i am in one of those this weekend, arizona, where donald trump lost to joe biden by fewer than 1000 votes in 2020. it was biden's victory that year in terms of boats, also the closest presidential race in arizona history. arizona being a state that is largely a republican stronghold for the past 70 years. with election day fastly approaching them about election campaigns and surrogates have been focusing there efforts on winning the swing states. thousands showed up for an event last night, featuring barack obama, who remains one of the most popular democrats in the country. today, obama will appear at another event in las vegas to help get out the vote. in many ways, arizona is a microcosm of this country as a whole in this moment in time. like elsewhere in america, residents have been concerned about inflation, where the economy is headed, arizona is an actual border state. the country's immigration issue is something that affects people in their everyday lives here. at the moment, a 15 week

abortion ban is in effect in arizona, but a proposal is on the ballot this year that will give voters a chance to restore reproductive rights in this state. it is also an area where trumpism has taken hold and present a threat to the democratic process. arizona will be crucial on election day. let's get one thing out of the way quickly. probably will not be election day, it will be election week, at least. where we are, maricopa county, one of the largest counties in america, tabulated more than 2 million votes in the last presidential election, but it took some time. based on prior elections, we can estimate between 70 and 80% of votes will be counted when election night, probably not enough in a tight race like this to know who won the state by tuesday night, november 5th. this is normal. in 2020, to trump and his political party, this was evidence of election fraud. some are gathered outside of maricopa county election department demanding a faster boat, local trump supporters in

other states asked to stop the account. they allege in arizona, scores of their ballots had not been counted. those ballots were in fact counted. the protests did not stop. election workers had to be escorted to their cars by police. what was unprecedented at the time settled into being the new normal. in 2022, a federal judge had to order members of the group called clean elections usa, to stay at least 250 feet away from ballot drop boxes in arizona after reports that some quote, observers were maxed and armed, taking photos and videos of people dropping off their ballots. in 2024, conservative groups have told arizona officials, they will be monitoring, monitoring, those drop boxes again. threats and abuse against election workers are increasing nationwide, according to a survey by the brennan center, 38% of local election officials have experienced threats, harassment, or abuse for doing their jobs. remember, this is a country in

which elections are run by civilians. we need these people to keep our elections efficient and safe. in maricopa county, stephen richards, a republican, withstood the election lies squarely in arizona, told this week, people banged on his windshield, stopped and jostled with him on the street, the voicemails laced with death threats. earlier this year, vice chair of the maricopa party said she would quote, lynch richard. all of this has necessitated increased security. the same maricopa county tabulation center upon which trump supporters to send it four years ago will be fortified with three layers of fencing, with bulletproof glass , fbi agents on the ground, and snipers on adjacent groups roofs. a place to count votes in america. something that ships on horseback can't do anything about is a version of the election by suppressing both through the filing of stalling tactics to not only slow down

certification, but so doubts about the process in the minds of american voters. republicans in arizona have launched several lawsuits to purge voters from the role, or require strict proof of citizenship at polling locations. one open arizona lawsuit, filed by the arizona gop chairwoman demand that the state purge at least $500,000-- 500,000 voters from the role me claiming they have either died or moved from the state. it will not be the last challenge to arizona voters. in 2022, trump allies in the arizona republican party attempted to steal arizona's electoral votes by certifying a false slate of electors. 18 co- conspirators were indicted by a grand jury for this scheme. your trial is set to resume in january. here with me now is phoenix , arizona secretary of state, adrian fontes, also a board member of the secretary of state. he priestly curve served as mayor of maricopa county. good to see you.

i love that you came out and we have these conversations. to me, you are the opposite of everything i just said. there are people sowing doubts in the political, democratic process in this country. we don't really have a problem in the voting process in this country, or the state, michigan, pennsylvania, georgia, or anywhere else. people like you that administer elections in the state, it works well. >> and it is a bipartisan system . by regular folks like you and me, almost 10,000 or restrictions in the united states of america. maricopa county is the second largest. we do it in so many different ways. local laws, statutes, the local where the government is set up and it is really robust. we have actually never been more secure, more accountable, more transparent than we are now because of the way we have had to come back the disinformation that has been flooding the zone, and causing a lot of the problems you have been talking about. >> what are the bigger problems to me the logistics and

particular problems that stand in the way of people voting, or the misinformation that causes people to think there is something wrong with the system? i can tell which is the bigger problem? >> elected officials and candidates who are still lying about elections. they are lying to their fellow citizens and they are lying in a way that helps to erode the civic faith we have in one another as americans. that is the biggest problem. everything else stands from that. leadership matters in the united states of america. this is not a game. folks were trying to be responsible, like mayor giles you had one earlier, the congressman, like myself and others, we just want folks to be able to vote. we just want to do our jobs. it is the liars, folks that are drifting. we have candidates right now with their own 501(c)(3), promoting this live, ping themselves by gathering money and there are folks being cheated. >> you are the person who administered both in maricopa county before you became the

secretary of state. so, you know how it worked. it is wild to me that we are talking about-- i actually asked my staff to check the fact that they would have snipers and three layers of fencing and fbi agents. it is incredible to me that these words are coming out. >> it is incredible. we have taken a lot of precautions ourselves. look, since i took office as secretary january 2023, we have worked directly with state enforcement and law enforcement agencies, and had folks on the counterterrorism information center here in arizona inspecting our places where we do this work across the state, getting our cyber security, physical security agents out there from sister, to get information, and going out with tiger teams to help put in the bulletproof glass, do the ramps, firewalls and electronic information technology systems. we have had to really secure things. we have never been more secure now. unfortunately, we have got to secure ourselves against ourselves.

>> let's talk a little about these fears that people are talking about, you and every secretary of state about these things. you know how to take precautions. there are some jurisdictions we are not citizens are not about allowed to vote, they are not permitted to vote in federal elections, it is not really anything. donald trump said, people don't speak the language, don't know what country they are in, but somehow they are going to mobilize and vote en masse. it is not a thing. >> if you look at the history of it, alien suffrage was always a thing until 1926, the last day to remove noncitizens from voting was arkansas in the deep south. citizenship is a requirement now and every state in the union everyone does the same thing except arizona. we have got a higher standard. everyone else in the country signed an affidavit under penalty of perjury that they are a citizen. that is it. in arizona, you have got to additionally provide document

of proof of citizenship to vote in all of our estate systems. people think, we got these folks without documents, no, no, no. they have met the standard every other american has met me they just have not met the higher standard that we can verify at this point. would they still be eligible to vote in federal elections, yes, for president, senator, congress. we are in the process now of working on those issues, but it is vanishingly rare that a non- citizen registers, even more rare they will cast a ballot. they are risking a lot. >> i was going to say, penalty of perjury is a real thing. in other words, what is it you want to do as a citizen to vote as a noncitizen? >> think about this, if you are not here legally, are you going to give the government your name, your date of birth, your address and then have them have that verifiable information and if they find out you have done it, you will never become a citizen again, which is what most people want. it does not make sense on its face.

again, the liars, the grifters, the folks that want us to divide from another, they will capitalize on the same lie they have been using year after year. this is just the problem we have and unfortunately, people are buying it. >> what is your sense of how it will go after election night, in terms of-- we just might have to get used to the fact that we may not all get results on election night. >> let's be clear, there are never results on election night that artificial official. they will make projections. make your projections, that is what you get to do. we will not have official results until we have official results across the entire country. that is just the way it works. we pay attention as citizens, as residents to those projections and turn around and walk away. in arizona, nobody ever cared until we got close politically. that is where the anxiety comes in, folks want to know right now. we are probably going to me, i will guesstimate about 13 days out from election day until we

have those final results, hopefully much sooner. if we get them, we will certify them and move on. it is the shenanigans beyond that that are a little concerning. >> people need to trust that people like you are on the case. >> as we have been for years, and years, and years. >> thank you for always making the time to talk to us. adrian fontes is the secretary of state for the democrats of arizona. today's meeting of the velshi banned book ban is a long time in the making . the iconic joni bloom jointly together with velshi banned book ban alone, reynolds, his new book, the answer to judy blume's book, is a continuation of her legacy. that is later on in the show. do not go anywhere. anywhere. plus, it's 360-degree swivel head cleans up along baseboards and even behind the toilet.

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we are here in phoenix,

arizona for a special edition of "velshi" across america, i am joined by a friend of our show. we leaned on jin's reporting a lot after the last elections and during the recount in maricopa county, the state's most popular county. we were joking before the commercial break, i did not know reporters like you, secretaries of state who administered elections, we did not talk about these things in the past, and now, you're not only essential to what is going on in arizona, but essential to what is going on in this country. >> eyes have been on arizona since 2020, i don't think that is going to change. >> talk to us about what you are looking at, both the disinformation we were just talking about with secretary of state and the nontraditional voting. >> the nontraditional voting has been anything sent this number. we were not sure where we collected documents from residence, which really ramped up the disinformation, elon musk commenting on twitter

about how we had all of this nonsense. that has been the main thing i have been watching. i've been watching for drop box watchers, and to see how early voting is going. >> that is an interesting term. there was a feeling out there that something was going wrong with the dropbox is being spread entirely disinformation, but some of these watchers were showing up , reports say, armed, with masks for me which is intimidating. >> it is, but we are not seeing that this year. we have not seen that yet, and i think there is a lot that has been learned since the last time about election security that secretary adrian fontes was talking about that i think might dissuade some of those actions this year. >> it blew my mind the thing they have to think about in terms of election security, because you cover the people that administer elections, the actual regular people that do this. how has that changed? it was never thought of as a risky, dangerous, or remotely antagonistic thing to be an

election worker. >> llamas could walk into an election center unsuitable to be tabulated without anyone asking questions. now, we have a secured lot for election workers in maricopa county. in one of our almost swing counties build an entirely new election center because of concerns about security. >> ultimately, you have been looking into some new stuff. you got an investigation you just reported on. >> this is really relevant for new voters with mail-in voting beginning, you have to sign your ballot. we found that younger and newer voters me because all they have on record is there driver's license signature, they may have the signatures rejected. we are looking at that, making sure people know to sign their ballot envelope. there's a lot of focus on early voting, trying to get republicans out to vote, where we did not see that much in 2020. >> this is a state where a lot of that stuff, absentee voting, mail-in voting, was pioneered and republicans were being

scared off from that, now people are saying, actually do it. >> i got a gop ad telling me voting was secure in the mail last week. they are pushing this far and it is working in the early voting turnout we are seeing from republicans. it is almost switched from 2020, they are coming out. >> thanks for your great reporting. we will be in touch with you and i will see you in a few weeks. coming up in the 1:00 hour of alex witt reports, the great steve kornacki, maine the big board for a much watched reimer on the swing states that could decide the election. join steve and alex later today at 1:00 p.m. only on msnbc. meanwhile, i am in the swing state of arizona and i have the opportunity to see how critical this election is and why your vote really matters. here's a message from one independent voter i spoke with, richard stephens. >> you need to use your voice in the vote. it is the only thing that equalizes all of us. every person is given that one opportunity, and i know it is

corny, but i do believe in america. the fact is, we are more together than we are different. one thing that unites us is the ability to vote. vote. and you need scotts turf builder rapid grass. it grows grass 2 times faster than just seed alone. giving you a stronger lawn. smell that freedom, eh? download the my lawn app today for lawn care tips and customized plans. feed your lawn. feed it.

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...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ reproductive rights are on the ballot in 10 states this november, including arizona, where i am this weekend. that means, tens of thousands of voters will weigh in on whether to restore or reinforce the right stripped away from when roe v. wade was overturned three years ago. let's be clear what the stakes actually are. the damage done by the overturning of roe v. wade has been well documented. 24 states have banned abortion before fetal viability. 17 of the state bans take effect at six weeks or earlier,

before many women even know they are pregnant. that means, tens of thousands of patients are being forced to flee their home states for healthcare. those are the ones that have the money and the means to do so. for those who don't come in states with the harshest restrictions, some women just die. maternal and infant mortality rates have surged with in states with severe restrictions. this is shocking, a new study published in the journal of american association estimates that nearly 65,000 women in states with total abortion bans have become pregnant from rape since those brooke county in fourth birth policy took effect. on this show, we have covered some of the stories of women suffering, even dying preventable deaths because abortion care was delayed or denied under post roe bans. this includes women being denied care during life- threatening miscarriages, and even postpartum care after delivery of healthy babies. watching this horror show unspool in front of us, it is impossible to deny, abortion is a safe routine and necessary

part of healthcare for women. when you ban abortion, you ban healthcare for women. abortion is healthcare. but abortion was not just banned, it was criminalized. a recent report shows a spike in prosecutions of pregnant women after roe was overturned, not just for abortion, but miscarriages and other pregnancy related issues. at least 200 women have faced prosecution in the first year after the fall of roe, including the case of amari marsh, a 23-year-old south carolina woman , who miscarried in june of 2023 and was arrested on a charge of murder, homicide by child abuse. she spent 22 days in jail before being placed under house arrest. she faced 20 years in prison before a grand jury cleared her more than a year later. this is post roe america. this dark new reality was actively brought upon us by a supreme court supermajority, probably created by donald trump . as you would expect, it is not a popular part of his

record. a recent poll shows that six in 10 americans believe their state should allow a woman to obtain a legal abortion for any reason. that is a significant increase from june 2021, before the dobbs decision. even though donald trump declared on tape that abortion should be banned, and there should be, his words, some kind of punishment for women who get abortions, even though he didn't make that happen by appointing extremist justices who submitted the overturning of roe. he is now claiming that all he did was quote, restore, end quote, the issue of abortion to the states, which he says, is what everybody wanted. make no mistake, restoring abortion to the states is code for empowering conservatives to strip women of their fundamental rights. it means life or death for women now depends on geography. meanwhile, a lot of states have been testing that, putting abortion rights on the ballot, letting their own voters decide, that is exactly what is happening here in arizona.

arizona's proposition 139, would enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution, allowing abortion until fetal viability. a majority of arizona voters, 58%, are set to support the measure. that does not mean it is a done deal, nothing in this state is ever a done deal. the very same party now claims it wants to turn abortion over to the states, it has been working very hard to prevent arizona voters from fully restoring and protecting abortion rights. joining me now to discuss verizon's ballot measure, spokesperson for the arizona abortion access, attorney and senior advisor of planned parenthood of arizona. welcome to the show. thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me today. >> i want to go back to the fall of roe and what happened in arizona . this is one of the few states where it sort of triggered going back to a 19th century abortion law. >> right. let me take you a little back

before the dobbs decision happened. here in arizona, our legislator kind of speculated where they thought the supreme court was going to go in the dobbs decision and passed a 15 week ban, which was signed into law by our governor. however, that law did not go into effect until 90 days after our legislation session ended. on the cusp of that, the supreme court decided dobbs would effectively overturn roe. here in arizona, more than 100 patients at plan parenthood in arizona were turned away that day because they could no longer be provided abortion services. we were confused as to what the law was for me because we did have this zombie law from 1864 that was still on our books and had been enjoined when roe was passed in 1973. at that time, we had an attorney general also running for senate and thought he was first red meat at its base, and asked the court to lift the injunction on the 1864 roe. at that point, we were dealing with a roe that was currently

past, no roe, and this 1864 law. at that time, that is when we decided to really get into gear and look toward moving for a ballot initiative in 2024. we did that thing where we hired some consultants to talk to all of the stakeholders in arizona to talk about what they would like to see and how they could help. we organized our language and started our campaign in chief in september 2023. in the background, there was a battle in the supreme court over this 1864 law. on the cusp of us getting 500,000 signatures from arizona and across the state, our supreme court decided to uphold this 1864 total ban on abortion. that motivated a lot of arizonans, who were on the sidelines to jump into the game at that point in time. we were able to turn in a history making, more than 820,000 signatures, 7000 volunteers, from all 15 counties in the state.