Meet voters who say distance is just one more barrier in a 160year struggle to secure their right to vote. Soledad im soledad obrien. Welcome to matter of fact. Tuesday is election day and americans have already cast a record breaking number of early votes. The potential for a record inperson turnout adds stress for Election Officials, especially in places where covid19 cases are surging. Add to that President Trump calling on his supporters to watch polling places. President trump theyre trying to rig the election. We cant let that happen. I hope you are all going to be poll watchers. I hope you are. Because with you people watching the polls, it would be pretty hard to cheat. I would hate to be a cheater. Soledad but in most states people cant just show up and say they want to watch whats going on. Whether recruited by Political Parties or Watchdog Groups, must be certified by local officials and assigned to specific polling places. Jeffrey im Jeffrey Metzler and im a poll watcher. So the first time was i was a poll watcher was probably 15 years ago for a local state senate election. And ive subsequently been a poll watcher for the 2008, 2012 president ial elections, and again in 2016. I dont think poll watching is a partisan activity because i dont think that the process of casting your vote is a partisan thing. Generally speaking, there are election workers who are set up by the state board of elections who are there, and theyre following the rules. Sometimes questions will arise, and what a poll watcher does is look to try to answer questions if there are legal questions that come up or make sure that no mistakes are being made. For this particular election my main concern, i think, there just will be general heightened tension because of the coronavirus and people are generally more on edge. Vice President Biden show up and vote. You will determine the outcome of this election. Vote. Vote. Vote. President trump im urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully. Jeffrey when nonlawyers are being invited to just go to polls and watch to see that everything is going ok, i think this is a recipe for chaos. And i think its more important than ever that there be people there to ensure that everyone who wants to vote has the opportunity to cast their vote. Soledad one crossparty Watchdog Group keeping tabs on this election is the National Task force on election crisis. Formed a year ago, the group is calling on all Media Outlets to release plans for election coverage, including if and how theyre going to call the races. Amber mcreynolds spent 15 years as the director of elections for denver, colorado. Shes one of the countrys leading experts on election administration, and shes a task force member. Amber mcreynolds, its so nice to talk to you in this letter to talk to you. In this letter that youve sent out, youve asked to have the news organizations share publicly their plans to cover any politician who declares victory prior to your, meaning the news organizations, ability to make an accurate evidencebacked projection. So im curious, first and foremost, whats been the response to that letter . Amber so what were trying to do is just ensure that the news organizations are transparent and provide that good information to voters so that we see more things, more like how many mail ballots are outstanding, how many early votes were in the returns that were posted on election night, along with how many precincts still have to report. I think tamping down that kind of narrative, reminding everyone that every state has laws on the books that dictate how this process works. Its more important than anything to get it right and to make sure that the votes are accurate than it is to call and declare a winner too soon. Soledad certainly the president has in his rallies many times, i think its fair to say, sown the seeds of distrust, right . That you cant necessarily trust the process. You cant necessarily even trust the people. Is transparency in the process going to be enough when theres going to be a push to say, hey, look at this, this is not to be trusted . Amber local officials around the country and state officials are the guardians of democracy. And we need to be patient with them so that they can do the job, because covid19 r covid bosco individual has put up a lot of difficult circumstances for them in this process. Also, theres over 9,000 local election offices that run this process. 90 over 90 of them only have five or fewer fulltime staff members. So this process is very much driven by election judges and seasonal employees that come in to help. And they are they are exactly that. Theyre our neighbors. Weve seen high numbers of people express interest in being in serving this year, and it is very much a public service. Soledad as we head into the next few days or maybe the last few days before all of this comes to a head, how are you feeling . Amber Election Officials have faced adversaries. They faced foreign actors, bad actors trying to interfere with this process for a long period of time. I feel like 2020 i feel like has definitely heightened some of that, especially with the misinformation online. But i think that im excited. I think its exciting that so many people are voting like were seeing historic numbers. And thats incredible for our democracy. Thats positive for the future of how elections work in the united states. And then im optimistic and im cautiously optimistic that ultimately well have results timely and that Election Officials, as they always do, will do what needs to be done and get the job done so that we can move past this election and go into the future and talk about real change and how to improve some of these things that have been challenging in a pandemic. Soledad amber mcreynolds, so nice to talk to you. Thank you. Next on matter of fact warning signs. Armed officers at the door. An historic election 40 years ago. I was intimidated. By the mere appearance of a gestapo arm band in my polling place. Can we prevent another round of intimidation at the polls . And the barriers we face here on the reservation are im sure different than other communities out there. Meet the voters of the hopi nation and find out why its so hard to make their voices heard. Back in january, we knew that this was really, really bad. We had ample forewarning. But we did almost no testing, almost no contact tracing. Completely ignored the science, completely ignored the warning signs. There were things that could have been done. A lot of people have died needlessly, and theres nothing more frustrating than feeling like youre fighting against someone who should have your back. We are not going to stamp this out unless we have a change of leadership. Ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. As a barber, nothings especially for guys who tend to get razor bumps from ordinary razors at home. So when they cant see me, eres gillette skinguard. A razor thats made different and designed just for men with skin thats easily irritated. It flattens the skin and lifts the blade for a shave closer than a trimmer, but not too close for comfort. I mean, its just right. Soledad thanks for joining us for matter of fact. As campaigns make their final push toward election day, its all about turnout. New jersey is one state where more than half as many people who voted in the last president ial contest have cast early ballots this time. But hanging over the garden States Election is the shadow of a dark moment nearly 40 years ago an incident some say secured the vote. Others say was intimidation. Special correspondent joie chen takes us back. Joie ask anyone here about 1981 the political scandal theyll most likely think of is abscam. In front of me is 50,000. Joie the f. B. I. Sting snared a dozen politicians, including camdens mayor, on federal corruption charges. But it was a different political fraud here that same year which may serve as a warning this election day. It was another november 3 when voters in camdens minority communities and in jerseys other big cities found warning signs and armed offduty Police Officers wearing officiallooking arm bands at their polling places. I, as a black person, feel that i was intimidated by the mere appearance of a gestapo arm band in my polling place. Joie the Ballot Security Task force was organized and paid for by the Republican National committee to secure the razorthin election for governor. The loser was democrat jim florio. Did you see it coming . Jim no. Nobody did. This was a sneak attack, that sort of political pearl harbor. The policemen just showed up intimidating people. Joie florio lost by 1,787 votes of 2. 3 million cast, a margin of less than. 1 . Jim the margin was clearly affected by the intimidation. Obviously, they thought they would win if they could discourage some voters from going to the polls. And frankly they were correct. Joie new jersey later sent him to congress and finally elected him governor in 1990. But florio never believed the task force was meant to secure the Fair Election everyone wants. Well, isnt it . Jim well, it is, but the fact of the matter is the motivation here was not ballot integrity. The motivation was intimidation. Joie Republican Leaders later agreed not to use intimidation tactics through a legal Consent Decree that was finally lifted two years ago. Raising new concerns about the possibility of voter intimidation in election 2020. President trump go down to certain areas and watch and make sure other people dont come in and vote five times. Im urging my supporters to go to the polls to watch very carefully. Because thats what has to happen. Im urging them to do it. Donald trump jr. we need every ablebodied man, woman, to join the army for trumps Election Security operation. President trump you know why . Because bad things happen in philadelphia. Bad things. Joie right across the ben franklin bridge from philly is jim florios old home turf camden. And corrines place where the boss dishes out a message about civic duty. Corrine you know, how dare you not vote. And i mean we, a lot of our ancestors were killed just to vote. Joie still, she says its easy to see why many will skip voting. Long lines, few ballot boxes, and a memory of efforts to keep some people away from the polls. Kelly i saw my parents could not vote back in the 1930s, in the 1940s and 1950s. They had jim crow laws. Joie this time, theres fear citizen militias, inspired by false claims of widespread voter fraud, might pick up where the 1981 task force left off. Jim the remedy for this is to lift the level of awareness of people to this practice of intimidating voters and have people call it out. Joie or risk a repeat of efforts to silence a community. For matter of fact, im joie chen in camden, new jersey. Coming up on matter of fact this is the land of the hopi. Come with us to meet citizens of both tribe and nation, still struggling to exercise their right to vote. And Record Numbers of women running for office. But soledad the number of republican women running has dropped. Where Democratic Women are gaining a political edge. James brown and bill cowher welcoming you back to the midnight snack run. This is one tricky obstacle course. Hes reaching. But he pushes it away hes approaching a plate of iced cookies. He blows right by em oh the fridge looks like hes headed for the soda. Wait he jukes left grabs the water bottle now hes just gotta get out of there. Look what dropped from the sky dont do it dennis. Thats the way you execute a midnight snack run. Stand up to cancer and rally want you to reduce your risk for cancer, go to takeahealthystand. Org. Soledad welcome back to matter of fact. The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy. Yet, for native americans, the fight for Voting Rights has been long and difficult. The 14th amendment, passed in 1866, made all people born in the u. S. Citizens, with one notable exception native americans living on reservations. It took more than half a century for congress to change their status, with the indian citizenship act of 1924. Even after that, states found ways to deny Voting Rights to natives. In arizona, they didnt win the right to vote until 1948. With the help of our colleagues at Indian Country today, we visited the Hopi Reservation in northwest arizona to understand the challenges of voting for native americans. Mark the barriers we face here on the reservation are, im sure, different than to other communities out there. Tiffany hi. My name is tiffany bahnimptewa. Orion my name is orion duwyenie. I am from here in kykotsovi, arizona. Marissa theres a lot of disparities that create unique challenges for places like here on hopi, thats rural. We have 12 villages here on the hopi nation, which covers a span area of 1. 5 million acres, and theres theyre spread across three mesas. Mark this building here is normally our elderly and Community Youth center. As you see, theres no sign, signages indicating it as a polling site, but come election day that will be all brought and it will be posted that this will serve as a polling site. Tiffany theres a lot of people who dont have transportation out here and Hopi Reservation doesnt have public transportation. Lori the area out here, were so spread out. And during this pandemic, not being able to be all together and talk about these issues is a holdup for whats going on right now with the election coming up. Youre listening to kuyi 88. 1 licensed to transmitting to hopi land. Orion from here its about 60 to 70 miles to get to tuba. Its the shortest distance for me to vote. Mark the reservation is very vast and across that stretch of land which is our reservation we have five post offices. Marissa part of the challenge in this years election, theres been no education to the community about where to get registered to vote, how to go register to vote. Tiffany a lot of it is online now and not a lot of elders are able to access that information readily. Mark people who ive grown up with, you know, im not sure are not aware that we recently got our rights to vote. Marissa so that was one of the things that historically that has been taken from a lot of tribes is really their right to be heard. Lori we are considered a minority, the tribal nations across the u. S. And in arizona, but i believe we we could have a huge impact. Mark and i just wanted to encourage everyone out there to vote. Get out there and voice your vote. Soledad a big thank you to our partners at the Economic Hardship reporting project for their help with that story. Next on matter of fact history has already been made in this election cycle and its not just in the president ial race. What you may not know about the candidates on the down ballot changing the face of history. Plus your honey supply at risk from some giant pests. Soledad history has already been made during this election cycle, and its not just in the president ial race. A Record Number of female candidates are running for the house of representatives. The center for american women and politics at Rutgers University crunched the numbers. They say there are 298 female candidates, 204 are democrats and 94 are republicans. We know of at least 130 black women who are running for seats in the house and senate. Even as overall numbers of women candidates rise, the number of republican women running has dropped. And change isnt just happening in washington, d. C. 47 women are running for statewide elected offices, including three in governors races. Of those seeking statewide office, 28 are democrats and 17 are republicans. Coming up on matter of fact can we ask a question . How do you destroy nests of murder hornets . Well tell you. Yeah, thats half the fun of a new house. Seeing what people left behind in the attic. Well, saving on Homeowners Insurance with geicos help was pretty fun too. Ahhhh, its a tiny dancer. They left a ton of stuff up here. Welp, enjoy your house. Nope. No thank you. Geico could help you save on homeowners and renters insurance. Soledad and finally heres one less thing to worry about in 2020 murder hornets we first heard about the asian giant hornets earlier this year, but the insects were actually first detected in Washington State last december. Entomologists experts on insects were drawn into a battle with the hornets and needed a plan to search and destroy them. So recently they caught three hornets and attached radio trackers to them using dental floss. They released them all and one of the insects led the scientists back to the nest inside a hollowedout tree. Scientists literally vacuumed out a few hornets and set them aside for more research. Then, they started the elaborate process of destroying the nest. So first they pumped foam into the tree. Then they wrapped it in plastic and filled it with carbon dioxide. Researchers say they are confident they knocked out the first nest in the u. S. , but of course theres no guarantee there arent others. None of the scientists involved in the mission were stung. Thank goodness. Making these hornets pretty much all buzz and no sting. Thats it for this edition of matter of fact. Im soledad obrien, and well see you back here next week. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] today on Asian Pacific america we focus on a project helping local journalists tell their story in the pandemic and in asian backlash. Its called the rising with the tides story telling project. Lauren and the director of external communication for comcast california jenny gendron. Then one of the grant winners will be with us for a fascinating story of young people making social change in suburbia, in this case free month. And we wrap up with a performance from one