arizona oppose changes to the filibuster rules so there may not be a simple majority to pass those bills. as always, the house is live on c-span. the senate on c-span two. >> download c-span's new mobile app and stay up-to-date with live in video coverage of events from live streams at that house and senate floor and key congressional meetings. even our live interactive morning program, washington journal, where we hear your voices everyday. c-span now has you covered. download the app for free today. >> a conversation on voting rights and election laws with spencer overton, with joint center for political & economic studies. and the author of a new book on

voter suppression. from the new york times, here are two of the headlines from that page. charles blow writing about the failure looming on the defense of voting rights. reginald jackson asking how did democrats let this happen and what do we do now? how would you answer those latter two questions? how did democrats let this happen and what do they do now? guest: i'm glad we have this opportunity to talk about the freedom to vote on mlk day. dr. king worked hard for the freedom to vote for all americans. as you know, tomorrow on tuesday, the senate will likely bring up the freedom to vote legislation. i don't know that everything is completely over right now. that will provide these national voting standards in federal elections. of course, there is this concern about the filibuster. democratic arizona senator, she

supports the voting rights legislation but she has indicated she won't support exempting this legislation from the filibuster. we will see what happens moving forward. a variety of things could happen. there could be a debate on the filibuster, which is a procedural move. basically, democrats are asking for a majority vote on this freedom to vote bill. or there could be some kind of compromise. so there has been an electoral count added, that could be coupled together with some of the existing bills that are out there. that could be a way forward as well. i would assume -- i would not assume that everything is over. we have got to stand up for what is right. certainly, dr. king talked about the silence of the good people. this is a critical time for marginalized communities.

they do not want federal americans -- they do not want fellow americans to look the other way. they want the debate on the filibuster and they want the debate on the freedom to vote. host: the freedom to vote, the john lewis act, explain the underlying the larger bill would do. guest: this larger bill ensures national standards for federal elections to overrule many of the state voter suppression techniques that we have seen recently. as you probably know, just in the past year, out of all the restrictions passed in the last decade, a third of them have been enacted in just the last year. we have seen this uptick. the new law ensures some

national standards for federal elections to overrule many of those restrict techniques. for example, the ad guarantees orally voting for 14 days before an election, it ensures voters can vote by mail without unnecessary barriers. it ensures voters do not have to stand in line for more than 30 minutes. it also prohibits political gerrymandering in electoral district and it makes it difficult to remove election officials -- elected officials for political reasons. we cannot anticipate all the ways politicians will suppress votes in the future, the bill restores the power of the federal government to review state voting laws to ensure they are not discriminatory. host: as you said, we need to see what happens when the senate returns at noon tomorrow. the debate begins on that filibuster. the debate will happen, if most expect, the filibuster is able

to change the filibuster. you hinted in your first answer, explain what this electoral act reform, this perhaps, compromise bill could be. guest: both republicans and democrats have entertained electoral count act in order to ensure the vice president cannot unilaterally reject results from some states in order to throw out the election, the presidential election. and have the u.s. house select the president. the problem is that the electoral count act, it doesn't deal with the real problems of voting discrimination and restrictions on freedom to vote. the electoral count act only affects one election, the presidential election. it does nothing to improve democracy in the other 535

elected officials in the state or local races. if the senate blocks that act, there may be a compromise bill. if it blocks the freedom to vote, john r lewis act, there could be some compromise bill that includes revision of this electoral count act which senator powell says he has considered to hear the electoral count act as well as the freedom to vote revision. in terms of negotiation, it seems like senator collins, -- may talking about this. host: we will watch what happens together on c-span2 at noon tomorrow. if you have questions, comments about voting rights and election law reform, phone lines are open for you to do so, (202) 748-8000 four democrats: (202) 748-8001

four republicans: (202) 748-8002 for independents. guest: we are america's black think tank. we were founded just after the voting rights act of 1965 were passed. to help people from being civil right activist to governing, re-budgeting. we focus on issues that help include african-american communities in the future of our economy, democracy. issues like the future of work and workers. when we look at misinformation for broadband -- or even automated decision-making.

risk assessment that results in discriminatory decisions being made in lending. those are the types of issues we focus on, as well as inclusion of people of color in congress, as staffers, as well as in the executive branch. host: your group is in support of the freedom to vote john r lewis act and the various measures contained in there. it was mentioned yesterday on cnn, louisiana republican senator, bill cassidy when asked why they oppose this bill, this is what he had to say. [video clip] >> a key part, one of them is the john r lewis voting rights act. they protect against discriminatory state voting laws. just a decade ago, -- when the senate passed that law just a decade ago, it passed 98 to --.

why are they not supporting now? >> the supreme court decided that the conditions in 1965 are different than they are now. imagine that. we have had an african-american elected president of the united states, african-american elected to the vice presidency, an african-american elected to the senate in south carolina. if anyone cannot see circumstances have changed, they are not believing their lying eyes. the reality is, in louisiana, we have the highest percent of african-american officials in the nation. we have a white mayor of a predominantly black city and a white mayor of a predominantly white city. to argue we are still the safe -- to argue we are the same as we were in 1965 is to deny the facts. host: spencer overton, those comments by the senator yesterday. guest: the new law being

proposed by congress that is in the senate does not focus on 1965. it is an updated formula in terms of those entities that we cover. this new federal law in the senate updates the coverage formula and it covers states with more than 10 voting rights violations within the past 25 years. it allows for states with no violations for the last 10 years to exit coverage. if you haven't had any voting rights violations for 10 years, there is no problem, you are not covered. it also covers a certain election tactics that are often discriminatory. it such as reducing polling places, absentee and early voting opportunities or multicultural materials. restricting multilingual voting materials in post -- in places with a large minority voting population. this is not about a black

president or a white senator from north carolina -- a black senator from north carolina. this is preventing politicians from manipulating election rules in order to win. it prevents partisan gerrymandering. it allows for federal oversight in certain jurisdictions that have significant, at least 10 voting violations in the last year. he is having a discussion about a passed legislation from 1965 as opposed to what is before the senate right now. host: we would like to chat with a few colleagues -- a few callers this morning. -- out of new orleans. good morning. caller: it is this genuine to

see a democrat would be in such a position of having house, majority of senate and the white house and we cannot get legislation to protect. we allow ourselves to be caught up because we allowed ourselves to focus on stimulus and other things. the pandemic hit. we did not have a plan from the onset. i do not fault the republicans for the effort of what they are putting up. the fight to cover their territory. it is politics. i mean independent, democratic, republican, we are all citizens of this country. we are using race and we know some do not want to see african-americans and leadership. but this democracy, we are a strong country, strong nation.

this shows the flaws we still have. we need to iron the flaws and the wrinkles out of our legislation. these are guys that we sent to washington dc to do better for our lives. they have political aspirations and other things on their mind. you have these two senators opposing. the democrats do not want to put themselves in opposition. host: you bring up a lot of issues. let me bring it over to spencer overton. guest: the filibuster would have still existed. they would have still had to deal with it. the filibuster is not in the constitution. the senate has had over 152 except in -- exceptions over the years to the filibuster.

the president and schumer have indicated since a majority vote is good enough for state legislation, they were restricting the vote. a majority vote should be good enough for the u.s. senate when it is wrote -- when it is working to protect the freedom of the vote. there are several civil rights leaders who have called on the president to be stronger on voting rights. i stand with them. but this past week, the president basically brought the presidential pit to this issue. which many americans, because they are busy and focused on other things, have not focused on the details of senate procedure or even voting regulations that can seem overwhelming and can seem like a partisan gamesmanship. he focused most americans on those issues.

most americans will continue to talk about those issues over the next couple of weeks. my point is, there are real challenges here. the president, majority leader schumer and others are prioritizing this. certainly at the beginning of this presidency, there were not 48 senators who were willing to make an exception for voter rights to the filibuster. there are now. so we subsequently are in a different place than we were a year ago. host: gainesville florida. this is christopher, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, christopher. question or comment? caller: my comment is this. everybody is misinterpreting dr. martin luther king's speech.

i feel, why has this country been losing their common sense to where african-americans, indians, different people from other nations, why is it that we have to have congress or the senate to pass the bill to give african-americans the right to vote? why can't we just be able to vote like any other american citizens in this country? host: mr. overton? guest: the 15th amendment which was passed by strict party line voting, not bipartisan, gave back -- gave black people the right to vote. before that, black people did not have the right to vote. the 15th amendment did that. after that, many state legislatures and county officials enacted rules that

were race neutral. they would say hey, we have a literacy test you have to pass in order to vote. they might say, we will exempt you from that literacy tests if your grandfather could vote. of course, african-americans, their grandfather could not vote, whereas whites, their grandfather could vote. as a result, they were exempt from that literacy test. all of these devices that seem to be race neutral have been devised in order to minimize african-american voting strength as well as the voting strength of latinos and many others in the country. what is needed here, the issue here is to make the vote real. how do we have federal protections to ensure that the right to vote is real and that all americans can participate freely? that is the issue.

part of this is race. but part of this is politicians manipulating rules so they can select the voters who will support them, rather than allowing the voters to select the politicians. we want to create a situation where the voters are actually selecting the politicians rather than politicians selecting voters. host: fayetteville, north carolina. this is joe, line for republicans. good morning. caller: i am really new to politics but one thing i have noticed is the white democrats are giving a past when they trash black conservatives. i give you a few examples. when ted kennedy trashed clarence thomas a couple months ago, when larry elder's ran for

governor of california, he was trashed by white democrats. and black democrats. another example, ben carson, what you guys did to him. if you talk about a black conservative, you have a green light. i am curious what you guys are going to do for walker who is running for senate in georgia. guest: i want to make the point that discrimination knows no particular party. there are republicans who have been strong on civil rights in the past, the voting rights act of 1965 would not have passed, it was really held up by dixi e-crats in the south. republicans were critical there.

republicans played a special role in terms of the civil war and reconstruction. republicans have played, in the past, an important role. and also democrats have fallen short. for example, if you look at democrats about 20 to 22% of their votes, nationally, come from african-americans. the staff and the senate who are in top positions is nowhere near that in terms of african-americans. the number is more like three to 4%. even though there are like 20 to 22% of the votes nationally. i agree, there are certainly challenges and problems in both parties in terms of not being sufficiently exclusive. host: about five minutes left with spencer overton this morning. this is -- from the democrat

line. good morning. caller: good morning. happy new year to you. host: good morning morning, go ahead. caller: we had one way to vote. if you had to go to work, you would get fired from that job. everybody talk about wages and bonuses. with the rent, lights, gas, everything went up since we been here. i think democracy is more important than talking about the filibuster. people are dying out here homeless, no place to live.

unemployment, food stamps, they have took away food stamps. order we going to do? but you got the filibuster. if you have the change regulations, do what you have to do to save democracy. host: spencer overton? guest: i think the caller made a really good point in the lived experiences that people have and enacting rules that prevent them from participating in a lot of those lived circumstances. the georgia restrictions criminalize handing out water and food to those waiting in line. even though the average wait time in georgia was eight times longer for voters in overwhelmingly black polling places than in overwhelmingly white polling places after the 7:00 p.m. closing time.

the georgia politicians responded by putting a lot of registrations -- putting a lot of restrictions on absentee ballots. and limiting the number of absentee ballot drop boxes. also not, preventing those drop boxes to be available after 5:00, 6:00 in the evening. after business hours, which is hard for people working a job during the day, in terms of voting in the evening. the texas restrictions, they banded 24 hour voting. same problem. they banded drive-through voting. those were to alleviate long lines of voting in texas and houston. -- and such as spanish language translation. another example would be changes

in georgia have resulted in a rollback of early voting on sunday in spalding county. as a result, it is difficult for the souls to polls effort where people leave church, popular in the black community where people leave church and going vote. many of the restrictions are focused on the way the people live and that is very is on particular communities. they are not race specific but they have a disproportionate impact on particular communities, including black and brown communities. host: one last caller from georgia i want to get to but one of the georgia laws you just brought up, it was karl rove who wrote about that specifically in his comment last week in the washington journal. i want to get you to respond to it. he spat, speaking about president biden speech in

georgia, "the president railed against the georgia law prohibiting groups forum providing food and beverages to voters within 150 feet. that is not america, the president said. " it is banned in 50 feet in mr. bynes delaware, 100 feet in california, illinois, new jersey, and new york. he asked "was it the president to label georgia i have -- was it the president's 50 feet that caused him to label georgia a hotbed--?" guest: these lines are much longer in communities in georgia than they are in white communities. eight times longer in after hours. it is not the election and preventing election -- which is the problem, it is longer lines

in black communities and saying, we are going to make it harder for you to stand in those lines by prohibiting you from getting any food or water. host: last call, marietta, georgia, and independent. good morning. caller: high, john, and mr. overton. i am a black nationalist and i am a pan-african and i want to address two things really quick. first, the filibuster. it is a good thing we have the video archive. you can go into the archive and you can see schumer standing up for the filibuster when they were in the minority. secondly, i live in georgia. i read the senate bill 202, all 67 pages for myself. what you are saying is not true. first of all, i stood in that

line. i live in an affluent suburbs of georgia. we stood in the lines for five hours. this is black, hispanic, white. we all stood in the same lines. if you look at the host: it's there on the internet if you want to take a look, the joint center for political and economic studies. spencer overton is the president and you can find him there. appreciate your time this morning, sir. >> thank you. >> coming up at noon, martin

luther king jr. the third -- martin luther king the third will be joined by congressional members at 12 noon for a voting rights meeting. ♪ >> how exactly did america get up to its neck in debt? >> one of the greatest parts of being american is striving to find equal opportunity. >> the video documentary competition 2022, students across the country are giving us a behind-the-scenes look using the entry #studentcam and if you are a middle and high school student you can find the information there. create a five minute to six minute documentary using c-span video clips that answer the question how does the federal government impact your life.

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