The Fight to Secure U.S. Elections; Latest on Impeachment

The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.

Brad is first joined by Aquene Freechild, Co-Director of Public Citizen's Democracy Is For People Campaign.  She also leads Public Citizen’s advocacy work on election security and holding voting system vendors accountable for ensuring machines are safe from hackers. She co-founded the Secure Our Vote coalition, which works on the state and local level to encourage election officials to secure the vote and allow for recovery should a computer error or hack occur.

The two discuss the latest on the efforts to secure American elections ahead of the federal, state, and local contests taking place in 2020.  This includes two election security bills that have passed the House of Representatives, and have then been blocked by Senate Republicans, as well as threatened with a veto by President Trump. 

 

The two bills are the “Securing America’s Federal Elections Act” (SAFE Act) and the "Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy Act" (SHIELD Act).  The SAFE Act would, among other things, require voting systems to use backup paper ballots, mandate tech safeguards, and provide resources to states to improve their election-security measures.  The SHIELD Act would require that candidates and political committees notify the FBI and other authorities if a foreign power offers campaign help. It also tightens restrictions on campaign spending by foreign nationals and requires more transparency in political ads on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.  It would also explicitly prohibit campaigns from exchanging campaign-related information with foreign governments and their agents. The latter provision was aimed at reports that officials in Trump’s 2016 campaign shared polling data with a person associated with Russian intelligence.

 

Public Citizen is calling on Americans to take action on Nov 13th, a week before the Congressional funding deadline. Folks can find an action near them, or host one, at www.SecureOurVote.us.  Their Twitter handle is @SecureourVotes.

During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round-table with two guests who discuss the impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives, including the rapidly growing support to have President Trump impeached and removed from office.

The two round-table guests are Anisha Singh and Mark Grimaldi.  Anisha is Director of Judicial Nominations at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.  She is an Attorney turned Organizer and Democratic Strategist who brings with her more than a decade of experience in public interest and social justice work, with a strong grassroots organizing and legal background.  Her Twitter handle is @Anisha_S113.

 

Mark Grimaldi, or 'Marky Mark' as Leslie Marshall calls him, is the Executive Producer of this show and a Progressive Activist.  His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.

Brad writes a column every Monday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.'  He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago.
You can read Brad's writing at www.MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon. His Twitter handle is @BradBannon.