. - yep. - 60% of arizona's votes come through maricopa county. you have distributed 1.9 million mail ballots so far. - not me personally, but the sbs. - not you personally. but in 2020, it took 13 days, it took almost two weeks for maricopa county to count all its ballots. there were protests, there was misinformation. yeah. - do you expect it to be faster and more orderly this year? - it depends on the behavior of the voters and if they hold on to their early ballots until election day and they drop off their mail ballots on election day, then- - at 7:00 p.m. - at 7:00 p.m., then we will be in another situation where if we have razor thin margins, arizona won't be able to be confidently called for 48 hours. and i think that very well could be the possibility. you know, we're in that situation. we do the best we absolutely can. we throw more bodies on it and we encourage people to get their mail ballots back earlier, but beyond that, there's not much we can do. - one of the concerns that is spiraling out there, the conspiracy theories, is this no

now, we have a secured lot for election workers in maricopa county. 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 fro

stephen richer helps administer voting in maricopa county, arizona. ters. maricopa is often decisive in a state which swings either way. trump claimed maricopa county was stolen in 2020. republican stephen richer was determined to find the truth, to restore belief in the ballot. he discovered that truth wasn't what many wanted to hear. >> i've become much more cynical about politics. there are a lot of people who have no lines in the sand. a lot of politicians. a lot of politicians for whom it's like oxygen, that if you told them they weren't going to be reelected, it would be like unplugging them from oxygen. so whichever way the winds are blowing, even if it's highly immoral, that they're on -- they're on for the ride. >> what are your fears for this coming election day? >> that we'll -- we'll be doing this again for another four years. >> nearly four years ago, republican attorney stephen richer was the voter's choice for maricopa county recorder, the office that records voter registration and handles ballots by mail. richer took office after the 20

i'm going to circle maricopa county there. that was 2020, democrats won maricopa county in 2020. they won the election in arizona. look at 20:16, the only thing that's different is they lost maricopa county 2012, lost maricopa county, lost arizona 28, lost maricopa county lost arizona 24, 2020. i could just keep going back and back and you get the story there. it all comes down to maricopa county in arizona. that's where the candidates are going. that's how to get victory there in arizona incidentally, 11 electoral votes what's right there? it's kind of electoral college insurance for wisconsin, which has ten if democrats have problems in the blue wall, they'll need something like arizona all right. >> thank you, john. with only 11 days to go. kamala harris is bringing up big star to her campaign rally today and texas, none other than beyond say she is there to hammer home her message about the loss of reproductive rights in a state that has a near abortion ban on her way to texas, kamala harris dropped a brand new ad where abortion front and center for 54 years, they were trying

and the growth is in the urban areas, particularly maricopa county. that tends to be a bit more blue or progressive. and we also have had migration, rtularly from california, which is the larstumber of individus moving into this really fast-growing area, particularly in maricopa county. last year we had about 75,000 individuals from california move here. i know we don't know all about their political affiliation but there has been some discussion perhaps that this is moving the state, perhaps more away from this reliably-red, to blue. then the last area i would suggest is probably the rise of the maga movement. for the last couple of elections the primaries, particularly in the republican areas, have kind of been a duel between maga and more moderates. the maca -- the magas have won at the primary levels. but they have not done as well at the general election. there are john mccain republicans, libertarians perhaps you have not voting for the republican candidate. i think all of those areas are country waiting to arizona. moving to a purple state now,

as maricopa county, bill gates of the counties board of supervisors certified the 2020 count it's myssure from trump allies. now, after years of death threats and harassment gaetz is retiring from public office so what keeps him up at night? this election year? i'm audie cornish and this is the assignment on the road this is a joke like this security i've actually been to a prison that looks like this, which is not an insult, but just like the bars, the buzzers. >> yeah, it is intense. it's really sad that that's how we have to do things today. >> was it always like this? >> oh, no, not at all. so i'd come down here garrett was in and out easily and really until 2020. that's when things really changed. and we owe it to our people who work in this building to make it safe, to have the metal detectors, to have all of the bars in the badges. but it really is a sad statement on where we're at right now. >> is that your experience that 2020 ever came to an end no. >> no. we are still living through 2020 almost on a daily basis every day on social media and other places, people still raisi

phoenix is in maricopa county. you may recall, maricopa was the epicenter for a ton of the misinformation and disinformation surrounding the election in 2022 and in 2020. donald trump claimed the presidential election in maricopa county was stolen in 2020. republicans in the state called for a hand recount of the county's 2.1 million votes, the recount that was widely characterized as a sham. the review found no widespread voter fraud and confirmed that joe biden had in fact won the state. according to the brookings institute, elections in arizona are often determined by the voters in this county, maricopa county and it's more than 2 million voters. voters in this county make up 59% of the registered voters in the entire state. some of the key races on arizona's violet this year include the state's nine congressional seats up for grabs for the u.s. senate race between the democratic congressman ruben gallego, and republican carrie lake. you will remember carrie lake, the vocal election denier who lost the governor's

in 2020 four, election officials in maricopa county, arizona, are preparing for round two.ur white house correspondent has this report from phoenix, arizona. laura: stephen is ready for the selection. >> the average ballot will have about 80 contests on it. >> he runs mail-in voting and maintains voter registration and says he is ready for processing 2 million absentee ballots and for signature verification, but he is also ready for the backlash. >> we are very aware of the fact that arizona could be one of if not the last state waiting to be called, and if you say it's all coming down to arizona, then you can bet that whatever emotion was already baked into the equation is going to be increased magnitudes. >> this is our main lobby. >> since 2020, richard, a republican himself, has faced an onslaught from his own party, undermining his office and trust in each election. >> it is clear in arizona that they must decertify the election. you heard the numbers. and those sponsor before wrongdoing must be held accountable. puts me seem to be caught in a doom loop -- >> we seem t

the republican-led senate led an audit of the maricopa county ballots, our most populous county. essentially, it took a lot of money and a lot of time. they looked over the ballots with tons of volunteers. it was covered to high heaven by the media. they discovered that biden did win and by a tiny bit more than originally thought. essentially, the results were accurate and there is no evidence of widespread fraud, but there were claims about how the fraud could have occurred and how the computers could have been hacked and how the ballots were made out of dangerous material -- bamboo, or people being given the wrong kinds of pens that would change their vote and the ink would bleed through the paper in such a way. there were ballot rules. there were all sorts of theories. the fallout of that has continued every day. the audit itself took quite a long time. when 2022 hit, the republican candidates who were in the trump camp who lost their state-white elections, they all claimed that there elections had also been negatively affected. i wouldn't always say fraud, sometimes stolen or

craig is chair of the maricopa county republican committee.es that mail-in ballots are a problem. >> we have to decide whether we want to trade our freedom for convenience or not. and the mail-in ballots because a detriment into our freedom. but we also have the issue now because we are a border state of the illegals crossing the border. and being registered to vote. and the mail-in ballots, it all combines into an issue that keeps us up at night. >> his basis for his distrust comes from the widely debunked conspiracy that maricopa county counted 200,000 mail-in ballots with mismatching signatures in the 2020 election. do you think the elections, all the elections that have happened since 2020, at the state level, local level, that they are not fair and accurate? >> since 2020? i would have to agree with that. i don't have evidence that would support it not being the case. i don't see, being involved at the level i am, i do not see that anything has changed. >> do you think that 2024 is being rigged, because donald trump is saying it is. >> i

the republican-led senate led an audit of the maricopa county ballots, our most populous county.entially, it took a lot of money and a lot of time. they looked over the ballots with tons of volunteers. it was covered to high heaven by the media. they discovered that biden did win and by a tiny bit more than originally thought. essentially, the results were accurate and there is no evidence of widespread fraud, but there were claims about how the fraud could have occurred and how the computers could have been hacked and how the ballots were made out of dangerous material -- bamboo, or people being given the wrong kinds of pens that would change their vote and the ink would bleed through the paper in such a way. there were ballot rules. there were all sorts of theories. the fallout of that has continued every day. the audit itself took quite a long time. when 2022 hit, the republican candidates who were in the trump camp who lost their state-white elections, they all claimed that there elections had also been negatively affected. i wouldn't always say fraud, sometimes stolen or cit

is that really what it's coming down to in maricopa county?y seeing online threats or is there intelligence suggesting it could get that bad? >> look, people are in jail right now because of what's happened over the last several years. the death threats to our elected officials. i read that story on sunday. i know this and i was shocked by it all because i know it's real. i know it's happening. these are the kinds of preparations they have to make. it's funny, i've been to that county election headquarters many, many times over the years. during the primary in august i went there to drop off my ballot. i drove right by it because of the security preparations they had made. the whole -- the wrought iron fence, the new wrought iron fence surround, the building was wrapped in tarp so nobody could see inside. as we know in the past, and likely again this year, there will attempts to video what goes on inside those gates. >> are they concerned about voters from a particular political party? >> well, yes. not a political party but their advocates, t

i believe that the people in maricopa county said the other day it could take them four or five or six days to figure things out. not just -- reporter: four years ago on election night you wanted donald trump to declare victory? steve: hang on, hang on. but we have made -- we have made significant changes and mail-in ballots are not what they were. he told us, mark elias told us that on election night, you were going to -- what is the red mirage. but just wait two weeks, when all votes are counted, he didn't say all legitimate votes. he didn't say all certifiable votes. he didn't say all votes from american citizens. he said all votes. wait until all the votes are counted. and you can only coincidentally certifiable, chain of custody votes from american citizens. ok? so we don't want to have a replay of 2020. changes have been made. i don't think enough changes have been made. but it's election officials in pennsylvania, election officials in maricopa county, it's election officials in michigan that are saying right now, and i think some of those election officials are democrats and so

nbc julia amesly recently traveled to maricopa county. i know you got to go behind the scenes.t did you learn? >> reporter: drones and police on horseback and several players of fencing will surround the maricopa election center come november 5th. is that all necessary? >> i would say it's not. we want to make sure if somebody is considering doing something and if it's a single actor, they will be deterred after the show of force. >> somebody set fire to a box in phoenix and a man had 250,000 rounds of ammunition and plans for a mass casualty event. the election center is already on alert after protesters surrounded it following the 2020 election. some of them claiming a vote had been stolen from donald trump. >> we didn't have all of the fencing, all of the badging, all of the metal detectors and it was a scary time for us here. >> reporter: maricopa county supervisor bill gates says the intentions have turned yo in to outright threats against him and his colleagues and even his children. they received this voice mail in 2021. how did that affect you? >> the threats and the ha

. >> and in a county like maricopa -- there it goes, it just turned on again. mean? >> probably death. >> reporter: there were 645 heat-related deaths in maricopa county in 2023 alone. a clear and present danger to ruth hernandez, the retired cashier who lives in this house. >> why is what they're doing so important, so helpful for you? >> well, i just retired and i know i never would have been able to have this done if it wasn't for them. >> at the end of the month forgive me for asking such a personal question, how much money do you have left in your bank account? >> $30. >> three zero. $30? >> after i pay my bills, this is going to help a lot. >> what do you want vice president harris and former president trump to know about what life is like for people like you? >> there's a lot of people who are in need of help. i thought maybe my social security would be a little bit more, but it's not. >> does either vice president harris or former president trump connect with you more when they talk about what americans go through? >> well, right now it's harris. >> rep

let's go to maricopa county, a battleground. by 3 points in 2016, joe biden by 2 points in 2020. this critical county could decide the election. the home buyer index here is getting better. homes are on the market for longer. there's a little less competition. buyers are waiting for lower mortgage rates, but things are loosening up in this fastest growing county in the united states. let's go to georgia, also a critical state. this is cobb county. our home buyer index is down by 10 points. there's more inventory than last year. chris, what's really interesting, there's downpayment assistance for teachers, nurses and veterans and people who make the median income. there's availability for buying homes, downpayment assistance. that seems to be helping there. finally, real quick, chris, to lambeau field, to brown county, wisconsin. this is trump country. getting worse in wisconsin. you know how important wisconsin is. demand for retirees and first-time home buyers so strong here, homes are going way above asking. that's why sales d

daily into maricopa county where j.d.member this went to joe biden by just two percentage points in 2020 going back in 2016 just looking at how key this is, donald trump's victory in maricopa the most populous county in north -- arizona led to victory in that state so j.d. vance is trying to chip away there before he heads up and finishes the night. >>> in pima county which hillary clinton won by 20 percentage points in 2016, jill biden won by an even wider margin back in 2020. >>> -- you're seeing the harris campaign spending a lot of time and energy there then maggie saw former president barack obama on the ground in madison, dane county a big focus for them, very, very blue county, they're trying to make -- this solidly so as he finishes up their heels is going to head to michigan but not before walz heads over to not just milwaukee, is going to go to the south of there, malarkey very blue but he going to head start -- where things are really tight and -- donald trump pulled up a victory by four percentage points there

of the badging, all of the metal detectors, and it was a scary time for us here. >> reporter: maricopa countyays since then, the political tensions have turned into outright threats against him and his colleagues, even their children. his office receiving this voice mail in 2021. >> [ bleep ] traitor just like your [ bleep ] boss, you know. rigging the election for a little bit of dough, piece of [ bleep ]. >> reporter: how did that affect you? >> the threats and harassment affected me, but to the extent they started to threaten or mock our children. it affected me so much that literally i suffered from ptsd. >> reporter: did you ever imagine when you joined the county board of supervisors, you would be facing ptsd therapy, problems with your family because of it? >> no, not in a million years. i'm just one of many, literally thousands, tragically, across this country who run elections who have had the same experience. >> reporter: hoping to reduce the threat of violence, the county is also making sure voters know their ballots are secure. to increase transparency, the maricopa election cente

it is weird that, you know, i think they were used in philadelphia and in maricopa county, but not in a lot of other places. that seemed like a heck of a coincidence. >> let me ask you a question. y'all know anybody who doesn't know how tariffs work? all right. i'll give you a hint. that other guy. no, he has this crazy, crazy, crazy notion that putting a tariff of 60% on every single product imported from china is a good idea. let me just tell you. this man has so little understanding of tariffs, he thinks that china pays for them. i honestly think that he used to understand how tariffs worked. back in the '90s and the early 2000s, he was a little bit coherent when he talked about trade policy and he actually made a little bit of sense. but i don't know what happened to him. the way he's been thinking about tariffs and trade now, something is a little bit lost. and now his trade policies, particularly with tariffs, are basically just gibberish. >> all right. andrew ross sorkin, what do you make of these heavy hitters getting on the campaign trail? >> well, it's surprising to see both

but not in other places they're not used in philadelphia and in point of fact, a hand count in maricopa countyizona after the 2020 election found zero variances between the hand-count and the dominion tabulation. zero there are questions that musk is referring to because election liars keep pushing them and we know where lies about elections can lead to destruction and death. >> in one of the darkest days in american democracy jonathan swift once said, falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after it. >> he said that in the year 1710, he did not know how much worse it would get with social media and ari and wildly irresponsible leaders with huge platforms. god, what would jonathan swift thing today? >> buckle up. it's going to be a rough 16 days. and beyond we'll be right back >> for you saturday at nine on cnn what if there was a hearing aid that could keep up with you this is job or enhanced select it's a smart hearing solution that makes hearing aids more convenient and less expensive. >> it connects with their phones so you can stream calls and music with job or enhanced alex premium p

and in point of fact, a hand count in maricopa county, arizona after the 2020 election found zero variances between the hand-count in the dominion tabulation, zero there are questions that musk is referring to because election liars keep pushing them and we know where lies about elections can lead to destruction and death. >> and one of the darkest days in american democracy jonathan swift once said, falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after it. >> he said that in the year 1710, he did not know how much worse it would get with social media and ari and wildly irresponsible leaders with huge platforms. god, what would jonathan swift thing today? >> buckle up. it's going to be a rough 16 days. and beyond we'll be right back kamala harris, wednesday at nine eastern on cnn >> feel about painting is waiting for child lay should get up to $500 of your pay whenever you need it. >> there there's no answers. no credit shapes, no mandatory fees. i'm not waiting for payday anymore and you should join me. i can.com and get paid when you say curated upgrades elevated design for thoughtful living,

but look how close it was in maricopa county, 50.3 to 48.1? yes. joe biden won by a bit there, but where you saw those voters in that piece, that was here in pima county, look at the margin here. this is a big blue area. this is where harris has to turn out the vote biden heading 90,000 plus it's advantage in that one county, won the state by 10,000. so you have to go where the democratic voters are, and you have to turn them out. and that's why those canvassers are going door to door, especially at latino households who vote sometimes, but not always all right. >> john king stay with us just ahead. we want to dive into the early vote count already tens of millions it's americans have voted. what are those numbers tell us and more breaking news, billionaire jeff bezos is new op-ed and his newspaper, the washington post. his first comments on the anger over the papers late decision to not publish a presidential endorsement or brian stelter joins us ahead. >> you want to answer a stoop political analysis. >> have questions. how biden said the right b

could he juice that turnout to overcome deficits in places like cobb county or maricopa county. he almost did it in both places. has he grown the maga movement more this go around? >> can i ask you a weird thing that happened at the turning point event. tucker carlson gets on stage and starts calling donald trump daddy. what? >> he was using a metaphor, tucker carlson was, to say sometimes you come home when you're the daddy and you find that your daughter has smeared her feces on the wall. and you have to give her, in his words, quote, a vigorous spanking. and he said when they tell you that he did not win, tell them that daddy is coming home. clearly, you know who the people were that he was referencing as part of this story. but this is the type of rhetoric that got that crowd on its feet. greg was there, he heard it, too. this is the stuff that sits on social media and galvanizes them. i think you cannot dismiss the impact of this sort of rhetoric on making people excited -- >> okay. inside the room it plays. and they say -- they were chanting daddy's home when he got on the

we have about 80% of maricopa county votes that are mail in ballots. lot of them are ballots that are delivered on election day at the polling places. so, we have a very secure election system in maricopa county and in the state of arizona, but it will take time. like what you are saying in georgia, we will have record voter turnout this year. arizona is going to frustrate a lot of people. i predict we will be the last state to have an outcome and it will be at least a day or two after the election. >> i know that doug began his week in arizona this week. what else is coming in the harris campaign in arizona? >> every day you will see one of the principals in arizona. either in maricopa county, which is phoenix and mesa and about 60% of the population of arizona. also, in tucson and yuma. president trump is coming here equally all the time. j.d. vance was in my city a few days ago. arizona, along with pennsylvania and a few other places are at the center of the universe right now. you will see all the principles here on a daily basis. >> what is the cl

in ten arizonans live here in maricopa county. look how punishing the cost of living has been. so that's the headwind facing vice president harris. turn on the tv here, turn on the radio here. she's running ads saying her plans as you were just discussing with the panel, would help with this. another thing that might help her understand is also the conversation you had just happened there's no question. the cost of living is her headwind, but there are also to critical voting groups here that are often put off by trump's rhetoric. and that is latinos and moderates in the fast-growing suburbs here. so arizona is just a fascinating test case as we get into the final days and have harris wants to duplicate biden's 2020 win in arizona. where does she have to? perform so let me show you something else. >> we come back to where we were earlier today. let me stay in arizona. let me blank this out for you here. so if you look at the state, if you come back, joe biden flips this by 10,400 votes, right? it doesn't get much closer than that

, maricopa county in 2020, but he almost overcame that deficit by juicing his turnout in the rural counties like this here. we spent the last 24 hours in a couple of different cities in the county. there was a lineup of 30 people that were all, they told us, trump supporters, nobody audibly speaking the words kamala harris, and that's exactly what donald trump and his campaign apparatus want to hear. take a listen to a few of the folks we talked to. >> they said you voted early for the first time. >> for the first time. >> why did you vote early this year? >> because donald trump told me to. >> reporter: what do you think about donald trump? >> he's huge. he's in it for the power, i know that. most of them are. >> reporter: but you want him to have that power? >> yeah. yep, i do. >> reporter: why do you think people are more enthusiastic than they were even four years ago? >> they're waking up. >> business owners like myself are tired of him getting ostracized by 34 felonies for doing nothing illegal. >> reporter: some of the volunteers were telling me that they have a grass roots organizat

talk about the economy, we have got more manufacturing jobs in the county where phoenix lies in maricopa county anywhere else. the polling shows we are still worried about the economy. inflation is still fresh in our minds. we are feeling t sting of the burned. as far as what the polls are saying, that is a reflection directly of what the voters have felt. in many ways the disappointment in the current administration is a burden kamala harris is feeling. the voters are not enthralled with donald trump. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... finaial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by...

look how dark this status most of the counties filled in a more dark including maricopa county where i am right now, more than six in ten arizonans live here in marokopa county. and look how punishing the cost of living had been. so that is the headwind facing vice president harris. turn on the tv here, turn on the radio here. she's right hunting ad saying her plans as you were just discussing with the panel, would help with this. another thing that might help her though anderson is also the conversation you just happening. there's no question the cost of living is her headwind, but they're also to critical voting groups here that are often put off by trump's rhetoric. and that is latinos and moderates in the fast-growing suburbs here. so arizona, it's just a fascinating test case as we get into the final days and have harris wants to duplicate biden's 2020 win in arizona. where does she have to perform? >> so let me show you something else. we come back to where we were earlier today. let me stay in arizona. let me blank this out for you here. so if you look at the state, if you come

network's call it and the reason that we do have many races where it takes several days is because maricopa county and arizona specifically has such close races. they're very close a where a divided, closely divided state and county. so what i would say to people is the patient, we know that we will get through the count, the vote in time, so that we can make sure that arizona's electoral votes are counted no matter no matter no matter how many days it takes, it's good to see you, bill. >> thank you very much sara thanks for having trump ally steve bannon released from prison just hours ago and expected to host his right-wing podcast this morning, just one week to leave the election. >> he's hoping to make the difference in favor of trump right now legal teams for both donald trump and kamala harris are gun gearing up for a possible courtroom battles. >> and what could be a historically close post election fight and waffles, eggs, deli, meat quarter pounders, all recall this year. how can you stay safe from foodborne illnesses? dr. sanjay gupta is joining us next political analysis questions biden

it was maricopa county. so how did joe biden get his victory? i would argue the cushion came here where we were earlier today in pima county. if you look here in the tucson area, joe biden won that county by more than 90,000 votes. if you're going to win a state by just 10,000, you need some places where your run it up to offset trump's support in the rural areas that happened down there in pima county. so you see the activity liburdi now, trump has no expectation of winning in pima county. he'd like to win here in marokopa, but in the places that he knows are deep blue, trump's challenge especially in the suburban areas, just try to improve his numbers. some that's what we're watching for to see if that happens when we start counting votes a week from now. >> yeah, as you know, john trump has made immigration among his biggest campaign what are voters who lived near the border where you are telling you about that it's fascinating. >> i know you're going to talk to senator kelly from arizona. he could talk a

we already know that pennsylvania and maricopa county and others are saying it could take a while but he needs to explain to the american people early on exactly where we are in the voting. >> like analysis? so you're saying that american people should be ready for it to take a few days to know the winner? steve: i don't say that. in michigan they said it could take several days. >> four years ago on election night you wanted donald trump to declare victory. steve: hang on. hang on. we have made significant changes and mail-in ballots are not what they were. marc elias told us that on election night you're going to call what is called the red mirage. but just wait two weeks until all votes are counted. he didn't say all legitimate votes, all certifiable votes, all vote. you can only count certified chain of custody votes from american citizens. changes have been made. i don't think enough changes have been made but it's election officials in more copa county, election officials in michigan that are saying right now that they don't think they're going to be able to give definitive numb

well, now, maricopa county can't use those machines anymore. they've been out.nt outside the building. no one knows what might have happened. they've got millions of dollars now that maricopa maricopa residents are going to have to pay to actually bring those machines, to get new machines that are safe and secure. so when you've got a state that's responsible for running its own elections and you don't have the federal funds between 2018 and 2022, $1.3 billion in federal funds was pushed into the elections because it was covid, because they were worried about, you know, did the russians hack the 2016 elections of $1.3 billion between 2022 and 2024, that only put in 70 million. it. so where does that leave that leads dark money coming in to try to help elections. but if the federal government started to take responsibility for it, which is again what president ford and president carter had suggested in 2004, how's this going to get paid for? so it comes down to the state budget. state has to decide between education and voting. it comes down to dark money. you kn

in maricopa county, more than 700,000 voters have turned in ballots. out voters early. historically you need to win maricopa to win the 11 cultural votes. focusing on native americans. harris held a rally at the gila river reservation where earlier this month president biden apologize for the forced boarding school policy. biden won the state of emerging lesson 1% 2020 and that year there was a surge in turnout. tim walz was in navajo nation. j.d. vance told the community is coming around to the trunk. they have plans here in the state on halloween. >> sandra: alicia acuna live in phoenix. we will be watching all of it. thank you so much. is it a no-go for joe? axios reporting the harris campaign giving president joe biden the cold shoulder and it comes a last-minute campaigning. >> it's interesting to see the harrison campaign has been keeping biden at arm's length. this has been an issue for harris since she has become the presidential nominee for democrats, trying to figure out how to navigate the issue of the current sitting president, joe biden, w

the ballot here in maricopa county which is the place where most of the people in this state live is pages double sided with an average of 79 contests. everything from president down to school boards and 13 state propositions including ones on abortion access and immigration. why this matters? we've been talking to early voters all week and they are telling us it is taking some time to fill out that ballot. >> 30 minutes, most of the things i knew i wanted to vote on and couple of other things doing last minute research. >> it took me roughly about 20-25 minutes and it went really smooth. reporter: maricopa election officials want things to stay smooth so they are urging folks to vote early because these past few weeks already surpassed this moment in 2020 in terms of turnout. officials say 1 million ballots have been received in maricopa county so far and they are bracing for a record amount of people to vote in-person on election day. that means long lines, slowed down by the long ballot. >> we have put a great plan in place to keep those lines as short as possible. the people need

maricopa county medical examiner kevin horne testified that cuts on travis's hands help explain whatpened, as he was stabbed 27 times, nearly decapitated, and shot in the head. i believe the wounds to the hands must have occurred before the fatal injuries, either of the head or of the throat. josh mankiewicz: at 5:31, the camera snaps what seems to be an accidental photo of the bathroom ceiling. the next photo, taken at 5:32, shows travis on the floor, bleeding profusely around the neck. in the foreground is what looks like a woman's pant leg. according to the prosecutor, it could only be jodi's. brian burns testified, telling the court the same story he told us, about how jodi visited him in utah one day after killing travis. she got on top of me pretty aggressively and we were kissing. josh mankiewicz: martinez then played for the jury powerful video of jodi lying outright to mesa police detective esteban flores, just before her arrest. why won't you admit to it? josh mankiewicz: an accusation that would make many people crumble. but jodi persistently stuck to her story. what's so

but in 2020 donald trump lost maricopa county but effectively won the state because he was able to juicelike here in 2020 which he won by 75% of the vote. a record number of republicans turning out. we went to a couple of early voting locations, and sea lengthy lines. during the lunch hour 30 people waiting in line. we should note we did not find a single person who told us audibly they would vote for kamala harris. these are trump supporters getting out to vote early. take a listen to some of our conversations. >> well, the difference is going to be that everybody's coming out early. and everybody that we talked to has made a special effort this year to vote. and it's -- you can see it here in the parking lot. you know, this library usually got five cars in it. a ton of cars in it now. >> reporter: so you voted early for the first time. >> for the first time. >> reporter: why did you vote early this year? >> honestly, because donald trump told me to. he keeps saying it and i've been thinking about it, so here i am. >> reporter: we met one man who did not vote in 2020 but he said he was

specifically maricopa county where police are using drones, snipers, even officers on horseback to helpeep the ballots and those who count them safe. how serious are the threats, senator? >> well, i mean, the threats originate when you have individuals like the former president, donald trump, and kari lake now running for the u.s. senate when they won't accept the outcome of a free and fair election. and that gets, you know, folks that support them, you know, they get very confused about this because they're being lied to. and that's where the threats come from. it is incredibly unfortunate. but like our former governor, republican doug ducey has said multiple times, we do elections well here in arizona. we administer them well. they're free, they're fair. the problem comes back to people like kari lake and donald trump. you know, i would suggest that they get over themselves and understand that we know how to administer an election here in arizona. and the one next tuesday is going to be -- it is going to be counted, it is going to be a fair election and they should accept the results.

maricopa county has been the center of a lot of exposure.: early voting in arizona started today and all eyes will be on bellwether maricopa county. for the pbs news hour, i am laura barron-lopez. ♪ amna: thousands upon thousands of lebanese are fleeing israeli bombing across southern and central lebanon as hezbollah continues its rocket and missile fire into northern israel as fears of an all-out general war mount. special correspondent layla sits down with the lebanese official managing the humanitarian response in a country that was already on its knees before this latest conflict. leila: earlier today, 90 hezbollah missiles were launched across lebanon's border into israel. after what many here saw as a bold provocation yesterday, idf soldiers planting an israeli flag in lebanese territory on the southern border. the israeli prime minister issued a warning to the lebanese people. >> you have an opportunity to save lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in gaza. leila:

in maricopa county, arizona, snipers will be set up on the tabulation center's rooftop.ballots will be counted in this warehouse outside the city center. >> count all legal votes. >> reporter: four years ago, the count looked like this at the convention center downtown. >> we will have a very heavy law enforcement presence. >> reporter: city commissioner says this time around, they have more control with gates, fences topped with barbed wire, and multiple checkpoints. do you feel like you need that security for this election? >> unfortunately, i think it's necessary. we have to be prepared for the worst case scenario. >> reporter: he like many election officials faced violent threats in 2020 against himself and his family. the father of three moving his family elsewhere during the election. >> it's really frustrating. nobody should feel unsafe doing the job of counting votes. >> reporter: a study published this year found nearly 40% of election workers say they're facing abuse and harassment. and over 90% of local officials have taken steps to increase election security

the platform in the case of one of the top election officials in arizona, stephen richer and maricopa county. he's actually tried to have friends slip personal notes to elon musk to give him accurate election information. and i just want to give you an idea of sort of how much they're trying to do this outrage, this is an example of a stephen richer tweet. it was from earlier this summer, elon musk is basically saying that the only thing that safe is paper paper ballots and voting in-person for one day. and stephen richer says, can i please give you a tour of our election facility and mail voting process and maricopa county, arizona, you can go into all of the rooms. you can examine all of the equipment. you can ask any question that you want. we love to show you the security steps already in place, which i think are very sound. and he goes on to say, essentially, please give us your recommendations after that, we'll run them up the food chain we love to put your very entrepreneurial brain to good use. but you see there the mismatch elon musk musk's post about this head, 27 million views acc

in maricopa county, arizona, the largest in a critical battleground state, the tabulation center, gethave snipers on the roof, metal detectors, and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor this area. former sheriff of larimer county, colorado, justin smith, is joining us now. he now works with a group, the committee for safe and secure elections and has been training law enforcement and election workers across the country to prepare for election day. justin, it's hard to believe it's come to this. it's great that people are taking action to be prepared for whatever could happen. what does this training look like, and what are you worried about happening on election day? >> so, the training that we're doing, ana, is really to promote awareness and collaboration between law enforcement and local elections officials. we're also discouraging alarmism. we want to deal with the real threats that are out there, so what we're doing is simply learning from the things that have happened over the last four years

then you moved to places like arizona, if you will, maricopa county with what is happening around phoenix and what is happening around atlanta. there are only a few key states or counties that are determinant of what is going on. play close attention there. we had a lot of early voters in 2020 but we had a thing called the pandemic going on. early voters so far as early. you don't want to reach too much into that because of the pandemic but republicans did lock in a lot of the early vote, differently than what we saw in 2020. for democrats, they are trying to move that vote up but when you start to carve into it and see the differences, remember, in real estate it is location and in politics it is much of the same thing combined with timing and the location of the votes, where they are at tell us about it, nikki haley voters, the trump voters and harris voters making those county by county, neighborhood by neighborhood determinative of the outcome. >> you mention pennsylvania and georgia. are there any other states we should particularly keep an eye on for election night? if kamala harris

i think they are used in philadelphia and maricopa county, but and not a lot of other places.ke a coincidence? we should only do paper ballots hand-counted. that is it. >> a tired trope at this point. four years later repeating the same lies we heard on fox, and we know how that turned out for them. it cost them nearly $800 million. there is no way around it he has become a one-man super spreader of disinformation. it does not end there. is packed is also hard at work trying to deceive swing state voters using targeted ads even the kamala harris has heavily eclipsed and when it comes to ad spending think about the amount of how donald trump is getting from elon musk. the owner of x. according to a report the future coalition pact is targeting muslim voters in michigan and jewish voters in pennsylvania with very specific and different ads. elon musk has not issued a public statement on the reporting. here is what muslim voters in michigan are seeing. >> vice president kamala harris has chosen a side. the right side. harris has made herself clear she stands with israel in the je

dominion voting machines at it is weird that you know, i think there used in philadelphia and in maricopa county but not in other places that seemed like a heck of a coincidence. >> there was, no basis for the conspiracy. musk is suggesting dominion voting systems, which was famously paid 787 million by fox news to settle a defamation lawsuit for spreading false election claims pushed back against musk saying the company doesn't serve philadelphia and quote, hand-counts and audits of such paper ballots have repeatedly proven that dominion machines produce accurate results. and it's not just musk himself, one of america packs tactics to engage voters is drawing scrutiny as well. >> the group offering to pay organizers $47 to sign a petition for friday's pennsylvania event. >> the pack offering $100 for signing a petition. >> i love elon musk. and when we heard he was coming just a couple of days ago, we jumped right on it. >> i really want to understand and how elon musk is going to help get the federal government's spending under control ahead of his friday evening event in montgomery county tru