From your local County Office to the hallowed halls of capitol hill, conversations are right now underway about something that was a few years ago unthinkable here in the united states of america, the stuff we thought happens in struggling, fledgling democracies, not here. Officials today everywhere bracing for the possibility of chaos around the 2024 president ial election. Thanks to an expresident who launched a Coup Attempt that ended in violence instead of conceding his defeat last time and is now priming his supporters to be shocked, shocked if he loses to a candidate whose entry in the race has thrown him for a loop. A candidate beating him in levels of enthusiasm, crowd size, most polls, basically any significant metric for a president ial campaign. The Associated Press reports that one suburban Atlanta County is deploying local sheriffs at early voting locations and Panic Buttons that connect Poll Managers to 911. More from that reporting, quote, californias Los Angeles County and durham county, north carolina, will have new offices with significant Security Upgrades for this years election. They include Bulletproof Glass, Security Cameras and doors that open only with badges. Election workers across the country also will have new procedures for handling mail, including kits of narcan, the spray used for accidental overdoses. In some places Election Workers are being trained in Deescalation Techniques and how to respond to an active shooter. All of this is in response to the elevated Threat Level against officials in the wake of the 2020 Election And Donald trumps Big Lie. Here is the Deputy Attorney General yesterday. We are seeing an unprecedented and extremely disturbing level of threats of Violence And Violence against public officials, including prosecutors, fbi and other Law Enforcement agents, judges and Election Officials. This is a point really that we have to underscore, the threats against Election Officials who are often simply volunteers. These are people who are simply volunteering their time to help us undertake the most fundamental right we have, the right to vote, the right that secures all the other rights. These are people who are being threatened simply for doing their job. Its wrong. Its unacceptable. And it should stop. We are doing everything we can to expose that and hold individuals who are perpetrating those threats accountable. Here is what happened just this week on this front. Nbc news reports, a senior Law Enforcement official confirmed that Election Officials in at least six states received packages monday but none of the packages have been found to contain any actual hazardous material. Secretaries of State And Attorney generals offices and State Election offices in nebraska, iowa, kansas, tennessee, wyoming and oklahoma were targeted. The Return Address identified the sender as the u. S. Trader elimination office, that Election Officials who as Deputy Attorney GeneralLisa MonacoPoints Out are volunteers, that they would be seen as traitors, is cause and affect. The result of a Poison Coursing through our democracy, the lie told by Donald Trump that the 2020 election was stolen from him followed by the lie that this election would be stolen and the person fomenting that is running for the White House again because of this, Election Officials are stocking up on narcan. They have installed Bulletproof Glass and Panic Buttons. In washington, democrats are preparing for a possible showdown again on january 6, 2025. Over on capitol hill, politico reports that democrats are, quote, hoping that Kamala Harris will win in november and they will flip the house. It would likely be Hakeem Jeffries holding the Speakers Gavel as the process of certifying a victory gets underway. Its nagging top house democrats. Mike johnson might keep his majority as harris wins and finds himself in a position where he could have struck the counting of electorate votes and possibly throw the election to the house under the constitutional provisions of the 12th amendment. Johnson after all led House Republicans in filing a brief after the 2020 election asking the Supreme Court to essentially overturn Swing State results. Now, he is leading a charge suggesting that undocumented immigrants are voting en masse in what they view is an effort to sow doubt in the election. Officials bracing for the worst and preparing to defend the way our Democracy Functioning before, during and after the 2024 president ial election is where we start. In a moment, we will be joined by the Colorado Secretary of state, and voting Rights Attorney Mark elias. We start with the New York times reporter who has been on the beat for years now. Nick, i feel like you have this extensive and vast body of reporting that takes us through the Voter Suppression laws, first championed and passed and signed into law in georgia, through the antics of noncertification, refusing to certify things being maybe beta tested in nevada. Take me through the state of Play Today as we are less than 50 days ahead of a general election. I think unsurprisingly, we are back in the state that really first caught national attention after the 2020 election, and thats georgia. The State Election board in georgia, which is recently seen they have seen a 32 majority right Wing Majority take over the board. Its passing new rules that are concerning, not just democrats but republicans and Election Officials and everyone from the County Level to the State Level in georgia that could possibly disrupt the postelection period. We are talking about the certification, the counting of votes and the sending off of electors to the Electoral College. Last month, they passed a rule that would allow for local Election Officials to take a reasonable inquiry before they certify, which raised a lot of concern about whether that could throw certification into question. Now they are scheduled to meet on friday. They have over a dozen new rules and new proposed agenda items. We are less than 50 days out of an election. Secretary of state Raffenspergers Lawyer sent a scathing letter to the State Election board saying, you shouldnt change these rules. The board of every County Election Official sent a similar letter. We will see what happens friday with the State Election board in georgia. When it manies could to concerns about the new laws, thats where we see the most action right now. Nick, let me just play some of the sworn testimony from Election Officials from 2020, at least half of them republicans like brad raffensperger. It has all gone too far. All of it. Joe asked for chris, a patriot, to be shot. A 20 Something Tech Today has Death Threats and a Noose Put outside saying he should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches from an ems to a County Computer so he to read it. About 45 minutes later, we started to hear noise outside my home. My stomach sunk. I thought, its me. Then it just we dont know whats go the uncertainty of that was what was the fear. Are they coming with guns . Are they going to attack my house . Im in here with my kid. After the election, my cell was doxed. My wife started getting the texts. Hers same in as sexualized attacks which were disgusting. We have various groups come by and they have had Video Panel trucks with videos of me proclaiming me to be a pedophile and a pervert and a corrupt politician and blaring loudspeakers in my neighborhood and leaving literature both on my property but arguing and threatening with neighbors and with myself. Ive lost my faith of security all because a group of people starting with number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter, to push their own lies about how the president ial election was stolen. I gained about 60 pounds. I just dont do nothing anymore. I dont want go anywhere. I secondguess everything that i do. It has affected my life in a major way, in every way, all because of lies. For me doing my job. Same thing ive been doing forever. Nick, i played that because that is what Donald Trump achieved last time. Without all the rules changes, the laws being changed in statewide in georgia and with this Election Board you are talking about. Can you give us specific examples of how the laws have been changed to make that effort easier in 2024 for Donald Trump . Sure. Its important to look at laws like what changed in georgia. Reorienting the State Election board to give it more control. Taking the authority from local Election Officials or secretaries of state and handing it to partisan entities. Removing processes that were trusted in the 2020 election, like drop boxes, taking those out of the equation. We have seen that across the country. What i think is really important to look at now is not just how those laws changed but theres active lawsuits and active litigation to try to further change the rules. We are less than 50 days out. Theres been lawsuits by the former President Targeting Mail ballots in nevada. Ones that could arrive late as allowed by the state law. You have a grace period. They are trying to say anything that arrived after Election Day must be thrown out. That alone could disenfranchise legal votes under nevada law. What it could also do is it puts into question a certain bucket of ballots for lack of a better word. Those could be used as evidence in a future challenge. We are seeing lawsuits trying to establish that there could be certain questions or numbers of ballots that would throw an election into doubt, at least that argument is being made. Its being made by the former president on social media. As we kind of head into this final spring in the general election, these lawsuits are taking advantage of some State Laws that have been passed and are going to really put that to the test. New federal laws that have been tested like the electoral Count Reform Act through the courts in the first again election coming up in november. Nick, stay close to the cameras for the next 50 days. We will need you. Thank you for starting us off. I want to bring in the Colorado Secretary of state. One of the Election Officials who was sent a suspicious package under investigation. Joining us, the Voting Rights attorney, founder of democracy docket. Mark, i start with you. Pick up on the point about the frivolous lawsuits filed to throw into question the results in the minds of the base of supporters and amid that base, of course, for the people who were inspired to travel to washington on january 6, because they believed that lies. We heard them testify before the select company, people who said he believed Donald Trump. Tell me the State Of Play now, 50 days out from the election. Donald trump used Frivolous Litigation in his career as a builder, in his career as a casino owner, to try to intimidate his adversaries and enemies throughout his career. One statistic that will put into perspective is in 2020, if you look from January 1 to september 16, basically a couple of days ago, the Republican Party and their Allies Filed 13 lawsuits. Thats a lot to make it harder to vote. That was how many they filed in 2020. This year, they have filed over 80. They are flooding the courts with litigation aimed at one thing and one thing only, making it harder to vote and making it easier for them in the postelection to contest elections. They are not going to get away with it. They are losing the lawsuits. Democrats are fighting back. Were all fighting back. They are not going to succeed. But they are trying to weaponize the courts in the way in which they weaponized so many other institutions of government, to try to merge their political support for the Election Denier Movement with an operational support, whether it be in Court Or God forbid we see another january 6. Mark, one of the ways you have explained sort of then versus now is that last time, they went up against you 61 times, they lost 60 times. Your cautionary note is that some of the attorneys are better. But the facts are just as flimsy. Handicap the prospects for any legal success. Yeah. Those 13 and 81 numbers that i said, thats preelection litigation. In the postelection in 2020, we saw Donald Trump and his Allies File 65 lawsuits. They lost 64. That was great. It was bad for the country that was put through that, but it showed the courts would hold and the courts would not yield to a barrage of Frivolous Litigation. The problem is since then republicans have been studying what they did wrong, in addition to not having the facts on their side. They have upgraded their legal talent. We are not seeing in court my Law Firm is involved in 50 plus lawsuits. We are not seeing Rudy Giuliani and sidney powell. The lawyers are better. They have upgraded. A lot of republican lawyers who i think were shocked and appalled by Donald Trump in 2020, they have capitulated. The republican legal establishment has capitulated in the same respect that we have seen the Republican Partys elected officials capitulate. They are getting more access to more and better lawyers. My message is the same, which is that at The End of the day, Theres Nothing the republican lawyers are going to do thats going to change the outcome. In The End, Kamala Harris is going to get more votes and more electoral votes than Donald Trump. Madam secretary of state, along the way, if thats the ultimate outcome, folks like yourself are seeing this Threat Environment persist and in some bays accelerate. Tell us what its like for you and your staff. First off, thank you for having me on. Its great to join you. We do see a consistent Threat Environment. To be very clear, the Threat Environment has been relatively consistent since the insurrection on january 6, 2021. To put it into context, i myself have received nearly 1,000 Death Threats or violent threats since september of just last year. In colorado, we did receive one of the suspicious mailings yesterday. That did contain white powder that was then intercep