this election day on "washington journal," we are joined by mandy zoch, elections project manager for the national conference of state legislatures to talk about key pellet initiatives. then we will check in with local journalists from battleground states, starting in pennsylvania. that is followed by an update from georgia with the atlantic journal-constitution. and axios phoenix reporter on what is happening in arizona. later, we will hear from the nevada current deputy editor. as always, we will take your calls, text messages, facebook comments, and tweets. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: a dish -- it is election

day, and polling places are now opening in most states east of the mississippi. 470 congressional seats on the ballot, 35 senate, and all house seats. over 6200 state legislative seats across 46 states. local councils, courts, and referenda of all sorts. and with the blood moon lunar eclipse, is it an omen of a red wave election? there is a very engaged public ready to have their voice heard once again. good morning, and welcome to election day morning on "washington journal." we will be hearing from you and from reporters from across the country in the key races. we would love to hear from you first on this election day and your thoughts about the day, how you voted, how you plan to vote. democrats, it is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents and all others,

(202)748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. tell us your name and where you are texting from. we are on facebook, twitter, and instagram, @cspanwj. we would love to hear from you about this very important morning in america's democracy republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. all others (202)748-8002. ,tell us about your voting experience. did you vote early? are you planning to vote today? some influences in your voting, as well. several states only have mail-in voting. we would love to hear about that, too. and we will hear from president biden and from donald trump at the final rally of this election season. here is from today's "wall street journal," wsj.com, voters

head to the polls. americans headed to the polls and midterm elections likely to reject the leadership of a divided nation. with republicans favored to take the house a majority, some races too close to call. party leaders make closing pitches ahead of election day following a campaign that has revealed deep voter unhappiness over the state of the nation, highest inflation in four decades, and economic uncertainty, as well as concern about abortion access and crime. republicans, they writes, need a net of five seats to reagan a majority in the house after two years of democratic control -- to regain a majority in the house. democrats currently hold 220 seats, republicans 212. analysts think the gop could pick up as many as 25 ear the senate split at 50/50 with democrats in control is a tossup, with tight contest in states such as pennsylvania, georgia, nevada.

and we will hear from reporters covering those races in those states a little bit later in the program. this is about that blood moon that many of you have seen or may still be seeing across the country this morning. the headline on the hill, election day blood moon will not happen again until 2394. we saw some video of it earlier this morning. it will not happen until election day 2394, reporting this morning of the hill. there is a live look of that stream online made available by nasa tv. i couple comments from lawmakers who were up early and voting and encouraging voting. in virginia, a very close race. this tweet, today is election day, polls are now open across virginia until 7:00 p.m. if you are still in line at 7:00 p.m., stay in line.

you will be able to vote. senator joe manchin of west virginia, happy election day, polls are open across west virginia until 7:30 p.m. i hope all west virginians register to vote will exercise their right to be heard and participate in our democratic process. to find your polling place, visit govotewv.com. a member of the virgin islands looking for the young vote today to keep our country moving for the people. democrats should not give up on young voters. and marjorie taylor greene says that it was president trump announced last night in ohio, but he chose to put everything else first he has held 30 rallies in 17 states, 43 tele rallies, and 52 candidate fundraisers, endorsing candidates while being politically persecuted, she says, he has put everyone else first. let's get to your calls.

first is jerry in detroit, democrats line. go ahead. caller: good morning, and greetings yet again from motown. i voted absentee earlier this month, and i am looking at a number of races, particularly in michigan. we have gretchen whitmer going up against dixon. benson against the perna. as i said, i voted absentee, voted early. i hope all three michigan democratic ladies will win. i am also looking at the recently georgia between raphael warnock and herschel walker. and i do not think herschel walker has a chance. he thinks because he has got

donald trump on his side, he thinks he is going to win. i am also looking at the race i think in pennsylvania between john fetterman and dr. mehmet oz. i am hoping that john fetterman can pull it off, as well. host: got it. thanks for the call appeared republican line next, bill in cleveland, ohio. caller: good morning. hi just wondering -- i just wonder, you think people would have liked joe bid better if he threw paper telthat people during storms or said this is a republican problem when they are having a flood? do you think he would have done a little bit better? i know want to talk about the success trump-bulicans think they have now. here is what they own, and woman can choose what to do with her own body because she has got to

it five or six years for a gun owner to make up her mind in a classroom. that is what they own. now, all the trump-publicans running for day don't run for reality. we all know you going to be busy way down in the alphabet, in the cues, sitting in dallas waiting for john kennedy, jr., to come back and rescue you. host: to our independent line now in georgia. good morning. caller: good morning, and thank you so much for taking my call. i just want to emphasize that this might be possibly the most political election we have ever had in this country. and i would encourage everyone to consider before they vote what they vote with their actually voting for. and so the voting should be a

very easy choice to make if you value democracy, if you value your social security and medicare, if you value that you should have a right over your own medical decisions between you and your physician, and not the less leased, i think everyone should take time to think about these issues and be sure that you get out there and vote. and there is one other thing i might add, i know that inflation is on the minds of a lot of voters, but i can assure you that most inflation rates -- i am 77 years old and have experience inflation and have experienced deflation, and i know that markets will eventually correct themselves. and whether it is going to be a joe biden or donald trump or

even a donald duck, a world leader of any country can't control the economy. the economy works alone, as long as we have a free trade. right now, i think most people --free trade. host: did you get out to vote already? did you vote or there in georgia? caller: i certainly did. i voted in person. i voted as soon the first day we could vote. host: another call from georgia, democrats line, in savannah. brian, go ahead. caller: good morning. people who are using the inflation in order to decide their floats are ignoring the fact that it is worldwide -- to decide their votes are ignoring the fact it is worldwide and that one man cannot control it. i hope more voters stick to reality and use some other criteria to decide the vote. it is an important election. thanks. host: in cheyenne, wyoming, it

is randy on the republican line. election day. how are you feeling about today's election? caller: i am going to vote today. i am 70 years old. i have never missed an election since i was able to vote. i am a registered republican. but i am not going to go down the whole republican side of the ticket. i am going to vote for the person or people who are qualified for the job, not the people that are necessarily endorsed by a certain individual that is on the scene again. joe biden has not caused the inflation problem in the united states. he has not caused the crime problem. the democrats are going to be working on that. i am going to vote for several

democrats today because i am a reasonable, intelligent voter who has studied the candidates, and i am going to vote for the candidates that are most qualified. host: last time around in 2020, did you vote for joe biden? i assume that ash did you also vote for liz cheney -- did you also vote for liz cheney, who lost her republican primary there? caller: i absolutely did. i voted for biden and liz. i think what happened to liz is atrocious. host: let's hear from akron, ohio, election day morning, welcome, joe, on the independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i watch every morning, and i notice a lot of people don't necessarily understand that there is not a very specific way

of republican or democrat think. everybody has a little bit different opinion, but i think we need to come together more and decide that it is time to be americans. election day, hopefully when it is all done, there's no problems and we move forward with the results. hopefully we find ourselves getting together better. i have friends that are democrats and republicans, does not really matter. it is about how you feel. specifically, there's good things on both sides, just have to work together. that's all. host: how do you feel as an independent in that senate race in your state with tim ryan and j.d. vance --how do you think you will vote? caller: tim ryan has been around a long time. i am kind of thinking there should be term limits. so as an independent, i think we should not have people in office so long. so i am going to vote for vans,

primarily because i think that we need to have a little bit of a balanced control -- i am going to vote for vance. i think we need balances more than ever today. if it is just one side, you never hear the other side's story. host: bob is next in whitman, massachusetts. caller: good morning, everyone. number one, i already voted. number two, i think everybody should be very nervous about what donald trump did with secret documents. the reason why we have inflation, because donald trump is in bed with the saudis. they control the oil. that controls inflation. i do not trust terrorist trump. everybody should be nervous of hemp it he is very dangerous. the democrats will win. will be in the majority for the foreseeable future. and i pray for my country.

thank you. host: a couple comments from members, tweets, from members of commerce -- congress. representative from the sixth district of maryland, a closer race there than perhaps some anticipated. today's election day polling places are open until 8:00 p.m., and you must vote at your assigned voting location. in the michigan, representative peter meijer, polls have been open for seven minutes in michigan, obviously from a few minutes ago. it is jerry next up, republican line in hiawatha, kansas, on this election day morning. go ahead. host: yes, thanks for taking my call. some of the people calling in ignore that used to be independent with our fuel production. that is a big major reason we have inflation. i recently retired, and my wife, and our 401(k)'s are now 301 k's

because we lost $31,000. i also would like to know why these democrats constantly talked about donald trump's mental abilities but do not question joe biden's cognitive abilities and why he hasn't taken a test and made it public. democrats keep talking about democracy -- our country is republic, not a democracy. democracy is mob rule, and that is what have democrats have had for the last two years. host: this is from the opinion pages of "usa today" on this election day morning. what we can do -- we can do much more to come dangerous political polarization. the author writes that the country feels pretty heavy this election day, polarization and political violence have increased, as have threats against candidates for office or

it is scary and can feel too big for any 1% or the organization i part of works around the world, including the u.s., to reduce political violence and support healthy democracies you'd we need to make systemic changes, reform and rebuild trust in our financial institutions of democracy. our political leaders must stop inflaming pullers the shaded. as polarization. we need to address long-standing barriers to equal access and opportunity to americans. she writes that there are practical ways people can participate. she says thank your poll workers today. some heroes carry clipboards and have gone too many threats this election season. polls show their tempted to quit and high numbers. saying thank you and indicating your appreciate thr forts can go a long way. she also writes we are more united than we seem. noticing what you voted against is what they voted for. one candidate wins, another

loses spirit but people aren't. many of us have a powerful sense for what we don't want to happen in our country, and we vote to prevent it we assume that people who voted differently from us hate what we stand for. but study after study has shown that this is not the case and that there are many things we agree on. on this election day morning, hearing from you and your election day experience, how you voted so far, how you plan to vote today, what maybe is behind some of your decisions, key issues for you. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202)748-8002. carrie is in locust grove, georgia, on the independent line. caller: good morning, america. this is kerry from georgia. i love this country, spent 20 years in the u.s. navy.

aside from that, 20 years teaching high school kids. and i love our kids. i am looking forward to that they have a good future. one thing about me is politicians attacking each other below the belt. it is a matter of dignity. it is hard to determine who is being real and who is telling the truth, who is being honest. and honesty and integrity is the most important thing to me. i split my ticket. i hope i voted for people that have integrity and honesty. host: did you split your ticket this year? caller: yes, i did. i voted already, and i split my ticket. i tried to research as much as i could on the candidates' history and background in relation to politics. i tried not to get too involved

in their personal life, but here in georgia, that is all you see on television and in the media, text messages. these people just attacking each other's personal dignity. which bothers me. but i did vote. host: does it surprise you that in this election and the 2020 election that georgia has become such a focal point on how the nation is going to be governed? caller: well, georgia is kind of divided. you have atlanta, and then you have the rest of georgia. so there is a big difference in the culture just within the state, i believe. so i think that is where the big split is in georgia. i been here for 16 years. i lived in florida prior to this. but that is the big division, urban and rural -- i should say

urban and suburban and then rural. there is a big difference in the way people look at it. host: what part of the state is locust grove in? caller: i am in metro atlanta on the south side of the city. host: thanks for the call. let's go to reno, nevada, sue on our democrats line. caller: oh, good morning. anyway, i am calling in -- i just woke up just a bit ago, so you will have to -- anyhow, i just wanted to say, in our state, our senator, they ran so many things against her. you cannot even watch a program without -- it did not matter what channel, they just blanketed with lies about her. i do not know who put up all the

money to do that. but it has just been terrible, just the lies. host: so this is in the senate race with the incumbent, catherine cortez masto, correct? the challenger is -- caller: yes, yes. it has just been terrible. and you know, he is a big trump person, you know, believes that trump should have won the election. i don't know. it is terrible, just what they have done. i mean, you could not ask for a better senator than her. i mean, it is just terrible what they have done. and another thing, the way that the republican party -- i don't understand them, just like pelosi's husband -- i mean, the

dirty things. and they would put up trump, trump is nothing but a narcissist. host: sue, let me ask you about your voting experience there because your state changed its laws do you voted by mail for the first time this time around, right? how did that go? caller: i did. yes, i only just moved here within the last year. i came from washington state originally. but, no, she is just a real good person. and the lies they have put up about her, it is just terrible. host: ok, we're going to our republican line, west palm beach, florida, patty. caller: hi, did morning. i am getting over covid, so my throat is a little froggy. i voted. and devoted because of the big lie. now you may feel that i -- i am

assuming that that big lie is that the election was stolen. the big lie to me was when, for four years, president trump was harassed and called a russian client or investigated by the media and by the "washington post" and "the new york times." i don't believe that the second big lie would have ever happened if the first big lie had not happened. so anyway, there has never been an apology. never said anything about, hey, they were wrong. anything. this whole country would be so much -- so happy if there was just some truth in what happened. secondly, your first caller from the democrat line was obviously -- no, the first republican call

that you took was obvious democrat in the first undecided was obviously a democrat. i think that "washington journal" would be better if when you hear someone saying that they are obviously i republican calling on a democrat line, that you take that next call from the republican line or the democrat line so that you get fairness. host: appreciate that critique. we do try to balance out the calls that way. thanks for your call this morning. on the leaders of the parties and efforts in the final days of the campaign, this is politico this money, headline, biden and trump's performances on the 2022 trail sow doubts about 2024. this is, it is the bipartisan truth that your not speak its name, republicans and democrats are stumbling into the midterm

elections saddled with presidential front runners who many in the party dread will be there nominees. not that leaders of either party will express misgivings about the would-be standardbearers out loud for now, but it is vote no, hope yes, wishing the matter will resolve itself without them getting their hands dirty. the trepidation is unmistakable, president biden, yesterday his closing arguments at a state college in bowie, maryland, here is some of what he said. [video clip] pres. biden: those moms, dads, grandparents, they are paying a lot of money for their prescriptions. medicare. we set a $2000 a year cap, can never charge more than that for a year, even for drug costs, paying $10,000, $15,000, like a lot of cancer drugs. by the way, do you know someone who has diabetes that needs insulin? guess what, they are paying $400

or $600 a month, but we are looking at $35. $35, period. [crowd chanting -- let's go joe] hey, hey, man, don't jump. you look crazy. don't jump. don't jump. look, we are coming, and we are coming to make sure that $35 a month is for everybody. starts in january. look, folks, we got to make things affordable for people. we got to make sure we are making big investments. and we are going to do with the climate crisis. the maga republicans and that guy up on the balcony of their threatening to jump, they don't

understand we got a climate crisis. look, we're going to save -- experts say we will save and act -- average of 500 dollars in energy costs per people appeared we will do this while reducing -- republicans talk about independent, democrats -- guess what, i cut the federal budget by $1,400,000,000 in one year, one year. never happened before. last year, we cut it by $350 billion. look, we did it all without raising taxes on a single person. making less than $400,000. i do not want you to hear from republicans who blew up the deficit, the guys that attacked the tax cut -- who did not pay a penny for the tax cut helping wealthy. we want ordinary, hard-working

americans to have a little break. host: president biden yesterday afternoon. and president biden this morning with his tweet, election day, america, make your voice heard today, vote. let's hear from mike next on this election day morning, independent line. columbus, ohio. go ahead. caller: i just want to say trump is the greatest president we have ever had in our history. joe biden is the worst president we ever had in our history. when i go up to a gas station and pay four dollars a gallon, it is ridiculous. and he continues -- he spends money like he is a drunken sailor. that fuels inflation. the clean thing is a hoax. it is a way to control a spirit we have the cleanest air, some of the cleanest air around. china has some of the worst air around. and we are dealing with china and the communists and the socialists, and we are

forgetting about americans and we are opening up the border. letting anybody in. host: mike, how does this play into your vote for the senate race there in ohio? caller: i am going with j.d. vance. tim ryan, all of a sudden, he is the greatest guy, a workingman's whatever, and he has voted 100% of the time with joe biden. you know? these guys change their colors every election period. all of a sudden, he is the front of people, you know, get he voted to increase all this spending and we are in this inflation now. i don't like going to the grocery store, not being able to afford what i need. you know, i am taking more money out of my wallet. and this bull crap about this tax cut that only affects the riches a bunch of baloney. host: we will let you go.

more calls are ahead here on "washington journal." election day morning. next on the program, we will be joined by mandy zoch, elections project manager of the national conference of state legislatures to she wl be talking about key ballot initiatives across the country and states across the countryhis election cycle. later, we will check in with political reporters across the country to see what they're watching for on this election day, and we will continue our conversation with you and what you are seeing on election day. more of the program coming up. ♪ >> tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern, watch live election night coverage to see which

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7:00 a.m. eastern, important congressional hearings, and other public affairs events throughout the day. catch "washington today" for fast pace reports of the stories of the day. listen to c-span any time by telling your smart speaker, play c-span radio. c-span, powered by cable. ♪ >> c-spanshop.org, browse through our latest collection of products, apparel, books, home to core, and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan, and every purchase helps nonprofit operations. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: next we're are joined by mandy zoch, elections project manager for the national conference of state legislatures here we have been talking a lot about candidates.

mandy zoch is here to talk about referendum ballot initiatives on the ballot across the country. remind us, how do most of these initiatives wind up on a state ballot? guest: it is a good question. two main ways these measures end up on the ballot. the first is that legislatures can put them there, and that is where most of the measures come from. the second way is through a citizen initiative process, which is when voters were interested in an issue can gather signatures and submit that to the state election office, get a qualified, and get that measurement on the ballot. only about half of the states allow the process to happen. we see a number of those year but never quite as many as those for the legislature. host: with the legislature putting an issue on the ballot, it is -- is it generally because they want to change or add to the states constitution? caller: yes, all of the states

expect over have to pick constitutional amendments before voters on the ballot. sometimes states have requirements of certain changes, even if they are just statutory changes, have to go to voters. tax changes or changes to other parts of the state's could have to have voter approval, even if it is not a constitutional change. host: a total of 141 ballot measures on the ballot this election cycle. 46 states will decide 133 measures today. five other val measures were voted on during the primary. louiana over for three ballot meures in december. one notable ellet measure -- ballot measure was the abortion measure voted on by kansas, correct? caller: yes, voters rejected an antiabortion measure and kansas. it showed that the measure really drove turnout. more people chose to vote on that ballot measure than in

either of kansas primaries happening at the same time. so it might drive turnout today. host: it is coming up as an initiative in a total of what looks to be 5, 6 states? california, montana, kentucky, michigan, and vermont. five states. michigan, the initiative is getting the most attention what are they proposing? guest: it is a proposal to enshrine the constitutional right to abortion in the states constitution. host: in terms of the range of what a measure can -- like an abortion measure can do, we talk about changing the constitution. what are some of the other measures doing? kentucky, montana, california. guest: five are being decided today, three are pro-abortion measures, so that is michigan, vermont, and california. then there are two antiabortion measures, and those are montana and kentucky. so those would either prohibit

the right to enshrine abortion in the constitution or make other changes to limit that abortion access. host: several states are voting on marijuana legalization today. guest: yes, five states today will decide whether marijuana can be legalized, and that is just for adult use, none for medical. host: how does it compare with 2020 in terms of that particular topic, that sort of measure? guest: good question. off the top of my head, i don't remember how many marijuana edgers there were in 2020. the fact that there are five this year, certainly handful but not the most there have ever been. i think eight might be the record. host: in this role of years with the nacht -- national conferences of state legislatures, what sort of struck you as the most unusual ballot measure to come up this year? guest: good question.

california is always voting on dialysis. it is the only state that has ever had measures related to dialysis clinics, and it has had that topic for the past three years. one that is unusual is really alabama this year, it will be certifying or ratifying, i should say, a new constitution, and we do not see that happen everyday. host: so they have written a constitution, the convention there in alabama has approved it, and now it goes to the state voters for approval? guest: yes, really some fine tuning and rearranging, compiling, removing some outdated language. no major significant changes, but voters had to approve the legislature to have that power to begin with with a different ballot measure a couple years ago. host: mandy zoch is with us, we're talking about referenda ballot measures. you may see them in your state. the line for democrats is (202)

748-8000. 748-8001 for republicans, and independents and all others, (202) 748-8002. we would love to hear about the ballot measures in your state, what you think about them, if you understood them. we will take calls momentarily. a lot of talk about election security. how many states are taking up measures that deal with the ways they conduct this election. guest: about seven election-related measures this year. i had to go back and check because it felt like there were more, but there really are not more election-related measures than in the past, it is just that these measures are getting more attention than they typically have in the past. host: what sort of things do they do? guest: looking at things like voter ids, nebraska and arizona have measures related to that. arizona would add additional identification requirements for

balance. nebraska would establish a photo id requirement for voting. states like nevada are voting on changes to the primary system. if they pass that it is not final. it has to be passed in two elections in a row in nevada for that to take effect. there measures related to keeping noncitizens from voting, early in-person voting in connecticut. every hot button election issue you can think of will have some movement today. host: how does this use 141 measures compare to 2020 and previous years? guest: the numbers are actually a little lower than we typically see for the number of measures. 2020 was lower than this year because of the pandemic. thinking about why this year is lower, especially on the citizen initiative side, some of that might be because signature gathering is still affected by the pandemic. labor issues have kept campaigns from hiring signature-gatherers.

so we are seeing far fewer citizen initiatives this year. the number of legislative measures are pretty much the same. host: first call, kathleen in mississippi, democrats line. tell us what you are seeing there. good morning. caller: good morning. i have not gotten up to go vote yet. but i am seeing on the ballot a lot of nonprofit, and we don't understand what nonprofit means. then on the others, they cut amendments, but we don't know what the amendment is. we see giles, thompson, but we only get one day voting. could you explain what nonprofit means?

democrat, republican, we don't know. so we put someone on the ballot and do not know if it is a democrat or republican, because i'm voting straight up and down democrat because democrat republic is on the mind. host: mandy zoch? guest: i would say that for measures or even for candidates, your state election office and website has information on that. so you can use the internet and find out what they have to say about that. i am not sure quite what you mean by nonprofit on the ballot. i wonder if that is nonpartisan, in which case someone would be running not as a democrat or republican. in that instant, i would encourage you to check out the candidate's webpage and see what they stand for. host: does the organization ever look at this from the voters upon repointing view? in terms of her struggling to

understand what the measure means, we all get pamphlets, a voting guide, the voters guide, and the language is pretty straightforward and pretty legislative, for lack of a better term. guest: yes, ballot measures can be so confusing and hard to read. sometimes laws require them to be a certain length or have a certain kind of reading. but if you can keep something complex and try to make it short, that can be confusing. and they are confusing because i make a lot of changes. most states, especially those with a lot of measures, colorado, california, they actually send out a voter education pamphlet to all registered voters so you can have that information. in colorado, those summaries are written by nonpartisan regicide of staff. host: a call from antioch, california. go ahead. caller: hi, good morning. in the bay area, there are,

like, tons of ellet initiatives -- ballot initiatives, everything from gambling in california, making gambling online legal, which i don't support. there is things about nonprofits in san francisco, so many millions and millions of dollars going into nonprofits in city government. so they want oversight because a lot of that money was supposed to be going to the homeless, and it has not. we have a district attorney race that is real heated up in san francisco with the recall done for bodine, but the woman who took $100,000 and is corrupt, we call her brooke the creek, i

don't -- the crook, i don't -- host: sounds like your ballot booklet must be fairly thick to go through. caller: oh, yeah, it is huge. there are tons of things on the ballot initiative. in san francisco, even more. a lot of people are confused about a lot of it. there is the city college in san francisco that has been having a lot of financial problems, so they want to up the funding into the city college so that they can continue to have the kind of programs that people need to adopt, like medical -- host: appreciate your call this morning, brenda. mandy zoch, for the number of measures voters there have to consider?

guest: we focus on statewide ballot measures, but so many cities and local areas will have their own ballot measures, too, which makes the ballot even longer. the caller mention california gambling measures. those are interesting because there have been almost half $1 billion spent on those two measures, the fights between the two competing gambling measures in the california, and that is the most ever spent on that in u.s. history. on that in u.s. history. host: i have been reading amendments across the country. five states -- dealing with enslavement and punishment. guest: state constitutions that allowed slavery or servitude as a crime. three states have already removed that. it is not in all state constitutions but there are a number of states this year,

louisiana is one that will be asking voters whether they want to remove that language from the constitution. host: from michigan, arlene is on the line, republican. go ahead. caller: yep, i am from the state of michigan, and one of the biggest things in this state is abortion. and what i don't like about what they are trying to pass is it is either absolutely no abortion or abortion up until -- what they call a partial birth abortion. i don't understand why they can't have it written differently, because i do not believe that partial-birth abortion should be ok. and i believe that right now

people are using abortion as birth control, not for the mother's health. host: mandy zoch, on that michigan initiative, is that a legislature-produced initiative or a citizens initiative? guest: that is a citizens initiative. it is a good moment to remind peoples that sometimes legislatures do not like citizens initiative. they are drafted without the legislative process. so sometimes or can be unintended consequences that even the initiative sponsors are those who wrote the measure did not think of because of how the law was written. always something to keep in mind with those measures. host: does that sort of thing lend more possibility for those types of initiatives, if they pass, to be challenged in court? guest: that is possible, certainly. those measures can typically be

challenged in court. they are also often laws around whether or not the legislature can change them or revise them, sometimes within a certain period. sometimes it gets passed and stays that way for a long time. host: let's hear from john in orange county, california come independent line. caller: good morning. yeah, you know, i think abortion that was just brought up as a perfect example of not having a conversation about an issue and only defending it from the dissemination of information. when i looked at the proposals, and we have been seeing them, prop 30, gavin newsom, a welfare giveaway, and i support gavin newsom, but i am second thinking he prop 30 measure on the counter television ad. but the way i made my decision

was to look at the pamphlet and see the argument for and against. i saw that on that proposition that the moneys were already there in the coffers and it was being addressed about electric vehicles and all of that and it was going to be taking a way from other moneys that were going to worthwhile propositions . we also have a couple of measures concerning the indian tribes in gambling, one was 26 and one was 27. and those commercials write it looked like it was bad for the tribes -- those commercials made it look like it was bad for the tribes. i voted yes on 26 ultimately because it is what the indian tribes rely on for income. but there's outside interests and influences coming in around

gambling. yeah, if i look at it further, i don't want gambling opened up to kids who have a cell phone in a casino. i think those pamphlets -- it is sort of the environment that we are in were some parts of the country or just dominated with either far right or religious and you get nothing else if you are going to rely on the tv. host: we will hear from our guest. as he said, talking about the money involved in all of this campaign measures, contributions top $1 billion. is that a lot or a litter question -- or a little? guest: it is certainly a lot. some of these issues, there's very little spinning on them. citizen initiatives, often because they are brought by voters, there's more spending,

but millions and millions of dollars, half $1 billion, that is a lot of money for these measures. that is another criticism of the citizen initiative process, that it is not always a citizen come alike it says in the measure. sometimes it is an organization with a lot of money, sometimes even outside of the state. another criticism leveraged at that process, but i have to add a positive, i guess, because i feel like i have been negative, that citizen initiatives are also a way for voters to address topics legislatures are not addressing right now so we can see where their interests lie. host: another call from california. ruth in oxnard, california. caller: good morning. i would like to comment on a few of the initiatives. but the first one is the

dialysis initiative, because i remain unclear on what is wrong with having better -- dialysis is dangerous, i guess you should say, or people who need dialysis are vulnerable. and the measure asks for more accountability and more on-site medical presence of medical professionals. the argument against it, which is overwhelming, is from the patient and the doctors and the nurses and medical associations,

etc., saying it will further take people away from already burdened people who work in health care. so i don't know why it isn't better. apparently, you know, it is profitable to run these companies, you know, that do the dialysis. so i am confused about that and remain confused about it, and i'm not going to fill in yes or no because i don't know what is right. host: thanks for bringing that up. you mentioned the dialysis issue in california. explain more about the initiative. this is the latest of a couple initiatives in california? guest: this is the third in a row, measures on dialysis. 2020 and now this year.

it relates to different requirements for dialysis clinics. but i agree, it is a hard question. a lot of these pellets are -- a lot of these ballots are hard questions, and sometimes the measures do not fall into the same bucket. so i asked a voter to be -- so to ask a voter, they have to understand the position. host: this issue has had a lot of special interest behind it, spending on advertising? guest: yes, i do not think nearly as much as prop 26 and 27 in california, but it does have organizational or institutional support, groups behind it. host: next call is from tennessee, frank on the independent line. caller: yes, i was going to say that in tennessee, we always have the right to work for less amendment and also to abolish slavery language with regards to our constitution.

also, i want her to talk about what they had done in florida with regards to allowing felons to vote. and then the florida legislature decided to change it. could you talk about that? guest: sure, so there was a measure that changed enfranchisement laws in florida that allowed formerly incarcerated people to be able to vote sooner than they previously had been. i cannot remember the specific details on whether it was simply after serving a sentence or probation, something like that. but there were challenges to that law, kind of responses. again, the end result is perhaps a little different than what the initiative sponsors had hoped for. host: in the case of florida, some of the folks who had backed legal fees, etc., were further

prohibited from voting, as i understand it. guest: yes, that is right. that is kind of the most essential piece of that law, that you had to be able to pay all of your fees before you could vote. the symptoms the challenge was whether or not you had fees remaining and had to pay them. host: is that kind of a case of where the language in the referendum is one thing, what is on the ballot is one thing, but how it is interpreted by the state government, this case the state executive, and the duchenne so -- judicial system is not different, certainly adds another layer of interpretation? guest: yes, absolutely. that happens not with every measure but with enough of them that states have sometimes developed more processes for an initiative to go through so it can be reviewed to make sure the language is fully legal and in accord with the constitution or other state laws. but every state process for

initiatives are different. host: let's hear from missy in arkansas, republican line. caller: thank you. good morning. happy voting today. in arkansas, we are having four initiatives, one allowing the legislature to call an extra session, one to make sure there are 60 votes -- 60% to change any local constitutional amendment, one to create religious freedom so no state or federal law can interfere with religious freedom, the way you worship, and the fourth one is kind of surprising for arkansas, to legalize marijuana. i will probably vote straight republican after what our own justice department did to trump, the four years, the lies, the

hoax, everything the justice department did illegally under trump's term. i don't know if i could vote democrat. the last democrat i voted for was jimmy carter, was not a good decision. and you cannot have a console carry and a pot card at the same time. thank you. host: mandy zoch, any thoughts on that? guest: yes, arkansas is one of the states with a marijuana measure. there is also states asking legislatures, asking voters to allow them to call themselves into a special session. so a lot of states let that power only reside with the government. because of the 2020 pandemic and responses to it, some legislatures wanted to take action and cannot call themselves into special session.

so we are seeing, i think, three measures related to that this year. kind of interesting for voters to weigh in on. host: one final thought, you mentioned voters in alabama voting to approve a new state constitution. how often is it that amendments to state constitutions through this referendums sort of call for a state to really revisit their constitution more broadly, saying instead of this process of amending it every two years, we need to look at the constitution itself? and is guest: florida has a measure related to a constitutional review commission on whether or not it should be abolished. i think that meets every 20 years to propose eminence to the constitution. maybe keep it up-to-date. generally, states are not revisiting the constitution as a

whole. what is happening in alabama is interesting. fairly certain alabama had the longest state constitution before this. it was perhaps 24 a cleanup. it is the next measure to end on. bipartisan support, very little opposition. host: and it seems shorter this time around. mandy zoch, elections project manager of the national conference of state legislatures. more of your phone calls here ahead of election day. we will look at some key senate races, welcome your calls first. democrats (202) 748-8000, please use (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents and others, (202) 748-8002. go ahead and start dialing, we will get to your calls momentarily. ♪

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anytime, anywhere. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: on this election day, we would love to hear from you. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents and all others. polls here after 8:00 eastern time, polls in many states in the east have been open for an hour or so. we will be here until 10:00 a.m. eastern, taking your calls and hearing from some of the key states across the country. nevada, arizona, pennsylvania, georgia and more. mostly interested in hearing from you. reminder about our coverage tonight, election results as the poles begin to close across the country. 8:00 p.m. eastern, live coverage on c-span. follow it anywhere on the c-span now mobile app and in the nation's capital. live coverage on c-span radio

app 90.1 fm. he was a guest on this program a week or so ago. larry sabado at the university of virginia center for politics. their latest sabado's crystal ball. their ratings for the 2022 election. the key points from this article, our final senate pick is 51-49, a net republican gain of one seat. our final house pick is 237-198 a net republican gain of 24 seats. protected gubernatorial net republican gain of one governorship from larry sabato, the center for politics at the university of virginia. first up is diana on this election day. brooklyn, new york. caller: good morning. i am calling because i want all the ladies to know this economy will get better. if they do not vote for the

reproduction system, there is to decide on their own, they will not get the chance. host: to our republican line next. in tennessee, chris. hello there. caller: good morning. i know barack obama might win the race tonight. he is the president of the united states. donald trump, i know donald trump is going to win the race. he is going to win the candidate tonight. on tv, on line. host: what do you mean, when the race tonight? caller: first of all, i know he is a good president. he is a good governor, donald trump. he is a good governor, he is a

good ted. host: we are going to move on to our independent line. pennsylvania, good morning to kent. caller: howdy. in november, 1932, the and is dap -- nsdap won 30% of the vote in germany. that was the last three and fair election in germany. the next election in march of 1933, they won 44% of the vote. after that, every election they won over 90% of the vote. i think that is what we are voting about today. how much power is this country willing to give to openly about fascists? host: we lost kent.

we will go to sheila on the democrats line in carrollton, georgia. caller: can you hear me? host: yes, go ahead. caller: i wasn't sure. i have already voted. i voted across the board this time. republicans and democrats. it is interesting. i am 72 years old but have been voting for a long time. this year, i have got from voter participation center, sent me this voter report card. i had a voter report card now. host: what does that tell you? caller: it tells me in 2014

general election, voted, voted, did not vote. it lists 2016, voted, voted, voted. i am not quite sure. host: sheila, is this something you asked them to send you, or did they randomly -- caller: no, i certainly did not. host: have you voted already this year? caller: yeah. i did absentee ballot. every time now because of my health. but, i had somebody call me wanting to know what my birthday was.

i have been getting really funny calls. host: you've gotta watch those. appreciate your call. new york, joan is on the republican line. go ahead. caller: i'm going to go republican because i cannot stand what is going on this last year and a half. i feel with the president over there, the people that vote should know where there -- should know what their representatives a vote in office vote on different things. make them aware on how they are voting. a lot of them vote the way the wind blows. the people have become millionaires being a senator. i think it is disgusting. host: polls are open in new york. when will you go vote? caller: this morning in person. host: how will you vote in the governor's race? caller: i am voting across the board republican. i cannot stand what biden has

done. obama is another jerk working with him. i do not think biden has the intelligence to be a president. i want to know how come nancy pelosi's husband but $1 million worth in car stocks and i hear we are going to have electric car stocks. electric cars instead of gas cars. is that funny, how they vote to make themselves better? host: let's hear from monroe in maryland on the independent line. caller: good morning. this might be quieter if i do it this way. ok. local issues matter. people need to consider and realize that, yes, you have the big spectacle that is at the national level where there is president, vice president. we've got a lot of local issues that matter. i encourage everybody to read their ballot.

it passed page one. turn the page over, turn to the next page and read the ballot initiatives. i will give an example. back when hillary clinton was going for senate seat in new york, a lot of people raised a big stink from the republican side of how she has never lived here, she did not go to school here and she is running or a seat. here we are today. herschel walker came from texas and now he is running for a seat . in my state of maryland, we have on our ballot and initiative that says you would have to have lived here and make it your primary residence for at least a year before you can hold a statewide office seat. if it passes, the state of maryland will have a measure in place so we do not have a hillary clinton and herschel walker issue. local issues matter. people, these read all of your ballot and vote all of your ballot. host: appreciate that. this is from axios.

their headline, nancy pelosi, paul was not the target. he is paying the price, commenting on the interview yesterday on cnn with nancy pelosi and anderson cooper. here is some of that interview. [video clip] >> for me, this is the hard part. paul was not the target, he is the one who is paying the price. we all are, but he is the one who is paying the price. it is really sad. it is a flame that was fueled by misinformation and all the rest of that, which is most unfortunate and has no place in our democracy. >> president biden drew a line between what happened on january 6 and the attack on your husband. the president said, i quote, "the assailant entered the home asking, where is nancy, where is nancy? those are the same words used by the mob on january 6."

do you draw the same line? >> absolutely. it is no question, it is the same thing. inflamed by the same missive representation -- the same misrepresentation. we want the country to heal. this is not a path we can continue on. if we want for people to run for office, local and every way, you cannot say to them you are risking the safety of your families by going forward. there are no guarantees of safety. i am pleased in august we were able to reach a place where the sergeant of arms informed the members of the house of amount of money, they would have $10,000 up to and have capitol police come and evaluate what their needs were to make their homes safer. because it was a recognition. when we are gone, our families are home and that is scary. even if we are home.

so, we recognize that. it was figured that amount of money could do what it needed to do in-home. >> you have a large security detail. you have great protection around you. if this can happen to someone in your family, it can happen to any member of congress'family. how does, no mount -- no amount of security is going to stop that. how does this not happen again? >> you would think there would be some level of responsibility. but, you see what the reaction is on the others of this to make a joke of it. really, that is traumatizing. nonetheless, forgetting them, there has to be some healing process. democrats and republicans, member of congress, anybody could be a target. we cannot, there is no

guarantee. we can, and our democracy, there is one party that is doubting the outcome of the election, feeding that flame and mocking any violence. that has to stop. host: nancy pelosi. last night, the speaker of the house on cnn. it is election day morning on washington journal. hearing from you on your election day experience. if you voted already, we would love to hear your experience. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independence and all others, (202) 748-8002. republican line, florida. mike, good morning. caller: good morning. love c-span. i think the government when they passed the rules on establishing a public network like this one did the right thing. host: pause on that.

thanks for the accolades are the government did not provide funds and never has for c-span. c-span was created by the cable industry. go ahead with your comments. caller: good on the cable industry. that proves the private sector is a lot smarter than the government. anyways, my point was, nobody was laughing at pelosi's husband. that is for sure. no republican. the guy was a left-wing, illegal alien nut job. she had plenty of security at her house, they were sleeping and were not watching the cameras. this election, i have heard everything from, if you vote republican, we are all going to die, your kids are going to die, this, that and the other.

a simple thing i look at, if you have to explain to a person why you do not discuss adult, sexual , proclivities with other people's children -- if you have to explain to somebody why you do not do that, they are not smart enough to have any job of responsibility whatsoever. host: more of your calls coming up on this election day on "washington journal.' next, we are joined from pennsylvania by jd processes pin live.com and state political reporter. pennsylvania getting more of its fair share of attention this year for in particular the senate race. first of all, tell us how late will the polls be open, how soon will we start to see results in pennsylvania? guest: polls have been open since 7:00 in pa. they will be open until 8:00. if you are in line at 8:00 when polls close, officials say to

stay online and you will be able to vote. do not let anyone tell you it is 8:00 -- 8:00 comes in you are in line at a polling place, stand line. you have the right to vote. host: reporting on a story about an election lawsuit dealing with the mail-in votes that have lacked bates on their ballots -- dates on their ballots. what is the issue and what is being done to resolve that? guest: the issue is undated mail-in ballots. the pennsylvania supreme court has decided and ruled that those ballots should be set aside and not counted. mail-in ballots are overwhelmingly used by democratic voters. last night, the john fetterman campaign and democratic campaign

and a couple -- and a couple democratic voters from erie county joined in on a federal lawsuit to get those votes counted. in a race like this, that is expected to be so tight, every vote could count. if there are tens of thousands of ballots out there that would not be counted under this ruling , that could make a huge difference in this race. host: you have two key races getting national attention. the senate race between mehmet oz and f johnetterman. also, the governors race. josh shapiro against doug mastriano. which parts of the state, the commonwealth will you be watching to give you an indication on how these races will go?

guest: really looking at maybe some collar counties around philadelphia and out in the west, maybe allegheny county. usually pretty blue. pittsburgh and allegheny county. they will be solidly blue. oz and mastery on a -- mastriano have tried to make inroads into those areas and build up votes. not necessarily to win those counties, but ship away that democratic -- chip away democratic support to build up their solid republican support in other areas of the state. the famous --in pennsylvania and areas that are solidly red. if either one of them can pull enough votes from some of those

counties that i mentioned and some of those areas to pump up and augment their numbers elsewhere, the base, they may have a good shot at winning. host: the washington post has a chart this morning on how long it took five key states to count the vote in 2020, showing pennsylvania as the longest count. all votes were counted 20 days after the election in 2020. what do officials anticipate in terms of the pole count this time around? guest: do not expect results tonight. [laughter] i think is the advice. because of mail-in ballot situation in pennsylvania, county election offices cannot begin canvassing mail-in ballots or canvassing is another word for processing --they cannot begin that until this morning. you have this huge turnout of

mail-in ballots. 1.4 mail-in ballots were requested. i believe over one million have been returned. you have this situation, a repeat of 2020 when you had this huge influx of mail-in ballots. counties cannot process them because of the manpower and influx of mail-in ballots. those are usually counted later in the day and at night, or tomorrow. we could be looking at a few days, several days maybe, depending on the situation with the court case you and i discussed earlier with the undated mail-in ballots and so it is a replay of 2020. hopefully not to the extent like you said, where we are 20 days out with no results. hopefully, it is not that bad.

but, it goes back to the counties not being given more time to process the mail-in ballots by the state legislature. host: what about election day itself? how is the weather across the state, first of all? secondly, are polling places prepared for potential security threats? any potential voter intimidation? guest: i live in pittsburgh. it is beautiful out here. crisp, clear, beautiful morning. typical november weather. it always bodes well. hopefully for election day turnout. people are prepared, particularly democratic groups have been out talking with voters about situations that may arise at polling places. situations always arise at polling places on any election. there is going to be machines that go down, arguing over

people being too close to the polls and things like that. because the hyper-partisan elections nowadays, particularly in elections like this, the concern is that might be elevated tuned emendation -- to intimidation, like you said. there are local police if you feel intimidated. there are numbers to call, i believe. pennsylvania number i have in my notes. 1-877-868-3732. that is the department of state number with help with any election issues or anything. people are prepared. it has been discussed. hopefully, it does not come to that. host: jd pros, state and political reporter.

you can follow his reporting on twitter and follow their reporting it pin live.com. thanks for your upstate -- update from the keystone state this morning. host: interesting to hear from you on election day experience. your pre-election day experience, if you voted earlier. up until 10:00, our phones are open. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independents and others (202) 748-8002. a reminder, election coverage on c-span gets underway at 8:00 p.m. eastern. as polls begin to close and election results come in, we will have those results and continue to open up our phone lines tonight as we always do and hear from you on election night. here on c-span, on c-span radio and on our mobile app c-span now. durham, north carolina. independent line.

go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you. i am a retired social studies teacher. in 1998, i had two exchange students from germany. as i was about to teach the unit on world war ii, two students from germany approached me and said we would like to make an announcement to your class before you show the gas chambers and masks. i discussed what they wanted to say. what the students said to my students, we are ashamed of this part of our history. we are very sorry we did this to the world. we want you to know our generation is doing everything it can to make sure that never, ever happens again. this is what two german teenagers said to me in the late 1990's. the way this story connects to what is happening today is this. a gentleman called in a few minutes ago and said he hears people saying if republicans win, everybody will die.

that is quite hyperbole, i do not think anybody is saying that. what i am going to argue is this. if republicans, conservatives and so-called christians to win in this election today, our democracy and country will never be the same again. what you will have is a dedication to the cruelty and meanness you have seen coming from republicans the past several years, especially championed by donald trump. you will see a dedication to keeping us under educated. part of the problem the american public is having with their ability to vote and rationalize their decisions such as, it might be more important to live through a pregnancy then be able to go shopping for shoes at cheap prices. part of our inability to read that is because we are struggling with education in america. i can guarantee you the republicans love that and keep it that way. the last thing i would love to say republicans will guarantee us is a continuation of the hypocrisy. that gentleman who called

earlier and said nobody was laughing when paul pelosi was injured. i wrote it down. not one republican was laughing. although i have watched tucker carlsen, lieutenant governor of my state of north carolina mark robinson, several people. a new halloween costume after her. all kinds of hypocrisy. yet, they get so upset when anybody questions anything they do. this is what you have ahead of you. inflation will go away, inflation will come and go. jobs will come and go. fascism, opportunism versus democracy is all of our lives forever. i do not want to go in the way of germany. many people right now are saying, she is crazy. the germans had gas chambers and mass extermination. the germans didn't do that until the last years of the war. there were 10 years prior to gas chambers of the things we are living with now that slow creep,

that slow creep of your rights that slow creep of your voting not counting. your vote being limited. women's rights being taken away. remember, the nazis didn't like anybody that wasn't a certain way. if you are a person with disabilities, if you are not straight, if you are not a certain way, the germans executed you. host: we will go to sherry in muscatine, iowa. democrats line. caller: good morning. i was reading my journal this morning. the washington journal. i had a concern as i was reading about putin's associate. i cannot pronounce his name. he said he has interfered in elections in the united states and will continue to do so. i do not trust donald trump due to the fact i was listening to him last night talking about, him being good friends with the gentleman from china, kim jong-un, however you pronounce

his name. he said he continues to talk to him. i do not distrust him, i am concerned about what is going to happen in our future elections. i understand this gentleman is good friends with mr. putin. host: the person you are mentioning is you guinea pig osan -- russian oligarch brags he is interfering in u.s. midterms. the russian oligarch, ally of president vladimir putin and head of the russian mercenary group boasted monday he was interfering in the u.s. midterm elections and planned to continue doing so. read more at washington post.com. rosie is in kentucky on the republican line. hello. caller: hello. i voted early. i pulled a straight republican ticket. what i am wondering about, when

trump was in the hospital and had covid when he was president and they was calling to have a competency test. why haven't they done that with biden? it was plain biden wasn't quite right before he was ever elected. why did people vote for him, and why in the heck would they still be voting for him now? the lady said something about trump talking to the guy in china. i think you ought to be talking to biden about his connections with china and everybody else. i hope everybody gets out and votes and pull that republican ticket. host: sarah on the independent line in new hampshire. caller: good morning. i am an independent, moderate constitutionalist. i am stuck between a rock and a hard spot. i am having to vote against the

january 6 attack on the capital, i am voting against the horrible comments made about an attempted murder on an elderly man in his home. i am voting against the lies, the hate speech is free speech, i am voting against the perpetual support of a psychopath, donald trump, and the republican party. just going along with this guy. i am an independent. i am a second amendment advocate. i am a woman's rights advocate. i really have nobody that represents me. i do not support either extreme party. the extreme right and extreme left are tearing this country apart. it is time for a real third party. the independent, moderate, constitutionalist party and rag

voting to break up this dysfunctional, extreme party system. this has got to stop. i have no choice. what choice do i have? i am a fiscal conservative and i have no representation. host: can you tell us how you are going to vote in the senate race there, the incumbent maggie hassan, the republican is don bolded? real politics showing that race, pretty doggone close. caller: i am voting for maggie. don old doc once to get rid of social security and medicaid, which is outrageous to me. this is something people pay into. we deserve to get this back. this will put a lot of elderly people on the street if the republicans have their way with that. bolduc spent two tours of duty

in afghanistan. what did he accomplish their? with 10 tours in afghanistan. how much does a general make after 35 years in the army? he doesn't care about me, that work construction, agriculture, hard labor my entire life. came into social security. this is something that ironed, i deserve. medicaid is something that people paid in and deserve. he does not care about that. i am voting for maggie. she has not led us down. all the people that went to the bank and cashed the covid checks are now complaining about the economy. that is hypocritical. host: to our independent line -- democrats line in the nations capital. john, go ahead. caller: recently, trump made a

comment about ron desantis. he called him ron the sanctimonious. that goes to show trump doesn't care about anyone in the gop besides himself. he is only operating on his own interests. i feel if there is a red wave this year, the first the go is probably -- the republicans take majority in the house and senate by a large enough amount, i feel free speech is on the line. we are very close to becoming an authoritarian state, i feel. host: to the republican line. bill in katy, texas. good morning. tell us about election day. caller: yes. i have already voted. i did not vote a straight ticket. we do not have a straight ticket in texas. i believe the keyword we should have for today is respect.

respect for each other, respect for the contest and every contest has rules. i think those rules are black-and-white. let's not try to fudge on moving the goalpost on election day or after. have a good day, everyone. take a deep breath. vote your ticket. remember, this is a christian country and we should vote that way. our morals. thank you very much. thank you very much for c-span. host: to the independent line. michigan, allen. hello there. caller: i am 63. i did vote straight ticket. i have been an independent since high school. i voted on the republican side. didn't bother to look into anything. what i have to say is, since we

allowed china into the world trade organization we have had discussions on your channel when brian lamb was around --i said to him straight out, it is a benefit to trade with the united states, so why are we allowing hardline -- a hardline, communist country into that if they are not willing to change their ways? we see where we are at now. we have propaganda throughout the united states now. our brains work by the visuals. 90% of our brains work by the visual rate that is what it takes in. when we are constantly broadcasting one side of the aisle to the people, that has an influence. the biggest thing i would have to say for c-span, i've got to ask you again -- why haven't you brought out tony go belinsky? he is the most credible witness i have ever seen in this nation.

he has the goods on what is actually going on. he -- i've got to ask you again, have you invited tony belinsky onto your channel? host: i cannot tell you that. we have guests of all stripes every day on this program. i cannot tell you if he has been invited or not. in georgia on election day, amelia on the democrats line. caller: good morning. the lady from north carolina said it best. i am a democrat, a christian lady. what is going on today in this country, you can read it in this new testament. the republicans, everything they do is based on lies. i wish people would pay attention. i have been listening to c-span for years. every time i hear republicans call, they call themselves christians.

but, everything is against the immigrants. they against people of other color. i do not say all republicans, let me retract that. if you support people, you can hear things people say in your support and you do not oppose if the same as being aligning yourself with races. everybody knows that trump is a racist. trump didn't even want black people to live in his building, didn't allow people -- black people to count his money. the man is a loser. he is a farce. i want to say to you america, i am a democrat. my heart is broken because a part of the scriptures, republicans are going to take over. this, all by the doing of our lord, jesus christ because this country has done a lot of people to people of other color and

other ways. if you read the scriptures, this is the time. we are living in the last phase. the lord is in control. host: this is a photograph from today's edition of the wall street journal. the headline, more than 40 million votes have already been cast across the country showing workers and orlando, florida preparing mail-in ballots for counting. below that is a story about a pole the wall street journal has done. it shows republican gains among black and tino voters. the republican they write is winning support from a larger share of black voters than in recent elections and has improved standing in the past you months among latino voters. adding to evidence the parties increasing appeal among groups that have overwhelmingly favored democratic candidates. about 17% of black voters said they would pick a republican candidate for congress over a democrat.

in late october and in august, that is substantially larger share than the 8% of black voters who voted for former president trump in 2020 and the 8% to back republican candidates in the house races in 2018. a large survey of voters who participated in those elections. on election day, eager to hear from you. (202) 748-8000 is the democrats line. republicans, (202) 748-8001. for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. ron on the republican line in tennessee. caller: thanks for taking my call. you let that lady go on calling us nazis for a while. i would like to say my piece. the nazi's -- the nazi's had brownshirts that would disrupt speech. that is what is going on on college campuses right now. we've got the fbi going after

the republicans and letting hunter biden go. we've got a biased justice system right now. the propaganda on this in the news is terrible. these people, they do not know the truth. they have got a president making money from china. he has got deals in ukraine. he has got money from russia. these people do not even know. they are so propagandaized they call people nazis and are clueless. it is so irritating they would do that. they do not even research anything. they listen to this cnn garbage. they did not go to independent journalists, they just listen to what is told to them on the box. it is infuriating to be always be called --they do not want to have free speech. they want to shut twitter down

because they are going to let republicans on. oh, boy. these people are crazy and do not know what they are talking about. everything they project on us is what they are doing. it is insanity right now. we are in scary time. we are in up real scary -- a real scary time. i do not know what is going to happen, but it is going to happen. host: joe is next in massachusetts on the independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i believe that -- i am an independent. i believe the democrats totally missed the message of what do people want. talking about democracy, anybody , a law-abiding citizen understands the issue with democracy and what the republicans, particularly donald trump, has done. to not focus on the economy,

that is where the everyday person wants to hear about and what their paychecks are going to be. they missed the boat, they deserve to lose. saying that, if you voted for republican, you are really, really, really putting this decisiveness on steroids. your next speaker will be jim jordan, who is on steroids and does not preserve even to have -- does not deserve to have that post. he is going to rip this country apart. if you voted republican, watch you asked for. lastly, we have to go to term limits. this nonsense of having these people, these powerful politicians who go in broke and come out multimillionaires is not a coincidence. we need to bring young people into this environment if we are going to stop the nonsense. thank you. host: more of your calls ahead on this election day morning on "washington journal."

a look at the headline of the atlanta journal constitution this morning. polls open and high turnout expected in georgia on election day. we are joined next bite senior political reporter for the ajc who has been a guest a number of times. good morning. guest: thanks for having me. host: early voting and absentee ballot voting is up across the country. what do the numbers tell us for georgia? guest: the numbers tell us early voting is popular in georgia with more than 2.5 million people already casting their ballots here. you can read the tea leaves, both democrats and republicans see signs of optimism for their party's in those early voting turnout numbers. both parties are looking towards strong turnout today, that could well exceed 4 million overall votes and set all sorts of new midterm election records in georgia. host: the key race may not be just of the state but perhaps

the couny as rafael warnock, the incumbent democrat and crucial work are -- and crucial walker, the republican candidate, --has the ground shifted? is the race as tight as they were? guest: this has a ways been a tight race. this has never been a convincingly for either of these candidates. even after new allegations came out of herschel walker and new damaging reports, the numbers hardly shifted. we are seeing maybe it slightly shift towards herschel walker in georgia. georgia is one of those states where you need the majority of the vote to win the election. there is a libertarian candidate in this race. right now, there is a significant likelihood there could be a runoff in georgia if none of these candidates get 50%. these two candidates are locked in the high 40's. we could be heading towards a

december runoff. host: in the governor's race, brian kemp, the incumbent and stacey abrams, his democratic challenger. how far apart is that race? guest: that one, there is a more clear lead in the polls at governor kemp has a hefty, even 10 point lead in recent polls in georgia. republicans are confident, but are telling their supporters not to get complacent. to keep going to the polls, keep encouraging their friends and family to vote. democrats say they know the polls are against them. they know they have an uphill battle in georgia. stacey abrams says, a lot of voters who tend to skip midterm elections do not necessarily show up in the polling battle. host: there is clearly going to be some poll numbers, some ticket splitting, some vote splitting in georgia. when you talk to voters in terms of their votes for senate, who they want for governor, what are

some reasons you are hearing from voters who are voting a split ticket? guest: you hit the nail on the head. the split ticket trend may be the most important dynamic we see in georgia as polls show a small but significant number of republicans who are backing kemp are withholding support for walker. republican leaning voters are not voting for herschel walker. we are not talking 20%, we are talking to percent. with dynamics this close, that could be a difference maker. many of them are citing the economy or the reason they are voting for governor kemp. he has highlighted his economic stance on the campaign trail, his decision to open governor -- george's economy early in the pandemic. the republicans who are withholding support from herschel walker, oftentimes echo

senator rafael warnock's message which is, he is unfit for office. they are worried about his ability to be u.s. senator in georgia. host: we do not see that often. every now and then, a national focus on who is going to be the next secretary of state. in this case, it is brown raffensperger. a key role he played in the 2020 election. how does that election look for raffensperger? a three-way waste -- race, correct? guest: there is a possibility foa noff. he has been ahead of his mocraticppent for pretty much the entire race in terms of polling. dole-digit leads. she has cut into his margins lately. no one is ruling out. there is a significant number of democrats who cross party lines during the primary to vote for raffensperge over his trump backed challenger that gop primary. there is many moderates to

democratic leaning voters who want to support raffensperger because he stood up against donald trump in that famous phone call back in january 2021, when the then president demanded raffensperger find enough votes to overturn the election to help donald trump. host: the legislature was criticized with the election integrity bill. how has that law, a new state law, affected the selection? any change in the ability of voters to cast their vote? guest: we are continuing to see a shift towards early, in person voting. we are not seeing nearly as many mail-in ballots as we did in 2020, in part because it is not a presidential race and in part because the pandemic restrictions are not in place like they were. folks are getting out and about, back to normal in a sense. this is a question we will not

able to answer until we get the full voting data. those new restrictions, this new overhaul, the election law primarily involves mail-in ballots. it limits the use of ballot drop boxes. it tightens the windows for absentee mail-in ballots. there is new requirements for absentee mail-in ballots. there is primarily mail-in voting. we will not know the full picture for a few more weeks. host: one question on the headline in your paper today. extends the deadline in cobb county for absentee voters who were mailed ballots. what is the latest on that? guest: they have until mid-november to turn in their absentee ballots. they were asked been tided -- expedited absentee ballots because there was a technical snafu. about 1000 voters did not get their ballots in time. in this case, it was a case of transparency. the county highlighted this

issue and is working to correct it. host: reporting ajc.com. you can follow him on twitter. greg bluestein, the senior political reporter for the georgia atlanta constitution. we will continue checking on western states. we will hear from reporters in nevada, arizona. more of your calls ahead on this election day morning. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 is the republican line. for independence and all others, it is (202) 748-8002. gary up next in connecticut. go ahead. caller: hello. host: gary, you are on the air. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i am amazed at the hypocrisy of these democratic voters who are guilty of everything they are

accusing republicans of. i think it was barack obama who investigated reporters, had their phones tapped, did all kinds of unconstitutional things. it is democrats who sick the fbi on parents who are concerned that -- at pta meetings. it is democrats that are mocking and calling people names, nazis, this that and the other. calling us so-called christians. come on. joe biden calls himself a practicing catholic, but he is pro-life. nancy pelosi is a catholic who is pro-life. are they so-called -- pro-abortion. are they so-called catholics? of course not. come on, the double standard is outrageous. to be called a nazi and every other lowlife name in the book because we happen to think that

there is a better way. there is an american way. this is not the end of democracy. this is democracy. when people are voting. when republicans win, it is democracy. when democrats win, it is democracy. this is democracy. host: to paul on the independent line. tampa, florida. good morning. caller: these last several callers have said what i was going to say. that woman from north carolina, the hyperbolic woman. first, nazi is the german workers party. if that doesn't sound democrat, i do not know what does. it is true what they are saying, everything is the opposite of what democrats are saying. the democrats want to take democracy away. want to federalize elections, federalize education, federalize

energy, take your guns away. you cannot speak. they want to take away free speech. if they deem it is hate speech, they want to take it away. everything democrats want to do -- they have already taken our democracy way. they want everything with 50 votes. they do not care what the other side has the say it all. they do not want to hear your opinion on climate, lgbt rights, on anything. they try to ostracize manchin and sinema because they are a little independent . m they go crazy becauseanchin stands up --they go crazy because manchin stands up for what is right. what these guys said is correct. these callers behind me. that woman in north carolina, the most important thing to vote for is not democracy. it is to stop that man in the white house, pelosi and schumer. stop them. host: on the issue of democracy,

it has been said democracy is on the ballot. democrats have used that line. this is from a piece from the federalist this morning. a piece by margo cleveland, the headline democracy is not at risk, democrats are. she writes that in our constitutional republic, tuesday's vote abides americans -- provides americans get governance. rather than sell voters on why democrats will be redder -- better representatives, the democracy at risk pitch pretends elected republicans will destroy the democratic process voters are engaged in. it is silly and a self negating theory. that democrats decided to rest on this theme, showed that on substantive issues, they have nothing to sell to country. republican candidates running for everything from school board members to state legislator or governor to house representative

or senator are hammering the harm that has befallen our country since the democrats took over less than two years ago. on the democrats line, this is taylor in san antonio, texas. caller: hello. i am a former republican. i lived in new york, came to texas. working in part-time home -- living in texas, where it is a large population of people homeless. people who have nothing, who are working. and who cannot stabilize themselves. a lot of people are either selling drugs openly or prostituting themselves just to have a roof over their head. for me as a former republican, i

completely left the republican party coming here because all the republicans so far it is always cutting deficit. cutting deficit. what exactly are they cutting? if they are claiming inflation, that means people cannot afford things they are not talking about lowering taxes. they are not talking about anything. basically, removing things from people who barely have or who do not have. for me, as someone who is a former republican, i will never, ever, support the republican party ever again living here. seeing how hard and how difficult in texas, where young girls or prostituting themselves

because they need income to live and have absolutely no help. that is my point. thank you. host: thank you for the copy last night, the final campaign rally, former president trump participated in was in ohio. headline from wl the beauty -- wlwt.com. former president trump holds rally for j.d. vance. tomorrow the great people of ohio are going to see j.d. vance in the u.s. senate. you are going to reelect a mike dewine as your state governor and john houston as lieutenant governor. you are going to vote for an

incredible slate of republicans up and down the ballot and we are going to end crazy nancy pelosi's political career once and for all. [cheering] that is right. under president biden, pelosi, schumer and the radical congress, the great state of ohio is under siege. you know that better than anyone. president biden and the far left lunatics are waging war. just yesterday, president biden bragged to on his watch, there was "no more drilling". he said this yesterday and did not quite know what he was saying. they tried to kill -- to correct it today and say you did not understand what he said. he said no more drilling. but the energy costs in this country are skyrocketing like nobody has ever seen before.

who are paying a big price like $1000 a month in ohio. they are strangling ohio families with soaring prices and crippling inflation, costing the pickle american household nearly $800 to $1000, and in many cases the number could be $1200, every single month. [booing] the southern border was the best ever but it is wide open now. millions and millions of illegal aliens pouring into our country. violent crime is out of control. the far left is indoctrinating our children with twisted race and gender insanity in hours like we never thought of before. this country has gone crazy. there is only one choice to disband this. if you support the decline and

fall of america, then you must absolutely must vote for the radical left crazy people. the radical left democrats. if you want to stop our country and save the american dream than tomorrow you must vote in a giant red wave we have been hearing about. [end of video clip] host: trump announced a very big announcement coming november 15. he has frequently hinted at running for president again in 2024. he said monday that he had a very big announcement coming. independent line, reynolds town, maryland. caller: good morning. i am a first time caller. i say independent but i am more of a progressive or socialist democrat. it is with a heavy heart that i

want to say the red wave is real. the democrats dropped the ball heavily. they did not look out for their other fellow congress persons who are running, to help promote the agenda of the people and those working to help with boosting the wants, needs and desires of what americans want for their country and where they see it to go. sadly, many republicans who do supporters donald trump -- it is such a day cardi b of your christian values, if you are questioned, -- a dichotomy of your christian values, if you are a christian, when supporting a man who hates your brother.

how do you live with such an opposite viewpoint? if you are going to say that you are christian, and the bible stays to love your fellow man, how are you going to not -- going to hate me as a black female and say i do not have any rights because of color of mice? -- my skin? i understand the press have a positive outlook but it is not going to happen. the red wave is too great. we do need to get out there. i am not saying stay home and wait. i hope to see more come out but you have to be realistic. the republican agenda has been in my face 24 hours and day, seven days a week and ongoing. today is a very nerve-racking day. host: have you voted yet? caller: i have not but i am on

my way to the voting poll station now. i have voted in every election since i do not know when. i have been going to the election polls since i was young with my parents, going behind the curtains and watching them. voting has been something i always look forward to. it is really sad because it does feel like the red wave is going to be real because democrats missed the mark and they have such a great opportunity they miss. host: democrat line, roxanne in south carolina. caller: i have been hearing about everything, everybody's issues. one thing that i have not heard anybody bring up is all the people that died of covid. nobody is our knowledge and the people that died of covid under trump's watch. if he would have known ahead of time, may be a families would not have loved ones who are

gone. a lot of children who would be basically orphaned because of covid. if it was not for covid, we would not have inflation. nobody was working. we had to try to stay safe. inflation is all over the world, just the united states, but everywhere. nobody was complaining when i -- they were running to the bank for covid checks. for republicans who did not want the checks, give them back and let them help the economy since you are complaining now. they had to do what they had to do. host: the colonists catherine ramp how in the washington post has another take on inflation. her headline is "democrats are

drowning in denial". for nearly two years, democratic leadership has pushed aside convenient developments rather than facing them head on. they have often told themselves stories they want to believe instead of stories are true and might motivate them to change their messaging and policy direction. inflation offers one illustration example. she writes further that it is not just inflation but democrats have put their ears to other issues as well. they downplayed voters concern of crime, violent protests, school closures and rising recession risks. these are vulnerabilities that republicans have included in their campaign. they also convince themselves that twitter activist polls will be ruggedly -- such is the case with president biden's massive student debt forgiveness plan.

this has been featured more often in republican campaign ads this cycle than democrat ones. that is part of the peace for the washington post columnist catherine. westbrook, maine. independent line. morgan. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: fine, thanks. caller: i have c-span on in my class at westbrook high school. we are doing a mock election. we are showing views from everywhere and everything. host: how is the mock election working? are you voting on all the candidate that the regular election would vote on? caller: yes. give them a fake ballot and they fill it out behind a curtain. in class, their assignment today is learning their political

party and learning which theology they have in things like that. host: when will you tally the votes and when will your students know the results? caller: i believe that will be tomorrow. we have a study hall period throughout hours for students. that would be dedicated to them. and it would be through the intercom. host: what grade are you in high school? caller: i am usually a freshman and sophomore teacher at westbrook high school. host: awesome. great to hear -- from you. darrell in shepherdsville, kentucky on the independent line. caller: yes, sir. i am here for republicans and i am here to vote all republican. i hope everybody does vote for the republicans in our country.

the democrats are not doing their jobs right now. in each of their states. i think some of these colors do not know what they are talking about -- callers do not know what they're talking about. they are spending too much money today. they're spending about $31 trillion and we are in debt. i hope everybody is watching and it will vote for republicans. host: we have about 55 minutes left -- about 50 minutes left in our covers today. at 8:00 tonight on c-span, we will begin to bring you the results of today's election as the polls close. life coverage -- live covered here on c-span, c-span.org, and

the c-span now radio. he read you a piece by the -- the federalist opinion piece of democracy on the ballot. another opinion. "democracy is on the ballot: the democrats are the only choice". this is scott morgan from the democratic coalition. he writes let me be clear that no one in their right mind should vote republican. if republicans win back the house or the senate, or both, it will plunge us back into the held that was donald trump's america. this is one of the many reasons why they should vote for the party defending democracy, the democratic party. he writes that republicans are running on lies and deceit and stripping back rights. the candidates in the gop who do not follow that play but

remained silent while republican leadership makes a mockery of our institution. his peace is at newsweek.com. joann in harvey, illinois. caller: good morning c-span. i am calling this morning. i have already voted early and i just want to tell the democrats that are calling in and spreading about a red wave, we have just as much chance to have a blue wave as they do having a red wave. all we have to do is turn out in mass. so please stop crying and go out and vote. thank you, have a nice day. host: mary in midland, north carolina, independent line. caller: i wish they would stop the name-calling. it should stop with everybody in office but also with the journalists and the people that

are writing. it is disgusting to watch it and hear the phone calls that come in. i think the biggest problem we have right now is division diversion. we are being divided intentionally as a nation and we are being exploited against one another, and played against one another, and it is remarkably sad. there is no reason for it. we are a country that is based on a constitution that is solid. if everybody actually study the constitution and something about it, there are three forms of government. we have judicial, legislative, and executive. those branches all intertwined because they are too lazy to do their job. that is a big problem we have right now and that is why you have judges legislating from the desk because be have a bunch of legislatures in congress that

are refusing to do their job. because they do not want to lose their base, their power and the money they have achieved. every single one of these people, democrats or republicans, have all become filthy rich. both the rich from becoming congresspeople and that is absolutely egregious. that is not the way the founding fathers had this set up. we have an executive branch writing out orders that are actually impeachable because there is no way the president can even forgive student debt. you cannot lay the that of someone else who is a private citizen against someone else who is a private citizen. you cannot do that. people do not understand the constitution and are not playing by the rules. what we need to do is get a smaller government and stripped this down. we need control of everything out there but mostly, we need to be kind to one another. this is outrageous what is happening here.

name-calling has got to stop. i do not care what happens the rest of the day today. people talk about a red wave and a blue wave. this is also, if you look at it, please do the trending. every single midterm, it changes hands because people are happy with what is happening with the existing people in power. it has been a trend for years and years in administrations going back 20-30 years easily. people need to take at -- take a look at tape this. democracy is not ending today. we will have our balance because we will have people watching the president of sir. -- president closer. host: thank you. tweets for members of congress. representative alexandria ocasio-cortez saying "it is election day.

polls in new york city are open until 9:00 p.m. and there are people who can speak chinese, chinese cantonese and bengali". it is election day, you know what this means. be sure to help govern. polls in iowa are open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 debbie stabenow says, "now's the time to make your boast heard. michigan has same day registration". this from the public and leader in the house. "vote". genevieve on the republican line. in morning. -- good morning. caller: good morning. this is my first time calling. my brother just loves your show and it is very informative to listen to both sides.

what is happening to our united states is people are forgetting the old saying of "let us agree to disagree". why can we not just talk and say what we need to say? why is there yelling and name-calling? we are the u.s., the greatest in the world, who want to say what we want without being persecuted. host: does it seem more so this year than elections past for you? caller: i believe so. it seems more. it is from media. also just people in everyday life, you hear it. it is really an fortunate that we can't have an intelligent discussion and say let us agree to disagree and justice what our views are. and to do that without calling

each other's names with rhetoric going on. host: lisa on the independent line in huntersville, north carolina. you are on the air. caller: good morning. this is my first time calling in. i just want to make a comment. i think that it is sheer stupidity how our country is proof -- is divided. it should not be about republican or dependent -- or democrat. it should be everyone is independent and votes for the candidate that is closer. god tells about love for mankind and there has to be a way for us to join together in true love and not hide behind whatever we hide behind. conservatism, christian nationalism, we are hiding

behind things. everyone in office is crooked. there is no honesty. they all have personal agendas. they say they are going to do something and do not. or they get up there and do what they promised for people who vote for them. i think it is insanity and crazy. how our nation has become of hatred and meanness. there is no genuine care and love for anyone. if you say you know god, but you hide behind a christian or this or that, stop hiding and be who you really are. this hatred and this meanness and unkindness toward each other, talking about it until there. we are all good and bad and have ugly in us. there is no perfect person and for us to get up here and lie that we are going to do this or do that, this is crazy and we are dividing our country.

that is not godly. we need to sit down and take a look at who we really are, look in the bureau. the country is not running properly. it is a mess. take a look in the mirror. that is my comment. host: oregon, scott on the democrat line. caller: thank you very much. i was telling your screener that i have been watching c-span since you started with brian lamb for decades. you are such a wonderful opportunity. i will say that first of all, i am going to vote democrat in oregon. i am alarmed that we can have a pretty radical republican as government -- as governor for the first time in 20 years. i am voting for tina kotek and the democrat in my congressional district.

i am 78 now. i cannot believe time has gone so quickly. what gets me is that my family, like most families, have have publications and democrats. all my grandparents were republicans. my folks were depression impacted new deal democrats. we used to say "crown my good with brotherhood, america, america, god shed his grace on me". we need to get together. i family, my mom's side and my dad's side, have both lost loved ones in our foreign wars. to see right now that we could actually have a blatant lie about the last election, that it was stolen and all, is not acceptable for us. we need to get together. not a red wave were blue wave.

like obama said, a red, white and blue country. host: you talked about voting for tina kotek for the governorship in oregon. what has changed? the washington post said that cook tech for governor meets organs -- that tina kotek for governor meets or gone's -- caller: some of the richest people in oregon with humongous checks to a woman named betsy johnson who declared she is unlikely but was a 20 year state senator on the right side of the party.

she has about 17-18% of the vote. she is very intelligent and has very clever ads. some people i know are going to vote for her. i say that if you do that, you are voting for a woman who does not have much experience. christine drazan is republican, so why would you do that? i think it is kind of a populist, conservative schism that mirrors the rest of the country. this betsy johnson brags that she has a machine gun on and on. she is charming, etc. i think a lot of democrats are realizing that we better come home or we are going to see this reality that we do not want to see. host: thanks for the input from oregon. more calls on the selection they

morning of washington journal. we are going to stay out west and where next from jeremy newton, a reporter for axios phoenix, talking about one of the key background states out west. good morning. guest: good morning. host: we are around 9:25 hear. i know you are 7:25 in mountain time. i hear polls have opened in arizona. guest: yes. they close around 7:00. anyone in line around 7:00 can vote no matter how long the line is. the majority of voters catch their ballots by early voting though, either by mail or dropping them off today. host: the governor's race is attracting a lot of national attention. you have kari lake, the republican, and -- due until is

how the polls are looking. guest: the polls have been showing very consistently a fairly tight race. although in the last few weeks, it seems like kari lake is ahead by a little bit. some polls have shown that and not or even a slightly for hobbs. all in all, the last few weeks seems like they have pulled ahead at least a little bit. host: and the senate racial mark kelly, the incumbent democrat, facing blake masters, the republican. where does that race stand? guest: the inverse. mark kelly has been consistently in the lead could emerge much the entire way. since early voting has started, we have seen according to the polls the race tighten up. masters has caught up a bit. one poll showed him with a very

slightly, less than a percentage point. but kelly, according to most polls, still has a narrow weep. host: this is the headline from axios. arizona election results will not be final four days. what is the reason for that? guest: the reason is primarily due to our very robust early voting season. most people cast their ballots by early voting. people who mail in their ballots before the election, pretty much by the weekend, they get counted first and will be the first results released tonight around 8:00 p.m. arizona time then people who cast their ballots at polling places are counted. but there are a lot of people who drop off ballots on election day and those takei wells account. the way that election officials verify the voter identity is before they open the ballot, they check the signatures and compare the signatures on

record. that is a laborious process that takes a wild. if the signature does not match, there is a mandatory five being period -- a mandatory five day period. if the races are close, those ballots can tip. we have seen that happen in the past two elections in 2018 and 2020. historically it is democrats who gave us from the early voting. in 2020 this happened and it looks like this will happen the same time as republicans who gain because they have so much distress. host: has arizona change their election laws since 2020 and how would that manifest in the selection? guest: the most interesting change we might see manifest itself is earlier this year, the state legislature induced the state -- while expending

situations in which we would have a mandatory rate out. our recount laws are very narrow. the difference between the two candidates be less than a 10th of a percent or less means there is a scenario in which there is a recount. so it happens very rarely. now the new law is a half percentage point which could be much more significant especially with some races as close as people are protecting. if there are three-minute -- 3 million votes statewide, that would be about 15,000 votes for a statewide race. for example, two years ago, the race between president trump and president biden would have gone to a recount. there would have been five state-level encounter little races in 2020 that would into a recount under this law. you might see a number of

recounts this year because of this. host: tell us why the race for secretary of state in arizona is national attention certainly between the republican candidate. guest: this is normally a very low profile race. this takes on a added importance when one of the candidates from public and nominee's is an outright election denier who says trump one in the election was raped and it will call -- the election was rigged. she sponsored legislation that would have rejected the results from three county including one county represents 75%-80% of the voters over completely baseless conspiracy theories about the election.

there are a lot of people concerned that having a person with those beliefs oversee the state election system will be potentially a disaster after what happened -- potentially a disaster and what would happen in 2024 won again and they claimed that there were a lot of claims about fraud. with the secretary of state under mark vento mess with the results. we saw a number of attempts out here that fell flat in 2020. this race has taken on a level of importance that i have not seen in my years covering elections in arizona. host: jeremy duda's reporting for axios phoenix. it is reporting for recovering the selection and more in the phoenix area. you can follow him on twitter @

jeremyduda. thank you for joining this morning. less than a half hour left for your phone calls on election day morning. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. for all independence -- independents, (202) 748-8002. will check with the key battleground state of nevada in a bit. back to your call. bob in kentucky. caller: good morning. i am a first time caller. what i would like to bring up is at very concerning to be -- me that the leading cause of death between people 18-45 years old is fentanyl. i just do not hear much about it.

if people roll this around in their head a little bit, something more needs to be done about this. more of the same is not going to get it done. you can go to any police precinct and they will tell you. it is awful. i have law enforcement in my family. they tell stories of people taking pills. they have no idea they are bootlegged. if they are lucky, they do not die and wind up in the hospital. a loss of them obviously do die. i just wanted to bring that up. it is horrible. host: certainly, crime has been a big issue in this campaign. five think you bring up a valid point. why do you think that this drug abuse crisis in this country has not been more of a campaign issue across the country?

caller: i do not know if the politicians are afraid of big pharma that funds part of their campaign, both sides. i do not know. as you said, the bureau crisis to was horrible. there is some relatively simple ways you can combat that. it would help with the fentanyl and the opioid crisis in itself. a lot smarter people than me to think of these things. just do not hear that much about it. they mention it and move on. that is just something not understand. it is a democrat, independent, republican problem but an outside problem. i do not see why we cannot take some money that we are sending outside our borders, a portion

of that, and put it toward the drug into the problem we have. i believe charity starts at home. i just do not understand why it is not a bigger issue. crime is certainly terrible but when you have something, a poison, causing death between 18-25-year-olds as the leading cause of death. host: i am glad you got through for your first time call to washington journal. 50 from you. gene is next, randolph massachusetts, democrat line. you to your volume of there. you are feeding through. go ahead with your comment. caller: thank you for taking my call. the reason i am calling, i hope you give me a moment to explain. we have a country now -- can you

hear me? host: we can hear you fine. caller: we have a country that a lot of people do not understand. we have a congress and a house that is bought by the big billionaires and we have a supreme court that you basically own. the problem is i think people have to realize if we want to keep a country going, we cannot support somebody like donald trump. we cannot say we are christian like a lots of people said and that we love our neighbor. the problem is if the supreme court is being captured, we have nobody to vote for. the divide we have in this country, we cannot support the idea of if --.

we cannot have a country that just people want their way. we look like kids playing in mud and throwing sand at each other. the other one said this, the other one said that. i am a nazi, i am not a nazi. you cannot a -- cannot support a guy who made january 6 and is running around the country like a superstar and everybody is after him. what kind of human beings are we? we are fighting each other. we all want to raise our kids. then we all come to dust. our dust in the wind like the song. the only thing i will say, is speak careful what you ask for -- is be careful what you asked for because if donald trump can run around like a free man, thanking his god -- if obama has

done half of the things he has done, obama would be in jail. the supporters of donald trump were not let obama run around like he is right now. this is insanity. host: all right, kyle on the republican line. caller: good morning. i am a longtime c-span watcher. probably since 1999 when you had cornel west on for the state of black america and i have loved you guys sense. i consider myself a -- republican. i do not know if a people know about jack kemp but he is from the state of new york. he was a guy who was willing to work with the other side. that is something we do not see anymore. in north carolina caller earlier brought up the branches of

government. last call her for massachusetts talked about the supreme court. these people go to law school and are supposed to rule in favor of the law. not of long party lines. that is the problem we have. i think our country will probably go down the drain with all this bickering and cluelessness would abolish first became president. a lot of people were not happy because he was a black man but it has just gotten nastier and nastier with tea party as a truck came into office. i thought trump actually did a pretty good job and i thought we were heading in the right direction. unfortunately, covid happened and then i think were being hurt. food inflation has nothing to do with -- into office. i do not really agree with joe biden. but crime has been here since the 90's.

people think crime is that now but i grew up in the crack area -- the crack era. not to diminish crime but politicians do this all the time. of course, the supreme court did not help the summer when they do stays the option to overturn roe v. wade. now, it comes down to an abortion thing what candidate are you going for because either support or do not support the right to choose. it seems like every time, abortion is brought up, -- the djokovic front of fentanyl as i thought he made an excellent point. we do not hear about that. our kids have been popping pills and we do not know where they get that from. fentanyl is actually made in

china and then smuggled to mexico and the cartel distribute it around the country. we have to fight that. i main call was new york state. chuck schumer has to go. i am going to vote for a black republican. and in the governor's race, i am torn. i am not a big fan of kathy hochul but she is from upstate. the other gentleman is from new york city. new york city people always tend to forget about us up here in upstate new york. kathy hochul put out restrictions i did not like but at least she is from our area. host: any ascii -- finish what you are voting for. caller: that is alright. i was just about to say i think i covered every. i am displeased with the way these people are. january 6, i have never seen anything like that in my life.

host: let me ask you briefly. you found yourself as a jack kemp republican. how do you define that and where you think you fit in today's republican party? caller: i do not. i am a black male. people do not realize that prior to kennedy, a good 40 --- 50%-60% of black men were republicans. but if you look at the party now, they are mainly white men and they see immigrants coming in and they are mad. i do not blame them because they have authority for a long time. they still do. they do not realize african-americans only make up 14% of the party. but jack kemp was more of a social issue republican. he was very conservative.

i just saw how he worked. he had a personal relationship with my family so i have seen him talk to the black community in ways that a law of republicans with the duties -- the kennedys and the bushes could not get the vote. host: i'm going to let you go but thank you for getting out there. joining us next from nevada is april, who is deputy editor of the nevada current here to talk with us. we have been doing this all morning looking at some battleground states. april, let us talk about the change in the law. the way that people vote in nevada is all by mail now, right? guest: correct. we moved to mail-in ballots in 2020 in response to the pandemic but in 2021, state lawmakers decided to make it permanent. host: so this is uncharted

territory for voters but also for those of you who covered the election. how soon or how late do you expect to begin getting results on the election? guest: our poles here open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. obviously if people are still in line, the state will not lease results until the last person has vod. in past years, it has been as early as within the hour around 8:00. in years before, it has been several hours. also poles can be delayed and close because of weather. we have had bad weather in the south so poles could have delayed openings and closings so it could be several hours until we have in person totals coming in today. but because of mail ballots, it may be several days.

i know that people do not want to hear that but here in nevada, or balance has to be postmarked by election day but can be received and counted up until saturday, november 12. then two days after that on monday, is the last day for signature hearings which is what happens if signatures do not happen or somebody forgot to sign their mail ballot. we may not have election results until monday. host: what do you see in-state about the poles you are seeing and what you can tell us about the senate race with the incumbent catherine cortez mto and her challenger? where do you think it stands? guest: it is close. if you look at all of the poles -- polls since they announced, it has been night and that.

it is not and that -- neck and neck. we all know it is very close and going to come down to turn out. host: there has also been some issues that have come up in the campaign. how are issues in nevada different from the rest of the company? host: -- guest: if you look at certain poles or data like gas prices, they have affected us a little more. we have had higher gas prices than a lot of the country. we have seen an elevated version of what everyone is doing with. but also we were hurt incredibly hard by the pandemic. because of our tourism economy, las vegas in particular, our job market was devastated. we had the highest unemployment rate in nevada for a year.

while the house got away, people remember that and blame certain politicians for that and have lingering memories and a way to change it. i think the pandemic effect may also play a role. obviously, we have a huge hispanic population so immigration is always a popular issue here that registers with a lot of people. host: is the closest in the senator's race also reflected in the several congressional races? more probably in nevada but particularly around other states? guest: the governor's race is incredibly close. the republicans were very strategic in the toes their candidate who is a sheriff of clark county, which is the county where las vegas is. joe lombardo had a lots of recognition going into this statewide race. that is really going to help.

and people, they remember the pandemic and they remember seeing the governor of the tv every week and they blame him for shutting things down. people understand that is something that had to happen but others resent it. the pandemic issues are going to bubble up and we are going to see how popular steve sisolak is. host: i was going to ask what you would be watching for tonight but as he pointed, mail-in ballots could be dropped off today but must postmarked by november 12. this can be an election potential in some places that plays out over the next 4-5 days. guest: absolutely. people do not want to hear this but it is true and a process. as you mentioned, this is the first time we use mail-in ballots, other than 2020 which sort of does not count because it was an unusual year.

we have had more than 600,000 people already voting is higher than at the end of early voting in 2018 before we moved to mail-in ballots. we do not know whether or not this means everybody is the mail ballots and voting early or whether or not turn out is going to be incredibly high this year. it is hard to compare this year for any other. host: april, the deputy editor of the nevada current. they are reporting on those issues and more. thank you for being with us this morning. a little over 10 minutes left in the program to hear from you. for democrats, (202) 748-8000. for republicans, (202) 748-8001. for independents, (202) 748-8002 . just free, independent line. thank you for waiting.

caller: hello. i am independent. i had been a republican all my life. i have been in this country since i came to college in 1981. as you will see, conservative states -- i was a republican all my life -- but then i watched the country deteriorate. i initially voted for -- but then i saw the way he was running for country and i did not want to deal with that anymore. so i campaigned for president biden. i hate to see this country -- i hate to see what has happened to this country. i am independent now.

this put the country into two, especially republicans. and it is sad to see auntie this way. and sad to see america this way. the country, everybody who looked upon america as the greatest country in the world. we send now that our country came down to so -- host: appreciate your call. greensboro north carolina tracy. caller: such -- i called to talk about hofmeister. these republicans would rather believe what they say than what

they see. it would rather believe their lying eyeballs then what they hear from their hate mizer. i do not understand. these women. they are going to let the men tell them what to do with their body. can we tell the men to castrate themselves? give them pills or a condom every time they want to -- host: david, good morning. caller: good morning. a couple points. i will try to be quick. i think what is dividing our country is inherently divisive identity politics. i think it is what led to a large part of trump's election. it was very hard to hear a speech from the obama administration orange cabinet members that did not use race and anti-speech. very very free speeches and i

have listened for it. i think that is part of the division that we had. if you look into the platform for the democrat and republican party, you can see references to color 55 times in the democrat party but none in the republican party. if somebody truly believes that there is a philosophy or political agenda destroying the country, it is not normal to get along with that group. sometimes you have to fight and be divided. both sides can say that but -- in other words, curing cancer is painful. chemotherapy is painful but i think that is where we are, looking at the dangers of socialism and marxism and dependencies on the government. all it is redistribution of

wealth and the government does not create wealth. host: nick in upstate pennsylvania. on the independent line. caller: good morning. how are you doing today? host: doing fine, thank you. caller: i am an independent. specifically libertarian. the big picture is democrats and republicans do not want a third party in there and the sheep of america, the voting sheep out there, the are democrats and republicans, do not want to let a third party in. so it is a flip of a coin, a binary system that should not work like this in the west you should have the ability to have a third party. everybody is crying and whimpering and throwing stones at each other with the democrats and republicans, while there is someone else out there.

there is another party. they need to do some research, read some books, understand what politics is about. then they might become a libertarian. host: is there a libertarian candidate showing up on the pennsylvania ballot into the state or local level? caller: i believe so. i have not been able to find the answer to that question exactly because they hide it. we do not want a third party in their whether the rotarian or reform or green. we are up against a wall with republicans and democrats. it seems that way with all the other callers. they talk about them, then and us. we have other parties. we need to look into that.

we need to use the other parties. host: thank you for your call. some tweets from candidates across the country in texas. beto o'rourke, the democratic candidate for governor in this state, tweeting that polls are open. go vote. also, from tim scott. south carolina, happy tuesday, do not forget to exercise our civic -- your civic duty and go vote. brooklyn, new york, roseville on the democrat line. next. caller: good morning. i called in -- first, let me preface my statement with a question. why would people vote for

somebody like donald trump? i am not going to paint any party with a broad brush. they are good people, good democrats and good republicans. i would like to know is there such a thing as collective trauma? i am 74 years old and 474 years, that was no chance that's a black man would ever be elected president in the u.s. the thought would never cross anybody's mind. then one day, we all woke up as a country and we had our first black president. from my view, this country went into trauma. there was good trauma on one

end. people were full of joy. then on the other hand, there was pure hatred. i call that trauma. for eight years, people walked around having to accept the fact that they were being bold by a black man -- being ruled by a black man. nobody has addressed that issue. we all us americans, something happened that never happened in 200. that causes trauma. trump is not the problem but a symptom of the problem. his timing was pure luck. he gave the minority french of the republican party opportunity to vent their hatred. last note. liz cheney.

i would just like to say that i have seen her father. they are all staunch republicans. they pray she runs republican in 2024. i have been a democrat all my life. i would actually vote public and because i do not like this woman's policies but i know that she is all about this country. all about saving this country. she tells the truth and she is a good person. host: fort lauderdale, florida. richard on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a vietnam veteran and a cancer survivor. the primary problem in our country is sin. as a nation, we have turned away from our creator. we have taken the 10

commandments out of the public's wear. we have taken prayer out of these. we just have lost our way. the bible says if i people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and seek faith and turn from their wicked ways, i would go to heaven and heal their land. i believe that is what we need. we are a tremendously divided nation. all americans need to seek doubts direction in this country. that will change. host: next is lenore, on the independent line. caller: i am a first time caller. i am an independent. about some calls i heard earlier about republicans who want to

cut social security. that is a flat out lie. people needed to do their homework. it is propaganda spread by the -- are you there, sir? host: go ahead we are listening. caller: that is propaganda spread by the democrat party. my second thing is about abortion that no one brings up, the remorse you feel afterwards for years after you have had an abortion. propaganda, republicans will have no restrictions. that is not true. they do have restrictions. my issue about the abortion remorse, nobody brings that up. that's all i have to say, sir. thank you for taking my call and have a nice day. host: st. louis is next, the

democrats line. a couple more calls. caller: i was just wondering. i have never voted in st. louis. i have never voted democrat this -- before but i am going to this time. host: you have never voted here? caller: no, i just moved here a year ago. host: do you know the polling place to go to? caller: i don't my daughter will know. she is supposed to take me there. they just moved me here six months ago. host: did you get registered? caller: yes, i have done that. my daughter-in-law will have to take me. host: i hope she gets around to

it. we will hear from mike in florida, independent line. caller: i am an independent 75-year-old voter and i keep hearing the republicans say they are better on the economy than the democrats are. remember under ronald reagan the savings and loan banks had to get bailed out because they changed the rules on how you do banking? and will clinton -- and bill clinton had to come in and clean that mess up and then he gave his surplus to george bush. president obama had to clean up after the republicans again. it is not just that the republicans are better on the economy they have no facts to back that up. host: we appreciate all of the calls and we remind you our coverage