joe johns, i'm sorry, joe johns. yeah, comment on the politics of it. because that's strident stuff. >> no, i think you're absolutely right. and the question, of course, as the professor has stated, are they actually solving a problem in the law that exists? and as to the issue of in person voting fraud, we're working on a documentary on this. we haven't been able to find much evidence at all of voter fraud. now, that said, ashleigh, there are a lot of people in this country who say if you look at this in a nonpartisan way, there are things about american elections that can be done better. and antiquated procedures, how do you get electronic voting in there so you can count the votes a little bit better? how do you include more americans inside the process? all of those are issues that a lot of people say could be addressed in a nonpartisan way. but this issue of nonvoting -- non-in person voting and a question of fraud a lot of people say is a nonissue and say it turns this whole thing into a political question that, you know, democrats and republicans

now, joe johns asked the question why. but with a tight presidential race on the line, the other big question is what. what will be the impact? the answer will be critical, especially in swing states like florida where minorities are a key voting bloc. critics and activists are concerned. they're concerned that the tough new election laws are really a political tool to suppress voters from turning out. we're talking minority voters who include congregations like reverend richard dunn. he is a pastor at the baptist church and joins us from miami near plantation, florida. thanks for joining us and you just heard the state representative explain why he was in favor of eliminating sunday as the last day of early voting. he says it's a scheduling issue. do you buy that? >> absolutely, positively, unequivocally not. >> tell me why. >> well, i mean, i believe he realizes that the african-american church historically has been the main stay of the african-american community. i'm sure he received the numbers of the amount of ballots

joe johns, cnn, washington. >> thank you, joe johns. so jeff toobin, this is the question. does this texas case raise any new and diinctive questions about this, about affirmative action, or is this one of those second bites at the apple, merely another opportunity for a different supreme court with brand-new justices to kill what some people call reverse discrimination? >> the court could do either of two things in this case. they could treat it as similar to the case from the university of michigan nine years ago, or they could simply just overrule grutter. what makes this case so important is that there was no conflict in theower courts about these cases. the court really reached out and found this case which really indicates that they are interested in overturning what has been the law of the land for the past nine years. >> well, that sounds surprising to a lot of people who don't know that that can happen. most people think this is a vicious battle to the very end, the end being the supreme court, but you're saying this is a new statement as to where we are. and you j

joining me now is joe johns from washington.voter vote if he or she lost everything to sandy? we're having some technical problems with joe johns. we'll get to joe johns when we get the technical issues worked out and talk about elections and whether people will vote and whether the election will be put on hold. do we have joe? no. okay. we'll move on. just about 30 minutes ago stock markets reopened for the first time since the superstorm hit. new york mayor michael bloomberg rang the opening bell just a short time ago. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange watching it all but as far as we know things are up and running as usual on the stock market. we'll have to go to break. we'll be back with more right after this. oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen per

sounds like a case for cnn's joe johns to investigate. and he did. those billboards are coming down because of public pressure. but the damage may already be done, meaning making the voting booth a place to fear rather than a place for democracy. why all this stuff? what's going on? >> reporter: well it may be creating confusion. but you know, we call it silly season, the last few weeks before an election, politics gets as dirty as it can, especially in places like ohio and florida where it matters most because you know florida and ohio are two battleground states that can swing the election. but to be clear, this kind of stuff goes on every election. what may be different now is social media shining a light on it, regular people sort of seeing the underbelly of campaigning and they don't like it. that's perhaps why we're hearing more about it. >> what is your twitter feed? @joejohnscnn? >> yes. >> if you want good reading, go to that and see what you come up with. it's fun. are these examples of a wider effort to keep turnout down among certain ethni

to, they are much more likely to give up on an ambition to major in science and engineering. >> joe johns outside of the supreme court for us. so joe, will this decision -- it probably will -- have implications on all college campuses? >> reporter: well, it certainly could. and you know, i have to say, this is such a hotly contested issue even now, and it has been over the years. just that last statement from the commissioner is disputed, you know. the academic mismatch, as it's called, is disputed among people on the other side who say it's unsound science. so just about every single point you look at across the board on the issue of affirmative action and preferences is disputed here in this courtroom right now. what does it come down to? perhaps a very even split. and we do know that justice elena kagan has recused herself. so there's potential for a 4-4 tie on the court when they get around to making a decision on that. in that case, by the way -- and i don't think we can say this enough -- in the case of a tie, don, the previous precedent would stand. so there wouldn't be any change

here's our crime and justice correspondent, joe johns. >> reporter: right after the supreme court's health care decision in june, chief justice john roberts joked to colleagues that he would find an island fortress to escape the political heat. here's how justice ruth bader ginsberg described the eventful spring. >> the term has been more than usually taxing. some have called it the term of the century. >> reporter: now three months later the court is back. there are no signs of it cooling down. >> the justices are moving from the frying pan right into the fire. they are tackling some of the most difficult legal questions of the day. across the board probably the biggest term in at least a decade. >> reporter: cases involving the contentious issues of affirmative action, same-sex marriage, voting rights and abortion are all likely to come up this term which kicks off monday. >> there's some very exciting cases already on the docket. there's a lot more in the pipeline that may -- the courts could be making a decision on soon. >> reporter: another set of big decisions will bring even more sc

i want to bring in our joe johns.ublican has ever won the white house without winning ohio. i'm feeling like a broken record by saying that. however, that said, joe johns, ohio senator rob portman said that mitt romney might just be the first. have a listen. >> you could probably win the presidency without ohio, but i wouldn't want to take the risk. no republican has. we're doing great in ohio. if you look at the average of all the polls, it's about dead even in ohio right now, and importantly, the momentum is on our side. it's been terrific. i've been to a half dozen rallies in ohio in the last week alone. i have never seen this kind of energy and enthusiasm on the ground. >> joe johns, i didn't expect that i would hear that coming out of rob portman's mouth, but i think he was characterizing it as though there could be other pathways to the presidency without this state even though in the past for a republican there hasn't been. how many other pathways are there for mitt romney if he doesn't prevail in ohio? >> well

the justices went their separate ways after the controversial health care ruling in june, and joe johnsooks how the rooting may have affected the justices. >> they beginning of the new session the supreme court will be watched for signs of strain between the justices or anything else suggesting things may have changed since the health care ruling which was the biggest ruling in the court since bush versus gore a decade ago. after the supreme court judge, john roberts joked to colleagues that he would find an island to escape the heat. >> the charm has been more than usually taxing, and some have called it the term of the century. >> three months later the court is back and there are no signs of it cooling down. >> the justices are moving from the frying pan into the fire, and they are tackling some of the most legal questions of the day. across the board, probably the biggest term in at least a decade. >> cases involving the contention issues of affirmative action, and same-sex marriage and voting rights and abortion are likely to come up this term which kicks off monday. >> there are s

and i talked to cnn's joe johns who has been following the story.n you received it? did it look authentic? >> when i received the letter, at first blush it looked like just another piece of political junk mail. but then after closer inspection of the outside of it, it had just enough officialty to it that made me open it up. but even then it didn't quite look exactly right. >> so given you work for the city, you probably are a little bit more astute as to what kind of mail looks official or not. do you know anybody else who received this kind of letter and if so what was their reaction? how have they responded? >> well, i don't know anybody personally who else received it. i do know there were several in jacksonville that did. and after further conversations with our supervisor of elections, there were many throughout the state and in multiple counties that received them. >> all right, joe johns, our correspond out of washington is also with us to join in on the conversation. joe, you recently did a documentary about voter fraud, intimidation and, y

joe johns, cnn, washington. >>> and tune in tonight at 8:00 eastern as joe johns hosts cnn's documentarytinue with fred right now. >> nice to see you. >> nice to see you. have a good one. >> it is 12:00 on the east coast. if you don't know, it is 9:00 out west. if you're just tuning in, thank you for watching. welcome to cnn newsroom. i'm martin savege. these are the headlines making news. >>> president obama and mitt romney are spending this weekend getting ready for their third and final showdown. that key debate happens monday night in boca raton and focus on foreign policy and

now, here's a bit of joe john's upcoming documentary, voters in america who counts. >> reporter: well toughest, 18 other states, most under republican control also tightened election laws since the 2010 election. kansas is one of many states which requires picture i.d.s which they say will prevent voter fraud. >> the argument that you should always, always push to the most easy, imaginable system that you can think of, well then you're going to open up the doors wide to fraud. we do want it to be easy to vote, but hard to cheat, too. >> reporter: chris is kansas secretary of state. he rejects the charge that tighter election laws like requiring photo i.d.s are politically or racially motivated. >> i think it's a despicable argument to make. the number one factor driving people to the polls is the candidates and the excitement of that contest. it's not the mechanics of the election. >> democrats use the issue in a political way, as well. they use it for fund-raising and they claim voter suppression on a broader scale than it acatually exists as a way to gain additional turnout and fire

let's take you to the supreme court, to joe johns there, following the case for us. he justices react to the arguments? >> the school actually says even if you throw out the issue of race, you wouldn't have gotten in, which is an interesting point there, brooke. but overall i think you can say the justices behaved very predictably and in any case before you listen to the -- you go to court, you listen to their questions, during the arguments, try to get a sense of where they might come down when the opinion is written and what i heard is the justices on the right taking a critical view, expressing skepticism about the use of race preferences in college admissions, chief justice roberts hammering one of the attorneys about the seeming absurdity of trying to determine classroom diversity of students who come from mixed race families, a lot of skepticism about how a university can use any metrics at all to try to determine when it reached the right mix of minority students to achieve diversity, what is called critical mass, part of the law for years. on the left, justice

here's joe johns with a preview of his documentary. joe? >> you want your country back? mine back. don't have an election if they don't come. >> reporter: for dennis, the gop primary marks the maiden voyage of the election law he crafted. >> election's all about turnout. so for the primary on tuesday, we're working right now to get around saturday morning. this is the grass roots, precinct walking. we are going right on the street. do you know what the number is? i'll go house to house. good morning, i'm dennis baxley. this is the supervisor elections office in marion county, florida. and this is the last early voting day. >> reporter: it was baxley who agreed to change the last day of early voting from sunday to saturday. >> what the data from 2008 showed clearly is that african-americans preferred to vote on the sundays, and did so in greater proportions than the overall members. >> on the sunday prior to election day after church services, people got on buses and they rode to the supervisor of election office and they voted. >> we may take 200 or 300 people to vote. >

joe johns takes a look at how the health care ruling may have affected the justices' relationships, andhe tough issues ahead for the court. >> reporter: at the beginning of the new session the supreme court is going to be closely watched for signs of strain between the justices or anything else that suggests things may have changed since the health care ruling, which arguably was the biggest opinion by the court since bush versus gore more than a decade ago. right after the supreme court's health care decision in june, chief justice john roberts joked to colleagues that he would find an island fortress to escape the political heat. here's how justice ruth bader ginsburg described the eventful spring. >> the term has been more than usually taxing. some have called it the term of the century. >> reporter: now, three months later the court is back and there are no signs of it cooling down. >> the justices are moving from the frying pan right into the fire. they are tackling some of the most difficult legal questions of the day. across the board, probably, the biggest term in at least a dec

i can see abigail adams sitting and clutching her scorching hot cup of joe, john adams saying sit downnd drink your damn coffee, woman. she really was the brains of the outfit. my mother is overworked, tired, but her still solid body stood hard as a rock. i'm not going to cry, as a tear falls down from her face. don't cry, mom, don't cry. [cheers and applause] >> that was her first time ever. yay! and up next we have indiana telepenova. >> a recipe for water. start with the color magenta, a burning asphalt, of beach ball sighing out its life, a garden grown on accident after accident, add a father painting shelves on the cove, a pinch of guilt, statues of isabella butter flisse -- butterflies, and extinct alpha betts, a teaspoon of autumn leaves, a shepard playing with the winds, some animal begging for snow. mix vigorously like the mountain mixes up its slopes. preheat the bed of a star to -- 240 light-years away. thank you. and next is -- [cheers and applause] >> next is robin black. >> hi, robin! >> oh, ok. i had to know. this is called "eviction notice." the police turned us away.

here is the crime and justice correspondent joe johns.rning. >> brook, this started with a student from thailand who was studying in the united states. to pay for his kegs his family and friends sent his cheap versions of tax books printed overseas which he sold to people in the united states at big discounts. the publisher sued. now some say the outcome of this case could have a big impact on the economy. >> reporter: it's a case that could cause trouble for anyone who ever thought about selling an old iphone or ipad. donating clothes to charity or even unloading junk at a yard sale. the issue about to be argued before the supreme court is whether the original copyright holder on u.s. products manufactured or purchased in other countries can control your ability to resell the product once you buy it. davis resells old products at this ebay consignment store. >> how much of that stuff is foreign manufacturers? >> i probably say 85%, 95%. >> he fears the case could put him out of business. >> i think it's ridiculous. i have known about it

. >> not only for president obama and governor romney, cnn's crime and justice correspondent joe johnsore now on the clash over efforts to stop voter fraud. >> randi and victor, you might think voter fraud is a massive problem given all the attention it has been given this year. a justice department study said it was an issue in far less than 1% of the votes cast between 2002 and 2005. our new ad as about voter fraud intended to inform voters or intimidate them. voter fraud is a felony. billboards with this simple and factual message are stirring up controversy in two battleground states. here's why voting rights activists like eric marshal are upset. >> yes, voter fraud is a felony. but it's the way they're being displayed and the fact that they're in almost exclusive

joe johns joining us now from washington. over the weekend. this wrong date -- spanish language cards in arizona, the implications are potentially pretty huge, and it is difficult for anyone to think that proofreading couldn't have, like, caught that error before they all went out? >> yeah. i mean, the first thing you do is you look up and say how did they make that mistake, but for the record, the county officials there in marakopa county is saying this only happened to something like 50 voter registration cards out of two million. they say they made an honest mistake. this is attracting a lot of attention because arizona has been all over the news for its handling of latinos. the supreme court right now has a case penned beforing it on whether the state can require proof of citizenship for voter registration. marakopa county is the home of the controversial sheriff joe arrpajo. though the election has no connection to him. though it is, fred, the potential for voter confusion, we're starting to see around the country as the

cnn's joe johns is live in washington for us. joe, what are we expecting today?s just arguments today, but the case has the potential to come out as a very hard fought and close case, a case that could change the way students all over the country get admitted to college and whether it's okay to use race as a small factor in the admission process to achieve diversity. as you said, this case is about a woman named abigail fisher who says she was denied admission to the university of texas because of her race. she's white. she didn't get in. she ended up going to louisiana state university. the university of texas allows the top 10% from each texas high school to basically go to the university. then everybody else is subjected to something called holistic review. abigail fisher was in the top 11% of her class. the question is really whether it's okay to use race in the calculation when you use this narrowly tailored program to achieve diversity. >> i know earlier when we ired your package we talked about race being part of the review process. do we know how importan

and governor romney, cnn's crime and justice correspondent joe johns has more now on the clash over efforts to stop voter fraud. >> randi and victor, you might think voter fraud is a massive problem given all the attention it has been given this year. a justice department study said it was an issue in far less than 1% of the votes cast between 2002 and 2005. our new ad as about voter fraud intended to inform voters or intimidate them. voter fraud is a felony. billboards with this simple and factual message are stirring up controversy in two battleground states. here's why voting rights activists like eric marshal are upset. >> yes, voter fraud is a felony. but it's the way they're being displayed and the fact that they're in almost exclusively areas or around areas that are predominantly latino. >> reporter: the billboards have been popping up in cities in ohio and wisconsin. 85 in milwaukee and 30 in columbus and another 30 in cleveland and 31 in cincinnati. protests started almost as soon as they went up, demanding the signs come down. >> this billboard is nothing but a symbol of pure, un

. >>> because of its questionable voter registration tactics in florida, here's cnn's joe johns. >> he's operative who just doesn't seem to go away. just a few weeks ago a wave of bad publicity hit -- disavowed by the republican national committee but now some democrats who criticize his tactics say they're worried he may still be operating in several key battleground states under a different company name. it all started when florida election officials saw problems with more than 100 voter registration forms, behind the registration, gop consultant nathan skrkscrull. the republican party had already giver scrull -- but it's not the end of the story, now the top democrat on the house government reform and oversight committee is asking questions including whether scrull has managed to keep doing business under a different company name. >> then we want to look at the various contracts, i want to see the contracts that he has with his various agencies and what he is contracted to do. >> john spicer of the republican national committee said they're doing business with scrull or any of the his

joe johns is live for us at the supreme court this morning. the stodetails this case, joe. why is it so significant? >> reporter: soledad, this really is the kind of case that could change the way students get into college all over the country. it could change whether race is used as even one factor in the admissions process. abigail fisher applied to the university of texas, says she was denied admission to the school because of her race. the university uses sort of a two-tiered structure to allow people into the school. first they allow the top 10% of students from high schools all over the states. and those who don't fit that criteria actually end up in something called a holistic review process. that's where race comes in as a factor. the question is whether this narrowly tailored program is sufficient to withstand supreme court scrutiny once again. of course, about nine years ago when justice sandra day o'connor was on the court, she wrote this opinion. if you've heard it before, once again, the court is reconsidering some of these issues

joe johns reporting live from washington.sidential candidates are trying to down play the importance of tomorrow night's debate. the only problem, it may be too late. voting in some critical battleground states has already started and that includes ohio and florida. some people even held a sweep out the vote rally last night in columbus, ohio, trying to be the first in line to cast a ballot. welcome, gentlemen. >> happy to be here. >> thank you for having us. >> so, henry, i'd like to start with you. were there a lot of people lined up to vote? this morning? >> well, in cuyahoga county, there were about 15 people there last night who stayed over and then this morning by 8:15, the polls opened at 8:00 there were already 200 people in line to vote. and they were expecting hundreds more throughout the morning in cuyahoga, which is the most populous county in ohio. >> i know in 2008, lots of people chose to vote early in the state of ohio. will the early voting numbers match 2008? >> right now they're thinking that the early voti