Safe . How did youu get involved . Ir voteing safe is an apoliticar effort. Im cochairing this initiative with the former governor of michigan and the abject is to see on november 3rd that there are safe and secure options for the voting public, inperson balloting or absentee ballots. C we sent out letters to the 50 secretaries of state encouraging them to make sure that those options were open, in person, safe and security opportunities, likewise for absentee ballots. As governors, we both share then belief its a shared financial d responsibility ased add well, b given the severe economic conditions, if they needed additional dollars to create and sustain both of those options, we encourage them to insist that congress provides a little support. Thats vote safe. Dent we wantia options, safe and Secures Senate elections, local elections, we want maximum participation. Thats our goal. Lets talk about the option of mailin voting. Wheth ji joining us a day after President Trump expressed his concerns aka about mailin voting and whethe it would be secure, you say safl andy. Secure. How do you make mail in voting safe and secure. It has been historically. Pel interesting, the states on some of the envelopes remind people of thesi penalties for fraud, bh the significant financial penalties, potential imprisonment. The Heritage Foundation several weeks ago take a look at 250 200 million absentee ballots that had been cast over the past i think it was 20 years. And they found that there have e beenn 200 cases of fraud that hd been litigated and people found guilty of improper actions. Its a somewhat fraudulent statement to suggest that historically there has been massive fraud in elections because of abuse of the absentee ballot process. I dont claim it to be a perfect system. 00 c but theas infrequency of impropriety, remember, 200 cases out of 250 million suggests that thehe local officials, 8 to tion t 10,000, dohe a pretty good job monitoring absentee ballots. We mentioned thatat the president s series of tweets enl yesterday, he talking about asa mailin voting by referring to his attorney generals interview on fox news over b the weekend which he was asked a question about it. I want to play just a little bit of the interview and get you to respond. It opens the flood gates to fraud. They can be taken out. Theres questions about whether or not it even denies a secret ballot because a lot of states have you signing the outside of the envelope. The person who opens the envelope will know how people voted. A foreign country could print up tens of thousands of counterfeit ballots and it would be very hard for us to detect which is the right or wrong ballot. It can upset and undercut the integrity of our elections. We should tighten them up right now. Secretary ridge, a few concerns from the attorney general. Well, i rare do you get an opportunity to publicly and respectfully disagree with the attorney general of the United States. But i guess theres a first for everything. The fact of the matter is, the attorney general the opportunity to Committee Fraud has existed since the civil war. Secondly, the precautions taken at the state and local level to minimize the impact with the Social Security checks, numbers checks, theres ways that they can local officials can validate or invalidate authenticate mailin ballots. What i think sows the seeds of doubt in the notion of an illegitimate election is this very thought that somehow after decades of appropriate use of absentee ballots that suddenly the administration is raising these concerns, by the way, i would remind the attorney general and the president of the United States that one is victory in 2016 was in an election where 25 of americans voted in absentee ballot. I would remind the attorney general and the president of the United States that the president , the Vice President , the members of the cabinet, members of the administration have voted multiple times in absentee ballots instead of raising the spectate of some kind of massive fraud. If theyre that concerned, it seems to me that they would be paying very close attention and working with republican and democrat governors to ensure that any abuse was limited if not completely limited through the appropriate oversight and collaboration with the states. I think right now its a red herring and you begin to wonder, i got to tell you, you begin to wonder if theyre concerned about fraud or concerned about outcome. And i just think that they should be paying attention to maximizing voter turnout. One of the things that senator that the governor and i agree upon is that voting in the United States, a lot of people believe and sometimes its taught, is a privilege of citizenship. I personally believe its a responsibility of citizenship. I also believe its incumbent upon both parties, both republican and democrat parties to maximum participation at the polls. If you take a look at the results in 2016, i think it was 61 of americans voted. Think about that. Nearly 40 of americans chose to ignore, chose not to vote for the president of the United States. And i would like us both parties to elevate, elevate their game, elevate their encouragement for maximum participation. If youre concerned with fraud, work with the local officials to eliminate it, period, thats the best way to go about dealing with potential abuse. Tom ridge our guest, cochair of the group vote safe which deals with cybersecurity, International Security issues. He was the governor of pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001 and secretary of Homeland Security back in 2003 to 2005. Here to take your calls as we talk about voting security and campaign 2020. Phone lines, just a bit different this morning. 2027370001 for democrats. Well leave those numbers up on your screen. Theyre a bit different this morning. They are backup numbers this morning. We appreciate you dealing with that. Secretary ridge, you said just a minute ago, 25 absentee vote rate back in 2016. What do you project it will be in 2020, amid the age of pandemic . Well, i think its a very important question. Its frankly germane to the vote sa Safe Initiative as well. One of the reasons we agreed to cochair this was a basic concern that americans might be put in a position to choose between potentially exposing themselves to covid19 by going to the polls or not voting at all. And thats just not a choice that we think we should put our fellow citizens in a position to have to make. And so the alternative to waiting in line with a mask and, lets be very clear, epidemiologists have suggested, again, time will tell, but theres a real possibility that there could be a second wave, god forbid it be as horrific as the first wave. But there could be a reemergence of covid19 in the fall and we just dont want our fellow citizens to have to make that very difficult decision, should i vote or not vote. Its those who chose to vote, we want safe and secure polling stations, but we think there will be an unprecedented number of people voting absentee this time around. Thats why the concerns expressed by the president and the concerns expressed by the attorney general about potential fraud, if they really believe that, then the focus ought to be on ensuring all of the precautions are taken at the state and local level to maximum participation, but to minimize fraud. I wonder, your thoughts on the concerns raised in the lead story today in the Washington Post with the idea that a lot more people will likely be voting via absentee ballot the day of results for the president ial election is unlikely to be november 3rd. Voters turning to mailin ballots could have long waits for results and what that should mean in the meantime, whether people will trust that process and whether concerns might be raised whether it be from the white house or others about whether voters can trust that process. Well, i havent seen the article. As youve described it, it seems to me that somebodys like broke the glass and pulled the alarm in trying to raise a concern that frankly americans ought to dismiss as being irrelevant. Its more important to have an accurate count rather than a speedy one and that is suggesting by the way, it could be a very close race. By the way, no one has that crystal ball to predict the outcome, but the election is on november 3rd. The swearing in is on january 20th. If you believe theres going to be unprecedented absentee ballot voting, there are many, many things you can do to expedite the counting, but certainly suggesting that somehow we in this country that are into immediate gratification, or we have to be concerned that the Networks Models may prove to be inaccurate, are a little bit off, i think we need a thoughtful look at what the election process is all about. You dont need to know who the you may know, it may be overwhelming one way or another. We have five months before that election. I dont think we should be raising any alarm and the fact that youve got a headline in the newspaper that it may take a while to count millions and millions of absentee ballots that may be true or may not be true. One of the things that can be done, and i cite my state as an example. The law say that is the local officials cant begin to count absentee ballots until 7 00 p. M. The night of the election. I dont know how that rule applies to the other 49 states. If you want to accelerate the counting of votes, you can certainly make those significant changes in the individual states to accelerate the process. Should there be a National Standard for that . Should there be a National Standard for those kind of things . I would like to see them make recommendations. But the different states go about things differently and, again, i dont want to sacrifice that notion. But i think if there was recommendations, again, this is a place where the president and the attorney general could if theyre that concerned or if just but people in the legislatures could take a look at their own internal rules and they can change the rules so they can count absentee ballots before election night. Tom ridge with us taking your phone calls. 2027370001, 2027370002, 2027370005. Victoria is first out of connecticut. Line for democrats. Good morning. Hi, there, i wanted to tell you guys that you do an excellent job. Im glad to watch you every morning. Whats your question for tom ridge. Caller ive been an election official for 25 years. And barr has no clue how the elections work. None of the higher ups do. When you do an absentee ballot, there is an outer envelope you do sign your name to. Theres an inner envelope which gets separated when you separate these votes. No one knows how you vote. Thats my comment. And i do think there should be a National Election rules of law for every state and everyone would have to do the same thing. And before he answers your question, can i ask you, what keeps you coming back to volunteer your time in that effort at the polls for and doing it for so long . I just enjoy the people. I was born in my small town in connecticut and people know me, they trust me. If they need help with a line or where to go, i help them and i just enjoy the people. Its a very small town. And i was also the librarian in my town. Its just something you do as a civil service. But i really get upset when misinformation goes out to scare people like bill barr saying they will know how you vote. They wont and that scares people. I have friends who have asked me, do they know how i vote . And i said theres no way. Every if i do a hundred ballots, the first thing we do is open the envelope and throw the outer ones in a bag. No one knows how you vote. And this nonsense about getting ballots thrown in taken out of mailboxes is ridiculous. Thank you for the call from connecticut. First of all, i want to put multiple exclamation points after everything that that patriot said. And i use the word patriot. We have thousands of people who give up the day who weve entrusted with very Important Role in this notion of selfgovernment and thats standing by to assist voters and counting them, counting those votes when its all said and done. And for some people in washington, d. C. , to denigrate or question their personal integrity as they go about engaging in that process, i found beyond disappointing. Its disturbing to me. I want to thank her for outlining what they do in connecticut. Thats a process that most states to my knowledge employ and other states i suspect might even do more. I want to thank her for her service and remind your listeners that is a process that thousands of people on election day, your friends, your neighbors, your kids go to school with their kids, you go to the church, you socialize together, they take those responsibilities seriously and the suggestion that somehow they dont do their job properly is very disturbing. Robert is next out of maryland. Republican line, good morning. Caller good morning. Its an honor to talk to you, sir. My comment is voter security and fraud and all of that stuff is irrelevant. From 1994 to 2002 approximately 5 million black babies were aborted in this country. Thats why donald trump is going to be the next president of the United States. When you kill eight out of nine people that will vote for you, thats why President Trump and i voted for him in 2016. Hes going to win again. Thank you very much. Robert, stick around for our next segment. Were going to focus on the Supreme Court key decision yet to be released by the court this term on abortion access. It has to do with the case in louisiana. Were going to talk more about that. Unless, tom, you wanted to weigh in on that case or the Supreme Court this term and the decisions that theyve already come down. I appreciate the opportunity, but i dare not go down a path that i have not yet traveled. Ill let that go. I wanted to give you the opportunity. Paul is next in tennessee. Independent. Good morning, paul. Good morning. I would just like to say right offhand that we need to get away from this democrat and republican crap. This twoparty system has ruined this country and i had a younger brother try an experiment one time and i went with him. And he voted against obama three times in three different states. Paul, can you explain a little bit more about how that happened, how that was allowed to happen . He traveled to three states on election day. Caller he had three drivers license for three different states and he had an address in three different states. And he voted in all three states. And it was just an experiment. He wanted to show that voter fraud does exist. Tom ridge . I suspect the statute of limitations may apply so he can avoid prosecution for abusing the system. Weve said its not perfect. I dont envision thousands of people deploying that kind of artifice to demonstrate theres flaws in the system. I would say this, the gentleman said democrat and republican, i would add another observation relative to that. Neither party is advantaged by absentee voting. Theres not an inherent advantage to either the republican or Democrat Party because of absentee ballots. There is an inherent advantage to the party or the candidate that chooses to focus on that alternative to get his or her supporters to the polls. And so one of the things i really am somewhat confused or befuddled by is that ive got a president of the United States, the bully pulpit, the incumbent, who is a pretty Sophisticated Team around him who has a huge war chest who has millions of electronic followers, how and why the president wouldnt be encouraging his followers and his state chairman in all 50 parties to maximum the use of absentee ballots is beyond comprehension for me. And because it seems to me that the advantages are inherent to him and his incumbency. And i might also say, if hes interested in retaining the senate, as republicans and hopefully im sure from his perspective flipping the house from democrat to republican, collaborating and working with individual candidates, incumbents and challengers to maximum participation would seem to be a focal point of his national campaign. I assure you, i assure you, that theres not an incumbent or challenger within the republican party, if they are, theyre making a big mistake, who is going to ignore the reality in a covid19 environment, and with historically military people voting absentee, people with disabilities voting absentee, with people overseas voting absentee, that they will ignore the reality to get maximum participation with absentee ballots. Its almost counterintuitive, contrary to what the president did, hes voted absentee. Its counter intuitive because he has all the Assets Available to him to maximum participation. Its counterproductive if you want to keep if you want to keep the Senate Republican and maybe flip the house, why you wouldnt be working with a party to make sure those candidates receive maximum support. I dont understand it. Again, sometimes i wonder if theyre worried about fraud or worried about outcomes. You talk about available assets. Weve spent 1. 2 billion in this country since 2016 to better secure our elections. What have we gotten from that . I think theres a couple of i think so. I think we need to do a little bit more. Weve got some electronic ballots. There was a recent Bipartisan Commission out of washington, d. C. , republicans and democrats, house and senate members, that said they want to secure electronic balloting, but we want to have a paper trailer to follow it just to be sure, build in that redundancy. I think the concern about the electronic impact on balloting is focused i realize on some of the machines. But i think it should be more focused on the misuse of social media. We know as the bipartisan committee, Intelligence Committee and the senate of the United States concluded, again, bipartisan, there was efforts by our enemies, by russia particularly, but i dont think he can discount china, russia, north korea, trying to inf