a conversation with ari berman from "the nation" comin gup now. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: ari berman is a political correspondent for "the nation" and author of the book "herding donkeys." last year he wrote a piece called "the gop war on voting." much of what he wrote has come to fruition. he joins us from new york. good to have you on this program. >> i am a longtime admirer. thanks for having me. tavis: honored to have you on. let me talk about this piece you wrote for "rolling stone." i don't want people to think we are demonizing or casting aspersions on the gop, but i want you to lay out the facts. is it the case that most of this push, these strict voter i.d. laws

. >> thank you, congressman cummings, and ari berman. [ voice on phone ] up high! up high!hs ] up high! up high! [ sighs ] [ chuckles ] yo, give it up, dude! up high... ok. up high... ok. high! up high!!! ok ok that's getting pretty old. don't you have any useful apps on that thing? who do you think i am, quicken loans? [ chuckles ] at quicken loans, our amazingly useful mortgage calculator app allows you to quickly calculate your mortgage payment based on today's incredibly low interest rates... right from your iphone or android smartphone. this great tool answers your home loan questions organizes your results, and lets you calculate with the confidence of a rocket scientist. you can even take notes and add photos of your favorite homes! it's the 21st century way to make your next home refinance or purchase easy. download it today from the app store or google play... the mortgage calculator by quicken loans... one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪ >>> wednesday night's heavy focus on the economy allowed president obama and governor romney to outline their d

as friend of nerdland ari berman was quoted this week houston restricted voting saturday november 3rdgh monday november 6th to 16 hours for all three days. compare to that 2008 when early voting was available in ohio's highly populated candidate county for up to 24 hours in the three days prior to the election. and even then some people waited in line for up to two and a half hours to vote. still with me, christina beltran social and cultural analysis professor, and victoria bisetti author of "electoral dysfunction." that's kind of the whole point. chris achen, and melanie russo, the national press secretary for the dnc. also joining us from washington d.c. one of our this week in voter suppression superstars judith brown. sflooits all going to happen in ohio. this is the most important state for this election. >> it's an effort to restrict the right to vote, and it started off with politicians trying to do it, and we will see as we get closer to the election that there will be political operatives, individuals and organizations that will engage in efforts to restrict the vote. so we