10/30/20 10/30/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> perhaps senator perdue would have been able to respond properly to the covid-19 pandemic if you had not been sending off multiple federal investigations for insider trading. not just that you are a crook, senator. it is that you are attacking the health of the people they represent. amy: as the 2020 campaign enters its final days, we go to georgia

where two senate seats are for -- are up for grabs and both republican incumbents face stiff opposition. could georgia help democrats win back the senate? we will speak to emory professor carol anderson, the author of "one person, no vote: how voter suppression is destroying our democracy." then we lookt the nave american vote in the 2020 election. >> what we're talking about this election season in tms of tive voting rights in indian country is the te of two crises, onbrought on by global endemic and the inequality at the pls. it was notntil the 1960's that native america were even able to vote across all elections. now with ese two crises front and center, i think what is not only driving voters to the polls, but also enlisting more natives to run for office than ever before. amy: we ll speako indigeus investative jonalist jni mot, a tril citizeof the eblo of guna. she writes the newsletter

"indigenously: decolonizing your newsfeed." and we will speak to jesse wegman, author of "let the people pick the president: the case for abolishing the electoral college." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. the united states confirmed over -- nearly 90,000 new cases of coronavirus thursday, the worst toll of the u.s. epidemic so far, with an average of one new infection every second of the day. 43 states are seeing cases rise, with 17 states breaking records for hospitalizations and eight states reporting record daily cases. this is dr. ashish jha of brown of university's school opublic health. >> tngs are bad and at the united states right now.

we are hing some of the largest outbreaks we have had during the entire pandemic. 9, 10 months into this pandemic were still largely not prepared. y: itexas, epaso county has ordered a two-week lockdown i'm not a surgical -- nonessential businesses as hospitals near capacity. post" reportsn over 40,000 residents have died of covid-19 in nursing homes that were given a clean bill of heal by the trump administration. "the post", centers for medicare and medicaid services cleared nearly eight out of 10 nursing homes have any infection control violations, even homes with mounting coronavirus outbreaks before or during the inspections. president trump and joe biden held competing campaign rallies just miles apart thursday in the battleground state of florida, which is also a red zone hotspot for the coronavirus. biden held a drive-in rally in tampa where supporters were

required to wear masks and to practice social distancing. mr. biden: donald trump refuses to listen to science, and we should not be politicizing the race for a vaccine. we should be planning for its safe use and free and equitable distribution, providing ppe for national standards for schools, businesses to open safely, i had a plan back in may how to do that. amy: just 10 miles away, president trump spoke to a crowd of thousands of mostly-unmasked supporters who rallied shoulder-to-shoulder on the day the u.s. shattered its record for new coronavirus infections. trump promised the country would remain open for business no matter what. pres. trump: we are never going to lockdown again. we left down, we understood the disease, and now we're open for business. amy: trump's rally came as the u.s. death toll from covid-19 topped 228,000, with over 9 million confirmed cases since

march. pres. trump: the bottom line is, are going to get better. if i can get better, anybody can get better. and i got that are. amy: nearly a dozen trump supporters at thursday's rally in tampa were hospitalized after waiting for hours in the searing heat and humidity. after complaining about the heat from the stage, trump mocked firefighters who sprayed the crowd with water to help cool people off. pres. trump: let's find out if they are friend or foe. if they are folk, let's take care of the son of a bitches. amy: this follows seven hospitalizations for hypothermia that followed a trump rally in omaha tuesday evening after the trump campaign failed to provide enough buses for supporters, who were left waiting in the freezing cold for hours until midnight. meanwhile, a cnn study finds 82% of counties where president trump held a campaign rally experienced a surge in covid-19

cases afterwards. in pennsylvania, new data from the u.s. postal service show on-time mail delivery plummeted over the last two weeks even as pennsylvania saw a record number of ballots cast by mail. in philadelphia, about 42% of first-class mail took five days or longer to be delivered, compared to just 13% in january. meanwhile, election officials in pennsylvania's butler county say thousands of mail-in ballots requested by voters appear to have been lost in the mail. in minnesota, a federal judge has ordered election officials to set aside mail-in ballots that arrive after november 3, paving the way for the ballots to be invalidated even if they were postmarked by election day. the ruling overturns an order by minnesota's secretary of state requiring ballots received within seven days of the election to be counted. in michigan, a state appeals court on thursday upheld an order allowing the open carry of firearms at polling places.

the ruling invalidates an order by michigan's attorney general that banned the display of weapons within 100 feet of polling sites. in philadelphia, family members of walter, wallace jr. said thursday they do not want the officers who fatally shot the 27-year-old to face murder charges. family attorney shaka johnson said the officers were not properly trained and didn't have the right equipment to do their jobs properly. johnson reviewed body camera footage of the killing, which is set to be publicly released next week. he says it shows wallace threatening officers with a knife, but also that wallace was incapacitated as soon as he was struck by the first of 14 shots fired by two officers. >> what other than death did you intend when you shoot a man, each officer, seven times apiece? amy: protests against wallace's killing continue in philadelphia and across the united states. on thursday, philadelphia's city

council passed a ban on the use of tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, and other so-called less lethal weaponry on people exercising their first amendment rights. the trump administration has quietly ended a civil-rights investigation into the police killing of 12-year-old tamir rice in 2014. "the new york times" reports the justice department ignored pleas by career prosecutors to open a grand jury probe into rice's killing for more than two years before denying the request in 2019. in 2014, cleveland police officer timothy loehmann shot rice within two seconds of arriving at a cleveland park where rice was playing with a pellet gun. when tamir's 14-year-old sister rushed to her brother's side, they tackled her to the ground, handcuffed her, and put her in the cruiser. tamir rice died the next day. neither officer was prosecuted or fired over the killing. in immigration news, a damning -- the house judiciary committee has found the trump administration knew it wouldn't be able to reunite children separated from their parents at

the u.s.-mexico border but enforced the practice anyway. the report published thursday is the first complete narrative of trump's zero tolerance policy which has separated over 2500 children from their families, including babies and kids with mental and physical disabilities. house democrats 100s of children will likely never be reunited with their parents and described the practice as being plagued years investigating the policy. the immigrant rights organization project south

alongside other legal groups is suing immigration and customs enforcement for failing to turn over records of non-consensual medical procedures performed on immigrant prisoners, including invasive gynecological surgeries and forced sterilizations at the irwin detention center in georgia. the intercept reports at least 57 women may have undergone aggressive and unnecessary gynecological procedures at the privately owned prison since 2018. to watch our interview with one of the survivors, go to democracynow.org. in california, the family of david villalobos, a 30-year-old immigrant from mexico who was killed by border patrol last week, is demanding an independent investigation into his fatal shooting. villalobos was attempting to return to the u.s. to be reunited with his child and family when he was confronted by border patrol agents who shot him in the chest. his family says he had developmental challenges. villalobos had been living in the u.s. since he was a child and was deported several years ago. in more immigration news, the guardian reports the trump administration has significantly increased deportations to haiti in the weeks before the presidential election, triggering concerns for the safety of asylum seekers and the possible spread of the coronavirus to haiti. the watchdog group witness at the border has recorded at least 12 deportation flights to haiti this month. this comes as immigrant advocates say black asylum

seekers are being disproportionately targeted. earlier this month, nearly 100 -- 60 cameroonian and nearly two dozen congolese asylum seekers were also deported en masse. many alleged eyes agents forced them to sign removal papers. nearly 60 bodies have been found in clandestine mass graves in the state of guanajuato. officials with the national search committee say most of the bodies belong to young people, including teens. violence has skyrocketed in guanajuato due to wars between drug cartels. since the mexican government launched its war on drugs in 2006, abou250,000 people have been killed, nearly 40,000 are still missing, and over 3000 clandestine graves have been discovered. in yemen, the watchdog monitoring group airwars says u.s. drone strikes have killed as many as 154 civilians since president trump took office, including at least 28 children, accelerating a trend that began under president obama.

airwars found that in less than four years, the trump administration targeted yemen for over 230 airstrikes or ground raids -- nearly the same total asuring eight years under obama. millions of yemenis ce famine after years of a brutal u.s.-backed, saudi-led bombing campaign that has devastated the country. in the united kingdom, the labour party has suspended former leader jeremy corbyn after he disagreed with some of the conclusions of a government report on anti-semitism and the labour party. corbyn has promised to strongly contest the political -- the suspension. in response, peace activist medea benjamin wrote -- "u.k. labour leader jeremy corbyn has spent his life fighting racism and defending the rights of the oppressed, including palestinians. he has always opposed anti-semitism, but anti-semitism is being weaponized to suspend him from the party. sad."

the trump administration has largely stopped auditing the wealthiest people. >> donald trump has done an enormous favor to 24,000 chest families in ameca. they make about $30 million a year each. you know how many of thehad their tax returns audited? seven. 7000, seven. and he could dedicate johnson's report finds that under president obama in 2015, the country sources households were 270 times more likely to be audited than under trump. in media news, the pulitzer prize-winning journalist glenn greenwald has resigned from the intercept after accusing the news outlet of censoring an article he wrote about joe biden. greenwald, who co-founded the intercept, accused editors of refusing to "publish the article unless i agree to remove all of the sections critical of the candidate they want to win."

greenwald's article focused on disputed corruption allegations about biden's son hunter that first appeared in "the new york post." in a statement, the intercept said in part -- "while he accuses us of political bias, it was he who was attempting to recycle the dubious claims of a political campaign -- the trump campaign -- and launder them as journalism." the trump administration says it is ending endangered species protections for the grey wolf, saying a scattered population of 6000 wolves across the u.s. is enough to save the species. the natural resources defense council blasted the decision, writing in a statement -- "as we face a biodiversity crisis of global proportions, it is imperative for us to recognize that this isn't just about wolves. the fate of humanity is intertwined with the fate of species and healthy ecosystems." and longtime peace and justice activist ted glick is continuing a month-long hunger strike ahead of the presidential election as he hopes to encourage undecided

vors to support democratic presidential nominee joe biden. glick launched a hunger strike on october 3 and will conclude it on election day. he spoke to democracy now! last night. >> i am on day 27 of what will end up being a 32 date fast to defeat trump. i am doing this to underline the urgency of our situation and help people who get it on how bad trump is most of the to vote for by the battleground states in particular. we need to stand up now for our rights, r people, our climate, and doing it by getting trump out of there. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a record shattering 82 million people have already voted by mail or in person in the 2020 election. president trump and joe biden and hundreds of other candidates across the nation are entering the last weekend of campaigning before voting ends on tuesday.

in addition to the presidency, democrats are hoping to win back control of the senate and perhaps no state is as important as georgia, where both republican senators are on the ballot and face stiff opposition. on thursday, georgia republican senator david perdue withdrew from the final debate which was scheduled for sunday against democratic challenger jon ossoff, who called him a crook during a debate on wednesday night. >> perhaps senator perdue would have been able to respond properly to the covid-19 pandemic if you had not been sending off multiple federal investigations for insider trading. it is not just that you are a crook, senator. attacking the are health of the people that you represent. you did say covid-19 was no deadlier than the flu. you did say there would be no significant uptick in cases. all the while you are looking after your own assets and your

own portfolio. amy: in january, senator perdue bought $65,000 in stock in a company that made personal protective equipment on the same day that he received a private senate briefing about the covid-19 pandemic. during wednesday's debate, jon ossoff also denounced perdue for running an anti-semitic ad against him. >> you have continued to demean yourself throughout this campaign with your conduct. first, were lengthening my nose in attack ads to remind everybody that i am jewish. then when that did not work, you started calling me some kind of islamic terrorist. then one that did not work, you started calling me a chinese communist. it is ridiculous. and you should not do everything that your handlers in washington tell you because you lose your soul along the way, senator. amy: instead of attending the final debate on sunday, senator david perdue plans to speak at a rally with president trump who is in a close race with joe

biden in georgia -- a state no democrat has won since 1992. meanwhile, georgia voters will also be casting ballots in a special election for georgia's other senate seat which was held by republican senator johnny isakson, who retired last year. 20 candidates are on the ballot, including eight democrats and six republicans. the front runners are incumbent republican senator kelly loeffler, the millionaire republican donor who was appointed earlier this year to temporarily fill the seat, republican doug collins and democrat reverend rafael warnock, senior pastor of the historic ebenezer baptist church, the former church of the reverend dr. martin luther king, jr. in georgia, senate races go to runoffs if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. it is possible both georgia races could go to runoffs in january and could be the deciding factor in who controls the senate. to talk all about the races in georgia and more, we go to atlanta to speak with emory professor carol anderson.

author of many books, including "one person, no vote: how voter suppression is destroying our democracy." you have joe biden in the last days of this race very unusual for a democrat instead democratic presidential candidate won there since 1992, going to warm springs, georgia, to give one of his final speeches there of the election campaign, and then these two highly contentious senatorial races. can you talk about the significance of this, professor anderson? >> i think what it is really showing is how georgia is tru in play. it is in play because we have had not only massive demographic changes here in georgia, but we have had grassroots organizing and mobilizing registry focused about, working through getting through all of the voter suppression barriers to in fact wring people out to the polls in unprecedented numbers.

and to have two really viable candidates running for senate and then to have biden going to warm springs, georgia, which was the retreat for fdr, president franklin delano roosevelt, begins to give a sense that georgia is more than in play. amy: that is fascinating that he went to warm springs, georgia, where president fdr would go to thislesce from polio in period, in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the former vice prident joe biden would choose warm springs to speak. >> i think part of what it i too, is that just the way the -- was in signifint troue in t depression and president hoover was unable to work out of his ideologicalox that this was going to require government intervention to help the american ople and fdr did not have that box.

he had the new deal. and i think that is so what is beg signied here. we are in the middle of a massive pandemic where we have u.s.,million cases in the where we have had over 225,000 deaths. businesses shutting down. toools not really being able open safely. and it is going to take massive government intervention on the new deal level to get us where we need to be. go to republican senator denver purdue. we just heard jon ossoff come his opponent, speaking. who appeared to mock democratic vice presidential nominee kamala harris at a rally for donald trump in georgia, repeatedly mispronouncing her name.

and then jon ossoff tweeted in perdue neverator would have done this to a male colleague or a white colleague and everyone knows it." this is senator perdue. >> these are not activists, these are constitutionalists. they are there to protect you and me. insidious thing that chuck schumer and joe biden are trying to perpetrate and bernie and others and kamala or whatever., amy: her name is kamala harris and she is the vice presidential candidate. i want to ask you, professor anderson, about the effect in the impact of stacey abrams and her organization fair fight, what it has meant? because whether it is georgia or florida or anywhere in this country talking about people's right to vote, something you

have spent a great deal time examining? >> one of the key things is that stacey abrams ran for governor was ban herpponent kim come the sretary of state, who did not recuse hself but engaged in massive vot suppressio efforts to win that election. stacey abrams did not concede. when you hear her non-concession speech, you know you're looking at a woman who understands that in order to get the democracy back on track, it is not just about an elected office. it is about doing the heavy lifting of democracy. and that is what fair fight for action is. it is massive grassroots organizing, registering folks to vote, and understanding it is not just in georgia but it is in all of these states where we have this massive voter

suppression. that kind of organizing, that kind of mobilizing and that kind of litigation has been absolutely instrumental in getting people out to vote and working with other organizations and in making very visible what had been so invisible, which is the evisceration of so many american citizens right to vote. the willingness to create what i call civic death. stacey abrams has been just -- in terms ofs the work she had her organization have been doing. amy: can you talk about th meltdown in the eye mary that just a waste a few months ago? ose yes. our primary was scheduledor april bubecause of the pandemic that has been alled run rpant here grgia, it got moved to june. what that mnt was it s

supposed toive the election officialimtorepare. what impact happened was we had these massive, massive lines. they have done a recent study that were precincts 90% more or white f registered voters, their weight time was six minutes. for precincts that were over 90% or mor mority, the average .ait time was 51 minutes six minutes to an hour. that is not by aident. the work of making car -- what that did was it invoked a kind of sense of we have got to do what we must do in der to vote these folks out. e people w don't believe in democracy, theeople o don't lievin puttingights, we've got to mobilize to vote them out. and this iwhy you sethe

massive rly vong turno happeng he in grgia and frankly, arounthe nation. amy: can you talk out the other senatori race were s manyeople arrunning once? this scial eleion toill aacson s that crentlyhe appoind senor leffl h an shis runni as well, and amg those e runninagainst is the reverd rapel warck. we saw h presidever the funeral of ngreman john wis, t voting right warrior. lly lofler, thhite wan suppter of president tmp," ner ofhenba anchise r atlantare. talkbout h tenure and what this race means. always -- also highly contagious and really in play. art of what you have happening here is that when senator

retired resigned, there was an opening. trump'slins, who was attack dog in the use peachment hearing, he thought was going to get the appointment from governor kemp. klyead, kemp chose loeffler. so she is an aointed nator. she is not elected. so she is running for election. but doug collins believes that was his seatso he is still in the election. and is righwing. kelly lofler is now trying to run to the right of the right wing. this is why you see her blastin wnba, black les matte her conjuring up midges of massive black violence with the mob that was supposedly the at the wendy's when the police

killed rayshard brooks. all of that is her runnina kind of george wallace campaign to go to the right of doug collins. the new have reverend raphael warnock. and you are seeing a vision that is about all of us will stop you are seeing a vision about what does it mean when we're in the ddle of a pandemic and republicans have allowed hospals to close in the rural counties. wh does that an in terms of being so pro-le that we are willing to have a nd of death, over 700 deaths that have happened her in the pandemic and more than the under 60 something cases of the coronarus? you're getting a vision of the "we move versus "i heard there thigoi -- this covid-19 was gog to be bad," and let

perdue,'m going to do some stock ys and some stock sales so i can do my kind of -- i can make my profit. leadership is the kind of leadership that is really juxtaposed to the kind of theon and compassion and ntering hunity that we are not expendable, that we are from reverend raphael warnock. amy: i want to ask about the report calls going for richard as georgesign as well republican senator kelly loeffler facing new calls months ago over relevant revelations for has been invested heavily in a medical supply company had of the coronavirus crash. her latest disclosure shows her

chair of the new york stock exchange, but more than $200,000 worth of shares in dupont in late february and early march when kelly loeffler had access to privileged briefings about the threat of the coronavirus. report,u see with that the calls forhe resignaon, th calls f investigation. enateas cleared by the burr has been under. becauseburr was part of the chief investigating committs the role of foreign influence foreign attacf on our election systemnd becae he was chairing the mmittee, chairing the committee, he was left outhere without republican proction

for his wrongdoing. whereas kelly loeffler was protected the republicans for what she did, for what she and her husband at. amy: professor anderson, what do you expect to see in these coming days? the amount of really voter turnout has been massive all er the country. what are you most concerned about? i a heartened by the massive voter turnout. what we see here are the american peoplfighti for democracy even i the desk when their institutions are not. what i am concerned about our thseries of decisions that consion aboutontusio balance, when they have to be and when they can be counted. i am encouraging everybody come if this is your lasted early vote, please do so. the turnout lines and the confusion will be strong and

long on election day. so we need to mitigate that as much as possible and that is what i think is happening with this early voting. amy: carol anderson, thank you for being with us, professor at emory university and the author of "white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide." her most recent book is "one person, no vote: how voter suppression is destroying our democracy." when we come back, we will be joined by indigenous investigative journalist jenni monet on the native vote and how it can determine senate races. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: the strokes lead singer has just launched a new interview series with rolling stone. i do the first conversation with him. his series is called sos earth is a mess stop we will link that interview at democracynow.org. the strokes will be appearing on "saturday night live" this weekend. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. we turn now toook at how native american voters could sway key senate races in next

week's election in montana, north carolina, arizona, and maine -- and how the presidential candidates are courting the native vote. in north carolina, the lumbee tribe could hold significant influence on the senate showdown between republican incumbent thom tillis and democratic challenger cal cunningham. the lumbees -- who voted for donald trump in 2016 -- could also prove to be a key vote in the presidential race. the lumbee tribe is one of two tribes inorth calina, buit lackfederal cognitio both j biden a donald ump ve pledg to recoize the ibe if ected. onaturday,rump camigned in lumberton, northarolina. pres. trump: with us today are members of the incredible lumbee tribe, which has been wrongly denied federal recognition for more than a century. when i'm reelected, i will probably sign the lumbee recognition act. it should have been signed a long time ago. amy: another state to watch is montana, where republican incumbent u.s. senator steve

daines is running against the state's governor steve bullock. native voters make up 7% of montana's electorate. well, for more on these races, voter suppression in indian country, and the record number of native candidates running for office from local to national races, we go to santa fe, new mexico, where we're joined by investigative journalist jenni monet. founder of the newsletter "indigenously: decolonizing your newsfeed" and a tribal citizen of the pueblo of laguna. her recent piece for medium is headlined "the native voters who could decide control of the senate." jenni monet, welcome back to democracy now! you write in your piece -- "across indian country, native voters have been known to pack a powerful punch at the polls in some of the most narrowest political victories -- and not with any particular party loyalty. for tribal citizens, elections aren't determined by values that run red or blue, but rather those that run sovereign." explain what you mean and go through the races you are watching most closely. -- weat statement only

know certain key states with large native american, alaskan populations that voters support those who understand the sovereignty, who understand their very unique needs. i think when most obvious example of that is in alaska. we saw in 2010 an extraordinary and unprecedented show at the polls were senator lisa murkowski was forced into a write-in candidacy. to this day, it is largely credited it was alaskan natives who mobilized to give her those write-in votes she needed and the financial support in terms of supporting that campaign. likewise, what we're seeing now in indn cntry, your nk in ntana a in paicular, race'm closelwatching mobilition onativeoters there whe as manys five nati indigens organition have ved to unseat setor

ne a suppo governo llocfor th positio iteallcomesown to i thk the sappointnt amo native vote in montana weprent the rgest minority in the state, 7%, to which some of the decisions that daines made lifey struck hard on daily for indian country. one editorial in the billings gazette was by a pro trouble citizen who still has not forgotten dane's support of the government shut down in 2014 and how that impacted daily tribal life for citizens there. concerns about the overall and when you talk about the idea that native americans could determine the balance of the senate, not just any particular race. understand that native american voter population is

small. however, it is significant. another key race happened in --th dakota in the early democratic senator has been in the closest race and it wasn't until votes were tallied from the nation of around 500 votes that he squeaked by in a narrow election. we saw that also in north dakota heitkamp'sr heidi win in 2012. looking at the significant native vote in 2020, critical battleground states to flip the senate. i write about four key races where native voter populations are small but significant, including montana but also north carolina where we are seeing two presidential candidates for the first time really courting native voters in a public way and dangling sovereignty out for

everyone to see. i think it is an extraordinary -- it will be an extraordinary race to watch because home of the lumbee tribe had been a swing vote in the last 2016 election. they represent 40% of the population in robison county and voted roughly 5% of the vote, which carried trump in that county. so now when they have prospects of two presidential candidate both promising their sovereignty to full force, it will be interesting to see how that might shake out. i don't know if you noticed this but trump was scheduled to return back to north carolina just yesterday and was postponing that due to windy weather. his --lated he will make one of his last campaign speeches in lumbee country in columbus county on monday. amy: jenni monet, can you talk

about the senate race in maine where you have the incumbent senator, the republican susan collins who is facing a very stiff challenge from sir gideon and the role of native voters in maine? >> some are saying this is susan collins' fight of her life. of theeon, also speaker maine legislature, she last year came out in rear support for the four indigenous tribes that are based in maine. that hasstory is one languished in maine for the last four years dealing with a land settlement that has really carried a lot of animosity between tribal stipulations, and it has never been resolved. in fact, it has exacerbated a lot of problems. in maine, it is one of the states or tribes themselves are trying to exercise their full sovereignty under a large ripped from the state.

sarah gideon understands that and has actually seen the main tribes in a way that maine, what justne of the loo states america has refused to really acknowledge tribes and their sovereignty. even though voters in maine theesent barely 1% of voting population, if this race should be close as the polls suggest it is, it might be one of those close ties wherehe native vote could be very significant. amy: let's talk also about native candidates all over the country. a record never a people running. and also what it means to vote or to hold these elections during covid. because native americans are come the latinx african-americans, the hardest hit by this virus. >> there have been at least what we know at least five lawsuits this year alone around voter

suppression rights, stopping out voter suppression and upholding voting rights for native americans. all that one have really successfully been in favor of tribes. in montana, there were trying to challenge a collection ballot that was a provision in their 2018 midterm. what was taught in zona, there were two cases. one was a villain referendum to which a plaintiff was trying to extend the delivery status of that and that cut overturn. another happen in pima count were early voting precincon a reservation got shut down most of what we're talking about our measures that are so vital, predating the pandemic but in a pandemic where peoples safety and lives or estate, particularly in some of the hardest hit communities for the

coronavirus. if there ever was a time for these measures to be in place, uld be now. and they are being struck down time after time. you talk about the historic candidates running. sure, they're running in big races right now but i find -- what i find fascinating and intriguing is that it is also these little races that are going to pack a huge punch, particularly in pima county were the early voting precinct closed where you have a young woman who is running for the county reporter position and, come on come on, how often are we paying attention to county report positions? but in this case where you have had extreme voter suppression, where felons are arrested and incarcerated and overrepresented and the states prison more than any other group, here you have an informed indigenous woman who has seen this kind of disparity

whene ground for years and she saw the counter quarter who has been in the position for almost three decades, she jumped at the opportunity to step in and start really risk learning some of the systemic racism that is been in these organizations must amy: speaking of those kind races, similarly in south dakota, the public utilities commission remi bald eagle running -- and i should say, you were arrested in north dakota covering the dakota access pipeline protests as well. >> where you, amy. yeah, this week we were reminded as a very dear anniversary from on no dapl protest where october 27 we saw the militarized police raid taking over one of the and cameras in

the path of the pipeline. it is very top of mind printing country right now. what is driving people to the polls. and for south dakota, another small race seat for the public utilities commission where remi bald eagle, the river sioux and organizer in the no dapl protests, he is running for one of those seats -- which only open up every six years. and a b part of his campaign is that he is advocating for the land. a plaintiff he says does not have a voice so it is up to us to do that. these public utility commissions in the dakotas determined the permitting for pipeline projects and other infrastructure projects that deal with natural resource extraction projts throughout and around tribal millions. it is very important.

amy: the dakotas are among the worst hit by the covid virus right now i the red zone. finally, the lack of data on native voters. >> i think what is so fascinating right now is there is this notion that native voters have been somewhat apathetic at the polls. i think that is a distortion of the data. we found out in are covered so far that the midterm 2018 elections had a robust display as various ethnic groups that showed up at the polls. when we talked with the census takers, they told us that native americans were not documentt the data beuse we wertoo small a gro to coun and th hpens qui often. we saw tt happen witmissin an murred ingenous wen. we seehat happith healt atisticsnd on anon. the's a thin cledsterk naon for theata cris we

arin. i acallypplied se of t nati organizations in dian cotry rit now wre kind ng aata-soveignty vement rht now. ere waa report relead this week by two norofit a they puld 7%ound 6400 people d found of rghly 640eople paicipat ithe last ection i d't se that as athetic a al ihink ts narrate of chronallyves a noshowing at the lls is lse. i hopehis 20 election can shine some light on that. amy: jenni monet, thank you for being with us, investigative journalist who writes about indigenous affairs. founder of the newsletter "indigenously: decolonizing your newsfeed."

jenni is a tribal citizen of the pueblo of laguna. coming up, jesse wegman on his new book "let the people pick the president: the case for abolishing the electoral college." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. as the presidential candidates make their final campaign push ahead of election day by visiting key battleground states like florida and north carolina, we turn now to look at the case for abolishing the electoral college. two of the last three presidencies, donald trump's included, have gone to the candidate who lost the popular vote. in 2000, the supreme court halted the florida recount, handing the election to george w. bush. it was later determined that vice president al gore actually won the election by half a million votes. in 2016, hillary clinton received almost 3 million more votes than donald trump, but trump still won. the electoral college -- enshrined in the u.s.

constitution by the wealthy white founders, many of whom were slaveholders -- has allowed these victories, where the loser wins. but a mass movement is building to elect the psident through a national popular vote. for more on this effort, we're joined by journalist jesse wegman. member of "the new york times" editorial board and the author of "let the people pick the president: the case for abolishing the electoral college." jesse wegman, welcome to back to democracy now! please explain. explain the roots of the electoral college and what this movement is all about. >> sure. well, the framers really had no idea what they were doing when it established how to pick a president. they set themselves it was the hardest issue they had to decide. they thought about it the entire summer of 1787. at the very end, they basically through together this jerryrigged system we now call the electoral college in a side room of the convention hall really just to get it done and

out for ratification. they did not care too much about how it operated because they knew george washington was going to be the first president. the stakes did not see that hi to them. the system they thought they were designing basically fell apart in the first 10 years. is model we think we know there's this body of deliberate thoughtful educated wisemen who will make the choice for the people about who should leave the country. within 10 years, it had completely stopped to being like that with the rise of the national political parties and became a team sport and that is what remains today. amy: talk about the role of slavery and the establishment of the electoral college. >> slavery is obviously at the heart of every compromise that is struck at the constitutional convention. the one we are most familiar is the 3/5 compromise by which the southern slaveholding states got 5 of their slaves for

representation in congress, roughly 12 to 14 text or representatives in congress over the first decades of the country's life. because the electoral college is designed that way, translates into 12 to 14 extra literal buzz. the south won the white house, held under the speaker of the house, won many supreme court cases because of the extra power. it was called the slave power at the time and ran all the way up to the civil war. slavery was clearly at the heart of the compromise, and certainly the electoral college unabated display states -- they debated the slave states -- benefited the slave states. thattalk about how it is losers when, for example, george w. bush in 2000, and it is important to note that four of the people involved in that legal battle coming out amy

coney barrett, john roberts, brett kavanaugh, and supreme court justice who was justice at the time clarence thomas, were all involved with this. of course, thomas ruling on behalf of bush. that thet is now electoral college gathers -- talk about where that actually happens -- and who the electors are and what is the movement that is challenging this. >> ectors are average people like you and me. they are not wisemen, they happen to be people who know somebody who picks electors. each candidate has their own slate of electors. each state gets a number equal to its representation in congress. that's it. that is most of what the constitution says about the electoral college. the thing that gives us popular vote losers as president, that is something that has nothing to do with the constitution.

it is state laws called winner take all laws. these are laws that do exactly what they sound like, they take the electors and award all of them to the winner of the states popular vote. whoever wins the states popular vote wins all of that state electors. in california, 4.5 million people voted for donald trump in 2016. that is more than mt states in the country and yet they all were essentially invisible when it came time to cast the electoral vote because california uses undertake all. that winner take all rule is why george w. bush won a 2000. even though florida was essentially a tie, george w. in zero per alich gore. the same thing happened in 2016 in different states. it was essentially tight and donald trump won all of the states electoral votes and hiller linton won none.

like a partisan issue but in fact it is not. it harms everybody no matter their political affiliation all over theountry. thisis where we get to latest way that has been, with to get us to popular vote. amy: explain the national popular vote inrstate compact. >> there has been 800 or so attempts throughout american history to amend or abolish the college outright. they have all failed with the exception of one, the 12th amendment, which made important adjustments to it. any amendment is not the path we're going to take today. the 15 years ago a computer scientist developed an idea where he realized it was winner take all, state law was just talking about, the heart of the problem. he said, states have total authority toecide w to award electors. what if states representing a majority of electoral votes all gave their electors instead to

the candidate who won the most votes everywhere in the country? bingo, of a national popular vote for president. this is a conflict that is basically an agreement among states. there are many in existence right now. this is an agreement among states t ard all of their electors not to their statewide winner but to the winner of the most votes in the whole country. when states representing a agreement, itthis takes effect and we elect a president i popular vote without abolishingchnically the electoral college. it is using it as the framers designed it. 15 states right now have joined this agreement, plus d.c. together, though states represent 196 electoral votes. you have to reach 270. do the math and you get 74 more electoral votes to go and the agreement takes effect. amy: talk about the states considering this, like colorado. >> colorado is one of the latest

to become a member state. colorado is interesting for many reasons. all of the other states to date have had solid democratic leadership when they adopted the compact. what we call blue states. colorado was the first day that was even close to being a purple state, a swing state when it adopted the compact. it was sort of evident this idea could appeal across partisan lines. unfortunately, in colorado on the ballot this coming tuesday is a proposition, proposition 113, a cizen-led ballot initiative challenging colorado's joining this compact and asking voters to reject it. it was started by conservative activists to oppose any change to the way colorado awards it's electoral vote. will be a close by. another polling has it pretty close right now. amy: and other states as we wrap up?

>> virginias close to passing the compact. they have passed of a need to do it again and signed by the governor. i think we lookedn at other big states, maybe even texas if republicans realize they're going to lose texas under the electoral college -- amy: buzzfeed news, the electoral college stacked against nonwhite voters to such a degree this year the average white non-hispanic poacher appears to have almost twice the power to decide the election as the average asian american voter, for example. 10 seconds. >> that's right. this is the essence of the way the winner take all rule works and it has always worked for the benefit of white voters in america. we need to balance it out and make everybody cap the same. amy: jesse wegman, thank you for joining us, author of "let the people pick the president: the case for abolishing the electoral college." democracy now! we'll be doing an election special on tuesday night november 3 from 9:00 eastern time to midnight. all stations can take this special and we are broadcasting at democracynow.org covering the

results from the presidential election as well as state races and relative initiatives. to see that "rolling stone" interview i did, go to democracynow.org. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

[music playing] yaffa: for some, this island is a paradise. for others, it's hell. the ancestors of its people were forcefully brought over a few centuries ago. the journey across the sea was long and treacherous. the slaves who were shackled in the galleys brought with them their only possession--music. the music that survived the journey stayed alive. it moved into different forms of expression and can still be heard around the world today. welcome to jamaica!