♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. on the "news hour" tonight, kamala harris and donald trump head west as the margins remain razor-thin in critical swing

states, with days to go until voting ends. the supreme court allows virginia to purge voter rolls. how unsubstantiated claims of non-citizens voting have spurred the move, and the effect it could have on the election. and we examine the potential economic impact of donald trump's promise to deport immigrants en masse. >> from a pure economic point of view, massive cost. some sectors will have huge disruption. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs "news hour" has been provided by. >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, mmunity.way you enrich your life well planned.

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the "news hour." both presidential candidates brought their campaigns to the southwest today. former president trump stopped in new mexico, a detour from battleground territory, while vice president kamala harris jetted off to arizona. but before she left, harris spoke with reporters about what's on the line, on election day, just five days out. laura barron-lopez begins our coverage with this report. >> among the stakes in this election are whether we continue on with the affordable care act or not.

laura: in between campaign stops today, kamala harris warned that healthcare is on the ballot following a vow, from house speaker mike johnson, for, quote, massive reform, if donald trump is elected. >> nowe have further validation of that agenda from his supporter, the speaker of the house. the american people, regardless of who they're voting for, know the importance of the affordable care act, which is also called obamacare, in terms of expanding people's coverage to health care. laura: in leaked video obtained by multiple outlets, johnson echoed an audience member, saying quote, no obamacare and that changes needed to be made. later, he walked it back, rejecting that he wants to gut the popular law. even though trump himself has repeatedly said he wants to repeal the affordable care act. it comes as both campaigns battle for votes in the southwest. harris, in phoenix, arizona. >> we have an opportunity to

turn the page on a decade of donald trump trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other. we're done with that. we're exhausted with that. >> votes are rigged. we can win new mexico. laura: and trump, in not-so-far-away albuquerque, new mexico. >> if we could bring god down from heaven, he could be the vote counter. we would win this. we'd win california. we'd win a lot of states. you just got to keep the votes honest. laura: last night, trump touched down in green bay, wisconsin. wearing a reflective orange vest, he approached a maga themed garbage truck. trump played up an off-script comment made by president joe biden, where biden appeared to say trump's supporters are, quote, garbage.

president biden quickly clarified, he was referring to a comedian who made a racist joke about puerto ricans at trump's madison square garden rally. trump, himself, regularly calls democrats enemies from within, and repeatedly refers to the united states as the quote, garbage can of the world. the theatrics didn't stop at the tarmac. >> i'm president. i want to protect the women of our country. they said, sir, i just think it's inappropriate for you to say. laura: during his rally last night, against the apparent advice of his team, trump insisted his policies would, quote, protect american women. a pledge he's made before, but this time, he added -- >> i'm gonna do it whether the women like it or not. laura: harris responded, earlier today. >> it actually is very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right, and their ability to make decisions about our own lives

including their own bodies. and this is just the latest in a series of reveals by the former president of how he thinks about women. >> it is this simple. we trust women. laura: in pennsylvania, harris' running mate, governor tim walz, also seized on the remark. >> they are going to send a loud and clear message to donald trump on november 5. they're going to send that message whether he likes it or not. laura: meanwhile in a roughly three hour conversation with podcaster joe rogan, trump's running mate j.d. vance said abortion restrictions should be left to the states. and he suggested that white kids are pretending to be transgender in order to get into ivy league schools. >> obviously that pathway has become a lot harder for a lot of upper middle class kids, but the one way that those people can participate in the dei bureaucracy in this country is

to e trans. and is there a dynamic that's going on where if you become trans, that is the way to reject your white privilege? laura: other members of trump's inner circle are also making headlines. >> neither of us are doctors, vaccines are safe. laura: on cnn last night, howard lutnick, tapped as co-chair of trump's transition team, was asked whether or not rfk jr. fits into a potential trump administration. that prompted him to go on a baseless anti-vaccine rant. >> why do you think vaccines are safe? there is no product liability anymore. >> kids get them and they're fine. >> why do you think they're fine? we know so many more people with autism than had it when we were young, come on. laura: tonight, both candidates head to battleground nevada as voters there file into the polls. for the pbs "news hour," i'm laura barron lopez. ♪

amna: just days before election day, the u.s. supreme court has ruled the state of virginia will be able to continue to purge people from the state's voter rolls. the state has argued it is part of an effort to remove noncitizens from the rolls, but voting rights advocates have found several u.s. citizens were also removed from the rolls. npr's jude joffe-block has spoken with some of those voters, and joins me now. welcome and thanks for joining us. the state of virginia has removed some 1600 people from its voter role since august. why was it doing that in the first place? jude: all states have an obligation to make sure the voters on their roles are eligible to vote. what is under debate here is how virginia went about doing it and when. virginia has a program underway to identify noncitizens on the roles that the argument being made is they are not narrowly tailoring enough to only target

noncitizens and that is happening too close to the election. so under federal law there is a rule under the national voter registration act that states have to stop this kind of voter maintenance 90 days before an election. but virginia says that does not apply here because they are targeting noncitizens specifically. but we have seen that this program has ensnared u.s. citizens. amna: you spoke to some folks who are u.s. citizens who are erroneously removed. what happens now? jude: there is a pattern where people have visited the dmv and at some point there must have made a mistake on the form where they marked a box identifying themselves as noncitizens somewhere in those forms. we are not sure how exactly this happens. but after that visit to the dmv they got a letter in the mail from their local election

official saying we think you might not be a citizen, please affirm your citizenship. we spoke to a neighbor who that letter was sent to the wrong address and got forwarded. by the time she got at the deadline had passed. she was able to reregister. we spoke to another voter. she did get the letter in the mail letting her know that she had to affirm her citizenship and she sent it back but even then she was still not on the roles and she was able to sort that out. but all of this takes time. both of those voters did end up voting early this week. amna: we spoke with an attorney working with an nonpartisan civil-rights group called protect democracy that helps voters restore their voter registration and here is what she had to say about this. >> especially within the new citizen community, there's a lot of fear. i've talked to people who have actually already fixed the problem with the registrar and affirm their status and reregistered who are still scared to vote, because they think that they've gotten a

communication saying it might be illegal for them to do so. there's another group of people who are pretty indignant and frustrated that this happened. i spoke to one voter who said, you know, i'm supposed to choose my elected officials. they're not supposed to choose whether i get to vote. amna: even if it does end up being legally sorted out for individual voters, could this have some kind of an impact on the election? jude: this is 1600 people who have been purged so far in this election period, although there were people who were taken off the rolls even before august through the same program. and we know some of those cases were eligible u.s. citizens as well. luckily because virginia does allow same-day registration, a lot of these people will hopefully realize they can still vote. so that is the silver lining. amna: this idea of noncitizens voting has really been elevated in republican concerns despite

evidence showing this is not a problem in the country. does this effort we saw in virginia tie-in to those more national concerns we have seen? jude: it definitely does tie-in. this has been a key talking point this election season and we have seen other states take aggressive actions before the election, publicizing they are taking noncitizens off the roles. these have also ensnared non-us citizens. in alabama more than 2000 u.s. citizens were swept up in an effort that was supposedly targeting noncitizens on the alabama voter rolls. experts are suggesting that this false narrative could be used to lay the groundwork to sow doubt about the election and be potentially used for future election challenges. amna: npr's jude joffe-block joining us tonight.

thank you for sharing your reporting and insights with us tonight. jude: thank you. ♪ amna: we start the day's other headlines in spain, where crews are searching for bodies in abandoned cars and swamped buildings after devastating flash floods. at least 158 people are confirmed dead, and an unknown number of others remain missing. the eastern region of valencia was by far the worst hit. from there, itn's james mates reports. james: this was how i flood to be handled. a ravine, a channel that could tame nature. on tuesday night, nature had other ideas. three of the four bridges simply swept away. water surging two to three

meters above the brinks -- banks. cars were tossed aside like toys. all with such speed that people, many on the streets on their way home from work, had little change. >> the ocean came here and everything was underwater. in 10 minutes, all the town was full of water. james: we found them clearing up outside their home just a few meters from where the river burst. she showed me how they flat out their front steps only to find the water rushing in after them. the trauma of the next few hours is still with her. my son couldn't get to us, she says. i can't talk. it was a terrible catastrophe.

without being here at the time it is most impossible to conceive of the force of water that came down the street. locals talk about it as a tsunami. when you see what happened, as the water had nowhere else to go, simply smashed everything into the end of the street, they were not exaggerating. the irony of course is this sort of storm is not unusual here this time of year. they thought they were resilient to it. it turned out they simply were not. a local supermarket still awash with mud and debris opened its doors this morning and told people to take what they need. for years experts have warned that freak weather was going to get more frequent and more intense. it has. yet europeans believe their modern societies can easily withstand such events. recent storms in central europe and now southern spain may demand a serious re-think. james mates, valencia, spain.

amna: turning now to the middle east, lebanon launched back-to-back rocket attacks into northern israel today, killing at least seven people, including four foreign workers. it was the deadliest day in israel since its military crossed into lebanon early this month. meanwhile, israel continued its aerial assault of southern lebanon. health officials there say 45 people have died in just the past day. eyewitnesses captured the scope of the devastation, including in the city of baalbek, which is home to a unesco world heritage site. across lebanon, wary residents said they're tired of living in fear. >> no one knows anymore where is safest and where is not. we are tired. the most important thing is that this doesn't drag on any longer. they must find a solution, a ceasefire, and implement a resolution in order to achieve peace. amna: since israel's incursion, the lebanese government estimates that some 1.2 million of its people have been displaced in the conflict.

u.s. officials say about 8000 north korean troops are now at russia's border with ukraine. they're expected to join the fighting in the coming days. the new figure is a sharp increase from just a day earlier, when defense secretary lloyd austin would only say some troops had moved towards the border. austin joined secretary of state antony blinken in a meeting with their south korean counterparts in washington today. they condemned the build-up of troops, as well as north korea's ballistic missile test overnight. and the group agreed to expand their cooperation. >> that's why the united states and the rok are working so closely with our partners to stand up to coercive, destabilizing actions. in both the indo-pacific and the euro-atlantic. our work together is central to ensuring peace and stability and to enhancing deterrence. amna: today's gathering comes as russia continues its air assault on ukraine. at least three people were killed, including two teenage

boys, when a russian glide bomb struck a residential building in ukraine's second-largest city of kharkiv. dozens of other people were injured. a philadelphia judge has put a state case against elon musk's million-dollar election sweepstakes on hold. city prosecutors had tried to stop the giveaways from musk's political action committee, saying they may violate election law. musk did not show up to the hearing at philadelphia's city hall today. his lawyers are trying to move the case to federal court. musk has been handing out million dollar prizes to randomly-selected voters in swing states who pledge their support for gun rights and free speech. the give-aways have continued as the legal challenge plays out. the federal reserve's preferred measure of inflation slowed last month to near pre-pandemic levels. it's a welcome sign for consumers ahead of the u.s. election. the latest report from the commerce department showed that prices rose 2.1% in september, when compared to last year.

that's down from a reading of 2.3% in august, and it's just a hair above the fed's 2% inflation target. separately, the number of americans filing for unemployment fell last week by 12,000, pointing to ongoing stability in the u.s. labor market. on wall street today, stocks ended sharply lower, as tech shares weighed on the markets. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 380 points on the day. the nasdaq sank more than 500 points, or about 2.75%. the s&p 500 also ended sharply lower, dropping more than 100 points. and it was a hollywood ending for this year's world series champions, the los angeles dodgers. their series-clinching win over the new york yankees last night was defined by an epic comeback, or a remarkable collapse, depending on who you root for. new york blew a 5-0 lead in the fifth inning, due to a number of errors.

l.a. went on to win the game, and the series. today, the team brought the trophy back to tinseltown. it's the dodgers' second world series win in just the last five years. tomorrow, the city of angels will host their heroes with a parade downtown, and a celebration at dodger stadium. still to come on the "news hour," we examine the divide between kamala harris and donald trump on social security and medicare spending. the rise of misinformation and threats to election workers as election day approaches. and the politics of abortion in the united states ripples through kenya. >> this is the pbs "news hour" from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: in the final days of this election, both presidential candidates are trying to win over older voters with their plans for entitlement programs like social security and

medicare, which provide financial protections to retired and disabled americans. but social security, a program that's long been popular with both parties, is at risk of being depleted as soon as 2034, and medicare will be insolvent by 2036. leaving families without critical financial support. as part of our in-depth coverage of the candidates' promises and policies, lisa desjardins is here to walk us through how both campaigns say they'll tackle the issue. good to see you. let's start with the stakes. if these programs to become insolvent who is at risk? lisa: a massive group of people. before social security and medicare were in place together, 35% of american seniors lived in poverty. that number is more like 10% now. if congress and the white house do anything, social security will see 20% cuts within the next decade and by some estimates senior poverty will double. there are ways to solve this. they are politically tricky but

it takes making tough choices. amna: let's start with what the candidates say and the program going insolvent, social security. lisa: neither candidate has a comprehensive plan to stabilize social security. analysts have found that donald trump would destabilize it. let's talk about he speaks on this. here's one of his messages on the campaign trail. >> i will cut all of the bad talk about social security because they're going to destroy your social security. but i will not cut $0.01 from social security or medicare. and i kept my promise for four years and i will keep it again. and seniors should not pay taxes on social security. lisa: trump specifically says he will end income taxes on so security, end payroll taxes which fund social security, and not raise the retirement age, currently 67 years old. he has no proposals for making the system more solvent.

four years ago he had different proposals. he wanted to privatize the system and raise the age. amna: how would it make it less stable? lisa: trump's plan has been analyzed by the committee for a responsible federal budget. the system is running out of money and his plans would reduce the funding. they found that trump's plan would most likely make social security insolvent and forth cuts three years sooners by 2031, and the cut eventually would be larger. a 33% cut in benefits in 10 years. this is also something that would affect people beginning with those who are 60 years old now and want to retire by 67. of course those kind of cuts would affect everyone on social security now as well. amna: vice president harris has been critical of former president trump's plans but what would she do? lisa: let's start with how she talks about social security herself. >> my plan includes what we need to do to strengthen the solvency of social security.

it includes what we're going to need to do and work with congress to make sure we're putting more into it and it cannot be about cutting benefits because right now those benefits are barely adequate as it is. lisa: harris has also not given any details about how she would keep system solvent while potentially expanding benefits. remember that doing nothing about that means that would be an automatic cut going into place in 2034. so without any more details harris's plans heads us towards a cut in social security. we spoke to the head of the committee for a responsible federal budget about these plans. >> if you just take social security, what's really astounding is you have both candidates talking about how they promise to protect the program. if we do nothing, in nine years, there will be across the board benefit cuts of almost a quarter for every retiree who is collecting benefits. and that's unconscionable. lisa: it is also not something either candidate is facing up to

on the campaign trail. amna: so that is social security. medicare is also at risk. what to the candidates say about that? lisa: neither candidate has a plan to stabilize that either but harris does have some proposals for medicare that are significant. he wants to expand a plan and would negotiate all drug prices including -- and that could save billions of dollars. she likes to point out that she and president biden expanded the program and started the program to negotiate on drugs but former president trump does not have a specific prescription drug plan and the -- it is also not clear if he would allow medicare to keep negotiating prices or if he would expand it. we just don't know. harris would use the savings from this idea of negotiating more drug prices to begin a new benefit for in-home care. former president trump is also interested in that but it is not clear how he would pay for it. the bottom line is neither candidate has a plan to stabilize medicare and we are on that same track where a program

will face benefit cuts if nothing else happens. amna: it is fair to say the situation the both of these systems is approaching dyer. what do voters say? lisa: this is a really important sleeper issue especially with older voters. the aarp did a survey of american voters over 50 and they found harris has an advantage. when asked who you trust more, 48% said they trust her more than donald trump. one more thing. we keep talking about how the atomic is the top concern for voters. this is part of that issue in america. the aarp found with voters over 50 that when they were asked about what would help them most financially, their personal economy, social security, protecting social security was tied for first with food prices. we talk so much about inflation but keeping social security intact is something older voters realize is a key part of their economy and the national economy. amna: so important to point out

the economy means so many different things. lisa: older voters, this is not an issue that has been given enough attention by the candidates. either you have to raise some kind of revenue or you have to cut benefits. they note as it -- they know that is the case and the longer they wait the more painful it will be for just about everyone waiting. so this is a failure in addressing a critical american problem. amna: lisa desjardins, thank you so much. lisa: you are welcome. ♪ amna: immigration remains another key issue in this campaign. vice president harris says if elected, she will pass a bipartisan bill strengthening border security. former president trump promises a much larger crackdown, including mass deportations. one of the key claims from trump and others, that immigrants

commit a disproportionate number of crimes, has been disputed and contradicted by data. but there's been an economic argument made by the former president as well, that immigrants take jobs and lower wages for other americans. our economic correspondent, paul solman, gave that a closer look. >> an invasion of criminal migrants. paul: for former president donald trump, immigration has long been an obsession. >> we are a dumping ground. we are a garbage can for the world. paul: but vice president harris too promises to crack down on illegal crossings. >> we will pursue more severe terminal charges against repeat violators. paul: 55% of americans say they favor reduced immigration amidst a record number of illegal crossings late last night -- late last year, straining resources in several cities. though crossings have since plunged. these are immigrants in the south bronx, learning

construction safety basis. almost all have asked for asylum and are in legal limbo until their cases are resolved. how many of you think you will be working in two months? what kind of work? well, he came here years ago from the dominican republic. he says he has done every job he can find. >> electrician, carpenter, plumber. paul: wilbur has been here just one month. >> i go to home depot. a lot of migrants know to look for construction jobs there. paul: alfonso endured the nightmare trek from venezuela through the jungle to get to america with his young sons and wife. >> we were robbed just as we were exiting the jungle. masked men came out and stopped everybody crossing. it was in a large group and they stole from everyone. those who didn't have anything

to give, at times they were young women and these men just took it upon themselves to ra pe them. paul: they say they are forever scarred. knowing what you know now, would you do it again? >> no. it's too much psychologically. lots of bodies riddled the path. paul: donald trump also stresses a more seemingly plausible darkside of immigration. the immigrant's economic impact. >> it is not just the crime. your jobs are being taken away. paul: especially low-wage jobs says steve, who has long advocated for fewer immigrants. >> the vast majority of people who do all the low-wage jobs in the u.s. are u.s.-born. paul: so are immigrants displacing american workers? almost any employer will tell you how hard it is to find

reliable workers these days. >> most of the people coming of working age are going to do the jobs nobody you else wants to do. and we are not doing them. paul: when the program coordinator here came from guatemala 14 years ago, he also started at the bottom. >> i was putting floors, teaching english, cutting hair, killing rats. paul: killing rats? >> absolutely. i have some friends with jack terriers and i would take them out at night and hunt rats in vacant lots of new york city. we would get paid just to walk around and do that. paul: current mean says -- carmine says immigrants have to take whatever job they can get. >> they have to take any available opportunity because they have to provide for themselves and for the people they are with and they don't have access to health care. they don't have any assistance. paul: 2400 miles west, janeel

runs a ranch in eastern nevada. her father has a dairy farm nearby. what is your reaction when you hear that immigrants are taking jobs from americans? >> it is dumb. paul: dumb? >> it is uninformed. they are not taking your job. you don't want it. you don't want to do it. if you want to, you would be applying when we advertise. my dad would not be looking for milkers all the time. nearly everyone we know in agriculture is looking for someone. paul: for years, baker has posted an irrigation job. >> we had a couple of people who said my son would like a job and i never heard from them. another time we had someone call, say they were interested, they never showed up. this year we had someone looked at the requirements of the job and decided they didn't want to do it. he was the only person to actually show up and talk to my husband about the job. paul: ok, but what about the recent wave of immigrants?

can the economy really absorb all of them? >> the vacuum of jobs, especially the construction industry, there is a job for anyone who wants to work. especially if you are willing to do anything. paul: jobs that nativeborn americans don't or won't do? >> it would be wrong to say there are jobs americans simply don't do. if two thirds of construction laborers based on the american community survey are u.s.-born, you cannot say no american jat -- does that jabeur is interested. paul: and immigrants depress wages below what many americans can bear. >> if you increase the supply of anything, in this case labor or workers, you tend to lower its price. if a job is likely heavily immigrant, it is likely push down wages. some of those jobs are really unpleasant like construction labor. so you would want wages to be relatively high there. one of the thing immigration does is hold down wages, making

the occupation less attractive. paul: but there are construction jobs american workers won't do even for high pay. >> people you pay $50 something, sometimes they don't work. i see that with my eyes. paul: juan pablo, long since an american citizen, sympathizes. >> if i am not in a spot in my life where i don't have to, i won't. paul: this business school professor. >> we have clear evidence that nativeborn young men and women will simply not do those jobs. they will not take them. even during times of very high unemployment. paul: but if fewer immigrants means higher wages, maybe americans will take the jobs, especially less educated men. >> the share of men not in labor force, neither working or looking for work, is triple what it was in 1960, and nearly

double what it was even 25 years ago. as long as we have a supply of eager immigrants, we are never going to adjust this problem. paul: and think of all the available jobs where -- were donald trump to deliver on his campaign valve. >> we are going to deport these people so rapidly. paul: that would cost all of us. >> the income that this undocumented generate in the u.s. is about 3.5% of u.s. gdp. so about $1 trillion per year. plus you will have all the costs of running these operations that will also be huge. from a pure economic point of view, massive cost. some sectors will have huge disruption. >> what would happen to american agriculture? >> you would tank it. in our area if you were to pull out all of the immigrants,

documented or not, it would devastate our area. >> in new york construction never stops. who is doing that construction? paul: tim runs the bricklayers union. >> i do not believe the industry could survive that kind of mass loss of workers. paul: and besides -- >> the only way there was a reduction in unauthorized workers in this country was when the pandemic hit and employment opportunities ceased to exist and the reason a lot of people were attracted your disappeared. we had the four year experiment of deportation. it failed. paul: just so says professor hernandez. >> a study that came out recently showed the biggest predictor of illegal border crossings is unfilled job openings in the u.s. we need these people. paul: can at the moment at least, we certainly seem to. for the pbs "news hour," paul solman in the bronx. ♪

amna: officials across the country are working overtime to ensure election day is a success. and the stakes are high. william brangham has our look at the threats causing concern. william: thanks. from rampant disinformation, foreign adversaries trying to sow chaos, ballot boxes set ablaze. there are many bad actors trying to undermine our elections process. but there's also an army of non-partisan elections officials who are collecting ballots and pushing back, confident that this election, like the last, will be secure. for a closer look at what we need to know in advance of tuesday, we're joined again by juliette kayyem. she's a former assistant secretary at the department of homeland security, and faculty chair of the homeland security program at harvard's kennedy school. so good to have you back on the program. you have been advising elections administrators around the

country in the lead up to tuesday. what is the mood like amongst them right now? juliette: it is nervous but also no surprises. in other words everyone has been anticipating what we are now seeing going on which is both a coordinated and ad hoc attack on how we vote, where we vote, what we understand to be the truth and the information space. so this is not a surprise to them. but let's be honest, the system was not built for this, so they are adapting and pivoting in real time. william: let's talk about some of those different threats. one of them has been physical attacks. we saw these ballot boxes lit on fire in the pacific northwest. we saw a man in arizona shoot up a dnc office. not an elections office, but how are elections officials preparing for those kind of

physical, so-called connecticut tax? juliette: -- so-called connecticut a-- so-called kinetic attacks? juliette: physical safety is the most important. in most instances private securities being hired to buttress public safety security. preventative measures, everything from lighting and videos, to make sure there are eyes and ears everywhere. so there is both defense in terms of locking down to the extent that you can and then preparing if there are attacks, what you would do. in my opinion it is less likely any individual place is going to have a physical attack. there will be lot hoaxes and disinformation. the goal is to disrupt the get out the vote. think about what 10 bomb threat scares could do in an urban area in a swing state.

so there is lots of practicing of how do you move from one building to another out into the street. you have to keep focusing on get out the vote and that is what a lot of the training and practicing is doing right now. william: what a world we live in, ugh. apart from this physical threat, there is also this concurrent information war attack against the voting system. the former president and many of his allies have continued for four years to say the last election was stolen and that this one currently is also being cheated upon and stolen. we also know that polls show that this message has penetrated republicans, where some polls show half, some show in majority of republicans believe there will be cheating and fraud. how on earth do we defend against that? juliette: the first thing is just to say factually there is simply no evidence of rampant institutionalized voter fraud.

you are going to see cases here and there which people are arrested or there are mistakes made. millions of people are voting so that is going to happen. but the groundwork we have as a country -- any democracy at this stage even how bifurcated it is. you have so many different polling places. that is the first thing. the second is the information pushback that is going on now. both a foreign and domestic campaign to undermine the validity of the election, not just disrupt the vote. lies about place and time and whether you are authorized to vote and also to create a narrative that should donald trump losing the election he will create a narrative that he did not lose fairly, that votes were stolen from him. there are a lot of people interested in promoting that

narrative including the russians and elon musk, who owns twitter and as we know is promoting falsehoods about the vote. there are two things we can do. one is citizens need to get smart about their information intake, including people who think they are sophisticated inhalers of intelligence. we tend to get whipped up at the random person who says something. we need to validate it. the other is you are starting to see public and private entities push back on lies early on. for example i have never seen the united states government give attribution to the russians for a lot of lies that they are pushing about fake votes. the u.s. is going to name and shame to the extent it can as well. william: i mentioned at the

beginning that elections officials say 2020 was the safest and most secure election we have ever had. they think they will be the same or better this year. do you share that confidence? juliette: yes, i do. the thing i cannot quantify right now is how many people are willing to break federal law -- a reminder, this is breaking federal law -- to disrupt the vote. if they are willing to do that, then you can see disruptions we have not imagined in the past. william: that is juliette kayyem of the harvard kennedy school. thank you so much for being here. juliette: thank you for having me. ♪ amna: abortion is a closely watched issue in this year's election, and not just in the united states. former president trump cut funding for international groups that offer or even counsel on abortion services.

advocates on both sides of the debate in kenya are watching for who wins and what that may mean. with the support of the pulitzer center, special correspondent neha wadekar reports from nairobi. and a warning, this story contains accounts of sexual and gender-based violence. neha: anne became an orphan when she was just 10 years old. with nowhere to turn, she moved to dandora, kenya's largest dumpsite, and began sorting trash to earn some money. shortly after she arrived, anne was raped by an older man. we have changed her name and concealed her identity. anne soon started making a living as a sex worker. many of her clients were abusive, and some refused to wear condoms. >> that's because when you meet a guy, if you ask him to use protection, he says, i don't eat a sweet while it's still wrapped. neha: at age 13, anne became pregnant. nearly one in five kenyan girls becomes pregnant before they're 18, in part due to poverty and lack of sex education and access to contraception.

back in 2004, abortion was completely illegal in kenya. anne used black market pills for her first abortion. her second pregnancy two years later was harder to terminate. >> so, i used knitting needles. it got to the point where i bled for two months. i had to go to the public hospital where i got help. neha: anne's story is far too common in kenya, where an estimated seven women and girls die each day from unsafe abortions. many who survive the procedures are left with severe complications, says monica oguttu, founding executive director of the nonprofit healthcare organization kmet. >> they bleed a lot from these damaged organs. we have seen cases that that sharp object goes through the uterus. neha: the country's 2010 constitution now permits abortion in a narrow handful of circumstances, like for emergency treatment, or if the life and health of the mother is

in danger. but it's still confusing, even for physicians, says dr. ernest nyamato, an associate director at the nonprofit ipas. kenya is also a very religious country, and abortion is highly stigmatized. >> when you see this ambiguity as a medical provider, you take the safer road and say, let me not provide these services, or let me allow other people to do it. so, we sort of accept this thing of this is a backstreet service, let it stay there. neha: some government facilities do perform abortions. private clinics also do, but they can be expensive. so women look for other, cheaper options. >> for abortion? if you have two months it's $3500. it's five months, we take $4000. neha: pamela is a traditional medicine vendor who charges

women and girls between $27 and $31 for help. pamela claims she stopped selling abortion-inducing herbs long ago. this type of denial is commonplace among black market actors offering illegal abortion-related services, both in person, and on social media, where misinformation thrives. if the herbs don't work, a woman might turn to a quack doctor for help. this is a room in a back-alley abortion clinic in one of nairobi's informal settlements. many of the people who work here claim to have medical training, but really have very little. they'll often use unsterile instruments like this to perform unsafe abortion procedures on women and girls, which can leave them either infertile or even lead to death. samuel is a self-proclaimed doctor who offers surgical abortion to poor women with nowhere else to turn. we've changed his name because his work is illegal. >> the challenge is, for example, when you want to interact with somebody who has just come for it, it has to be a secret because the government doesn't allow.

neha: many poor and indigent women who die from back alley abortions end up at public morgues. abandoned fetuses often end up there, too. some of those fetuses are fished out of the river in dandora, the slum where anne lives. after her own two abortions, anne helped other women and girls abort around 150 pregnancies using a rusty pair of knitting needles. she throws the fetuses in this river at night to avoid getting caught. anne, do you ever feel any guilt? >> yes, i do. that's because we're taking the life of young babies. but we have to do that because we have no other choice. neha: since kenya adopted its 2010 constitution, the country's judges have expanded abortion access through several major court decisions. but after roe v. wade was overturned in 2022 in the united states, abortion rights advocates became concerned that

the same thing could happen in kenya. one of the groups pushing for those decisions to be overturned is the kenya christian professionals forum, led by a constitutional lawyer named charles kanjama. >> we believe that abortion is not care. abortion doesn't save lives, abortion takes lives. neha: several cases are making their way through kenyan courts, including one petitioning for unborn children's right to life, and for equal protection and benefit of the law. a familiar argument in the united states' own abortion debate, says martin onyango, a lawyer at the center for reproductive rights. >> those are not new tactics. those are the same tactics being applied by the opposition group in the u.s. in various states, and also at the supreme court. neha: that's in part because the kenyan anti-abortion movement is being bolstered by international groups, especially american groups, promoting conservative policies and ideology in africa. these groups travel to africa as

speakers for events and conduct anti-abortion training sessions. according to parliamentarian esther passaris, this type of campaigning is highly influential, because politicians fear losing the support of important conservative voting blocs. >> i think the idea that you will offend the church, the idea that you will lose votes if the church doesn't endorse you as a candidate. neha: there are huge sums of money flowing from american conservative groups into the continent of africa. a 2020 investigation by opendemocracy revealed that $54 million flowed from u.s. christian right groups to africa between 2008 and 2018. many of these groups are led by prominent american evangelicals with close ties to former president donald trump and his administration. >> to protect the unborn, i have reinstated a policy first put in place by president ronald reagan.

neha: trump also reinstated and expanded the mexico city policy, known as the global gag rule, which restricts u.s. funding to any international organization that performs or even counsels on abortion. his policies emboldened anti-abortion advocates during his term. >> they don't use federal funds to support pro-abortion organizations, so the noise of pro-abortion in our countries goes down automatically. neha: they also created a chilling effect for kenyan reproductive healthcare providers like kmet, who chose to lose $3 million in u.s. funding, rather than stopping abortion-related services. >> we had 15 staff that we laid off. it was the most difficult moment for me as the ceo of the organization. neha: with an american election around the corner, kenyans on both sides of the issue are waiting to see which way the chips fall. >> depending on the government that is elected in the united states, we may have either

continued progress in realizing reproductive rights, or we can go back, we can lose the gains that we have made. neha: the stakes are highest for kenyan women and girls, who will feel the greatest impact if abortion rights are rolled back once again. for pbs "news hour," i'm neha wadekar in nairobi, kenya. ♪ amna: and remember, there is a lot more online, including conversations with several young voters on what's driving them to the polls. that's at pbs.org/newshour. and we know it's halloween tonight, millions will be trick-or-treating, and celebrating the spookiness of the season. but it's also diwali, the hindu festival of lights. and in northern india, a record 2.5 million clay lamps lined the saryu river in the city of ayodhya.

the waterway is believed to be the birthplace of the deity, lord ram. the lights of diwali symbolize the triumph of good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. and that is the "news hour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire "news hour" team, thanks for joining us. and have a happy, or i should say, spooky halloween. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs "news hour" has been provided by. ♪ >> moving our economy for 160

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hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up . >> donald trump has spent a decade trying to keep the american people divided and afraid ofeach other. >> it's the final sprint,