Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20161108

One closely watched race is colorados citizeninitiated amendment 69, which would finance universal health care , other states are set to vote on marijuana legalization, guns, Public Education, taxes, and the Death Penalty. Then to the Battle Ground state of ohio, where Investigative Reporter greg palast. Today on election day, they are not going to use white sheets to keep away black voters. Today, they are using amy Media Coverage for who will be president that is, who will win the Electoral College. We will speak with rob richie, director of fairvote, who wants to establish a National Popular vote so all states count. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Today is election day. And across the United States voters are preparing to go to , the polls to cast thr president , senator, governor, a attorneys general, and a slew of other elected officials. On monday, both Hillary Clinton and donald trump finished off their final day of campaigning. Trump held rallies in sarasota, florida, north carolina, pennsylvania, New Hampshire. Finally, in grand rapids, michigan, where he raised against the outsourcing of u. S. Factories. Mr. Trump america has lost listen to this. 0,000 factories since china entered the world trade organization, another bill and hillarybacked disaster. We are living through the greatest jobs that in the history of the world. There is never been anything like this. Our jobs are being stolen like candy from a baby. Not going to happen anymore, folks. There are going to be consequences. Amy Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, held two rallies in pennsylvania , a huge rally in philadelphia of about 20,000 people, another in could spark as well as rallies in allendale, michigan, and in raleigh, north carolina, where she drew a contrast between herself and donald trump. Mrs. Clinton it is a choice between division or unity, between strong, steady leadership or a loose cannon who could risk everything. It is a choice between an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. And it is a choice that really goes to the heart of who we are as americans. What i saw before i came in and what i see now is a sense of potential, of joy. There is no reason, my friends, why americas best days are not are together. We amy that is Hillary Clinton in raleigh, north carolina. As voters head to the polls, clinton has already won a tiny hamlet in New Hampshire dixville notch, where the voting station opened at midnight and closed a half hour later when all eight votes were cast 4 for Hillary Clinton, 2 for donald trump, 1 for gary johnson, and a writein vote for mitt romney. The Democratic Party is also hoping to regain control of the senate today where one third of all senators are up for reelection. Republicans currently hold control of the senate with 54 seats to the democrats 46. Across the country, there are a number of tight senate races, including in New Hampshire, where Maggie Hassan is challenging republican incumbent kelly ayotte. In pennsylvania, were democrat Katie Mcginty is challenging republican incumbent pat toomey. And in wisconsin, were democrat Russ Feingold is challenging republican incumbent ron johnson. It is also possible come although unlikely, democrats could regain control of the republicanled house. There are also a number of progressive candidates running with the support of Bernie Sanders organization our revolution, including teachout, who is running for congressional seat. Another running for north dakotas atlarge congressional district, and one running for washington seventh congressional district. Tune in tonight for a special fivehour election day broadcast starting at 7 00 p. M. Eastern here on democracynow. Org and on many of your stations across the country. In more election news green nominee dr. Idential jill stein has filed a complaint with the federal donald Trump Election Commission in washington, d. C. , against and Hillary Clinton for illegal coordination with their super pacs. The socalled dark money groups are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of funds for candidates, but they are not allowed to coordinate directly with the campaigns. In the complaint, jill stein argues both clinton and trump had illegally coordinator with a handful of their super pacs. Hillary clintons Vice President ial running mate, tim kaine, hasnt he supports the possible rerouting of the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock sioux tribe in north dakota over 200s members of indigenous tribes across the americas as well as many nonnative allies. Last week, president obama said the army corps was considering plans to reroute the pipeline. It has already been rerouted at least once, a way from bismarck, amidst objection from the air is mostly white residents over the possibility of water contamination. This is senator tim kaine in an interview with fusion. Standing rock protest. Senator sanders has said it must be stopped. Do agree or disagree . Serving, the questions that are raised about the route are important. President obama, a month or so back, mightve been sixweeks ago said, we need to do a set of consultations between u. S. Government and the sovereign trouble governments tribal governments about projects like this. Or recently, he said we ought to be able find a route that solves some of these questions. Im optimistic about that, too. I know the administration is working very hard. Supportive of rerouting it . They have already rerouted it once. It was routed to be true bismarck and that route was changed. If it is changed once, if it is important in project, youre to be able to find a route that works. What the Obama Administration is doing by saying, lets look at route alternatives, i think is the right thing to do. A dakota proposal to reroute the dakota pipeline comes as the billion dollar project spearheaded by dallasbased Energy Transfer partners is facing increasing pressure from the banks finding its construction will stop on sunday, the Norwegian Bank dnb announced it is considering withdrawing its funding amidst concerns about Human Rights Violations against the Standing Rock sioux tribe in north dakota. Dnb, which is norways largest bank, is responsible for financing up to 10 of pipeline. This comes as citigroup told the New York Times it has raised concerns about the project, although it has not yet said whether it will withdraw its funding. Citigroup is playing a major e loan agent. Lindsey allen of the Rainforest Action Network said citibanks leading role in financing the pipeline makes it complicit in gross violations of indigenous and human rights. In iraq, the u. S. Backed iraqi forces and government militias are continuing the campaign to retake the city of mosul from isis. The Iraqi Military says it discovered a mass grave with as many as 100 decapitated bodies during its advance into the town of hamam alalil to the south of mosul. This comes as residents of alqayyarah, a town about 40 miles south of mosul, report being sickened by the poisonous smoke from continuously burning oil well fires. The Iraqi Military says isis militants lit the oil wells on fire in august while retreating from the town. The fires continue to burn three months later. In brazil, the landless workers movement, known as the mst, is facing increasing repression, including the detention of at least can organizers. On november 4, state police raided msts national school, sao paulo, firing live ammunition and detaining two mst members, including a 64yearold librarian whose rib was fractured during the raid. Police also recently raided another mst camp in parana and detained eight organizers. Joaquin pinero of mst says the repression against the movement has worsened under Michel Temers new government, following the impeachment and ouster of elected president dilma rousseff. All of this is happening in the context of persecution. We are struggling against the coup and for democracy in our country. Today, there is a process of repression against mst. Amy in india, the environmental minister has called for an emergency meeting as the capital new delhi is engulfed in thick hazardous smog. Its the worst air pollution new delhi has seen in 20 years. This is environmentalist vimlendu jha. Where polluted ourselves to where the air is completely toxic. It is beyond measurable limits. It has crossed all limits of human imagination, of the imagination but are machines that were supposed to really talk you late how polluted our air is. Amy in yemen, more than half of all of the health is a levys facilities have either closed or are only partially functioning amid the ongoing conflict. The new report by the World Health Organization also found 40 of the surveyed districts in yemen had only two doctors, if not fewer. Dozens of historians are chris the design are criticizing volkswagen for trying to cover up the dark pages of its history in nazi germany, following the announcement volkswagens longtime historian Manfred Grieger was leaving the company. Grieger has led volkswagens efforts to research and reveal the companys actions during world war ii, when volkswagen forced concentration camps prisoners to work in the auto factories. Volkswagen has denied grieger was dismissed. This comes as volkswagen has announced another historian, christopher kopper, has been commissioned to research the companys actions in brazil during the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, following a lawsuit alleging 12 volkswagen workers critical of the dictatorship were tortured in a vw factory near sao paulo. In the philippines, the Supreme Court has ruled 9 to 5 that former dictator Ferdinand Marcos will receive a heros burial, despite a threedecade struggle to stop the dictators remains from being reburied in manilas heroes cemetery. This is neri colmenares, who survived the period of marcos rule under martial law from 1972 to 1981. It is really disheartening that today, history has changed. Istory has lost its meaning it is confusing and frustrating that after 70 decisions against marcos, the Supreme Court turned itself around. Motion ofe a reconsideration. Amy in rochester, new york, people have begun covering Susan B Anthony tombstone with i voted stickers to commemorate the 110th anniversary of her death in march 1906. 14 years before women won the right to vote. The New York Cemetery has extended its hours until 9 00 p. M. Tonight to give more people time to visit her gravesite. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As the United States goes to the polls today, we begin with a look at some of the most important decisions voters will make. It is not president , governor, senate or congressional races, but more than 160 Ballot Initiatives are only valid in 35 states more than any election in the last decade. Marijuana legalization is on the ballot in nine states. Other initiatives include reforms around guns, Public Education, the minimum wage, the Death Penalty, taxes, samesex marriage, and one closely watched race is colorados amendment 69, a citizeninitiated constitutional amendment, which, if passed, would finance universal health care there. Former democratic president ial nominee Bernie Sanders spoke in support of the measure last month at a rally in boulder. Mr. Sanders colorado can send a shot that will be heard all over this country and all over the world. Because if you can pass coloradocare, then i guarantee you states all over this country will be following in your footsteps. Amy in an editorial last month, the denver post Editorial Board suggested voters should reject the measure. This is denver post Editorial Page Editor chuck plunkett. We are concerned about the taxes that would be assessed the new taxes that would be assessed. The best way to understand it, remember the number 10. Think of any kind of income you might possibly get, 10 will go to colorado cares. Your payroll tax, if you are retired, your Social Security pensions, your ira money that kind of income, once you get past 24,000 year, it is assessed 10 tax. Again, thatup study by the Colorado Health institute, which is an independent organization suggests they will dramatically, then the taxes will chase after them. Amy supporters of coloradocare say the system could operate in the black for at least nine years. More than any other issue, however, Ballot Initiatives that address income inequality and economic insecurity are at the heart of many of this years measures. Maine, colorado, arizona, washington all will vote on minimum wage increases. South dakota will vote on protections against predatory lenders. And in the countrys most expensive Ballot Initiative fight, big pharma has poured nearly 100 million into californias proposition 61, which would prevent price gouging for prescription drugs. For more, we are joined by two guests. Justine sarver is executive director of the Ballot Initiative strategy center. Joining us from washington, d. C. , Sarah Anderson director of , the Global Economy project at the institute for policy studies. Her article for truthout is headlined seventeen ballot , initiatives to watch if you care about inequality. Welcome to democracy now lets go to justine and jackson, mississippi, first. Talk about Ballot Initiatives. There are more than 160 on the ballot across the country. Where do they come from, who is behind them . It is great to be with you again. Thank you for having me. So the thing i love about Ballot Initiatives is just underneath what has been a sometimes absurd dialogue at the president ial level, we have issues on the ballot that voters really care about. And this year, we are seeing more citizen initiatives then we have in 10 years. As you mentioned, Economic Security is a big deal this year. So the minimum wage measures, two of them also have earned sick leave in arizona and washington state. These are issues that people are concerned about every day. Unfortunately, some of the thees have been lost in debate this year, but voters get to go to the ballot and vote for a raise, vote for earned sick leave, and also in a number of states, has revenue increases that will protect and increase funding for Public Education and other critical services. Anderson, we began by talking about the initiative in , thatdo, coloradocares deals with single payer care. Can you talk about what this rattle is about and who is funding both sides . Ofi think this is an example many Ballot Initiatives this building on really Bernie Sanders efforts to put inequality at the center of the political debate. You have the one in colorado on Public Health care, but ernie has also been very involved in prop 61 in california about drug price gouging. He has been rallying folks there in the same way and has also been saying that if it could cast their, much the same way as the colorado one, it could really spark a national movement. In the colorado one, that is the most expensive Ballot Initiative fight in the country. Big pharma has poured in 109 million into blocking that. The latest holes show it is tied. Of thesehe dust both will be bellwethers and how people see these issues, as justin says, hit close to home. Amy your cigna must extensive one is in california for the Drug Companies have put in over 100 million. What about these issues a minimum wage . What justinen to mentioned about how there are four state Ballot Initiative that would ways raise the minimum wage, i would lift up the one in maine, which is very important because it would also phase out the sub minimum wage for restaurant workers and other tipped workers have not gotten a federal minimum wage increase in 25 years. It is an example of people not wanting to wait around for washington to act. They are using this tool for direct democracy to take action into their own hands. Amy lets look at arizona, one of the four states with Ballot Initiatives to raise minimum wage. This is Maricopa County supervisor Steve Gallardo who is in favor of the measure, followed by glenn hamer, president and ceo of the Arizona Chamber of commerce and industry, who is against it. The two debated the issue on arizona pbs. It has been 10 years as the voters have had an opportunity to raise minimum wage. Now it is time. Many families are struggling to make ins meet. Theyre working two jobs just to put food on the table. This modest increase to 10 this january and going up to 12 by 2020 is good. It is good for working families, the economy, good for arizona. It is time pressed to address it. The minimum wage does go up every year. That was part of the Ballot Initiative that passed about 10 years ago. We are at 8. 05, considerably higher than the federal level. The reason we oppose this is i is going to cost jobs and a lot of jobs for those of the entrylevel portion of their career, number one. Two, this will hurt a lot of businesses, particularly rural arizona. Amy s their anderson, you deal with is a great deal. Your response . Economic policy institute and others have done Good Research showing when you raise the minimum wage, it increases domestic spending, is good for the overall economy. I would just remind folks that thats in the last election four red states voted for minimum wage increases. I think that is something that really empowered the whole fight for 15 movement to show the broad appeal across the political spectrum for paying a living wage. Amy what is interesting on these minimum wage initiatives, in the past, is that republicans, like democrats, red states and blue states, have all supported these increases. Is that right . That is correct. This is not a partisan issue necessarily. I think people see it as a way to get people out to the polls. As justine said, these are issues that really affect peoples daily lives. They can vote to give people a raise today. That is much more concrete than a lot of issues being discussed at the national level. Amy we have discussed, Justine Sarver, the issue of drug legalization, of marijuana legalization. Very much on the ballot in a number of states. Could increase the states where people who are using marijuana, what, 5 now it is legal in the United States . Could increase to 25 . Well, what is interesting here, i think, is, you know, obviously, marijuana advocates in 2012 set their sights on this election. Ninee seeing that with measures on the ballot across the country, either for medical or recreational legalization. What we care about in the future of this debate is, you know, the criminal Justice Reform aspect, labor peace, and really who is involved in these new economies that are being created. Ads for ando to against polls in california show strong support for prop 64. The adult use of marijuana act. This is an ad made by yes on 64. Prop 64 next marijuana legal in california for adult 21 and over. Heres what else it does. It bans marijuana use in public, permits sales only at license marijuana businesses, not a grocery or convenience stores. And crop 64 generates 1 billion in new tech revenue to fund afterschool programs and job training and placement initiatives. Learn more at yeson64. Org. Amy and this is an ad made by no on prop 64. Proposition 64 will allow marijuana smokers in prime time and o. Hildren can be exposed the same products blamed for a spike in emergency room visits in colorado. But how is doubled in marijuana related car crashes after legalization and washington state. Yet in california, proposition 64 is not even close a dui standard. Prop 64. They got it wrong again. Amy Justine Sarver, talked about where these initiatives are. Those ads from california, prop 64. Well, i think were going to have to wait to see what happens on these initiatives across the country and wake up tomorrow morning and have sort of a better sense of how things shake out. But it definitely is sparking a debate across the country about how the future of marijuana and where things will head federally. Important think is get back to is Economic Security issues that have been just under the radar of this president ial election. These minimum wage ballot measures, revenue, and we are looking at a plan for Building Momentum office of these issues, continuing the economic dialogue into 2018 and 2020, engaging voters again and again and again on issues that matter to them. Amy lets go right now to Bernie Sanders on the issue of Ballot Initiatives when he launched our revolution in august, he stressed the importance of mobilizing around significant Ballot Initiatives. Mr. Sanders we can shape governmental policy by supporting major Ballot Initiatives taking place on states throughout the United States. Not every state has a statewide Ballot Initiative. We dont here in vermont. But many states do. There are about 125 statewide Ballot Initiatives coming up in november. As i understand it, our revolution will be focusing on seven key initiatives, which are of enormous importance to the particular states involved, but also significant for the entire country. In my view, there is nothing more important that we can do as progressives than overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Amy Sarah Anderson, what other Ballot Initiatives are you looking at and the more than 160 there are around the country . Thank you for asking. We have identified 17 Ballot Initiatives related to inequality that we will be tracking on our website inequality. Org. Some of the other key once look at predatory lending. South dakota has two talent initiatives. One that is genuinely in support of protecting consumers from payday lenders. The other one is funded by the payday industry and is written in a very misleading way. I know activists are working hard to cut through the miscommunication on that one. Other measures to increase taxes on wealthy and the corporations. Oregon has one to increase corporate taxes. That is a state that has a very, very low tax rate for corporations. California is voting to extend their top tax rate on individuals, which is the highest in the country. Hopefully, as the californians are looking at the polls oil full voice novel ballots or they wont miss that one for the projects the one on pharmaceuticals. I would like to add that Bernie Sanders involvement in this, coming from an inequality perspective, is interesting to me because of you look at the history, it was back during the gilded age when progressive reformers first started working to have these citizenled petitions to circumvent the power of economic elites. Here we are in 2016, when levels of income are about on par with extreme levels that they were at during the gilded age, that people are turning to these tools to try to narrow our economic divide. It will be fascinating to see how they turn out tonight. Amy Justine Sarver, the issue of the Death Penalty actually, two competing ballot in california, is that right . Yes. What we need to know about the Death Penalty is that it is a 40 year low in terms of support in this country. So no matter what happens tonight, this is this election is a blip on the long steady decline of interest by americans in capital punishment. Amy in california, a Ballot Initiative would speed up the Death Penalty in another one that would abolish it. Is that right . That is correct. Amy i want to thank you both. We will certainly be looking at this. We are doing a five hour special beginning at 7 00 eastern time until midnight, or as long as it takes, to cover all of the issues around the country. I want to thank Justine Sarver Ballot Initiative strategy to us frompeaking jackson, mississippi. And Sarah Anderson the global , economy project at the institute for policy studies. A correction in the headlines on the was congressional races today, the Zephyr Teachout is running for new york 19th congressional district, not the night district. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the world peace report. When we come back, we go to the battleground state of ohio with investigative journalist greg palast. Stay with us. [music break] amy please come to chicago rewritten to the please come to ohio. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As the United States goes to the polls, we turn now to on the Ground Report from the battleground state of ohio. Rolling stone Investigative Reporter greg palast has uncovered the latest in vote suppression tactics that could threaten the integrity of the vote in ohio and north carolina. It is ohio that decides who is going to be the president and who controls the senate of the United States. There are those on both sides you say the vote cant be hacked. Investigators are confident russia is behind several recent Cyber Attacks to influence the u. S. Elections. In ohio in 2004, the mismatch of exit polls and machine count that put george w. Bush back in the white house raised questions of the integrity of ohios Voting Machines. They had no paper ballots to allow an audit of the vote. Today, many new Voting Machines in ohio have a builtin safety feature. Machines now can actually take a ballot image in the sequence of every single one cast to eliminate fraud december s summit he tempers with a paper ballot. Quite there is a problem. Somebody decided to turn off the security. He just discovered the photo image and auto protection functions have literally been shut off. So they bought stateoftheart equipment and turned off the security. Courts we followed him into state court in columbus. He is second order republican secretary of state to turn on all of the voter protections on the machines. We were not allowed to film, but republican officials argued it would require a massive effort to turn on the protection applications. It is a dropdown box. Just like on your computer. Do you want ballot images of every ballot cast . You would think, yes. Same thing for the autoblog audit log. The judge disagreed. You ruled republican officials could leave the machines are protected. On sunday, i was at the freedom faith missionary baptist church. They are building their spirits to prepare to join other black churches from all over ohio four souls to the polls sunday voting. So they went to the one voting station for all of dayton and waited in line to vote. And waited. Waitedted and waited and. 70 of the states africanamericans vote early. The line snaked into the parking lot. At a friend who text means that she was going home because she could not stand in the long lines. Why . Because john houston said all counties can have only one single voting station on souls to the polls day. Do think it is deliberate to make it harder for the day for africanamerican voters . Yeah, and other minorities, yes, i do. He wanted to end the sunday voting entirely, but he was blocked by local officials. This is former montgomery elections board member david lieberman. We had voted, both republicans and democratss, for long hours on weekends so that people like this could come and vote. After we did that, we were told by the secretary of state that if we did not change our vote, that he would fire us. What happened . I got fired. He wanted to eliminate early voting . Yes. We uncovered a bigger threat than long lines or compromised machines. It comes out of the gops and Donald Trumps claims of voter fraud. Mr. Trump you have people, in my opinion, that are voting many, many times. Reflecting trumps claim of multiple voting democrats, gop controlled states have purged nearly one million voters accused of voting or registering in two states. Ohios public republican secretary of state has a secret list of a whopping 497,000 double voting suspects. We got our hands on this confidential list, including such would be criminal voters as Donald Alexander webster, junior, who supposedly voted a second time in virginia as Donald Eugene webster, senior. We met with the would be double voter. Webster that is not my middle name. Eugene is not your middle name . Do you ever use the name eugene . No. Do you know it is a crime if you vote more than once . Of course. It never occurred to me to do that. What is two votes going to do when you have thousands and thousands and thousands . You got to have a bunch of people doing that. Are you part of a larger conspiracy . Know, i am not, sir. Nearly julian voters on the list called crosscheck have middle names i do not match, like this one, maria hernandez. It is supposed to be the same as you christina hernandez. Names on the list . Hernandez post of ouron experts have calculated only one in six voters of color are on the republican black list. We asked an attorney why ohios republicans would use this crosscheck scheme. He knows what he is doing is illegal. What he is doing is counting on bigotry to get away with it. He is picking first and last names only because he does not want to actually match people by using the middle name. He wants to purge blacks and hispanics, and he is trying to make ohio winnable. The only way he knows how, by stealing american citizens votes. In north carolina, we spoke to the man who brought crosscheck to the south of the voter integrity project. These are the states when confronted of the racial bias, he chuckled. You would think jim crow rose from the dead. It is a brandnew jim crow. Today, on election day him and they are not going to use white sheets to keep away black voters full stop today, theyre using spreadsheets. From ohio, this is greg palast reporting for democracy now amy greg palast joins us now from columbus, ohio. Greg him a thank you so much for that report. Rolling stone Investigative Reporter. Explain further this crosscheck whenand what happens people come up against it. Do they know they are coming up against it . They dont. It is really devious. Remember, the list are secret. You can tell from my hat that i am an Investigative Reporter, so i got a hold of their secret lists, amy. Her 7. 2 million americans suspected of voting twice. About one lien from the information we received from virginia, about one million will find their names missing today when they go to vote. They will be given provisional ballots, which if theyre missing from the voter rolls, fair or not, they lose their vote. About one in seven of the 7 million are going to be without a vote today. 30 republican states the concentrated in ohio and in north carolina, this could flip the senate. A very good chance this alone could flip the senate. Amy explain donald websters story. Did that happen this year . Him actuallylmed for my movie, and his name is Donald Alexander webster, jr. Blacklist,o the gop he is supposedly registered a second time to vote as donald , sr. E webster. Names 2 me in million names are mismatched. They say they use Social Security number to match people and say these are double voters, but those Social Security numbers are actually not used an absolutely missing. Because we got the list that we found out that there were moving literally one Million People without any evidence and without they are not notifying people you are accused of voting twice, theyre just going,poof, youre gone. You are a problem. This is one of the biggest this is the biggest purge game ive seen since florida knocked off the fake felons, which i discovered back in 2000, closing black man of being criminals who can vote, but their only crime is voting while black. At least they knew they were being falsely but useful stuff in this case, youre simply vanished. Amy you can insist on a provisional ballot. Under those get counted . If youre not only voter rolls, amy, you cannot get counted. They only checked to see if your name is somehow in the central machine. Even if they say, oh yeah, youre not a double voter, you committed a crime, you dont get your vote back. You know it is suspect because if one Million People really committed the crime of voting twice, you would arrest them. You go to joe for five years. They are not arresting people because they know the list is phony. You can see it, but we had to get it out the back door because they kept it tightly under wraps. They do not want you to know who they are accusing but i will tell you, it is one in six voters of color in those 30 republican states. Ne in six voters of color americans. Amy it is all how secretary of state husted who was responding to Donald Trumps charge of a rigged election who said it is not. So your response to trump and husted insisting the election is not rigged . It is rigged and they should know because it is their buddies who are rigging it. That is one of the problems. The white supremacist secretary of state of kansas is the one who received all of the list and put them together. He secretly sent them out and there kept under wraps. It then becomes a hit list of voters of color once again. In the case of donald webster, both of them, we dont let people go on camera and become our guinea pigs. We save their votes. All you have to do is contact have some contact with your secretary of States Office to get your vote back. Most of those people will get their votes back, but one million, as of today on this important day, will not. Amy finally, in the media, the only real discussions are hacking of hacking are hacking of email, not hacking of Voting Machines. The beginning of your piece talked about that and the security that has turned out turned off. Explain that further. People complained of Voting Machines dont have an audit trail. In fact, many of the new machines in ohio and elsewhere actually have this function and in ohio, they deliberately turned off the audit function and turned off the function that takes a picture of everyone of your marks on your ballot and times it so you can see if anyone has played games with those ballots. They have turned off the security features and the reports say, well, they have not stole the election yet. If it is stolen, then you can complain. You cant go back in time and turn on the security features. You have to wonder, amy, wind the world would you take off this valuable security feature am especially when the big bad russians are supposed to hack our machines . Maybe it is not the russians who are hacking our machines. Amy greg palast, thanks for being with us, Rolling Stone Investigative Reporter. His new film the best democracy , money can buy a tale of billionaires ballot bandits is Available Online at gregpalast. Com. At no charge today only. We will link to your piece in Rolling Stone. When we come back, the path to 270. That is what all of the networks are talking about. Theyre talking about the Electoral College. We will speak with a group that wants to see the abolition of the Electoral College. Stay with us. [music break] amy words originally by woody guthrie. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Today is election day here in the United States. The path to 270 is the watchword for Media Coverage of who will win the Electoral College, which raises the question, will everyones vote count equally in determining the next president of the United States . 12 states will elect. Amy that was republican Governor Scott walker of wisconsin saying the nation as a whole is not going to elect the next president 12 states are. According to the hill, the 2016 election will come down to the same 11 states that decided the most recent president ial contests. Meanwhile, twothirds of the generalelection Campaign Events in the 2016 president ial race were held in just six states. Well, we turn now to the campaign for Electoral Reform. On monday, new York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that recommits new york to the National Popular vote compact past its 2018 expiration date. Under the compact, states across the country have pledged to award their electoral votes to the president ial candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote. If enough states sign on, it would guarantee the presidency goes to the candidate who wins the most votes across the country. It would prevent scenarios like what happened in 2000 when al gore won the popular vote but still lost the election to george w. Bush. In 2014, republican new york state senator Joseph Griffo spoke about why he cosponsored the bill. Potential president ial candidates concentrate more than two thirds of their advertising budget and two thirds of their Campaign Stops in just five states. Almost 100 of their message is seen in a proximally 16 ballot ground states. New york has 19. 5 Million People, but we are routinely ignored by campaigns. I want to empower people. I want to make new york state relevant the National Campaign again. I want democracy that creates excitement of people, not apathy. Joining the National Vote compact would combine the states to say no longer can you take us for granted. No longer can you effectively disenfranchise millions of americans by ignoring us. No longer can you assume that you have our vote. Amy the compact could transform the way we elect the president of the United States, guaranteeing the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire United States. Currently, 11 states have joined the compact through legislation, making up 165 of the required 270 electoral votes for the compact to go into effect. Meanwhile, other Electoral Reform efforts are underway. Today, voters in maine will consider an initiative that would allow them to rank their favorite candidates in future elections. This is part of an ad released by the committee for ranked choice voting, which is urging people to vote yes on question 5. Politicians can get elected with less than 40 of the vote. There is asked he something we can do right now that would help make rings better. Rank choice voting. Big issue the power to rank as many or as few candidates as you like from your first choice to your second choice to your third choice and so on. If there are more than two candidates running and no candidate wins a majority when the first choices are counted, the candidate with the fewest first choice rankings is eliminated. And voters who like that candidate best now have their vote instantly counted for the candidate they ranked as their second choice. This process is repeated until one candidate reaches a majority and wins. Amy for more we go to , washington, d. C. , where were joined now by rob richie, cofounder and executive director of the Electoral Reform organization fairvote. He is coauthor of every vote equal a statebased plan for electing the president by National Popular vote. Also the coauthor of reflecting all of us the case for proportional representation. Ok, rob, explain. Thank you, amy, great to be on the program on election day, which is an exciting one for all of us. It is particularly exciting in a couple of ways. Glad you brought up the m,aine measure for ranked choice voting. I think it is wellpositioned to win today. What would mean in maine in 2018 is voters in a field where they have more than two choices could do both vote for whom they like you will also making sure their vote does the most they can to help defeat the candidate they most dislike. That is what you can do by ranking candidate in order of choice. It is been a great effort push there. A remarkable grassroots effort for the got more than half they needed in a single day in 2014. House parties and events all over the state of people seem to like it. I think thats something the whole country can move to in the coming years. Then, we have the Electoral College system. Thank you for the introduction on that one, which sort of underscores how we all should vote today but the candidates and the campaigns only really care if you do in those handful of states. One way to think about that is Hillary Clinton and tim kaine have done since the convention almost 60 of their events in three states. Were talking about such a narrow way of looking at the whole country, and it is because of the rules we have that we can change with the National Popular vote. Amy explain what those states are, even were donald trump and Hillary Clinton were yesterday from pennsylvania to michigan to florida, of course, ohio is key here as well, virginia where tim kaine i think was among the first to vote this morning before 6 00 in the morning. Yeah. Well, it is a familiar list. For anyone who is followed campaigns the last few cycles, these are the states that always matter. Most of us live in states where we should vote and there are lots of things that may matter and those states, but the president ial vote is a foregone conclusion. Clinton, her three big states were florida, pennsylvania, and north carolina. So ohio was fourth. You add in that, it is a must up herbout three quarters of Campaign Events in just those four states. She and tim kaine only did three Campaign Events outside of the 11 states that were clearly marked battlegrounds based on the 2012 election. Amy so what would happen if there were not an Electoral College . This is one thing, the national it keeps the Electoral College, it just oursforms what it does so popular vote determines the presidency. The most d. C is that you could do something about the president ial election, no matter where you live. You could knock on doors where you live. You could talk to your neighbors and feel youre part of the national election. On the night of the election, they would be adding up the votes. We might be interested in what the votes are in different states, but the real totals that matter would be the votes for the whole country when they are added up. The one with the most votes would win. That would mean the candidates would have a whole different incentive to work with allies in all states, you know, state parties would matter everywhere. We have right now these dead i where Just One Party think the red and blue america is exaggerated by the fact that in most of the country, it is not a twoparty system, it is really just a one party dominates. Amy i want to thank you, rob richie, for joining us. Rob richie, speaking to us from fairvote and washington, d. C. As we end todays broadcast, going back to, well, 16 years ago when thenpresident bill clinton called into Radio Stations in new york to get out the vote for hillary for senate in new york and and al gore for president. While he may have intended to spend about two minutes on the phone, wbai host Gonzalo Aburto and i kept him on the line for about half an hour. Amy youre calling Radio Stations to tell people to get out and vote. What do you say to people who feel the two parties are bought by corporations and that they are, at this point, feel that their vote does that make a difference . If theres not a shred of evidence, it is a forfeit. That is what i would say. It is true both parties have wealthy supporters, but let me offer let me give you the differences. Lets look at economic policy. First of all, if you look at the last eight years, look at where america was eight years ago and where it is today. We have the strongest economy in history. For the first time in 30 years, the incomes of average people and lower income working people have gone up 15 after inflation. The lowest minority unemployment ever recorded. The highest minority homeownership and Business Ownership in history. That is our record. Amy president clinton, u. N. Figures show 5000 children a month die in iraq because of the sanctions that is not true. That is not true and that is not what they show. Let me tell you something. Before the sanctions, the are before the gulf war, you said this, how much money did iraq earned from oil . Answer 16 billion. How much money did iraq earned last your from oil . How much money did they get, cash on the barrel, to Saddam Hussein . Answer 19 billion. That he can use exclusively for food, medicine to develop his country. He has got more money now than he had nine years ago. Without food or medicine or a roof over his or her head in iraq, it is a trustee is climbing the sanctions are doing it and sticking it to his own children. Amy the past two u. N. Heads of the program in iraq have quit, calling the u. S. Policy genocidal. What is your response to that . They are wrong. They think that we should reward Saddam Hussein says im going to start my kids unless you let me buy nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons. If you let me do everything i want to do so i can get in the position to kill and intimidate people, i will stop starving my kids. Were supposed to assume responsibility for his misconduct. That is not right. Amy many people say ralph nader is at a High Percentage point he is in the polls because you have been responsible for taking the Democratic Party to the right. What do you say to listeners for listening around the area right now . I am glad you asked that. This is the last question i have time for. What is the measure of taking the Democratic Party to the right . It would cut the welfare rolls in half . Poverty is at a 20 year low . Child poverty has been cut by one third in our administration . The incomes of average americans has gone up 15 after inflation . That poverty among seniors has gone below 10 for the first time in American History . That we have the lowest africanamerican, lowest latino Unemployment Rate in the history of the country . Increase in a 500 the number of minority kids taking advanced placement tests . That the schools in this country, that the test scores among since we record all of the schools have basic standards, test scores among africanamericans and other minorities have gone up steadily . Amy can i say let me finish. You started this, every question you have asked has been hostile and combative, so listen to my answer. Will you do that . Will you just listen to me . You asked the questions and im going to answer. You have asked questions in a hostile, combative, even disrespectful tone, and youve never been able to combat the facts ive given you. You listen to this. Any that was bill clinton on election day in 2000 calling into our Radio Station wbai in new york. To hear the whole interview that went on for over half an hour, you can go to democracynow. Org. That was 16 years ago on election day 2000. Tune in tonight on your local station or right here at democracynow. Org, bringing you a fivehour Election Night special from 7 00 p. M. Eastern time to midnight at least. A very happy birthday to kririn. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] ic playing hello, im hubert keller. On last weeks show, we did some amazing healthy recipes, and today i have more to come, more healthy recipes. We start with a warm arugula salad that goes beautifully with faro, a nutty, rich grain. We add to that a medley of sauteed mushrooms and some parmesan shavings, plus a drizzle of white balsamic vinaigrette. For the next recipe, its a lesson in Cooking Fresh artichokes. We will put them in an amazing salad with fennel, olives, fava beans, toasted pine nuts and citrus. To go with that, were grilling some beautiful fresh prawns. Its a show you dont want to miss, so stay with me