That has ever happened. They should have postponed it. They should have really postponed it. Youre getting people sick out here. Georges election making national headlines. Lines wrapping around buildings and calls for investigations following allegations of voter suppression. The results are still coming in, with the secretary of States Office saying it could take longer than usual because so many people chose to vote by absentee ballot to the coronavirus. Susan erin geiger smith, those are scenes from two recent primary elections in the 2020 campaign year. Are they a harbinger of what this country might expect in november, or aberrations . Ms. Smith i hope that they are not, but i think a lot of preparations need to be made, for it will be. I actually think it is so important that we have these sort of test runs, the primary, to kind of see where the kinks are, and hopefully both the local Elections Officials and at the state and federal level are watching it and seeing how to solve the problems, because it is going to be unusual no matter how you slice it. Its going to be a different election. Susan certainly the coronavirus has added complications, but theres been a lot of changes in how states vote since the last cycle. A lot of states with new voting machines, new poll workers having to learn how things work. So what remedies in this short amount of time can states actually take to ensure that november works well . Ms. Smith you know, it is just about having the manpower, and like you said, teaching the poll workers how to operate the machines and making enough time to test things out. It feels like we have a lot of time for the election, but there is really no time to spare. And because of coronavirus, we might have a lot of new poll workers, and elderly poll workers may choose not to take that service this time. So preparation really is so important and i hope we can get focused on that, getting voters focused on the new mail systems and new machine options, too. So i hope the focus can shift to really education and preparation, away from kind of controversy and the way it has become. Susan you have been thinking a lot you have a new book out called thank you for voting. Tell me about the project. Ms. Smith so, the overall goal of the project is just to increase voter turnout by educating voters, inspiring them both through the good and bad of our history, and helping people to understand how they can expand the power of their own vote by getting others to join them. So, it both gives you sort of stepbystep directions in the back, a checklist of things you need to do, but also goes through how different groups got the right to vote. Women with the 100 year suffrage anniversary coming up, africanamericans, native americans. And a look at current suppression issues and how we can make voting more convenient. That i moved to looking forward, the present looking into 2020 of people who are ready out there doing the work to get out the vote, and innovative pieces of uses of social media that were used in 2018 that made a big impact. I talk to people who are getting out first time, younger voters, taking a look at what businesses are doing to participate and foster voter participation. And then i also have explainer chapters of voting topics i think even the most educated voters can have trouble with. Honestly, i learned so much writing this chapter. So those chapters are gerrymandering, the Electoral College, and the evervexing polling. If you have a question about a voting process, i hope it is in there. And it helps you just feel excited and empowered when you go to the polls. Susan the book also comes in a Young Persons edition. What is that all about . Ms. Smith you know, as we were writing i say we as i was writing the adult book, harpercollins just thought there was an opportunity to to transfer it into a younger edition. Its all the same ideas but hoping that Young Readers will get excited early and participate in the way that they can, and think about voting and what it means in the country. That one just has some more fun facts and anecdotes from some of the voting experts in the book, kind of how they got their current stage. But what i learned doing this reporting was that if you are not taught to vote when you are younger, if you do not go with your parents, or you are not a member of a church who promotes voting, or all the different ways people learn about voting, you really may not understand the importance when you turn 18, or in your early 20s. And it can be intimidating. Young people do not love doing things they have never done before and do not feel comfortable doing. So i really feel like our responsibility around voting needs to include much more making young people understand the mechanics, that you have to register. There are many steps you have to take, and so often we tell people go vote, go vote, go vote, but we do not mention, well, do you need a specific id for your state. Just all the specifics i think we all, the media, educators, parents, can all do a better job in preparing our young people, because the voter turnout among young people is just really low. And you know, we want people to vote and become lifelong voters. So i hope that can be part of the attention of this book, is really educating younger people. Because they are passionate about many things. It is not apathy, it is just not reaching the right person to instruct on the right mechanics at the right time. And i think that is something we can improve on. Susan what led you to voting as a subject matter . Ms. Smith sort of two strings that had to come together. The first was after 2016, just as a reporter. I can say i am not a political reporter. I was a legal reporter for a long time, and also write features about entrepreneurs and different trends. So politics, specifically, was not ever a strong desire of mine to cover, although i am certainly a news junkie and follow it religiously. But after 2016, there were so many questions about the basics. The Electoral College and the popular vote not matching up for only the second time in modern history. I wanted to know more about that, because there was so much confusion over polling. I really wanted to understand that better. And then just no matter how i thought about it, what it comes down to is each person showing up and making a call. So, i just became interested in the whole subject and was trying to figure out how to work my way into it in a way that i wanted to contribute, i guess. And then, i was scrolling instagram one afternoon, as we are all want to do, or at least i am, and actress Reese Witherspoon was interviewing an author, and she told reese she was writing a book about women and voting. And i just thought, that is it. That is the exact sort of project that i would be interested in. Something that is a deep dive. And although i did not know anne, i had written a lot of stories on books and the business of books for the wall street journal. I emailed her publicist. If she needs a researcher and someone to look into doing background interviews, let her know i would love to help. Anne got back to me and she was interested in my take, and of course she is a wonderful author, so just getting to work near her brain was exciting for me. So i started it as a Research Project for her. And continued i would choose a topic a month, but it was supposed to be a side project. Really, 20 , if that, of work. I was continuing to write articles. But i let it take over. I was obsessed. I spent so much time digging into whatever was that months topic, whether it was africanamericans and voting, native americans and voting. At one point anne just said i think you are spending too much time on this. This is a lot of work. But as it turned out, anne wanted more time on the novel she was working on, and at that point i had been deep into it for almost a year. And she just called me one day and said, erin, i think the timing is not going to work for me to do this, and i think it is your project and you should take it and run with it. And can you do it and will you do it . And in the moment, even though i was not thinking of it as my book at all, i was like, i will do it. I was so excited about the prospect of sharing all this information, honestly, that yes, lets go. And now nearly 1. 5 years later, here we are. It came about in an unusual way for a book, for sure. But when anne asked if i could take it over, i had to quickly decide on an outline and all the sources. Until then i had just been researching, so i had to immediately dive in and start reporting, because my version was going to be more reported than annes probably would have been. Susan so you are a firsttime author and we are talking to you on your official publication date. For a firsttime author, what is official publication day feel like . Ms. Smith you know, it feels to me like almost another day in quarantine, i have to say. It is very exciting. I walked down to my local bookstore and saw they had the full window display, that was very exciting. Im just i adore bookstores, so that might have been the highlight moment. Its just an interesting time. I talk to other authors who have books coming out right now and we are all just doing what we can do to get the word out. And then you know, we world events help you keep very much your own troubles and concerns in perspective. At this point i am just excited that it is out in the world. And excited to talk to you and some others, and im going to drop it off personally at a few friends houses for a roving book party. So thats my day. Susan i think everyone watching understands, just another day in quarantine. You wrote in the book that selfisolation increased your passion around the subject for people to vote. Why . Ms. Smith i think the coronavirus in general, we saw the power that our local officials have, the power and importance, and that they have to make decisions that really impact all of us. And in the worst of times, as the coronavirus certainly felt here in new york city, they are making life and death choices. And so, especially during president ial election years, we have so much focus on the top of the ticket, but we all need to vote all the way down. It certainly matters to who are city councilmembers are, and it matters very much you are mayor is. And that was throughout the writing of the book, i really wanted to focus on how much your vote matters for offices, of course for the president , but on down. And i really think that coronavirus really drove that home. And then of course vote by mail has of course become a huge topic. And as i was writing the book, its something they were doing for a matter of convenience and have allmale voting have higher turnouts in other states. There are a lot of factors, but it seems like it is a good, positive thing states are doing and there is a Movement Towards adopting it more. Of course when coronavirus happened to became a massive focus as we prepare to do it on a much larger scale. Susan your own story begins in liberty, texas. Tell me about liberty. Ms. Smith liberty is a town a little under 10,000 now but it was around 6000 growing up. It is geographically between houston and beaumont in southeast texas. It is a town with a town square. We have your quintessential courthouse. But it is a town that is very racially diverse, and has its monetary struggles, for sure. It was a special and interesting place to grow up. But as i mentioned in the book, its very different politically from where i live now. So, liberty votes its a very republican part of the state, as much of Rural America is. Obviously where i live now is very democratic. So i was happy that i have both of those perspectives and i am still very close to both of those places as i write this book. Susan give me the quick story of your path from smalltown liberty, texas to new york city by way of law school and journalism. What was that path like . Ms. Smith i grew up in liberty. My entire life until i was in college. I went to the university of texas at austin. And i was a journalism major there. So journalism is not totally out of the blue after being an attorney. Then i lived in your city for one year after undergrad and just kind of, you know, if you fall in love with the city, you fall in love. Its hard to ever turn back, or it was for me. I then returned to texas for law school, again the university of texas. And i was a practical at houston, austin, at a big commercial Litigation Firm for about four years before i just could not get the idea of being part of the news out of my mind. But i knew i needed to learn to not write like a lawyer, to be honest. So i went to columbia for a year for their masters program. So that was my quick, quick or not quick trip. But i enjoyed practicing law. I wasnt one of those lawyers that hated it, but the parts i enjoyed most was researching. So it was a good transition to journalism. Susan you described as being in love when they are city. Are you still in love with it after the experience of coronavirus . Ms. Smith yes. It has certainly made its difficulties known to all of us who live in small apartments. And i have a very active sixyearold, and we did leave the city after several weeks of being fully locked down. Obviously back now. But yeah, i want to see the city come roaring back and i want to be a part of it. Even when it was hard. Certainly cannot give up on it, i dont think. You know, you picture the parts of the city you love and when it was shut down and quiet, thats just so hard to even really contemplate. But honestly, the city feels back in swing now. I think spring did it well. Nice weather makes things better. So i am. Im still in love, what can i say. Susan i want to dig into some of the history you telling your book about enfranchisement. Before we start in the specific areas of history that you tell, america was founded around ideals enshrined in the constitution. With that in mind, why did it take this country nearly two centuries for all adults to be enfranchised . Ms. Smith you know, its the old story of people with the power being afraid of giving it up. What i learned as i studied specifically the timeline of voting, was the idea of everybody being able to vote was always there from the start. And then every time it was expanded, there were people who were pushing for it to be expanded a little more. So when the 15th amendment, which allowed black men to vote, when that was debated, there were discussions to put in there prohibitions on discriminating on the basis of education, or language, or things like that. And they did not make it in, and so we have another decades and decades of things like poll taxes and literacy tests. So, the ideal was always there. Our thought of everyone gets to vote that we are also proud of has existed throughout our history, but it has taken a long time to fully grant those rights, or admit that citizens of the country have already had those rights, which i think is a better way to look at it. It just took the country a really long time to get there. Susan you start out by telling us a little more about the history of the africanamerican vote. I want to start this part of our conversation with a recent clip from Atlanta Mayor that went viral after she spoke it on may 29, 2020. Lets watch. You burn down the city, you are burning down our community. If you want change in america, go and register to vote. Show up at the polls on june 9. Do it in november. That is the change we need in this country. Susan what is the recent history of africanamerican turnout in american elections . Ms. Smith africanamerican turnout is similar to the way that white americans turn out. So, about 60 in the last election. But it goes up and down. Four obamas firstterm, there was really large turnout. A little less than the second term, but still big. And a lack of africanamerican turnout for Hillary Clinton was considered part of her downfall. But i think the better way to sort of think about it is, all the barriers that some africanamericans face, especially in the south still when they go to vote, that quote, the speech from the mayor of atlanta, i found it so powerful at the time. And still do. And of course she is actually right. You cannot have change without voting. But you understand a little of the pushback of, ok, weve voted and we are not seeing enough change. So i do think any conversation now needs to fully admit that voting has to go with other policy changes, but you cannot have the policy changes often without the voting. So voting is not the only solution, but its part of it. Whats interesting that has turned out from both the Atlanta Mayors call to action and president obama talked about voting later, and then lebron james just in the last few weeks, kind of pushed back a little. That voting is not enough. But he is starting an organization that not only education his focus heavily will be on educating young black americans to vote, but also at the same time tries to tackle current suppression issues. So i think we need to think of all of all those as going handinhand, and really admit where our faults still are in the system. Suppression does not look like it did in the days of jim crow laws, where there was an absolute, no, you cant vote, or Something Like literacy tests that were impossible to pass. Those were pretty blatant. But today, there are things that we really have to keep an eye on. Voter roll purges, wait times being too long. In georgia, we saw in the last primary, just terribly long lines. A lot of it was from a lack of preparation. Whether that lack of preparation had ill intent or not, there are people who cannot wait seven hours to vote and that is not a barrier that should happen in should not happen in the country. And i think all of the focus on it now, especially this far before the election, will maybe make a difference in november. I feel like a lot of americans are focusing on it more, and that can only hopefully lead to improvement. Susan a seminal moment in africanamerican and freshman we have a clip of lyndon johnson, president at the time. This is a victory for the freedom of the american negro. But it is also a victory for the freedom of the american nation. And every family across this great entire searching land will live stronger in liberty, will live more splendid in expectation, and will be prouder to be american, because of the act that you have passed that i will sign today. [applause] susan that scene in the rotunda of the capital. Erin geiger smith, congress wrote the law so that it would have to be renewed at intervals. What was the thinking behind that . Ms. Smith the thinking was twofold. One, that if all of a sudden country no longer needed those federal oversights of states with discrimination issues, if it was no longer necessary, then it could expire and it was to pacify those who were not so much interested in the Voting Rights a