WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:63000 1 00:00:00.190 --> 00:00:04.000 What you're seeing in this country right now is a almost splitting of the voting 2 00:00:04.001 --> 00:00:06.840 system, where some states are making it much, much easier to vote. 3 00:00:06.990 --> 00:00:08.520 Whereas other states are saying like, 4 00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:11.320 we want to have much more stringent regulations. 5 00:00:16.590 --> 00:00:17.920 In 39 states, for instance, 6 00:00:17.921 --> 00:00:20.990 you've seen legislation proposed that would expand voter ID requirements. 7 00:00:21.290 --> 00:00:25.670 In nine, you've seen legislation proposed that would allow state legislatures to 8 00:00:25.840 --> 00:00:28.870 invalidate or change the electoral counts. 9 00:00:28.870 --> 00:00:32.790 The way that they reduced some of the wait times, for instance, 10 00:00:32.820 --> 00:00:37.030 that you're allowed to stand in line or banning the passing out of snacks and 11 00:00:37.031 --> 00:00:37.840 water in line. 12 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:42.820 Those were particularly egregious policies that people had a strong reaction to. 13 00:00:43.170 --> 00:00:46.820 This has all been in reaction to a strong sentiment throughout the country, 14 00:00:47.230 --> 00:00:49.500 especially among the conservative base, 15 00:00:50.090 --> 00:00:54.100 that the election of 2020 was somehow illegitimate. 16 00:00:54.120 --> 00:00:57.860 So the proponents of these laws, who, they call them election security laws. 17 00:00:57.930 --> 00:01:00.420 They are arguing that to preserve democratic legitimacy, 18 00:01:00.470 --> 00:01:02.610 we need to enact these laws, 19 00:01:03.030 --> 00:01:05.970 to protect the sanctity of the ballot. 20 00:01:05.971 --> 00:01:08.690 Voting rights advocates are saying that that has it entirely backwards. 21 00:01:08.830 --> 00:01:12.530 And they're saying that these laws are going to restrict and are specifically 22 00:01:12.531 --> 00:01:17.050 targeted at ensuring that the result of the election goes the way that one party 23 00:01:17.051 --> 00:01:17.930 wants to in the future. 24 00:01:18.270 --> 00:01:21.050 But until we actually see how an election plays out with some of these laws in 25 00:01:21.051 --> 00:01:23.960 place, we're not gonna know necessarily, what the effects are going to be. 26 00:01:24.430 --> 00:01:29.080 What we've seen with these laws isn't necessarily that they are saying, 27 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:31.880 "No, we don't want minority communities to vote" or "no, 28 00:01:31.881 --> 00:01:35.680 we don't want urbanites to vote." But the practical results of a situation where 29 00:01:35.681 --> 00:01:39.400 you say every county is only allowed to have a certain number of ballot drop 30 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:40.561 boxes. For instance, 31 00:01:40.561 --> 00:01:44.470 I'm thinking right now of Maricopa County in Arizona or Fulton County in 32 00:01:44.471 --> 00:01:46.510 Georgia. If you, if you reduce that number, 33 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:49.790 you are effectively making it harder for urban Americans to vote. 34 00:01:49.930 --> 00:01:50.990 You've seen for instance, 35 00:01:50.991 --> 00:01:53.950 cases where you're still allowed to register with a gun license, 36 00:01:54.410 --> 00:01:56.030 but you're not allowed to register with a student license. 37 00:01:56.410 --> 00:01:59.030 And that's something that voting rights advocates have been very much pushing on 38 00:01:59.290 --> 00:02:01.870 and arguing that certain provisions in these laws, 39 00:02:01.960 --> 00:02:05.780 while they might not make it impossible for large swaths of the populations to 40 00:02:05.781 --> 00:02:08.420 vote, a lot of elections in America are won on the margins. 41 00:02:08.421 --> 00:02:10.780 And if you make it harder for a marginal group of people to vote, 42 00:02:10.781 --> 00:02:12.740 then you can really transform the face of this country.