Helene and dead voters (09-27-2024--Hour1)

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_01]: What's going on?

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening to this podcast.

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[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And that area always has flooding problems.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And it had it again in spades, the Swannanoa River there is just, it broke its banks, it's

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_01]: all flooded down there.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Flooding has been observed across a broad area of the western Carolinas and northeast

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Georgia, particularly in the vicinity of the mountains and foothills.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Widespread tree and power line damage has occurred across the region and many roads

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_01]: have been made impassable by floodwaters.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: National Weather Service continues to advise against travel unless you are fleeing rising

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: floodwaters.

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Wind gusts have peaked for this event over most of the area, but Tropical Storm Force

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_01]: gusts will remain possible through early afternoon in the Piedmont and southern mountains

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_01]: of North Carolina and through mid to late afternoon over the northern North Carolina

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_01]: mountains.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And on all of the ridgetops, landslides still could occur across the mountains, at least

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_01]: until the last of the rain tapers off this afternoon into the evening.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_01]: The tornado threats have diminished and are now confined to the North Carolina

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Piedmont and that's going to taper off by the early afternoon.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So it appears we are through the worst of it.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously the ground is super saturated, the water is still making its way down

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_01]: to the rivers and tributaries and such so that weakens root systems, gusts of 40,

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01]: 45, 50 miles an hour will knock down trees if they are weakened, if they are in soft soil.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's still obviously danger to be had.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So head on a swivel out there people.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Also want to give a shout out to all of the power line workers, everybody

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_01]: that's out there in the elements that are helping to keep the power on.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_01]: We had a couple of flickers of power out at the house this morning, but it came right back on.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I guess that's the self healing improvements that they have made.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what that means, but I think it's AI or something or it's like Skynet.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I think is, I don't know.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Also a shout out to all of the essential personnel.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I have two essentials in here in the studio, Steve and John.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: That's why we pay them the least amount of money in radio.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of that's always the way it's been in radio.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: The people who are most essential to keeping the station on the air drive the worst cars in the parking lot.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I cannot explain it.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I have never been in the upper management levels of radio, so I never make these decisions.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_01]: But it's always been one of the things that I try to highlight because while we're telling everybody to stay home.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, and by the way, a lot of TV reporters and stuff that are out there showing you that they can stand in a rainstorm.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And they can stand up against 45 mile an hour winds, not well paid either.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: All of the lowest paid people get mobilized to go out there and show you how bad stuff is and to tell you don't do what I'm doing right now.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I am in the studio, but I could have done it for home, but I like I have a home studio.

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I could have done it from home, but I didn't.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't trust that the power would go out wouldn't go out.

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_01]: You know if the power goes out and I'm home, I got to come into the studio anyway.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So I might as well just come here and be here.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_01]: We have a backup generator, you know.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_01]: National Weather Service reports potential impacts from the main wind event are now unfolding across the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia.

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_01]: They're talking about the impacts including damage to porches, awnings, carports, sheds, unanchored mobile homes, unsecured lightweight objects.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I will say kudos to my wife, Kristy, who when she got home last night pulled in the chair pillows off of the porch.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Ah brilliant move.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Totally didn't even, I never remember those things and then I ended up having to drive all around the neighborhood looking for them afterwards.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Large tree limbs.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I saw this on my way in a bunch of tree limbs down and it being you know close to fall.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of leaves and branches, small twigs and stuff that you know a lot of leaves would have fallen at some point with over the next couple of weeks.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_01]: But they came down now so the roads are just covered in debris which are very slick.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you thought this might be a good time to go ride in your motorcycle probably not a good idea but you knew that I'm sure.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Several trees have been uprooted.

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I saw a couple of those too. Trees that are weak or dying or something or dead and they have you know they split and they had large portions of the tree split off from the main trunk.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I did actually see a whole bunch of smoke on Sam Wilson Road.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what that was about.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't sure.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't get close enough and I was like I gotta get to the studio.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm essential personnel.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I gotta get to the studio.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Roads can be impassable from debris and from standing water.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: So once again turn around don't drown right?

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01]: If you don't put as Pat McQuarrie would advise don't put your stupid hats on right?

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: If you see a bunch of water in the middle of the road chances are it's there because it can't clear out.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: That means it's been accumulating and that means you think oh I'll just drive through it.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01]: You have no idea how deep that is once you get into it.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Trust me from experience.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean I was a brand new driver at the time.

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I had never even heard of such a thing.

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I drove well I guess it can be told now.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I drove my mom's minivan.

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01]: It was like high school.

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I had her minivan for lunch.

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't eat it for lunch obviously.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I was driving it.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Went out to lunch saw some water.

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: There may have been an attempt at the time to splash through the water and get my buddy who was in the passenger seat.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: To get him soaked.

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_01]: There may have been an attempt at that.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: It's very fuzzy.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_01]: The memories are very fuzzy but it didn't.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I made it about 10 feet in and yeah it stopped.

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_01]: A few roads are impassable from debris particularly within urban or heavily wooded places.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Hazardous driving conditions on bridges and other elevated roadways.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Also tons of power outages.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Communications outages.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Patience.

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Give people the line crews the time to repair the damages and to clear the roadways and stuff.

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So you know what it's Friday.

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Just knock off for the rest of the day.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So North Carolina State Board of Elections has

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_01]: done what I was hoping they would do and what they should be doing.

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Speaking of cleanup, they have cleaned up the voter rolls in North Carolina.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_01]: They have removed 747,000 people from the list of registered voters within the last 20 months they have been doing this.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_01]: They put out a press release.

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_01]: That is about 10% of the registered voters in this state.

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_01]: 747,000 names taken off the list out of 7.7 million right?

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_01]: About 10%.

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to do greater math than that.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to go deeper on it but that's it's roughly 10%.

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_01]: State Board of Elections sent out the press release and said that the majority of those that were removed from the rolls were deemed ineligible to be registered because they had moved within the state and did not register their new address.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_01]: You got to register your new address because again our electoral system is based on residency.

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Where do you live?

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_01]: That's the election you vote in.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: It's your city council, your county commission, your districts.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So people who had moved within the state and did not register their new address or they did not participate in the past two federal elections.

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you don't keep voting, they make you ineligible because they don't know where you are.

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_01]: If you haven't told them that you're moving and you haven't voted in two federal election cycles, then they're going to say, okay, this person is no longer here.

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_01]: They're going to have to re-register wherever it is that they are.

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_01]: So you become inactive if you don't vote into consecutive election federal elections.

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Other reasons for removal include death, which that's a pretty good reason.

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Felony convictions, because you've lost the franchise.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_01]: If you're convicted of a felony, you don't get to vote anymore.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Out of state moves and personal requests for removal.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_01]: The purge comes just a couple of weeks after North Carolina Republicans filed a lawsuit that said the state had failed to act on complaints about ineligible people on the voter rolls.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure the timing is just coincidental.

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_01]: By the way, lefties are all up in arms about this.

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_01]: They are very, very angry.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: We're in the middle of an election.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: You can't do that.

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Like if you're arguing against cleaning up the voter rolls, I have serious questions about whether or not you value the democracy.

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Because you can't have a functioning democracy if you've got dead people's names on the voter rolls.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Because then people can use those dead people's names and vote for them.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And don't tell me it doesn't happen, because it does.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Republicans also filed a lawsuit raising concerns after the state approved digital IEDs issued by UNC Chapel Hill as a valid form of identification.

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_01]: A local judge heard that case and rejected the Republican argument there.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I assume it's going to be, I assume it's going to be appealed.

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_01]: But we shall see.

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[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I got a message here from DK who says,

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_01]: It took three years after my son moved out of state for North Carolina to remove his name from the voter rolls.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And he was registered to vote in his new state and was actively voting there.

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_01]: But states don't communicate with each other such as notifying the previous state or county that the individual has now registered in a new area because there's no cross communication.

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_01]: A person can remain on several states voting rolls simultaneously.

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_01]: There was actually a guy who got busted for this very thing in Western North Carolina a few years ago.

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_01]: He was voting in Florida and in, I want to say Bunkham County but I forget.

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And he was voting in both states.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember his party affiliation and I don't care.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter to me.

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_01]: What matters is that we should have some sort of way for states and I understand state elections people will say that there, oh, there is a way like when you register to vote in another state then a notice goes back to our state or whatever.

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_01]: But there needs to be some sort, there was an attempt to do this.

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's still available to some states.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_01]: The interstate compact I think is what it is.

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_01]: It's been several years since I covered it and I think I interviewed somebody from the organization but there was this big effort to get states to sign up for this compact which would allow states to, oh, the interstate cross check is what it was.

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_01]: To cross check people right into the boards during the game.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm kidding.

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_01]: That's hockey.

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_01]: No, but they could cross check the lists and they would get, you know, the voter data that would be masked to some degree.

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_01]: You would get the names.

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_01]: You would get the, I think, data birth and you would get like the last four of the social security number.

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And that would allow you then to identify duplicates who may be in both states.

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, believe it or not there are examples, especially if you've got a pretty common name.

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_01]: There are people that have the same name, the same date of birth and the same for last for the social.

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_01]: It does happen.

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_01]: It's very rare but it does happen.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, the few times that they have been able to identify those rare instances, that then becomes some sort of, you know, rationale why we shouldn't do any of it which is just insanity.

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_01]: If you care about the democracy, you should care about having clean voter rules.

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_01]: You should care about this because it means otherwise that people can corrupt the system and they can rob you, Mr. Defender of the democracy, can rob you of your vote.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_01]: If they come in and they vote twice in two different jurisdictions and they vote for the same candidate and you're voting for the opposing candidate, they've now not only canceled your vote out.

[00:20:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_01]: But now they give a plus one to their guy.

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So or go.

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_01]: So you should care.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_01]: This is one of those things it's like government spending and programs.

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_01]: You would think that the biggest fiscal hawks that promote all of the government programs and services.

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_01]: We need more money for this program.

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_01]: We need more money for that service.

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And let's institute these new ideas and this new initiative, more spending, more spending.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_01]: You would think that those people would be the closest watchers on the purse strings because they make these arguments that the programs and services are so critical that government needs to spend the money on it.

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Yet once they get the program or service initiated, then it's just like, okay, it's on autopilot.

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's very little interest in, you know, scraping away the waste, the fraud, the abuse.

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_01]: There's not a lot of interest in that.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And this was one of the things I wondered for a very long time like why is that the case?

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, and then I read a study that was it was a psychological study.

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And it turns out that people who promote these types of programs and services and interventions, the reason why they don't care to monitor the funding after they get it and they get the program launched is because that's not where their juice is.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I always say, is the juice worth the squeeze?

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And they get the juice from psychologically, from knowing that other people are observing them taking a righteous position or a moral position in their minds at least.

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_01]: We should do something.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to help those other people.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's a bunch of money for a program and now look at everybody looking at me.

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_01]: People now look at me and my virtuoseness, my virtuosity.

[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's their juice.

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So the squeeze for them is just get the program started.

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not making sure that it actually functions properly or actually helps the people that you said you were trying to help.

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And once you understand that, once I understood this mindset, it all makes sense.

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_01]: You create the program, you create the service and then you let it go because it doesn't matter to you anymore.

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_01]: You got what you wanted, which was people looking at you as if you are a moral and righteous person for helping people.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Let me see here.

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_01]: This is from John.

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_01]: My father served in the Marines for 30 years, very conservative, always voted Republican.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I am distraught to learn that he will be voting for Harris this year.

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_01]: All I know is that this would not have happened if he was still alive.

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Seriously though, I don't know if it was you or Brett Winterblow a year or two ago while discussing...

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_01]: was discussing that all voter registration should have a set expiration date like your driver's license every 10 years or whatever.

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_01]: You got to re-register.

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_01]: You could keep it, you could stagger it or make it universal.

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Every 10 years starting 2030, every registration expires and everybody has to do it again.

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Well that's suppression!

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Suppression! That's suppression John.

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_01]: See here's the thing too.

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_01]: There is a mindset that says any attempt at election integrity is suppressive.

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_01]: It's to the point now where like I am going to be required to pay for somebody to go to your house, bring you your ballot,

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_01]: hand you the pencil or roll in the machine and maybe grab your hand and pick the people to vote for something.

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Like at what point does any of this fall on to you?

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_01]: The citizen!

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_01]: At what point?

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you take any kind of responsibility for having to participate in this system?

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It's just make it easier, make it easier, make it easier, make it easier.

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And I believe it was...

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was John Adams.

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_01]: That which is achieved to easily is esteemed too lightly.

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_01]: If you want people to actually care about the democracy and their franchise,

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_01]: when you make it so easy, you've made it like a rental car.

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you treat a rental car nice?

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean really come on.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_01]: No because you're giving it back.

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER_01]: You're like oh this is a rental car, I'm going to take this thing four wheeling.

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay fine it's a Sentra but it doesn't matter right?

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_01]: People don't value things that are achieved too easily.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying you make it really hard but at some point you've made it way too easy.

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_01]: During the 2020 pandemic, Mississippi extended its deadline for mail-in ballots,

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_01]: allowing the ballots to be received and counted five business days after the election

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_01]: as long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_01]: North Carolina did this too but the legislature came in and said no more of that.

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Now everything has to be in by the close of polls on Election Day.

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_01]: That's the deadline.

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Well but that means I've got to mail it in like two days before.

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes it does, better yet mail it a week before just to be safe because it is the postal service.

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not knocking the postal service, I'm just saying sometimes lots of ballots get left on the side of the road.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_01]: But like it happens okay?

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_01]: If you want your ballot to count, get it to the election station before the close of the polls on Election Day.

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_01]: That is not too much to ask, that is not a radical idea.

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_01]: In fact it was what North Carolina used to do.

[00:26:35] [SPEAKER_01]: But then you know the pandemic, oh my gosh we got to make it so easy and then you get all the ballots that come in after Election Day

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_01]: and you're taking them, I think North Carolina was like three business days or something afterwards.

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you'll recall, Sherri Beasley, former state Supreme Court justice running against Tom Tillis I believe, or no, Ted Budd in the U.S. Senate race.

[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, I'm sorry it was Sherri Beasley, this was for that, this was for the Supreme Court seat.

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, I'm getting my elections mixed up.

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_01]: It was Paul Newby's race when Paul Newby beat her in the state Supreme Court Chief Justice race.

[00:27:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And her lawyers argued that even if the ballots arrived at the election offices without a postmark, they should still be counted.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Because you know the Postal Service makes mistakes.

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_01]: See this is what I mean, there are no rules that will not be deemed suppression because this was the argument.

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Well you know they did get here after the deadline without a postmark, so that probably is just a mistake by the Postal Service and we should probably count it anyway.

[00:27:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise you're disenfranchising somebody.

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't even know if that's a legitimate ballot, what are you talking about?

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_01]: They don't have a postmark on it.

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_01]: The courts threw it out so she was unable to count a couple hundred votes and she lost by a couple hundred votes but that's where she was trying to find them.

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_01]: So when I was a kid my grandpa died with Alzheimer's and before he died my mom and my dad and all of us really helped take care of him as he got progressively worse.

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Forty years ago there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family.

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Things are different today because of the work of so many people including the Alzheimer's Association of Western North Carolina.

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a great organization with awesome people, they've got huge hearts.

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I've been a supporter for like 25 years. This cause means a lot to me.

[00:28:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I participate in the annual walk to end Alzheimer's and I am leading a Charlotte team this year.

[00:28:36] [SPEAKER_01]: It's called Pete's Pack, you can sign up and join the team and walk with me.

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER_01]: It's on October 19th at Truist Field in Uptown.

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Sign up at ALZ.org slash walk and then just look for my team, Pete's Pack, and there's also a link in the podcast description here.

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Also I'm going to be emceeing the Gastonia Walk on October 5th so make a team and join us.

[00:28:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Or make a donation to help me hit my goal, I would really appreciate it.

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_01]: There are a bunch of other walks around the Carolinas and you can go to ALZ.org for all of the dates and locations.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_01]: We are closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's and if you can help us get there we would really appreciate it.

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Will you come walk with me? For a different future? For families? For more time? For treatments?

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_01]: This is why I walk.

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Melissa says, when I tried to take my father off the voting rolls in New York I was told I needed to send them a paper copy of his death certificate.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Now official death certificates cost money. You get a few for free upon death but after that the state wants money.

[00:29:39] [SPEAKER_01]: The government had no trouble removing him from his veterans benefits, social security or Medicare,

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_01]: nor the pension survivor benefit he received through my mother from the local school district.

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a little cross talk between the Board of Elections and departments that provide earned benefits as an order.

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_01]: That's a good idea. That was a Pete tweet. That's a good idea, Melissa.

[00:30:03] [SPEAKER_01]: How is it that some agencies have the info and others don't? Why don't they talk to each other?

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_01]: If the democracy is so important that we have to vote against Donald Trump then why wouldn't you take measures to protect it?

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Alright, so back to this case out of Mississippi.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Mississippi had extended its deadline for mail-in ballots allowing the ballots to be counted if they arrived at elections offices up to five business days after election day

[00:30:40] [SPEAKER_01]: if they had a postmark on them.

[00:30:43] [SPEAKER_01]: But a challenge, and by the way that's what they did during the pandemic and then it was put into law.

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_01]: They codified that into law.

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_01]: But a challenge now has made its way to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_01]: and it has the potential to ensure that elections end on election day everywhere

[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_01]: because the RNC filed a lawsuit back in January challenging this law

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_01]: along with the Mississippi Republican Party and a couple of voters.

[00:31:13] [SPEAKER_01]: The Libertarian Party filed a similar suit in February and that then was consolidated with the GOP-led lawsuit.

[00:31:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So you got two of the three parties, two of the three major three big parties.

[00:31:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean I'm calling the Libertarian because that is the biggest third party.

[00:31:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean okay yeah the Greens whatever, that's not.

[00:31:35] [SPEAKER_01]: The suit argues in part that the state law violates federal statute.

[00:31:39] [SPEAKER_01]: So a three judge panel for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments this week on this case.

[00:31:45] [SPEAKER_01]: A federal district court judge upheld the law back in July

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_01]: and said that the extension of the deadline does comply with federal law.

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Quote, according to a previous case called Foster,

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Congress set a national election day to avoid the evils quote-unquote

[00:32:06] [SPEAKER_01]: of burdening citizens with multiple election days

[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_01]: and of risking undue influence upon voters in one state

[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_01]: from the announced tallies in states that vote earlier.

[00:32:17] [SPEAKER_01]: By the way this is one of the reasons why they don't give you a running total of the early votes, you know?

[00:32:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Neither of those concerns is raised by allowing a reasonable interval for ballots cast

[00:32:31] [SPEAKER_01]: and postmarked by election day to arrive by mail said that judge.

[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_01]: If the Fifth Circuit overrules that judge it'll get sent back down to that lower court

[00:32:43] [SPEAKER_01]: and then they'll have to abide by the Fifth Circuit's ruling.

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_01]: However, if that decision by the appeals court then gets appealed, it goes to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Then the U.S. Supreme Court has the option of taking it or not.

[00:33:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And if they take it, they could set the standard for the entire nation.

[00:33:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Several states changed their rules in 2020 to allow for late ballots

[00:33:13] [SPEAKER_01]: and in some cases they don't even need a postmark which is just nuts.

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_01]: That's just nuts.

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_01]: As long as they arrived within an allotted timeframe, they count.

[00:33:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Those rules remain in effect in numerous states ahead of the 2024 election.

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Nevada, for example, accepted mail-in ballots up to four days after election day in 2020

[00:33:36] [SPEAKER_01]: so long as they were postmarked by election day.

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_01]: The temporary statute was later codified into law.

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_01]: The RNC filed a lawsuit there arguing that accepting mail-in ballots four days after election day is unconstitutional.

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_01]: But a U.S. District Court judge dismissed that lawsuit on standing,

[00:33:56] [SPEAKER_01]: saying that the RNC did not prove that the extended deadline created a disadvantage for them.

[00:34:04] [SPEAKER_01]: The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania also recently ruled that state law, quote,

[00:34:11] [SPEAKER_01]: requiring election officials to reject improperly dated or undated mail-in ballots is unconstitutional.

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_01]: That also is nuts.

[00:34:23] [SPEAKER_01]: You have a law that says if the ballot is improperly dated or not dated,

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_01]: then you don't count it.

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And you get a state court in Pennsylvania, can only guess which party that was.

[00:34:40] [SPEAKER_01]: A lawyer with a wardrobe change says that's not constitutional.

[00:34:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Like what are you even doing here?

[00:34:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I know it's not running a clean election. What are you even doing?

[00:35:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.