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Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. Yes, in case you're wondering, we will play excerpts of President Trump admitting to Bob Woodward that he believed the Coronavirus was deadlier than even a strenuous flu while repeatedly claiming the opposite to the public. Was that duplicity of reason for the deaths of some of the 190,000 Americans who have now died from the virus.

Is it like shooting them on broad daylight in fifth Avenue, but his supporters won't care as Trump once posted like that's a good thing? We'll talk about that today in our eleven o'clock segment, but we want to start on something very practical today that also pertains to the presidential election. It is very simply how to vote in the Tri-state area. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut each have different systems for obtaining and submitting mail-in or absentee ballots and different systems for early voting in person.

The season for all of this has already begun. That's right. If you want to vote in the presidential election, there are things some of you should be doing today. We will now explain 2020 voting in all three States and take your questions about them for a Tri-state all-star panel of democracy wonks. With me are Laura Smits, Vice President of Voter Services for the League of Women Voters of Connecticut. Henal Patel Director of the Democracy & Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause New York. Susan, Laura, Henal thanks so much for coming on WNYC today.

Henal Patel: Thank you.

Susan Lerner: Delighted to be here on national ballot request day.

Brian: This is national ballot request day. I didn't know that. What does that mean?

Susan: Exactly as it sounds. We are urging voters across the country. If you plan to vote absentee and you need to request a ballot, we're reminding them request it today

Brian: Listeners, this is for you. Your questions about how to vote in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, are welcomed right here right now. 646-435-7280. 646-435-7280 or you can tweet a question @BrianLehrer. Let's go around the room. Henal, how do you get a mail-in ballot in New Jersey?

Henal: Great question. New Jersey, we've been hit hard with COVID as has all the states in the area, and it's unfortunate, this is particularly true for communities of color. Black and brown communities have been hit worse so because of that, because of the public health crisis, we have a system in New Jersey that takes that into light. All active registered voters will be sent a vote by mail ballot.

New Jersey is going to have a paper ballot election in November. You've heard a lot about paper ballots and those importance of paper ballots for years, that is the type of election we're having, which means that one active registered voters are getting sent a ballot. You can put it in the mail USPS. If you're going to do that, put it in the mail as soon as possible. Secondly, you can drop that ballot off at a secure dropbox.

There are going to be locations all over the state. Every County is going to have between 11 and 17 as a floor of dropbox locations. Third, you can drop it off at your County board of elections office. Four, you can take your boat by mail ballot and drop it off at your polling place on election day. That's important because every single municipality, every town in New Jersey will have at least one polling place open on election day, so you can use that to drop off your vote by mail ballot.

Fifth, again related to polling places, you can vote in person. If for whatever reason you can't vote by mail, maybe you didn't get your ballot in time, or you're newly registered, or you just prefer to vote in person, you can. You can vote in person through a paper provisional ballot. Those ballots still count. They count the same way as other ballots do. It's a security measure we have in place.

Brian: New Jersey is mailing the actual mail-in ballots to every registered voter. They don't have to do anything to receive that in the mail?

Henal: To active registered voters, correct/

Brian: Is it that easy in Connecticut, Laura Smits from the Connecticut League of Women Voters?

Laura Smits: It's slightly, it's slightly more complicated in Connecticut. In order to receive an absentee ballot, you have to fill out an application first. What we've done in Connecticut for the COVID, and we did this for the primary, all registered voters will receive an application in the mail. We suggest just as everyone is saying that you turn that around rather quickly to your town clerk, and then you'll receive an absentee ballot in the mail, but all registered voters will automatically get mailed an application it's postpaid, you can drop that application and the dropboxes which we have in municipalities across the state.

You can also mail it back or drop it off in person, but a lot of the town halls have limited hours. We're suggesting people drop it off in the drop boxes or mail it back. Then you will receive an absentee ballot package, which includes instructions and inner evelope for security. Then you can drop that back into a dropbox, but we do have an application process in Connecticut.

Brian: Folks, there you go. There's one of the differences already. New Jersey is mailing the actual absentee ballots to all the previously registered voters. Connecticut is mailing the absentee ballot applications. Susan Lerner from Common Cause New York. How about in New York?

Susan: New York's right in the middle. Remember Brian, that New York has a much larger population than either of our two neighbors. What's going to happen is within the next two weeks all voters should be receiving a postcard that tells them how to apply online or by phone for their absentee ballot and gives them all of the information that they need with deadlines and how they will be able to vote in person either early or on election day.

The fastest way to get your ballot in New York on ballot request day is to go online. If you're a New York City resident, you go to nycabsentee.com and you request your ballot there. If you are outside of New York City, you can go to the elections.ny.gov, the state website and there's a link there that allows you to request your ballot online. You can call your local board of elections and request it by phone. You can email, or you can download a PDF, a written application, and send it in, but the fastest, most secure way to get your ballot in New York is to apply online either from your computer or from your smartphone or call.

Brian: All right, we're going to go around the table again in a minute on when in-person early voting begins and ends in each state, but first let's take our first phone call. Robert in Westchester you're on WNYC. Susan Lerner from Common Cause New York, I think this one's going to be for you. Hi, Robert. You're on the air.

Robert: Hi. Okay. Make this sweet. My wife and I applied online for absentee ballots last Thursday, and we have the receipt with a number on it. This last Tuesday Westchester Board of Elections sent the following letter. Your absentee ballot application has been reviewed and we are unable to process it due to Governer Cuomo's executive order 202.28, which States that your absentee application was only applicable to the June 23rd, 2020 elections. You will need to reapply, et cetera.

Brian: Susan Lerner, can you help Robert in Westchester?

Susan: Robert, I'm afraid that that is absolutely accurate. There was a big fight before the June primary where various advocates and boards of election commissioners wanted one absentee ballot application to apply for both the primary and the November election. Other commissioners from one particular party objected and said that it wasn't clear that the absentee expansion would apply to November. They demanded and received this limitation. Yes, unfortunately, you do have to reapply.

Robert: We did reapply and I have a receipt dated 9/3/2020. This was a re-application. This was not the original application.

Brian Lehrer: I've looked at the application and I actually have a theory as to what happened here with you Robert. Susan, you're much more of an expert than I am so you tell me if you think this is plausible. When I looked online at this application the other day, it looked to me like it gave you the choice to be applying for an absentee ballot for the primary only, for the general election only, or for all elections. It's possible that Robert checked the wrong box by accident for the primary because you do have to specify general election. Susan, are you recognizing this?

Susan Lerner: That is indeed a possibility, but Robert the best thing to do have you called them?

Robert: I will do that I was going to actually send this to Cuomo's Office and Letitia James's office.

Susan: The fastest way to deal with this is actually to call them and to say, "Hey, I have the receipt. This was clearly an administrative error and if I need to reapply because I checked the wrong box, I will do so." That would be the fastest way to clear this up. It's an unfortunate extra step that voters are required to go through here in New York. We regret it, but there was nothing we could do about it.

Brian: Robert, good luck, I hope that's helpful. By the way, for all of you are mail-in and absentee ballots the same thing in all three states, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut? Should we use those terms interchangeably? Laura, do you want to take that from the League of Women Voters?

Laura: Sure. We actually have a-- Mailing it is technically, absentee ballot is a mail-in ballot, but because of the application first process is not like mail-in voting, but technically you are mailing it in. Yes, it's the same, but it's a slightly different thing, as opposed to what other people have in other states, which is all mail-in voting, which is not the same. Because of the application process, we don't say it's mail-in voting, but technically you are mailing it in. It is technically a mail-in vote.

Brian: Any different answer from the other two states?

Henal: This is Henal from New Jersey. Even when we apply for a mail-in ballot which is kind of New Jersey if you're newly registered or you're an inactive voter you might need to apply for a mail-in ballot. New Jersey actually just legally in our statutes, we changed the language about over 10 years ago, it's all about now just vote by mail ballots. We don't use the term absentee ballot that other states do. It's the same thing in New Jersey. Technically, you can use them interchangeably. They mean the same but because people do get confused we try to very strictly say vote by mail ballot. In New Jersey, that's what it is. Whether you apply for one or send one, which most voters will in November.

Brian: The same thing in [unintelligible 00:12:12] try to standardize the terminology even though there are technical differences. Susan Lerner very briefly in a different in New York?

Susan: Well, we have absentee ballots. Generally what we tell people is vote by mail is when the ballot arrives at your mailbox without you doing anything. An absentee ballot is what you request.

Brian: Eileen in Red Bank so this is going to be for you now in New Jersey. Eileen, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Eileen: Hi, good morning. I would like a definitive answer because even though I feel very intelligent, I'm very confused. When I fill up my ballot to take it down to the board of elections and drop it in the box, do I have to sign it myself if I'm the one dropping it off? [crosstalk]

Henal: Great question.

Eileen: Thank you. [crosstalk]

Henal: I know. Listen, the vote by mail ballot itself can be confusing and I encourage all voters to be really, really careful. Read everything multiple times when they're filling it out. If you have any questions or concerns please reach out. You can reach out to us vote@njisj.org. You can reach out to your county-- If you make a mistake or anything call and ask for a replacement ballot you can do that. It is a confusing ballot. That's the reality of it.

You do need to sign your own ballot. There is a place for your signature it is your vote and you have to sign that to make sure it gets counted. Now, however, I will say we actually filed a lawsuit back in May on behalf of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey and the New Jersey NAACP state conference with our partners to ensure that we had a signature match process in place, a signature to a process in place.

We've had a long-standing process where if you had a missing signature or a mismatch signature [inaudible 00:14:13] in your ballot are compared to the signature in your voter file. That's a security measure to make sure you're the one voting, but people's signatures change over time so it creates issues. In our old practice was they would get rejected and voters wouldn't even know. They would just reject the ballot if it didn't match enough at the county level.

Now we have a process you get a cure form. This was put in place before the primary. It is now codified into law. It'll be in place for November. If there's an issue with your signature, you will get a cure form in the mail, please look out for it. You can fill it out, return it to the county and say, "Hey, that was my ballot. Don't throw it out." That'll ensure that your ballot counts.

Back to the vote by mail ballot itself. There is a second part of it on the outer envelope that has the words "Bearer." That part if you're dropping off your own ballot you do not need to sign. The bearer is what you are, is basically someone who is transporting the ballot for you. For example, if you want to take your spouse's ballot, or your parents ballot, something like that, and you want to put it in a dropbox, there is a limit. You can only be a bearer to three people and you have to have to sign. You have to say, "Hey, I am the bearer for this person," and make sure it's on the record on the actual ballot. If you're just dropping off your own, you don't have to fill that part out at all.

Brian: Listeners if you're just joining us, this is how to vote in the tri-state area. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut each have different systems for obtaining and submitting mail-in or absentee ballots and different systems for early voting in-person and the season for all this has already begun. If you want to vote in the presidential election, there are things some of you should be doing today.

With us is our tri-state All-Star panel of democracy wonks Hanel Patel who was just speaking Director of the Democracy & Justice program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause New York, and Laura Smits, Vice President of Voter Services for the League of Women Voters in Connecticut. Laura, this next caller question is going to be for you. Steven in Stanford, you're on WNYC. Hi, Steven.

Steven: Hi, Brian. I love your show, listen to it all the time and it's my first time ever calling a radio show. My wife and I received the automatic request for a mail-in ballot in Connecticut, as we all do, and we'd very much like to vote in-person. On the other hand, we want to have that mail-in ballot available in case who knows what happens on November 3rd COVID or otherwise, that we can say, "You know what, this is not working. Let's just go drop off our mail-in ballot," and in light of what President Trump said a few days ago, "Vote twice." My wife and I were asking, if we request a mail-in ballot, does that automatically cancel our ability to vote in-person?

Brian: What a great question.

Laura: Hi, Steven. That's a good question because there's a lot of misinformation about there and as we have seen because Brian has all three of us on from three different states, three different ways of doing this. What you can do is it's not a mail-in ballot until you mail it in. What happen is if you fill out that ballot and you go through the procedure, you sign

your inner envelope, you take your outer envelope, you put it in the dropbox or you mail it back, and it's received by the town clerk in your town in Stanford in this case.

What they will do is once they receive it and it's all good, they will check off, put an A next to your name on the checking list that is used for election day itself. If you were to show up at the polls, and there was an A next to your name, that means that they received your absentee ballot and technically you've already voted. If you went to the polling station and there was no A next to your name, that means that your ballot has not been received and you can vote in-person.

What they would do in that case, if you wanted to vote in-person which people can vote in-person, all the polling stations will be open. We have PPE. We have Plexiglas between poll workers and voters. It's a very safe way to go. We had a very successful primary that way. You can vote in-person. However, don't do both because what will happen is if you vote in-person, we won't count your absentee ballot and you have an absentee ballot, it won't be counted until election day when they count them all. You can't vote twice. It's one or the other. What you can do, it's not a ballot till it's received but technically if you go in-person, then your absentee ballot will be rejected.

Brian: I cringe at even bringing this up, Laura, but President Trump is advising his supporters to do the opposite. He says send in your mail-in ballot and then go try to vote in-person on election day to see if your mail-in ballot was received. Why shouldn't people do that?

Laura: Well, first of all, it's illegal. Definitely illegal. There is a fine. It's not good practice. It is something that-- As I said, what they do is on election day when they are counting the absentee ballots, they do go through the checklist after eight o'clock and if people are on there and they've already voted, then that ballot is rejected so you can't vote twice.

I'm not even going to say try because it's not a good thing. It's just a ridiculous notion that people should vote twice. We have a democracy, one person, one vote. If you have any doubt about the mail-in problem, if people are concerned that they're not going to arrive in time that's why we have the drop boxes. If people feel safe enough, we have in-person voting, and we've had it for the primary, and we'll have it again for the November election.

Brian: Susan Lerner from Common Cause New York, let me give you a whack at that same question.

Susan Lerner: Well, of course, New York is different. In New York, if you send in your absentee ballot, and then you decide for whatever reason that you want to vote in-person, you're able to go and vote in-person and your in-person vote will overrule and invalidate your absentee. It's one of the reasons why it takes longer to vote the apps and to count the absentee ballots in New York because we have to wait until after election day to compare who voted in-person with who sent in the absentee ballots.

If you showed up and voted early or voted on Election Day, and you also sent in an absentee ballot, your absentee ballot will be discarded and it will not count. You cannot vote twice. You can submit an absentee ballot, but if you show up in person, it's your in-person vote that is counted.

Brian: Well, now that we know New York and Connecticut are different, how about New Jersey, Henal?

Henal: Ours is closer to Connecticut, you cannot vote twice. It is illegal, please don't do it. However, we have measures in place if you have any concerns that there might be people voting twice, we have security measures in place. You vote-by-mail, ever since everyone's going to be sent-- Every active registered voter is being sent in a vote-by-mail ballot, that is the way you can vote. However, if you want to vote in-person, we do have that option. Every single time we'll have at least one place, a lot of towns are going to have multiple polling locations open. You can go both there in-person, by paper provisional ballot.

Like in the Connecticut it has PPE, there will be social distancing, it will be safe. We did it in the primary and it was successful. Now, the reason why you vote by paper provisional ballot in New Jersey is because they do do that check on the backend at the county level, which means that at the counties when they're counting ballots, they'll count the vote-by-mail ballots first, then they'll count the provisional ballots. If someone voted by mail, the provisional ballot does not count. They make sure no one's voting twice. That is a check-in place. There is security, but please don't vote twice.

This is looking to be the most important or at least one of the most important elections in our lifetime. There's a lot of anticipation. It is incredibly important for everyone to participate to make sure their voice is heard. Go and vote. Be secure knowing that your vote will count, but also vote once.

Brian: Charlene in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Susan Lerner from Common Cause in New York, get ready. Hi, Charlene in Brooklyn.

Charlene: Hi. Thanks so much for having this. This is really important. I've heard that lots of places have drop boxes, but I haven't heard anything about drop boxes for ballots or absentee ballots in New York. Also, is there any way to know in New York if your absentee ballot was received? I know like in Florida, they’re numbered and labeled and they can track their ballot. It doesn't seem to be anything like that in New York.

Susan: Charlene, I love this question because this is a major change in New York City from the June to the November primary. First, New York is going to have drop boxes and they are tabletop but large and colorful. They are labeled "Absentee ballot," they are going to be at every single Board of Elections and at every single early voting location and every single Election Day location. If you're concerned about whether you should trust your absentee ballot to the US mails, then you can drop off your absentee ballot either at the Board of Elections or at an early voting place or at an election day polling place.

If you request your absentee ballot online at nycabsentee.com, there are two boxes right at the top of that website. The first one says, "Request your absentee ballot," and the one on the right says, "Track your absentee ballot." We now have the capability in New York City to track your ballot from the receipt of the request to get an absentee ballot all the way through the absentee ballot being mailed to you through the mail, then the receipt by the board and whether it was cast or not. You're given a six-digit number that allows you to track your ballot.

Brian: Well, Henal, can you track your ballot in New Jersey?

Henal: You can. We have a system. There is an online system to track your ballot. You can do that. Go on the Division of Elections website, you can also just call your county. If you're using the Division of Elections website, you have to set up a public access account. It's not too difficult, you use your driver's license or the last four digits of your social security number, and that lets you have access to your entire voter profile where it gives you a little bit of information about what town you're in, and it tells you your voter history and you can go to the place that says, "Mail-in ballots," and if you click on it, you can see what the status is when it's received, and then when they update it'll be accepted or rejected.

One thing I wanted to flag. That system is connected to your driver's license or your social security number, depending on what year you registered. This is particularly for people who registered before the Help America Vote Act was passed federally. If you registered say 20, 25 years ago, you might not have needed to add either of those numbers when he registered to vote. They might not have that ability to give you access to the public access website through those numbers. You can use your voter ID or your voter number, but most people don't know it.

If for whatever reason, there's an issue with you logging on to that website, and it does happen, you can just call your county, they will give you that information as well. There is a number that you can call statewide that will direct you to your counties, but it's just easier if you just called your county itself. It will give you all that information to track your ballot. Again, for a lot of voters, you can use our online system.

Brian: Let me use this opportunity to go around the room and ask each of you when in-person early voting begins and ends in each state? Listeners, if you're just tuning in, we're talking about how to vote in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The systems are a little different in each of the three states in the tri-state area, and there are things you can be doing right now in all of the states depending on how you intend to vote.

We have this all-star tri-state panel of democracy wonks, Laura Smits, Vice President of Voter Services for the League of Women Voters of Connecticut, Henal Patel, Director of The Democracy and Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, and Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause for another few minutes. When does in-person early voting begin in New Jersey, Henal and when does it end? We lost Henal. Laura, let me ask you. When does it begin in Connecticut in-person early voting?

Laura: We don't have in-person early voting. It's absentee ballot. Technically, we only have in-person voting, either through an absentee ballot process which you can do in-person, but we don't technically have early voting. We have it on Election Day. Election Day is our main day of voting. Which is why it's going to be difficult for us because we're working with an infrastructure that really wasn't designed for this level of absentee mail-in balloting.

We're picking up the challenge and you can track also in Connecticut just before the conversation about tracking, you can track your application, you can track your ballot, and you can tell when it's been received by a website we have called myvotect.gov/lookup. It will tell you where in the chain, in the process your application is, where your ballot is, and when it's been received. You can check on that.

Brian: All right. Henal is back. Henal, when does early in-person voting begin in New Jersey, if New Jersey has it?

Henal: Yes, I'm back. Sorry about that. We don't really have what we would call traditional early voting in New Jersey either. We don't have a system in place for that. We're hoping to get that soon. It's obviously not going to be in place for November. We do have-- There are some options, you could always go to your county, your Board of Elections and vote in person. Essentially you are using your vote-by-mail ballot. You can go in person, get a vote-by-mail ballot and you're voting and drop it off there.

It's basically like if you're dropping off your vote-by-mail-- The ballot you receive at home and you drop it off at the County Board of Elections. You can do the same by going to your county clerk's office getting a ballot and then dropping it off at your Board of Elections office and that is the only real way to vote early. Ssome counties do have outposts, for the county-level that allow multiple locations that allow you to do that, but again it is just through vote-by-mail ballot. We don't have traditional early voting options at New Jersey.

Brian: Susan Lerner from Common Cause New York early in-person voting.

Susan: New York is one of 40 states that has early voting in the traditional in-person way. It starts on Saturday, October 24th. It ends on November 1st and our message to voters at Common Cause New York and the Let New York Cote coalition is vote early by mail or in-person by the beginning of early voting on October 24th. Know how you're going to vote and if you're voting absentee be sure you've received and put your ballot back in the mail by October 24th or else take advantage of early voting.

Brian: Here's a tweet that's come in. A listener writes, "I'm getting a major headache listening to this show. My God, call and speak to someone on the telephone." Thank you for that. Someone else. "I don't have a personal preference in terms of voting in person or mail-in." Writes this listener. "Do your guests have a recommendation for people like me?" What a great question because this is why we're doing the segment in the first place.

People are uncertain that their votes are going to count this year or that they're going to get through the postal system et cetera. Are you each as democracy wonks and concerned with maximizing the vote recommending one system or another? Susan, let me stay with you from Common Cause New York. How about New York, are you recommending one thing or another in person?

Susan: Vote early.

Brian: In-person?

Susan: That is my personal choice.

Brain: Because?

Laura: It alleviates crowding on election day. It's healthier and I will know for certain that I have put my ballot into the scanner and it's been received.

Brian: Laura, Connecticut, do you have a recommendation?

Laura: We're not really recommending either one, but I would encourage people if they feel comfortable to vote in person as just been mentioned, you do have control over your ballot that way. I know a lot of people are very fearful and that's fine. Absentee is a way to go if that's your pleasure, but you really need to turn that sucker around, get that application back out get that absentee ballot, and turn it around as quickly as possible just so it will make it there on election day because all of our absentee ballots are counted on election day. They have to arrive by 8:00 PM or they don't get counted. It's not a vote early, but it's definitely ASAP to get that paperwork turned around

Brian: Henal, a recommendation for people in New Jersey?

Laura: We don't strongly recommend one or the other in the sense that you should vote however you're comfortable. There are reasons why people would need to vote in person. We should recognize that. For example, if you just need help, if you have people with certain disabilities, people with language access needs, transient people, there is, unfortunately, a reality now that a lot more people are just displaced from their homes.

Having in-person is extremely important. We don't want to take away from that. If you need that option absolutely take it. That being said, I'll echo Susan, you should vote early if you can. Vote-by-mail is a great option. If you don't have a preference to take advantage of that vote-by-mail. However, one thing we do strongly recommend you could put it in the mailbox, the USPS mailbox you absolutely have that option.

However, there are a lot of concerns right now with mail delays. Even in the primary, we saw that a lot of ballots were rejected because they arrived too late. For any of those reasons make sure you take advantage of the other options. If you have your vote-by-mail ballot use a secure dropbox. We have them up and down the state. Those lists are going to be available all over the state probably closer to end of next week, but they are going to mail you a list to the ones in your county the ones in your area.

You can use one of those. You can use any secure dropbox in your county. Doesn't have to be one closest to you or the one in your town. Any of them in your county. It does have to be the one in your county. If you work in a different county you can just put it into a dropbox there. Take advantage of that because those ballots the county collects them. They're basically dropping it off to your county. So you know it's getting there. You're not worried about any mail delay if you are using the mail make sure it's postmarked.

New Jersey for the November election. We now have a provision that says that if a ballot is missing a postmark, but received within 48 hours of election day, it will count. If it has a postmark with it's "Received" within seven days, it will count. Even still with what's going on with all the concerns people see, make sure if you put it in the mail it has the postmark. Get it in the mail as early as possible. Again, we recommend using some of the other options. Put it in a dropbox, drop it off to your county, or if you don't mind holding on to it, wait till election day drop it off at your polling place or you can vote in person at a polling place by paper provisional ballot and that way you know for a fact the county is going to get it and get it in time to count.

Laura: Brian, can I just clarify Connecticut specific just so people don't get fused. In Connecticut, I just want to make sure-- You have to use the dropbox in your municipality. You can't just drop at any dropbox. It has to be your own municipality.

I also want to point out that another benefit of voting in person is that if you do make a mistake you can correct it right then and there. Whereas, if you make a ballot mistake with an absentee ballot you have to go through the whole process again. You have to request a ballot again, you have to get-- A do-over is a lot more cumbersome than if you make a mistake at the polling place in person. That's two differences that Connecticut has there.

Brian: The cuckoo clock on the wall tells me that this whole system is cuckoo, that it's so different in each of the three states in the tri-state area.

Laura: Federalism, it works.

Brian: Indeed. It's also telling me we are out of time, but there are so many people still calling in and tweeting in with questions that I hope we can do this again. I'm going to commit to doing this again in one form or another helping to explain 2020 voting in all three states in the tri-state to make sure everybody's vote has the maximum chance possible of actually being submitted and actually being counted.

I want to thank today's tri-state all-star panel of democracy wonks Laura Smits Vice President of Voter Services for the League of Women Voters in Connecticut, Hanel Patel Director of the Democracy and Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, and Susan Lerner Executive Director of Common Cause New York. Thank you all so much for being on this as much as you are.

Laura: Happy national ballot request day.

Hanel: Thank you so much for having us.

Susan: Go vote everyone.

Laura: Happy national ballot request day, Brian.

Hanel: Register to vote if you haven't yet.

Susan: Get out there.

 

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