Transcripts For CSPAN2 Georgia 20240706

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] please welcome the executive director and founder for the center of innovation and research, david becker. [applause] thank you all. Welcome here to beautiful International Spy museum in washington d. C. And those of you watching remotely dont get to see the beautiful views that we see in washington on a gorgeous day in may. Its wonderful to see so many people here in person. Many friends and colleagues ive known for a long time and many people i havent seen for years or ever met in person ever. Thank you all for being here today. When i founded ceir almost seven years ago in the summer of 2016, the field of election was different. Cyber threats were at the forefront and experts concerned mainly concerned of foreign actors illegally attempting to access voter bases or spread disinformation overseas. Election officials were not only free from threat of harassment, Election Officials had a hard time getting anyone to notice them or understand what they did. Election conferences across the country were boring, wed discuss recruiting and tracking poll workers and focused primarily on nuts and bolts of election and voter list maintenance. 2016, one in four ballots nationally had no paper records. Entire states of georgia and South Carolina, had only unauditable digital ballots, as well as most of north carolina, pennsylvania, virginia and other states as well. Effective audits of paper ballots were relatively rare. And over months for the first time in our history in 2016, a major partys candidate for president began using language even before the election that the election would be rigged. When President Trump won, there were some supporters of secretary of clinton who raised concerns with possible tampering of voting machines. While she did know the pursue those claims, but others did, and every investigation confirmed the results. I was among the first to state publicly there was no problem with ballot counting in the 2016 election counting and the fact remains that President Trump won the election. Many supporters of secretary clinton were disappointed, but the election was conducted fairly according to the rules prior to election day. Over the next four years, as we all know a lot changed in the democracy space. False claims about widespread voter fraud were amplified by the white house itself. Once again, no evidence of fraud could be found or produced. While that was happening, Election Officials, many happening in the room right now were improving and professionalizing to the highest level ever achieved. States without paper ballots moved on a bipartisan basis towards paper ballots and stronger audits than the nation has seen before. By 2020, 95 of ballots were paper and entire states of georgia, north carolina, pennsylvania, South Carolina and virginia. Additional states came together to ensure their voter lists were more accurate. And our work evolved as well. We conducted more research and engaged with the media more often to ensure voters were aware of these improvements, and the overall integrity of the election system. Despite major challenges like insufficient funding and resources, Election Officials were ready heading into the 2020 election. And then covid. It was a crisis Election Officials never experienced before and could never plan for. It began as the primaries were heating up and voters were concerned for safety of their loved ones, and how to run an election in a global pandemic. And this was the critical election function, voting. While accommodating social distancing. Somehow against all odds hundreds of thousands of Election Officials and volunteers in thousands of jurisdictions, pulled it off. When they had problems during the primaries, they learned their lessons and planned accordingly for the general election. When legislators at federal and state level failed to provide needed funding for new spendses that couldnt be anticipated, elected officials had philanthropy. Elected officials worked with states to expand the options. When huge numbers of experienced poll workers couldnt work because they were at higher risk of contracting the virus, Election Officials recruited and trained new ones from lower risk groups. When Election Officials needed larger voting locations to accommodate social distancing, they partnered with sports arenas and other venues to assure that their voters and workers were comfortable and as safe as possible and pulled this off when rules and procedures were constantly in flux, changing under their feet. Often challenged in court as both Political Parties sought an advantage. As it turned out, republicans won approximately 85 of the preelection litigation, but whatever side you were on, everyone knew the rules on election day. And the Election Officials around the country were ready. In november 2020, nearly 160 million americans turned out to vote. Thats 20 million more ballots than had ever been cast in an election in American History. Two out of three eligible voters showed up. The highest turnout the nation had seen since well before the women were turned out to vote. Even with unprecedented scrutiny and unsubstantiated claims of fraud, the Election Officials withstood that. And the november 2020 election was simply put the most secure, transparent and verified president ial election in American History and its not close. Despite being held in the middle of a global pandemic, the 2020 election stands as one of the great accomplishments of american resilience and knowhow. This remains true regardless of whether one is happy with the results. But like many of our nations greatest achievement there are those who seek to profit from spreading conspiracy theories that deny the facts. Its been over 30 months since that 2020 election, 917 days to be exact. While there are debunked claims of german servers, and bamboo ballots around the internet, theres not one shred of efforts to a court. Conservative scholars have looked at the evidence and concluded that the 2020 election was lost, not stolen. Even efforts by wellfunded and motivated supporters of a losing president ial candidate in arizona, wisconsin, could not find or manufacture evidence that the election was not legitimate. Yet the lies have not let up. Even after over 900 days, even after election denial has proven to be a strategy. Losing every contested race in 2022. Not only are the lies continuing, were seeing them ramp up. Threats and harassment of Election Officials continue. And were experiencing an unprecedented exodus from the field. From california to pennsylvania and everywhere in between, dedicated Public Servants are asking themselves whether its worth it. Is it worth the constant unrelenting harassment and abuse just to serve as a civil servant. And yet, most of them are still answering, yes. It inspires me every single day. And our work at cir will continue to work and meet this moment. No matter what well meet the needs. Our team has grown, we plan to release several reports to be able to look out for them later this month and even later this week. On topics as diverse as quality of voter lists. The security of Voter Registration systems. The effect of new laws on Election Officials and the depth of election denial amongst some americans. Were working with the public and holding a Public Focus Group in arizona with citizens who doubt the integrity of elections. Were responding to elections by election deniers to bully and from their networks, with this and other efforts. And we are working to protect those men and women, our neighbors, family members, who serve as Election Officials, whether its a secretary of state or down to volunteer poll workers through our election Legal Defense networks which provides pro bono and legal advice to all Election Officials across the country. Cochaired by former Obama White House counsel, and former bush campaign. Im crowd that and ill say while im proud of ceir. They remain committed to the ideal that facts matters, Integrity Matters and the will of the voters matters. Even when we disagree with the voters will, perhaps particularly when we disagree with the voters will. In this room we have Election Officials from maine to california. We invited every chief election official across the country, republican and democrat, conservative and liberal to this convening. We have republicans and democrats here. We have trump voters and biden voters in this room and over the next day and a half well come together to discuss challenges, best practices, and longterm solutions. While there may be disagreements about policy in this room and we invite these disagreements, theres one thing that unites us all, the belief that democracy must persist and thrive, and that it must reflect the will of the people. Thank you all for being here, i really appreciate it. It is wonderful to be in a room with you all. Thank you. [applause]. And i particularly want to thank those who serve as a role, there are secretary of states here, county officials, local officials, many people dont recognize the fact that you dont show up on the monday before an election and set up the machines. That youre working 365 to prepare for elections and honestly working harder than ever and despite the attacks, your work still is withstanding any scrutiny anyone wants to apply. Its remarkable and youre being held to an unprecedented standard of perfection and coming as close as anyone could reasonably expect. Again, your work inspires me every day, its why i do what i do. With that, were going to head to our first panel so you dont have to keep listening to me talk. Our first panel is Lessons Learned from the 20 and 22 elections so id like to welcome to the stage first, my friend and coauthor, cbs news correspondent Major Garrett. Major, come on up. [applause]. Paige alexander, ceo of the Carter Center. [applause] Justin Levitt Loyola University school of law. [applause] charles stewart, professor of Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of technology. [applause] and shortly, they will be joined wait, one more, stephanie thomas, secretary of state of connecticut. [applause] thank you, thank you. And lastly well be joined by secretary of state Brad Raffensperger of georgia. His flight was delayed so hell be joining us shortly. Major. And thank you for being here. Brad will be making a dramatic entrance any moment and make sure to be prepared for that. I want to get started off the top and start with paige. 2020 was a traumatic event for the country and projections what would happen in the mid terms, some of which were realized and some of which were not. The first question on the panel, netnet after the midterms are you netoptimistic where this is going or pessimistic . An easy one. No, im optimistic, but its because you wouldnt be in this business if you werent optimistic. It would be difficult to continue doing the work that we do. Weve learned the Carter Center got involved in u. S. Domestic election work because weve done this overseas in 40 Different Countries and see similarities that we felt needed to be addressed and i think were learning and iterrating what levers need to be pulled to make this a free and transparent set of elections. Let me stop you there. I think thats a moment worth pausing to consider. The Carter Center now involving itself in observation of u. S. Elections. Did you ever imagine that would come to be and why do you feel its necessary to start now. When president carter started the Carter Center the intent was to just work internationally, one president at a time and thats what he believed. And i started i came to town in 2020. I took this job and i had been living overseas and to see the Political Polarization that had happened while i was overseas and happening in georgia, in particular, i went down and talked to him in plains and just said, you know, were not going to be credible overseas if were not looking in our own back yard. Thats why we ended up getting involved. I dont i also said, what are you saving your money for . And he said a rainy day. I said its pouring outside. Theres no way that we cannot address and jump in so we jumped in in 2020 looking at the same polarization that wed seen overseas that got us involved in elections, but, in the United States, you know, unlike overseas, you have a National Election commission, you work with one central election commission, in the u. S. Even in georgia, 159 different counties, there are different rules for many of those counties and stephanie and i were just talking about, connecticuts one of four states that doesnt have early voting. Like, so every single state is different. So to work in four states for us is like working in four countries. Yeah, it seemed necessary so president carter was supportive and thats why were involved. Justin. Thank you, major, and thank you to david and ceir. I have a very similar answer to paige. I consider myself a civil rights lawyer by training and were steeped in living amongst the worst of the worst and some of us are excited for fact patterns and makes a great case. You wont find a Broader Group of cynics in the world, but like paige, we wouldnt be doing this work if we were optimistic in the long run. And i look at the troubles ahead and mirrors some behind unfortunately, but i have fundamental faith in the majority of human nature that people ultimately want a democracy that responds to them. And we ultimately have agency in that process to both create and keep a democracy that responds to the people and i think its going to take a lot of work, including a lot of work by a lot of people in this room, but, yes, im optimistic that well continue to get there. As david mentioned, the graph is going in the right direction. If you look over the history of the u. S. At the percentage of adult citizens who are participating in the electoral process, its only going up and to the right, which is exactly where it should be and youd rather be living today than 50 years ago or 100 years ago or 150 years ago. Doesnt mean there arent bumps ahead, but im optimistic. Charles, many in the room rely on the data sets that you provide and analysis you add to the data. About how the election was administered. Amidst the pandemic, all of the metrics pointed in the same direction which is to say that despite the fact that, for instance, there was a tsunami wave of absentee ballots, we sell historic low levels of rejected mail ballots. We sell boulders pivot and learn how to do a new thing. By most of the metrics, and 2020, things went well. They have the same results. All of that is good. 2022 was also good. The data is still coming in and i think we have to remember that a Midterm Election does not have the same strains that a president ial election does. We should not rest on 2022. The data tells us where to be concerned. In 2022, we saw in the outcomes improving. And digging down on an improvedt more trusting, but still a few states, and you can probably guess who those are. The platitude, we are not out of the woods yet, we always have work to do, but in addition to that, particular places where we are looking still not concerned about the Election Administration in this state, but knowing that there is a special work to be done in some states and dealing with levels. Some of the states that we were worried about in 2020. Secretary thomas, in addition, i would last like you to share your story. I want to join. I want to get involved. There is a dramatic [laughter] secretary thomas. I am literally doubting thomas, but i am optimistic. [laughter] to your point, part of my optimization comes from other people like me. I was never involved in politics and in 2016 i just started getting more involved in my town i ran for the state house in 2020 and i one. Here i am. So, the optimism is i look to the people and i have never seen , many of us took our democracy for granted. Now i see people across people in our state wanting to learn more. I see people understanding as david alluded. Everyone thought that an election happen and there were not people working all year. You have a seat and demystify the process, teaching people about the civics is the reason for my optimism so i feel good. What is the atmosphere and connection on this question . Like everywhere, it is mixed. It is very purple. I think the good old new england reasonability, you share the data and let them know how things really work. You are appreciative. Hopefully asked me to get a 2024. The mac secretary, the question is after the 2022 midterm, Optimistic Pessimistic about this debate. Georgia, i think it is positive. They are out there talking to everyone. I think that that is really good. Answering the questions, giving them the facts. Unfortunately, the governor in arizona was term limited. He was not out there making that case. Lowerlevel Election Officials. They did the best that they can. Would you say the temperature about election denial has gone down in georgia . Not as big of a problem as two years ago . No matter how you want to vote in georgia its based off of photo id. We think it elevate security but also provides confidence. At all levels of government, if it does not do anything to take away but Elevate Trust we think that is a good thing. The post 2022 Voter Experience data they have. Counties actually determine the number of precincts you have. But then we actually got that to state law. A few times having a few lines, but we work through those. A great experience. We are very voter centric. 82 of all active registered voters voted in the state of georgia. Voter participation also. I know that that law encountered quite a bit of criticism. Do you feel that the experience and data vindicates outlaw . It is pretty obvious, yes, it does. From your perspective, a cautionary tale about when legislatures change laws, the debate about those laws and their realworld effect can be overhyped at the front end . We lost an allstar game over it. Sb 202 the Election Integrity act come up voter id for all forms of voting. Being sued by a political party. Guess which one, both of them said that it was subjective. It is what minnesota have been doing for over 10 years. Many people were not aware of that. We have done that. We take it off the table we have an objective criteria. An additional data, they said that we took something away. Probably 50 different bills working their way through the system. They did not see a time of day. They did not even get a committee hearing. Seventeen days early voting. Every single data point proves that it was we had record turnout. We are just really grateful. People had a good experience. Yes people needed to be accurate and they wanted to get the results quickly. I want to ask you about what the data tells us which is, as you mentioned, one dimension of consumer satisfaction. Generally, when voters are asked what their experiences, generally speaking it has been positive. Very large metrics on the Positive Side of things. And yet there is as high a percentage doubting the validity of elections. Is there any way to reconcile the contradiction . The metrics about the Voter Experience. Both in terms of their experience. Do you trust that your vote was counted. They are about as high as they have ever been. That is where we see the facts. It is pretty clear why this is happening. Which is to say that most people do not know about Election Administration. They know what they know. They can be other folks. Election administration has become an assailant issue in a large number of voters we are hearing how horrible things were maybe in some states, that is what is being said. While things are fine here, look what they are doing over there and how horrible things are over there. We already knew that voters in general are very comfortable with how they vote. If you run by them, how they vote in other states. You often times, they vote by mail there or they have to show voter id or they dont have to show voter id, all of these things are mysterious beyond where you are. Certainly in 2016 we saw a little bit of this in 2020. By nationalizing the issue, a large number of voters are now listening to National Politicians about how things are going. Seeing expectations of how election should be run more nationalized. The final thing that i will say is this is not unique Election Administration. This is happening a public health, this is happening in education. You can go down the line. As we think about these issues in the election space, our friends and colleagues in these other areas are experiencing exactly the same thing. I think that we can learn something from those as well. As compared to where you look at them internationally, you have a place that has no democratic experience or they are trying to stand it up for the first time. The basic core functionality has to be addressed. I think that confidences lacking. You dont have neighbors talking to neighbors about things. Taken out of that echo chamber of trusted individuals who are explaining this. So, the videos that we sell, schoolhouse rock taught us how things worked back in the day. I think that it is an education component if they were made aware of what the steps were then they would recognize. Factbased as we had talked about. We want people to trust the people in their neighborhood to talk about the zoning and how it is done. In education component. They will say because they have herded and read it somewhere all of these affidavits filed. They swore under oath those affidavits have legal merit. That is why i still doubt this election. Filing a lawsuit is essentially nothing more than a tweets. A tweet with the filing fee. Write that down. Please. People do not realize, it must mean that there is something to it. We saw an unprecedented attack on the 2020 elections in the election system. By using this thing that people trust. As a method of casting doubt for a very good reason. You are not allowed to file a lawsuit. It turns out, that you are in fact allowed to file a lawsuit. We are now coming to what i hope is a cycle of accountability for people whose professional licenses depend on ensuring that there is they are there when you file a lawsuit. When courts across the country and this has to be said over and over and over again, did see, did hear the evidence, found the evidence grotesquely lacking, not on procedural nittygritty, not on technical violations, not on the legal games that people can sometimes see, but on the merit that gives us the evidence that there was some problem here. There is nothing that holds up. There is a lot of smoke and very, very little fire. I understand that people want to have confidence in the piece of paper. The one thing that we know that is something that i think we all necessarily should have expected. It was wonderfully heart warming as a remarkable job of holding line in 2020. The courts acted nonpartisan judge across the board said show me the laws, show me the facts. I will assess whether you actually have a case. Across the board said no. The president at that particular time ruling a certain way. Some of the harshest assessments of cases brought in this case came from trump appointed judges are there any more facts . It gives plenty of time for people to come forward. Every stage there was conspiracy , there were assumptions being made that did not hold up. As all the elections here know, the things being described is not how the election actually worked. A lot of it had to do with either misunderstanding or willful misunderstanding. The judges of any partisan and non, it does not mean that you are a diehard partisan in that role. It is a very different way to experience the world. Judges put on their robes. I do not agree with this decision. Across the board they have evaluated facts and law. Yes, you are absolutely right. Some of the judges that were appointed by one of the biggest contest in 2020 election were not shy about expressing their view. I want to talk about the practicalities of your job. It is been my experience that the secretary of state where they have a strong Election Administration obligation have not always had a forward facing there is basically a take care of the election either to the preelection communication with voters unless asked and do not have a large infrastructure afterwards. Attorney generals deal because that is a very ambitious post. Something governors clearly deal are you changing or is your office changing in preparation of that as you talk to other secretaries of state . Is this a fundamental part of the job . I think that that is a nice way of saying secretaries are under resourced and underfunded. We have the smallest staff amongst our executive staff. I do think that it is changing. I think the legislature has had many saying that we need to make sure we can educate people around how elections work. We need additional staff in our office to deal with the onset of these requests and across the board they are fighting for that funding. I come from a Nonprofit Fundraising background spirit i believe in guerrilla tactics and grassroots tactics. I am trying to find as many trusted members as possible to help deliver that message. At the end of last week i just announce a program we are calling it our ceo program. Specifically engaged organization. Businesses, nonprofits, churches , to take the pledge and help educate their employees and customers about when elections are coming to disseminate toolkits about how government works, how their voice can be heard. I am trying to be really smart about collaborations to help get the message out there so that people, you know, i think people distrust what they dont know. The more that i can have these messages coming neighbor to neighbor and set of secretary to constituent, i think that we will be better served. You mention something that the two of us david and bill gates, the other bill gates participated in the day after the super bowl. It was a focus group that was done. Watching it on youtube. They all participated voluntarily. There were 90 Arizona State University Student in a live audience. We put the program together. We imagined it would be a one hour focus group. Coming up about elections 2020 and 2022. The secretary, i want to ask you your take away from that experience. It was clear after two hours. It was not hostile, it was not confrontational, this was deeply embedded skepticism or fullblown suspicion. A free flow of ideas. Secretary, what was your take away from that experience . I think in many cases the misinformation had been baked into peoples dna. Also people want to lean into what the hope is and they just have trouble accepting that reality. I would help with the lawsuit that people can finally put to bed and accept that they are active. Lets take that off the table. People talked about suitcases underneath the table. What they were talking about that is been investigated by our investigators that are post certified. When you say that to a tea party group, guess what they say. Guess what actually worked at us the u. S. Attorney of the Southern District came up and became the active u. S. Attorney. He actively looked into that. It is really baked into peoples dna because they want to believe. You have people that want to believe. You have to understand what happened in georgia and other states. 24,000 people just skipped a president ial race. They could not vote for anyone at the top of the ticket and yet they voted down. Highly unusual. Highly unusual. When you run for the new statehouse, then you kind of understand that people dont come out for certain races. Those are the big ones, obviously. 24,000 skipped the president ial race. That is why believe that President Trump came up short. Scoring five6 more than President Trump did. A congressman collectively got more votes than President Trump. On this panel, the one person that can speak to my next question directly which is the pole within the Republican Party conversations about what to say about the 2020 election. I ask because just before we walked up here, the sitting secretary of state West Virginia is quoted saying he is now convinced the 2020 election was stolen. A primary conversation to deny the results of the 2020 election most people dont want to face the truth. Number one, you have to face the truth. I have had to face the brutal truth. I figured that i need to figure out the path forward. You had a republican state senator that did a 60 page report. A great cost and a lot that he got from blowback in the party. He was looking for fraud, he was looking for everything. That is published and that was the state senate report. Every state has done that. I can just speak to georgia. What i believe is at the end of the day, in many states, a lot of people left the top of the ticket blank. Republicans and democrats we are looking for our next great leader. I dont think that that is the person that has the vision that will carry us forward. I just hope that that next great leader is republican. On the other side im sure that they were looking for their side we see an awful lot of political angst because people do not believe that their leadership is responding to that. During the course about focus group we did it all on zoom. It was about 40 minutes. We cut it down to 11 for the actual show. One of the participant said when people come to me and they talk about democracy, i feel like it is a weapon against me. Whenever i hear democracy talk over and over again im just being put down. Put on the defensive. It is a weapon to make me feel bad. I thought, wow. That is a very interesting perspective. A general concept in this country that could feel like a weapon. I mentioned other countries that dont have much. Absolutely. Words do matter. That is your view, this is my view. They do not match. We have the same issue overseas. We will ask elected officials to sign onto a code code of conduct. We tried to do that in 2020 and we got some traction. By 2022 we had candidate principles. There are candidate principles. They are recognizing the results these are not enforceable, but if you can get, the secretary signed on with his opponent, with stacy abrams and brian camp for the gubernatorial election, when you get will adhere to something, you hope that it brings everybody else along. Those are some of the principles of democracy. The democracy deficit that we talked about overseas. The democracy deficit happening here in the u. S. Now. Civic education, rule of law, how do we get to that next stage. I think that words matter. When that has been used and negative connotations, you really have to scratch your head and say what can we all agree on. You know, basic principles. That is the direction we are going. Its just those people over there that page talked about. I think that there is a way to get back to extending the trust be on your own inner circle but that takes immense amounts of work and it takes immense amounts of leadership from people validating the fact that you can trust more than just what you can touch, that you can trust me on because theyre of the people working just as hard to make sure it is worthy of trust. I think thats right. We are at a place where thats being compromised but not irrevocable. Charles . I resisting the temptatie the political scientist professor here. Please, please. The reason is, this is not how i think about things but it also think if were concerned about communicating with folks in getting across eidl that elections are run fairly according to the rules and run well, we need to be, we need to, actually lean into maybe even a brace somebodys ambiguities with language. I say that because from my entire life its not been reason, i just turned 65, people have oftentimes say you know, its not a democracy, its a republic. And thats that something said more and more these days and also dont think its not a coincidence that republic is close to republican at the market is close to democrat. And so this is going to get sucked into the vortex of the sorts of partisan differences we have these days. The two things i would say is on the one hand, i mourned the fact that the word democracy has been weaponized. I also think though when you do take it seriously reengage, reengage with education, reengage with civics education. And articulate the fact we dont have plebe assist democracy is most places. We do have a republic. We do have represented to stand between the public and law, and i dont think dismiss entirely the pushback on the term of democracy. For those of us who care about Fair Elections, we do need to be concerned about our language and maybe unfortunately the word democracy something we need to be especially sensitive to. Secretary thomas have you had any experience with this . As was said at the outset your life story is hey, this is working. Im a living embodiment of this but have you encountered this idea that when you say democracy i feel threatened, i feel like im being put down . Which is exactly what this motor articular to me. Certainly do. I have faced. Words do matter but when im in front of certain groups i would never say democracy. I usually say constitutional democracy or representative democracy. In many of my speeches i say whether you think you are in a democracy or republic or constitutional democracy, because i try very hard to be, you know, entirely nonpartisan. But words matter so taken more of the marketing approach. I remind people now at the top of every speech i Say Something like when things arent going your way its really easy to say the system isnt working but that is aye how a democracy works. We all get to have different opinions. Some of them went out, some of them dont. I i think that lightens the mooa little bit. I just try to educate people and connect our democracy with values and feelings and like trust, and i try to stay away from the words and on at the political scientist and the lawyers and the advocates try to fight that fight. I go to the fourth grade level. Secretary raffensperger you also have lived experience with this. You had a primary against someone who denied the 2020 the0 election and you with statewide, and you as i remember it from your retelling of it went to lots of small places, lots of small venues and at lots of small but what you hoped would be important conversations. Walk us through that. The first conversation was primarily rotarians, they have the fourway test. Is a truth, will it build goodwill . Great buys to build on. They are really civic, how we all want to be treated, and we should treat others. And then i would just talk about really go back in time. First of all talk about when it took office in 2019 i had nine lawsuits or more from Stacey Abrams and all of her folks that said but not for Voter Suppression i wouldve one of this thing, so she never conceded and so i pushback on that point by point. Then she took four years before we find one at trial and every single count, every single alleged offense that they charged us with, we won. She did a few. Then i talked about the 2020 raise and and i just went th bullet by what i bullet point by point. The night defended sp 202 because i do, this is what we have come a photo id for all forms of voting. Like to be short than what our and all the metrics with put in place. I said heres what the issue is at the end of the day. It gets down to integrity. Thats really what the core issue is. I also believe one of the issues we have is if you are on the side of the aisle you need to hold your folks accountable. And if youre on the side of the aisle you need to hold your folks accountable. It doesnt do any good for you to say hey, im going to talk to my neighbor until the what the kid is done. No, fixture own house. Thats really what really works. We dont need this hatfield and mccoy stuff for you point at each other. Fix your house, we need to fix our house and we need to hold people accountable. Gets down to integrity. A big part of that is thats one of the Building Blocks for trust. Because he got to be truthful come here to be honest, you have to have civic, you have to be respectful to each other. When you do that and back it up with integrity, character. Just good healthy values that thats really what the values that built this country on and i think really any society has been built on those key values. Justin, i was in sedona fried and it appeared Governor Katie Hobbs and just before i arrived came word kerry likes attorneys had been fired, find the sum of 2000 for submitting fraudulent evidence for an arizona coat in regards to the 2022 election. And he and he was governor hobbs observation that while that fine was important, in the larger incentive structure of denialism, it was miniscule. Your thoughts. Thats exactly right and that was a second by the way sanction of the same attorney for bringing a case that was not based on evidence and making false representations to a court. I dont think thats the last shoe to drop, but as you point out 2000 is at this point an unfortunate cost of doing business. Whats the business . The business is grift. Theres a lot of money to be made in whipping people into a frenzy. And ill say just generally, a lot of money to be made for people whipping into a frenzy and people forget figures context in particular there is a lot of money to be made in whipping people into frenzy over the election structure. The amount of small dollar donations that came in in the days after the 2020 election in order to continue the fight, yes, almost none of that money went into the legal battle. That was to line the pockets of those who were fundraising. Thats unfortunately i replicable model as long as people are willing to give up their money without actually investigating where theyre putting it. And that fosters the sort of extreme stances on election denialism that we see and the 2000 judgment isnt going to be sufficient penalty to stop it, say again, yet. That wasnt the first sanction. I dont believe its going to be the last sanction. There are a number of professional entities across the country that are taking far more serious steps to remove people who have abused the trust as an officer of the court from the opportunity to ever be an officer of the court again. I think that is talked about integrity and we talked about accountability. Thats one very important step. But we wont change the broader structure into we realize that it is we who are ultimately responsible for feeding into the money machine. If people dont want to give the money, then the money is not there to be made. David started off this morning talking about the 2016 election, and it was an awful lot of concern point. Into the n about the potential for foreign actors to interfere or hack our election. Turns out we were hacked in 2016 but not through the machines, not through the registration databases, not to the change in any ballot. They hacked us. They found ways that americans would disagree with each other and ample by those disagreements in ways that produced or exacerbated social division. Now in 2020 the hacking is coming from inside the house. We hacked us and we have seen exploitations of the division we have are being used to fund raise, and we see that consistently. The only way to stop that will be for us to unpack as, to realize we have to start examining the sources of information more for us to be more careful with what we choose to spend our dollars, and that will i think cause the incentive to dissipate for people who are right now becoming awfully rich off of making everybody who works in Election Administration lies were difficult. Charles im going to really rely on your native optimism here. Have you analyzed with the data and your Research Tells Us about the potential ability for us to unpack ourselves in the space. Was what, you asked me the hardest question you couldve asked in this. I mean, i think so how do we unpack ourselves . Well, theres time, right . I guess i am skeptical about a lot of Communication Strategies to because what we know in Political Science about bunking, prebunking and post marking and all those sorts of things, where post bunking activities cause people to be more skeptical about everything both the truth and falsehood. I am unfortunately not quite that optimistic about that. But its also the case that election denialism distrust can also be, can be put forward by poorly run elections. So if im optimistic its that i have now seen two challenging elections in in a row that et run well. And so when i say time i think will be part of the solution, i think, the reason im optimistic is that im optimistic about the ability of Election Officials to run trustworthy elections. And many places across the country where, for instance, in georgia the evidence is that yes people are coming back from the break in georgia. People are coming back from the brink in a number of states. Unfortunately they are not coming back in arizona or pennsylvania but that argument back in other states. They are coming back in states where the evidence is the election was run well, and youre getting both parties to kind of recognize that. And so this comes to come looking at the 2024, it seems to me Election Officials especially in small shops, i dont know how, i dont know, obviously everyone used to communicate what they are doing and educates people on what theyre doing. But i think running a really good election in 2024 is the important thing, doing the blocking and tackling, the short lines, have big enough ballots, getting the votes counted quickly and accurately. Those are the sorts of things that will pull us out where we are, and optimism is Election Officials have done it. Things are challenging but ive seen it done. To your point about people coming back from the brink, i see former secretary of state grayson in the back. I know he has a theory about this that for those who can come back, welcome them back, do not scorn them, do not push them away. I wanted to ask you something the Carter Center has tremendous center has expense with was typical. Going into place when election is contested and negotiating with the top candidates before hand, something they are oftentimes reluctant to do. Say they will accept the results. How hard is that . What methods have you found most successful to achieve that . Because that seems to me to be one of the threshold orientations that has to be laid down for an election can be successfully carried out and verified and believed in. Well, we can walk with blue Carter Center is on as observers and big independent observers nonpartisan. Walking into Fulton County with the secretary of state was kind enough to invite us, the only nonpartisan observer for the risklimiting audit we all had blue shirts on and i was immediate busted me because we are put in the democratic one of its like okay, tomorrow no one wears the Carter Center shirts. Wear a baseball cap but not a blue shirt i did realize the color blue had been taken over. So you know we are slowly learning how to do things in the nonpartisan way. With a name like carter, which with all the reassessment of his legacy now, until the end of the day, democrat president so when we have those conversation with elected officials, and again this is a code of conduct that you of the conversation before hand and say you will adhere to the results. We are doing this year but we have 12 principles overseas that everyone signs off on. We could only get five agreed to hear. In the u. S. So we would be pushing those five out because i think that they are ones that people cannot other, the candidates, but those are difficult conversations. The secretary in georgia was very wise in putting together a Bipartisan Task force in 2020 because he knew we had had voices from both sides, one telling his office what we were thinking and hearing and saying, but also that you have to work within your communities to make sure you have trusted voices to hold your elected officials accountable. So in order, look ahead to 2024, what are you, to charles observation about the necessity of good blocking and tackling, preparing for looking toward and height what the country to evaluate this next election upcoming. Well, from our standpoint making sure we keep the lines short. Making sure we report the results quickly, i think thats really important. And then make sure that the counties have the resources they need for whoever does show up. We will prepare them for a record turnout. If you look at our 18, 20, 22, its a continuous bump upwards. Prepare that for big numbers and thats the best you can do. Other than that, be prepared for people that specialize in disinformation and to be ready within the response. Editing will be very proactive. Will you be proactive ahead of the elections purpose we will make sure we work with the counties that, in fact, we hosted a seminar in athens with all of our 159 election directors, and really for training purposes but we want to make sure with strong relationships with them. We know they run the election but at the end of the day if things go wrong it all comes up to atlanta, georgia, what i said. So im going to wear it one way or the other so we want to make sure all the counties prefer for big numbers, keep aligned to short, have days early voting and as much on election day. We know there maybe some people that wont like the results and we hope we would be helpful that whatever candidates they are, they would understand that these are the results but we can do a 100 hand recount at it not bashful about being able to call that car guy did that in 2020 and we did a 100 hand counts we can prove to things tier one, the machine counteracted because the machines at the same answer and those with the results. And im sorry that one of the losing candidates was disappointed with it but we had to give people heres what the results are. Secretary thomas . We have some unique challenges because in 2024 we will be starting early voting for the first time, two weeks. We also anticipate having new tabulators. So there is a lot of room for miss trost. So were trying to get ahead of the curve. A lot of it will come down to human capital, making sure come in connecticut our elections are administered on the municipal level. We have no county form of government so with 169 separate towns, when democrat, when republican registrar in each town. So making sure that all the training they need. Weve had quite a turnover in the last two years. So training, resources, and a lot of transparency as we take on these two huge new projects. Charles . So i have already given part of my answer. Ill give the rest of answer. The thing about 2020 was that election was the emergency brake class election. We knew is going to be challenging. Congress didnt come through as much as they wanted but they came through to some degree philanthropy came through the extent of local governments came through anheuserbusch came through. Lots of folks came through just regular people came through and volunteered to be poll workers. It was seen to be a national emergency. People, the nation pulled through to make that election happen. 2024 is not going to be that level of emergency but still quantity a challenging election. So yes, i guess i would say im optimistic. The system is in stress test, tested in the past but there are things actually looking at the camera so because i know people in this room know this, but county commissions seem to be funding the county Election Offices, state legislatures need to be funding, you need to be paying attention to to help election workers be supported, to help support getting out under the mountain of foia request and the rest. There still some work to be done to make 2024, out. Justin. Im going to give a hearty amen to everything that charles just said. With a slightly different starting point. Election officials are used to patching the holes in the back with duct tape. Thats part of the job. In 2020, they built the entire bucket out of duct tape. There was no bucket. And, unfortunately, i think, they did a spectacular job such that people now expect every bucket to be made out of duct tape. And that is wrong. Deeply wrong. The unbelievable result against that Election Officials, state, county, town, local poll workers showed in 2020 i fear is taught us the wrong lesson, which is just rely on resilience and we will get there. Which is exactly the wrong approach. Its true that Congress Gave emergency funding but none of that was an investment. All of that was afterward and barely enough to keep the lights on. And in many places not enough to keep the lights on. Philanthropy was necessary anheuserbusch was necessary. And now the environment is such that its a lot harder for philanthropy, for private organizations to be able to contribute even on a strictly nonpartisan basis, which means the county commissions have to step up. State legislatures have to step up. And ill say congress has to step up, and not in october of 2024 when it is largely for any of that stepping up to matter. That has to be nothing in fact, it have to be yesterday. The president put forward two years ago and repeated again at 10 billion over ten year budget designed to sustainably fund Election Administration with another 5 billion for the Postal Service in order to relieve some of the pressure on states and local administrators, not just for mail ballots but for all of the various ways Election Officials know they accuse the mail and ordered to get noticed, and or to get word out, in order to reach the constituents. Congress responded with what can best be described as a middle layer. That has to change on a bipartisan basis. Theres an enormous amount of education to be done. That is not a single party problem. That is a bipartisan problem but invariably went before going to make 2024 a success. Paige, 2024. So i so i think we can all agree with what were standing on the president in 2022, and we werent sure what was going to happen. Well be going to fall in . I think we stepped back but were still on the overhang. As a look at when 24 i 24 i think theres a before, during and after component we have to focus on. Before is like many of us are working on now, we recognize the clock is already taking and is getting very short but we have to teach people to learn to discern on their on th. We have to hold people accountable legally. The during, all of you are doing amazing work for us its an observation component. How can we be effective to make sure we elevate the messages that are coming out about the free, Fair Elections and the transparency . Anthony after, theres a lot of legal aspects now that we run rule of law programs all over the world everyone conflict mitigation programs. The work we do in molly accident were doing in Central Florida now and conflict resolution and the same with rule of law. All of these frivolous lawsuits have come forth the judges susceptible back and said you need to take continuing learning education credits. Their only six you to budget professors who teach of those in the United States. So you actually we dont have the legal system that is setup or a Law School System that is set up to teach election law. We need to move into that area, too. So its a before, during, and after and want to be here to help all the work that is being done. Before you open it up for questions on the audience i just want to note that if this panel has achieved nothing else it is achieved complete metaphorical cohesion. At the beginning, paige talked about president carter thing he wanted to save money for rainy day and she sang it was pouring rain outside. Justin mentioning a bucket to catch rain, duct tape. That metaphorical cohesion is absolutely perfect. Its an intimate crowd. We dont need to shout ranking but rage and if you have a question for this distinguished panel. Yes. An awesome panel, thank you so much. Im with the bipartisan policy center, and my question is for secretary raffensperger and secretary thomas. I would love, could you talk about it about the relationship and touch points between your office and the county and local officials come Election Officials in your state, and how these relationships and touch points have changed over the past few years . Ill start first because ive only been in office for months i can only talk about that time frame. But both when i was campaigning and since ive taken office i really believe that those on the front line workers, and assisted in connecticut we have a republican and democrat in every town across connecticut. So whenever im on business anywhere i always stopped in to see the registrars. I attended a conference and i took their learning, or their training course, which earned me a standing ovation at the conference. But it also started monthly calls that are not training related or specific messages that i am trying to push. Its really an open forum. I get the updates of what the legislature is doing. I allow them to ask any questions. And it hasnt been done in like a decade. So people been very appreciative. I come from a business background, so sort of this twoway communication model, continues improvement is what i bring to the role. And so far so good. Because a republican stood up at the conference and said i had been watching you since you took office, and i wish i could go back and change my vote. So you know thats the type of thing that makes me feel good as a secretary. Thats it from our standpoint. Weve all said the relationship with county but we really deepened our relationship. Were updating which allows us to accelerate check in voters but we just dont send it out to be. We did some training for that. Were always looking at what we can do here and then when we looked at the budget we wanted 4 million for new battery packs to use ballot marking devices. Its battery technology, they weigh over 50pound and a new ones for 30 pounds. By comparing a nissan leaf to a tesla. We wanted to secure that. We got half of those funds so we can really help the county when election because we recognize the age of the average poll worker. What if we can do to support the efforts we do that. And then i would say from what i see and are election workers in our counties, they really have professionalized, really working on that, elevating really the training and mentoring afghan county by county. We have key leaders and i see one of them is here at this conference but we have the key leaders populate drop the state. What they have really doing is bringing in about four or five other counties, doing these of limitations, we gather there and we send someone down from our office but they are working together. Its a Team Approach up and down and actually working well. I think they know that if they had issues we have an open door policy we just are really excited about our state election director, we put an end is always right after 2020 and he has just jumped into it but he started in the county office, into meck county offices and hes just elevated i think our entire reach outs and outreach to all of our county. Elon, did you hear that . Tesla. Next question. Right over here. [inaudible] thank you, everybody. I am with issue one. I have one question for anyone on the panel i can answer it. Election officials are under extraordinary amount of pressure, resource issues, partisan pressure at the local level right now. These pressures are probably going to increase taken in states where the race is going to be quite close in 2024. What more can the federal government specifically do to support Election Administrators right now i had a 2024 . Thank you. And thats for the administration and for congress, just your perspective. Thank you. Justin. Ill dive and what to think that off the bat and a wish there were more but, unfortunately, the limits on the federal government ability to help are pretty serious, not least because that everybody wants the federal government to be helpful. And that is the most important thing to keep in mind is that help house to be welcomed in order for it to do any good. That said, you quickly think there are resource, all this stress everyone is under is exacerbated when youre trying to tie shoes with no shoelaces. That includes security. That includes personal security and includes System Security it includes human resources. Too often when we Pay Attention to the budget for the machines in the paper and the buildings and not the people. It is absolutely true that as david said a lot of people are examining whether they want to be in this heroic role, shouldnt have to be heroic but it has been heroic. And the pay scale would help with that decision, not the recently but he goes into this job but under compensating is not a good idea either. So one, two, three, four and five are probably resources. Six, the fbi and the doj have a task force that is out there and evaluating threats against officials and hoping to deter further harassment and for the threats through their efforts. I can only go so far. They are working hard but the tools the federal government has are mostly retroactive. And there are an awful lot of people out there who been goaded into making this threats and harassment that are never going to get to the fbi. It is important for people to know that they have real federal Law Enforcement who are looking after them in cases that rise to that level but theres an undercurrent of things that never get to the zone of a federal crime that still make the job of an election official incredibly difficult. Things like the election official Legal Network is also helpful in this regard. Bipartisan support just in case you get sued or in case you are harassed but theres a lot more that states and locales left to do to fill in the neville gaps the federal government will not be able to reach. Secretary raffensperger, did you feel that there were less or a shortage of tools to do with this particular issue of threats and harassment in your state after 2020 . Your deputy gabe sterling gave a very famous decoration about the dangers. I knew that was prompted by particular specific tweet about some of who is in your system and the threats that they felt. Did you feel you are underresourced or the law simply did not provide enough tools to combat this . I think after 2020 Law Enforcement think was probably taken by surprise. They just were not prepared for that. And so then they are really filling in. I think now going into 2024 i think their eyes are wide open. You say that in georgia and n nationwide . Probably. Definitely in georgia. We just had some instances, i know we are Rural Counties were written election workers followed home and yet it was 75, 80 80 and the county so it all favored President Trumps team, republican team. Just interesting people even these role counties, your what about what was happening in those counties, they won, 8020. This takes Law Enforcement look at a lot of things but federal agencies have a lot more resources as it relates to cyber and also whos talking to who that state entities just dont have. We have local Law Enforcement because some of the areas where people were under threats and were grateful for the shares in the local Law Enforcement and Police Departments that did that. Next question. Date, microsoft democracy forward. Charles, you identified of the ring as one of the biggest problems and administration right now. Paige. I think this one the most important things we picked up on talked a lot about medication in the short term. Like whats the longterm solution to that . Is a standardization federal regulations and things like that . Howdy doody people to trust elections happening in other places in the u. S. . So i have college year from bridging divides and we truly are looking at how we do this overseas and how we do it domestically as well. North carolina we did a bus tour, for example, and had a republican and democratic former mayor of charlotte on the bus tour having those conversations. So the othering means you have to see yourself in the person that you truly believe is carrying the message that you are carrying the message for them but their message is now different. You have to be able to welcome people back to the fold when that moment happens and you also have to show its human nature. You all were talking what you saw in arizona. Once people believe in something youre not going to talk them out of it because the applicants also far out on a limb that they dont want to cut off. So you have to find a way to bring people back. Those are the conversations that really are going to change it. So you have to find specific elements that you can agree on and then moved from there. Sounds a bit pollyannaish at a dont think youre going to change a lot of peoples minds but a lease if you open up the conversation you get to a point where the conversation is happening. I think thats where were missing out right now. The Carter Center has expressed with a reconciliation part of this equation, does that not . We do and thats why when ebola struck in liberia and youre trying to convince people that not to bury their dead a certain way, how to go in a talk to religious leaders about changing generations of how the bury their dead contract of the conversation about what it means and how its going to spread the disease if you do it that way. Those are the conversations we have to be in the communities here we cant do it from a National Point that we cant do it from headquarters in atlanta or from the hallowed halls of universities. You you have to be insecuritid say what matters to them . Is at their electricity bill . Is that with a worried about the two deconstruct that of the conversation about where government fits into their pocket book and what fits into what matters to them. A lot of work making those connections is a based on logic or based on, its based on reducing social isolation and getting people to trust each other in small groups that can expense of the groups that can expand to bigger groups. This is the Surgeon General has pointed out loneliness is a National Epidemic made far was by the pandemic and it helps breed all of the dysfunction were seeing come much easier when someone, you dont know or have never met but that work is incredibly hard and incredibly localized and very longterm how to make real connections and its only ever been done in communities when its been done well. Spoke with about two minutes left on what to give anyone a chance offer the last observations. We well come this way. I told to pick up on othering. I also think its holistic. We will not solve this problem only in the election space, and i was struck when you said that earlier there was a time in this country were i would not have been considered a full human being, and now im secretary of the state. That was not a legal solution, of voting, you know, it is holistic. So i think we have to remember to make this big tent much beyond people in the sun and breath to attack it at the level everywhere. Secretary raffensperger . I think i hit that earlier. I will just come back to it really gets down to the quality of the people that are running for elected office. They have to be able to stand in the gap and gently, compassionately give people the facts. Sometimes there will be blowback. Blowback. If it takes them reading profiles in courage to understand anything you say sometimes wont be gently received, you still have to do it anyway. I think it is just being truthful to people and getting out there and talking to people. The more you talk to people, police say thomas c think some to have perspective so having conversation fitbits about civil discourse, having the character and having the courage to do that. I think at the end of the day, you do when people over. It just takes time. Ive never doubted the goodness of the American People and i think you get up there and talk to people you find that most people are good, most people listen. They will respect you for what you do. The most important thing you can have in life, and screech of the respect of your spouse, respect of your kids, but your selfrespect. Because thats the person you look in the mirror every morning. Charles. Is a hard things to follow. One thing i would add is just again almost for the cameras, Election Officials are ready to do the work. They have shown they can do it under the most dire circumstances. Its up to us as citizens. Its up to our elected officials to make that there their n the next two years. So we have to do at least as much of our work so that Election Officials can do theres. Justin. That, too, is hard to follow. I will add i guess and. It is, theres a question that we work to do in the next two years, but we cant only think to the next two years. I think the secretaries observation that this takes time is really important. If we are only ever looking to solutions that kick in a few months ahead or a year head or even two years ahead we will miss the really truly Meaningful Solutions that take a decade or more to develop. But always yield dividends. And so we have to even as we pick up pieces of a longterm plan that will help us over the next months and years, we have to commit to the longterm plan. Ben franklin walked out of the Constitutional Convention was saying we have a republic, if you can keep it. And that was not a twoyear cycle. Paige come to get the last word. So following up on ben franklin. Jimmy carters written a lot. Hes probably prolific but one of his main takeaways was something his is high schoor told him, which is you have to adjust to changing times that hold true to your principles. I truly think as a look for the right leaders to run for office, as would look to the Election Administrators who are spending time doing this work, doing really important work and i think people understand the principal space that you were in. So we all need to adjust and figure out how we can help you and how we can help the United States continue on this adjourning to democracy. Before invite you to get this panel and rousing round of applause, two observation. Standing in the gap, hobart extend the gap, election diminishes and then get, county and city submerged insane. So to suck at his estate. They should all be audited and kissing was wondering if the subliminal message in my socks can guess at the martini glass interpreted as you will. I Major Garrett leaves pd the plus for this panel. [applause] what a great panel. Thank you major. Thank you panelists. I will briefly tell you im very sorry tell you the nominations are now closed for the award and excellence for election metaphors Justin Levitt will be recognized for production achievement for bucket of duct tape, shoes without laces and tweet with the filing fee. That award will be presented later. Were going to take a ten minute brief break. Well get back your at 11 25. Its its 11 15 right now with the next panel. Thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] a great chain to stay long discussion with State Government and Election Officials on ways to improve voting systems including ballot counting and election policy. They are expected to resume shortly. Live coverage will continue when they do here on cspan2. [inaudible conversations] its great to be here. Brad will be making a a dramac entrance at any moment so make sure you are emotionally prepared for that. I want to get started right off the top and start it with paige and go straight down. 2020 was a true medical event for the country and the world a lot of projections about what would happen in the midterms come some which realize, some of which were not. The first question i want to ask everyone on this panel is, net net after the midterms are you not optimistic about where this is all going or pessimistic . An easy one. No. Im optimistic but because you wouldnt be in this business if you werent optimistic that it would be difficult to continue doing the work that we do. We have learned the Carter Center got involved in u. S. , domestic election worked because we dentist oversee and 40 Different Countries and we see similarities that we felt needed to be addressed. I think were learning and iterating, i think all of us are, as to what levers need to be pulled in terms of making free, fair, transparent set of elections. So im optimistic. Let me start a writer because i do think that is a moment worth pausing to consider. The Carter Center not involving itself in observations of u. S. Elections. Did you imagine that whatever come to be and why did you feel it was necessary to start now . When president carter started the Carter Center four years ago the intent was to just work internationally. One president at a time and thats what he believed. I started i came into town in 2020. I took this job. Ive been living overseas and to see the Political Polarization that happened while i was overseas and happening in georgia in particular, i went on a talked to him in planes and just had we not can be credible overseas if were not looking in her own backyard. So thats why we ended up getting involved. I also said we do that what you save your money for . Arraigned today. Its pouring outside. There is no way that we cannot sort of address and jumping pics we jump in in 2020 looking at the same polarization that weve seen overseas that got us involved in elections. But in the United States, unlike overseas give a National Election. You work with one central election commission. In u. S. Even in georgia, 159 different counties. There are different rules for many of those counties and stephanie and i were just talking about connecticut is one of four states that doesnt have early voting. Likes of every single state is different. So to work in four states for s like working in four countries. It seemed necessary so president carter was supportive and thats why we are involved. Justin. Thank you major thank you to david and ceir for i have a similar attitude paige. I consider myself a civil rights lawyer by training and wrist deep in living amongst the worst of the worst and some of us get incredibly excited for really bad at it because that makes a great case. So you wont find a Broader Group of cynics out there in the world, and yet like page we wouldnt be doing this work. None of us it we went fundamentally optimistic in the long run. And so i have no illusions about the troubles ahead what you think will mirror some of the troubles behind, unfortunately, but i also fundamental faith in the majority of human nature that people ultimately want a democracy that responds to them. We ultimately have agency in that process to both create and keep a democracy that responds to the people pick anything is going to take take a lot ok include a lot of work by a lot of people in this room we guess im optimistic that we will continue to get to there. As david mentioned, its going in the right direction. If you look at the history of the u. S. As the percentage of adults citizen to participate in the electoral process, its only going up into the right which is exactly where it should be and you would rather be living today than 50 years ago or 100 utica 150 years ago. Im optimistic. Charles many of us in this room rely on the data sets you provide and the analysis that you add to that data. You are optimistic or pessimistic . Well, im usually the optimist on the panel some clubs are not the only optimist on the panel. And i think, all of us are optimistic went to see what stephanie is but have an idea of the facts about the 2020 and 22 election and they might be election date and a science lab. Elections generate a lot of data and the data usually are used to determine who the winners are but data is also generate the tells you how the election was administered. In 2020, 2020 particularly amidst the pandemic all the metrics pointed in the same direction, which is to say that despite the fact, for instance, that there was a tsunami wave of absentee and mail in ballots we saw has to work low levels of rejected mail ballots and we saw Election Officials and voters pivot and learn how to do a new thing. And so, by most of the metrics in 2020 things went well. The survey i run of voters after a federal election had the same results so all of that is good. 2222 was also good although the data are still coming in i think we have to remember that a Midterm Election doesnt have the same strains that a president ial election is so we shouldnt get, we shouldnt kind of rest on our laurels from 22, but also the data tell me where to be concerned. So in 22 we saw, for instance, that trust in most states intellectual outcome improving and digging down and propylene also because republicans got more trusting but the still a few states and you can probably guess which those are in which trust hasnt come back. And so not only, there is the platitude that were not out of the widget. We always have work to do but in addition to that, which is true, there are particular places where im looking still not concerned about the Election Administration in the states but knowing theres a a special wk to be done in some states in dealing with similar levels of mr. Ross. The good news is in some of the states we worried about in 2020 things are not as bad at least at the mass level, but things are still festering. Secretary thomas in addition to the pessimism optimism answer i would also like you to share your story. Because you are someone who was recently involved in this process. You look us on the set i want to join, want to get involved. Your story is recent, and part of this entire conversation at a deeply personal level, theres a dramatic entrance to Brad Raffensperger, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] will get to you in a minute. Secretary thomas, please. I am literally a doubting thomas, but i am optimistic. [laughing] and to your point, part of my optimism comes from other people like me. I was never involved in politics, and in 2016 i just started started getting more involved in my town. I did some local service. I ran for the state as in 2020, and i won. In my first term our secretary declined to run again so i ran and i won, and here i am. So the optimism, or the reason for optimism is i look to the people ive never seen, i think many of us took our democracy for granted and we just thought it was going to work and run seamlessly. But now i see people in every town across my state wanting to learn more. I see people understanding, as david alluded, avalanches thought election happens and there were not people working all year. So to have a seat in demystifying that process, teaching people about civics is the reason from an optimist. So i think its pretty whats the atmospheric connecticut on this question. Was believability of elections, fortunately, et cetera. I gave it is nick. People consider connecticut of blue statement outside a few cities its purple. We certainly had election deniers, naysayers and whatnot but i think the good old new england reasonability, jenna, i think if you share the data and let them know how things really work they are appreciative. And hopefully as beginning 2024 but hopefully were going in the right direction. Secretary raffensperger, the question is after the 2022 midterm, optimistic, pessimistic about the direction of this debate, believability, trustworthiness and functionality of election. In georgia i think it is positive but i did do a townhall with you in arizona and i just felt i was back in november 15, 2020. I guess the dynamics there, i think one of the benefits of having a governor and your secretary of state running for reelection soldier after talking to everyone. I think thats really good because you are engaging with the voters out answering the questions, giving them the facts. Facts. I think thats the opportunity that Governor Kemp and i had. During the reelection. Unfortunately the government in arizona with term limited so he wasnt out there making that case, and it really got down to a lowerlevel Election Officials. They did the best they can. They did to have as big a megaphone as a governor desperate would you set the temperature about election denialism has gone down in georgia, not as big a problem as a was two years ago . People feel comfortable because no matter how you want to vote in georgia its based on photo id. It really elevate security but also provides confidence. Number one, at all levels of government where we can look to increase trust and it doesnt anything to take away from accessibility of the ballot but Elevate Trust we think thats a good thing. And tell this audience, secretary raffensperger, about the post 2222 Voter Experience data you have. Post 20222 post 222e kept lines short which was put into state law because counties did, the number precinct chair, how much equipment you have worked with the counties that then we got the put into state law. We kept lines on election day, virtually an hour just that adware so very, very successful. A few times at 70 70 and givw lines will report through those. With a great photo experience, very photo centric. We had tremendous turnout. If you look at i appreciate everyone quieting down so fast. All right. Were about to embark on our second panel of the summit, and the second panel is on the topic that for those of you who know me and know my work over the last 25 years in the election space is near and dear to my heart. Its probably the most important thing is were talking about the nuts and bolts of elections for running smooth elections in the United States, and something where we have made fast strike in the last couple of decades, and that is maintaining accurate and complete voter list. Those two aspects are really important. Whereas women talk about Voter Registration come so much of the time when we talk so much of the oxygen is taken up by those who would seek to make it a choice between affording the franchise to all eligible voters and keeping clean lists and keeping those who are ineligible maybe because they moved or died off of the list. And what we know is that thats a false choice, that you can do both and that both are necessary to fully enfranchise voters. We put together a great panel for this conversation. Im really pleased of everyone here. First, its going to be moderated by pam fessler, formerly of npr for many of you know. Are so many reporters never, election and Election Administration issues and really did a great job of understanding the challenges. Just for most in the room, pam was at the forefront of that. She summit ive been working with and talking with for more years than i will say for her benefit and mine. Next to her is secretary mattis Toulouse Oliver of the mexico was also a former county election official in new mexico who ive also known for longer than i will say. Next to maggie is sector gregg amore from rhode island, just elected in 2022. Next to break his sector steve simon of minnesota who what term are you are now . This is your third term. Affective state of minnesota. Next to steve is jeramy grey goose achieve a deputy at the Los Angeles County registrar and Recorders Office in california, an office that oversees more voters that almost all of the states. And next to jeramy is ryan germany whos a former counsel for the georgia secretary of state office. So i will leave it to you, and, to take it from here. Thank you. Thank you very much, david david said earlier, election comfort is used to be very boring and among the most boring topics was list maintenance, but that is no longer the case. So under excited that we have this wonderful panel here to talk about very, very important topic. Groups trying to undermine confidence in our elections as proof the system is filled with fraud want to talk with each of you, why is it so important to have clean election rules for the work you do and where the biggest obstacles we are facing right now to achieve that . Thank you all for being here, pretty awesome panel. I started my career as the county clerk and process Voter Registrations myself because there are many times as anyone have worked in these elections, the job has to be done even if it means boss lady herself has the Voter Registrations process, thats what it means. Having been voting is important for Election Integrity because everybody wants to know political voters and only eligible voters are asking about so making sure it is critical to that effort. When i first came into office, clear about it, i remember ongoing dialogue with groups watching, its called Different Things in different places, referred to as the purge but the process we have to undertake every state every two years by federal law to have that was being done and what it was done properly and quickly realized the political side of things being electric minister but this is a crucial process because more duplicates, more issues and registered voters and more likely you are to have problems and questions about whether or not they are accurate. Their tools in our tool quit, a requirement for centralized statewide Voter Registration database. Across the country that have their own thats all we have. They been able to use Social Security numbers. We were grandfathered in the Social Security act would only have that tool in our toolkit tristate is going great. The Social Security file in our state the gold standard, the challenges moving forward ill be brief, weve talked quite a bit and we have plenty of panelists hello there and is an expectation perfect and its literally never going to happen and Voter Registration is voluntary. A high level of accuracy and confidence, thats our challenge moving forward. No only been in office for months, how do you see the challenge seeing accurate rules in rhode island. My list of students significantly. I sponsored what is known as the vote act expanded voter access in many ways, drop boxes and Community One drop box the opportunity to not have a witness or notary to expand the access but a key element of that bill was the requirement for the Department State to do voter maintenance prior state law prior. My primary opponent accused me of wanting to purchase a list member a relatively progressive guy. There is confusion so we talk about left and right where the nihilism come from and pressure points, both ends of the spectrum so we make sure explain what that means and the prior panel did a good job talking how important it is to take the time to respectfully explain the system and if i can speak to a small group of people and a republic based on that conversation we talked about the fact that we are receiving information from our department of correction twice a month where they indicate whos incarcerating and we receive permission in every other week from the department of health. Combs people and makes them feel better about the process. It is a process. Its not a soundbite situation, you have to make your case in small groups and large groups when you can and explain the system. When you do, you will gain confidence. Why is it so hard to have clean for rules . For the challenges . I agree with everything with my colleagues, obviously foundational. Its information, its only going to be as good as your information. Its really important to know the rules and only the people who should be are. I agree that risk maintenance is not the same as purging, it just isnt. You want clean photo goals and people who have moved, people who are deceased and otherwise do not belong those roles to be off. We are a sameday Voter Registration. It welcome, almost 50 years ago from this date 1973, minnesota was one of the first and sameday registration in the Previous Panel is a discussion about election misinformation and is so often the case in that realm, theres a kernel of truth that grows into something far uglier and more toxic. Naturally people register on the same day which is ride to conspiracy theories about one 104 voter turnout 109 voter turnout and very often the spiking turnout or registration is due to sameday Voter Registration. Its not a conspiracy, its not fraud. Its a function of the laws we have so that is a challenge in this, explaining the nature of our system. I know you have a different perspective because youre a deputy of the county Election Office so much more on the front lines. Do you get a lot of pushback from people who say voter rolls are a mess. Evidently. Larger than 40 of the 50 states in the country so we have a perspective and that we manage at the grassroots but size, scale and complexity gives us a birds eye view of National Challenges and issues we deal with throughout the country. It is important in this subject not to delineate voter rolls from any other entity based we have and any other factor. My background primary is information technology. The last ten years have been in and out of elections but ultimately important to understand financial institutions, healthcare institutions and Public Safety institutions are dealing with the same challenges as it relates to managing accurate data related to our constituents. Most individuals dont associate challenges we are having not just in california and l. A. County but throughout the nation in housing. Thirty years ago we moved into a home, stayed 30 or 40 years and hand the property down to your family and it stays in the family 50, 60, maybe even 100 years. That was tremendously easy to track at various Registrars Office and assessors and property tax organizations and etc. It is no longer like that. One of the earlier panelists stated we manage a fluid community now. Theres a lot of associated with that. We are a vote by mail state and the minute someone receives about the previous resident of that individual may have moved out a week prior. You have a perception we are not managing appropriate levels of Quality Control so a lot of complexity involved. Managing a large identity based management process. Maybe you can answer this. The average american looks of these and says why are the roles still inaccurate . Dont quite understand the challenges and companies are able to track down my list of people who are customers and there are others in our society and economy of today very accurate. How do you explain that in a state like georgia to the voters that there are all these issues . To have an education process or how do you deal with this . Thanks. My name is ryan, general counsel at general States Office in georgia. Generally 24th in january this year i told my wife for two to three year job and i missed that one but when it came out i had a lot of litigation experience which ended up serving pretty well in the office but i didnt know a lot about elections other than voting and turn on the tv and see if you want but i learned quickly running an election is a complicated logistical exercise that requires teamwork topdown from the state of the top of the county all the way down people at the polls and across the whole state whether the state like georgia or california, a conjugated logistic exercise and thats why this is so crucial because its two things. I want to say voter centric thing to do because it helped make sure when voter shows up to vote, everything is right. You want to show up at the polls and theres wrong information or something because it takes longer for the poll workers, people around it see it and think its not smooth so the voter centric exercise and a wise man told me this but less maintenance is in franchising because a lot of what youre doing is telling voters hey, heres what we have, it looks like it might be out of date, can you update this . That being said, the difficulties listening, you are the recipient of a lot of those tweets with filing fees. [laughter] particularly in the runup to the 2018 election in georgia and even 2016 election week were sued by groups on the left basically claiming any regular maintenance we were doing, use or lose it, all kinds of twitter friendly type of phrases and these were old, they were not new laws, they were existing laws passed by democrat journalists signed by democrat governor but because they had a narrative they wanted to forward about particularly my boss at the time is running for governor so these things had been very well accepted Election Administration practices all of a sudden became very controversial and wasnt really something we were prepared for and then on the other side of it, on the right 2020 election we saw lawsuits from people affiliated with trump theres this inaccuracy in these people voted here didnt live here and its a difficult process to run perfectly because of data in time and people notice so to answer your question, one thing we do is a lot of notices in the law given to voters and i would say a lot of times they are more accurate with listed companies have because it is a matter if they send a piece of mail to the wrong address and the political groups will send out mailings, they send it to the wrong person and causes all sorts of calls to Election Officials and they say what is this . Had them i think one group uses magazine subscriptions and absentee ballot or wrote Voter Registration and every time they send them out and its a great way to start a Conspiracy Theory so Election Officials have to be careful and i think they are more so than other groups. Im curious how much you think the problem is education, educating the public, this is how the system works, why we take people off the road, this is why there are sometimes inaccuracy in the roles or why he might be getting mail from a third party group, often think its from the Election Office but how much is actually educating voters how the system works versus the logistics of having an accurate system . One sub topic that comes to mind is a matter of common sense and ask a lot of folks in minnesota, how many people do you know, regular people, not people attuned to these issues like people at the conference here today but have any you know they move out of the state and after all the check listing do, change my magazine subscriptions in this and the christmas cards, how many know on the way out the door i better call my local Elections Office and let them know im leaving so they can take me out the list . I dont know anybody who does that. [laughter] i havent done that. [laughter] long time ago. When i was a College Student for example. I dont remember ever doing that when i went to college. Most people dont do that. With the reality that means their people on the boating rolls in more than one state. Its not a Conspiracy Theory and i dont mean to make this political but trump children and biden children it turns out when people look at luke records, it doesnt mean they were bad or perfect, it doesnt mean they were up to no good, it means they were normal National Americans who are busy and going a lot through clear lives. Its one example why this matters, not that people are doing anything that. We got to keep track of the stuff look at into the tools we can use. 40 million americans every year changing the address so to talk to your education points, we removed 61000 voters from our list in january and population of 1 million, thats a significant number. Its part of regular maintenance the reflective of the 2020 election mail ballot applications that were voters to the ones returned to us as undeliverable, they were made in active, placed in the inactive list to elections, they did not vote and we needed to issue a press release so we can talk about this. Wanted Rhode Islanders in the media to ask questions so we could explain the process. I read senator one afternoon and republican senator who said great job, he is very happy a joke. [laughter] but we want that conversation topic. The points are correct, the education is incredibly important. One big problem i see when i talk to people worried about these, people understand the difference as active or inactive so it comes back to education or trying to get the public to understand. I would add using early examples of Human Behavior in general, how many of us receive correspondence from previous residents are home or unfortunately received information from someone in our household since been deceased . My mother passed away in 2016 and i dont receive voting material for her but what i do receive in marketing material, material from previous initial institution and etc. So its important when we educate the public, we asked them to look through a rubber lens. It does not absolve us of any level of responsibility manage quality voter goals but take a step back and look at other variables all around us and they will see voter roles are probably one of the tighter processes in our communities. One thing that helps in georgia is sometimes in the media especially surrounding the political process, a lot of coverage can be coverage of and when to use that. [laughter] one thing we did in georgia and he cant remember those 2019 or 2021 work with a local reporter who went out and found people about to be went to the addresses and a lot of the coverage about to purge these people, he went and found they are not here and they didnt want to be registered so when you go and you on the ground reporting they found this is nothing to see here, everything is checking out and the other thing is, is asking a lot of Election Officials to educate voters on why somebody, 99 sure moved to a different state and remains on the board for years, thats a process in federal law and work in the federal government to . As i say, i know its a lot but they can look at the loss essay in the 90s, maybe that made sense when things were by mail and telephone things, its not the world we live in anymore. That federal election cycle, it one time once youve notified identified someone, they are no longer in this state. Especially when you have so many people moving every year. Lets talk about main tools out there, how you maintain voter roles and one of the biggest ones a couple of you refer to is eric, electronic Registration Information and this is a state run, state Member Organization or network where states can share Voter Registration information and compare their list against each other and compare their list against other National Databases like Social Security death tracker, change of address forms in an effort to identify anomalies, people who have died, people registered in two or three places. I think it is about 32, 33 states belong to eric but the past year weve seen seven states just recently pulled out of eric and its been subject to criticism and misinformation campaigns that its a leftwing effort funded by george soros to manipulate the border policy so if you can talk about how you see eric, why are these coming . You see any legitimacy . What impact its having on your ability to improve the accuracy . I will explain how new mexico came in, we were probably the middle set to come in after the first guinea pig. Started out and try to end at the time i was county election official and as the clerk of the largest county for me, i saw the greatest benefit in particular. Highly transient population in the county and wanting access to that Social Security after death information because it is the easiest thing for people to go without evidence so there are dead people on the roles. So at the time i was working with and then republican secretary of state and republican governor and we convince everybody this was a great nonpartisan tool we needed and it was passed and when we had a republican majority in the house of representatives in our state which is the one and only time in 80 years we had one because he made the case that this is good for data and keeping accurate voter list which is what everybody says they want so since then weve seen incredibly effective tool. We are looking at ramping up minimums that you have to do on your agreement, we are going to ramp up and do more on regular basis whether we have more tools in our toolkit but in terms of your question, i understand this is a highly political, its become a partisan issue and i realized i am not of the right party to make this argument but as my colleagues from minnesota said, it is the realm. The data is critical to my states ability to have the most accurate voter roles possible because eric is the one source in the country that has the most interconnectivity with other states and i think we will hear arguments about potential other contortions popping up and things like that, eric is tried and true in the security messages were tried and true and im sure my colleagues were talk about why the level of security in terms of sharing data is so critical so i reject the partisanship argument and the fact that the system especially when you look at how it is in my state. I will go to you, brian and then everybody else because you are the only republican i think on this panel or identifies as so what about georgia . You guys are in the eric system, have you seen pushback from groups to say this is not the most effective way . Because yes, you get the data but its not just about the data. Its what do you do with the data . You have to clean data, it formatted in a way that makes it usable. And that makes it usable and actionable quickly. So you got to have come a lot of time on the front and working with the formatting data takes a long time with all these people know to get signed up to make sure everything is in a format because then you can use it. Whereas consummate and dump a bunch of data on you thats not really usable. We have just seen this maintenance is so much better with it here is because of the cross state data but even without it makes it better. Endstate this maintenance, it makes for catching more dead people that we might not catch during normal state process. So i would say that. Secondly, i think, were so used to push back in georgia on kind of which ever this is the least of your worries. Which everything we do theres a lot of pushback so that is freeing anyway, okay, whats the best way to do it. I think we saw it, i think a lot of the pushback is so much what we saw pre2018 election where these were existing noncontroversial processes but all of a sudden fell victim to a narrative that was being pushed by people with our reason and resources to push that narrative. I think unfortunately eric is kind basically next in line of a narrative of the people who want to push the voter fraud narrative. I just think it would get out of, im stealing this line, too, but someone said if we could get out of the Voter Suppression and voter fraud voting wars, then theres a lot that can be accomplished. Secretary simon actually im interested why do you think we have seen this pushback against eric . Just in minnesota what impact is this controversy having in which you do . I will start with the second question first if you dont mind. Obviously the more states that are in eric the better. You want as rich and deep a data set as possible. You want states from as many come data from as many states as possible and its in every states selfish interest to have as much a data from the states that have as much as possible traffic between the states. In minnesota the premium states for us will be our surrounding states, wisconsin, iva, north dakota and south dakota. Or upper midwest in general. And so anytime the state leads its not a good thing although i do want to reassert some control over the narrative. I think eric is in very good shape. Over half the states, over half the people in the United States of america live in eric state furthermore state in with the recent departure than to worry 2020. Many more than a were in 2018, in 2016. Obviously this is a bump in the road but this is not cost for doom and gloom. It is set back no question. To your point about why. To be fair know what on this panel is in eric skeptic i want be fair about the fact that im not as good a spokesman for the folks as they are for themselves but ill do my best objectively and try to be faithful to what i understand the arguments to be. One argument has to do with soros funding and that is nonsense. Thats not the real instinct argument. The other is this idea that the duality of the mission of eric, as we discussed one of the missions here but theres another one that in my judgment at least is central to the founding of eric. In fact, if you go to eric psalm paid the first sentence of the entire homepage at the top talks about the dual mission. Not one but two, which is both voter outreach and i couldnt voter rolls. There are some of want to be faithful and fair who object to the manner in which the voter outreach component is being run. In other. In other words, there are certain duties, responsibilities that states and eric have with respect to that. They have to do certain kind of mailing. A sickly have to send out identify the people who are not registered and say hey, you might want to get registered. Right. There were some states that have expressed concerns with that requirement, that they dont like the requirement for various reasons. Maybe its cause, maybe dcs extraneous were not related to what they see as a primary mission of eric. I disagree. I think the language of the homepage states pretty clearly what the grand party was at the founding of eric, which is yet we will make sure all of us were members of eric and we do these new mail ends. Everyone knew when they signed and is really only quitey really about a year ago that a particular article appeared in a particular i think about four months ago. I think of a different one. At least i did some of the heightened skepticism to that, but to be fair and try to be faithful to the argument, it seems to be mostly centered around the obligation with respect to these cultural but unregistered mailings. Its interesting that was sort of a site of the controversy i didnt anticipate, sort of this argument that is not really our job to go out and register voters or to increase the voter rolls. I say our job coming Election Officials. That people dont want to be registered, thats their right. We should be pushing people who dont want to take this step themselves. As a something you are saying, sector . I i dont think the subjectie analysis of eric that doesnt come to the conclusion that voter rolls a more accurate if youre involving eric. Thats just the foundation but i mentioned rhode island vote act previously in my remarks, and the dual mission that secretary simon talked about is what we used going into the rhode island vote act people wanted to make sure we expanded access while at the same time made sure our voting rolls are accurate. I find it interesting that the eric system when it was first rolled out in the original states was lauded by republicans as way to avoid fraud. To the soros point its interesting because when we store start this conversation talk about the difference between voter list maintenance and voter purge, and some of the criticism was there may be purging here. Its fascinating to me its a pattern of projection that continues. I see no objective analysis that doesnt come to the conclusion that being a member of eric creates more accurate voter rolls. Its interesting in some of the states the secretaries of state, some of the states that have pulled out, the second use of state or other high Election Officials were praising the system weeks before they pulled out saying it was the best tool. Interestingly, jeramy, so california, stephen was talking about that the more states the better that are in eric california, maybe you can talk about, california has not been eric. We are optimistic at the local level that this date of california will become a member of eric. We are. There is a recent Assembly Bill 1206 and the california clerks and Elections Officials have taken a position of support. I think first and foremost let me say that for the most part local registrars dont have the burden of partisanship. So youre not going to hear me reference the right or any specific political party. Ultimately the objective is to administer fair, transparent, accurate elections. If you talk to a registrar within any state im going to sue they are going to state just in fact, to bed. At the end of the day if you are managing a large data set of any kind and the data set is insular, having no connectivity to other sources to ensure accuracy, i i assure you thats not best practice. For us in l. A. County we see eric as a potential vehicle to improve even further a lot of the activities that we go through rigorously and routinely on normal basis to keep accurate voter rolls. Thats very important to highlight. Why did it take so long for california to join . I cannot speak for the secretary of state. I understand that because of the size and complexity there were areas regarding cost and other factors that theyre looking at. But again we are optimistic that we were moving in the right direction, especially we take a certain level of responsibility as the largest local elect oral in the nation to be vocal on these matters. We have, in fact, supported california adopting this. Youve mentioned cost because states do, in fact, paid to be part of this network. Im just curious, any of the panelists, what do you see happening . Do you think theres going to be continued erosion in support for eric, or will it be just a little blip and its going to i think states will realize as they try to replicate eric that its very difficult. In our case, about 30 of our interstate movement is with florida. So as slaughter removes themselves of eric, we are working on the florida database and trying to lineup as best we can without the reporting mechanisms that eric provide and its burdensome. Its. Its burdensome. Where having difficulty with that. Florida is one of the states have pulled up. Correct. States will realize its difficult to replicate what eric provides, and i will go with the Previous Panels optimism and say that as time moves on i think states will return. I think so, too. And i do think there are some legitimate questions that have been raised. Eric is now a ten plus year old organization. I still personally believe strongly in founding principles of eric. I believe those of us who are current eric states pretty much ado. With anything as time moves on as technology moves on as the conditions under which we are operating evolved, it is necessary to sort of look at the inner workings and at the mechanics of the organization and say hey, is a room for improvement . The Global Political argument has ended up being sort of thought along these very fractious minor detail lines within say the bylaws of eric and things like that. I dont necessarily think that discussion and maybe even look at bylaw revamping and things like that are a bad thing. We all know over time as things change, but i do share my colleagues optimism that we can do that in a civil way. And if we can move away from sort of the Global Political argument and look at the mechanics of how eric functions and what does it need best to function for the states it serves for its Member States i think we can do that. What kind of improvements would you like to see . Well, i mean, theres a legitimate discussion about the eligible but unregistered mailing and whether or not the way it sort of being mandated now is the best way to do it. And i think those of us who even strongly support, steve and ive had so many side conversations about eric in this last several months. Even those of us who really support that are open to discussion about what that looks like moving forward. Not necessarily the whether or not but the how. We have states that are in eric. Mine is a brandnew backend automatic Voter Registration state councils minnesota. They are already existing and potential being accepted from that. Im not saying these are necessarily the directions it should go but im saying these are discussions that are worthwhile to at least have within the organization. We do know theres other concerns as well about making sure there are audits being conducted, about how the data is shared, things like that, or if it is ever shared or under what conditions. Because thats one of the concerns. Exactly. That critics have raised. Those are fair conversations to read and i think we cant and should happen in a civil discourse within the context of eric membership. Anybody else want to talk about any improvements they would like to see or changes they would like to see . Okay. Otherwise, everybody thinks its perfect. Lets change course a little bit. We hear so much about all of the laws that are then passed recently that look like they are restricting voter access. Weve also seen a lot of changes over the past four or five, six, seven years that actually have expanded voter access and make things a lot more efficient. I think you mentioned automatic Voter Registration. We now have i think about half the states, almost half the states now use automatic Voter Registration. For people who dont know, that means you to go to the dmv you basically are automatically registered if you are an eligible voter unless you opt out of the system. This has made things work more efficiently and also expanded the voter rolls. Theres a come most of the states now have online Voter Registration to make it more efficient. We also have sameday Voter Registration which i guess about 22 states i think think had that now. Im curious how these changes have affected your ability to maintain accurate voter rolls and just has it, some people will say thats led to some of the bloating of voter rolls. Could somebody address that . Ill speak to that from the georgia perspective. Georgia act actually committed automatic voter registry in september 2016. It was one of the first states to do so. I think second second behind only oregon. Its not something that was we talked about a lot when were getting criticized in the 2018 election cycle. But then studies have found georgia has won the most successful automatic Voter Registration programs. I think a couple reasons why and then maybe you guys if your implement in your states can help. Georgia was one of the first states the fully real id compliant at the dds, department of driver services, and so when you think about that, real id when people are going to the dmv or dds as a call in georgia, thats a very secure transaction when you think about the paperwork that is being shown. It is a highly trustworthy interaction. So use that as a basis for Voter Registration i think is really a secure and that helps with the integrity. What we found in georgia is the vast majority of those are people updating an address in state, or just renewing their license with no change. Whats helpful about that is thats kind of a touch point where its kind of confirming hey, im still here. Right, right. So i think that part of automatic Voter Registration i think is not talked about as much in activist community but really i think helps on that side of it. Jeramy, because california has automatic Voter Registration. I recall there were some bumps initially because the database with the dmv. How are you finding it working now . The process has matured significantly. We have recent legislation sb 450 within the state of california that dramatically change the Voter Experience within the state. It discussed things like early voting, sameday registration. We also have legislation that basically allows us to send a mailin ballot to every registered voter. And if you would like to cast that ballot or if they want to vote in person they actually have that option. Overall as time goes on the process matures your we have a system within the state of california called vote count and that has connectivity to county election management systems. And feeds that Realtime Data from the dmv and as inputs of deceased voters, et cetera. We implement a large complex system with sophisticated architecture, youre going at some bumps early on but over time it gets better and better. The feedback not only from l. A. County but many of our partner counties within the state is that things are a lot more smooth. Can i i just mention one example from minnesota, recent example which can bridge some of the ideological divide . Just last friday, i still feel the glow, there was a signing ceremony in minnesota the democracy for the people act which [applause] thank you. A lot of people speed is very supportive audience. We been working for a lot of years. One of the items was automatic Voter Registration and the minnesota let me tell you how i hope that will play out to amend some of these or heal some of these ideologically based wounds. So as i mentioned before, for just about 50 years to the date from where we are standing from the city through minnesota became one of the first dates to do same day. Current criticism is that from the standpoint of integrity, excellent registers sameday you cant do the filtering, screening and checking until that, till game day, till then and there. Thats when the process starts. My response as were trying to get automatic Voter Registration past is to the skeptics, if thats what you feel, and this avr, this is the bill for you. Because we estimate in minnesota that same day election registration will be cut by probably 80 or 90 for real. Because people simply will not have the need to do that. People will have already been in the system for weeks and more likely months before election day, meaning you can do the filtering and the checking and the screening and abetting months and months in advance of election day. You can have both at the same time and bedding. I hope we can get to what we see this as a winwin. Well, we no time for questions so if anybody who has a question we have mikes and it looks like where the couple already. Mics. How about p. M. No, no, no, we need the mic. [inaudible] its coming. Its coming. I actually thought secretary simon is going to save most minnesotans moved to california. Since the summer of 2016 we as an Organization Work on a project verified voting. We work on election security. We worked on a project to ask voters to check the registration. In fact, pam fessler of one of the first person to write about that project. We see it as a canary in the coal mine. If something is amiss with your registration, then that helps the election official when you let them know. They can see what happened there. We should add a component to the knock Election Officials over with a feather also by tell me when you move. I wonder if thats helpful to you, is that something that Election Officials also have campaigns that could pile on to and anything else you could say about that kind of practice, how we could help spread the word . I will say in my state before every election starting right around national Voter Registration day, a couple months before election day we really use that opportunity as a push not want to encourage folks register on my i would have you also to check your registration. I especially think one of the things we havent touched on yet is how critical any sort of online adr or sameday registration component was in 2020. Translator endemic avr. Because her spot we just had massively increased interest in the election because everything is going on in the world at that time, but nobody could leave their house. So i think being able to use those focal points but especially to have those tools and Resources Available to be able to let folks check and update and register is absolutely critical. Agreed. Agreed. In fact, one of the things that i do respect your group as i folks pull out the phone and go to our website and check their Voter Registration. We were recently testing our mail, online mail ballot application process which we plan to roll out the special election of what our Staff Members found a discrepancy in his Voter Registration. Its something we should do and ive made a point to do wherever we go, what are we to voters. Pam, we worked extensively with you here and i would say that its very important for voters to understand that the first layer of accountability is with us as a voter, to manage our footprint, our identity. So the best form of defense is to start with a voter, an active, engaged voter that is actively managing the accuracy of that record. So its very, very important. We do have outreach campaigns for that for the most part. We get a lot of engagement from voters, especially, unfortunately, or not, right before your election periods but we do find a high level of engagement and response to a outreach. When pam was talking about, i did one of the first stores but are actually on the key. At the time cant member what year it was to check my son who was a recent College Student and a saw he was still registered in the state of maryland. He gone to the university of michigan. He was still registered in michigan and he just recently moved to california and he was registered in california. But again like most americans didnt follow up with his Election Officials. There was another question. I am still do from a more perfect union, the Jewish Partnership for democracy and has spoken to some of you over it soon so snide to see you in all three dimensions. Theres been a lot of talk from the very beginning of the panel about the need to educate consumers and voters and all different sectors of society about the complexity of elections in addition to just sort of where to vote on what they. And im wondering what the best way is to utilize Civil Society actors in addition to helping to register voters. What are other ways that Civil Society in my situation, faithbased can reduce an clergy but it applies to all different Civil Society actors, like how can we be helping you see some of the information and habits and norms and behaviors that will make your life easier . At the great question. One thing that comes to mind for me is this idea that surprisingly of trusted messengers. I only have to joke to people all the time i will do whatever is helpful to the cost up to and including shutting up. Meaning, special for elected officials extended for all of us lets face it to think that we have the best messenger all the time because we are elected or i dont think thats necessarily the case. I think its up to many of us who work with people who are trusted messengers in a particular community could be a faith community, it could be other affinity communities, but finding out who those are. That extends to various dimensions of the work we do whether it is voter outreach or other things we do, finding the person who people trust and particular community who already have relationships that we cant possibly have any office of secretary of state findings people to be the trusted messengers. That may seem obvious but that is a guiding principle for our office. Youre right, you did do that in 2022 so maybe you can give us an example of how you did work with some of these trusted messengers. All give an example of immigrant communities new americans. There are growing and Vital Networks can sometimes in the faith community, sometimes no, sometimes in the economic realm. In minnesota among east africans come Southeast Asian communities in particular and is effective for us and others this goes back to 2020, the covid, covid election, scary time, great anxiety and certainty, and were able to enlist trusted voices in those communities to get across information of what the rules are and how they changed. Weve had some real success in new american committees in minnesota, finding the people who community i would get an already trust. Ryan . Thats a great question. We welcomed a lot of thirdparty groups were here to help in Georgia Special over the past couple of years. I think jeramy is right. First of all theres responsibility on the voter to be aware, and a registered . Is it uptodate . Was my polling place . Take our responsibility as government officials, formally in my case, was, is lets make sure they have the tools i can do that. Iphone is talked about the websites they have in georgia called my voter page. I think for you guys beware of those tools also. Weve had a lot of, we had thirdparty group that was here to help in georgia out to register voters and all they did was basically dumped boxes, disorganized and messy and sometimes fraudulent registrations on counties that were either illegible or just duplicate or in some cases even fraudulent. Whereas, if youre going, if youre interacting with a voter and you say lets check if you registered come here that we do that. Is that uptodate . Uk updated online. If you do the sink that makes the life of an elected official at the county so much easier, reduces the delay in processing. It decreases any errors because everything is electronic. Thats a great, just be aware of those tools and canada what works best for the local election official. Almost always going to be in electronic form of communication. For l. A. County we have thousands of microcommunities within the county pixel faithbased organizations for us plays a pivotal role in ensuring that we are providing services that are accessible. We provide language assistance for over 18 languages within l. A. County. Thats just one example. We work with various advocacy groups, faithbased organizations et cetera to ensure there are vote centers placed in a location thats relevant to specific communities. So please continue to engage at whatever level, and definitely continue to be vocal to ensure that the individuals to your congregation, to your communities have a voice at that table. Because when you manage these large bureaucracies, its very, very easy to have things lost in translation. So you want to make sure that you have the appropriate Committee Partners at the table. Community partners. Lisa, voting elections polling consultant. So thank you all for being here. I think this question is directed to all of you but im particularly interested in hearing from you, ryan. So i think given the current context, it is not surprising how much emphasis there is on making sure people are taken off of the rules if they have moved, deceased, incarcerated. But there are risks, right, on both sides and there are infrequent voters who could get a notice and they dont check their mail or whatever it is. I am curious especially in light of your comments about potentially revising, what are the kind of protections that you think are a good idea so that people who are properly registered but are not particularly active voters, maybe not particularly active male readers, i dont know, so they are not removed from the list . And estate like minnesota where you election day registration, you have that built and as a failsafe. Im just curious about, i would love to from all of you the protections you recommend for those infrequent voters and its hard to put you on the spot. Outgo quick because i think everyone has probably thought about that. One, from a policy perspective we do need to think about how are we communicating with voters. Mail is probably not the best way. In georgia were trying to collect more and more email addresses of voters. But even then you have to be careful. Thats one you think but howd you let people communicate quickly. Two, it happen in in the past where we have gotten good data but get data is not perfect and we removed someone who was not dead yet, right . They reached out and essentially prove it, hey, im not dead y. In that case, one, obviously if you did that prior to an election than and you can t then. If youre at an election, they have a personal ballot and can solve it. We have the same thing with felony conviction in georgia where they can say hey, this system is saying i have a felony conviction, i doubt, let me have a provisional ballot and resolve that. Thats one way to handle it. You want to become because you dont want to increase provisional ballots because that puts a lot on Election Officials, too, but i think those three things, basically how do we communicate with voters quickly and let them communicate with government officials easily, and two, that provisional ballot role. Automatic Voter Registration, online Voter Registration, sameday Voter Registration. We do all three in my state and i will see brian and raise him that in nabisco we just passed a democracy package that says that if youre out of jail you can vote. I know some of my colleagues actually even have voting in the states for folks who are incarcerated for felonies. We havent gone quite that far in my state yet the basically to your point if youre saying hey, im here, im not currently in prison just like him not currently dead, then you can cast a ballot. We think that is going to improve the situation there as well. And to your point we made an effort to let people know that we pulled of the 60,000 plus people off the rolls, at the same time we are vigorously promoting sameday Voter Registration. Its a priority of our administration, and we do have a vision ballot option for folks as well. I would use in minnesota i cringe at the term purge. Really i could get in minnesota people are put on inactive status. Its relatively easy to get off of inactive status. There are exceptions that like that people. Of course then its not easy. Right. They really are. They are, right. But if they show up . Even they are not purged. You can see you were built but you shouldnt have been. Exactly. Similar to minnesota replace voters on inactive status. And i agree with you. Right now at home on my dining room table is a stack of mail and and i dont get to that mail until hopefully sunday when the week slows down and everything like that. So you have to have diverse ways and modalities of engaging voters to educate them on their status as active and inactive voters. And we find that very, very critical. In l. A. County in the state of california we push accessibilit accessibility. The ways are here in front of you. It is accessible to you. If you are allowed by law to vote, we want it to be easy and accessible for you. Philosophy for us is pretty simple. Im curious to any of you see a live a couple of minutes left, Going Forward what kind of improvement would you like to see over all on this whole idea of maintaining accurate list . Is a something youd like to see happen that hasnt happened yet . We are a little stuck in the 90s. I know thats kind of pieinthesky but if you can you explain to people spitted national Voter Registration act which thats what puts in place requirement can also put in place the two general election cycles. Weve made a lot of progress injured with trying to kind of really what and how mailings look to try to increase their engagement because of the voters is hey i in fact, have moved you can go ahead and remove them immediately. That i think in franchises devoted because of calcium i did make sure im registered in my new state. And so i think if there, from a policy perspective, thinking in the 21st century how should we do this . Anybody else . I was a something thats not really a legal change but i was a continuing discussions of this kind to try to explain all of us as a community that keeping track of people like this as secretary amore said in an increasingly mobile society is difficult but doable. When you have somebody been registered in more than one state, dont jump to a bad inclusion for its human nature as weve all been saying for people not to tell their Voting Office when they leave that they are leaving. So there are reasons for some of these anomalies but they are anomalies and their correctable and they are fixable. Yeah, i think also managing mis and disinformation which is probably the biggest threat to democracy in my opinion. Because what we tried so hard to do is educate our electoral and educate voters. But ultimately mis and disinformation and educate them. It takes all of the time and effort that many of your organizations and your staffs, et cetera, have put into that process and and those that. Basically puts us three steps back. So finding more sophisticated contemporary ways to manage this and disinformation without sounding defensive but yet just factual mis and disinformation you may have heard of this but this is actually what you should be looking for. Right. I think it all comes back to the side of educating voters and the public about a topic that most of them really did not care about at all a few years ago, but now i think is quite important. So when you what i want to all very much, and to think the audience as well. [applause] thanks to this entire panel. Thank you pam to moderate. To cheer me these last point we do have a panel on disinformation that you find disinformation being a threat that bind all the panels together because i think it is as jeramy said probably the greatest threat right now. We will be talking about that through the day. We are now going to take a break for lunch. Please make your way over to the buffet, grabbed lunch. At 110 thymic you can stay intercedes, we will start every special lunchtime conversation which we hope youll enjoy. Thank you. Thanks thanks to the panel again. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] State Government and Election Officials taking a break for lunch in this daylong discussion on election policy. Later this afternoon the will focus on ways to improve ballot counting and include will be remarks from the secretaries of state from louisiana, vermont and new jersey. Its all hos