The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Voter Suppression in America

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Trevor Noah and Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. cover the tactics used to suppress the votes of American citizens, including the Republicans' use of the filibuster to block the Democrats' voting rights bill, and harsher vote-by-mail laws. Plus, Trevor sits with Carol Anderson to discuss the ways voters of color have been disenfranchised. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Stewart here, unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show, we're gonna be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. America's basic cable elections are coming up in November, which is just five COVID waves away. So, now's as good a time as any to check in on how America's elections are shaping up in our ongoing segment, Vote Gasm 2022. Voting. It's what makes America the greatest democracy in the world. And if you don't like American democracy, America will come invade your country to show you in person how good choosing

for yourself is. And as we approach the 2022 midterm elections, Republican-led states across America are busy fine-tuning their voting processes to make sure that they're even more perfect. Take Texas, for example. During the last election, people were so frustrated by how many voting options they had. They could vote in person, they could mail it in. There was drive-through voting. Too many choices. It was so annoying.

So now, Texas is saying, don't worry. We're giving you fewer options so you don't have to worry about choices anymore. Oh, and in Georgia, voters were complaining about how many convenient ballot drop boxes were cluttering the streets. Well, thankfully, there's going to be a lot fewer of them, and they're going to be a lot harder to find this November. In Iowa, they're reducing early voting and closing the polls earlier on election

day, which we can all agree is great, because who wants to vote after work? I mean, that's prime Netflix time, baby. Democracy can wait. Now, all of these changes have just affected the process for voting, but some of America's most respected leaders are also trying to fine-tune the process for counting votes. And they're doing this to make sure that th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the the the 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 thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the the th th th th this, this, this, th this, th this, th th this, th this, th th this th this the, the, the the the the the the the the the the the the theeean thean thean thean theananan theanan theanan theanan theananan. theeate the to fine-tune the process for counting votes. And they're doing this to make sure that the votes are counted the right way. Allies of Donald Trump are trying to remove some of the guardrails that prevented him from overturning the 2020 election. Now, according to the Post, Trump and his supporters are pushing a plan to place loyalists in key election posts from poll watchers and precinct judges to county

clerks and state attorneys general. We have to be a lot sharper the next time when it comes to counting the vote. Sometimes the vote counter is more important than the candidate, and we can't let that ever, ever happen again. They have to get tougher and smarter. Is that a famous saying? There's a famous saying that the vote counter, I've never heard that saying in my entire life. I know I'm going to get a lot of flag for saying this.

But Trump is totally right. He's right about being tough. You've got to count those votes hard. If you show any weakness, those ballots are going to take your girl. And for Trump to say the vote counter is more important than the candidate, I mean, that just shows you how committed he is to ensuring the democratic process goes the way he wants it to. I mean, think about it. Donald Trump said, stop thinking about it. the Democrats have been trying, thiiiiii. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin, thin, th. thin, thin, to thin. thin. thin. to thin. to thr-a, thr-a, thr- thr- thr-in. thr- thr- thi. to to to tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, to, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. th. th. th. thr-a. to thr-s, thr-s, thr-a. thr-s. to to thr-I. to work Republicans have been getting up to. But the Democrats have been trying to make changes of their own. And if you ask them, everyone should be able to vote with barely any effort, which would be crazy because then everyone would vote, including Bill Cosby. So they've been pushing their own laws in Congress,

and last night, they almost got their way. We're gonna begin with a major setback for Democrats on Capitol Hill. What would have been their landmark voting rights bill failed. 52 to 48 in the Senate last night with two Democrats joining all 50 Republicans in opposing a rules change to push it through. To no surprise, it was Senators Kirstenierierierierierierierierierierierierierierierierierierierierierierier. the K K K Kier. they they's Ki, they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they' they're they're they're they're they, they, they, they're they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. they they they they they they they they a rules change to push it through. To no surprise, it was Senators, Kirsten Cinemann and Joe Manchin who helped Republicans kill hopes

for filibuster reform and voting rights. Eliminating the filibuster would be the easy way out. It wasn't meant to be easy. Yeah, Joe Manchin is right. Everything in the Senate should be as difficult as possible. If Democrats want a possible, Chuck Schumer should have to carry it through a stage of American Ninja Warrior first. But yes, Republicans were able to use the filibuster to block the Democrats' voting rights bill with the help of Democrats, Joe Manchin, and Kurson Cinema.

Because you see, those two do support the Democrats voting rights bills, they just don't support making sure that they pass. Which when you think about it is actually so inspiring, you know. Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema believed so strongly on the power of voting that they used their vote to block voting rights for the entire country. They were unvoting voting by voting. So it was the right thing for Manchin and Cinema to do voting rights for the entire country. They were unvoting voting by voting. So it was the right thing for Mansion and Cinema to do, and basically, everyone loves them for it. But as usual, there are haters out there who just don't get it.

If you think this bill makes sense, and if you're worried about the future of American democracy, and if you are prepared to vote for the bill, then why are you wasting everybody's time and not voting for the rule change that allows us to pass the bill. You know it's like inviting somebody to lunch, putting out a great spread, and saying you can't eat. This is why people shouldn't debate on an empty stomach. If we're not gonna pass this bill, can someone at least pass me a goddam sandwich? But this is this is this is th th this is th th th th th th th th th th 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 thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the their their their their you their you their you their you their you their you their you their you their you their you their you thi thi their you thi thi thi th. thi thi th. thi thi thi. thi. thi. Why thi. Why thi. Why thi. Why thi. Why thi. Why thi. Why the. Why thin, why thin. Why thin. Why thean thean. thean. Why thean. Why thean. Why thean. Why thee. If we're not gonna pass this bill, can someone at least pass me a goddamn sandwich? But this is just classic Bernie Sanders, man.

He thinks just because those two Democrats say they support the bill, they should vote accordingly. Really, Bernie, it's called politics, not logic ticks. See what I did there? I changed it. It was politics, maybe if he had spoken spoken lunch, Bernie would have understood how much sense this makes.

Because what Joe mentioned is, I want to help you out of the water. I'm not going to throw you a rope, but I want to throw you the rope. And any drowning man would agree. It's the thought that counts. Isn't that right, drowning man. I can't hear what he's saying, but he agrees. So for whatever reason, the right to vote has gotten people very passionate on both sides. In fact, it's become such a big deal that they even woke up Joe Biden so that he could weigh in. With the voting rights push hitting a dead end, President Biden was asked whether this year's

midterms would be fairly conducted and legitimate after many Republican-led states enacted new voting restrictions. It all depends on whether or not we're able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election. It's never good for an American president to sow seeds of doubt in the legitimacy of American elections. The language is being used is clearly concerning. I thought that undermining our election results was a threat to our democracy. The last thing you wanted to hear was to hear from President Biden that there are questions

about the legitimacy of the elections. You needed the president to say, no, we've got the best electoral system in the world. Yeah, that's right. Joe Biden needs to step up and say that not a single other country in the world has a better electoral system than America. People in Denmark, they wish. They wish they could spend all of election day sweating in a high school gym.

I mean, sure, that's why most functioning countries actually have the elections run by nonpartisan independent commissions, you know, to make sure that politicians can't twist the voting laws for their own gain, but I mean, that would just be ridiculous. I mean, think about it. You want the people in charge of the election to have some skin in the game, right? That's how you know it's fair. Imagine how stupid it would be thii had a separate group of people on the court just to enforce the rules. That would make no sense.

That's why instead, the strongest teams get to decide for themselves whether they committed any fouls. And that's why, my friends, America's electoral system is still the best and why nobody should ever say otherwise, because it's not true. And also because even if it was, it will be really to to to to to to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be really to be really to be really to be really to be really to be to be to be to be to because it's not true. And also because even if it was, it will be really uncomfortable to hear. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show, the Weekly Show, the Weekly Show, the Weekly Show, The Weekly Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. Yesterday, the US Supreme Court upheld a law in South Carolina that requires mail-in

voters to have their absentee ballot witnessed by one other person, which, in these days of pandemic isolation, is going to make it hard for some people to vote at all. It turns out, though, South Carolina isn't the only state making it more difficult for people to vote by mail. And you're asking how that can be? Well, our very own Roywood Jr. has more. The Rona election is upon us, and vote by mail is the only way people will be able to vote safely. But not all states are making it easy. The Supreme Court approving a request from South Carolina to reinstate a law

requiring absentee ballots to have a witness's signature. The process of notarizing your absentee ballot in Missouri has also been closely watched by local civil rights groups. Voters in Texas are confused about what exactly is allowed in our state. If you put on your application that you want to vote by mail because of COVID, that application must be rejected. Damn! States like Texas and South Carolina really are actively limiting absentee voting. To find out more, I spoke with Myrna Perez, an expert in American voting rights. Madam Perez, uh, bring me up to speed real quick.

Where are we with voting by mail in this country right now? We're going to have some glitches, but every state in the country has a vote by mail process. We have been using vote by mail since the Civil War. But we still have a handful of states that are going to put barriers in front of the ballot box, forcing people to choose between their health and exercising their fundamental right to vote. Why are some states like Texas making it so hard for people to vote by mail? I think there's no other explanation other than they're worried about how their own voters are going to vote. Ah, makes perfect sense.

The people in charge of voting, making sure that people can't vote. It feels very American to me. And what a surprise. Turns out most of the states pushing back against vote by mail are controlled by Republicans. But maybe I'm not giving Republicans the benefit of the doubt, because if you ask them, they'll say there's a perfectly good reason for limiting absentee ballots. President Trump has warned for months that expanded voting by mail because of the pandemic will lead to massive voter fraud. There will be extraordinary confusion in chaos in the aftermath. lead to massive voter fraud. There will be extraordinary confusion and chaos in the aftermath.

It is open to fraud and coercion. A postman in a very Republican district, for example, could throw out every ballot that he gets. There'll be no ramifications for that. We all know that rogue mail men can be dangerous. But are these claims legit? Kim Wyman, one of the Os of vote by mail, says her state system is proof that voting by mail works.

Our state votes entirely by mail and we have since 2011. So we mail every voter that's eligible, a ballot about 20 days before election day, and then they get to vote when it's convenient for them. Why should I trust your process? Why should the other 49 states trust what you're doing? Because we have spent about 20 years really fine-tuning it, building in the security measures. So when people attack it and call it into question and say there's fraud,

we can demonstrate that it's secure. And we can show how it really empowers everyone to participate. Have you to tolk the Republican, to to to toe, toe, toe, their, toe, their, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, they. they. And, thi, thi, they, and, and, and, and, they, and, and, they, they, they, they, they, they. And, they. And, the, the, they. And, the the th. And, th. And, thin, thin, thi. And, thin, thin, thin, thin, thininin, thinin. And, thin. And, thin. And, thin. Soe, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin,ld your Republican colleagues in other states about this? Because they don't seem too interested in expanding vote by mail. Well, we've been working with all 50 states and certainly different states are in different places in terms of technology and their capacity for mail and voting. But I think every one of my counterparts wants to empower their voters,

give them options to be able to choose to vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote.. one of my counterparts wants to empower their voters, give them options to be able to choose to vote at home or vote in person, and I'm confident by November they'll be ready. You say your office has been in contact with all the other states? Yes we have. Would? Can you talk to Texas one more time? I think they sent you the voicemail? Check with Texas. I will. Wyman, a Republican, insist this should not be a partisan issue, and yet it seems like it is. Colorado's Secretary of State Jenna Griswall has another word for it. That is voter suppression. That is voter suppression.

Trying to make it harder for Americans to use the best way to vote during a pandemic is voter suppression. We shouldn't be forcing Americans to risk their health to cast a ballot. A lot of Republicans don't like vote by mail, and they use the argument of ballot tampering, and you know, you can take the ballot and throw them out in the trash somewhere. So what do you say to those critics? I'll tell you, Colorado shows the opposite. tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho the o tho tho tho the o' tho tho the opposite tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho the opposite opposite opposite. tho tho tho tho tho tho the tho the the tho tho tho the tho tho tho the o' the o' the o' the o' the opposite the opposite the opposite the opposite the opposite the opposite the opposite the opposite the opposite the opposite. the opposite. the opposite. the opposite. the opposite. the opposite. the opposite. the opposite. the opposite. tho tho tho tho tho tho tho too too tooo toooooooooooooooooooooooo toooooooo too too too too too too tho too of our three last general elections. More Republican voters have used the mail ballot than Democrats.

Wait, so Republicans are fighting to stop something that statistically has worked to their advantage in some states. You know, that's totally true. I would call that biting the hand that feeds you, but it seemed like Republicans just ate the whole damn arm. So it's voter suppression, plain and simple. But with only weeks left until the election, is there anything we can do to ensure people's ability to vote?

Listen, Madam Secretary, what you are doing is amazing. You have my full support. It's just too bad that there's nothing I can do to help, but good luck. The good news for you, Roy is that you can actually sign up to be a poll worker. Oh, oh, you mean work? At the, what day? What day is election day? That's a Tuesday, November? First Tuesday.

Yeah, I'm not open. I'm sorry. But it's okay, Roy. We have early voting. Are you available on October 19th? Get it. Roy, I know you're not frozen. How about November 2nd? I'm frozen.

toe-froze. I'm frozen. I'm frozen. I'm frozen. For the love of God, make sure you check with your states to vote by mail this year. Hey, everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, it's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID, thank God it's Thursday.

We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me, the election, economics, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance, it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.

My guest tonight is the chair of African-American studies at Emory University and a New York Times best-selling author whose latest book is called, One Person No Vote. My guest to Supp suppression is destroying our democracy. Please welcome, Carol Anderson. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Thank you. It's so wonderful having you here. It's so wonderful having you here. You wrote a book called White Rage, which was a New York Times bestseller, where you spoke

in depth about how America is dealing with an issue that it really hasn't dealt with completely, which is the rage that many white people feel at what appears to be America changing. This book is, I guess, based in some way off of that, and yet is a completely different topic. One person, no votes. Voter suppression destroying our democracy. How bad and how big do you believe voter suppression actually is? I think it is massive.

We have had millions of people blocked from voting. We have had millions purged from the rolls who had been on the voter rolls. The purging and the voter suppression has been so intense that we have Donald Trump in the White House right now. That's the power of voter suppression. The numbers in the 2016 election, especially in and around the black vote, were really interesting. You saw in key states, in swing states where voter turnout dropped from, may have been like

78,000 people turning out and dropped to below 50,000, or you know, you saw, you saw drastic drops. Now, some people have argued that that was because Hillary Clinton didn't motivate black voters to come out. But you've looked at the data. You've analyzed a lot of the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, were the black, their their their tho, tho, the black tho, were tho, were tho, were tho, were tho, were the black th. Wea, were their the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black, the black, the black, the black, were the black, were the black, were the black, were the black, were the black, were thi thi, were thi, were thi-v' thi-vo, were thi-vou, thea, thi.ea.ea. Wea' thea' thi. Wea. Wea, thi. Wea, thi. Wea, thi argued that that was because Hillary Clinton didn't motivate black voters to come out. But you've looked at the data, you've analyzed a lot of the information, and it seems like there's been a systematic effort to remove people of color from the voting rolls. But why people of color though? It's because that after the 2008 election with Barack Obama, Barack Obama brought 15 million new voters to the polls

with that incredible ground game. They were overwhelmingly black, Latino, young, poor, and with that, then, the Republican Party, that has moved further and further to the right and has become more and more white, and their policies have become more right-wing, they don't have policies that resonate

with the growing diversity of America. And so instead of thinking about how do we reform this party so that it resonates with America, that our policies are really strong and talk about benefiting more Americans, instead what they decided to do was to suppress the vote. Now, the argument the other way from people like Chris Kobuck, you know, from Donald Trump and his th and th and his th and his th and his th and his th and his th and his th and his to suppress the vote. Now the argument the other way from people like Chris Kobak, you know, from Donald Trump and his team has been we are

protecting democracy. That's why we scrub people of voter rolls. If they've died, if they no longer respond to mail, then why are we keeping them on the voter rolls? How do you respond to that? And I respond to that because one of the the ways that this works works works works works works works works works works works works works works tho tho tho thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, to, their, their, their, their, their, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, their, to, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to, you respond to that? Yeah, and I respond to that because one of the ways that this works and the guy is so effective is that they're able to use that cover of being reasonable. You know, we're just keeping the voter rolls up. But when you really look at what they're doing, is that those, the people that they're scrubbing, they're scrubbing are people who are African Americans, people who are young, people who are poor, and they're doing it by the characteristics. So they can't say, oh, we don't want black people to vote because there's still this thing called the 15th Amendment, although the Voting Rights Act got gutted by the Supreme Court.

There's still this thing called the 15th Amendment. So what they do is they go after the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the characteristics the they go after the characteristics of a people, societally imposed characteristics. They go after those things like, if you move a lot, and we know that people move a lot, particularly if you're poor, you don't stay in the same house forever. That moving then becomes a reason to knock people off the rolls. Is there anything people on the ground can do? What can people do to protect their votes? Yes, absolutely. So there are several things.

One is you have to register to vote and there are organizations that are on the ground helping people like get the identification, get the documents they need in order to get the identification. Organizations like vote riders that are doing that work. Also, when you're registered, check your, the Secretaries of States voter registration page to make sure you're registered to vote because they are notorious for purging people off the list, even well, close to an election.

So you think that you're registered to vote. You go in to vote and boom, your name's nowhere there. And then you're getting the runaround. I say, I think the other thing is really important is to help others. So that you're volunteering. You know, you've got election poll workers and you're paying attention to what's happening at the polls when somebody's getting the run around around......... And to. And to. And to. And to. And to. And, toe toe toe. And, toe. And, toe. And, toe. And, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, the the the the the the to, to, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, thean, theananan. And, Iia. And, I's, I'm, I'm, I'm, theananananeteen, Ia. And, th theananananeteen, th thean somebody's getting the run around. I think that that is really important as well. And there are organizations like the lawyers committee that's doing that incredible work. So that's what we can do.

And register. The deadline is coming up in early October, register to vote because we cannot be part of the solution if we're just sitting there on and not participating. We've got to vote. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart wherever you get your podcast.