ce well, we fell in love through gaming. but now the internet lags and it throws the whole thing off. when did you first discover this lag? i signed us up for t-mobile home internet. ugh! but, we found other interests. i guess we have. [both] finch! let's go! oh yeah! it's not the same. what could you do to solve the problem? we could get xfinity? that's actually super adult of you to suggest. i can't wait to squad up. i love it when you talk nerdy to me. guy, guys, guys, we're still in session. and i don't know what the hwe desperately needabout. more affordable housing, but san francisco takes longer than anywhere to issue new housing permits. proposition d is the only measure that speeds up construction of affordable new homes by removing bureaucratic roadblocks. while prop e makes it nearly impossible to build more housing. and the supervisors who sponsored e know it. join me, habitat for humanity and the carpenters union in rejecting prop e

and supporting prop d to build more affordable housing hi, everyone, it's all happening. it's 4:00 in new york on election day. the end of a campaign that has been like none other in recent

history. more than 44 million people have already voted and millions more will have voted before the polls close in the next few hours in all 50 states. it has been an election season defined not just by the issues that dominate every election including the state of the economy, how people feel about the state of the economy, but it's also been defined by an unprecedented threat to income on the ballot and the first national election after the january 6th insurrection. in nearly every state there are republicans who have affirmed their commitment to this same big lie that led to that attack on the u.s. capitol. their races for governor, attorney general, and secretary of state that could have major implications on the next election, 2024, especially if the twice impeached ex-president as he has all but suggested he would do decides to run anew for the white house. another consequence of the big lie, it is an open question whether all of the republican candidates will accept the results should some of them lose. just last night the gop nominee

for governor in arizona kari lake laid the groundwork to claim that the election was rigged by suggesting that voters should be, quote, worried about the results without providing an iota of evidence as to whey voters should be worried. it is also the first lex election in decades where women in the united states of america no longer have a constitutional right to make decisions about their body when it comes to abortion health care. the united states supreme court's decision to overturn roe versus wade has unleashed a tremendous backlash against opponents of abortion and reproductive freedoms. there are ballot measures on abortion access in five states. make no mistake, abortion is on the ballot just about everywhere, but the national abortion ban on the agenda if republicans seize control of congress. with enormous stakes for our democracy and our rights and our country, control of either chamber of congress could boil down to a handful of races and a

handful of battleground states, and it could take a minute to know what those results are. we will get through all of it together. joining our coverage, john heilemann, host and executive producer of show time's "the circus" is back, also the executive editor of the recount and an msnbc affairs national analyst, cecile richards, former president of planned parent hoot, and msnbc contributor, mat doud, and former campaign manager for president obama's 2012 reelect, we're going to start with my colleague, nbc news correspondent stephanie gosk at a polling location in upper providence township in pennsylvania. all eyes have been on pennsylvania. i talk to someone there, a candidate over the weekend who said that it felt different by the end of the weekend than it did a week ago with some of the momentum maybe shifting back towards the democrats. how does it feel where you are?

>> yeah, you know, nicolle nbc polling has shown enthusiasm has grown amongst democrats. i'm in montgomery county, which you may remember during the presidential election in 2020 was one of those really influential counties for biden, the enthusiasm here really pushing him over the top and giving him this state, and the question remains whether that kind of enthusiasm for democrats still exists. just in looking at this polling station over the course of the day, there were some lines in the morning, a little bit of lunchtime, but what people tole me is that in 2020 there were lines clear across the parking lot. people waiting for hours in what was terrible weather at that point. now, whether they've got things under control hear or whether there are just fewer people coming out, that remains to be seen. i spoke to the chair of the montgomery county board of elections. he said that they aren't seeing the canine of numbers they saw in the presidential election, but they are seeing more numbers than they saw in 2018, and the

big question will be how long is it going to take to get that count? if that senate race between john fetterman and mehmet oz is as tight as he say it is, it could take a while before we know a winner, nicolle. >> are they saying anything where you are at that specific location about how long it will take to count not just the votes that come in today but anything they have that came in by mail or absentee? >> reporter: well, here's the difficult thing with what's going on in pennsylvania right now. john fetterman together with the democrats are suing the pennsylvania election committee over the mail-in ballots, ask this is the issue. when you finish a mail-in ballot, you have to sign it and date it. now some people are sending in those ballots undated or some people according to this chair i spoke to today are putting their birth date on there which you're not supposed to do.

there is a battle that is underway, there could be thousands of those ballots that fall this that category. if that is that the race is really tight, those are ballots that are going to really count. he's the thing about pennsylvania that makes this state so interesting during these midterms that. is the gubernatorial race. you've got this razor thin margin between the candidates for the senate and then you've got a democrat running for governor who has in some polls a more than two digit lead over his republican challenger in that race, and what it shows is a split in the state. a time where you have people who are very mixed. people who have been voting both parties, i haven't heard of any yet, but that's what people think they're going to see here in pennsylvania. >> it is such an interesting dynamic. we know we live this polarized

time but there are people in pennsylvania, probably georgia too that are splitting their ticket. stephanie gosk in pennsylvania for us, thank you so much for starting us off. i always love to know what you're watching. this is such a nail biter for anyone who's worked on campaigns and politics. we all know the stakes. we've been talking about the stakes for the last really five years, but especially the last two. what are going to be sort of your bellwethers for what you're watching early in the night. >> clearly all these mid western states, i'm watching gretchen whitmer's race closely. she's been such a strong candidate, and i think things really did turn in michigan after the dobbs decision. of course pennsylvania that race is razor thin and the stakes are high. i think the most interesting thing and you spoke to it there is that folks now know, and

particularly women voters understand that the difference between having their own rights to make decisions about their pregnancy can be completely determined by their governor. these governor's races, and that's one of the reasons josh shapiro is running so strongly ahead in the state of pennsylvania, this is an issue that you and i have talked about about many times, it really crosses party lines. but one number i saw today, which i think is very interesting, is that, actually, one, we have a huge gender fwap gap in the early vote. 58% of the early democrats are women. for democratic women, the dobbs decision is the single biggest motivator for them to get out and vote. that's going to be crucial in terms of enthusiasm we need to see on election ta. >> i reject this narrative that post-dobbs trauma waned too quickly. i don't pick that up. i think people know that that happened. this is the first time they've had an opportunity to exercise

their right to vote. >> no, i completely agree. we haven't had that many tests yet. we saw in kansas a race that was supposed to be very close, we wound up winning it by 18 points in a majority republican state. in those special elections as well, in the state of alaska. what we saw is that when women have the chance to come out and actually express their point of view, they did. i think that's why it's so hard to read the polls right now and predict anything. i know my friend matt dowd is on. he's really been an advocate. this is a very different election, as you have said, this is the first time in 50 years that we've lost the constitutional right. i think it is not lost on women. i think it's going to be impactful in many races in the midterm. i think it's absolutely not going to wear well with voters, particularly women voters as we head into the presidential. >> matt dowd your name has been

invoked what are you watching today? >> i'm always happy to be invoked by my friend cecile. i think we're going to know early on on election night as votes start coming in, i've always counseled every candidate as you know, nicolle, and operatives don't pay to much or the rumors you hear on election ta, whether it's snowing in minnesota or raining in miami or whether or not people are lined up at the polls in one place or not, all of that doesn't matter until we actually start receiving votes turned in. where are we at in the early part of the night? because the republicans and many of the forecasters, many of the forecasters and modelers have predicted a red wave, and we're going to know that very quickly, specifically to one state, ask we talked about it and i went and talked to voters there, which is new hampshire. new hampshire will close relatively early. it has a key senate race with maggie hassan and two key congressional races that if there is a red wave you'll see it there.

if that red wave doesn't start forming there, it means we're going to be in for a very mixed and different night than most of the modelers had thought. that's what i think is going to happen. i think we're going to be in a mixed night in the course of this. i have a theory -- as you know, i have many theories, but i have a theory that what happened this year is the same thing that happened in 2016, but the opposite. and in 2016 all the modelers and forecasters overestimated democratic support and underestimated republican support. i think the reverse has happened today. i think they've underestimated democratic support and overestimated republican support. already today even in the polls the objective ones, democrats are already overperforming because traditionally the out party that doesn't hold the presidency loses in the first midterm but an average of seven or eight points. it's happened in every single midterm starting in 1982 with the exception of bush's when he

had astronomical approval ratings in 2002. democrats aren't going to lose this race by seven or eight points in the course of this. they're already overperforming. i'm very interested in the early returns and what it gives us a sign of. i think it's going to give us a sign of all those republican polls that flooded the zone were wrong and overestimating republican support. then we're in for not only a long night but probably a long week. >> when matt talked about the things that campaigns angst about in turnout, i heard you make sort of an audible groan, a little echo of being in charge of campaigns. what are you watching tonight? >> a few things, one turnout numbers. the president's party loses an average of 28 house seats, four senate seats, should be a blood bath, but turnout in some of these states will really help democrats because bigger turnout is better for the party in

power. the second is weather. you my mother's already sent me panicky texts about weather in nevada. >> i haven't looked at twitter all day. >> is it like a weather forecast wrapped in political? >> the answer is yes. the third thing is what time do you start drinking. i think cecile had the most interesting number of the day. 58% of the votes being women. women are going to go and make people pay for the dobbs decision, and second that men were too dumb to early vote. either way that's probably good for democrats in some of these really close races. i think we're going to see two elections. a very tight senate election where it could come town to the west as it always does and then we're going to go to georgia together for a month. in the governor's races democrats are going to have a big night. if they can hold onto the big three in the midwest that is the

best setup for 2024. >> which ones sh. >> wisconsin where we have a locked race, might be the most swingy of all of them. pennsylvania where you had a great report, josh shapiro is walking away with it. and then third would be the absolute crucial state of michigan where six months ago you would have thought gretchen whitmer was in deep trouble, terrible numbers. post-dobbs they're now walking away with that race. so probably we get two, maybe we get all three, ask that is just so important. you start looking at the electoral math you and i geek out about. >> for 2024 those are the big three. >> that's the wall. that's the blue wall that you have to have. >> right. john heilemann, you were out in the country, which i say with affection and admiration because i'm behind a desk in new york. tell me what you're seeing and hearing. >> you know, we've been out here for the last how many weeks now? eight weeks, you know doing show times show the circus, which

keeps me away from home for long stretches of time, especially around election years. i have to say, you know, matthew dowd, jim messina, particularly i think a lot of things they're saying are true. matthews stuff has resonated with me, which is to say it's a weird year. it's a weird year in particular ways. you know, we're sitting here on a day when the outcome tomorrow could be that you have a republican governor of new york and a republican governor of oregon, but democratic governors of oklahoma and kansas. now, in the model that we have come to embrace or come to see the in last 20 years, nationalized midterm elections, big waves in one direction or the other. uniform, big red night, big blue night and elections that have been driven by some large

national issue. what you've seen in this midterm is the possibility of a very denationalized race where certain issues have dominated the debate in certain places like on the east coast and on the west coast where crime and the economy have put a lot of democrats on defense in the house out in california, in massachusetts, in new york, in places that are traditional liberal strongholds but where abortion has energized the track vote in a lot of red states, places like oklahoma and kansas. as you go from place to place, yes, inflation is an issue everywhere. but the predominance of things like crime and the economy versus things like the democratic focus on the question of women's reproductive rights, that varies very much from state to state, and it varies in a lot of cases in terms of where they think, for example, reproductive rights are most at risk. the places where it has been most at risk, you've seen the most effective democratic

messaging on this and the places where some democrats feel more secure in these deep blue states it hasn't been as dominant and other issues have come to the fore. i sit here today and think i have no idea what's going to happen. i do think that matthew's instinct, which is that we could have a very -- look, maybe there will be a red wave, but i think there's a chance what we're going to have is a hard election to interpret in any straightforward way with some big headline that sums up the night and tonight in one big easy to understand banner headline, and i think we may have days and days ahead of both sides kind of picking through the entrails and trying to explain why the night was better -- why this election was better for them than expected, why it was better against historical precedent and both sides may have a claim to being right at some level and wrong as they try to over claim for their performance. >> not to make -- go ahead, matt. >> i was just going to add

something to what john just said. this is one data point, we've already had one area counted and released of votes, right? dixville notch, there's a law in new hampshire if every voter votes in a precinct, they can release the votes. this one data point in new hampshire is very telling about what john said and what i've been saying over the last course of the month. five votes voted in dixville notch, four voted for john sununu, one for the democrat. all five of those votes voted for maggie hasson. so maggie hassan got all five of the votes while john sana knew was getting four of the five in that one area. what that tells me is this idea of ticket splitting is returning with a vengeance. where there's a republican governor, it doesn't mean they're going to vote for a republican senator, depending on

the quality of the candidate. it's one data point. but it's the first data point that goes to this idea that voters aren't going in full wave, voting all one way or all the other. that is a complete split of the vote in that one area. >> cecile, with you look at, you know, the sort of sustained messaging and i think a lot of people beat up on a lot of democrats on messaging. i think that -- and i started listening to a lot more of their rallies, actually heilemann had to help me figure out how to listen and watch some of the local news coverage, but he did. they really figured out how to tie democracy and freedom to taking away your access to health care and abortions and even i think obama does this better than anybody else. tying the end of a democracy to not just a struggling economy, but one where if you're against living in a democracy you couldn't care less about people's economic opportunity. what do you make about how they

closed and the ability to tie the republicans' autocratic practices and impulses to the end of rights and freedoms? >> look, i think that it's really a important point. obviously there's been a lot of discussion, nicolle, about how much the democrats have focused on abortion. i think one of the good examples of an close in a race that shouldn't have been close at all is tim ryan's race in ohio where he has clearly pointed out the extremism of the republican party. obviously it's a state where the issue of ending safe and legal abortion has been very much in the news from the 10-year-old young woman to what's happened at cleveland clinic and some of their doctors, the front page of "the new york times" talking about what it's like to no longer be able to provide health

care. i think tim ryan has done a great job of illustrating what extremism looks like from the republicans and what democrats do and have done for working families and working people. to me it's sort of the exact right kind of close. so we'll see. i do think it's important that the reason that i believe so many candidate are talking about this issue about the extremism of the republicans on abortion is because it is such a clear difference, and it is frankly for many of the women and independent women that we've polled, it is one of the things that makes republicans completely unacceptable. the other piece of this, it's interesting that maggie hassan is such a spectacularcandidate. candidates matter. i will agree with john, not that i don't always agree with john heilemann, i do, i think one of the most important elements of this election is frankly the

democratic candidates are just far sere your, and the -- superior, and the republicans have nominated some people who are completely, i believe, unfit to serve. >> and cecile, i don't know how often i get to say this, but mitch mcconnell completely agrees with you. >> right, i mean, but where is the adult in the room in the republican party who's going to stand up? this is a cast of characters picked by donald trump. that is what -- this is not your traditional republican, you know, talent pool. these are folks who are so off the ledge. and again, i think it's going to come back to bite them. i'm glad you mentioned president obama. i think he's done a spectacular job of closing on this, and i think really illustrating too something that hasn't been said enough, which is the republicans are happy to assign blame for everything from inflation to god knows what and not a single idea of how to solve a problem and i

think their only solution is always to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy, and so it's going to be quite interesting if, in fact, they catch the bus here what they intend to do to actually solve all these problems that they harangue about. >> jim, president obama gave an extraordinary speech saturday in pennsylvania. he's been incredible on the trail. he's almost like the best he's ever been, but his ability to like reduce the republicans to simply wanting to own the libs, that was his line, i think, at a arizona and his ability at these rallies to speak to republicans. you don't want this, you don't want an insurrectionist as your attorney general, people. he's got a real ability to sort of cut through and speak right to the kind of voters who may determine what happens tonight. >> i say this as his former campaign manager, i've never seen him this good. >> me neither. >> he has just become -- because he's so comfortable in his own skin. >> and he understands this

moment. i mean, i think he sort of saw this ugly underbelly of the country. >> he went through eight years of it, right? he's now the explainer and chief to explain to the country the stakes at hand. i thought he did it soberly. i thought he did it calmly, and you can see to your point about messaging, i mean, if you and i would have sat here six months and said the democrats were going to close on democracy and it was going to work. literally i would have had a stroke. i would have said the economy, the economy. it works for the reasonscecile talked about. our voters three weeks ago were nine points less enthusiastic than republicans. the nbc final poll last night, tie. >> tied. >> that is exactly where you want to close. you want to close hard and strong and barack obama deserves a lot of credit for that close. >> i think so too. we need you all to stick around. when we come back on this election day, abortion rights

are on the ballot in five states. women and young voters still appear to be driving that issue. we'll talk about what the reproductive landscape could look like for millions of american women after today. plus, the republican legal challenges in pennsylvania, stephanie gosk reported including validaing thousands of mail-in ballots. we'll talk with an elections analyst about what's going on and what worries them right now. and the state that had all of our attention in 2020 and 2021 could once again be where even is focused after tonight. of course we're talking about fwa. all those stories and more when "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. after a quick break. don't go anywhere.

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as a woman, as a mom, as a sister, it's very important to me that we have our own choices to make. it's our body. it's our choice, and we want to make sure that we uphold that. >> what sort of motivated you to get out early and vote? >> just the price of everything and the abortion pretty much too. >> it should be legal. >> you want to keep -- >> yeah, it's a woman's right. >> the issue of abortion, you have your right. a woman has a right to do whatever she wants to do with her body. >> we must protect women's right to choose, that is first and foremost our obligation. everybody must vote. we have rights. >> wow, those are voters across country in their own words laying out what motivated them

to show up and vote to assert, to protect their rights in five states that would be michigan, california, kentucky, montana, and vermont, voter referendums have actually literally on the ballot. and in nine others, the outcomes of today's elections could dramatically impact women's ability to access abortion health care. we're back with john, cecile, matt and jim. you and someone else mentioned governor whitmer's campaign. let me show you her message tieing this to the economy. >> the economy and abortion rights, these are all part of the same conversation. how can we make sure that in michigan people have the ability to get ahead. the decision when and whether to bear a child is one of the most profound economic decisions a woman will make in her lifetime. that is a decision that should be squarely up to her, not the government imposing new restrictions and forcing women to give birth. forcing rape victims to carry the baby of their attacker. it's extreme and it's out of

touch, and it will have incredible impacts on women and girls in this state. >> cecile, she's run a superb campaign. she's also, i think, knitted these things together for not just days and weeks but for many, many months. that is the reality for women in america. >> right, and i'm glad you actually had the gentleman there also that you interviewed because this isn't, of course, just a women's issue. this is a family issue. this is an issue that affects everyone, and we though that as gretchen or governor whitmer said, one of the most important, if not the most important decision you make in your lifetime is when and whether to not only have a child, but frankly raise a family, and of course one of the ironies that has been lost a little bit in this conversation is that the republicans oppose every single effort the democrats have made whether it's the child tax credit, whether it is affordable child care, the state of mississippi that of course got this whole thing rolling, a state where new mothers on

medicaid get two months of health care after delivery, and the republicans have refused repeatedly to expand that. so i think the interesting thing is i think for political pundits sometimes it's hard for you to figure out how you tie these two things together. i think for average voters and every americans, they understand this fundamentally, and again, i think women tend to vote on this issue more strongly than men, that men are as supportive of these rights as women. at group too that we didn't mention, and i don't know if we'll get to, but is young voters who this is actually the most motivating issue right now and i was just looking at what's happening in wisconsin with enormous surge in young voter turnout. i think this is something, again, that when we think about the long-term implications of resorting party affiliation that having a government or political

leaders who are going to take away a fundamental right to make a decision about your body, that's something that young voters absolutely are opposed to, and i'm going to be interested to see how motivating it is for young voters who are always hard to turn down in midterm elections. i think we may have some surprises there as well. >> john heilemann, the unpopularity of overturning roe versus wade in america in the year 2022 is clear not just to all of us and all democratic candidates and voters, but to all republicans. they're not running any victory lap ads. 50 plus percent of americans supported leaving roe the law of the land. 83 plus oppose abortion bans that exclude exceptions in the case of rape or incest, yet, that's where republicans are heading. how do you think this issue is playing to matthew's very

provocative point about maybe some under reporting or a hidden pro-choice vote? >> well, like i said before, nicolle, i think -- and i'm pretty sure cecile has seen this herself, you know. there is in the wake of the kansas vote and in the referendum, which shocked a lot of people when essentially a very red state voting -- or what's thought to be a very red state, has been a very red state, voting in the middle of august at a time when the whole vote was set up, the vote was set up in a way to try to confuse voters about which way to vote. it was put in the middle of the summer. it was made -- the it was set up for there to be the maximum republican turnout and the maximum confusion on the part of pro-choice voters and it still ends up getting, that referendum ends up going in the pro-choice direction in an overwhelming way in a way that reflected the national consensus on roe v. wade. it caused a lot of conservative

lawmakers, a lot of republican governors, state legislators who had taken dobbs as license to go and try to enact quickly either through trigger laws or their own state legislative mechanisms try to push very extreme abortion laws. they all sort of stepped back. and your point is right. as a political matter, the republican party got the message that an extreme antiabortion positioning and messaging was not the way to go this fall. does that mean they are not going to try to pass a medication wide abortion ban if they have control of the united states congress come january? i don't think so. i think there's clear signals that have been sent by the party that even though they're not talking about it this fall, that that's their intent. i think one of the thing i was getting back to the question, the politics of it is that what we've seen in this election is that places where abortion has been most severely threatened, it's been a very powerful democratic message, a very

powerful democratic issue. in places where people have felt more secure, it has not been as powerful and other issues have come to the fore. i have no idea what the politics of this look like if republicans do take control of the house of representatives and potentially take control of the united states senate, even with the very thin majority. if they start to move quickly next year to tray to codify the exact opposite of what the country wants, which is really if you think about the polling is something like roe v. wade become the national law of the land. if they try to codify the opposite of that, what the politics of that look like heading into the 2024 presidential election, it will be quite something to see and, again, we're in very much uncharted territory, but i can imagine that abortion becomes one of the central issues in the presidential election, within both parties and between both parties in the general election. >> matt dowd, your thoughts? >> i'm going to again agree with something john said, which is the kansas election this summer and the special elections that

happened post-dobbs, all of the polls that were done in the made aftermath of dobbs when you would have thought everybody was intent on it, none of the polls in kansas and in those special elections caught the enthusiasm of the pro-choice voters that were engaging on issues. none of them. in kansas the poll said that was going to be a dead even race. it ends up the pro-choice side wins by 18 points in a presidential level turnout election in kansas. the same thing happened in the special elections. special election in new york where a democracy was supposed to lose by 4 according to all the polls. he wins by two in this who made the choice and democracy his mainstay of his campaign. i think this idea that oh, dobbs went away and nobody's remembering it, that argument is nobody remembered it at the time it happen because we had all these elections which didn't catch the enthusiasm wave that

built. i would say the problem with most in the media, not all but most in the media, is they want to lock into a narrative and then they're really hard to break, but once they break out of it, we had a red wave they talked about this spring, which i don't think was of true. then they said there was a blue wave in the summer, which i don't think is true. and then they said a red we have -- wave came in october. there's no wave in this election. >> it's setting up exactly for 2024 to be a referendum on the presidential race. i agree with john, republicans are going to go after this. they're going to do what they promised to do. they're going to pass a bill on the floor. biden would be happy to veto it and set up the fight, and i think we're going to be talking about abortion for the next two

years. >> i'm so thankful to all of you. cecile sticks around. after the break, a mad scramble for thousands in pennsylvania right now. an 11th hour court decision invalidating trove of mail-in votes. those affected have a chance to recollect the record but they better hurry. polls close this a matter of hours. we'll be back with that story in one moment. don't go anywhere. y in one moment don't go anywhere. your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪ from holiday hills, illinois to rudolph, wisconsin. from santa claus, indiana to snowflake, arizona.

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missing date. >> it's scary because, you know, maybe a lot of ballots won't be counted because of that if people can't make a way to get here or get to their polling place. i work 12-hour shifts. i'm a hrk professional. it is hard for me because i work pretty much the same hours as the polling booths. >> last minute mayhem in pennsylvania today. the state supreme court sided with the republican national committee and invalidated thousands of mail-in ballots over benign errors. these were ballots that got in before election day. some people wrote their birthday, some were missing signatures. in philadelphia alone, 3,600 ballots like that were in question today setting off a panic scramble there, and in 66 other counties to alert the effect to voters, to voters that turned these early ballots or absentee ballots in with those

minor mistakes. they're trying to get them back in to cast new ballots, same day ballots today. it is, though, the point, right? it's part of a broader republican effort, one we've been covering on this program for years now. legal efforts, legal maneuvers with the goal of muddying the waters and disenfran chaising disenfranchising voters. jason, you know, whatever you are moved by, i do want to get your thoughts. tell me what you're watching today and how you're feeling. >> it's really fascinating. i am down in georgia right now and have been seeing sort of the behavior on the ground. i'm seeing rallies with students at clark atlanta university. i'm seeing rallies with students at morehouse. i'm seeing everything from poll workers saying i don't see the enthusiasm i saw four years ago

to people saying i've got it in the bag. i am surprised at how bullish people seem to be on both warnock and abrams right now. there is an energy on the ground, and i loathe this cliche, i hate it, but there's literally an energy on the ground here that's totally different from the poll and i don't know if it's who i'm talking to or maybe there's something going on we haven't been able to capture. i will say this about pennsylvania. what's been interesting to me, i did a thread about this, about a week and a half ago when i was on the show, i mentioned a lot of my students hadn't registered to vote, right? the league of women voters reached out to me and sent like a delta force team to my campus and registered all my students. and i talked to my class about the fact that it's so much easier to register and vote in maryland than it is in georgia. it's so much easier to have your ballot counted in maryland than in pennsylvania. so when we see the supreme court of pennsylvania side with republicans to just find excuses to keep people's intent to vote from actually counting is a reminder that we are not living

in an equal country. we are not living in a country where all of our rights are equally per -- >> i loved that they reached out to you. that gave me my first chills of the night. ucla law school professor, director of the safeguarding democracy project, never have needed that more, designed to promote and ensure free and fair elections. start by telling me what you're watching and what you're looking at and where you're working the phones and watching for data. >> well, today, you know is like every election day. there are glitches because it's a very complex endeavor to run elections. in maricopa county, there were some ballot tabulators, the machines you feed the ballots were down, they ran out of paper in lucerne county, unfortunately these are accompanied by misinformation or disinformation, trying to cause people to have more doubts about

the integrity of our election process. that's really worrisome before the votes even get counted. >> in your view, what are the most egregious examples of just that that you described, honest mistakes being addressed by nonpartisan election workers are being tis torted and sort of repurposed for the disinformation audience. >> you're seeing that in arizona right now, where in maricopa county, the largest county in arizona, they had some glitches and that has now been translated into people making claims that there were really long lines to vote, that there's voter suppression going on, there's something intentional going on because the secretary of state who's running for governor is the one in charge of the election in the state. you know, since the trump era, a lot of these things stick and a lot of people believe our elections are not secure when, in fact, our elections are pretty well run and pretty well made. >> cecile, they only believe that on one side really.

i mean, republicans believe because donald trump told them to believe, that our elections are not secure. chris krabs lifelong republican got fired two days after the election because he declared it the most secure election in america's history. how do you sort of sift through this? >> no, it's really tough and i'm really glad you brought up the state of pennsylvania, which is a classic case and i mean, it's just horrifying. this has, of course, always been exclusively on the republican party's agenda and that is to make it harder for people to vote. certainly my home state of texas is case in point. in pennsylvania, of course, in the governor's race there, we have a candidate, republican candidate who bussed people to the january 6th insurrection who is an election denier and, of course, in pennsylvania the governor appoints the secretary of state. and so the importance of this election not only on making sure that it's a fair, but the

implication, which i know you've covered as well, the number of people running as republicans who fundamentally do not believe in our democracy and who are not willing to even secure the results of an election is frightening. that is something i don't believe we've ever seen in our lifetime. it goes far beyond counting votes. i think it goes to one of the reasons this election is so important because of course who's elected secretary of state in many of these key battle ground states is going to impact whether we can certify a presidential election in 2024. >> yeah, i did a call a week ago with our election desk and to your point, cecile, i said i want all the normal stuff, but i want the kind of people that trump tried to corrupt to turn his defeat into a win. it's such a privilege to talk to you all. thank you so much. jason is going to stick around.

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that could see them determining which party controls the senate. if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the race will go to a runoff and we may not know the results tonight or for a couple of weeks. it all depends on some frustrated georgia republicans on whether or not they'll even vote today, because they feel herschel walker has not earned their vote or respect. let's bring in the aforementioned political reporter and msnbc contributor, joining us from brian kemp's election party. tell me on what you're hearing tonight. >> reporter: more than 2.5 million people have cast early ballots here in georgia. this is the time of the day when both parties are antsy. it's hard to define what's going on out there precinct by precinct. folks i talk to are looking at exactly what you just said, those crossover voters who might be supporting governor kemp, but

also withholding their support for herschel walker. that could be the difference in a runoff and a victory today. >> jason johnson, i have lots of thoughts. what are your sort of final thoughts on this race in the final hours before the polls close? >> i think this is the greatest indicator that we always have to talk about voter suppression. it's almost 5:00. in the state of georgia, they changed the state law so that you cannot get a provisional ballot in georgia before 5:00. so if you waited in line for 2 1/2 hours, got there, and they said oh, there's a mistake, you can't get a provisional ballot here. the level of voter suppression is beyond anything that we saw in 2018. so i think it's completely up in the air. this has been youth turnout at levels we haven't expected. democrats feel confident, republicans feel confident. but we can't say that whatever happens tonight is a fair and equitable election, because

there have been too many laws to keep people from expressing themselves. >> greg, it's so interesting. the election deniers were rejected by georgia primary voters who picked kemp and rath -- how is that changing things tonight? >> it's such a tough question, because we don't know. it affects these mail-in votes and absentee ballots. we might not know the full scope of this for weeks. democrats keep saying despite this record turnout, it masks some of the underlying issues that you've been reporting that jason is talking about that could affect the overall electorate. >> jason, i want to know just beyond georgia, where are your texts going, what information are you looking for?

>> i am shocked, i talked to a lot of my former students in ohio. i'm so surprised at the number of people who say they think tim ryan is going to win. a lot of people are saying there are southeast people who can't stand j.d. vance. most people say it's going to be a complete wipeout in florida. what i've been hearing from organize herbs on the ground is to keep our eyes on north carolina. beasley might be a lot stronger than expected. a month ago, i thought this was clearly republicans take the house and democrats maybe hold the senate. i have no idea what's going to happen. this is the first cycle in like four cycles where i don't know what's going to happen. and we may not know for days or weeks because of fraud accusations and fights. >> i know nothing. thank you so much for wading through it all. such a dicey hour in this day. i'm grateful to both of you. election day continues here on "deadline white house."

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i'm feeling a little nervous. the polling data seems to be kind of split. >> this could be one of the last times you get to vote in an election the way we have for so long. there's so many conspiracy theorists trying to figure out ways to overturn the will of the people. i figure i'm not going to give up my last opportunity. >> i'm so excited to be voting in a midterm, yes. >> is it normally like that? >> heavens no.

we've got to drag people out, remind them to vote. but there's an energy now. >> that's my favorite thing to see, voters in their own words. hi again, everybody. it's 5:00 in new york. one hour to go before the first polls go on this momentum midterm election day, where, as you heard there from voters themselves, nothing short of american democracy as we know it, is on the line. key battle ground states like pennsylvania, and ohio will determine which party will have control of congress, and the ability of joe biden to enact his agenda. moving over nearly every race this year is -- the area of extreme divisiveness and distrust in our elections. today's results will showcase the power of the lies and on

every single state almost, a republican candidate who denies the legitimacy of joe biden's victory and the results oh of the 2020 election. their victory also have a huge impact on our country and how future elections are run in america. by one count, some 308 of the 597 republicans running self-identify as election deniers. one candidate for governor in arizona is named kari lake. earlier today, she already spread disinformation about an issue with voting machines in maricopa county. we'll dive more into what is going on in that state later in the program. today is also the first federal election following the united states supreme court decision in june to overturn roe v. wade. after that ruling, abortions were banned in 13 dates. for one quarter of the country, that number may grow. five states have abortion measures on the ballot. it's where we begin our coverage

in gross point, michigan. jacob is in henderson, nevada, just outside las vegas. jacob, you first. >> reporter: we talk a lot about the issues that get people to come out. we talk about the factors that get people to come out. this is the beautiful part, this is democracy in action. this is the beginning of what an hour and a half line looks like. come with me. these folks have been waiting here. the county clerk here told me he was worried people might stay away from the polls because of allegations of problems with the ballots here. that was debunked. well, at this mall, people are showing up and voting. this gentleman has been here a long time. how long have you been waiting for? >> 10, 15 minutes. >> how long are you prepared to

wait? >> as long as it takes to vote. >> good luck, dave. >> reporter: nicole, i want to show you how many people are here. the line snakes around this room. and follow me over here. after you get a peek here, it ain't christmas yet, but it is in the mall here in henderson, nevada. all of these people are exercising their fundamental right to vote. inside clark county, nevada, these people are going to which ever polling place they want. we have a high and wide shot. you see people coming through and voting. i'm down here in the corner. i don't know if you see me by the american flag, but i'm waving to you down below. every day, we hear from politicians, why people should turn out. every day we hear about the issues that matter most to people. but like i said when we first started talking, this is where the rubber meets the road.

democrats are hoping people show up in force. this is where las vegas is. and i think they're getting what they want. >> i could watch pictures of people voting all day long. jacob, do you have indications or reporting that turnout is even across the state? >> reporter: washer county, the concern was the weather. and outside the mall here, this is the perfect place to vote because it's a blustery, rainy day. where reno and tahoe is, the concern was people would have a hard time getting out, because it's snowing there. 19 degrees is the low. but it's not as bad as they expected. it's not as bad as they expect in vegas. the woman that runs this location was pleasantly surprised with the turnout here. turnout might be exceeding expectations. >> amazing. i could watch those pictures all day long.

>> reporter: i ain't going anywhere. i'm staying. >> you're on with us all night long. you were about to -- you were at that rally in michigan with governor whitmer, as we were going off the air yesterday. just take me through the last 24 hours in that race, and in michigan. >> reporter: well, this has been a state that is seeing a lot of activity. you have michigan state officials seeing higher than expected turnout across the state. poll workers are saying there might be history made for voter turnout as it relates to midterm elections. so voters are paying attention. there's a lot on the ballot, including abortion being on the ballot here, along with four other states. in this state, the question is proposal three, it would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution. the governor, her closing argument has been that's critical to do that. abox rights are human rights. women need to have those rights

protected. she also has been talking to the economy, one of the most important economic decisions you make is family planning. but her republican opponent has been saying the opposite. she's been saying abortion should be banned in all cases including rape and incest and making her closing argument about the economy, as well as parental rights around education. we've seen a lot of people with local school board signs, so that's a contentious issue. but i'm in gross point, a diverse part of michigan. these are people filling out their voter information cards, people are giving us the thumbs up. we're seeing democracy in action here. walk with me. if you come in here with me, you'll see there is a line of people here, again, in gross point, michigan. it is telling you, again, that people are taking this very serious hi. of course, we talk a lot about threats to democracy. and here in michigan, you have on the top three leaders, the

top three candidates here on the republican side, they're either denying the election all together or questioning it. you have the governor, the secretary of state on the republican side, as well as the attorney general. so the democrat running for re-election here, she's been saying along with abortion, you need to be concerned about democracy and people who are really not good for the future of the state. so a lot going on here in michigan, and really in some ways you see voters taking it very seriously. >> same question i had for jacob. what is the anecdotal pieces of information you're getting from the poll workers there, who are the other people i could watch all day. they just make me cry with their service to the community and their neighbors. what are you hearing about whether it's been a steady stream all day or whether they have enough ballots. any reporting about what turnout has been like all day long? >> reporter: so far, state elected officials, including poll workers, are saying things here are going very smoothly. there is a steady stream of

people. people have been coming in and out, casting their ballots. there's a key word here, that is contention. in gross point, it is politically diverse and racially diverse, what you're seeing here are people on both sides. we interviewed a mother-in-law who was voting for whitmer, but her son-in-law was voting for tudor dixon. and then when you drive around gross point, i was looking at people with signs saying tudor dixon, and then a neighbor saying whitmer. a sign saying to vote yes on the proposition. and then signs saying no, that's the wrong decision. that tells you how passionate people are, and how difficult our politics has become. >> you too will be joining our coverage all night long. i look forward to talking to both of you, as we are all in this together tonight.

thank you so much for starting us off. joining you are coverage is the chair of the department of african american studies at princeton university. here at the table, care mccaskill and david jolly. all of you are msnbc contributors. so what are your thoughts today? >> well, i'm nervous as hell. >> me too! >> i've been grading papers and giving back midterms to my students. literally just finished having a conversation with a student about her writing. and all of them have already voted. so i'm looking at youth turnout, i'm looking at black and brown voter turnout. i can't wait to see those numbers. but i'm paying attention to what's happening in wisconsin and michigan, ohio and of course, pennsylvania. the bottom line is, i'm nervous as hell. >> i wore a vote t-shirt yesterday. i wish i had one that said i'm nervous as hell. >> it just feels, first of all,

this feels -- if you watch "nfl red zone," this is the witching hour. so any fans of nfl football, this is the witching hour. it's at a point where things are going to be decided soon, and it feels like there's nothing you can do. i remembered this -- >> you can still vote. >> everybody can vote, but as a candidate, you know, this is the time that i felt like it was a case i tried as a prosecutor, and the jury was out and you just have to wait. and the waiting is so difficult when you care so deeply about the result. so it's a little bit like christmas, and a little bit like tax day. and a little bit like, you know, having to break up with your boyfriend, and all of that rolled into one. all the anxiety and all of the worry. i do feel pretty good. i've been talking to people all day. i've been talking to the nerve

center on the democratic side. they're tracking everything and have deployed all the resources around the country. they feel very good about the turnout in georgia. interesting that republicans were showing up very early in terms of in-person voting. but they can't tell with the drop boxes. as the day wore on, more people were using secure drop boxes. they're assuming in places like arizona, most of the drop boxes are democratic votes. so they're cautiously optimistic about nevada, arizona, georgia, and pennsylvania. those are the big four. >> what about michigan? >> well, michigan -- >> whitmer. >> listen, she's done a really good job. and that will really be a telling thing, because i noticed that in the previous hour,

people need to pay attention here. we get so focused whether we control the house and the senate. governors matter. republicans have had a run on a governor. illinois will have a democratic governor. michigan is going to re-elect a democratic governor. i think wisconsin will hold on. and we'll have a strong democratic governor of pennsylvania. this is a big deal to gain this many governor's races in this kind of year with inflation and all the inherent problems that people are facing in their lives. so there's a lot to be proud of right now. we're competing for the governorship in oklahoma, for lord's sake. i mean, who thought we could compete for a governorship in oklahoma. i'm excited about that. can you tell? >> you made me excited. i've been weeping all day. i voted this morning, i started to cry. they give me my pencil. i had my sticker on.

who knows who people are voting for, but when it comes to your point, when the case has been made and they're doing their thing, i want to still believe that is majestic enough that enough people are voting to protect this. >> that's right. buckle up, because everybody's participation today means that american politics are going to look dramatically different tomorrow. i say that regardless of who comes out the winner. this is very important. if democrats pull off holding any one of the two houses tonight, they flip governor's mansions in maryland and massachusetts as well. democrats will have defied history. this notion that clinton lost 50 states -- or 50 seats in congress, obama lost 60. trump lost 40. bush 43 was the outlier because of 9/11. american politics will look different tomorrow. if democrats are victorious, it will represent a huge shift in the american political ground,

that democrats hold the first midterm of their own president. if republicans win, american politics will change. we will have to adjust to republicans being in charge of one or two of the houses of congress. but the other thing i'm looking for, and this is very important, i remember in '18, as democrats were winning, they were complaining and they were sad when they were winning. i'm already seeing today people writing the post mortems for democrats, and writing all this garbage stuff. >> i haven't been on twitter all day. >> frankly, people at these desks are sometimes already saying that democrats did something wrong. stop it! look, the historic norm is that democrats will lose tonight. republicans, if they take one or two of the houses, they're not ending social security or medicare, because joe biden has a veto pen and that's not going to change.

what republicans will do is give us culture wars and impeach the president. it's going to set up a very important 2024 presidential contrast, that likely will strengthen the democrat's hand going into that perhaps existential election. >> i just revealed myself. eddie, i want to ask you how connected you feel like today is to the conversations that have animated all of us over the last two years. i mean, i think it was -- so we covered the special election in georgia. the election of senators raphael warnock and ossoff. and we covered the impeachment and the inauguration. and that jarring sort of series of political traumas is really sort of unevaded. i wonder how connected is that in terms of turnout today and what is on voter's minds.

>> i think it's intimately connected. i think americans realize that this is an existential election, that our way of life is at stake. and however you parse that, no matter where you stand on the idealogical spectrum, i think people are feeling that in their guts, in the marrow of their bones, that something momentous is happening in the country. and just to echo david, i think there's another feature to this. if the republicans lose, we have to buckle up, because there's the question of the legitimacy of the elections. so this election matters. it matters if the democrats win, it matters that the republicans win, it matters if the republicans lose. in other words, the midterms aren't going to settle our problems, it will certainly suggest whether or not we're as mad as we think we are. or if we're better than we think we are. so part of what we do know is that the stakes are high, and i think americans across the country feel that, especially in places like georgia.

>> yeah. claire, we were on together last night when chris hayes said something -- >>asymmetry is that if the republicans win, there was no fraud. if the democrats win, somehow it wasn't fair. that's normal now. i mean, that's what you teach your children -- >> it's not normal. >> but that's normal for them. just look at 2020. none of the republicans said there was fraud in their election. the only place there was fraud is where they lost. our systems are so safe and secure. there is so much redundancy. i just got a text from somebody who was very knowledgeable about politics. they voted. they made a critical error when they voted. they caught it.

they called them. they had an opportunity for them to fix it and cure it. so there are so many -- these people are well trained. they know what they're doing. and you know what the republicans will never have? they'll never have evidence and the facts of fraud. because we don't do fraud in america. we really don't. >> neither party. >> by either party. >> they looked at it in 2000, 60 judges looked at it in 2020. there is not systemic voter fraud in america. >> millions of americans are going to wake up tomorrow being newly represented by an election denier. we know the outcome of our local congressional district, and it's an election denier. we know in central from there is a candidate who refuses to acknowledge the validity of 9/11 and landing on the moon. and they will likely win a school board seat. these will be our new representatives. look, i did some soul searching on this thinking why is it

important to call out election deniers? look, we elect stupid people all the time. sit just ignorance? it's dangerous. if you tell voters that their vote in 2020 didn't count because there was fraud and it was rigged, well, that voter now doesn't feel like exercising their vote in '22 or '24 can remedy that fraud. the only way to remedy that fraud is through violence and voter intimidation and suppression, and that is the dangers that leads to existential questions about democracy. so denying the validity of the election is stupid, ignorant, and dangerous. that's why we have to highlight it. >> it's also not an end point. to claire's point, they know that jim jordan was on the same ballot as trump. every member of congress is on the ballot every time. so every republican that went back is alleging that on the line for president, that was the

only one that -- every line that had their name on it was good. it's nonsensical. >> they're arguing that there is no way that republicans would have ticket split and not voted for donald trump. so they're suggesting that administrators eliminated donald trump votes. donald trump lost in 2020 because people don't like him. there were enough republicans who said i can't stand that guy, and i don't want him to remain president. so they either skipped or voted for joe biden. that's why there was the ticket splitting. what republicans will tell you is it was fraud. if he launches a new race for the white house, he's going to rub on this, and it is dangerous. look, i don't want to say nothing matters tonight. we will survive tonight. our democratic institutions have a certain elasticity to them. we will survive whatever changes come or go in the next 24 hours. >> the sun will rise tomorrow. >> it will set up a pretext for

a very dangerous existential election in 2024. if you have a kari lake who says i'm not going to certify electors, if the secretary of state in nevada says i'm not going to certify lectors. >> or the argument obama made, yeah. all so true. i don't know if you're making me feel calmer or more nervous as hell. when we come back, we have been covering the growing spector of voter intimidation on this program for weeks now. thousand that election day is here, what we're seeing around the country as voters go to the polls and what we need to be concerned about as votes are counted. that story is next. plus, we'll hear from a congressman from arizona on how democrats there are working to defeat the folks that david jolly is talking about, election defying republicans in a state that's ground zero for the ex-president's big lie. and coming up, the big show,

rachel maddow joins me and steve kornacki. we'll kick off our election coverage as the results begin to come in. this special edition of "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. continues after a quicbrk eak. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger. this is the sound of better breathing. fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it helps prevent asthma attacks, improve breathing, and lower use of oral steroids. fasenra is not a rescue medication or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. ask your doctor about fasenra.

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so of course, today we're monitoring polling places for instances of potentially illegal voter intimidation, after weeks of increasing reports of camo clad people filming people dropping off ballots in drop boxes.

"the new york times" reported this today -- even republican election officials said they were embraced for a renewed onslaught. i felt like i had been stabbed in the back repeatedly so much that i don't have anything but scar tissue, said a republican on the county board of supervisors in maricopa county, arizona. home to phoenix. join us now is a former top official in the justice department. mary, i know you work on these issues. tell me what you're watching for today and in the coming days? >> certainly today, this is the culmination, more than two years of disinformation that is, you know, fueling various online threats and so far not too much at polling places, except that any time there's some little glitch, some minor mechanical glitch or minor hiccup in the process, that's exploding online

as being proof of some sort of fraud in the election process and something that will mean that a result that is not to the liking of certain people in this country will be blamed on a rigged election. so what i'm worried about, and, again, i think things have gone relatively smoothly in terms of voter safety at polling places, but what i'm worried about is what will come after today when any one of these little glitches becomes the basis for, you know, litigation, baseless litigation over voter fraud, potentially intimidation of the people who are in charge with counting ballots. we saw some of that in 2020. we saw attacks on the ballot counting facilities. many of those have put up security and reinforcements this year. but that -- minor little things will fuel this bitter narrative of voter fraud that has been, you know, rampant for the last

two years in which the current president today -- not the current president, pardon me, the former president today is doubling down on. and saying things like, protest, protest, protest in reference to detroit, which is very troubling, because it harkens back some of his invitations for people to take matters into their own hands, which as we know the last time he did that in a big way resulted in the attack on the capitol on january 6th. we certainly don't want to see anything remotely like that, even if it's at the different locations where votes will be tabulated. >> mary, the press conference in which rudy giuliani's hair dye appeared to roll down his face was lampooned. he was up there with the lawyers who had been sued for defamation. they were saying asinine things about space lasers, but the

country hadn't been primed, it hadn't marinated in the stew of lies for as long as it has now. so if an event like that should come to pass now, what is the assessment of sort of our homeland security risks as a country? >> i think, you know, we now know what that all led to, right? and it led to an attack on the u.s. capitol on january 6th. obviously, this election we've just been through is not a presidential election, so the focus is not on the u.s. capitol, but focus will be in individual states. i would say particularly the swing states. the ones that have already been the epicenters of -- episodes of voter intimidation, even at ballot drop boxes, et cetera. so now, like you said, you used the word, that was before americans had been marinating in

the stew of lies, and people are, you know, more accepted these lies over two years. too many people have accepted these lies. too many politicians have run on these lice and have not committed to respecting the results of the election. in fact, have said very clearly in some cases that they won't accept the results and they will litigate. and litigation before back in 2020 was one of the justifications and rationals of people turning to violence. i don't want to be too overblown here, because, you know, i'm very hopeful that there's better preparation this time around from the last time around from our law enforcement, from our state and local officials, our federal officials. and hopefully even from, you know, human beings themselves. election officials and voters who want to see a safe and fair election and tay want to see the real results. we hope those people will be very steely in their response to

this. but we have seen violence before and we need to be prepared for it. >> mary, the testimony of ruby freeman and others, i think everyone had them where we go to vote, we all have people like that. the risk to them grew. even brad -- gabe sterling came out many days of election day, as he started to fear that things were getting more fraught. what will be the indicators if that is growing, if the tension is rising in the days after the election? >> last time around, there were more reported threats that we knew some of at the time, but we have learned so much more about since then that can be phone calls, email threats, threats using online social media platforms. and we have reason to be concerned that, you know, there

may be a lack of content moderation, at least at some of the major platforms, especially twitter now that elon musk has projected that he's going to really reduce content moderation, or at least we're seeing that so far in the short period of time that he's been the owner of twitter. so they can also be threats at people's homes. we saw that after the 2020 election. we've seen that since then. we've seen, you know, protestors coming outside of people's homes. we have occasionally seen people following someone's children, whether it's an election official. we seen it with school board members following their children to and from school, doing things that are terrifying. people need to keep in mind, for decades, hundreds of years, your poll workers, these are your neighbors, these are community members, people you know in many cases, you know them well and trusted them. so why suddenly they would

become the bad guys, the evil people. i hope people come back to first principles about the communities they live in and realize these are not a joke. when you feel like you have to pay for personal security or pull your kids out of school or move, relocate, these are all things that happened after 2020. that is very, very serious. i think our law enforcement will be staying on top of that, as well. that will be some of the signs and other signs will be if crowds start forming outside of the ballot counting locations, particularly armed crowds. we have private, unlawful militias who think they have some authority to go out and either offensively protest against or interfere with u.s. government proceedings, like we saw on january 6th. or supposedly to protect against voter fraud. they don't have any authority under the u.s. constitution. they don't have any authority under state constitutions. they're unlawful and very, very intimidating and dangerous in

situations like we could be in, if people are unhappy about what they think is going to be happening with the counting of the votes. >> mary, stay close tonight. we'll continue to check in with you. thank you for spending some time with us today. >> thank you. we are now getting our very first exit polling results in the wake of the dobbs decision. 60% of voters are dissatisfied about the supreme court's decision. 52% of voters nationwide trust democrats more than republicans to handle the issue of abortion. that may not be surprising, but it may be heartening to a lot of democrats about the picture of this midterm vote. >> not surprising, but question it's going to get answered tonight, is it the motivating factor? will it take a prominence in

terms of the issues that people are voting on? i think it's very smart for the candidates that leaned into this as an issue of freedom. this is about freedom. women's freedom. and women's rights. and it's -- i think it is going to continue. i said last night, i think it's the first chapter. there will be other chapters along the way on this issue. i'm not sure the republicans know how to handle it going forward. i think they figured out they're on the wrong side of the american public on this one. >> eddie, 62% of voters view the supreme court as a dead weight around the republicans. very unpopular, the supreme court now has, as it stated intention, to take another look at marriage equality. and it overturned 50 years of precedent, that at least half of the sitting justices that they would render senate confirmation

hearings as useless and foolish. >> on the one hand, that may bode well for this political season. on the other hand, it's another indication of the deep crisis we face. you know, we have a gerrymandered house, a dysfunctional senate, the imperial executive branch. and now the supreme court, the legitimacy that our democracy faces. so we understand the politics of today. that data is worrisome in terms of the overall fate and trust in our institutions as a democratic republic. >> i'm thinking of the speeches the justices have given. justice sotomayor saying when you have republican members of a state legislature saying now we overturn roe v. wade because we have the seats that trump

promised us, let's go. 60% of americans are very dissatisfied with the supreme court. >> donald trump will be remembered for fomenting violence on january 6th. but the same legacy he will have as a republican is the reshaping of the supreme court for a generation. which is why vote, vote, vote, vote, vote. if this is the issue, a democratic senate is the remedy for that. it will take time. but, again, going back to my earlier comments, you cannot enter tomorrow regardless of how tonight goes. it's a competitive force on behalf of democracy to counter what republicans are trying to put in place. >> and to counter that midterm history. i say this in my house a lot, this is what we're going to do, folks. we're going to take a break. when we come back, claire is taking over. i have to make my way down to

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one of the states we're continuing to keep a close watch on is arizona, which has become ground zero for the big rye and election deniers since 2020. we have seen issues at the polls today. in maricopa county, that's the big one, the largest county in the state. about 20% of the polling locations have had some technical issues and have been unable to read ballots. joining us now is congressman from arizona. welcome, congressman. it's great to have you. so tell us what's going on, what is happening on the ground in maricopa county? sounds like to me the systems worked and they found the problems and figured out a way to fix it. fill us in on what you are

seeing. >> it's a professionally run system, run by republicans. 20% of our tabulators were down. it just means they're not being able to be tabulated at the site. some of them ran out of ink, so they changed the toner, and they are up and running. the republican media is jumping on this, because two things. they want to call into question the election results. and number two, they want to go into the next session and change the voting laws. they want to get rid of vote by mail and voting centers. these are the two things they'll harp on to build the public mistrust to do that. >> david jolly here, ruben. good to be with you. one, your one political ad is in arizona, ground zero for so much of today's controversy. the second is in washington. you're a man with places to go. what do you see happening within democratic leadership coming out of today? are we toing to see a

generational shift, or the current team stay in place? give us the story, ruben. >> nice try. when i was at the polling places today, i saw a lot of young people voting and voting in person. it's going to continue to grow as the day goes on. i saw a lot of people, women of color, black and latino women, dropping off ballots and younger ones. i think there's going to be a story told later today where you're going to see a democratic resurgence in ballots, but won't be counted until tomorrow. i think at least in arizona, the narrative that somehow latinos and african americans are moving away from the democratic party is not happening here. >> i noticed last night that kari lake, in a closing rally, said some things i found shocking. keep in mind, i served with john mccain. we didn't vote together often. but certainly understand who he

represented to americans in terms of his service in the war. and she said out loud, all mccain republicans, get the hell out. i mean, how is that received by those in the republican party that still have a great deal of respect for who john mccain was and what he represented? >> the other thing she's messing up, there's a lot of independents and democrats that she could have swung over that did like john mccain, especially latino voters. but what it's telling me, she thinks she won't be able to eke out any more moderate voters and now she needs to get out extremely conservative voters to come out and vote. and that's why she's taking that tact. we do know that our top of the ticket democrats, according to the latest poll, are polling 10% of republicans, which really puts her in danger, because the democratic registration is only 4%, and we're running

independents now. so this is a tactic to make sure she's getting every republican, hard core republican, some that we would consider extreme to the point of maybe white supremacists to come out and vote for her. that's why she's taking some really hard, disgusting tactics, especially against the mccain family. >> congressman, thank you for spending some time with us. all eyes on arizona tonight. another break for us. when we return, the fight to protect free and fair elections. michigan's top election official will be our guest, next. our gue. there's a different way to treat hiv. it's every-other-month, injectable cabenuva. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. cabenuva helps keep me undetectable. it's two injections, given by my healthcare provider, every other month. it's one less thing to think about while traveling. hiv pills aren't on my mind. a quick change in my plans is no big deal. don't receive cabenuva if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking certain medicines,

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but it will save your family money. so, you're 45. that's the perfect age to see some old friends, explore new worlds, and to start screening for colon cancer. yep. with colon cancer rising in adults under 50, the american cancer society recommends starting to screen earlier, at age 45. i'm cologuard, a noninvasive way to screen at home, on your schedule. and i find 92% of colon cancers. i'm for people 45+ at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. many americans will be facing a choice as they head to the polls today. one to either defend democracy itself or to elect politicians who continue to embrace the big lie. in many states one of the most consequential but too often overlooked elected officials is the secretary of state.

those are the women and the men who administer elections. they become front line defender of democracy itself, against election denier who is in some cases are still seeking to overturn the 2020 results and set the ground work to overturn future elections. joining us now, figure secretary of state jocelyn benson. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> okay, so tell us what's going on in michigan today. how do we feel about the turnout and most importantly from where you sit, election security and all of the ridiculous allegations you have had to deal with? >> thanks for having me, claire. one of the biggest things congressman gallegos was talking about, young people voting. college students registering and voting today, which is a great thing for democracy. we have had to address sporadic

issues here and there and try to keep them from being exploited by bad actors. the bottom line is things have gone enormously smooth and we've got a lot of people voting. we're on track to have one of our highest midterm turnout elections ever. >> you are on the ballot today. >> indeed. >> i'm going to ask you a personal question. with everything that's happened were you ever tomatoed to say, aye done this long enough, it's gotten too hard, and frankly at times it's dangerous with what your govern enwent through. talk to us about your decision to be on the ballot again, and do you feel good? >> yeah, it is a mixed feeling. there certainly have been times throughout this campaign season where all of us have questioned why we're doing this, and for me i'm quickly reminded why, which is because i'm a mom. i want to have -- i want my son to grow up in a democracy.

and i know how close we came and are coming to losing it. i'm proud to essentially stand on the foot of the bridge today just as those before us have stood on the foot of the edmund pettus to defend the democracy, the promise of who we are as americans, the promise of one person, one vote. if we can defend that then democracy cannot only survive, but thrive in the future. >> you are part of a fairly exclusive club, one of the 50 state administrators of elections. i know like most elected offices there's a national association for secretaries of state. there's a convening at times of you and your peers. i would ask you a twofold question. are there basic guardrails, model codes that secretaries of state often consider for elections? but importantly are there blinking red lights around the country where you don't need to name check your colleagues but perhaps where laws are being implemented that are concern to

you as an expert in the field and perhaps your peers? >> democracy prevail in the 2020 namely because secretaries of state on both sides stood guard over the results, despite an unprecedented -- to undermine those results. i'm proud of the colleagues who stood guard and aye long been a proponent of a code of ethics for officials, secretaries of state to, abide by just as judges abide by. we must have a code of ethics. if i'm elected work with my colleagues towards that direction. there have been times i have been disappointed more of my colleagues did not stand up in support of brad raffensperger when he stood up to the president and others. it will remain to be seen who's elected today as we move forward, but i think secretary os state do have an important role to play and want to find

ways in this hyperpartisan area to ensure we can do that. >> michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson. thank you so much and good luck tonight. >> thanks. thanks for having me. >> eddie, why don't we turn to you for a final thought? you are so often inspirational. give us what your final thought is tonight as we begin to turn towards result time. >> well, claire, as i said, i'm nervous as hell. i'm delighted to hear young folk are turning out in large numbers in arizona, michigan, and georgia. what it's reflective of is that democracy is always in our hands. it's our possession. it's health, it's well being, it's future, its security depend what is we do. this is a momentous moment. we have to make a choice whether or not we're going to secure democracy for the next generation. looks as if young people are choosing to do that. with don't know what is going to happen. this is what it means to stand

on the edge of the abyss in some ways immy hope is we'll wake up in the morning and democracy will be more secure, but we still have a lot of work to do. >> thank you so much eddie and thank you, david. thank you for joining us. i'm honored to be able to step in. i really think, daviders as we turn towards the results time, i want to remind people there are republicans out there that don't agree with the election deniers, and the hope is that sane republicans once again rejoin the body politic and reject what's been going on and the threat it's been to people who really just want to vote. >> we saw an incredibly powerful voting coalition in '18 and is '20 stand up to trumpism, stand up to the president himself. that voting coalition is still out there in america today. the american experiment is an incredibly resilient one. we have been through dark chapters, brilliant chapters. we will get through this, but

the words of lincoln and others throughout history's past remind us that if this experiment is to topple it will come from internal forces not external. that is what we are looking at on the ballot tonight and in two years. >> well, it's time, folks. rachel and joy and nicolle are on the election set. steve kornacki's got his khakis on. he's crunching the numbers. msnbc's primetime coverage of election night will begin right after a quick break.

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