the system ofhe democracy and justice in the united states. we think that often urgently need repair so they work for all americans. we are funded not by the university but by private supporters, 14,000 of them at last count. we are deeply concerned about the assault on voting that is taking place across the country right now. >> your website says americans facing an overwhelming legislative assault, those of the words you use on voting rights. explain what you're seeing out there. >> think about firsters what we had last year. it was something of a civic miracle. despite the pendant and despite for suppression and despite lies about the election, it was the highest voter turnout since 1900. or by mail. it was actually a huge success. as president trump's own security experts confirmed, it was the most secure election in memory. all of the courts who looked at this rejected notions of fraud affected the election. we should be celebrating that. instead, what we see in states across the country is a tidal wave of new efforts to restrict the vote.the brennan center 's research showed 200 55 proposed laws at last count in four out of five states that would cut back on voting. this is the biggest push like this since the jim crow era. don't make any mistake. so many of these proposals are aimed squarely at a black voters, brown voters, young people, and poor people. it would be a terrible thing to see this kind of assault succeed on our democracy. host: i will put the phone numbers on the bottom of the screen for our newest guest. separate lines for democrats, republicans, and independents. we will talk for a few minutes then get you back into the conversation. tell us about your thoughts on h.r.1, the for the people act. the house passed this bill. the senate is going into the hearing process on this. what do you like about this bill? what are the provisions that appeal to you most? guest: i think it is a very important and positive bill. i strongly supported. -- support it. for starters, it's important to understand for people who are worried about the attack on voting rights happening in the states right now, it would stop that cold. congress has the power to do that constitutionally and legally. what it needs is the political will to do it. it goes beyond that. this would modernize and strengthen the institutions of our elections and democracy. it would take automatic voter registration, which is the law in 19 states unless they opt out they are automatically registered to vote. make that the law of the land. it would set a national floor so that everyone has access to early voting. everyone has access if they want it to vote by mail. not required, but if they want it no matter what state they live in. it was strengthen our elections in a way that's important. we would ban partisan gerrymandering, which believe me, both political parties eagerly gerrymander when they can. we are about to enter into the redistricting cycle where politicians draw the lines for their election district. that can last for a decade and would reform the role of money in politics. which we know has brought so much corruption and so much of an extra voice for big money in our system. it does these things, which are urgent and vital under any circumstances, but especially right now witnessing what's going on in the states. witnessing the big lie that president trump foot forward -- put forward that the election was stolen in our democracy is illegitimate, and the insurrection. this is not just a good thing to do, it is something that i would suggest congress has to do. host: annandale, virginia, democratic line. caller: good morning. thank you for having the show. i am a supporter of h.r.1. i thank the brennan center for their support. i would like you address what you just said. there is a self narrative that there was election fraud, but really the issue is voter suppression. we have a history of restricting voting. women didn't get to vote until 1920 and people of color didn't get the right to vote until really the late 1960's. what we have seen is really trying to restrict voting and the false narrative that the trump administration and his allies have created that we are all trying to argue election fraud when the real issue is voter suppression. the commission collapsed in 2018. it was supposed to investigate voter fraud. then it installed the narrative that i would like you to address. and also what we saw, polls be moved away from people. in rural areas people have to have access to the ballots and they have to drive long distances. i would like for you to address those and point out that the issue is voter suppression and really strengthening our democracy. i thank you. guest: i agree with the caller. we have had to fight through our country's history to make sure that everyone gets their voice heard and their seat at the table. when we started as a country we didn't have what any of us would regard as a democracy. only white men who owned property could vote. we have worked hard to expand that. just as often people have been pushing to roll it back. that is unfortunate in what we are seeing today. we are looking for the real threats to our democracy, which is efforts that would make it harder for many people to vote. as a statistical matter, and i know a lot of people are worried about this, as a statistical matter you are more likely to be struck by lightning then commit voter fraud in the united states. that was confirmed repeatedly in the last election by president trump's own security experts, 60 courts who looked at this. even when the lawyers for trump went to court and were under oath, they actually actually had to say the truth or get in trouble, they said we're not talking about fraud. this is just a tactic used to create concern and fear to justify rolling back vital voting rights and voter protections. i think we all have an interest in election security and integrity, but making sure eligible voters have the right to vote unimpeded is one of the most important concerns we can push. host: maryland, the republican line. hello. caller: thank you for the show. this is a real hot button issue for me. it has driven me absolutely insane. i watched every state legislature hearing on voter irregularity, and i was shocked and heartbroken at what i saw. hundreds of my fellow americans testified under oath with sworn affidavits on their own time and their own dime. the media will not cover it, no judge had the balls to hear the evidence. is it acceptable to have more ballots cast then registered voters? is it acceptable for democrats to cheer when republican poll workers are forced out of polling locations? i don't understand why we can't ask the questions. host: let's get a response from our guest. guest: i hear the concern from the caller and the sincerity of her concern, and that makes me doubly angry at the politicians who simply lied to her and others about what has gone on. again, it was republican and democratic judges, judges appointed by president trump and others, who said in 60 cases, you know what, this election was strong and secure. it was the federal government, the trump administration's own security experts, who said it was secure. it was attorney general barr who used a barnyard epithet to describe misconduct. i would say we should hold accountable those politicians who knowingly peddled the big lie to sincere americans, like the caller, and to others who attacked our capitol and democracy. for americans, to be truly patriotic, we have to pull together and say what can we do to strengthen our democracy? not to make it harder for other people to vote, but to make it sure we all in the modern age have the ability to truly participate in our democracy. vote by mail is something tens of millions people have used and something that republicans, as well as democrats, supported and used until the recent election. it has been done with very smooth and encouraging results. we ought to be looking at what has worked well and making sure that is available to everybody. again, i hear the caller, and it makes me all the more unhappy with those politicians, who for their own personal reasons, lie to sincere people about what happened in the election. host: our guest is michael waldman with the university of new york law school and the brennan center. take a deeper look around the country. these 200 plus laws either on the books are being pursued. if you could pick one or two that concern you the most, what are they and where are they? guest:guest: in a lot of places this very normal thing of absentee balloting, or voting by mail, which most of the country did already, there is an attempt to roll it back. let's look in particular at georgia. georgia is a place where these new proposed voting laws are very carefully and rather obviously targeted at black voters for partisan advantage. in georgia you had bipartisan support for vote by mail. no excuse absentee balloting. not that you had to, but you could. it went in to vote by mail, and no excuse -- it would end vote by mail and end no excuse balloting. it would repeal automatic voter registration, which was a very successful program put in place by governor kemp when he was the secretary of state of georgia, and of course a republican. it would end early voting on the sunday before election day, the day that black churches typically have souls to the polls organizing. it would make it a crime to hand out water to someone in line to vote. those long lines are unfortunately often in minority communities other than other communities. that is a petri dish of all of the things being done in the laws that don't have a justification but would have a significant impact, especially on voters of color. there was a state legislator in arizona, one of the people pushing these laws, who kinda said it out loud. he said democrats, some people want everyone to be able to vote. what matters is not the quantity of voters but the quality of voters. not everyone should be able to vote. that is not the attitude we in 2021 as americans really truly want to embrace. host: what legal challenges are you seeing or expecting on some of the laws? guest: now the effort is to stop these legislatures from passing them. there is mounting growing public concern and anger. the politics is such we have seen this in georgia, north carolina, and other places that people do not like it when you try to take away their right to vote or make it harder for them to vote and it can often lead to political backlash. there will be lawsuits. there may well be challenges to these laws from the justice department. one of the things that can be done that i am most focused on, as we discussed a little bit, is congress can pass the for the people act as h.r.1 which would stop these laws in their tracks. they would say everyone, wherever you live, should have enough right and ability to vote by mail if you want to, to have early voting. it shouldn't matter which political party controls the state legislature at any moment and some state to determine your right to vote in a basic and fundamental way. host: annie, independent voter. caller: please give me a moment. i am the daughter of a civics teacher, and my late father is spinning in his urn. they also include the hispanic population. a lot of them are very devout catholics and i think they also have the souls to the polls. two more points. the late justice william rehnquist used to intimidate voters in arizona. he was a big bully. the main comment that i want to make is, why won't you play paul wyrich where he was giving a talk at the heritage foundation, which i think he found it. " how many of you good christians have the good government syndrome? they want everyone to vote. i don't want everyone to vote." please play that video. host: thanks a lot for calling. guest: annie is exactly right. that was a speech given in august of 1980 who is introducing ronald reagan at an important meeting with clergy in houston. he said exactly what annie described. he wasn't some pundit malls -- pundit mouthing off. the heritage foundation to this day continues to agitate for laws to make it harder for other americans to vote. this has been a great fight, a great push and pull throughout american history. we know we made it impossible in the south for black people to vote for a century. how hard we make it for immigrants to vote. we really have a consensus that everybody who is eligible should have the ability to vote. one person, one vote. that was something that republicans and democrats together agreed on. the last time the voting rights act was reauthorized by congress, the senate passed it 98-zero. george w. bush proudly signed it. it is only recently that it has become a mobilizing and organizing issue for politicians. i would just say that when politicians have to make their efforts based on trying to restrict the vote by the other side, rather than taking arguments to the public, that is the sign of a long-term weak hand. host: back to h.r.1, georgia congressman barry loudermilk explained his opposition. let's look and then get your response. [video clip] >> i rise not only in opposition, but in strong opposition. especially to the attempt to nationalize our federal elections, and the notion that people like joseph kirk of bartow county, georgia, the election superintendent who has done a phenomenal job administering our elections, is not as qualified as people in this room as to how to run an election. more and portly bureaucrats in washington, d.c., they can administer an election in bartow county better than our election supervisor can and has. it's a notion beyond compare. this flies in the face of our founders, especially those at the constitutional convention. there were arguments against article one section four, the elections clause, because the fear stated was that those in power could use that power to manipulate elections to keep them in power. that one day someone would use this authority to manipulate the elections so they can maintain power. madam speaker, i believe we have arrived at that. alexander hamilton argued the opposite. he said it's important institutions of government be able to preserve themselves, that this was a backup. it was a backup that the states have the priority to run their own elections. he said it should only be used when extraordinary circumstances might render it safety. we are not in that extraordinary circumstance. the extraordinary circumstance that will be stated over and over is how we ran the election in 2020 under covid. many of the provisions in this legislation, including universal mail-in ballots, a ban on voter id laws, and mandated ballot harvesting were changes made by states illegally in 2020 that caused a lot of the problem we saw. host: michael waldman of the brennan center for justice. your reaction? guest: there are so many misrepresentations per sentence that it's hard to choose, but i would make a few points. yes, counties and states run elections in our country, and local election officials of both parties did a tremendous job under difficult circumstances. but congress does have the power to set national standards to make sure that people's rights are protected and that when states run their elections that they do not do it in a way that is unfair, that is cutting people out, or that is not reflecting the best of how we run modern elections. that this legislation does not have the elections run by bureaucrats in washington, they are run by states and counties, but with national standards to make sure we all have a full opportunity to participate. the gentleman, the congressman, i'm afraid misread the constitutional convention and the story of our constitution. james madison insisted on having what is called the elections clause in the constitution, which gives states initially the ability, the power to set time, place, and manner of elections, but gives congress the power to override that because james madison and others felt state legislatures would be captured by what they called their faction and would pass things that we now call voter suppression laws and gerrymandering. they didn't call it that then, but that's what they're talking about. that there needs to be checks and balances. our national government needed to make sure that people had the effective right to vote. that is what this legislation would do. it would set national standards and modernize our elections in a way that is fair to everyone. what we see with our naked eyes, right in front of us, the racially driven and partisan efforts to restrict the vote across the country. if we aren't happy with that, if we aren't satisfied that's the way to go, sometimes there is a need for action. that is what the bill would do. host: we take a call from miami, florida, democrat, dorothy. caller: i haven't heard anyone talk about the politician from miami, his name was rodriguez. he paid somebody to get on the ballot, another rodriguez. he paid them to get on the ballot so he could take votes away from another senator. they took the votes away from another senator because we thought this rodriguez was the one that was running. they arrested him yesterday. nobody has said anything about that. they haven't said anything about politicians paying people to run for election, get on the ballot and run for election so that the votes would be scattered all over the place. you think this is fair? why hasn't anyone address this? host: can you fill in some gaps for us? guest: i'm afraid i'm not familiar with that story and situation. that thing has been known to happen. it is an example of where sometimes we forget to really look at the politicians who do their best to manipulate things and instead take it out on the voters. i can't offer much background or comment on the situation described, except to say that kind of thing is pretty rare these days. american elections used to be a lot dirtier and rambunctious, but we have worked over many decades to make our elections more secure than they have been. we have real things to worry about. we saw it in 2016 certainly where russia did its best to interfere in our elections. we wanted more from the intelligence community this past week about russia and iran trying to influence our elections in different ways. that is the security concern we ought to be working on. the for the people act includes important bipartisan legislation that would make sure that states and counties have the most secure voter registration list and voting rolls and voting machines they can have. host: the headline says ex florida senator paid candidate to siphon votes. a race that the gop narrowly won. you can read more about that at the washington post. we are just about out of time. tell us more about your efforts moving forward at the 200 plus bills in progress around the country and how you plan to fight them. guest: first off, we are working to expose them to make sure people know about them. folks can certainly read or work -- read our work at www. brennancentre.org. we have newsletters and ways to stay in touch. we have groups on the ground in georgia, like the new georgia project or fair fight led by stacey abrams and others who are working to fight the laws. and we are working to fight the for the people act and the john lewis voting rights advancement act, which would restore the strength of the voting rights act. again, the answer in the end is to make sure that we have one national standard so that it doesn't matter who you are, black or white or latino or anything else, if you are eligible you have the right to vote. we will make it as easy as possible for people to vote so we all have our voice in this democracy. host can post a comment on facebook.com/c-span. thanks a lot for your time this morning. >> thank you. >> politico.com re