the candidates stumpe swing states of georgia, north ca, pennsylvania, and michigan. we begin our live coverage tomorrow morning with donald trump in pennsylvania. hold their last rallies and they events pri to tuesday's elec you can watch all of c-span's campaign coverage online at c-span.org or with our free mobile video app c-span now. we've got more from the last weekend of campaign 2024 with donald trump. he's traveling to greensboro, north carolina and we will have live coverage of him when the event begins here on c-span. >> joining us now to discuss voter intimidation and campaign 2024 is jonathan diaz. partnership director at the campaign legal center. thank you for being with us.

>> good morning. >> why don't we start with having you remind us about your organization? what is the campaign legal center and what is the center and what is the mission? guest: campaign legal center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in washington, d.c. and the mission is to advance democracy through law, through a combination of litigation, policy advocacy, public education focused on the pillars of the democratic and electoral process. campaign finance reform, voting rights, redistrict in, ethics. host: who are you working with and how is your organization funded? guest: we represent individual voters and nonpartisan civic organizations. we work closely with election officials and members of the public to advance pro-voter policies and try to explain and simplify what can sometimes be a complicated electoral system to voters and members of the public. we are funded by individual

donations and some foundation donors. host: you are the voting advocacy and partnership director. explain what you focus on. guest: i work on some litigation across the country, but most of my work focuses on policy advocacy, especially administrative advocacy with local election officials especially. making sure they are developing policies that reduce barriers to accessing the ballot. i coordinate our work with the many partner organizations we work with at the national, state, local level. host: we will be talking about voter intimidation. what are we talking about? guest: there are a variety of federal and state laws that are meant to protect voters from undue influence. it is illegal under federal law to threaten, intimidate, coerce someone into voting or not voting a particular way. laws are enforced by not only that the justice department but state law enforcement agencies

like district attorneys. they are taken very seriously. we want to make sure that every american has the right to vote safely, freely, and privately without fear of any kind of consequence for participating in the political process. host: what can voter intimidation look like? guest: it can take many forms. viewers are probably familiar with some of the historical examples like armed men on horses, fire hoses, dogs, things like that. in today's day in age, intimidation can take more subtle modern terms like online harassment, publishing peoples personal information or home address online, threatening them with job or economic consequences. there are a lot of different ways that people can try to intimidate or coerce somebody into voting or not voting. that's why we have legal protections to make sure that everyone's vote is cast freely.

host: is there a typical target? guest: unfortunately, it is a recurring issue over the whole of american history and today is no exception. fortunately, the response from law enforcement and the government groups, like the campaign legal center, is robust. we are not seeing it quite as often as we did decades ago, but there are still isolated incidents every cycle of voters feeling unsafe or threatened. so, we respond quickly to those. host: we have seen individuals who have been in the news for going to polling places and trying to intimidate voters as they are waiting in line to vote. this from this morning's washington post says, creepy voting mailers provoke ire in maryland talking about the mysterious letters entitled

voting report cards. it is giving recipient names alongside their voting histories and those of their neighbors. they have been landing in mailboxes across the country in recent days. they are coming from the voter participation center and center for information. is it typically more individuals who are focused on voter intimidation or groups and organizations like that? guest: it can be both. i want to be careful to draw a distinction between persuasive political messaging, like mailers protected by the first amendment as political speech and can sometimes make people uncomfortable or people may not like the message that they received, but that kind of pure speech is protected by the first amendment. there is lots of speech that you or i or anyone else may not like that folks have a constitutional right to express.

that is different from threats of physical violence or financial consequences or things designed not to persuade people to vote but to threaten and induce fear to prevent people from voting or to try to push somebody sometimes across the line. the right to vote a free and safe ballot with the right to free speech and political persuasion. host: we are talking with jonathan diaz, the voting advocacy and partnership director for the campaign legal center the topic is voter intimidation in campaign 2024. if you have a question or comment, you can call now. democrat, (202) 748-8000. republican, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748-8002. going back to the distinction, it sounds like there is a gray area. what do protections look like

for what we know is voter intimidation versus something that may be makes somebody uncomfortable? guest: context really matters. it's not just what someone says or does but when, where, how. that's why law enforcement looks at allegations of voter intimidation carefully. again, we are balancing protecting voters and keeping them safe with protected first amendment political expression. some conduct that may not be voter intimidation in some contexts if it is done at a polling place by a line of voters if it is directed primarily at voters of color and things like that. all of those factual questions really matter. that's why in doubt it is always safe to report any instances of suspected voter intimidation to local election officials or law enforcement.

host: our first caller for this segment is mike in woodbridge, virginia on the line for independents. caller: my -- i want to know his opinion on the supreme court ruling about the voter registration. and on this issue, i think the supreme court -- they should not have anything to do with immigrant, immigrant citizenship. when you vote with your green card, you are not a citizen. your status can change. that is when you register to vote.

the only place that can determine your citizenship is immigration, not dmv. when dmv to check your old forms, that's wrong. the opportunity for the immigrants to show if he is a citizen or not. guest: in the interest of transparency, campaign legal center represented some who challenged those removals from the voter registration list in virginia. we were disappointed in that supreme court decision. the district court and the fourth circuit, intermediate appeals court, i think they got it right. virginia was relying on outdated data. what we found in the clients

that we represented showed that these were naturalized u.s. citizens who may be at one point were not citizens and indicated as much to the dmv, but ultimately were naturalized, became citizens, and registered. virginia is relying on outdated information to potentially identify ineligible voters and remove them from the rolls we think in violation with federal law. the good news is in virginia there is same-day voter registration so anyone wrongfully removed from the rolls can vote in person on election day and register at the polling place. that is not the case in every state. we challenged similar programs removing naturalized citizens in alabama, texas, elsewhere. i think that it is a real concern when states are using bad data and removing eligible american citizens from the voter rolls. host: talk about the distinction between intimidation and

oppression. guest: voter intimidation is a form of voter suppression. anything that prevents voters from going to the polls. whether it is an administrative barrier that has been erected or they are afraid. in a democracy, we want our elections to reflect the will of all eligible voters. anything that is preventing people from voting is really damaging our government and election's ability to fully represent the views of all americans. host: ted in ocean, hawaii. line for democrats. caller: good morning. we were talking about voter intimidation. people need to just turn it around on someone who tries to intimidate you and say, if you want to pass information in a nice, normal tone of voice that

is not intimidation, but if you're going to be threatening or intimidating just turn around and say, why can't you win by vote with information rather than intimidation? everybody needs to think about that. information not intimidation. it's real easy. host: any response for ted? guest: i don't think that i could have said it better myself. we want to persuade our friends and neighbors with ideas and policies, not fear or threats. host: sergio in texas on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: i have a very serious concern with mail-in ballots for this reason. so you have a family of five. all voting age. five ballots are dropped off in the mail but you have a dominant figure in the family. he gathers the ballots, fills

them all out, and tells his children and his wife, i've done you're voting for you. all you need to do is sign these and i will take them to the drop off box. no one addresses that issue, but it is a very real concern that i have. i don't know that it would be to widespread, but it is something that you would never be able to track or figure out how to stop it. guest: i think that that is certainly an interesting concern. it is not the typical kind of voter intimidation concern we think about. i think that that area would qualify. it is illegal no matter where it happens. it doesn't necessarily have to be at a physical polling place. coercion, which is what i think the caller described, is listed in the voter intimidation statute as something that is not ok. voter intimidation is not just illegal, it is a crime.

it carries potential sentences including jail time, serious fines, and civil liability. that is why we have these protections in place. host: what impact does voter intimidation have? do we know how many people are opting not to vote because they feel like it is not safe? guest: it is hard to quantify, because if someone is too scared to show up to the polls they may not report it. we don't have a full picture, but campaign legal center, like many nonpartisan legal organizations, work on the national nonpartisan election hotline and we get reports every election cycle from voters who report being afraid and being intimidated.many still able to vote the next day or voting by mail, but just because someone is able to overcome intimidation and cast their ballot does not mean that voter intimidation has not taken place. the law also prevents attempts

to intimidate, threaten,yesterdd friends, we all went to vote yesterday morning. and after you can give us the nr again, and what else can voters do if they are feeling like they are experiencing intimidation? guest: the number is 866-our-v ote. it is staffed by legal volunteers and election lawyers like myself. that is a place where voters can report any issues that they are having with their ballot, whether the mail ballot has not arrived at your home, you aren't sure where your polling place is, you don't how to check if you are registered, or you are at the polls experiencing intimidation. the other suggestion that i would make to voters concerned about what they are seeing is to report it to your local election

official. those are usually the folks equipped to immediately respond to issues they often have close relationships with law enforcement in their local area and will respond if necessary. i say between the national nonpartisan hotline and your local election official, those would be my go to's if voters have intimidation concerns. host: rapid city, south dakota, line for democrats, good morning, ethan. caller: voter intimidation, we have had circumstances where voter intimidation in canada and america over a series of years, decades. have we ever considered how much people aren't just voting because they don't have the faith in any of the systems we have built? people have lost interest,

millennials like myself have lost interest in the entire system. voter intimidation, people are going out and about and burning ballots and stuff like that. people aren't just voting. this might be a thing that people use to stir up the fire trying to get millennials to vote. are we really confident 100% that voter intimidation is an actual problem and should we be considering something more realistic that voter intimidation isn't real as much as it compares to the voter isn't -- what is it called? host: apathy? we will get a response from jonathan. guest: both are a concern. voter intimidation happens. this week there were a couple of arrests in my home state of florida because individuals were brandishing weapons at the polling place and making anti-semitic remarks at voters in line. it certainly still happens.

voter apathy is also a very real problem. many americans are disillusioned with the political system. whether that is because of the influence of big money in politics or partisan gerrymandering, that is something that campaign legal center is really concerned about. something that we have worked to overcome with voter education, letting people know that their votes really matter. their are local races decided every election cycle by handful of votes. most often the local races, city counselor, mayor, they have the most impact on your daily life. i definitely hear what you are saying and i think we can be concerned about both of voter intimidation as a real threat and folks' lack of confidence in

the election system and working to combat angst like misinformation -- things like misinformation and other elements that reduce public confidence in our election system that is something campaign legal center is focused on. host: this headline in the hill, you mention the incident in florida. florida teenager accused of using a machete to intimidate voters at the polling station. it is a pretty eye-catching headline. you can see machete. what is being done to prevent voter intimidation from happening to begin with? who is involved? guest: it is a wide constellation of law enforcement agencies, election officials, nonpartisan groups, like ours, the department of justice is sending monitors to many jurisdictions across the country to keep an eye out for things like voter intimidation or other violations of federal law. in this incident, i think it's a

perfect example of local election officials and law enforcement working together to respond very quickly. i believe that individual has been charged with a criminal offense by local prosecutors in florida, because there are countless local officials, in law enforcement and election offices, working tirelessly to keep our elections safe. host: bob in eagle river, wisconsin on the line for republicans. caller: i just wanted to ask, since you have researched and studied it, you spoke of people who were actual legal citizens at the time and they registered to vote. i think one state took off 2500 people from the voter rolls because they were not eligible to vote because they were noncitizens. do you have the number of how many people were actually noncitizens on the roll that

were removed and how many were citizens that were put back on the roll out of all of the different investigations? they are basically purging the system of the voter rolls, which is required by law. how do you feel about the states that are no longer using id? how can -- you can't do anything in america without proving you are an american citizen. i don't know how this is even federally legal to vote without an id. that means that anybody, a tourist on vacation, can fly her e just to vote in our election. how is this even happening? guest: there is a lot in there so i will start at the beginning. i'm not sure which state you are referring to with that specific number, but i can tell you that in most of these incidents when a state official announces that

there is some number of suspected ineligible voters on the rolls, it is suspicion. they have not confirmed those numbers. which is why when we investigate and reach out to folks on those lists we find that they are eligible citizens. georgia i think is a great example, to give concrete numbers, they did a comprehensive audit of their voter rolls going back several years and identified only 20 non-us citizens had become registered to vote in georgia over a period of several years. i think it was out of 7.5 million registered voters in georgia. none of those 20 had ever attempted to cast a ballot. they were likely only put on through some administrative or clerical error. that is the georgia republican secretary of state who conducted that investigation. so, what that says to me is that the safeguards built into our election system to make sure

that only eligible americans are able to cast a ballot are working. whenever someone violates one of these laws, and they are serious laws, the system finds them and they are often prosecuted. as far as voter id, many states require voter id, but every state has safeguards built in where voters are required to validate not only their identity in some way, but also their eligibility to vote, including u.s. citizenship. different states use different methods to validate the eligibility of their voters. you have to remember that it depends on how something like a voter validation law is structured. if a state is only permitting some forms of id but not others, we have to think about how that affects different kinds of voters who may or may not have access to those kinds of id. host: loretta in cleveland, ohio on the line for democrats.

i think that we lost loretta. give us a call back. eric in pennsylvania, line for independents. caller: good morning. thank you. my question is, what is your opinion or have you taken any action on agencies that have shown nonpartisanship, such as fbi, doj, irs? and how can you convince me or the audience that you are nonpartisan and honest? thank you. guest:guest: i don't do a ton of work with fbi, irs, cia, so i don't know i can answer that question. campaign legal center fights for access to the ballot for all eligible americans and accountability from politicians regardless of party. i think that if you look us up we are not afraid to initiate

litigation or call out politicians of either party when they violate the law. we filed campaign-finance complaints against republicans, democrats, independents, super pacs, red states, blue states, purple states, states of every color. our commitment is to democratic pentacles of good governance and equal access to the ballot. i have never once asked a client what party they affiliate with. i have never thought about the political affiliation of a state or county official when i think that they've done something that violates the law. i think that is how all of our election laws should be administered, without preference or favor for voters of any one political party. host: we're talking about voter intimidation, but it is not just voters who can feel threatened.

this headline from nbc, 40% of local election officials surveyed report threats or abuse . that is a new report that came out i believe in march. what precautions have been put in place at pulling locations -- polling locations to protect workers and administrators? guest: poll workers and administrators receive a lot of threats to themselves, their safety, their staff, their families, and both election officials and law enforcement take those threats seriously. we have certainly seen criminal prosecutions of folks who have made credible threats to election officials over the last several years. election offices have invested a lot in physical security for their physical offices, cybersecurity is a major concern as well. election officials have been doxxed.

they've had their faces published online which is scary. election officials are in most cases your neighbors. especially at the local level, these are people from your communities who if they are volunteers are taking time out of their lives and not necessarily being paid for it to perform a critical service for our country, our society to run elections. the election system is really decentralized. that means that elections are run at the local level by city and county workers and volunteers. it is incumbent on all of us to remember that, to support our election workers, and i do not want to get into too much detail about what election officials are doing specifically to protect themselves, but i know that they have taken a lot of steps and are working with state, local, federal law enforcement to make sure that

they stay safe this election season. host: carol in jacksonville, florida, democrats, good morning. caller: good morning. how you doing? mr. diaz stated, i was really surprised to see that voter intimidation was showing up in jacksonville. i heard the interviews on tv. and i really was concerned. i already voted early, so i knew that my vote was in. my background and growing up, both my parents worked for the justice department, so i had a view of seeing how things were done and carried out.

both my parents always stated that, you know, it's your right. also, i want to state when an official is running for office, when they state that you don't have to vote again, that is really voter intimidation. because that's stating that our rights will be taken away. thank you for taking my call. jonathan: thank you for that call. i mean, i think it is worth repeating that every american has the right to vote safely, freely, and privately. and that's why voter intimidation laws exist and why doj and local and state law enforcement make sure those laws are enforced. host: loretta, democrat line. thanks for calling back. i am sorry i hung up on you. caller: thank you.

od mning, jonathan. good morning, america. yesterday, 11 family and friends, we all went to vote yesterday m afr voting, we went to eakfast. and i'm telling you, it was, i don't think we dispersed until likeor 30. we wasavin such a good time st tking about everything. but my call specifically is about january 6. and the secret service just had all these investigations about the trump attempted assassination, but they skipped over what happened to the texts

that were erased on january, up to january 6. they eat erased all the tapes may be from january 1 -- they erased all the tapes may be from january 1 two we don't even know where it ended. not only did they erase the texts from the individual phones, they erased the information from the cloud. and i am calling to say that it takes specific people to do that kind of stuff and i don't like the kind of people that trump got doing things and people got to start thinking about they own pockets, because they might like click on their own bank account and they ain't got a dime in there and you don't know where

come from. host: that might be out of jonathan's expertise but we will see. jonathan: i think most of that is but when it comes to genera six, that's the legally mandated date when the joint session of congress will come together to count the votes in 2025 like they did in 2021 and every four years before then. for those of us in washington i think we are already starting to see security measures around the capital get erected. you know, the department of homeland security has designated that joint session a major national security event so there are lots of resources being put into make sure the newly elected congress which takes office on january 3 will be able to meet and carry out their duties to count the electoral votes on generous six. this is also the first presidential -- january 6. this is also the first presidential election been conducted using the new

procedures under the new electoral count reform act passed in 2020 two by congress that has really modernized the process of counting electoral votes in congress. and really i think has limited opportunities for disruption of that process. so, we should, hopefully, see a quieter january 6 this time around. host: january 6, 2025 is a monday next year. and just like in 2020, c-span will have full coverage of that. david in maryland on the line for independents. good morning. caller: i heard stories of the local voting officials coordinating with high schools in the area where they would bring all the voting age students out of class to come and register at the high school and then, in certain situations,

the official would recommend who they should vote for. and i just wondered if that was considered coercion, if that would be legal or not to do that? i can take my answer offline. jonathan: i think it probably depends on the specific context of what was said and when and where. i think it's probably inappropriate for an election of fisher to recommend to a new registrant, no matter their age, who they should be voting for. on the flipside i think voter registration, especially at high schools and in the states that allow preregistration for voters who will be 18 on election day but are not yet, is a great way to increase voter participation and get young folks involved early. but election officials in every state are, you know, supposed to administer their response builds and conduct our electoral's special elections in an impartial -- elections in an

impartial way so i don't think it would be appropriate for an election official to suggest to any registrant regardless of age who they should or should not be voting for. host: albert in california, line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me ok? host: yes. go ahead. caller: ok. voting is a right and a privilege and everybody should vote, no matter what, because your vote is sacred and its private and it is something that we have in america that many other places do not have. so, don't let them intimidate you. go and vote. jonathan: yeah, you know, i think that the freedom we have in this country to vote and to shape our own government, to participate in elections is something that some americans might take for granted. i certainly don't and i