Thanks at home for joining us this hour. This is one of those records from history that looks different to us now through our pandemic eyes. But have a look. Here it is. This is closing time at the polls in birmingham, alabama, in may may of 1966 because we are all now citizens of pandemic 2020, you see a photo of anybody crowded together like this anymore and it flips your stomach over a little bit, right . Youre too close together. Nobodys got a mask. It activates something in us now to see that. But there they are, a thousand people or more all crowded into that one alabama polling place, may 3rd, 1966 in birmingham. Cant do that nowadays for any reason. But theres something important to know about this photo, both for then and for us now. Again, that photo is 1966. The year before that photo was taken in alabama, the future congressman john lewis was very nearly killed while he was trying to lead a march for Voting Rights across the Edmund Pettus bridge at selma, alabama. John lewis and his fellow marchers, black and white, mostly black, were set upon by the state troopers. The violence that day against the marchers was horrifying. It turned out the country was watching as it happened, and that blood bath on the bridge in selma led odirectly to the passage and then the signing a few months later of the national Voting Rights act. President Lyndon Johnson signed that law in considerable part because of the horrific blood sacrifices of those peaceful marchers. President johnson signed that law to try to make good on the promise of universal Voting Rights of citizens of this country. And that law that johnson signed made a difference. He signed it in 1965. This was 1966. People all over alabama lined up in 1966 to vote. Black americans who had never been allowed to vote before now lined up in this incredible scene, lined up to register and to vote in the first big southern election where they had federal protection for exercising their right to vote. Thanks to john lewis and his fellow protesters being beaten nearly to death by that sheriff and that pos si on the bridge in the spring of 1965, thapgs to the country recoiling in horror and president johnson getting that law through and signing it in spring of 1965, by the spring of 1966 there was a federal law protecting the rights of africanamericans to vote in alabama and everywhere in this country. In alabama in that year in 1966 it was a big election for alabama. For one thing there was the top of the ticket. On the alabama in the spring of 1966 running in the democratic primary for governor of alabama was a political novice, a woman named lur lean wallace. Mrs. Lurlene wallace was married to the white supremacist George Wallace, the George Wallace that swore segregation now, segregation storm, segregation forever, the George Wallace who stood in the schoolhouse door to prevent africanamericans from registering for class at the state university, George Wallace. That George Wallace was term limited out. He couldnt run for governor again in 1966. So, his wife ran in his stead to preserve his power in what would have basically been a puppet governorship where George Wallace was still really in charge even though his wife was the one who held the office. So, lullene stood for office in 1966 and everybody knew exactly what that meant. And the black voters of alabama turned out in that primary in 1966. Look at this. You mean, between newly having a real right to vote and imminently facing an outcome they devoutly wish to avoid, you could see the drive and the motivation to get up and put on your sunday best and get out and vote that day in 1966. They were trying to stop the racist wallace machine, and they had a way to try to do it. And they would be protected in exercising their right to do it, their right to act, to vote and to say no. Well, now, of course, all these years later in 2020, we are living through our own time of lining up to vote. And of course its different. But we learn from our past. What weve got this year is a time of monumental turnout. Looks like enormous enthusiasm. Patriotic sacrifice on a personal scale replicated by the millions and ultimately by the tens of millions. Long lines this year in 2020. We will wait. Rain . We will wait in the rain. Heat . We will wait in the heat. Deadly virus . We will put on a mask and stand six feet apart. While we are there, we will dance. We will send each other pizza. We will offer chairs and make sure the older folks get to the front of the line if we can. Regular American Voters in small ways have been turned into heroes this year because voting has been turned into something that too often takes nearly heroic sacrifice. Now, some of the fervor were seeing out there at the polls this year is undoubtedly in favor of the incumbent president , just as some of it comes from the desperate desire to get him out of office. And some of it comes frr real enthusiasm for the ticket that could replace him if he is voted out. And just like the americans in that long ago alabama polling place in that photo from 1966, though, we cant know what will result from all this effort. We have to do it anyway not knowing in advance what will happen. Black voters, 1966 in alabama, top of the ticket. Turns out they were not able to stop lurlene wallace. She won the primary anyway and became governor so is wallace regime kept its grip on the neck of the state with that little trip inside the wallace marriage. But what those voters did in alabama mattered. For one thing, it ended up being National News when all those black voters who turned out in alabama in 1966, they advanced black candidates for the state legislature, even for county sheriffs. The New York Times sent reporters 1,000 miles to go cover it. Quote, mrs. Iona morgan, 64 years old, wearing a hat and a bright red dress admitted with a giggle she had to work up her nerve to go in to vote. Another voter, 81 years old whose grandparents were slaves took a more positive view. It felt good to me, he said, drawing himself up to his full 53. It made me think i was sort of somebody. The next county over from Lowndes County was dallas county, home to selma, where the local sheriff was on the ballot that year, the same sheriff who had charged the marchers on horse back, where john lewis remembered seeing his own death on that bridge, where the Voting Rights act was born. The sheriff who did that was on the ballot for reelection in 1966. What happened on that bridge was not an outlier in the tenure of that sheriff. Even before he sent the horses into the crowd on that Edmund Pettus bridge, sheriff jim clark had been a menace to selma for years. When High School Kids in selma demonstrated for black Voting Rights, sheriff jim clark ran them out of town. Look at them. I mean, literally look at them running. He literally ran them out of town nay forced march that involved cattle prods. Kids. Two days later, sheriff clark went to the hospital with chest pains and the kids who he had run out of town knelt outside the courthouse and prayed for him to recover. Can you believe that photo . Thats the kind of sides we had, right . Thats the kind of people who were on two different sides of the fight that year. The one side hitting kids with electric cattle prods and the kids who were praying for the man who was torturing and prosecuting them. You can see sheriff jim clark there in the white helmet the following year. Thats him there in the white helmet trying to personally intimidate a man who had come to register to vote under the Voting Rights act. Why are you wearing your helmet, sir . Is that your gun on your hip . In the months leading up to that 1966 election where sheriff clark was on the ballot, the sheriff sometimes used force, as you can see here, as he tried to stop new voters from registering, he was violent about black voters with no compunction. Sometimes he laughed and jeered at them personally as the black people he supposedly served in that county lined up to become his voting constituents whchlt they lined up by the hundreds on election day and waited their turn to vote, sheriff jim clark then did his best to stop the counting of their ballots. As sheriff he challenged the content of ballot boxes from six minority precincts. He said they were all fraudulent and those votes shouldnt be counted. This is how one lawyer from the u. S. Justice department remembers that time. This was written in the American Bar Association years later. It quotes justice attorney john rosen berg. Rosenburg recalls that counting the ballots took a long time and when six predominantly black wards hadnt finished by late evening, the countys Democratic Executive Committee peckicked u their boxes and refused to count the ballots. We werent talking about who would win or lose. But the ballots in those boxes needed to be counted. That action that day in that election in alabama voting righ passed, the local sheriff who beat the hell out of people, took it to stopping blacks from voting. That crucible was the first time the federal government intervened in an election like that under the Voting Rights act of 1965 to protect the votes of black americans. Justice Department Lawyers entered into a civil Rights Action to make sure those balance t los from those black wards were counted and it worked. They took it to court. The Court Ordered all the votes be counted, even the black ones. Even though it was later in the evening than anyone expected. Rosenburg remembers, quote, we were before judgedown gel thomas. Judge thomas ordered the ballots be counted and the results of the counting was jim clark was out. The votes were counted. The votes got counted. And the worst of the worst was out. He lost. Governors race did not go that way that day. But the sheriff who nearly killed john lewis, the sheriff who terrorized the people of his city and jeered at them and laughed in their faces and intimidated them personally tries to block them from voting, tried to block their votes from being counted if they could manage to vote, he failed. They voted and they voted him out that day in 1966 decisively. As a side note, you might be interested to hear that while john lewis went on to become a lion and a beacon of american democracy, sheriff jim clark would ultimately end up in a different way. He ended up serving nine months in prison on a serious drug charge, conspiracy to smuggle thousands of pounds of south american drugs into alabama. For the whole rest of his life, jim clark remained absolutely unrepentant about what he had done on the Edmund Pettus bridge that day and his jailing of thousands of activists and the forced march of the school kids he hit with the cattle prods right up until he died, absolutely unrepenitent. As we head into this election this year with all that weve got on the ballot and all the challenges to getting our votes cast and counted, and who stands in the way of that, with all the newfound challenges of no longer having federal Voting Rights law with any teeth nit, no longer having a Justice Department at the federal level that will help thanks to the hard line right wing aseicendants in the courts. One of the things weve got in our pocket are these photos, these interviews. Weve got this lived experience, this history to stand on and to learn from. In 1966 when the New York Times sent reporters to cover the long, long, long lines of africanAmerican Voters turning out in alabama in that fraught election in that terrifying time, one elderly first time voter told the times im going to vote just as far against jim clark as i can anybody in this world. Ive been wanting him out a long time arks long time. The reporter put that part in all caps, put the word long in all caps. The paper found ms. Mary reese in line where she had been waiting 2 and a half hours. People had begun lining up at 7 30 in the morning before the polls opened. This year we are one week away from election day. As it stands right now in most states, i think its 29 states although check the courts, you have to have your ballot in by election day or they wont count it. So, even if you put it in the mail well before election day and groit it postmarked well before election day in 29 states if that ballot isnt received by the close of the polls on election day, theyre not going to count it. 29 states. In 28 of those 29 states, right now its on average taking more than six days for local first class mail to get delivered right now. Well, that means its done, right . Do the math. Seven days from now, itll be six days from tomorrow if your vote isnt in the mail already, bottom line, its its pretty much too late now to submit your vote by mail. Obama Administration Attorney general eric holder saying bluntly this morning, quote, its too late to use the mails. Its too late to use the mails. Given Supreme Court rulings, i urge everyone to now vote in person. Early vote or use dropboxs. Protect your health but dont let the court, meaning the Supreme Court, and the deliberately crippled Postal Service deprive you of your most precious civil right. The top election official secretary of state and swing state of michigan staying much the same thing today in detail. She put out this press statement today. Michigan sec state of state Jocelyn Benson says its too late to rely on the United StatesPostal Service for absentee ballots. She says citizens who already have an absentee ballot should sign the back of the envelope and hand deliver it to their city or Township Clerks Office or ballot dropbox as soon as possible. Voters who havent yet received their ballot should go to their Clerks Office to request it in person. Fill it out, sign the envelope and submit it all in one trip. In michigan, 3 million ballots were requested. 2 million of those 3 million have been returned so far. That means 1 million are still out there. Now if youre holding on to one of those million ballots, now its got to be brought back in person if you want it to make it in time. In wisconsin, nearly 1. 8 million ballots were requested. Most have been filled out and returned already. But more than 600,000 wisconsin ballots are still out there and havent come back yet. If you are holding on to one of those ballots that hasnt yet been returned, you need to bring it in in person now if you want to make it in time. In pennsylvania, half the ballots requested havent yet been returned. If you are holding on to one of those ballots in pennsylvania that hasnt yet been brought back to the state, do not put it in the mail. They need to be brought in my hand now in person if youre going to make it in time. North carolina and arizona, same again, half the ballots that were requested arent back yet. If you want your ballot received and counted on time, those ballots need to come back by hand in person. Its too late for the mail. In florida, its 2 million ballots that havent come back yet. Have you got a ballot in florida that you havent sent back in yet . If you want it in on time, those need to be brought in in person by hand if you want to make it in time now. We have been talking for months now about this election as the first big National Vote by mail election because of the pandemic. But not anymore. That part of it is over in part because they really did purposely Monkey Wrench the postoffice to make that simple and safe solution not work. And in part because they realized that way too many people were still voting. So, now they want to not count as many ballots as possible by any means necessary. Were seeing this flood of cases into the newly hardlined conservative Supreme Court, republicans fighting in state after state to get the United StatesSupreme Court to allow them to not count your ballots somehow, to limit the time you have to get your ballot in, to limit the places you can vote, to limit the places you can drop off your ballot, to add to the list of bogus reasons they can allege some imperfection in your vote to disqualify it, to stop the counting, to throw out as many votes as they can. Thats what the next week and beyond is going to be like. And so we stand in line. We take strength from our history. We will line up and do it. We will line up in places where they just want voting to take forever so those with the least time and resources to spare have to give up. We will line up in places where theyre determined to slow the mail so we cant vote safely from home even in the pandemic. We will line up in places where they are determined that even if we cast our ballots there will be challenges and tricks and rope courses that our ballots have to run through while they try to justify not counting them. The United StatesSupreme Court under its previous conservative majority took the heart out of the Voting Rights act years ago. And now the, wo work of protect voters lives and protecting voters abilities to get this done, it lies as much with nonprofits and Political Parties and legal volunteers and citizen determination as it ever did under the Justice Department in years going back to 1965. Under this court, under this attorney general, under this president , theres not going to be any Justice Department attorneys riding in with the weight of the federal government on hand to protect Citizens Rights to vote. Its not going to happen. We will have to patch it together ourselves. And no. Importantly, we do not know what will happen at the end of the day. You never do. There are no guarantees. And right now in this election, again, we are one week out tonight. The attention of course is on the top of the ticket. The whole worlds attention is on the top of the ticket in our country. But watch down ballot two where a fire hose of determined voters can do almost anything despite almost any odds. Watch down ballot. Watch the house. Watch the senate. Watch the governorships. Watch the state legislatures. Watch county sheriffs. Think of old jim clark when you do so. So much is up for grabs now. This week, this time in these next seven days. If you find yourself standing in a line that ought to be a national embarrassment. If you are waiting to put your ballot in the countys one lonely dropbox because they closed all the rest of them, know that you are pulling a thread through a lot of history. You are doing something we have all been taught how to do by some of the bravest, most persevering persons who ever lived. You stand in the lines. You may not be able to do everything. Not everything may go your way, but you do what you can do and you wont believe what you can do. The Associated Press sent their reporter and their photographers to cover that patient, brave, determined, steadfast surge of black voters in 1966 alabama. Heres the final words of ap caption under that photo that ran nationwide in 1966. It says, quote, all in line got to vote. The lines may take forever, i know, but stay in line. Woo you are busy. Working, parenting, problem solving. At new chapter vitamins weve been busy too. Innovating, sourcing organic ingredients, testing them and fermenting. Fermenting . Yeah like kombucha or yogurt. And we formulate everything so your body can really truly absorb the natural goodness. Thats what we do, so you can do you. New chapter wellness, well done. To save you up to 60 . These are all great. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. I think you mean the new alexa. Its a buick. Its an alexa. Check it out. Alexa, turn on the outdoor lights. Ok. Thats cool, but im pretty sure its a buick. Clearly an alexa. Alexa, get directions to the 818 grill. Getting directions. Its a buick. The firstever encore gx, available with alexa builtin. Nice buick. Its an alexa. Now get nearly 3,300 purchase cash on the 2020 encore gx. Ask alexa, tell me about buick suvs we use 11. Eleven. Why do an expense report from your phone when you can do it from a machine that jams . I just emailed my wifes Social Security number to the entire company instead of hr, so. Please come back. How hard is your Business Software working for you . With paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easytouse software. Visit paycom. Com for a free demo. Hon . First off, we love each other. Just yesterday he said that putin, of russia, xi of china, and kim jongun of north korea want him to win. We know we know because youve been giving them whatever they want for the last four years. Of course they want you to win. Thats not a good thing. You shouldnt brag about the fact that some of our greatest adversaries think they would be better off with you in office. Of course they do what does that say about you . Former president barack obama in orlando, florida, today on what the New York Times is referring to as the former president s, quote, new gig, gleefully needling trump. With t minus one week until the election is over, biden himself heads to florida on thursday. Thatll be iowa and wisconsin on friday. Biden will be on to michigan on saturday. Senator Kamala Harris itinerary shows democratic confidence as well. Shell make a stop in arizona tomorrow followed by multiple Campaign Stops in the great state of texas on friday, a state where republicans havent lost a single statewide office since 1994. But harris will be stumping all day in texas on friday. Democratic ticket is hitting territory that conventional wisdom says shouldnt be on their schedule with one week to go. Joe biden held not one but two rallies in the great state of georgia. Georgia. Going on offense in a great state that hasnt backed a democrat for president since 1992. Joins us now is stacey abrams. Shes a former georgia governor candidate and leader of democrats in the state legislature. Thank you so much for making time to be here tonight. Thank you such an extraordinary opening laying out whats so important in this election and getting your ballots in. That was really exceptional. Oh, thank you. Ive got to say i had a little trouble with it because looking at those photos makes me cry. So, trying to explain what im trying to say, describe what im trying to say keeps getting interrupted because every time i look at those visuals, it makes my heart burst. But thats part of what i wanted to talk to you about. I feel like weve got some new dynamics this year and some real calls to learn from our history in part because even though this is a pandemic, this is supposedly the vote by mail election, were seeing huge early voter numbers. Youve been among the people whos been suggesting that right now if you dont have your ballot in already, you better get it in in person even if it is going to be long lines because it may be at this point too late to do it any other way. Maybe too late to do it by mail. I imagine getting that kind of advice has to have a lot of crosscurrent feelings for you. I think the most important piece is reminding people that the end goal is to be heard. And while voting by mail was the safest, most accessible option, what we have to remember is once you have that ballot, the mission is to get it in. And mail would be best. If people could go to their very safe mailboxes and drop it off. In lieu thereof, getting it in the hands of those who will count it is what matters most. Bring it with you and getting it cancelled if you need to vote in person. Making it the focus like the men and women in the lines you talked about, its about interesting seen and being heard and not letting anyone distract you from that mission. Stacey, are you seeing differences in georgia specifically in terms of whoes been able to get their ballot back. In terms of people who have requested ballots from the state and have them and havent brought them back yet. Are you seeing demographic distances or age differences in terms of whose ballots are still out there outstanding that need to be brought in now . Well, we know there are about 750,000 outstanding ballots. We know that for example, the county needed larger ballots because of language requirements, that there was a bit of a delay. But overall, what weve seen has been very promising. We have seen young people returning ballots at rates weve never seen before. Weve seen black voters returning those ballots at rates weve not expected. And right now we are doing exceptionally well in mailin balloting. But we know that 750,000 votes a huge number. So, were hoping that people will hear us and understand that at this point do not put it in the mail. Georgia is in that failings of states that require your ballot be received by 7 00 p. M. On november 3rd. In the 31 counties without dropboxs, you can take it to the elections office, but make sure certain you get it in. One of the other dynamics that to me has emotional heft right now for this years election is that unlike previous years where most of the vote has come in on election day, this year it does seem like most of the vote is going to be cast ahead of election day. Voters of all kinds and all places collectively will vote more in advance of election day than on the day of. One of the things that does is it creates a lot of energy out there and a lot of potential resources out there of people who have already done their personal part, people ahead of election day, they have already got their ballot past and they are sure its going to be counted and they still want to help. They still want to do more. They are anxious about the Election Outcomes and they want to contribute. What are you telling people that feel that way right now that have more than they want to do than just casting their ballot because weve got it in. One if, reanumber one, reach everyone now yo to make sure they go to iwillvote. Com to make sure they know how to vote. Number two, go to fairfight2020. Com and sign up to be a volunteer. We need people not only to serve as poll observers throughout the process but were going to have to chase a lot of these ballots, folks who do everything theyre supposed to but make one mistake. In a number of states they have the ability to fix mistakes. Its called curing your ballot. We need people to sign up to be part of chasing those ballots and making sure every vote that gets cast gets counted. Make sure you have conversations. I know everyone is talking about the election, but be having conversations about how to vote, answering questions and getting past the haranguing or the lecturing to the invitation. If you have challenges you want to see fixed, and rachel you said this perfectly, the closer we are to the bottom of the ballot, the closer we are to home. We need to have conversations not just about the changes at the National Level but the changes at home. And every voice has to be a part of that change. Stacey abrams, the founder of fair fight and fair count. Thank you so much for being with us. I know theres going to be very little sleep for you over the next week, but i have a feeling well be back in touch with you over the next few days. Thank you so much. Looking forward to it. Take care. Weve got a lot more news to get to tonight. A night both a week before the election and smack dab in the middle of what appears to be the newest and largest covid wave sweeping across the country. There is a Scientific Development on the covid side that is clear as a bell and very applicable to all of our lives that you should know about. And were going to talk with the scientists who developed that and explained it coming up next. Stay with us. With us im a peer educator,. A fitness buff,. And a champion for my own health. I talked with my doctor. And switched to. Fewer medicines with. Dovato. Prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv1 treatment or replacing their current hiv1 regimen. With. Just 2 medicines. In 1 pill, dovato is as effective as a 3drug regimen to help you reach and stay undetectable. Research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed. And get to and stay undetectable. Can no longer transmit hiv through sex. 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Hiv medicine is one part of it. Ask your doctor about dovatoi did. Heres the front page of the Greenville News out of greenville, South Carolina today. See the headline there. Virus down right scare for clemson residents. You see the subheading there too, cases make residents want to draw an invisible line between themselves and students as cases tick up in the college town at clemson, South Carolina. That article about how fearful those residents are of catching coronavirus, that sits on the front page alongside this other story, quote, pence visit to thank graham, Vice President pence coming to greenville despite covid positive staffers. Just days after a whole bunch, five, of his closest Staff Members and advisers tested positive for covid, Vice President pence is refusing to quarantine himself despite admitting he was in close contact with those covid patients. The Vice President has nevertheless decided he will make a Campaign Stop in greenville, South Carolina, today, foisting himself and his possible infection on a community freaking out about covid, all to boost Lindsey Graham overjaime harrison. Speaking of holding rallys in a pandemic, heres the chippewa herald, quote, doctors again ask to cancel rallies. Wisconsin recorded 64 coronavirus deaths today, its worst day so far. Doctors pleading with the president ial campaign to cancel their rallies. Overin omaha, nebraska, the m omaha world herald reports nebraska is still near top of pandemics third wave. West and upper midwest feel brunt. Helena, montana, virus levels rise in waste water. 20 fold increase in east helena. Helena levels double. That waste water statistic is useful because it usually tells you how much more prevalent the virus is in your community than you can tell from the case count. It can tell you when youre about to see the numbers go up in term of cases even before individual testing reveals exactly whos got it. This is the front page of Dallas Morning News today, a call for help, El Paso County in crisis stage. With hospitals full, officials urge residents to stay home 14 days. Right after that, hospitals watch, wait and worry. Numbers begin scary relentless march up, leaving almost no region of u. S. Safe from surge. St. Louis postdispatch, an expanding pandemic. There is no safe place. Aberdeen, south dakota, the american news, covid19 active cases and hospitalizations hit record highs. Its the same story different state, register herald in west virginia, front page today, record hospitalizations, covid cases spike across the country and in west virginia. Front page of the Washington Post today right next to barrett confirmed to Supreme Court is this stark warning, hospitals nationwide see flood of patients. Covid surge seeing fresh fears that facilities will have to ration care. The post counts 41 states plus puerto rico have more cases. We have record high hospital dagss in alaska, arkansas, idaho, indiana, iowa, kentucky, minnesota, february nebraska, new mexico, north dakota, ohio, oklahoma, south dakota, utah, west virginia, wisconsin, wyoming. Did we leave any place out . President says its all because of testing. Testing doesnt put you in the hospital. No matter what metric you are using, none of it is good. As i mentioned a moment ago, there is one bright spot in the news today, some clarity, some clear provable clarity that frankly ought to create its own political environment on what we can do provably to get out of this mess. That storys next. Of this mess. That storys next. We are the thrivers. Women with metastatic breast cancer,. Standing in the struggle. Hustling through the hurt. Asking for science, not sorrys. Our time. For more time. Has come. Living longer is possible and proven in women taking kisqali plus fulvestrant or a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor. Kisqali is the only treatment in its class with proven overall survival results in 2 clinical trials. Helping women live longer with hr , her2 metastatic breast cancer. Kisqali was also significantly more effective at delaying disease progression. Versus a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant alone. Kisqali can cause lung problems or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. It can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. Tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness. Yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills,. Or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. Avoid grapefruit during treatment. Kisqali is not approved for use with tamoxifen. Its our time. To continue to shine. Because we are the thrivers. Ask your doctor about kisqali, the only treatment in its class proven to help women live longer in 2 clinical trials. Whosgovernor gavin newsom. The governor says prop 15 is, fair, phasedin, and long overdue reform, that will exempt Small Businesses and Residential Property owners. Join governor newsom. Vote yes on 15. They all endorse yes on prop 25. To end unfair, unjust, discriminatory money bail. Governor gavin newsom and van jones. Theyre voting yes on 25. The western center on law and poverty. The Dolores Huerta foundation. Californians for safety and justice. And the California Democratic party. They all agree that the size of your wallet shouldnt determine whether or not youre in jail. So, vote yes on prop 25. Whos supKamala Harris. 5 . Jail. Harris says, a Corporate Tax loophole has allowed billions to be drained from our Public Schools and local communities. No more. Im proud to support prop 15. Vote yes. Schools and communities first is responsible for the content of this ad. Covid19 is still in our communities, and it is still spreading. The evidence could not be clearer. Wearing a mask is not only safe, but it is necessary to avoid another shutdown. Therefore im announcing that begin 12 01 a. M. July 3rd, every kansan in a public space must wear a mask. Governor laura kelly of the great state of kansas speaking this summer announcing a statewide mask mandate in kansas as cases began to take off in her state. One problem though in kansas, the month before the Republican Controlled Legislature in kansas had held an all night marathon station specifically to neuter the democratic governors powers, to strip her of the Emergency Powers she was using to try to fight covid in her state. So, governor kelly could issue whatever mandate she wanted, but thanks to republicans in the legislature stripping her powers, her Public Health orders didnt mean anything statewide. Any and every Kansas County had the option to opt out of her orders if they wanted to. And boy did they. Theres 105 counties in kansas. After governor kelly issued her mask mandate, more than 80 of the 105 counties in the state opted out of it. A couple dozen counties in blue there, those are the ones that didnt opt out. In the end it was 20 counties that enforced the mandate. That has been the situation in kansas since july. 20 counties with a mask mandate and the rest of the state without one. And among all the other things that that meant and all the things that means, its an environment that scientists call a natural experiment. Heres a chart of average daily coronavirus cases overtime in kansas. This was just released by dr. Donna gwenther at the university of kansas. Look at this closely for a second. What theyve done is marked the date the governor issued the mask mandate, july 3rd, and two weeks later, july 17th. Thats the point you would start to see the effects of a policy change like a mask mandate. Thats basically when the mandate goes into effect. The blue line here, thats covid cases in the counties that actually did implement the mask mandate. Thats the 20 counties. You can see that two weeks after the mandate goes into effect, cases start dropping, come back up over time, go back down. Overall it stays flat in the 20 counties with the mask mandate. Now look at the red line. The red line, they started off much lower when the mask mandate went into effect, but those are the counties that opted out of it. See the difference . Two weeks after the mandate was issued, the cases started climbing in those counties, and then in mid to late august, the case numbers just took off and never looked back. Look at how the fate of those two sets of counties has diverged. Mask mandate counties in blue. Those stayed basically flat. Nomask mandate counties, those are red, they take off inexorably. Through midoctober, the new case rate in the nomandate counties, in the red counties, was double the rate of new cases in the countsies with the mask mandate. Double. In other words, this is as simple as science gets. Masks work. You can see it in this natural experiment in kansas. Mask mandates work. I mean, science is really that clear, right . That is a blessing to us that we have such clarity on what we can do to keep our case numbers at least flat, if not coming down. It also shows as blessed as we are by the science, we are cursed in terms of our political leadership, right . With a president who in the face even of evidence like that, still wants to be like, ive heard mixed messages about masks. I dont know. Maybe they give you covid. No, actually, this is one thing where it is actually super, super, super, super clear. Leadership that doesnt get it and that is the other side of this, and thats another issue, but the science could not be clearer. How do we make the most of that . Joining us now is one of the people who conducted this new study. Donna ginther is professor of economics at the university of kansas. Professor ginther, its an honor to have you with us tonight. Thank you so much for sharing some time with us. Well, thank you for having me, rachel. If you want another job, you should start teaching economics. I did very poor i did very poorly in economics in college. I dont i didnt want i wouldnt go there. But, actually, let me ask you if when i was summarizing your findings, is there anything i got wrong or put the wrong emphasis on or something i should have pointed out that i missed. Couldnt have done it better. You got the whole point. Cases were flat in counties that had a mask mandate and they exceeded rate of growth exceeded in the counties without. So were you the mandate. Were you surprised to arrive at such clearcut findings. I mean, i am not a scientist, but looking at this, the result sort of does leap off the page. I imagine you and your colleagues had some expectations as to what youd find, but did you expect it to be this blunt . We looked at it really early on and didnt really see any effect, so six weeks later we did the analysis, you know, a week or so ago, and as you said, it just leapt off the page. We didnt have to do any, you know, sophisticated statistical model at all. We just ran the regressions and get that cases rose out of that. Youre at the university of kansas. Youre the director of the institute for policy and social research. This is kansasspecific study of a kansas natural experiment that was created by a sort of pe peculiarity of the kansas policymaking in the time of the pandemic. I have to ask if your research and your findings here are proving influential in kansas. If this has led to any sort of discussion about reconsidering whether there ought to be a statewide mandate or whether some of those counties that opted out my want to change their minds. The governor and the legislative leaders met today, and they decided to be more proactive about encouraging local governments to use masks. They stopped short of a mandate, but they are speaking with one voice about the importance of masks in the state. So i remain hopeful that we can move in the right direction. One of the variables that i was interested in in your study is that while there were 20 states that you described as plainl implementing the mask mandate and those ended up being the states represented by the blue line on that graph. And county there were a small number of states that decided to go along with the mandate, but you considered them effectively to not have effectively implemented that. Can you describe that a little bit . Those in between those inbetween counties. Theres three different types of counties. Theres one where the city set a mask mandate but the county didnt. Partial compliance. Counties that took the mask mandate very late in the game so, you know, they havent had enough time to have the mandate take effect. And then were the counties that didnt enforce. If they didnt enforce then the mask mandate wasnt effective. The partial if we put the partial compliance counties in, the case rates dont fall by 50 , they fall by about 30 . So what we did with the 50 number is we wanted to compare always maskwearing to never maskwearing, as opposed to the partial compliers. So even with partial compliance, you still see a very large effect. That is thats important because i think sometimes people think that if they cant do it perfectly, they shouldnt try. Weve seen arguments from some governors in other states, for example, who have said, i dont think people will i dont think everybody will go along with it even if i do put in place a mandate. Even with partial compliance, you see a benefit. Its just incredibly, incredibly valuable research, professor ginther. Thank you and your colleagues at the university of kansas for doing it and thanks for helping us understand it tonight. Long may you wave. I hope people understand this and take it to heart. Well, thank you for having me. All right. Well be right back. Stay with us. Smart tech is everywhere. Smart fridge. Smart car. Smart doorbell. Door bell hello but fitbit makes you smart about your health. This isnt some phone on your wrist. Its a way to help manage stress. Keep your heart strong. And detect potential signs of illness. Its more than a smartwatch. Its a smarter way to transform your health. An herbal stress reliever ashwagandha, its more than a smartwatch. That helps you turn the stressed life. Into your best life. Stress less and live more. With stressballs. The election ends one week from tonight. Are you pacing yourself . By which i mean are you doing everything you could conceivably do to wake up a week from tomorrow knowing that you did everything you could possibly do . All right. Thats going to do it for me on tv tonight. I will see you again tomorrow. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. You know, four years ago this week, Debbie Dingell was the crazy one. Thats actually how she describes herself. She she congresswoman dingell was the crazy one, a