Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. Happy Election Day, if it is a happy Election Day. We're keeping each other company till twelve o'clock today. It's a combination of questions and we'll throw out our next one in a minute. Don't call yet. Wait till you hear what our next question is in our Election Day Informal, Unofficial, Thoroughly Unscientific Exit Poll Call Ins. It's that, it's whatever news you need to know that may come about in the next hour, and it's some community well-being self-care.

Along those lines, one of our producers drew my attention to a Twitter thread from Dr. Sami Schalk, activist on race, gender, disability rights. She tweets today, tweet one, "A reminder, make space for pleasure today. Eat something delicious, dance to your favorite song, love on the people on in your pod, make art, breathe fresh air. Your joy will not change whatever happens, but it will change your experience of it."

Tweet two, "Whatever happens today, your pleasure still matters. It is the point of being alive, the essence of freedom. Vote, defend democracy, make your voice heard, and also, create and share pleasure today." Tweet three, "I'm making this my #pleasureactivism and #joythreadtoday." If you want to look for this from Dr. Sami Schalk, you can search #pleasure activism. She writes, "Starting the day off with breakfast, scrambled eggs with diced ham, paprika cheese curds, and sweet bell peppers, toaster hashbrowns griddle toasted English muffin and a banana, strawberry carrot juice, and spinach smoothie."

That's a big breakfast. There you go. There's just a little self-care from somebody we noticed on Twitter this morning. We'll do some some of your self-care calls later in the show. If you didn't sleep well last night, if you're checking your phone every 10 minutes to see if anything happened in Pennsylvania yet. If you're cutting posterboard in advance of a possible protest in support of counting every vote, if you're done with get-out-the-vote volunteer work yourself and all you have is worry beads, whatever it is, we're helping you get through the morning. Of course, as I said, if there's news, we'll bring it to you but barring that, we'll keep digging into a variety pack of questions in our Informal, Unofficial, Thoroughly Unscientific Election Day Exit Poll.

Next, we'll do one on the New Jersey ballot question. That would be much bigger news in our area, if it weren't for everything else about 2020, legalizing recreational cannabis. Hear that screeners, it's the legalizing recreational cannabis. Informal, Unofficial, Thoroughly Unscientific Exit Poll next. 646-435-7280, New Jersey listeners, yes or no on legal weed? 646-435-7280, was this a close call for you? Do you have a criminal record for marijuana or know someone who has one that you think is really unjust? Are you a pot smoker who is just looking forward to professional product with quality control?

If you're against it, what do you think will be worse in New Jersey than it is today, if cannabis is legalized, compared to life in New Jersey today? Who on either side, has really looked into or heard from people you know in current legal states, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Massachusetts, others? Any experiences that you've read or heard about informing your vote yes or no, on legal recreational cannabis stores for New Jersey? 646-435-7280, and I said cannabis stores also depending on how they write the law, if this gets approved cannabis at home.

Nancy Solomon, our New Jersey Public Radio Managing Editor told us on the show yesterday that Scotts Turf Builder has been one of the biggest funders of the pro-side campaign, so figure it out. As your calls are coming in, WNYC New Jersey correspondent Karen Yi joins us for a few minutes. Hi, Karen, where are you this morning?

Karen Yi: Hi, Brian. I am currently in Linden, in Union County. I am sitting outside the Election Board Office here. I was just here watching the ballot counting happening.

Brian: What's the scene?

Karen: It is a big space, there are already six-foot tables, one worker at each table. There's about 40 workers, there's National Guardsmen in here also helping. In the state of New Jersey per law, counties can start counting 10 days before the election, that was October 24th last Saturday. In Union County, what they started doing was just sorting through the mail and ballots. Separating the certificate from the ballot and getting everything prepped, to run it through the machine. They actually started the actual counting of the ballots on Friday. There's three machines, they actually purchased an additional machine, they usually have two, and it runs 300 ballots a minute.

It's a pretty busy scene. You have workers sorting the ballots, you have boxes of ballots. You have this vault, the six-year vault that only three people have access to where the ballots are stored in there until they're ready to be sorted and ready to be counted. The interesting thing too is the effort to increase transparency and security, and comfort in this year's election. The counties are actually live-streaming the counting process, you can go online and you can see the workers doing this.

Brian: Wow. You want to give the streaming web address for that? Do you know it?

Karen: I don't have it off the top of my head but I think if you just go on Union County Election Board Office or supervisor of auctions, I'm sure you can find it.

Brian: They're doing the counting now, do you expect that when the polls close at eight o'clock tonight in New Jersey, and by the way, folks it's eight o'clock in New Jersey, nine o'clock in New York, that there will be results to post right away because this has been going on for days and weeks, and there isn't really much in-person voting happening today?

Karen: Right. The Governor yesterday, when we asked him what sort of results he expects tonight, he said, we should know a fair amount. Part of that is because counting started ten days ago, we have this huge turnout. I think the latest numbers is a little over 3.6 million mail-in ballots have been received, and more than six million went out. The administrator here in the county, she said, let's be cautious. Even though counties have been counting, they cannot report any results until 8:00 PM today once polls close, but she said, "Give us time to do this right."

She's sending out a message, "Don't expect to see any finalized or final results tonight. No, give this time." They're counting mail-in ballots first, and they're not having the provisional ballots until November 10th, at the earliest. The provisional ballots, are the ones that-- If you go to the polling person, that's what you're filling out. Those that are coming in from the polling locations, those aren't going to be counted for a while. [crosstalk]

Brian: That's so different from so many other states and so different from what people are used to. It's like the mirror image of what people are used to, if you haven't sent in a mail-in ballot, given New Jersey's universal mail-in ballot to every registered voter system. If you haven't sent that in, and you actually go today, you're going to fill out what you just called a provisional ballot. Your ballot from in-person voting on Election Day, won't get counted until a week from now. That's what you just reported, right?

Karen: Exactly, and that's how it's happening. I was actually at a polling site earlier today. I was at the Prudential Center in Newark, there's a bunch of concerts and events there it's a huge space. It's a super polling site. I was curious why people were coming to vote in-person, and it's a mix. Even though their votes are going to be counted later, I think in some cases, people felt the urgency to make sure their vote counted. Some people did get their mail-in ballots threw it away and made sure to go in person, it's their decision, they wanted to have their voice heard this time.

Other people said they actually didn't get their ballot, or maybe they got it-- These ballots were sent pretty early, some of those thought it was junk mail, threw it away. That's why they were showing up because they didn't have a ballot at their home. A mixture of things, but definitely a lot of enthusiasm is what I heard from voters, a lot of excitement to vote, no lines that I saw, but I would say a steady stream of people showing up at the Prudential Center at least.

Brian: Were you hearing anything about legal weed, were you asking?

Karen: I didn't. I was there a little bit before 9:00. I was catching people trying to vote right before going to work, so people were running in and out. I didn't get to ask them about that. I mostly asked them about the process and why they were showing up in person and like I said before, they just wanted to make sure that they could vote, even if it was going to take another week for their vote to count. They just wanted to have the pleasure of finally passing their vote and an election that's historic in so many ways.

Brian: Last question we now have the website address for people who want to watch the vote, counting being streamed, as they count the absentee ballot, it's ucnj.org/boe. Then you can go to the live camera feeds button, ucnj.org/boe. My last question for you, Karen, is it entertaining?

Karen: It depends. It would be to run a bunch of ballots through the machine for me and that was entertaining because you see them zip through, but if those machines aren't running, it's just a lot of clerical work, everyone's just pretty quiet in there, everyone is sitting at their table, masks on, socially distant, sanitizing stations at every table, a lot of paper-pushing noise. I think the exciting part was when they turned on those machines and you see how quickly these 300 ballots swivel through and you could hear it. That was the most exciting part for me being in there.

Brian: WNYC's Karen Yi in Linden. Karen, thanks a lot for a few minutes.

Karen: Thank you so much.

Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your legal weed yes or no question because as that question is on the ballot in New Jersey today in our Informal Unofficial Thoroughly Unscientific Brian Lehrer show exit poll. Adam in Oak Ridge. You're on WNYC. Hi , Adam.

Adam: Hey, how are you doing?

Brian: Good. What's you got.

Adam: I live in Western Morris County definitely Trump land, a lot of law and order Trump supporters. I was filling out my mail-in ballot with my mom in our kitchen table and she asked me how to vote and I told her how many people are needlessly incarcerated for something like a weed charge. The irony is in our Trump-loving community I know for a fact, especially of people my parents' generation weed is really popular, but so is Trump's law and order message.

You say defund the police and people get personally offended, but this question snuck on the back of the ballot. I wonder how many people are Trump voters that are going to vote one way or another on this, but I think it was a compelling argument for just how many people go to jail for something that is so common.

Brian: Persuasion is not dead in America is what you're telling us. You were able to talk to your mom into this from an initial opposition, it sounds like?

Adam: I would say neutrality, but I think consensus is not dead. Compromise maybe has been unpopular for the last four years, but it might never come back.

Brian: Adam, thanks for starting us off on this one. Sherry in East Hanover, you're on WNYC. Hi, Sherry.

Sherry: Hi, good morning. As I told your screener, I am 63 years old, and being a goody-goody growing up, I never tried a cigarette and I never tried pot. Here I am at the ripe old age of 63 and I definitely voted in favor of legalizing it and I can't wait to try it.

Brian: What are you hearing about it?

Sherry: Pretty much everybody I know. Everybody has smoked in their life. I have to admit, I did take a puff at my daughter's for the first time a few weeks ago, but it really wasn't enough to do anything, but she was so afraid of what it might do to me.

Brian: She was afraid her mother was going to have a bad trip on marijuana the first time.

Sherry: Oh my God. It was just the funniest-- One of the funniest things to do with your adult daughter, who probably has been smoking since she was 16 and she's 35, but anyway, I've heard obviously very good things, I'm a very high-stress person and I do have a health condition that I think it will help. It's very difficult to get medical marijuana. You really have to jump through hoops in New Jersey.

I know also on a much more serious note, it's so important that people who are incarcerated, especially young Black men for smoking weed is just ridiculous. I hope that-- On a personal note, I will enjoy it and on a much more serious note, this will help alleviate wrongful imprisonment and sending young Black men down the wrong path.

Brian: Thank you for all those points. I will say since I made a joke about having a bad trip on your first marijuana experience, I made a joke, but it is something to watch out for. There are plenty of stories out there of people especially with edibles because people don't want to smoke and smoke, but people don't know necessarily what's in an edible. Whatever you do, start small.

Sherry: I will start small and I will get my daughter's approval on whatever I decide to take.

Brian: Sherry, thank you very much for your call. Arch in Bergen County you're on WNYC. Hi, art

Arch: Hey, how you doing? I used to smoke when I was younger and I'm married to a pediatrician and our 21-year-old son smokes and I want to keep him safe and I encourage him to text and email all his friends who are also smokers to make sure they voted. Many of them are going to vote for the first time and so forth, but I just want to make one comment about the Chinese young lady that called and said her parents voted differently than hers.

Brian: For people who haven't been listening for that long this morning, a Chinese-American young woman in our call-out on split candidate households and she talked about her immigrant parents voting for Trump and she's voting for Biden. They were raised differently in their country of origin and the culture they came from and she was talking about them coming from China, being more susceptible to believing government propaganda. That was part of her take and Arch, what did you want to comment on?

Arch: The last part about the government propaganda, I think that's so wrong because her parents have experience. My parents always said-- I was too young, I came here when I was nine. To really know about the story so my father about socialism and all that stuff. I believe social and tolerance go together and they sloughed off their clothes and came here and fell right into this American system where the-- Freedom.

I looked at the Democratic Party that Joe Biden for say, I just hope Joe Biden makes it through his term and that's my main concern. If he wins just make it through your term and keep America just the way it is, nicely balanced. I don't think there's going to be any riots. I think people are just going to go after the election, whether it takes a week or a month, they just got to go back to their normal lives and that's the way I feel.

Brian: Arch, thank you. We will see what happens. I appreciate your call. Joel in Union County, you're on WNYC as we go back to legal weed, yes or no? Hi, Joel.

Joel: I voted no. I'm a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor. I firmly believe that marijuana should be decriminalized, no doubt about it, but people should be aware that there's a distinction between legalization and decriminalization. Legalization is actually a euphemism for commercialization. What we're talking about is another legal addiction. We already have two and they kill a lot of people. Cigarettes and alcohol are legal addictions. Now we're going to have three. I really feel its important people think long and hard about this.

Brian: An argument on the other side would be people have access to it anyway and in addition to the addiction risk, there's the criminalization risk, the criminal record risk. Why not at least remove that?

Joel: That's exactly my point. It should be decriminalized, no question about it, but to commercialize yet another substance of abuse that people are clearly subject to addiction too. It's a misunderstanding to think it's not an addictive drug. It certainly is. You also mentioned edibles a minute ago. One of the problems with edibles is that it doesn't take effect right away and people will say, "I'm not getting the effect that I wanted and they might eat more and that leads to an overdose." That's another important thing to keep in mind.

Brian: Joel, Thank you very much, Kevin, in Cranford. You're on WNYC. Hi, Kevin.

Kevin: Hey, Brian, how are you?

Brian: I'm okay. You wanted to say something about the wording of the question?

Kevin: Well, yes. I voted yes on the weed referendum. I think the Governor Murphy already has it in the budget, so a better pass for him, but just as to these referendum questions, it was such a big issue with Brexit, people voted, remain or leave, but they didn't even know what they were voting on Brexit meant Brexit. It's the same thing here. The question seems more of a poll so that the legislators can be off the hook later.

As far as I've found there's no legislation, there's no program that's been spelled out. Look, I agree with the last caller, we shouldn't turn to sin taxes, gambling, and so on to finance our government, but the other side, the decriminalization is a strong argument, and it's a social justice issue and I'd like to know that the Black folks that aren't getting locked up will participate financially and not be another corporate giveaway once they draft the law. You don't know what you're voting on.

Brian: Yes. You're right. My understanding of the politics of this, and the sequence of how this all came about is, I know that the legislature tried to do it, and they couldn't agree on the terms, including how many people from traditionally marginalized communities, Black and Latino primarily, whose community members went to prison much more for marijuana proportionally than white people who also use marijuana just as much, that they get some of the franchises and that was a sticking point in the politics, I should say, in the legislature. There are others and so they were not able to come to yes and yes.

This is a way around, this is a way to let the legislature off the hook for the first step, which is to just have the yes or no referendum, and then if it passes today, you're right, Kevin, then they're going to have to go back and hash it out, or maybe that's a better choice of words, but they're going to have to go back and figure it out with all the details and who gets the franchises and what kinds of edibles, there are people who don't want gummies because they're too much like candy that could attract kids, all the way down to that detail.

They're going to have to figure the whole thing out, can you grow at home or is it all going to be commercialized? They couldn't figure it out in the legislative process. This just puts it back in the legislator's court for how, but it mandates that they come up with a how, that whether you vote yes or no, folks, is what you're voting on today in the legal cannabis for recreational use question in New Jersey. All right. We're going to end our call in on that one there. Our Informal, Unofficial, Thoroughly Unscientific, Brian Lehrer show exit polls for election day continues. We've got one or maybe two more questions to go depending on time. Stay with us.

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