League of women voters. Welcome to the show. I know the name is familiar, especially in the election process. Talk about your organization and the work it involves itself in. Guest we were actually founded out of the Separation Movement so the newly franchise women can learn how to vote and engage in the electoral process. Years later, we are still empowering voters and really focusing on a few areas. The first is educating voters. That comes in the form of candidate issues, that includes our debate. We also have a Voter Education website where people can go to find out the information they need. We engage in policy work, advocacy and litigation at times when we need to. Beyond that, we also engage in a series of active at times. We are trying to push through issues. We engage in a lot. We have over 700 leagues in the country. We are visible in the local, state, National Level really to make sure the government is functioning and the voters know how to engage in government. Host we start our first hour asking people about the debate and what they learn from them. Guest debate is such an incredibly important part of our democracy as a whole. It really is that one time when people get to hear about the candidates in their own words. It is the most important Job Interview a candidate can go on. You have people asking them questions about what they will do. They have to respond on the fly without knowing all of the questions in advance, hopefully. We get to know the candidates different from a way of a commercial, Television Ad or social media. It is alive and real and the truth. Host it is vital that the voters have the opportunity to hear directly from candidates. Debates created unique space for open dialogue and conversation tailored to the needs of the community. Do you organize these debates on a National Level question on how does that work . Guest they are done on all levels. They used to organize residential debates. We stopped in 1987 when the artist got involved parties got involved. We really believe in authentic debates, not having candidate know the questions ahead of time so that we can really dig into the issues and know where people stand on their position. At the micro level, meaning if youre running for a county executive office or council office, city government, as well as statewide races, governor and at the federal level. We do all of that. The league is seasoned in this. We have done this for almost 100 years. It is a tradition for our organization that has been passed down through a generation of women and others who have members of our organization. Host spoke about the history of the league, 1988 Anthony Newman was on this program talking about the decision that allowed the debates and the reasons behind it. I will take you back in time. [video clip] i do not know if a debate has ever been edited. The clips are shown afterwards. Usually, they are covered in their entirety. The debates we have from 76 happened bona fide news events. Hopefully we will get back to that, where there will be fair and honest events, not just another media event. It is going to become more and more of a media event, i am not convinced there will be wide coverage of them in the future. Host jurors responding to a caller asking she was responding to a caller. Your response to that . Guest this is where we are today with a lot of big races. They have been controlled by the media. They are held with partnership with universities in many cases and also major news networks. It is not working. We want many people to have access. The most important thing is making sure they are organic and natural and our community is informed. The intensity of the authenticity of the debate matters. Making sure they are not super contrived. The more people who can see and be a part of the debate process and get the education and information they need to cast an informed vote, the better. Host what do you mean by that . Guest things that we have seen this is going back to nancy newman, if you watch her reasoning skimming have a clip on our youtube page reasoning, we have a clip on our youtube page. The Political Parties wanted to control the question. They wanted to know what the questions would be in advance of the candidates can prepare for the questions. One of the important things is, not always knowing what an exact question. Once you become president of the United States you are not going to know every question before it pops up. You should be able to respond and not have to request every single question before it is asked in order to have a educated response to that question. Host our guest for this discussion on the league of women voters and issues concerning campaign 2022. If you want to ask the questions, call the numbers. Republicans, 202 7488000. Democrats, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. What are the big issues leading up to the election . Guest democracy is really on the pallet this cycle is really on the market this cycle. They are concerned at what they are seeing in the field with some of the voter suppression. In arizona, you have people who were just in armies, carrying weapons who are patrolling ballot drop boxes. Those are the things that create a chill on voters. Theres a concern around democracy. That is going to be our number one. Beyond that, the economy. It never fails, every single election, wherever the country is economically, so goes the voters. They are going to pay attention. Peoples pockets are being impacted. There has been a lot of legislation that has been passed and will litigate the effect of covid and the slowdown in our economy, people are still feeling it. They are feeling the pain in their pocket when they go to buy eggs or milk, or you go to the Grocery Store and you think about how youre going to fill your gas tank up. The economy is number one. Another one is, a womans right to choose. Abortion is on the ballot. That is the top three right now what we are hearing among our constituents. Host would you say the last one is the top one or two others supersede that . Guest abortion is still in the top three. It depends on who you ask. If you have someone who is no longer going to have children and they are trying to figure how to feed my children with the paycheck changing and the increases, the economy may be number one. If youre asking someone who cares about democracy and concern about what happened on january 6 or what they have seen in our political system as of late, then it might be. For people who can get pregnant or impacted, it is not just women, men are impacted by abortion. It depends on who you ask. Those three may be interchangeable. Host you talked about democracy in the election process. Does your work involved in balance watching and whole poll working . Guest we do not consider it valid watching. Ballot watching. Many of our members are also election workers, they volunteered and have been doing so for decades. They could be election judges. Other folks are doing observations. Protecting the ballot, making sure that people are able to cast their ballots, making sure that if there is a issue of a polling location we can make sure we are calling the appropriate folks to make sure if a machine is not working. It is really making sure that the election process is working the way that it should. When problems arise, being able to correct those issues. Host this is virginia joining us for this discussion. Our first caller is john from the democrats alignment. Line. Caller thank you very much. When the president comes involved, he can be conflicted with unexpected things. When a president comes in with a stronger radiology, no one takes a stand, then he confronts those issues with dominance and elite. Like ronald reagan. Ronald reagan came in to defeat communism. The soviet union russia is the most powerful country when it comes to arsenal. Ronald reagans listings to rest because of beliefs. He was the greatest president of the 20th century, hands down. Host what would you like our guest to address . Caller guest im, it is great that people have opinions it is great that people have opinions about the past president. Whether you live ronald reagan, or jimmy carter, whoever it may be, one of the things that is important to go back to is, debates help people inform peoples decision on whether or not to vote for and if they are ready for presidency. Caller how do you expect women voters to vote this election season without having turning bankruptcy protection and Student Loans on s2598. There are many women voters who have predatory Student Loans and a there have been nothing done about it. We need these bills passed in order for us to move on. Can you answer that question honestly and openly . Guest what i can say, thank you for that question. The league does not work on student loan bankruptcty rejection. Our issues on democracy protection. If youre interested in joining the league to be that kind of work, we have local leaks throughout the country. There able to leagues throughout the country and they are able to work on constituents in their communities. Often times all the way up to the National Level. Our local members are the ones who drive our policy agenda at the National Level. I would invite you to join the league as this is an issue we can work on. When it comes to that specific piece of legislation, it is not something we are working on. Host they found in 2010, there were 17 debates total in those races, that goes down to 14 in 2019. Now we are seeing sixth in 2022. What do you think of that . Guest at the end of the day, there is a challenge in our democracy when it comes to. More candidates are fearful of being put in front of a audience to challenge their platforms and position. We need to get back to a place where candidates are able to go in and talk about the issues. We are in a polarized environment. We have seen the decline in civil discourse throughout our country. It is a place we would want to be able to get back to. It is all a part of what we have seen with the erosion of democracy, whether it is dwindling debates, whether it is having civil discourse, whether it is being able to have people up on the hill engage in bipartisan legislation. These all go together and it is part of a larger issue. That is, what are we going to do to uphold our democracy. Just going back to that, i do not think it is just unique debates, i think there are contributing factors. We as a country really need to get our act together. Host independent line. Caller good morning. Virginia, thank you for defending democracy and making it a number one issue. You guys sponsored a debate in our state recently. I am not sure if it was with our senator patty murray or our congressional district, morris rogers. We are not getting enough debate action. It looks like we are pulling teeth to try to get our incumbent to be live for live questions. I was curious if, you guys, could actually make some facts or Fact Checkers available for our debates, because the one thing i keep hearing about is our economy. They are talking about the price of gas and increasing our fuel production and drilling, what have you. Yesterday, report said we are the Number One Oil producer in the world and that the Biden Administration did not shutdown the Keystone Pipeline and had continued falling from the Previous Administration to today. The only Keystone Pipeline issue was the shutdown and in the expansion of private property infringing upon private Property Owner rights. We are rolling with a. 2 inflation and compared 8. 2 inflation. In developing countries, it is double digits. If you guys can make sure people keep getting away with their lives and misrepresentations and give us numbers. Numbers do not lie. Guest we work with different newspapers, universities, we usually do not go in along with debates. There is something that we can bring to our Washington State league to see how we can help improve the process. It is a sad day when people are able to tell either lies or mistruths. We know that it does happen. Thank you for bringing that up. I will talk to our Washington State league. That is the most important thing, making sure we can always improve the debate process and making sure the information is available on the spot. Host we go to some other key races were debates are not happening for various reasons. A governors race in pennsylvania , others as well. Do you think people are being as informed as far as candidates . If they do not have debates to rely on, how do you advise them to get the information . Guest it has become much more important for voters to be proactive and have a voting plan and be able to do the research on their own. Going to a nonpartisan Voter Education website, the one thing i love about my organization is that we do not have a dog in the spot, we have members, were the you are democrat, independent, you are someone who absolutely cares about democracy and making sure voters have the information they need. We do not support or endorse candidates or clinical parties. Making sure you Political Parties. Making sure you go to a party with actually information is important. We do not create or scrub the internet with information about the candidates. We actually send questionnaires out that the candidates answer. Making sure you get the answers from the candidates directly, as opposed from someplace else. The debate process right now really is under attack in many ways. People just staying, i am not going to do it and hoping for the best and leaning on political ads or social media were will can say anything. People can say anything. Being able to make sure you go and get the information you need and have a voting plan and doing your research is important for voters to do that now than ever. Host this is a viewer off of twitter. The organization supports putting more on the party stage cannot support. Guest you have to have a limit, otherwise it will be the most unruly debate manageable. In a state like california, you can have 30 people on the ballot. It really should have very specific criteria. What we do is look at polling numbers, the amount of money candidates are bringing in, how viable is the candidates. Each week, based on the level, local levels it might not be based on money. We want to make sure that candidates can actually engage in debate without becoming chaos. There has to be some rules in place to make sure that those who are the more viable candidates have a platform. Host david is in washington as well. Democrats line. Hello . Caller i have always then a democrat because i thought that the Republican Party was just for rich people and corporations. I do not like the idea that certain people can just be certified for a whole election because they do not like the way it went. That is not democracy. If you can decertify a whole election because you say i did not win, im going to take my ball and go home, that is not the democracy we fault for. Fought for. Guest i agree 100 . There are legislations at the National Levels to make sure there are safeguards in place so we do not have our election overturned at the whim of whoever did not win. There are going to be some legislative reforms that will need to happen at the next congress. Host you talked about the activism of what you do. One of the things you are out in the organization and several places. Why is that important . Guest it is a case out of North Carolina and it based on independent state legislative theory. The state legislature would be the ones who are making the rules around the current election. With think that that is problematic for a bunch of reasons we think that is problematic. State legislators are able to make those types of decisions, it becomes partisan. Instead of having a even Playing Field when you have the Voting Rights act on early election, now they will be able to overturn election. It would be very damaging. It could impact states throughout this country. There are a lot of states have a lot of skin in the game. I would argue we do not have a red and blue states. We have states that could go either way if they were redistricted in the way that was fair. It is a dangerous theory that basically comes from the fringes and one that we are going to fight tooth and nail to prevent from happening. We will be filing a advocate today in support of not having independent state legislative theory go through the support supreme courts and be approved. Host she served as their ceo. If you want to ask her questions in the time of 15 minutes, you can do so by calling the line, 202 7488001. Republicans. Democrats, 202 7488002. Independents, 202 7488003. Caller the last two callers were right on target about the election and the candidates being allowed to give false information. Another thing with the election, people are being denied the right to vote. Why dont you dispose of the u. S. Marshals . What are they doing . That will be a perfect job for them to do. Get to the polls, making sure these people coming around with rifles, intimidating the people. This will not happen in new jersey. In states where they have these problems like texas, south carolina, mississippi, dispose of the u. S. Marshall, let them do their job. Thank you. Have a good day. Guest i appreciate the opinion. It is important i would love to be able to share with you a counter narrative. One of the things we have seen is a, people of color in particular are often most the targets of voter suppression. Having Law Enforcement they are, does not necessarily always make people of color feel safer. We want also i would say, the fact that there are so many people like the example i gave in arizona who are dressed up as authorities, it is hard to distinguish. We need to make sure there are rules in place of people cannot bring weapons to the polls. Also people have the information they need to be able to vote accordingly. That is where drop boxes, early voting is important. We do not always have to wait for election day. I am hesitant to have a Law Enforcement or individuals at the polls because it creates a Chilling Effect on voters who may feel more intimidated and fearful of casting their ballot. I would say it, while i appreciate your comments, i also want to think about the consequences and the impact of who are most vulnerable and to voter suppression. Host in oklahoma. Barbara. Democrats line. Caller [applause] when are you going to have a democrat on . [inaudible] host we will try to play it across the board as far as people who we bring on the program and the these they represent. Views they represent. Caller what Key Organization do to help stop the rise of fascism and neoconfederates in the United States . Guest the leak stands firm against League Stands firm against white supremacy. We are seeing a rise of redwing fascism in this country. It is important to attack that at the root. Making sure we have Good Government policies. We are fighting tooth and nail for legislative policies that will create solutions to the challenges we have with our democracy. We had a piece of legislation last year, they called it the florida people act. It made enter the house, did not make it through the senate. In change over to something called the freedom to vote act. We are hoping that we will be able to take pieces of that legislation, which did not get through, to be able to make it to make some gains this next congress. The other thing, the Voting Rights advancement act, which we believe needs to be passed because fought hard for that to happen. We know that there are protections in place at our disposal that we are not able to use right now because of the Voting Rights advancement act has not been passed. Those are the two key pieces of legislation which w we think will make a in our democracy. Host how many debates will the league sponsor this year . Guest we will participate in 70 debates across the country. Host are the candidates committed to these debates . Guest we already had most of our debates for the most part. I am talking about congressional right at the federal level. There are hundred of local races that have these local debates that happen throughout the country. It actually is hundreds to count in total. As far as what was the second half of your question . Host have some pulled out as the reasons why . How does that work . Guest it really depends. It is the most bizarre thing because it really is the picture of the country that we live in. When you look at certain demographics or certain geographic locations, candidates are eager to debate. In other places, no, do not want to do it. We find it unique in each community and each race. We have seen a decline. We have also been attacked for our debate. We found there was a candidate in florida who actually took an ad out in the newspaper, we will not debate for the league of women voters because they are partisan. If we are partisan, we have a real issue in the country. We are considered nonpartisan organizations. We do not endorse in any candidates. We need to make our position based on studies and research along studies and research i would say. It is because we want to get it right. It is somewhat terrifying that there is a decline in their peoples willingness to debate. Host this nonpartisan debate was organized by active member of our opponents campaign team. While spewing hates. It goes on from there. What about those criticisms or similar criticism you might hear from other candidates . Guest i have to laugh at some of these things. Anybody can become a league of the members. We want everyone engaged in civics and democracy. Just because youre in the league of women voters, does not mean that your membership excludes you to be able to be politically active in a lyrical party, unless you are a leader in our organization in our political party, unless you are a leader in our organization. Or you may be moderating a debates, you should not be engaged. Myself, i do not give any political contribution. I do not engage in partisan political activity. I am very careful to represent the league. Our members and elected members are not the same. Elected leaders are those people who remain nonpartisan. If you are a general member, such as a member of the aclu, it is something that you should engage in the political process. It is a ridiculous accusation in my mind. One that is a way to make an excuse not to debate. I would encourage folks to go back and look at some of the League Debate takes. If you look at our debates and you look at who our moderators are, they are usually the most reserved people. I am a pretty animated person. I cannot do a debate. It is hard for me to keep a straight face at times. I know that about myself when you hear something that is out there. Our moderators are some of the most seasoned pragmatic people. They have done them for so long. These are ridiculous accusations. Host lets hear from julian in louisiana. Republican line. Caller question for your guest. The last two weeks, i wrote a list that are most important to the voters. Top five or six, abortion, roe v. Wade is always on the list. I do not understand. If you are a woman, you got the most control over the issue. I do not have two explain that to you. I do not have control over inflation. Are your women voters over there, what is the percentage that fits it the number one issue . Puts it the number one issue . Guest for women women and people who can get pregnant, i do think that this is a really important and critical issue. I do not have the most recent polling, it depends on the poles you are referring to. I am not sure which ones you are referring to. More than 60 of the country, probably close to 70 find this a high priority issue. We are seeing time and time again, we want to talk about abortion, i am happy to do that. I can tell you how democracy and abortion are connected. At the end of the day, when our human rights, fundamental freedom and bodily autonomy are taken away from us, that is an illusion of democracy. That is talking about true freedom and choice. That decision should be between, in our position in the League Return a Health Care Worker and their patient. I will tell you there was an example just recently in florida where you have a 12yearold child who was raked, who raped and unable to get a abortion in her state. She had to go to two states to find a divider. Provider. Being able to have the health care you need. When you have a woman in texas who stated she was unable to have an abortion when she found out that the baby had died inside her womb. Leading to potential sepsis and all kinds of issues and the doctor wanted her to be able to have the birth naturally. That is an egregious fundamental erosion of human rights. Human rights and democracy cannot be disconnected. Host democrats line. Caller this is a call to encourage at the High School Students to vote. Also encourage Illegal Immigrants to vote. Thank you very much. Guest we want everyone to vote. It is important that people are registered to vote and authorized to vote in this country. There are many issues and each state is very different. We have seen recently where people have been arrested. They were formerly incarcerated individuals come about their right to vote had been restored, they were allowed to register to vote only to end up being arrested. We want to make sure that nobody is placed on in a position where they are illegally voting or voting without authorization. We want to make sure we can expand access to the ballot. I think we want to be cautious in making sure that people who should be able to vote are able to. People who are not legally authorized to vote should not vote, that causes more problems than anything else. When it comes to young people, once you turn 18, whether you are a senior lay high school or working a job, as soon as you turn 18, we want to make sure that people are making their way to the ballot box, they are getting the information that they need to be able to vote. We highly encourage everyone as soon as they turn 18 to go and register to vote. Host can you elaborate when that is in the education process you provided they are . Guest it is our butter education platform. It turned it is our Voter Education platform. It is 16 years old. You can find out whether you are registered to vote. You could have moved, something could have happened, there could been some change. Maybe you could be purged from the list. It is important to go in there and make sure youre registered to vote. If not, go to vote for one to register to vote. All of the information about the candidates and issues are on your ballot. You can print everything out and bring that with you so that when you are going to vote, whether it is at the ballot box early or even at your kitchen table, you can throw in the ballot and making sure youre getting every answer to every question you may have about the candidates, issues in the voting process as the hold. Host if you want to find out more from their website, go to their website at lwv. Org. She serves as their ceo. Thank you for your time this morning. This afternoon, he talks about his career, vision for the future of Higher Education and the role of University Leaders and a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise institute. Our live coverage begins on 4 p. M. Eastern on cspan, also on our free mobile video app. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government, we are funded by these Television Companies and more, including spotlight. The greatest town on earth is the place you call home. Right now we are all facing our greatest challenge, that is why we are working around the clock to keep you connected. Spark light support cspan, giving you a front row seat to democracy. President biden says his administration will be targeting companies and Financial Institutions that charge consumers junk fees. It is a effort to reduce cost for americans as inflation continues. The present was joined by the head of the Consumer National protection bureau
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