The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Desi Lydic Investigates Paper Shortages Affecting Upcoming Elections

Episode Date: October 17, 2022

The most pressing issue leading up to the midterm elections is…a paper shortage? Desi Lydic investigates.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'll investigate in our new segment, Vote Demick 2022, our crumbling election infrastructure. After our nation's last elections went super smooth, dozens of voters were locked out of the one single polling place for all of Louisville. Reports of hours of long lines, voting machine malfunctions, provisional ballot shortages. Officials are looking at calling in the National Guard. I wanted to find out how ready we are for the midterms, so I'm headed to our nation's capital to talk with election advocates at the Democracy Fund.

My name is Tammy Patrick. I'm a senior advisor to the elections team at the Democracy, which seeks to ensure that we have an open and just democracy that is inclusive and trustworthy for all of our citizens. Ooh, sounds like you got your work cut out for you. We do in this moment. There's a lot of work to be done, but it may not be in the areas that you necessarily think it is. All right, what are all the problems for this upcoming election election.

So we continue to see a shortage of poll workers, the global supply chain issues, underfunding of our election infrastructure. But, whoa, wait, Tammy, Tammy. Let's start with the most pressing issue. Well, one of the most pressing issues in this moment, because of where we are in the election cycle, is a paper shortage. Paper?

Paper? Tammy, it's 2022. Who's using paper to vote? to vote? to vote? to vote? to vote? to vote? to vote? to vote? the to vote? the the to vote? the to vote? the to vote? the to vote? th? th? thi? thi? thi? thi? thi? tha? thi? thuu. thi? thi? thi? thu. thu. thu. thu. thuu. thuu. thuuu. thuu. thuu. thuuu. thuu. thuuuu. thuu................ We? Under? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? Is? tha? tha? t ta? ta?a?au. taau. tau tau. tau. tau tau tau ta?a? ta? ta? PAPER? Tammy, it's 2022. Who's using paper to vote? So the vast majority of Americans actually cast a paper ballot. Yeah, no, I knew that. I vote every election. I got the stickers to prove it. Well, that's great.

But election offices all around this country have ordered their ballots, they've ordered envelopes, they've ordered paper materials that they need, and they may not get them in time for the upcoming election. Who's going to be affected by this paper shortage most? What it looks like is going to happen will be those small election offices serving rural communities where they don't have a large service provider that's helping them take care of this issue. Are you saying that the rural community? Am I... rural? Am I saying that right? Rural. The rural... Okay, you know what I'm saying. As I learned about this large swath of Americans... Rural. Very real. I realized this paper shortage could affect a lot of people. Well, I guess I I guess I thi thi thi th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th th th th th th th th th thi thi th th th the their their their their their their their th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi ta ta tip ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta tryuuuu-ssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thauui. Rural. Very rural. I realized this paper shortage could affect a lot of people.

Well, I guess I gotta go find some paper people. Oh, wait, there's more to talk about. Can it, Tammy? But can't America just sneak some printer paper home from work like the rest of us? I went to run back election services, one of the largest ballot printing facilities, to get an inside thapap th th th th th th th th th th th th th the th th the th the th th th th their thoe tho tho thate thate thate thate tho tho tho tho tho-a look at how dire the paper shortage is. We print ballots for several states and counties across the nation. We're in 23 states plus Washington, D.C. with some of our products. Wow, so you're a huge part of the voting process.

Yeah, we toubilts. Yeah, we toubts. toobey to 50% of the voters around the country. You toult to a a a a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot lot lot lot a lot lot a lot lot to to to to to tode toda toda toda. today. today. tooe. tooe. tooe. tooe. tooe. tooe. tooe. tooe. tooe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. to to to to to to to to to to to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. toe. toe. toe. t. t. t. thae. thae. the. the. toda. toda. today. today. today. today. today. today. today. today. today. today. today. today. t going on with this paper shortage? It started during COVID. When the paper mill shut down they couldn't generate more paper. So they sold through all their inventory. And then when they started going back to work and then when they started going back to work, they converted to linerboard for cardboard boxes, right? thi's, thiii. We don't have the inventory any longer, and so they're trying to play catch-up. And you're saying there's a paper shortage happening right now? Yes.

Jeff, I don't know how to tell you this, but I see a f-ton of-pa-ton of paper around here. So what you see here on our production floor is a fraction of what we need for the whole year. Every day, we'll go through 65 of th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi their thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the' the' the, the' the' the' the' the' thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the. the. the. the. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the, we the, we the, we're the an thean. thean thean. thean. thean thean thean. thean thean thean. thean. day we'll go through 65 of those roles. 65 of these roles? Yes. Jesus Christ. Historically, we could order paper, and in two to three weeks, we would have what we need.

Now it's three to four months or more, and that's been the problem this year. How bad are we talking? Like, we might need to start printing double-sided bad, or the majority of Americans won't get to choose their president bad? Let's hope it doesn't get to that. Everybody's working to avoid that very problem, but we already do print double-sided ballots. So, there is, we already print on both sides of the paper.

Jesus Christ, Jeff, that means it's bad. Kind of. to walk me through everything that the election community runs out of paper. If there's no paper it's hard to mail balance, envelopes, I voted stickers and instructions. Wait, wait, wait, wait, voting stickers could be gone. Could be. But the sticker's the best part of voting. It's the only reason I vote. Could also do digital stickers. Instead of getting the physical sticker you get a digital sticker when you vote. Jeff, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Fair enough. Okay, I just have a few more questions. No. Ah, yes. What can Americans do to help with the paper shortage? Stop wasting paper.

I'm going to start with the to see. Cursef. Why am I writing in cursive? Stop wasting paper. Yeah. All right, you want to take me on a tour? I'm ready to go to work. All right, let's go. You're going to wear a hard hat?

Yeah, that's what you do, right? It was time to roll up my sleeves, so I didn't get ink on them. Gross. This paper palace was pompin. And it turns out there's a lot more to printing to pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr to to to to to to tos out there's a lot more to printing than just hitting Control P. So this is where it all starts. We get the files from the county, the PDFs, so we can start the print process. Ah, let me ask you a question. Does PDF really stand for please don't... No.

I could see how crucial paper was to this process. So every roll of paper will generate about a thousand ballots. When when when running in an election, we'll be running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These run 24 hours a day? Yes. Wait, what's happening? This machine just ran out of paper. Happening already? I even presented Jeff with some of my own solutions to stopping the shortage.

So this is the insertor. This where the ballots, the I voted sticker, the instructions all go into the envelope to be mailed out to the voter. You say the stickers? The I voted stickers, yes. These ones right here. Yes. Oh, no.

So even if a paper shortage does ruin America's democracy, at least I'll be able to participate participate the most important part of the voting process. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Ears Edition. Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.