Transcripts For CSPAN3 Georgia 20240704

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] please welcome the executive director and founder for the center of innovation and research, david becker. [applause] thank you all. Welcome here to beautiful International Spy museum in washington d. C. And those of you watching remotely dont get to see the beautiful views that we see in washington on a gorgeous day in may. Its wonderful to see so many people here in person. Many friends and colleagues ive known for a long time and many people i havent seen for years or ever met in person ever. Thank you all for being here today. When i founded ceir almost seven years ago in the summer of 2016, the field of election was different. Cyber threats were at the forefront and experts concerned mainly concerned of foreign actors illegally attempting to access voter bases or spread disinformation overseas. Election officials were not only free from threat of harassment, Election Officials had a hard time getting anyone to notice them or understand what they did. Election conferences across the country were boring, wed discuss recruiting and tracking poll workers and focused primarily on nuts and bolts of election and voter list maintenance. 2016, one in four ballots nationally had no paper records. Entire states of georgia and South Carolina, had only unauditable digital ballots, as well as most of north carolina, pennsylvania, virginia and other states as well. Effective audits of paper ballots were relatively rare. And over months for the first time in our history in 2016, a major partys candidate for president began using language even before the election that the election would be rigged. When President Trump won, there were some supporters of secretary of clinton who raised concerns with possible tampering of voting machines. While she did know the pursue those claims, but others did, and every investigation confirmed the results. I was among the first to state publicly there was no problem with ballot counting in the 2016 election counting and the fact remains that President Trump won the election. Many supporters of secretary clinton were disappointed, but the election was conducted fairly according to the rules prior to election day. Over the next four years, as we all know a lot changed in the democracy space. False claims about widespread voter fraud were amplified by the white house itself. Once again, no evidence of fraud could be found or produced. While that was happening, Election Officials, many happening in the room right now were improving and professionalizing to the highest level ever achieved. States without paper ballots moved on a bipartisan basis towards paper ballots and stronger audits than the nation has seen before. By 2020, 95 of ballots were paper and entire states of georgia, north carolina, pennsylvania, South Carolina and virginia. Additional states came together to ensure their voter lists were more accurate. And our work evolved as well. We conducted more research and engaged with the media more often to ensure voters were aware of these improvements, and the overall integrity of the election system. Despite major challenges like insufficient funding and resources, Election Officials were ready heading into the 2020 election. And then covid. It was a crisis Election Officials never experienced before and could never plan for. It began as the primaries were heating up and voters were concerned for safety of their loved ones, and how to run an election in a global pandemic. And this was the critical election function, voting. While accommodating social distancing. Somehow against all odds hundreds of thousands of Election Officials and volunteers in thousands of jurisdictions, pulled it off. When they had problems during the primaries, they learned their lessons and planned accordingly for the general election. When legislators at federal and state level failed to provide needed funding for new spendses that couldnt be anticipated, elected officials had philanthropy. Elected officials worked with states to expand the options. When huge numbers of experienced poll workers couldnt work because they were at higher risk of contracting the virus, Election Officials recruited and trained new ones from lower risk groups. When Election Officials needed larger voting locations to accommodate social distancing, they partnered with sports arenas and other venues to assure that their voters and workers were comfortable and as safe as possible and pulled this off when rules and procedures were constantly in flux, changing under their feet. Often challenged in court as both Political Parties sought an advantage. As it turned out, republicans won approximately 85 of the preelection litigation, but whatever side you were on, everyone knew the rules on election day. And the Election Officials around the country were ready. In november 2020, nearly 160 million americans turned out to vote. Thats 20 million more ballots than had ever been cast in an election in American History. Two out of three eligible voters showed up. The highest turnout the nation had seen since well before the women were turned out to vote. Even with unprecedented scrutiny and unsubstantiated claims of fraud, the Election Officials withstood that. And the november 2020 election was simply put the most secure, transparent and verified president ial election in American History and its not close. Despite being held in the middle of a global pandemic, the 2020 election stands as one of the great accomplishments of american resilience and knowhow. This remains true regardless of whether one is happy with the results. But like many of our nations greatest achievement there are those who seek to profit from spreading conspiracy theories that deny the facts. Its been over 30 months since that 2020 election, 917 days to be exact. While there are debunked claims of german servers, and bamboo ballots around the internet, theres not one shred of efforts to a court. Conservative scholars have looked at the evidence and concluded that the 2020 election was lost, not stolen. Even efforts by wellfunded and motivated supporters of a losing president ial candidate in arizona, wisconsin, could not find or manufacture evidence that the election was not legitimate. Yet the lies have not let up. Even after over 900 days, even after election denial has proven to be a strategy. Losing every contested race in 2022. Not only are the lies continuing, were seeing them ramp up. Threats and harassment of Election Officials continue. And were experiencing an unprecedented exodus from the field. From california to pennsylvania and everywhere in between, dedicated Public Servants are asking themselves whether its worth it. Is it worth the constant unrelenting harassment and abuse just to serve as a civil servant. And yet, most of them are still answering, yes. It inspires me every single day. And our work at cir will continue to work and meet this moment. No matter what well meet the needs. Our team has grown, we plan to release several reports to be able to look out for them later this month and even later this week. On topics as diverse as quality of voter lists. The security of Voter Registration systems. The effect of new laws on Election Officials and the depth of election denial amongst some americans. Were working with the public and holding a Public Focus Group in arizona with citizens who doubt the integrity of elections. Were responding to elections by election deniers to bully and from their networks, with this and other efforts. And we are working to protect those men and women, our neighbors, family members, who serve as Election Officials, whether its a secretary of state or down to volunteer poll workers through our election Legal Defense networks which provides pro bono and legal advice to all Election Officials across the country. Cochaired by former Obama White House counsel, and former bush campaign. Im crowd that and ill say while im proud of ceir. They remain committed to the ideal that facts matters, Integrity Matters and the will of the voters matters. Even when we disagree with the voters will, perhaps particularly when we disagree with the voters will. In this room we have Election Officials from maine to california. We invited every chief election official across the country, republican and democrat, conservative and liberal to this convening. We have republicans and democrats here. We have trump voters and biden voters in this room and over the next day and a half well come together to discuss challenges, best practices, and longterm solutions. While there may be disagreements about policy in this room and we invite these disagreements, theres one thing that unites us all, the belief that democracy must persist and thrive, and that it must reflect the will of the people. Thank you all for being here, i really appreciate it. It is wonderful to be in a room with you all. Thank you. [applause]. And i particularly want to thank those who serve as a role, there are secretary of states here, county officials, local officials, many people dont recognize the fact that you dont show up on the monday before an election and set up the machines. That youre working 365 to prepare for elections and honestly working harder than ever and despite the attacks, your work still is withstanding any scrutiny anyone wants to apply. Its remarkable and youre being held to an unprecedented standard of perfection and coming as close as anyone could reasonably expect. Again, your work inspires me every day, its why i do what i do. With that, were going to head to our first panel so you dont have to keep listening to me talk. Our first panel is Lessons Learned from the 20 and 22 elections so id like to welcome to the stage first, my friend and coauthor, cbs news correspondent Major Garrett. Major, come on up. [applause]. Paige alexander, ceo of the Carter Center. [applause] Justin Levitt Loyola University school of law. [applause] charles stewart, professor of Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of technology. [applause] and shortly, they will be joined wait, one more, stephanie thomas, secretary of state of connecticut. [applause] thank you, thank you. And lastly well be joined by secretary of state Brad Raffensperger of georgia. His flight was delayed so hell be joining us shortly. Major. And thank you for being here. Brad will be making a dramatic entrance any moment and make sure to be prepared for that. I want to get started off the top and start with paige. 2020 was a traumatic event for the country and projections what would happen in the mid terms, some of which were realized and some of which were not. The first question on the panel, netnet after the midterms are you netoptimistic where this is going or pessimistic . An easy one. No, im optimistic, but its because you wouldnt be in this business if you werent optimistic. It would be difficult to continue doing the work that we do. Weve learned the Carter Center got involved in u. S. Domestic election work because weve done this overseas in 40 Different Countries and see similarities that we felt needed to be addressed and i think were learning and iterrating what levers need to be pulled to make this a free and transparent set of elections. Let me stop you there. I think thats a moment worth pausing to consider. The Carter Center now involving itself in observation of u. S. Elections. Did you ever imagine that would come to be and why do you feel its necessary to start now. When president carter started the Carter Center the intent was to just work internationally, one president at a time and thats what he believed. And i started i came to town in 2020. I took this job and i had been living overseas and to see the Political Polarization that had happened while i was overseas and happening in georgia, in particular, i went down and talked to him in plains and just said, you know, were not going to be credible overseas if were not looking in our own back yard. Thats why we ended up getting involved. I dont i also said, what are you saving your money for . And he said a rainy day. I said its pouring outside. Theres no way that we cannot address and jump in so we jumped in in 2020 looking at the same polarization that wed seen overseas that got us involved in elections, but, in the United States, you know, unlike overseas, you have a National Election commission, you work with one central election commission, in the u. S. Even in georgia, 159 different counties, there are different rules for many of those counties and stephanie and i were just talking about, connecticuts one of four states that doesnt have early voting. Like, so every single state is different. So to work in four states for us is like working in four countries. Yeah, it seemed necessary so president carter was supportive and thats why were involved. Justin. Thank you, major, and thank you to david and ceir. I have a very similar answer to paige. I consider myself a civil rights lawyer by training and were steeped in living amongst the worst of the worst and some of us are excited for fact patterns and makes a great case. You wont find a Broader Group of cynics in the world, but like paige, we wouldnt be doing this work if we were optimistic in the long run. And i look at the troubles ahead and mirrors some behind unfortunately, but i have fundamental faith in the majority of human nature that people ultimately want a democracy that responds to them. And we ultimately have agency in that process to both create and keep a democracy that responds to the people and i think its going to take a lot of work, including a lot of work by a lot of people in this room, but, yes, im optimistic that well continue to get there. As david mentioned, the graph is going in the right direction. If you look over the history of the u. S. At the percentage of adult citizens who are participating in the electoral process, its only going up and to the right, which is exactly where it should be and youd rather be living today than 50 years ago or 100 years ago or 150 years ago. Doesnt mean there arent bumps ahead, but im optimistic. Charles, many in the room rely on the data sets that you provide and analysis you add to the data. About how the election was administered. Amidst the pandemic, all of the metrics pointed in the same direction which is to say that despite the fact that, for instance, there was a tsunami wave of absentee ballots, we sell historic low levels of rejected mail ballots. We sell boulders pivot and learn how to do a new thing. By most of the metrics, and 2020, things went well. They have the same results. All of that is good. 2022 was also good. The data is still coming in and i think we have to remember that a Midterm Election does not have the same strains that a president ial election does. We should not rest on 2022. The data tells us where to be concerned. In 2022, we saw in the outcomes improving. And digging down on an improvedt more trusting, but still a few states, and you can probably guess who those are. The platitude, we are not out of the woods yet, we always have work to do, but in addition to that, particular places where we are looking still not concerned about the Election Administration in this state, but knowing that there is a special work to be done in some states and dealing with levels. Some of the states that we were worried about in 2020. Secretary thomas, in addition, i would last like you to share your story. I want to join. I want to get involved. There is a dramatic [laughter] secretary thomas. I am literally doubting thomas, but i am optimistic. [laughter] to your point, part of my optimization comes from other people like me. I was never involved in politics and in 2016 i just started getting more involved in my town i ran for the state house in 2020 and i one. Here i am. So, the optimism is i look to the people and i have never seen , many of us took our democracy for granted. Now i see people across people in our state wanting to learn more. I see people understanding as david alluded. Everyone thought that an election happen and there were not people working all year. You have a seat and demystify the process, teaching people about the civics is the reason for my optimism so i feel good. What is the atmosphere and connection on this question . Like everywhere, it is mixed. It is very purple. I think the good old new england reasonability, you share the data and let them know how things really work. You are appreciative. Hopefully asked me to get a 2024. The mac secretary, the question is after the 2022 midterm, Optimistic Pessimistic about this debate. Georgia, i think it is positive. They are out there talking to everyone. I think that that is really good. Answering the questions, giving them the facts. Unfortunately, the governor in arizona was term limited. He was not out there making that case. Lowerlevel Election Officials. They did the best that they can. Would you say the temperature about election denial has gone down in georgia . Not as big of a problem as two years ago . No matter how you want to vote in georgia its based off of photo id. We think it elevate security but also provides confidence. At all levels of government, if it does not do anything to take away but Elevate Trust we think that is a good thing. The post 2022 Voter Experience data they have. Counties actually determine the number of precincts you have. But then we actually got that to state law. A few times having a few lines, but we work through those. A great experience. We are very voter centric. 82 of all active registered voters voted in the state of georgia. Voter participation also. I know that that law encountered quite a bit of criticism. Do you feel that the experience and data vindicates outlaw . It is pretty obvious, yes, it does. From your perspective, a cautionary tale about when legislatures change laws, the debate about those laws and their realworld effect can be overhyped at the front end . We lost an allstar game over it. Sb 202 the Election Integrity act come up voter id for all forms of voting. Being sued by a political party. Guess which one, both of them said that it was subjective. It is what minnesota have been doing for over 10 years. Many people were not aware of that. We have done that. We take it off the table we have an objective criteria. An additional data, they said that we took something away. Probably 50 different bills working their way through the system. They did not see a time of day. They did not even get a committee hearing. Seventeen days early voting. Every single data point proves that it was we had record turnout. We are just really grateful. People had a good experience. Yes people needed to be accurate and they wanted to get the results quickly. I want to ask you about what the data tells us which is, as you mentioned, one dimension of consumer satisfaction. Generally, when voters are asked what their experiences, generally speaking it has been positive. Very large metrics on the Positive Side of things. And yet there is as high a percentage doubting the validity of elections. Is there any way to reconcile the contradiction . The metrics about the Voter Experience. Both in terms of their experience. Do you trust that your vote was counted. They are about as high as they have ever been. That is where we see the facts. It is pretty clear why this is happening. Which is to say that most people do not know about Election Administration. They know what they know. They can be other folks. Election administration has become an assailant issue in a large number of voters we are hearing how horrible things were maybe in some states, that is what is being said. While things are fine here, look what they are doing over there and how horrible things are over there. We already knew that voters in general are very comfortable with how they vote. If you run by them, how they vote in other states. You often times, they vote by mail there or they have to show voter id or they dont have to show voter id, all of these things are mysterious beyond where you are. Certainly in 2016 we saw a little bit of this in 2020. By nationalizing the issue, a large number of voters are now listening to National Politicians about how things are going. Seeing expectations of how election should be run more nationalized. The final thing that i will say is this is not unique Election Administration. This is happening a public health, this is happening in education. You can go down the line. As we think about these issues in the election space, our friends and colleagues in these other areas are experiencing exactly the same thing. I think that we can learn something from those as well. As compared to where you look at them internationally, you have a place that has no democratic experience or they are trying to stand it up for the first time. The basic core functionality has to be addressed. I think that confidences lacking. You dont have neighbors talking to neighbors about things. Taken out of that echo chamber of trusted individuals who are explaining this. So, the videos that we sell, schoolhouse rock taught us how things worked back in the day. I think that it is an education component if they were made aware of what the steps were then they would recognize. Factbased as we had talked about. We want people to trust the people in their neighborhood to talk about the zoning and how it is done. In education component. They will say because they have herded and read it somewhere all of these affidavits filed. They swore under oath those affidavits have legal merit. That is why i still doubt this election. Filing a lawsuit is essentially nothing more than a tweets. A tweet with the filing fee. Write that down. Please. People do not realize, it must mean that there is something to it. We saw an unprecedented attack on the 2020 elections in the election system. By using this thing that people trust. As a method of casting doubt for a very good reason. You are not allowed to file a lawsuit. It turns out, that you are in fact allowed to file a lawsuit. We are now coming to what i hope is a cycle of accountability for people whose professional licenses depend on ensuring that there is they are there when you file a lawsuit. When courts across the country and this has to be said over and over and over again, did see, did hear the evidence, found the evidence grotesquely lacking, not on procedural nittygritty, not on technical violations, not on the legal games that people can sometimes see, but on the merit that gives us the evidence that there was some problem here. There is nothing that holds up. There is a lot of smoke and very, very little fire. I understand that people want to have confidence in the piece of paper. The one thing that we know that is something that i think we all necessarily should have expected. It was wonderfully heart warming as a remarkable job of holding line in 2020. The courts acted nonpartisan judge across the board said show me the laws, show me the facts. I will assess whether you actually have a case. Across the board said no. The president at that particular time ruling a certain way. Some of the harshest assessments of cases brought in this case came from trump appointed judges are there any more facts . It gives plenty of time for people to come forward. Every stage there was conspiracy , there were assumptions being made that did not hold up. As all the elections here know, the things being described is not how the election actually worked. A lot of it had to do with either misunderstanding or willful misunderstanding. The judges of any partisan and non, it does not mean that you are a diehard partisan in that role. It is a very different way to experience the world. Judges put on their robes. I do not agree with this decision. Across the board they have evaluated facts and law. Yes, you are absolutely right. Some of the judges that were appointed by one of the biggest contest in 2020 election were not shy about expressing their view. I want to talk about the practicalities of your job. It is been my experience that the secretary of state where they have a strong Election Administration obligation have not always had a forward facing there is basically a take care of the election either to the preelection communication with voters unless asked and do not have a large infrastructure afterwards. Attorney generals deal because that is a very ambitious post. Something governors clearly deal are you changing or is your office changing in preparation of that as you talk to other secretaries of state . Is this a fundamental part of the job . I think that that is a nice way of saying secretaries are under resourced and underfunded. We have the smallest staff amongst our executive staff. I do think that it is changing. I think the legislature has had many saying that we need to make sure we can educate people around how elections work. We need additional staff in our office to deal with the onset of these requests and across the board they are fighting for that funding. I come from a Nonprofit Fundraising background spirit i believe in guerrilla tactics and grassroots tactics. I am trying to find as many trusted members as possible to help deliver that message. At the end of last week i just announce a program we are calling it our ceo program. Specifically engaged organization. Businesses, nonprofits, churches , to take the pledge and help educate their employees and customers about when elections are coming to disseminate toolkits about how government works, how their voice can be heard. I am trying to be really smart about collaborations to help get the message out there so that people, you know, i think people distrust what they dont know. The more that i can have these messages coming neighbor to neighbor and set of secretary to constituent, i think that we will be better served. You mention something that the two of us david and bill gates, the other bill gates participated in the day after the super bowl. It was a focus group that was done. Watching it on youtube. They all participated voluntarily. There were 90 Arizona State University Student in a live audience. We put the program together. We imagined it would be a one hour focus group. Coming up about elections 2020 and 2022. The secretary, i want to ask you your take away from that experience. It was clear after two hours. It was not hostile, it was not confrontational, this was deeply embedded skepticism or fullblown suspicion. A free flow of ideas. Secretary, what was your take away from that experience . I think in many cases the misinformation had been baked into peoples dna. Also people want to lean into what the hope is and they just have trouble accepting that reality. I would help with the lawsuit that people can finally put to bed and accept that they are active. Lets take that off the table. People talked about suitcases underneath the table. What they were talking about that is been investigated by our investigators that are post certified. When you say that to a tea party group, guess what they say. Guess what actually worked at us the u. S. Attorney of the Southern District came up and became the active u. S. Attorney. He actively looked into that. It is really baked into peoples dna because they want to believe. You have people that want to believe. You have to understand what happened in georgia and other states. 24,000 people just skipped a president ial race. They could not vote for anyone at the top of the ticket and yet they voted down. Highly unusual. Highly unusual. When you run for the new statehouse, then you kind of understand that people dont come out for certain races. Those are the big ones, obviously. 24,000 skipped the president ial race. That is why believe that President Trump came up short. Scoring five6 more than President Trump did. A congressman collectively got more votes than President Trump. On this panel, the one person that can speak to my next question directly which is the pole within the Republican Party conversations about what to say about the 2020 election. I ask because just before we walked up here, the sitting secretary of state West Virginia is quoted saying he is now convinced the 2020 election was stolen. A primary conversation to deny the results of the 2020 election most people dont want to face the truth. Number one, you have to face the truth. I have had to face the brutal truth. I figured that i need to figure out the path forward. You had a republican state senator that did a 60 page report. A great cost and a lot that he got from blowback in the party. He was looking for fraud, he was looking for everything. That is published and that was the state senate report. Every state has done that. I can just speak to georgia. What i believe is at the end of the day, in many states, a lot of people left the top of the ticket blank. Republicans and democrats we are looking for our next great leader. I dont think that that is the person that has the vision that will carry us forward. I just hope that that next great leader is republican. On the other side im sure that they were looking for their side we see an awful lot of political angst because people do not believe that their leadership is responding to that. During the course about focus group we did it all on zoom. It was about 40 minutes. We cut it down to 11 for the actual show. One of the participant said when people come to me and they talk about democracy, i feel like it is a weapon against me. Whenever i hear democracy talk over and over again im just being put down. Put on the defensive. It is a weapon to make me feel bad. I thought, wow. That is a very interesting perspective. A general concept in this country that could feel like a weapon. I mentioned other countries that dont have much. Absolutely. Words do matter. That is your view, this is my view. They do not match. We have the same issue overseas. We will ask elected officials to sign onto a code code of conduct. We tried to do that in 2020 and we got some traction. By 2022 we had candidate principles. There are candidate principles. They are recognizing the results these are not enforceable, but if you can get, the secretary signed on with his opponent, with stacy abrams and brian camp for the gubernatorial election, when you get will adhere to something, you hope that it brings everybody else along. Those are some of the principles of democracy. The democracy deficit that we talked about overseas. The democracy deficit happening here in the u. S. Now. Civic education, rule of law, how do we get to that next stage. I think that words matter. When that has been used and negative connotations, you really have to scratch your head and say what can we all agree on. You know, basic principles. That is the direction we are going. Its just those people over there that page talked about. I think that there is a way to get back to extending the trust be on your own inner circle but that takes immense amounts of work and it takes immense amounts of leadership from people validating the fact that you can trust more than just what you can touch, that you can trust me on because theyre of the people working just as hard to make sure it is worthy of trust. I think thats right. We are at a place where thats being compromised but not irrevocable. Charles . I resisting the temptatie the political scientist professor here. Please, please. The reason is, this is not how i think about things but it also think if were concerned about communicating with folks in getting across eidl that elections are run fairly according to the rules and run well, we need to be, we need to, actually lean into maybe even a brace somebodys ambiguities with language. I say that because from my entire life its not been reason, i just turned 65, people have oftentimes say you know, its not a democracy, its a republic. And thats that something said more and more these days and also dont think its not a coincidence that republic is close to republican at the market is close to democrat. And so this is going to get sucked into the vortex of the sorts of partisan differences we have these days. The two things i would say is on the one hand, i mourned the fact that the word democracy has been weaponized. I also think though when you do take it seriously reengage, reengage with education, reengage with civics education. And articulate the fact we dont have plebe assist democracy is most places. We do have a republic. We do have represented to stand between the public and law, and i dont think dismiss entirely the pushback on the term of democracy. For those of us who care about Fair Elections, we do need to be concerned about our language and maybe unfortunately the word democracy something we need to be especially sensitive to. Secretary thomas have you had any experience with this . As was said at the outset your life story is hey, this is working. Im a living embodiment of this but have you encountered this idea that when you say democracy i feel threatened, i feel like im being put down . Which is exactly what this motor articular to me. Certainly do. I have faced. Words do matter but when im in front of certain groups i would never say democracy. I usually say constitutional democracy or representative democracy. In many of my speeches i say whether you think you are in a democracy or republic or constitutional democracy, because i try very hard to be, you know, entirely nonpartisan. But words matter so taken more of the marketing approach. I remind people now at the top of every speech i Say Something like when things arent going your way its really easy to say the system isnt working but that is aye how a democracy works. We all get to have different opinions. Some of them went out, some of them dont. I i think that lightens the mooa little bit. I just try to educate people and connect our democracy with values and feelings and like trust, and i try to stay away from the words and on at the political scientist and the lawyers and the advocates try to fight that fight. I go to the fourth grade level. Secretary raffensperger you also have lived experience with this. You had a primary against someone who denied the 2020 the0 election and you with statewide, and you as i remember it from your retelling of it went to lots of small places, lots of small venues and at lots of small but what you hoped would be important conversations. Walk us through that. The first conversation was primarily rotarians, they have the fourway test. Is a truth, will it build goodwill . Great buys to build on. They are really civic, how we all want to be treated, and we should treat others. And then i would just talk about really go back in time. First of all talk about when it took office in 2019 i had nine lawsuits or more from Stacey Abrams and all of her folks that said but not for Voter Suppression i wouldve one of this thing, so she never conceded and so i pushback on that point by point. Then she took four years before we find one at trial and every single count, every single alleged offense that they charged us with, we won. She did a few. Then i talked about the 2020 raise and and i just went th bullet by what i bullet point by point. The night defended sp 202 because i do, this is what we have come a photo id for all forms of voting. Like to be short than what our and all the metrics with put in place. I said heres what the issue is at the end of the day. It gets down to integrity. Thats really what the core issue is. I also believe one of the issues we have is if you are on the side of the aisle you need to hold your folks accountable. And if youre on the side of the aisle you need to hold your folks accountable. It doesnt do any good for you to say hey, im going to talk to my neighbor until the what the kid is done. No, fixture own house. Thats really what really works. We dont need this hatfield and mccoy stuff for you point at each other. Fix your house, we need to fix our house and we need to hold people accountable. Gets down to integrity. A big part of that is thats one of the Building Blocks for trust. Because he got to be truthful come here to be honest, you have to have civic, you have to be respectful to each other. When you do that and back it up with integrity, character. Just good healthy values that thats really what the values that built this country on and i think really any society has been built on those key values. Justin, i was in sedona fried and it appeared Governor Katie Hobbs and just before i arrived came word kerry likes attorneys had been fired, find the sum of 2000 for submitting fraudulent evidence for an arizona coat in regards to the 2022 election. And he and he was governor hobbs observation that while that fine was important, in the larger incentive structure of denialism, it was miniscule. Your thoughts. Thats exactly right and that was a second by the way sanction of the same attorney for bringing a case that was not based on evidence and making false representations to a court. I dont think thats the last shoe to drop, but as you point out 2000 is at this point an unfortunate cost of doing business. Whats the business . The business is grift. Theres a lot of money to be made in whipping people into a frenzy. And ill say just generally, a lot of money to be made for people whipping into a frenzy and people forget figures context in particular there is a lot of money to be made in whipping people into frenzy over the election structure. The amount of small dollar donations that came in in the days after the 2020 election in order to continue the fight, yes, almost none of that money went into the legal battle. That was to line the pockets of those who were fundraising. Thats unfortunately i replicable model as long as people are willing to give up their money without actually investigating where theyre putting it. And that fosters the sort of extreme stances on election denialism that we see and the 2000 judgment isnt going to be sufficient penalty to stop it, say again, yet. That wasnt the first sanction. I dont believe its going to be the last sanction. There are a number of professional entities across the country that are taking far more serious steps to remove people who have abused the trust as an officer of the court from the opportunity to ever be an officer of the court again. I think that is talked about integrity and we talked about accountability. Thats one very important step. But we wont change the broader structure into we realize that it is we who are ultimately responsible for feeding into the money machine. If people dont want to give the money, then the money is not there to be made. David started off this morning talking about the 2016 election, and it was an awful lot of concern point. Into the n about the potential for foreign actors to interfere or hack our election. Turns out we were hacked in 2016 but not through the machines, not through the registration databases, not to the change in any ballot. They hacked us. They found ways that americans would disagree with each other and ample by those disagreements in ways that produced or exacerbated social division. Now in 2020 the hacking is coming from inside the house. We hacked us and we have seen exploitations of the division we have are being used to fund raise, and we see that consistently. The only way to stop that will be for us to unpack as, to realize we have to start examining the sources of information more for us to be more careful with what we choose to spend our dollars, and that will i think cause the incentive to dissipate for people who are right now becoming awfully rich off of making everybody who works in Election Administration lies were difficult. Charles im going to really rely on your native optimism here. Have you analyzed with the data and your Research Tells Us about the potential ability for us to unpack ourselves in the space. Was what, you asked me the hardest question you couldve asked in this. I mean, i think so how do we unpack ourselves . Well, theres time, right . I guess i am skeptical about a lot of Communication Strategies to because what we know in Political Science about bunking, prebunking and post marking and all those sorts of things, where post bunking activities cause people to be more skeptical about everything both the truth and falsehood. I am unfortunately not quite that optimistic about that. But its also the case that election denialism distrust can also be, can be put forward by poorly run elections. So if im optimistic its that i have now seen two challenging elections in in a row that et run well. And so when i say time i think will be part of the solution, i think, the reason im optimistic is that im optimistic about the ability of Election Officials to run trustworthy elections. And many places across the country where, for instance, in georgia the evidence is that yes people are coming back from the break in georgia. People are coming back from the brink in a number of states. Unfortunately they are not coming back in arizona or pennsylvania but that argument back in other states. They are coming back in states where the evidence is the election was run well, and youre getting both parties to kind of recognize that. And so this comes to come looking at the 2024, it seems to me Election Officials especially in small shops, i dont know how, i dont know, obviously everyone used to communicate what they are doing and educates people on what theyre doing. But i think running a really good election in 2024 is the important thing, doing the blocking and tackling, the short lines, have big enough ballots, getting the votes counted quickly and accurately. Those are the sorts of things that will pull us out where we are, and optimism is Election Officials have done it. Things are challenging but ive seen it done. To your point about people coming back from the brink, i see former secretary of state grayson in the back. I know he has a theory about this that for those who can come back, welcome them back, do not scorn them, do not push them away. I wanted to ask you something the Carter Center has tremendous center has expense with was typical. Going into place when election is contested and negotiating with the top candidates before hand, something they are oftentimes reluctant to do. Say they will accept the results. How hard is that . What methods have you found most successful to achieve that . Because that seems to me to be one of the threshold orientations thao be laid down for an election can be successfully carried out and verified and believed in. Well, we can walk with blue Carter Center is on as observers and big independent observers nonpartisan. Walking into Fulton County with the secretary of state was kind enough to invite us, the only nonpartisan observer for the risklimiting audit we all had blue shirts on and i was immediate busted me because we are put in the democratic one of its like okay, tomorrow no one wears the Carter Center shirts. Wear a baseball cap but not a blue shirt i did realize the color blue had been taken over. So you know we are slowly learning how to do things in the nonpartisan way. With a name like carter, which with all the reassessment of his legacy now, until the end of the day, democrat president so when we have those conversation with elected officials, and again this is a code of conduct that you of the conversation before hand and say you will adhere to the results. We are doing this year but we have 12 principles overseas that everyone signs off on. We could only get five agreed to hear. In the u. S. So we would be pushing those five out because i think that they are ones that people cannot other, the candidates, but those are difficult conversations. The secretary in georgia was very wise in putting together a Bipartisan Task force in 2020 because he knew we had had voices from both sides, one telling his office what we were thinking and hearing and saying, but also that you have to work within your communities to make sure you have trusted voices to hold your elected officials accountable. So in order, look ahead to 2024, what are you, to charles observation about the necessity of good blocking and tackling, preparing for looking toward and height what the country to evaluate this next election upcoming. Well, from our standpoint making sure we keep the lines short. Making sure we report the results quickly, i think thats really important. And then make sure that the counties have the resources they need for whoever does show up. We will prepare them for a record turnout. If you look at our 18, 20, 22, its a continuous bump upwards. Prepare that for big numbers and thats the best you can do. Other than that, be prepared for people that specialize in disinformation and to be ready within the response. Editing will be very proactive. Will you be proactive ahead of the elections purpose we will make sure we work with the counties that, in fact, we hosted a seminar in athens with all of our 159 election directors, and really for training purposes but we want to make sure with strong relationships with them. We know they run the election but at the end of the day if things go wrong it all comes up to atlanta, georgia, what i said. So im going to wear it one way or the other so we want to make sure all the counties prefer for big numbers, keep aligned to short, have days early voting and as much on election day. We know there maybe some people that wont like the results and we hope we would be helpful that whatever candidates they are, they would understand that these are the results but we can do a 100 hand recount at it not bashful about being able to call that car guy did that in 2020 and we did a 100 hand counts we can prove to things tier one, the machine counteracted because the machines at the same answer and those with the results. And im sorry that one of the losing candidates was disappointed with it but we had to give people heres what the results are. Secretary thomas . We have some unique challenges because in 2024 we will be starting early voting for the first time, two weeks. We also anticipate having new tabulators. So there is a lot of room for miss trost. So were trying to get ahead of the curve. A lot of it will come down to human capital, making sure come in connecticut our elections are administered on the municipal level. We have no county form of government so with 169 separate towns, when democrat, when republican registrar in each town. So making sure that all the training they need. Weve had quite a turnover in the last two years. So training, resources, and a lot of transparency as we take on these two huge new projects. Charles . So i have already given part of my answer. Ill give the rest of answer. The thing about 2020 was that election was the emergency brake class election. We knew is going to be challenging. Congress didnt come through as much as they wanted but they came through to some degree philanthropy came through the extent of local governments came through anheuserbusch came through. Lots of folks came through just regular people came through and volunteered to be poll workers. It was seen to be a national emergency. People, the nation pulled through to make that election happen. 2024 is not going to be that level of emergency but still quantity a challenging election. So yes, i guess i would say im optimistic. The system is in stress test, tested in the past but there are things actually looking at the camera so because i know people in this room know this, but county commissions seem to be funding the county election offices, state legislatures need to be funding, you need to be paying attention to to help election workers be supported, to help support getting out under the mountain of foia request and the rest. There still some work to be done to make 2024, out. Justin. Im going to give a hearty amen to everything that charles just said. With a slightly different starting point. Election officials are used to patching the holes in the back with duct tape. Thats part of the job. In 2020, they built the entire bucket out of duct tape. There was no bucket. And, unfortunately, i think, they did a spectacular job such that people now expect every bucket to be made out of duct tape. And that is wrong. Deeply wrong. The unbelievable result against that Election Officials, state, county, town, local poll workers showed in 2020 i fear is taught us the wrong lesson, which is just rely on resilience and we will get there. Which is exactly the wrong approach. Its true that Congress Gave emergency funding but none of that was an investment. All of that was afterward and barely enough to keep the lights on. And in many places not enough to keep the lights on. Philanthropy was necessary anheuserbusch was necessary. And now the environment is such that its a lot harder for philanthropy, for private organizations to be able to contribute even on a strictly nonpartisan basis, which means the county commissions have to step up. State legislatures have to step up. And ill say congress has to step up, and not in october of 2024 when it is largely for any of that stepping up to matter. That has to be nothing in fact, it have to be yesterday. The president put forward two years ago and repeated again at 10 billion over ten year budget designed to sustainably fund Election Administration with another 5 billion for the Postal Service in order to relieve some of the pressure on states and local administrators, not just for mail ballots but for all of the various ways Election Officials know they accuse the mail and ordered to get noticed, and or to get word out, in order to reach the constituents. Congress responded with what can best be described as a middle layer. That has to change on a bipartisan basis. Theres an enormous amount of education to be done. That is not a single party problem. That is a bipartisan problem but invariably went before going to make 2024 a success. Paige, 2024. So i so i think we can all agree with what were standing on the president in 2022, and we werent sure what was going to happen. Well be going to fall in . I think we stepped back but were still on the overhang. As a look at when 24 i 24 i think theres a before, during and after component we have to focus on. Before is like many of us are working on now, we recognize the clock is already taking and is getting very short but we have to teach people to learn to discern on their on th. We have to hold people accountable legally. The during, all of you are doing amazing work for us its an observation component. How can we be effective to make sure we elevate the messages that are coming out about the free, Fair Elections and the transparency . Anthony after, theres a lot of legal aspects now that we run rule of law programs all over the world everyone conflict mitigation programs. The work we do in molly accident were doing in Central Florida now and conflict resolution and the same with rule of law. All of these frivolous lawsuits have come forth the judges susceptible back and said you need to take continuing learning education credits. Their only six you to budget professors who teach of those in the United States. So you actually we dont have the legal system that is setup or a Law School System that is set up to teach election law. We need to move into that area, too. So its a before, during, and after and want to be here to help all the work that is being done. Before you open it up for questions on the audience i just want to note that if this panel has achieved nothing else it is achieved complete metaphorical cohesion. At the beginning, paige talked about president carter thing he wanted to save money for rainy day and she sang it was pouring rain outside. Justin mentioning a bucket to catch rain, duct tape. That metaphorical cohesion is absolutely perfect. Its an intimate crowd. We dont need to shout ranking but rage and if you have a question for this distinguished panel. Yes. An awesome panel, thank you so much. Im with the bipartisan policy center, and my question is for secretary raffensperger and secretary thomas. I would love, could you talk about it about the relationship and touch points between your office and the county and local officials come Election Officials in your state, and how these relationships and touch points have changed over the past few years . Ill start first because ive only been in office for months i can only talk about that time frame. But both when i was campaigning and since ive taken office i really believe that those on the front line workers, and assisted in connecticut we have a republican and democrat in every town across connecticut. So whenever im on business anywhere i always stopped in to see the registrars. I attended a conference and i took their learning, or their training course, which earned me a standing ovation at the conference. But it also started monthly calls that are not training related or specific messages that i am trying to push. Its really an open forum. I get the updates of what the legislature is doing. I allow them to ask any questions. And it hasnt been done in like a decade. So people been very appreciative. I come from a business background, so sort of this twoway communication model, continues improvement is what i bring to the role. And so far so good. Because a republican stood up at the conference and said i had been watching you since you took office, and i wish i could go back and change my vote. So you know thats the type of thing that makes me feel good as a secretary. Thats it from our standpoint. Weve all said the relationship with county but we really deepened our relationship. Were updating which allows us to accelerate check in voters but we just dont send it out to be. We did some training for that. Were always looking at what we can do here and then when we looked at the budget we wanted 4 million for new battery packs to use ballot marking devices. Its battery technology, they weigh over 50pound and a new ones for 30 pounds. By comparing a nissan leaf to a tesla. We wanted to secure that. We got half of those funds so we can really help the county when election because we recognize the age of the average poll worker. What if we can do to support the efforts we do that. And then i would say from what i see and are election workers in our counties, they really have professionalized, really working on that, elevating really the training and mentoring afghan county by county. We have key leaders and i see one of them is here at this conference but we have the key leaders populate drop the state. What they have really doing is bringing in about four or five other counties, doing these of limitations, we gather there and we send someone down from our office but they are working together. Its a Team Approach up and down and actually working well. I think they know that if they had issues we have an open door policy we just are really excited about our state election director, we put an end is always right after 2020 and he has just jumped into it but he started in the county office, into meck county offices and hes just elevated i think our entire reach outs and outreach to all of our county. Elon, did you hear that . Tesla. Next question. Right over here. [inaudible] thank you, everybody. I am with issue one. I have one question for anyone on the panel i can answer it. Election officials are under extraordinary amount of pressure, resource issues, partisan pressure at the local level right now. These pressures are probably going to increase taken in states where the race is going to be quite close in 2024. What more can the federal government specifically do to support Election Administrators right now i had a 2024 . Thank you. And thats for the administration and for congress, just your perspective. Thank you. Justin. Ill dive and what to think that off the bat and a wish there were more but, unfortunately, the limits on the federal government ability to help are pretty serious, not least because that everybody wants the federal government to be helpful. And that is the most important thing to keep in mind is that help house to be welcomed in order for it to do any good. That said, you quickly think there are resource, all this stress everyone is under is exacerbated when youre trying to tie shoes with no shoelaces. That includes security. That includes personal security and includes System Security it includes human resources. Too often when we Pay Attention to the budget for the machines in the paper and the buildings and not the people. It is absolutely true that as david said a lot of people are examining whether they want to be in this heroic role, shouldnt have to be heroic but it has been heroic. And the pay scale would help with that decision, not the recently but he goes into this job but under compensating is not a good idea either. So one, two, three, four and five are probably resources. Six, the fbi and the doj have a task force that is out there and evaluating threats against officials and hoping to deter further harassment and for the threats through their efforts. I can only go so far. They are working hard but the tools the federal government has are mostly retroactive. And there are an awful lot of people out there who been goaded into making this threats and harassment that are never going to get to the fbi. It is important for people to know that they have real federal Law Enforcement who are looking after them in cases that rise to that level but theres an undercurrent of things that never get to the zone of a federal crime that still make the job of an election official incredibly difficult. Things like the election official Legal Network is also helpful in this regard. Bipartisan support just in case you get sued or in case you are harassed but theres a lot more that states and locales left to do to fill in the neville gaps the federal government will not be able to reach. Secretary raffensperger, did you feel that there were less or a shortage of tools to do with this particular issue of threats and harassment in your state after 2020 . Your deputy gabe sterling gave a very famous decoration about the dangers. I knew that was prompted by particular specific tweet about some of who is in your system and the threats that they felt. Did you feel you are underresourced or the law simply did not provide enough tools to combat this . I think after 2020 Law Enforcement think was probably taken by surprise. They just were not prepared for that. And so then they are really filling in. I think now going into 2024 i think their eyes are wide open. You say that in georgia and n nationwide . Probably. Definitely in georgia. We just had some instances, i know we are Rural Counties were written election workers followed home and yet it was 75, 80 80 and the county so it all favored President Trumps team, republican team. Just interesting people even these role counties, your what about what was happening in those counties, they won, 8020. This takes Law Enforcement look at a lot of things but federal agencies have a lot more resources as it relates to cyber and also whos talking to who that state entities just dont have. We have local Law Enforcement because some of the areas where people were under threats and were grateful for the shares in the local Law Enforcement and Police Departments that did that. Next question. Date, microsoft democracy forward. Charles, you identified of the ring as one of the biggest problems and administration right now. Paige. I think this one the most important things we picked up on talked a lot about medication in the short term. Like whats the longterm solution to that . Is a standardization federal regulations and things like that . Howdy doody people to trust elections happening in other places in the u. S. . So i have college year from bridging divides and we truly are looking at how we do this overseas and how we do it domestically as well. North carolina we did a bus tour, for example, and had a republican and democratic former mayor of charlotte on the bus tour having those conversations. So the othering means you have to see yourself in the person that you truly believe is carrying the message that you are carrying the message for them but their message is now different. You have to be able to welcome people back to the fold when that moment happens and you also have to show its human nature. You all were talking what you saw in arizona. Once people believe in something youre not going to talk them out of it because the applicants also far out on a limb that they dont want to cut off. So you have to find a way to bring people back. Those are the conversations that really are going to change it. So you have to find specific elements that you can agree on and then moved from there. Sounds a bit pollyannaish at a dont think youre going to change a lot of peoples minds but a lease if you open up the conversation you get to a point where the conversation is happening. I think thats where were missing out right now. The Carter Center has expressed with a reconciliation part of this equation, does that not . We do and thats why when ebola struck in liberia and youre trying to convince people that not to bury their dead a certain way, how to go in a talk to religious leaders about changing generations of how the bury their dead contract of the conversation about what it means and how its going to spread the disease if you do it that way. Those are the conversations we have to be in the communities here we cant do it from a National Point that we cant do it from headquarters in atlanta or from the hallowed halls of universities. You you have to be insecuritid say what matters to them . Is at their electricity bill . Is that with a worried about the two deconstruct that of the conversation about where government fits into their pocket book and what fits into what matters to them. A lot of work making those connections is a based on logic or based on, its based on reducing social isolation and getting people to trust each other in small groups that can expense of the groups that can expand to bigger groups. This is the Surgeon General has pointed out loneliness is a National Epidemic made far was by the pandemic and it helps breed all of the dysfunction were seeing come much easier when someone, you dont know or have never met but that work is incredibly hard and incredibly localized and very longterm how to make real connections and its only ever been done in communities when its been done well. Spoke with about two minutes left on what to give anyone a chance offer the last observations. We well come this way. I told to pick up on othering. I also think its holistic. We will not solve this problem only in the election space, and i was struck when you said that earlier there was a time in this country were i would not have been considered a full human being, and now im secretary of the state. That was not a legal solution, of voting, you know, it is holistic. So i think we have to remember to make this big tent much beyond people in the sun and breath to attack it at the level everywhere. Secretary raffensperger . I think i hit that earlier. I will just come back to it really gets down to the quality of the people that are running for elected office. They have to be able to stand in the gap and gently, compassionately give people the facts. Sometimes there will be blowback. Blowback. If it takes them reading profiles in courage to understand anything you say sometimes wont be gently received, you still have to do it anyway. I think it is just being truthful to people and getting out there and talking to people. The more you talk to people, police say thomas c think some to have perspective so having conversation fitbits about civil discourse, having the character and having the courage to do that. I think at the end of the day, you do when people over. It just takes time. Ive never doubted the goodness of the American People and i think you get up there and talk to people you find that most people are good, most people listen. They will respect you for what you do. The most important thing you can have in life, and screech of the respect of your spouse, respect of your kids, but your selfrespect. Because thats the person you look in the mirror every morning. Charles. Is a hard things to follow. One thing i would add is just again almost for the cameras, Election Officials are ready to do the work. They have shown they can do it under the most dire circumstances. Its up to us as citizens. Its up to our elected officials to make that there their n the next two years. So we have to do at least as much of our work so that Election Officials can do theres. Justin. That, too, is hard to follow. I will add i guess and. It is, theres a question that we work to do in the next two years, but we cant only think to the next two years. I think the secretaries observation that this takes time is really important. If we are only ever looking to solutions that kick in a few months ahead or a year head or even two years ahead we will miss the really truly Meaningful Solutions that take a decade or more to develop. But always yield dividends. And so we have to even as we pick up pieces of a longterm plan that will help us over the next months and years, we have to commit to the longterm plan. Ben franklin walked out of the Constitutional Convention was saying we have a republic, if you can keep it. And that was not a twoyear cycle. Paige come to get the last word. So following up on ben franklin. Jimmy carters written a lot. Hes probably prolific but one of his main takeaways was something his is high schoor told him, which is you have to adjust to changing times that hold true to your principles. I truly think as a look for the right leaders to run for office, as would look to the Election Administrators who are spending time doing this work, doing really important work and i think people understand the principal space that you were in. So we all need to adjust and figure out how we can help you and how we can help the United States continue on this adjourning to democracy. Before invite you to get this panel and rousing round of applause, two observation. Standing in the gap, hobart extend the gap, election diminishes and then get, county and city submerged insane. So to suck at his estate. They should all be audited and kissing was wondering if the subliminal message in my socks can guess at the martini glass interpreted as you will. I Major Garrett leaves pd the plus for this panel. [applause] what a great panel. Thank you major. Thank you panelists. I will briefly tell you im very sorry tell you the nominations are now closed for the award and excellence for election metaphors Justin Levitt will be recognized for production achievement for bucket of duct tape, shoes without laces and tweet with the filing fee. That award will be presented later. Were going to take a ten minute brief break. Well get back your at 11 25. Its its 11 15 right now with the next panel. Thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]