about these two democratic senators, it's all 100 members of the senate. and until we can hopefully get the necessary votes to pass voting rights protection, this is not about partisanship. it's about protecting the integrity of our democracy. other people can expand and fight for democracy. how will that stand up domestically here in the 50 states? host: senator richard durbin of illinois, a democrat, said president biden perhaps went too far with his rhetoric. here is the republican leader mitch mcconnell on the floor after the president's remarks.

senator mcconnell: he used the phrase jim crow 2.0 to demagogue a law that makes the franchise more accessible than in his own state of delaware. he blasted george's procedures regarding local election officials while pushing national legislation with almost identical language on that issue. the president implied things like widely popular voting id laws as totalitarian? totalitarian? ironically washington -- ironically, the same day that the washington, d.c. mayor told people to take their id card any time they leave the house. the president himself is using

irresponsible, delegitimizing rhetoric that undermines our democracy. host: what about the criticism of the president upon speech? derek: they spend more time criticizing the words of the president and not enough time necessitating voting rights protection. a lot of this has been bottlenecked by mitch mcconnell. it is a state legislative body. we talked about the state of georgia where you have local election officials that are not partisan. they are being targeted by individuals doing their job and they have low protections. we have a member that has served for years as an election administrator that has been threatened.

and we have another person wanting to leave their home. for mitch mcconnell to make this about the president and not deal with the fact that it has been shown over and over -- we have to move beyond the posture we are currently seeing. and we need to put forward voting rights protections and make sure election officials are not being targeted and harassed. host: we are continuing to talk about the voting rights debate. democrats, republicans, independents, numbers are on your screen. you can also text us (202) 748-8003. you can also go to our facebook page or post on twitter using

@cspanwj. some of the georgia voting laws that democrats and you have been criticizing. here is what he had to say. >> the challenges and special circumstances that arose as a result of the pandemic. democrats decided that these commonsense mainstream updates represented an unprecedented attack on voting rights. in georgia, which is one of the first to enact voting rights, it became the poster child to convince americans their voting rights were in danger. what terrible measures are states imposing? it is measure for bidding medical organizations with food

or water within 150 feet of a polling place. yes. apparently, preventing partisan political organizations from providing lunch to voters threatens the very stability of our entire democracy. nothing in george's law prevents outside groups from providing food and water outside the 150 foot radius. and the law explicitly allows nonpartisan election workers as opposed to political groups to make water available to voters. i'm pretty sure any voter can bring his or her food or water. none of that has prevented democrats from suggesting rules about food and water distribution at polling places represent a grave threat to voting rights.

ironically, the state of new york has a similar provision prohibiting any refreshment or provision to a i don't see the ds traveling to new york to decry the threat to the moxie posed by the new york legislature. host: your response? guest: look at the average wait time. this is because of the lack of accessible polling places and machines. you had wait times for african-americans of 5-7 hours compared to whites in the same state which was far shorter, 10 or 15 minutes. you have to look at the

underlying reason why there was a need to provide water or food. people are waiting in line at far too long. mail-in voting should be expanded. more polling places that have identified it a high propensity of turnout should be readily available. that is some foundational things that create long lines at voting places, you only see these long lines in african-american or latino precincts. that needs to be addressed. when you give half the picture, it sounds like this is a partisan issue. we need to standardize our access to voting across the country in all 50 states. early voting should be expanded. it is a viable approach to ensure voices can be heard of the ballot box. when the senator used

half-truths or half information to explain things away, there are some shenanigans going on when both of these bills are trying to do with the shenanigans we've seen taking place state-by-state. host: the bills we are talking about are the freedom to vote act, which has 15 days early voting it. election day is a federal holiday. each state must have the same day voter registration and bars boundaries that favor or disfavor any clinical party. the john lewis voting rights act restores voting rights to 1965 and expands the formulas the justice department can use to identify discriminatory voting patterns. they would need the justice department approval for making further changes to elections. let's get to calls. caller: your last guest talked a

lot. he didn't say anything of any substance. all they do is talk. they want you to talk about it. there must be something wrong. if there is any republican that can name one state in this union that had over 1000 illegal votes, name the state. it's not happening. this is a ruse. it's a smokescreen. that's what these people do. host: your thoughts on that? guest: i agree. it's a ruse. 2020 was the most transparent and secure election in our history. there were 60 lawsuits filed and every one of those lawsuits were kicked out of court because they lacked any evidence of voter fraud or confusion or anything

else. you just read out what the two bills would do. it would create a federal floor of access to voting. to ensure that people would have 15 days to do mail-in voting. a qualifying deadlines are the same across the country. that there are basic standards that open up more transparency and more uniformity. anything less is a subversion of democracy. this is not a partisan issue. this is an issue to ensure every citizen hides access to exercise the right to vote. host: janice is in michigan. caller: good morning. how is everyone today?

i hope you are all doing well. mr. johnson it, i used to be a democrat. i don't know how to say this. the democrats now are just tearing our country apart. i know that we divide ourselves among race and ethnicity and political persuasion. we so need to come together. i am concerned very much that a lot of misinformation is being let out into the country about voting rights state-by-state. i really fear for a federal takeover of voting. what will happen is the democrats are in power by very

slim majority. i kind of foresee this coming november that it's going to change. why is everyone so hell-bent on demonizing everybody else? host: tell us why you fear a federal takeover of elections? caller: because you go back to the original founding of the country. the states are the ones where these elections, rules and laws, are formulated. this is what will happen. if it becomes federal eyes, in a few years, if the republicans take over, there is going to be a backlash. it seems like every year we get

worse and worse. host: respond. address her fears. guest: i am glad you are watching c-span so we can get valid information. this is a problem about what people are consuming. often times, it is devoid of fact. every citizen has the same expectation. there would be no power changing from how a state conducts elections. it will set a standard that all citizens should be allowed to 15 days early voting. they should have the same deadline for voter registration. it's like driving on a federal highway. we have the same speed limit.

it is brought down death and crashes. it has created a standard so expectations are the same in michigan and minnesota. i agree with you, the partisanship we have seen over the last several years has been a through threat to democracy. if we continue on this path, we won't recognize the country we are living in. we need to do more and ensure that the basic premise of who we are as americans and how we operate as americans under the constitution is consistent. it should be limited to their ability to expand and attract new voters. they have to go and suffocate the system of how people cast

their ballot. i am here with our democracy. host: let's go to tina in huntington pennsylvania. independent. caller: happy new year. it's been a long time. good morning, mr. johnson. i hope you indulge me for a moment. i was a democrat, went to publican. i went independent. i lived in florida in 2012. i stood in those lines to cast my vote. when i moved to pennsylvania, it's very rural appear. we don't have public transportation. why can't we just go back to requesting the absentee ballot, fill it out, mail it in.

it worked before. i'm saying this because my father-in-law took ill and lived with us during the 2020 cycle. knowing he was away from his polling place, i wanted to ensure he was able to vote. we requested a mail-in ballot. we asked him who is the president. his answer was ford. we should he should not vote. i put it in the safe. unfortunately, his vote was cast. it was not by him. two days later, our secretary of state quit. i don't really trust the voting system right now. when everybody is pushing for seems to be the long lines. at about the people that live among the appalachian trail that

don't have the transportation to get to a polling place. i don't hear anybody talking about those people. we need to stop being democrats and republicans and we need to start being americans. we are in this together. the hate on both sides is so thick. we need to love thy neighbor. guest: i agree. it's unfortunate that you stood in those long lines. we have the technology to stop that. we continue to suffocate access to voting. i understand what you were talking about. we have to make provisions for people who cannot stand in long lines, who should not stand in long lines, who cannot get to the polling place.

that's what a national standard does. it provides for a 15 day mail an opportunity. i am glad and i appreciate you and your family understanding that he did not have the capacity to cast a ballot. you refused to participate in that type of balloting. we are here at a juncture with people like you and many others recognizing the partisanship will hurt us. our democracy will protect us. that's what the authorization bill would do, john lewis supported wholeheartedly. no matter what part of the country they live in, areas where the lines are low, areas

where it is hard to get to, people with disabilities, they can participate. this is not a partisan issue. it's about protecting our democracy. host: beverly is in wyoming. caller: i would think they had the same rights, 15 minutes in the voting places. it is a problem when you've got a seven hour wait for the people. it is a problem. they need to fix that. they need to be reasonable. republicans are just outrageous on their laws. outrageous. it's like the lady said it, she was a democrat and went to republican. i was a republican and i went to a democrat.

this is because of all the rhetoric they have and all the hatred. i'm not that type of person. i will help my neighbor. not if they are plotting to run the government. we have to be together. host: on compromise, one about voter id? laws are put into place, are you ok with them? guest: when you talk about compromise, we have to have two parties at the table willing to have a conversation. what senator mcconnell has done, he has drawn a line in the sand and no one can cross the line. they have not come to the table to have a conversation for a compromise in a serious matter.

there is nobody who is able to compromise. that's why we are at this juncture. the senate is refusing to talk to one another, especially when you have senator mcconnell telling his members you cannot cross this line. that's what we've been confronted with. i have been part of the conversation. democratic members have been willing to talk. that's where senator manchin has been. we have not been able to get republicans to sit down at the table with a true conversation. he was the only one who had enough courage to vote for the john lewis act. we commend her for that. the action she received from her party is unconscionable. we have to move beyond this rancor.

: will go to houston, texas. caller: good morning. in regard to the spirit of bipartisanship, would it be helpful and transparent to refer back to 2005, the jimmy carter and james baker commission on elections? they outlined how to avoid fraudulent elections. for example, mail-in ballots was one of the number one issues that was of concern for a transparent and valid election. when you think about all the things in that bipartisan thing, you have james baker.

that is so overlooked and never mentioned. for so many years, i watched and listened to democrats say for all four years that trump was an illegitimate president. the russian collusion never happened. we heard all about it. it was a false narrative. the mail-in ballots, that is a recipe for fraud. the voting rolls need to be cleaned up. this conversation is immaterial when you think about balance. guest: the voting rolls are the responsibility of the state, not the federal government. some states keep cleaner roles than others. if you think we need to clean the roles, that should be state-by-state. there is nothing in this conversation about addressing voting rolls.

we would have loved to have had some type of bipartisan approach. any time that is attempted, president bush spoke at the naacp convention in 2000 six. he spoke strongly in support of reauthorization of the voting rights act. members of the senate both parties voted to reauthorize 98-0. the act is in front of the senate right now. not a single republican except centre mccoskey is willing to cast a ballot to reauthorize the voting rights act. they create a form that has been proven to have discriminatory impact on how administrators are

elected. it has to go through a process to implement new rules that are reviewed to ensure they won't impact negatively those who have been disenfranchised. that's not a hard thing to do. that has nothing to do with mail-in ballots. not a single republican with the exception of the senator murkowski is willing to say we need to protect the rights of those who have been disenfranchised. this will only change if individuals stand up and say we have to use best practices. we need to make sure the administration of elections is not a partisan activity.

it's a constitutional opportunity for all of us to protect the rights of voters. host: grand rapids, michigan. caller: the first thing i want to say is that last guest, you are getting as bad as the internet, allowing people to lie and light. you've got to be liable for telling the truth. why did you let that last guest on it. this gentleman, thank you for standing up and telling the truth. i sat on my couch and voted. nobody is going to tell me my vote was invalid. we went through this for the last 10 months. none of this stuff was proven. everything that is going on is a reaction to lies. it's also a republican takeover of power.

thank you, mr. johnson. thank you. guest: the former president voted by mail. yet, it becomes a problem. we have to address the serious misinformation in the public dialogue. we have to address how people are being misled to operate in their own personal and families interest. we cannot as a nation continue to devolve into tribalism. what we have said for this matter is every voter in all 50 states should be able to do so and have certain basic

expectations. they should not wait in line for six or seven hours. there is a system that they want to volunteer their time to help support as poll workers or election personnel. they would not be confronted with threats. we can that stand by and let the lies and misinformation continue to germinate in a way that is. it's a sad state. i am scared we are rushing back to their. host: we will go to pennsylvania. you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? i am a loyal democrat. i would like to say that if

trump would've won this election, we wouldn't have any of this complaining and criticizing. i voted by mail in pennsylvania. i will probably do it again. with the process we go through, there is no fraud. you can't be fraudulent at all. the one thing i think is rigged is the electoral college. that has got to go. if a democrat would win the electoral college that trump won by the first time, you would hear a primal scream from here to the land of the dueling banjos. the election was fair. the mail-in ballots of the best way to go. guest: we have an opportunity now to push our citizens --

senators to stand up for our democracy, to not allow corporate interests to determine how we should be able to engage in this election. those two bills simply level the field so everyone has the same expectation. it is not a partisan issue. it's an access to opportunity for all of us. we cannot send our young people to fight for a democracy that we are unwilling to fight for. republicans, democrats, stand up in this moment and say pass these acts. this is not a partisan conversation. this is an opportunity for us to protect our constitution.

host: tom is in illinois. caller: i've been in hancock county. i was on the board for 15 years. when bush gore had that election, we bought voting machines. we spent $800,000 on voting machines. then we spent another 400,000 on voting machines. we voted the handicap machine down. the board members -- we did know anyone who was blind. we have the voting machines that cost a lot of money. in illinois and california, when i go to vote, it almost seems like a waste of time to me.

these blue states stay blue forever. in california, they have what's called ballot harvesting. that's where they go around. they go around to people and a guy goes and says did you send your ballot in it? they just give it to them. host: ballot harvesting? guest: i am going to start where he started. every jurisdiction receives resources to update election machines. it was the right piece of legislation for the time. we had antiquated machines. that was a federal bill passed to ensure every county has the equipment necessary. we also expand access to voting.

machines -- they had the resources to purchase. that's extremely important. this is similar to that. how do we open up access to voting? it is not unique to california. it's not unique to any political party. we must make sure that the integrity of every ballot cast is accurate. how people vote in illinois or california is individual choices. they decide. it's based on what they see as in their interest. that something we should be proud about, even if they are cast and the outcome is different than what we would hope for. it is expectation we should control. the election was fair.

it was open. it was accessible and every individual who was eligible to vote is able to participate. that's what this is about. we must stay in that lane. if we go down the track of what has been a particular jurisdiction, that's not this conversation. every citizen should cast about. host: mike is in iowa. caller: how are you this morning? let's talk about the election and the integrity. let's talk about pennsylvania, philadelphia where they sent the republicans home and told him they were not going to do anymore accounting.

they started counting immediately. let's talk about the ballot harvesting. there is so much irregularity in that. it's been proven. let's talk about the democrats. the democrats want this bill because it's got ballot harvesting. this represents the democrats. it doesn't represent me as an independent. i voted for this thing we've got is present. i'm not sure he's running the country. host: we will stop there. guest: most importantly, there were 60 lawsuits filed. all the misinformation out there , there was an opportunity to present evidence. court after court after judge

dismissed the lawsuits. more importantly, there was a call for information to prove the things you just talked about. it doesn't exist. the judge in pennsylvania looked for the evidence of the irregularities and the vote stealing. it doesn't exist. giuliani was embarrassed in that case as he was in almost every case he entered. we have to stop with the misinformation. we can have an opinion about whoever is elected to whatever position. it should not undermine the integrity of our elections. let me be clear. this is a way to get to a more perfect election system. it creates a federal standard and we should all have the

expectation no matter where we live in the country as we identify issues and work to protect those as well. host: john in florida. question or comment? caller: how are you doing? i wonder if the association has a plan for the florida residents who would have the right to vote but they don't have the means to buy their right to vote back and systems where they were supposed to collect those means are designed to make sure the bills are never paid. it's an issue down here. there is a permanent underclass of americans who have no say in how they are governed. it's a very bad idea. young people that i know have been convicted of ballot harvesting were in north carolina. they were all republicans.

it only lasted until the winston-salem journal got wind of it. thank you for the job you do. guest: what we witnessed in florida is a travesty. could have their rights restored. most of the studies i've seen when returning citizens are able to fully engage in society, including the right to vote and cast ballots, recidivism goes down. people were celebrating because for the first time returning citizens were able to capture the voting majority to ensure their rights were stored. the state of florida instituted a restrictive process that will cause hundreds of millions of dollars.

the naacp has been working with the coalition to figure out ways to get around. we will win that fight. our history is told us that when we fight for the rights of others, we will win eventually. i don't have a specific way we are going to do that now. we will continue to work with the community to ensure their rights are restored. host: one last call for you, frank in delaware. caller: i am calling in reference to mr. johnson. he represents the naacp. i can't believe that. i've got some good african friends. they don't care about the naacp. as far as voting goes, all you have to do -- i live in delaware. i drive 10 miles.

stand in line, that's the way it's got to be. it is voter id and nothing else. guest: i am glad you have that experience when you can drive 10 miles and you don't have all the barriers. every one should have that same opportunity, the ease with which you talked about voting. it should be the ease by which every citizen should cast about. that's the thing that will protect this. host: for more information about the fight for voting rights by the naacp, go to naacp.org. you can follow on twitter as well. derrick johnson