11.4.2024 -- NLS -- Election Integrity & Idaho’s Stand: Neal, Julie, and Secretary McGrane Weigh In

On this episode with Neal and Julie, the focus is on the integrity of the upcoming election and Idaho's proactive measures to secure voting processes. Neal and Julie express concerns over how some Democrat-led swing states may handle vote counting, particularly in states where voter rolls might still include deceased individuals. They discuss the importance of transparency, especially in high-stakes areas, and the need for accountability as poll watchers observe voting processes.

Secretary of State Phil McGrane joins to share insights on Idaho's election readiness. With early voting turnout already high, McGrane highlights the robust procedures Idaho has implemented, including same-day registration, secure absentee ballot handling, and early voting security. He reassures listeners that Idaho’s election infrastructure is well-prepared to handle both local and national challenges.

They also touch on Proposition 1, urging Idahoans to vote conscientiously on issues that could impact the state's future. For Idaho, they emphasize, the focus should remain on fair and transparent voting. Neal and Julie encourage everyone, regardless of political stance, to exercise their right to vote on Election Day.

Transcript

All right. It's 807. Good morning, East Idaho. Welcome to Monday. And, we are one day away, and, I think I'm like everybody else. We're ready for this to be over. We're ready for it to happen. It's a mix of exhaustion and excitement, Julie. It's like a weird kind of a weird juxtaposition of emotion here. We've been through kind of this saga with each other and together for the last.

Oh, I don't know. It's felt like months, months, months now, but, and and tomorrow will be the culmination of it. I'm hearing that it might be days in places like Arizona or Nevada before we have the final results, which makes me really worried. It would be awesome, though, if it is going to be days in Arizona Nevada.

If Trump wins Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, it doesn't matter. That's true. It doesn't matter. Yeah, I would love to have that not be in play at all. Well, and it probably would come as a relief to the Democrats in those states, because then they wouldn't have to rig it. So oh great. Now our jobs easier. Thank you. Good.

Can't win anyway. No. But, you know what I find fascinating and and sad we're not going to do this, Julie. But if we did a flagpole and we asked our audience on a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you that the election is going to be counted fairly and accurately? Ten being fair and accurate, zero being, you know, Cuba?

I think we'd probably be at about a 4 or 5. I, I don't think there's a ton of confidence that, that we can trust these Democrat led swing states to count these votes and make sure that they're counted accurately. And that's part of the crisis of trust that we have in this country. I, I've been begging people to have no emotion.

Right? I feel like I, I approach situations, almost all of them pretty like objective. I get real fired up about abortion. I get fired up about a boy, a boy, a girl is a girl. You're going to get some emotion out of me. And that other times I'm going to be pretty calm. I, I if you were to ask me where I land on that list, I'm probably a four.

Yeah. And I am not letting emotions rule my decision making. I do believe people cheat all over this country. I think both sides cheat. I think that the issue is we're seeing it's happening far more often in Democrat led states. Yeah, and I'm going to have zero appreciation in a state where the Democrats are suing the state, trying to keep dead people on the voting rolls.

Yeah, that's there's no emotion there. It's just me reading the room and going, that's what they're doing. Why in the world would you want it to be different then to remove the dead people from that? We all know the answer to that question. There's only one reason why you'd want to keep dead people on the voting rolls. It's so you can cheat.

Yes. So we've had our maybe I talk about our antagonist texters too much, but it's 2 or 3 days ago. It was last week and they are appalled that Donald Trump will not preemptively say, I will accept the results of the election, no matter what, because doesn't it always depend on if the other side's going to cheat or not?

And if the other side cheats, you don't accept the results of the election. I don't know why that's so hard. I don't even know why that's controversial. I don't understand why that's I mean, if they was clear in a sports event that there was cheating going on, you wouldn't be expected to accept that the end result. Yet you wouldn't if you found out that one of the refs was betting on the outcome of a of, of a basketball game, you would not accept the outcome of the results, especially if he was reffing and it turned out good for him, like you wouldn't you wouldn't accept those results.

But we have this programed environment now where you must accept the outcome of the election no matter what. And think about that. If we go back to 2016, there's lots of audio of Democrats on the House floor objecting to certifying the results of the 2016 election, when Hillary Clinton got beat precisely what Trump wanted, pence to do and and other Republicans to do, the Democrats have already been doing it for the better part of 20 years now, rejecting election results.

But all of a sudden, the pearl clutch has come out in 2020. When we have shenanigans and you have people going, something's not right about what happened in Michigan or Wisconsin or Georgia, and they act like that's never been done in America before. So to the people who are preemptively clutching their pearls that Donald Trump will not, say right now that he'll accept the results of the election no matter what.

Stop it. Okay. You're you're being ridiculous. Accepting the results depends on whether or not there's rampant cheating. If there's rampant cheating, you do not accept the results. Yeah. And and can we? When will people just start to understand that 2020 was whacked out? It was so bizarre. There was no chance Trump was losing that race until Covid 19 landed, until.

And even after that, we created all of these rules. We we went against secretaries of states like the constitutions of states. All of a sudden, secretaries of state went, well, we're going to do it this way. Instead, totally going against their constitutions. Yes. And we had to accept it because it was Covid, right? Yeah. And we can't question that.

Well, not only that, some of these states kept their reforms that they put in place because of a pandemic. But now we don't have a pandemic, but they still have the reforms in place that I think compromises the the integrity of their elections. Yeah, I mean, this this ruling, I don't remember what state I can't keep track of this state to state.

But the the ruling by the judge that says, no, you have to accept ballots that come in without a postmark after the election's over, is Nevada. How is that not an invitation for cheating? It is an invitation for cheating. That's that's the reason to do it. This is so weird, right? If I have a if I have a reservation at a restaurant, for six people and the reservations for 730, and I show up at 815 and they've given my table away.

I can't be mad. Yeah, right. That's the rules of the game. You were late. Why is that not the same for voting? Yeah, well, if you're if your vote matters that much to you, either vote early, vote in person day of. And if you can't do that, vote and send your ballot in by certified mail that that's how you could get it done if you if it really matters to you that much.

Hey, this whole voting thing is just kill. It just kills me. We have very standard social rules that somehow can't be applied to voting. Yeah, you're not supposed to have to stand in line, but you stand in line everywhere. And I stand in line to wait to check out my groceries. I stand in line to get into a movie.

I stand in line to attend a concert. I stand in line. Did I I 88 out with my family on Saturday night. We had to wait 45 minutes for a table. Socially, what an injustice, right? Right. All of that is socially acceptable. Yeah. When it comes to voting, no, it's not acceptable anymore. You can't do it. And then I believe it was, Buck County, Pennsylvania, where they closed the early voting.

Early, like, they they just shut down. They had cops come in, move people off the sidewalks. They didn't keep it open. The, Republican, National Party sued, and then they had to extend it. Okay. Those are social rules. Why? Why did they close it early? Like when you go to a store and they say they're going to be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., you can show up at 930 and still shop.

Yeah. Why did they do that? Because they're a bunch of cheaters. And when it comes to voting rules, all of a sudden we're not able to handle just regular social rules that we abide by and every other part of our life. Yeah, yeah. Well, and the requirement for ID like it is absurd. That's another one that I do not understand.

You have to have an ID for every little thing. If you want welfare benefits, you have to provide an ID if you want to write a check at most stores, you have to have an ID unit. But to do the most sacred thing that we do as citizens and their states that are saying, oh, that's too much to ask, okay.

They're cheating. It's clear they're cheating. Yeah. And they want to cheat. And they think it's okay to cheat because the ends justify the means and end it. If you think that, you know, we talk about this and you think that sounds conspiratorially, I want you to think about how the left operates and why can use a very homegrown example here.

We've all been pretty frustrated with the amount of lying that has come out of the pro prop one people. There are vast swaths of this proposition they're just not telling you about. They leave it out of their advertising. They leave it out of their literature. They leave it out of their talking points. They left it out of the petition gathering effort.

That's cheating. Okay. If you want to look at it, it is a fundamental instrument of dishonesty to leave out a very significant portion of what you're asking people to sign and to vote for. That's cheating. Okay. They're willing to do that in order to get a political outcome. They're willing to cheat, to get a political outcome. Okay.

It's wrong. It's hard to do that here in Idaho because we have some pretty good solid laws and processes when it comes to our voting rights. I feel very confident there's not a lot of cheating going on. You might have some counties that are a little sketchy here and there. I've heard stories, but for the most part, overall, I think our statewide results are very reliable.

But that isn't so in every state, and especially in these swing states where the stakes are super high, every presidential year, there is a very strong incentive for them to cheat and to compromise this, which is I think it's great that, Trump I mean, they've got tens of thousands of poll watchers that are going to be there that night watching for irregularities, watching for shady, weird things.

We didn't have that in 2020. So that's what kind of gives me some hope that we can preemptively stop any effort to steal the election. I have hope with that too. In the states individually, the states have done a better job of cleaning up after 2020. Not all states Wisconsin, I believe, went backwards, but most states tried to, they don't want to be accused.

A secretary of state doesn't want to be accused of these things. Some of them are willing Denver's or excuse me, Colorado Secretary of state. She's so willing. Now here's the thing. It's going to go. It's it's a blue state through and through. So it's not worth getting. We need to focus on the states that we can actually make a difference in.

So if you've heard the headlines about the Colorado Secretary of State and how she's she's operated and the things that she's done that's there, that's their problem, right? It's not going to change things nationally at all. Yeah. We need to focus on these states and Georgia being one of them did a pretty good job of cleaning some things up.

I don't think it's perfect, but it's going to be different than 2020. Yeah, that's some hope. Yeah. We should be grateful for that. Yeah, I would agree. And that's kind of what what gives me hope here is that if the votes are counted fairly, I am confident Donald Trump will be the winner on on election night tomorrow night.

So, Julie, you and I had a great time Saturday morning. We went to Freeman Park for the lineup. We both of us had some important engagements. We couldn't stick around for the Trump train, but, we were there for the lineup, and it was an hour and a half before this thing started. And how many dozens of trucks and sports cars and pickup trucks were lined up all around.

Freeman. So many. I couldn't believe how quickly it was coming together. We didn't even know how much we would get to see. I had to be, yeah, back in my car and headed somewhere by 930. You really needed to be somewhere by 1030, so we were pretty limited on what we could do as far as this Trump train, other than to let people know what was going on it.

It was just so, I don't know, I just felt this sense of patriotism because what this Trump train was, was a bunch of hardworking people who wanted to show support for the country that they love. Yeah, that's really what it was. It wasn't a competition between people. There was multiple towing companies there. There were multiple semis. There from different companies that were all coming together for the joint purpose of showing their patriotism in America and what they want to do to help make America be stronger and better.

It was it was awesome. I don't even know how it was so awesome. There were and people were just having a good time. Like it was just fun. It was cold, but people were there. They were getting their vehicles all decked out and it was it was fun. So it was great. Yeah. Thank you to everyone who took the time out to do that on Saturday.

Yeah, big thank you to Sun Kiss Enterprises. They were kind of the lead out on this with Representative Barbie Heart, but they definitely weren't alone. A lot of other people joined in with them and that's why the event was so big. You know, it's it's interesting, Julie, because I did see some news stories about this. It's always interesting to read the comments because you have I mean, there's very few people that are lukewarm about it.

Either they were all in go Trump, this was awesome, or you're part of a cult, or oh, that's gross or whatever. And I'm just like, boy, that's very emblematic of the divide that we're in right now. Yeah. And those comments were out there for sure that was happening. I'm like, I feel like this, like the way that I treat Pride Days.

Yeah. I don't want to be involved in it and I don't want to hurt little kids. That's. Yeah, that's all I care about. If you want to hold your pride days, go, go do your thing. Yeah. I'm. Don't hurt little kids. And don't make me be part of it. Yeah. No one forced anyone to be part of the Trump train.

No. And so the first part is taken care of. You weren't forced to be part of it. The second part, there were no little kids harmed in it. Yeah. So leave it alone. Yeah. Yeah, it was great event. So, there was also one in Bingham County as well, and they had a decent turnout. I did see a video of that.

So, way to go in. And also, can I just say on pretty short notice they turned this thing on a dime and it had a big participation. Yes. So yeah. Proud of you. Yeah. All right. 822 on Newstalk 179, we're going to break away. We do have the secretary of state. He's going to join us here in a little over ten minutes.

And, on the eve of Election Day, I'm sure he's got plenty to say. We'll do that. Coming up on Newstalk 1079. Do you go?

Do you?

Think it's 828 on Newstalk 179, Neal Larson, Julie Mason and let's talk about your protein consumption. Or as Paul Harvey used to say, protean. He used to pronounce it protean. Yes. It a protein. And I remember as a little kid sitting with my dad in that farm truck listening to Paul Harvey going, isn't it pronounced protein?

Anyway, Paul Harvey used to say protein. I don't care if it's protein or protein. It's good, it is good. And when you grab a steak or a box or a package of broths or the ribs or the sous vide meals like fajitas and sesame chicken and French dip, all fantastic roast, you can't leave a shark roast off. Oh, that's true, Grand Peak's Prime meats.

That's where Julie and I go to fill up our freezer for, I don't know, say, November through February or March and you should do the same. Just go to GP primates.com. Yep. They're awesome. They'll be great friends of yours. They're great friends of ours. And super easy. If you order more than $75 in the Idaho Falls area, guess what?

It's delivered for free. And then if you don't quite meet that threshold, or if you live somewhere else besides Idaho Falls, it's just a small surcharge to have delivery happen. All right. GP primates.com okay. We are going to have to break here shortly. But we do have a caller on the line. So caller you got about a minute.

Go ahead. Okay Neal and Julie there's Mike. Hi Mike. Redneck from Bank robbed. How do these people get over. Yeah. How do these people get away with lying about the, prop one? Well, that's just it, Mike. They might not they might not get away with it, because if it passes, it might be the thing that they hung themselves with when it comes to a court case.

Well, anyway, I, I mean, I even saw an advertisement this morning, okay. And I can't remember the lady's gal, but she used to be on, channel news eight. Yeah. Okay. And as an anchor and, look, prop one does not keep, you know, the primary. So the way they're set up does not. It's a lie. It does not prevent anyone from voting.

Correct. You're right. All right, well, you guys have a good day. It. Well, I think my wife, my wife is making chili today. Do you? Yeah. Well, good. See, that's a reason to be happy. Yes. I hope it's got some great ground beef in it. It. Yeah it absolutely does that stuff we raised ourself. Yeah. So anyway you two have a great day.

Good for you Mike. Thank you. I appreciate it. I was going to say I don't think they're going to get away with it. Every time Bruce Newcomb sends out one of those mailers and it says nothing about ranked choice voting. And it also insinuates we're just going back to something we had before. Like, that is every reason for our Republican legislature to toss this thing.

So we'll be back when we come back. Idaho's secretary of State, Phil McGrane, joining us on the eve of Election Day.

Okay. None of us are on the air. Let's get the zoom going. Good old Mike. Mike. Mike had his panties in a bundle today. Yeah, that's the most animated I've heard. Mike. All right, what should we ask Phil? That somebody sent us an image. They're frustrated because all of the instructions are also in Spanish. And why is that?

Why is he doing something like that? I, I don't know if that's. I mean, there's lots of legal people here that do speak Spanish only I don't I don't have my panties in a bundle over them. I'll ask him though. Yeah. What was that one question we were going to ask him? He should be able to give us early voting numbers in Idaho now.

Oh, he's Secretary McGrane. Can you hear us? Yes. Can you hear me, Neal? Yes, we can hear you. Great. Good morning. Good morning. How are you truly doing? Well, how are you holding up? I'm doing good. I think you know, it's been like, a positively eerie feeling around here that the elections kind of coming together smoothly. And we're in that calm spot right before the big day.

Great. Yeah, that. That sort of eerie that things are going okay right now. Like they're supposed to be falling apart now. They're not supposed to be falling apart. But, you know, like we all watched the national news, I was messaging with some of the other secretaries in the other states and but I think we're we're so close. I mean, Friday was a very big day for early voting, throughout the state.

But really, things seem to be in place, which is how it's supposed to be. So, so happy to report that, I guess, you know, compared to the alternative we had heard locally. Specifically, Bonneville County had shattered some previous records for early voting. Would you say that's kind of indicative of, around the state? It is like early voting, I think, both nationally and around the state in person.

Early voting has been way up. And this is the first election that I'm. Yeah, we won't know for sure till tomorrow. And all the absentees are finally have received. But there's every indication is this will be the very first election where in-person early voting surpassed absentee voting. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. And so it's. Yeah. I mean, we're at, 380,000 Idahoans have voted already in this election.

Wow. That's great. Yeah. So, how are you? And I want to be careful. Well, I'll ask the question. I guess you can be careful how you answer it, but how are you feeling on prop one right now? If you were to feel, you know, because the wind has blown one way and momentum can shift on any given issue.

Do you have any thoughts on which direction this might be going? I've talked to some folks, and what I've heard kind of is that even nationally, so not just in Idaho, but the as more information is out there, the angst over ranked choice voting that I don't think prop one passes. And from what I've heard, that ranked choice voting may lose in all seven states that it's on the ballot.

Oh, that would be beautiful, mind. So that that just that seems to be the trend. I think it is interesting, you know, the the amount of money. Now, if you look at Idaho, it's for open primaries. It's over $5 million. Yeah. So that I mean, you obviously you have your video and stuff. You've, you know, touched on all that.

I will say one thing I want to hopefully touch on is just encouraging people to make a plan for tomorrow and through the Vote Idaho site that people can look up, not only can they look up their sample ballot and their polling place, but even for people who've already voted, whether they voted absentee or early, if someone's unsure about their absentee ballot, getting, you know, did they get in?

They can look up and see, oh, yeah, it's been verified and received. Okay. And just, you know what I mean? So there's some of those angst that people have, like here in the final days, or also because we have people moving in, is that, that you need to get your absentee in tomorrow, like there's no postmark.

There's no don't stick it in the mailbox today. Yeah. Got you. Yeah. Okay. Standby will be on here in about 30s. Okay. Secretary of state website and learn who is behind prop one. Follow the money. Don't let liberal out of state organizations control our elections. Vote no on prop one paid by Melaleuca. When you need to know we're here for you.

Newstalk 179 stimulating talk for East Idaho.

It's 837 on Newstalk 107I, Neal Larson and Julie Mason and we're pleased and, kind of flattered to have the secretary of state Idaho's top election official. And he handles more than just elections. But that's all we're talking about today. Tomorrow is Election Day, and Secretary Phil McGrane joins us. Secretary McGrane, always a pleasure to talk with you.

How are you today? Good morning Neal. Good morning Julie. It is, pleasure to be with you, especially here on Election Day eve. It's exciting for us as a state. And as we were chatting just beforehand, like, it feels pretty good right now that Idaho seems to be in a good place heading into tomorrow. You know, we thought we didn't know.

But in the minute or two before we connected you for this interview, we thought, this is a day you're going to be running around with your hair on fire, but you seem very, very calm for election eve. Yet today, I really feel like we are in a very good place. I felt that Friday evening as we were wrapping up in person early voting and Mean Friday was a must packed day with voters.

But everything seems to be in place. All the work that's gone in in advance by the county clerks and others has really paid off. And, and the participation that we've seen in this election so far says a lot about what's going to happen tomorrow in terms of I think we've got an engaged just a lot of voters engaged in this election.

Well, let's talk about that. You know, stunning turnout on Friday. But it happened for several days. I know we were told in Bonneville County the previous Friday had been a record breaking Friday. So what is what does that early voting look like in Idaho? You know, I think that's one of the most fascinating things about this election overall is the in-person early voting numbers all across the state over the past two weeks, as I've talked to clerks, including Patty Manning, at just how busy they've been, the lines that really formed at the end of last week.

I know there was one location here in the Treasure Valley, where the line was over two hours long just to get into the early voting location. So so far as I shared, we've had over 380,000 Idahoans have already cast votes in this election. I mean, that's means, you know, we're knocking on, getting close to 40% turnout before Election Day.

Overall, I think the really interesting thing is just the in-person early voting. So typically we would see more absentees than in-person early voting, but this will be the first election. I'm fairly confident in-person early voting will supersede absentee voting and just Bonneville County alone. For example, saw 12,000 people show up there to the elections office and vote for this election in advance.

And so it's impressive numbers to see. And I think it says a lot about the just the attention and engagement that we're seeing, whether that's the national election with, you know, the presidential election, obviously, I think that's driving a bunch of it. But also, you know, some of the local issues and races like prop one and some of the other things.

So, Secretary McGrane, what what do you think is driving it? I know that there have has been lots of national messaging about early voting. We saw a lot of that four years ago during Covid, for people to get in and get their votes in. And maybe that's been an emphasis of yours, too, that letting people know that this is available to them.

But what do you what do you think is the big driver leading to this record turnout? Early voting? You know, I do think it's something national that is impacted because it's not have this isn't unique to Idaho and it's not you know, typically we might watch and see like a local sheriff's race or a bond or levy drive up turnout, but it seems to be happening everywhere.

I mean, the presidential election drives it, but there seems to be a greater acceptance of in-person early voting as a you know, it's the process is the same as voting on Election Day, but you just get to do it a little bit more conveniently with busy schedules and everything else. And that seems to be the big shift.

And you mentioned 2020. We saw a big uptick in absentee voting in 2020. You know, the pandemic restrictions, other things. But that dropped right back down afterwards like that. That was just a blip. In the numbers, there seems to be like a trend that I would suspect will continue. And the clerk's offices are going to have to adjust.

You know, Penny and her shop is really designed around facilitating voting on Election Day and all the different polling locations. But when you process, 12,000 people through that office, it tests and says, okay, do they need, you know, a second location the next general election? Let's talk a little bit about those processes, you know, because in Bonneville County, they're going to figure out if they need a second location.

We've received a text, someone asking what happens to their ballot if they voted early. So if they went in-person, voted early, how's say, for instance, Bonneville County already tabulated those 12,000 votes and they've just in secret, held what the results of those votes are, and they're just waiting for the actual Tuesday election, or do they wait and do all of the tabulating at the end of the day on Tuesday?

Yeah, that's a really good question about kind of where we are in the process. So it varies a little bit county by county, just based on the systems they're using, I know, and Bonneville County, if you know, if there's if a voter at the polls, if they stick their ballot, whether it's in a ballot box, it'll go in and stay locked and stored in that ballot box until tomorrow.

Alternatively, in some locations, the voter may stick it in a scanner that's on top of the ballot box, and they'll scan it no matter what. It doesn't matter the process. The votes are not no one, not the election staff. Nobody knows what the outcome or results are at this point in time. Until the polls close at eight, no one can have that information.

That way we don't have to risk any leaks or advance information. You know, anything we talk about any of these races, it's still all our speculation based on the information we know, not actually seeing anything. And I think, you know, for absentees in particular, all of those absentees have still been sitting in their envelopes, sealed up up until today.

They'll begin opening their envelopes today and start scanning those absentee ballots tomorrow during the day while voting is taking place. But again, all of that will come together. And in terms of actually tabulating the votes, that will happen after the polls close tomorrow and then forever. All of us here in the southern part of the state, we won't get those first results until 9 p.m., tomorrow evening, because we're waiting for the Panhandle to get to their polls close as well.

So, Secretary McGrane is. Now, when you say nobody will know those, not even the county clerks, it is that because the machines don't allow it or the law doesn't allow it? Oh, yeah. It is the law that doesn't allow it. And then the systems are, structured to not allow it. So there's no popping up. It's a very deliberate act to have it actually do that tabulation.

And that's because there's I don't know if, you know, if you go way back in time, there are elections that the 2000 election is one of those where the national pundits started making calls and based on early information about what was happening in eastern states, there's a lot of indications it suppressed turnout and voting in Western states.

I think the same thing could happen here. You know, if you start to hear how early voting is going or absentees, it can influence the election. And the goal here is not to influence anybody's votes. It's to conduct it. And so everyone can make an informed decision for themselves. And then at the end of the election, we all get to see what the collective results of the community are.

Can you tell us about ballot security? Because Julie and I, we actually we wanted to see what it was like to vote early. So we went to a couple. Was that Fridays a couple of Fridays ago. And I mean the ballot we it we put it through the scanner and it went into a secure box kind of a tote thing under the scanner.

But do they I you know, I mean two weeks plus have gone by since then. Do they keep those ballots under video surveillance? Like how can we be, assured that those ballots are never tampered with, added to or subtracted from? I mean, what what processes are in place? So that voters can feel confident? Yeah. The, in order for a county to do early voting, just like you experienced one of the key processes and the questions you just asked are the same ones the legislature did when we were making this shift to in-person early voting is every county.

So Bonneville County had to submit to our office a security plan on how they were going to retain those ballots, how they were going to ensure that they remained secure. Pretty common practice. Exactly what you said. I think in every instance I can think of is video monitoring of those ballots and that space, but also keeping them stored up and sealed.

And then beyond that, our office has been gearing up and part of our preparations is right now, a lot of the work is at the county level helping execute Election Day. But then we will immediately jump into action after the election to do our post-election audits. Those ballots have to remain secured and stored so that when we come into audit or in the event there's a recount, because you have a close race like district 32, this last election that we can go in and they'll still have their same seal numbers, will validate that all of the the security mechanisms are in place to ensure that, like you said, that nothing's been

tampered with. Do you have any way of knowing I mean, this would be just you guessing, Secretary McGrane, but do you have any way of guessing how how what is voter turnout going to be in Idaho? Are we with this early voting that's happened? Are we going to exceed numbers that you would have expected, or do you think it's just a shift of people and we're we're going to stay about the same?

I think it's a little of both. It is what it comes down to. My sense is that early voting numbers are really high, the engagement is high. So I feel pretty confident we will break records in terms of the total number of voters. Part of that is just our population gain. Idaho continues to grow fast, so we're going to have more voters whether we'll get there.

In terms of the total percent turnout, I don't know for sure. We we have some high watermarks. Even going back to the 2020 election. I, I suspect we're going to see way more engagement than all of us anticipated on the front end. But some of it, too, will be a shifting of voters, people who would have voted on Tuesday instead voted early.

I mean, you two are a perfect example of what you shared, right? Going to check out this experience and see what it was. So I think it'll be a blend of the two. But there, you know, some of the stories I was talking with one of the county clerks they shared, like there was, both a guy in his early 50s and a guy in his 80s who went to early voting and registered and voted for the very first time.

I, I think it's to me, someone who's so close to all this, it's surprising to see someone can go that long and not vote. But I think it's also an indication of all the attention on the national election and the care and concern about, you know, where our country is headed. Seems to be driving some folks out.

I I'd love to get your reaction. And maybe, we could bring out, Phil McGrane arm chair, Secretary of state here, but we've seen these stories from other states, like, I believe it wasn't in Oregon where someone started a ballot. Ballots on fire inside a ballot box, and hundreds, if not thousands of ballots were destroyed. And there was really no good way of knowing whose ballots they were.

And do stories like that kind of make you you cringe a little? And how would you handle that if you were a secretary of state there? Yeah, of course those stories do. I mean, they make me cringe. Both those, Secretary of state, but also as an American, and I think for any of us seeing that and just to distinguish what you shared happened in Vancouver, Washington, there was actually two dropboxes that were damaged.

And it's informative for us as election officials. I mean, you have these drop boxes in Idaho. All of them are under video monitoring. Obviously, the ones there were because we've seen video footage of it. But it's worth noting just some of the additional steps that can be taken. And I know I think this will certainly be a change for us statewide.

But in many areas, our Dropboxes have fire suppression systems. And when the incident happened over there, so in Portland, the Portland area, somebody tried to tamper the same way, but there was a fire suppression system that protected the ballots. There was minimal damage to anything in the drop box. Despite people's efforts. Whereas in Vancouver, Washington, we've all seen where they're scraping out the burning ballots.

Yeah. I have thoughts in terms of how we would approach a situation like that to make sure we could get capture, people's votes. It's a very different system in both those states where every voter vote by mail. That's entirely different than how we do it here. You can appreciate watching that. It made me feel better about how we're doing things here, because, again, it is different.

But that's where our office comes in, as well as when things don't go as intended. Us coming up with plans. We've had some a few things in this election that we've had to adjust and adapt to, and that's part of the role, is making sure we're nimble and that we've done all the front end work to have plans in place.

When things don't go as intended. Well, comment for us, if you will, about, I know there have been court cases about this one in Virginia where they, a judge decided really sided with Governor Youngkin there. And what was the outcome? So it was past a deadline, but, the Republicans wanted to be able to clean the rolls even a little bit further.

The judge did side with Governor Youngkin and said, yes, you can continue to clean those. I'm sure you're asking about that. But also in Nevada, the judge doing the reverse and extending the voting time in Nevada, just comment on those, those different states. And and probably how difficult is that for a secretary of state to function and and why is this such a battle.

Why don't we want to have set time frames and cleaned up rolls? Yeah, I'll first mention Virginia. We've been watching that very closely. We've, been working on the citizenship question here for our state. So, the governor, little issue the only citizens can vote act back in July. And so we've been doing some pretty similar efforts to what, Virginia is talking about, where that case relies here in Idaho.

Even as early as this morning, I was talking with one of the county clerks about, a potential non-citizen they had removed in anticipation, basing all our due process. So watching that, I think it's important. You know, we're fortunate again in Idaho. So the the federal law, the National Voter Registration Act, which is where that that 90 days in that lawsuit resides, doesn't apply in Idaho.

Because we implemented same day registration back in the 90s, we're exempt from some of the additional burdens other states are facing about voter roll maintenance, which I think is fortunate because we've been able to really narrow down and ensure that there won't be non-citizens participating in our election. And I think to the other question where you're going, Julie, is just the intervention in of courts in certain situations.

I think we all have to be extremely judicious and mindful any time we modify something, you know, all of the campaign, all the candidates, we have rules in place. Everyone's operating with an understanding of what those parameters are at the front end. And so it has to be an extreme cases that we would ever modify it. You know, just that part of what we've been working on here is last week I spoke to Chairwoman Moon.

I spoke to Chairwoman Eckert. She has we prepare our legal teams. So the attorney General's office has a team of folks ready to go in the event that anything pops up election day and we find ourselves in court. I've been in federal court on in the middle of the day, on Election day, back in 2012. That's not where any secretary of state or anybody else wants to be.

So hopefully we've done all the prep work that we won't find ourselves in a situation like these other states. But no matter where it is, it impacts all of us. And I think sometimes people are too quick to use the legal system in the middle of it when it's like, let it, let's work through it. And, you know, in Idaho, we're fortunate we have processes after the fact that if we need to review an election because it's close, that's why we do those hand recounts, those audits, everything else to ensure the accuracy of the vote.

Last question here, Secretary McGrane. It's a we got a screenshot, actually, of the vote idaho.gov website. And their concern was that there are instructions for voting in Spanish. And obviously there's a concern, especially in other states, in swing states of illegal, immigrants that are voting in those elections fraudulently. And I guess I'll pass that question along to you.

Why do you have the instructions in Spanish in Idaho? I think we know the answer to this question, but I'll let you answer it. Yeah. One we have a large Hispanic population, that votes in Idaho, but most noteworthy, so we have certain counties. And in your neck of the woods, Clark County, where federal law requires that we make sure everything is available in Spanish.

There's a large enough Spanish speaking population of American citizens that we are required to provide this information. But I think it's also you touch on you know, I know the vote idaho.gov website is a great resource for people to look up their voter information and record. So if they have any questions about the election for tomorrow, please go visit Vote Idaho and hopefully should be able to find everything you need.

We actually had a question. How do I know my vote gets counted? You can get that info at Vote idaho.gov. Is that right? That's right. If you go look up your voter information on vote idaho.gov. In addition to seeing your sample ballot finding your polling place, you can actually see if you voted absentee. You can see that it was accepted invalid.

You can see if you early voted your voter history, the record of you having voted so you can confirm that your vote is being counted. Plus you can get all the information if you haven't voted to make sure you know where to go and know what you're going to be voting on when you head to the polls tomorrow.

All right, all great info, Secretary McGrane, we appreciate you making, some good time for us here this morning, and we wish you the best. Well, between now and when the votes are counted. So thank you guys very much for having me. And let's get out and vote. Idaho. All right. It's, 855 now on Newstalk 179 back after this.

Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. The Neal Larson Show this. Thank you, Secretary McGrane. Yeah. Thank you guys. I thanks for all you guys do. More than way above average in terms of getting information out to voters. So. Thanks for all the work leading up to this election and I feel good. Had an election day. Hopefully you guys do too.

Well thank you thank you. We appreciate that. So we're we're doing a watch party tomorrow night. Secretary McGrane, you might be up to your ears with things to do, but we're we're, attempting zoom calls. I know with the governor and some others. Are you going to be actively working in the office, or will you be at, to watch party in Boise?

I will be in the office. So I it it's very plausible that I might be able to pop in via zoom. Right. Okay. We're kind of planning to be able to pop into some of the different media outlets around the state during the day for us to just to describe, what it's like here, it it can be a strange feeling because we're not the one penny Manning's the one, you know, laboring over everything.

And so I compare it to being a flight instructor, where there's hours and hours of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror. Hurry up and wait. Yeah, right. Yeah. And like, we and we react right when something comes up, all of a sudden we have a whole team of people ready to react. So anything let me ask you this.

If if we were to reach out to you prior to 9:00, would that be our best bet in getting you on? Yes, it would like once, once that area that'll be when we're busiest is when the results start. Okay, I can I can coordinate that with Michelle. Will she be with you that. Yeah. That'll be perfect. Okay. And we would use exactly the same zoom link.

Okay. Sounds great. Okay. Thank you. Thank you sir. Thank you guys. All right. We'll see you. Right. I'll be good. Yeah, that'll be good. Since I heard nothing from. All right. That does it for this hour, but we've got another hour coming up on this election eve on Newstalk 179.

And good morning. It is our two underway. 907 on a Monday on Newstalk 1079. Not just any ordinary Monday. It's election Day eve. It's a big, big, big presidential election tomorrow, obviously with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. It's a big election for Idaho as we decide on the future of our voting system with proposition one and I want to be quite vague here, Julie, but I think we can safely say there are some really substantial reasons for optimism, for the outcome of of proposition one.

And I think what they viewed as their biggest advantage is also their biggest weakness. Their biggest advantage was their lack of hesitation in lying and telling you that this was just a really simple tweak that allows everybody to vote in our election system. And the problem is it's so, so, so much more than that. And I think people are finding out that it's so much more than that.

And even if they like ranked choice voting, even if they liked open primaries, they don't like getting lied to. And I think there are a lot of people that are going to be like, this isn't the way to do this. We like some of these reforms. This is not the way to get it done. And despite the overwhelming tsunami of of pro advertising that we've seen on this, I feel really, really confident for a lot of different reasons that Idahoans are not going to put up with this kind of politics.

Let's talk about that tsunami, because we have seen a a swell, a swell in the last two weeks. Yeah, they had already spent millions of dollars of outside of Idaho money, dark money coming in. They had already spent millions of dollars to try to get this passed. We've had plenty of complaints that you guys are tired of the ads, but there's a positive to that.

What that means they think they're losing. Yeah, that's the reason they had to infuse all of this ad money in the last two weeks. They think they're losing. And it's if you read the room, you know, if they had it solidly in the bag, they wouldn't have spent that money in the last two weeks. Yeah. Agreed. I, I 100% agree with you.

I don't think we have it in the bag. We need people to get out and vote solutely. It should never be a reason for complacency. But I think that if if people will just go vote and vote their conscience, we can defeat this thing. Yes. Okay. We're going to go to the phones I believe it's Bill standing by.

Hi Bill. How are you. We can defeat Okay. Can you hear us? Bill, please stand by. Bill, how are you? Hey. Good morning, Neal and Julie. Hi. You know, I want to reinforce your point on going out to vote. Can you hear us? Bill? You, bill, you want to turn your radio down? I think that's throwing you off your voice and going out.

There. You want to turn your radio down? I think that throwing you. Okay. Sorry about that. That's all right. You know, it's not live. It's actually delayed a few seconds. So go ahead. Yes, yes, yes. I just want to reinforce your point about voting tomorrow that being raised in a communist country, elections meant nothing. Results were predetermined.

It was like an automatic. You march like a bunch of sheep, and you check off the box, and the winner was by 90% or 95%, whatever. Here in a state of Idaho, even though we know Trump is going to win, you've got some very important down ballot elections and the props. And I just want to encourage people tomorrow to get out and exercise their most precious privilege and right.

Yes, to vote. And as you may feel, that we're being cheated and and, you know, the liberals are playing games and all these dumpster fires with ballot boxes and, election gimmicks that they're playing with, I think in the state of Idaho, we're relatively okay. But Barbara has a pretty close race. You've got a county commissioner race, you've got the prop one, which people need to vote no on.

Absolutely. You've got that constitutional amendment to the Constitution. I think, Bonneville County commissioner race is pretty close. So people regardless of how they feel about Trump winning or not, they need to get out tomorrow and vote. Great. And thank you for that reminder, Bill. I mean, the Trump Harris race has taken up so much oxygen.

I think people think that's the big thing. But there's there's a lot that I, that I would argue impacts our lives just as directly as the presidential race does. I would say more. I think on the local level, we are impacted a lot more than what happens in Washington. As long as we elect the right governor and the right county commissioners and the right representative here in the state, we're a little bit more insulated from the national stuff.

Yeah, agreed. Bill, thank you for that reminder. And thanks for being such a great friend of the show. All right. Yep. And we'll see you tomorrow at the party. Yeah. Well, great. See you there. Sounds great. But let's talk about the party for just a moment. Yeah, because Bill's going to be there and we're going to be there.

And Representative Fulcher is going to join us via zoom. And we've got WI. Secretary McGrane is going to try to join us like we have got a lot of people lined up for tomorrow night. It's the big shindig. We partnered up with the Bonneville County GOP. There will be some food. We're not sure I think it's light refreshments, that kind of thing.

And, there's music you and I will be there will be broadcasting part of the time. Will be talking to the people. Part of the time. And, most importantly, as the election results start to roll in around, what, 9 to 10, then we'll be there to cover that as well. All of it's going to be right here on Newstalk 1279.com.

Don't stop that from, coming to the party, but we'll be broadcasting our coverage from there. Tomorrow night will be framed like we'll be there from like 7 to 10 ish, maybe 1030. We'll have to just see how things are going. Remember, there will be national results that are coming in prior to Idaho's results. So we will have national coverage rolling there at the event center.

So you'll be able to see what's going on in the various states as well. And then we're going to be, heavily focused on what's happening in Idaho also. All right. And by the way, if you just text the word ticket to (208) 542-1079, that's the easiest way. You don't need a ticket for everybody in your group. Just get one.

We just want to know how many in. You know, you want to tell us how many are in your party. Just get a ticket to represent your entire group. So we're just just helping us get a, like, a ballpark figure. Yeah. All right, let's go back to the phones. Hi, caller. Welcome to the show. Yeah. Is it me?

It's you. Yes. I heard your last caller mentioned something about a constitution. There's something about the Constitution. If you could take a minute during your show and explain that I didn't even know we were voting on something like that. Yeah, well, I also want to give a shout out to your last caller. He is amazing that that guy knows that stuff.

You go in there, he can help you with anything that you're having problems with. I just want to say I think, a lot. Yeah. Bill from, Wealth of Health. Yeah. Very quickly on the constitutional amendment, we I, we can explain it very quickly. It's it's called H.J. R5. It's the first thing that appears on your ballot.

It actually appears before proposition one. And it basically proactively states that it's illegal for, you know, a non-citizen to vote. Is that right? Yes. Or if you're here illegally, it's not legal to vote right now. The law states who can vote. It doesn't state who can't. Some people think that this is completely unnecessary, that if you're not in the people who can vote, then by default you can't.

But I think that lawmakers said, well, with this massive influx of illegal immigrants, and we have seen millions come in over the last few years, I think it's a way to get out ahead of that and to be very proactive in stating that if you're here in this country illegally, you absolutely cannot vote in Idaho. And so I think it's just it's an added measure.

It's debatable whether or not it's needed. But I think, I'm voting or we voted yes on it. And I would encourage our listeners to vote yes on it as well, because it doesn't it doesn't harm anything, just simply reinforces, well, thank you. That's why I called to get a better understanding of it. I appreciate you. All right.

Well, thank you for the call. (208) 542-1079 and caller, you're up on the program. Good morning. Morning, Neal. And Joy. You know, every voter needs to know that if they vote yes on prop one, we may be getting someone like a new some or even worse. A Harris that wants to turn Idaho into, California. So, you know, which if anybody out there wants to vote for Kamala, for president, they should really Google an L.A. times article.

And it's from June of 2009. The headline is San Francisco DA's program Trained Illegal immigrants for jobs they couldn't illegally hold. And it goes on to say how she was running for state attorney general and prosecutor. Kamala faces questions over that program she trained illegal, or how they trained drug felons for jobs, kept them out of jail, and expunged their record record.

So that, the article goes on to list all these horrific crimes committed by illegals. And, you know, some of them are really bad. And these like, lady, get run down in a car. The driver was laughing. And so it make a long story short, this lady survived and miraculously and she asks the question is well, they're not citizens.

Why are they here? Why haven't they been deported? And so my point is, here we are over a decade later, and, Americans are still asking. Come on. Well, that question today, because her policies made it worse. And this is really who she is. Yeah. It is. And you're you're not wrong about her and that and that policy.

So we've so your point caller basically is we don't need people like that getting into power. So vote no on prop one. Is that your message. Yes. And but as president you know this has been going on for that long. If she wanted to make a change right now and secure the border, well, she had since an over a decade to do that.

And, you know, I might just say really quickly, I have a business where a customer came by just last week and just to show how serious this point is, I mean, this happened in Idaho. I said, good day. And she said, it's not a good day. And she was crying and she says, I just lost another niece, and, or to fentanyl.

And so, you know, I was like, yeah. And so, I mean, people don't hear that a lot, but that is happening. And then pretty much, you know, in every state. So that's heartbreaking. I'm sorry that it was it was horrible. But people need to know the seriousness of it. It's not about politics and that people just really take that to heart.

And so there we go. Thank you. Thank you for the call and sharing that. All right. 208542107 and the consequences of this are extensive. They're hard to quantify. I wanted to kind of meld everything together that we've talked about in those calls. You, you gave the rundown of why we we're both you and I voted yes on the constitutional amendment.

That's because when they say now every state is a border state, it's not just this catchy phrase that they've been throwing out there. Every state is a border state. It is that easy to get the fentanyl from Mexico to Idaho. It there's the distance isn't protecting you anymore. Yeah. And so every state is a border state, whether it be with the the influx of drugs, whether it be from criminals coming across and deciding where they're going to live in the United States, both of them are dangerous to the quality of your life.

And that's why you need to take it seriously about what's happening with our presidential race and what's happening in Idaho. You know, Julie, this is an issue that I think sometimes we don't attach consequences to our choices, right? We just we live in this theoretical or conceptual world. Well, I like Trump's policies better. So I'm voting for Trump, right?

I don't like Homless. I'm not voting for her. But when you stop and you think about this, this last caller talked about a woman whose niece died of fentanyl, I'm guessing there was a very good chance that fentanyl came across illegally. Some other drug may have been laced with it or whatever. If we had had a secure border, chances are good it would not have happened.

If we have a secure border, we know that there would be many, hundreds if not thousands of people who would still be alive today or not sexually assaulted or not trafficked or it matters in very real ways how these policies are implemented and carried out. And I think people are like, orange man bad. I don't like him.

But think about the real ways your life is going to be impacted day to day based on who is the president and what policies they they implement. It really does matter the the way that the border has been wide open and we've had an influx of both criminals and just innocent immigrants wanting to get here, but then they break the law to get here because they're they're entering the illegally.

So that happens. It's a mixture of everything. We should be scared about the, the, criminals. But you also have to have that flow of immigrants be at a very constant and manageable rate. It cannot be the influx that we've had. Ask your kids that are going to school how many kids are showing up and not being able to speak English doesn't mean we don't want them here.

They've just got it's got to be at a managed rate, and it's got to be done legally so that the states can can help those who do come to America assimilate. Yeah, in an orderly way. Yes. And yeah, absolutely. 922 our time on this Monday, if you'd like to join us, the number to call or text is (208) 542-1079.

That is the fall River propane call in text line. We'll be back after this. Hello, Facebook, friends. Facebook. I'm debating whether or not we take one of these cameras for our Facebook Live there tomorrow, or use our phone I this might be better. So we still have our phones to probably record and do whatever we want. So probably.

Yeah, probably better And that our phones are going to have to be plugged in. Yeah we might we probably won't do OBS. We'll just do a direct Facebook Live okay. With the camera. Okay. So yeah. So we can hook that right up to us. So lot of moving parts to this thing tomorrow night. Neal was here for a couple of hours yesterday securing some things, making sure it's going to.

Yeah. Sound good. We don't just want to. Neal cares way too much about the product to just go live and not have it be professional sounding. And so it's got to it's got to have sweepers. It's got to sound like it's supposed to. It's like it's a live TV radio program. Like there is a lot of work going in.

The more I worry about ahead of time, the less I have to worry about during the event. And that's what I want. I want, you know? Yeah, the full scope of our our minds to be present and interviewing people and slicing and dicing the results. Yeah. So yeah, please come join us. Facebook. It's going to be fun.

We've got several lawmakers showing up. You're going to be able to track everything. We'll have, we'll be bouncing between national coverage of on the TVs there of Fox News and ABC. So it won't just be one, one national programing. You know, we have the ability to bring up even more than that. So, yeah. Come join us.

Yeah. Oh, I have to talk to you about something. Stan. Just had to take care of a little important detail. Actually, I could have taken care of it after the show, but I would have forgot there's a chance he would forget. So better now than not. Ever. For sure. I know it's rare that I forget anything, but did you guys see that sunset last night?

Oh my goodness, it was beautiful. I was driving home from, my church calling up at BYU Idaho. It was a gorgeous view. Very pretty. I was here at that moment, and the splash of pink across the sky was great. So pretty. How'd you all do with daylight saving time? Did it throw you off? You doing good?

I don't know, I didn't get to benefit from it. I, I got up really early Sunday. Really early? Yeah. My daughter, packed up and went back to, Arizona. So they left early so that they could get through the drive and get home and get settled before her husband started school the next morning. So, yeah, we all got up early to say goodbye to them, so I didn't get to enjoy that extra hour.

It's 926 on Newstalk 107. Hi, Neal Larson, Julie Mason and you. If you'd like to reach us on the fall River propane, call and text line, that number is (208) 542-1079. And I think we're going to go right back to the phones here. Caller, welcome to the show. How are you today? I'm doing well, Neal, how are you and Julie doing?

We're we're doing all right. We're ready for tomorrow to get here. So yeah, you and millions of others, I've just about had enough. Agreed. Well, I want I, I, you know, listening to the, immigration pros and cons, you know, and I hear the Democrats say that, we need to take in millions of, immigrants because, by gosh, by golly, we're going to, solve the world's problems by getting all these immigrants.

I would urge those Democrats that believe that, YouTube a presentation by a gentleman that does a excellent demonstration with gumballs, and it's called, Gumball immigration. And watch it. It's you can watch however long there's several different ones on YouTube that you can watch, but the United States will never. If we started taking hundreds of millions of immigrants every year, we would never, ever be able to solve the the poverty problems.

The, any of the problems of the third world countries, ever. I have seen that gumball presentation and it's Turning Point USA. I can't remember the guy's name that did it, but it it truly is very, very eye opening when you watch how in terms of the overall problem in the world, when it comes to poverty and socioeconomic challenges, we don't have enough room or resources, not even close here in this country to address all of those.

And so I the important thing, I think, that America can do, but people have a problem with this too, is to export our formula for prosperity and abundance around the world and teach other nations and cultures how to have that to solve some of their deepest problems. It's not trying. How is the entire world? Yes, I absolutely agree.

Yes. And thank you for bringing attention to that. I hadn't seen that video in, quite a while. So that's a that's a really good point here. However, I think that we have to be very clear eyed about something. The left's goal actually isn't to bring in everyone from around the world and take care of them. The left's goal is to destroy America.

They want to fundamentally break us down and and stop us from being the shining city on the hill and the beacon to the world. However, historically gets the credit for taking down America will be remembered for a millennium by Marxists in the future, and that's what they truly want is to destroy this republic. It's not about compassion. It's not about helping others.

It's not about opening our doors. You know, it's not, you know, give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. That's the coating they put on it. But underneath it all is actually to destabilize our republic. We've pointed out lots of flip flops that Kamala Harris has done since she was anointed. She's the candidate.

She didn't earn it. She was anointed. She was put in that place. But since then, she's done a fair amount of flip flops. You know what? She hasn't flip flopped on. She has never changed her stance on changing the Supreme Court. Not once they she and she is fully planning on stacking the Supreme Court. And in order to do that, you would have to get rid of the filibuster, which is why it's so important that Republicans take back the Senate, because there is a chance the Republicans will lose control of the House.

Yes. So the Republicans need to take back control of the Senate so that that filibuster will not be broken. They on and but she those those are things she has not changed her mind on at all. She wants to get rid of the filibuster. She wants to stack the Supreme Court. And then I sent you a clip. She just, in so many words, said she's willing to take your guns away, too.

Yeah, that was in an interview just 4 or 5 days ago. So she might be, you know, trying to let everyone know she's the campaign of joy. She's she's moved to the center. I'm no longer this far left. I am willing to help. We do want to get immigration reform. It's all a bunch of B.S.. Yeah, well, it is, and I think there are times when she's speaking to an audience that she thinks it's safe to to share that.

And, and I think that's when we see her true colors, like, I, I feel like that's when we see the real Kamala come out when she's talking like that. Yeah. So, good point. All right. 930 (220) 854-2107 nine so this is great that this is two different rallies. And, at some point in each rally, Kamala asked the audience if they've gotten out and vote it and they've overlaid the audio.

I want to play this for you. Listen closely right here. It was my oh my oh my goodness, that's great. Thank you thank you okay so it's the same words verbatim the same facial expressions. There's little variations in the timing from one element to the next. But it's clear, Julie, that she has rehearsed this. I mean, the words are exact from one to the next.

And it tries to be this dramatic moment in in her speech when she's connecting with people. Yes. And she's just taken aback by all the people who've already gone out and voted. And she has this big, huge, wide eyed facial expression. And it's just so cheap. It's manufactured, all of it. It's fake, but all of it's manufactured, right?

I just said she was anointed into that position that was manufactured. Becoming the vice president was manufactured. She only got that gig because of racial diversity and and her gender. It everything is manufactured with this woman, including her answers. She's running ads in different states that actually contradict each other. But she is she's running one ad in one state to gain votes, but she's running a contradictory ad in another state, because now demographics in that state are different.

So she's trying to gain votes there. It's all manufactured. Oddly enough, it was CNN that pointed this out. Listen to this tonight. Mixed messages a case file investigation this hour finds Kamala Harris is targeting crucial battleground voters with vastly different messages on Gaza and Israel. This ad is running in Michigan, which has the largest Arab population in America.

What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent. All right. Well, it's a very different story for an ad in Pennsylvania targeting Jewish voters. Let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused.

On October 7th. Okay, okay. And she doubled down on this, on on this, this morning. By the way, it was on ABC this morning. Yeah. She in her her one campaign. She only did one campaign stop yesterday. And in her one campaign stop yesterday, she talked about how she is committed to ending the war in Gaza. And it will be peaceful for both sides.

Well guess what? You don't get to speak for Israel, Kamala. You don't get to speak for the people who had to have their loved ones murdered. So I don't know. She's just all over the board with it, depending upon who she's talking to. Can I ask a question? If you're Jewish, why in the world would you vote for someone like Kamala?

Up until this point, Jewish people have been somewhere landing between 70 to 80% Democrat. Yeah, I'm really interested to see what that that shift in demographics is following the 2024 race. Yeah, yeah. You you have to wonder. You really have to wonder. But it's okay because the Mormons are Exodus sing. Yeah. From Trump to Kamala. That feels that I don't think they are.

But it feels that way. Sure does. Okay. Don't get us started. I won't get that. We better take a break right here, right now. At 936 on Newstalk 1079. By the way, if you want to join us for our watch party tomorrow night and the texts are lining up, Julie, we're gonna have a good crowd there. And if you'd like to go text tickets to (208) 542-1279, we'll send you a link back.

All we need is your name and your email address. You're going to get an email with your ticket, but also within that email is an opportunity to guess the number of electoral votes that Donald Trump wins. If you get that right, it's a free T-shirt on us. Kind of fun. We'll be back again. Tickets to 208542 179 okay.

Yeah. You guys watch any football? Yesterday I didn't watch any football, but I did see some highlights. And if you haven't seen the New York Jets player do the reverse hurdle over, who are they? I thought it was the Eagles though. Was it the Eagles? I thought it was the Eagle. It might be the Eagles again. All I watched was the replay of it.

It was like The Matrix. It was amazing what this guy was doing. Yeah, well the first move that he made today is a spin move. Yeah. And he got out and then he did a reverse hurtle over and probably got another 3 or 4 yards out. Yeah. So pretty cool. Yeah I'm glad it's a it's a close race.

For those of you interested in how the Senate is, how everything's lining out in the Senate, Ben Shapiro on his podcast does a, like, a Sunday special all of the time. His Sunday drop this week was interview interviews with all of the various Republican candidates for Senate that have a chance to actually win. So we interviewed him.

She he, he interviews all these different Senate races. They talk about the Ted Cruz race and it's a bout, would we say a four point race right now? Yeah. Ted Cruz is ahead by four points. It's going to be tight. It it is. I think there will be somewhat of an undetectable boost from having Trump on the ballot for Ted Cruz, but it's closer than any of us would like to see for for Ted.

Yep. Yeah. It's going to be a tough race for him. It's super interesting. I was explaining it to Neal this morning. Obviously they feel like they've got Montana locked up. So Tim she he's going to win that. And West Virginia is locked up. So that's going to go Republican. So those are your two Republican races. But there's others that are very very close.

There's a candidate in Pennsylvania that's given Senator Casey a run and that Republican could win in Pennsylvania, which would be huge, especially if Trump takes Pennsylvania. That's a huge shift in that state. And, there's also it's either Michigan or Minnesota has a close one, and Ohio has a close one. And then, of course, there's the Kari Lake race in Arizona.

It's not as close, but she has narrowed the window. There's a like a three and a half point lead right now for the dem in, Arizona. So there's some very tight Senate races. And I would recommend listening to that podcast if you want to hear about them, because he interviews all those different candidates. Let's talk about the squirrel in this.

Oh okay. Okay. In Facebook life or the next thing on this next segment. Yeah. And Facebook Live either way okay. The national Real Clear Politics average Trump at 48.5 Harris at 48.4 okay. The last 3 or 4 presidential elections have shown this neck and neck poll okay. That defies logic. It also doesn't match the electoral vote. No it doesn't, but what I'm saying is these media outlets have a vested interest in making this thing look razor thin.

Just because more people tune in, it becomes the big thing to watch. And I feel like I don't. It doesn't make sense that these races are always this close right? Right. I feel okay. Yeah, I'm feeling all right, I feel okay. I don't think it's going to be easy. I feel okay, I don't know. I've told you a month ago, this day would have been almost like a living hell coming up till the Tuesday.

But I'm feeling much, much better. Yeah. You know, I'm optimistic about because I invested so much of my emotion into prop one this time around, I. I'm worried about it a little bit because they've thrown so much money at it. But I, I think we're going to win. I think we're going to defeat this thing. I just, I, I don't know, you have this spidey sense and yet you hear things in you.

But I feel like my spidey senses are that the word has gotten out, and. Yeah. Does this. Lisa, which state did you vote in? Because you have residents in both. So. And if you both voted in both. Don't tell us. Yeah. Just.

I know you don't don't confess to anything. Yeah. Yeah. And here we go. Give me a lady. 943 on Newstalk 107 and Neal Larson along with Julie Mason. By the way kudos to the Bannock County GOP. They are holding a flag and sign waving event from 4 to 6 p.m. at the intersection of Alameda and Yellowstone, one of the biggest intersections in in Polk.

It's probably going to be a mix of supportive horns, honking and middle finger gestures like, I know Pocatello. And they're going to get a few, obscene gesture waving, waving, you know that's true. Just wave back with all your fingers. Thank you for your support. Yeah. But, good. Good for them. I think that's great.

Just more awareness that the polls are open. And to get out and vote. I love all this, Stuart. Like the Trump trains that we saw over the weekend, events like this. This is just sort of that organic political activity that I, that I, I really treasure. I think it's great. How much does it move the needle?

I think a little bit. I think it can, not so much in changing minds, but reminding people, you got to go vote, tomorrow. So I think it is a good reminder to get out and vote. And I think it's also nice to know that you're not alone in your feelings. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. Yeah. All right, let's go to the phones.

2080, they hung up. Okay. Call back first. Shame call back. I'm going to tell the story of the squirrel. Yes. While you're calling back. So it was Wednesday afternoon. This story broke. And man, did it go big over the weekend. So a man named Mark Longo seven years ago rescued a baby squirrel. The mama squirrel died, got hit by a car.

Mark Longo rescued the baby squirrel and has raised that squirrel ever since. In 2023, he moved to Elmira, New York and started an animal sanctuary. He's rescued over 350 animals at that sanctuary. In the meantime, he rescued a raccoon named Fred. So Fred and, Peanut the squirrel are his little pets. They live in the house. They're completely domesticated.

That squirrel rides around on marks, like on the pocket of his joggers or on his shoulder. And completely domesticated animals. They tried to release the raccoon back out. The raccoon couldn't do it. Came back injured. So they've kept the raccoon. Well, some woman in Texas well, knew all about this because peanut is very popular on social media. And that's how they fund the animal sanctuary is videos of peanut making money.

And then they roll that back into the animal sanctuary. So some woman in Texas became frustrated with this, complained enough that a government agency in New York raided their home on Wednesday, raided Mark Longo's home on Wednesday, made him sit on the outside sidewalk for five hours. They even took apart his toilet searching for paraphernalia. Mom took the raccoon and the squirrel and euthanized both of them.

Okay. Yep. All the things that they allowed to go without prosecution or even pursuit. Yeah, you can steal whatever you want to in New York City and the Walgreens, but you keep a pet squirrel and they're coming after you. Yes. And part of the deal was, as they were telling him when they were raiding his house, he hadn't filed the correct paperwork.

He said, okay, let me file the paperwork. I'll do it now. I'll do whatever you want me to do. Just leave my squirrel and my raccoon alone. And they refused. Took the raccoon and squirrel and euthanized both of them. Okay. They're terrible people. I yeah, they're terrible people. I'm sorry, but they're terrible people. You got to get your priorities straight, right?

If this is the thing that you're going after, is a domesticated squirrel. Yeah. Come on, come on, New York. Yeah, that that's idiocy. Truly. Who cares? Well, I, I feel like it's fair that the takes that people had on the internet, one of them being that if they're going to come in your house and do that, you think they're going to stop with a squirrel.

Yeah. You think you're going to stop with a raccoon? Yeah. If they get enough control, they will come and take whatever they want to from your hand. That's true. They'll get your guns. They'll do whatever. Yeah. And Neal reminded me, remember in Covid when they were walking the streets in certain states. And if you were, if you were sitting on your porch by, you were commanded to go back into your home, you weren't even allowed to sit on your side.

Yeah. To be outside. So if you think that this, that they would stop that this is just a one off. Now I believe it's totally a test of the system. What can we get away with? Yeah. Okay. Julie, this next bit I'm a little afraid to bring up. Okay. Let's do it. So bear 399. Did you see this story?

Of course it was very sad. Got hit by a car, the car. The driver didn't do anything wrong, but just an unfortunate accident. And I really did feel bad for the people who had a, you know, fondness for the bear. Apparently, they they cremated the bear and spread the bear's ashes. Now they're having a vigil for the bear.

What is the proper protocol for mourning a beloved bear? I can't answer that. I can't answer that. Is there a point at which this is sufficient? Probably for a certain group of people? Yes. That this has exceeded the sufficient amounts. I, I would say, and I can't speak for everyone. I think the vigils should be sufficient. Do you think there's going to be more after the vigil?

Well, I didn't think there was going to be a vigil. So, the yeah, I do I have seen I have seen that a couple of vendors have really profited off of this. You can get T-shirts in memoriam of bear 399. Okay. Capitalism at its finest. I applaud them, actually, I wish I would have thought of that. Yeah, because you can get it.

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I, you know, can I give my hot take on this because I feel like I don't I don't want to minimize or denigrate anybody who's truly having grief over this. In my own mind, I think a vigil over a bear might be a little much, but that's that's just me. And again, I don't want to minimize other people here who are truly in grief if it's just FOMO and they're like, oh, I'm sad about the bear, too.

Like, I don't have a lot of, you know, patience for that. But the human condition is not great right now. There is an awful lot of human suffering on multiple fronts. We have young people that continue to take their own lives at a massive rate. We have problems in families. We have a porn epidemic. We and I just, I wish we could redirect our energy in elevating the human condition.

Then I'll leave it at that. I think that is absolutely a I think that that's a fair assessment of how numb we've become to humans and how we have transferred that love to non-human things. It's not just a bear. Yeah, we do it in other things. I, you know, our, our social media gets more attention than our loved ones do or.

Yeah. You know, so there I think the overall concept of have we lost track of the human experience. And we're, we're transferring our emotions to other things. Yeah I think that's a fair observation. Yeah. I, I think you're right to and maybe there is a bit of escapism there. Yeah. Maybe that. Yeah. So all right, we're going to take a break.

285421079. We'll be back. We'll wrap it up just ahead right here on this Monday. On this election eve. Did I go too far? No. I just know it drives you crazy. No, I just.

Oh, sure. Somebody said. Have you ever considered the thought that ranked choice voting is just another extension of a fundamentally transforming America? Yes, 100%. You say as much in your documentary. Yeah. Oh, okay. This person is with you. They said, are the fish and game employees getting paid to go to that vigil? And if they are, they feel like that's a waste of resources.

No. Yeah, that's a good point. Okay. Is someone legitimately correcting my use of the term Mormons? No, I think they're teasing you. Okay. They better be. I think they're teasing it because my patience is thin today. Is better. I already got grounded early on. He made me sit in a chair in the office for like, five minutes and say, you're in timeout.

There's absolutely nothing true about what she just said. Just so y'all know. But it's going to be true if she keeps it up, it's gonna be true. She keeps it up.

That. Look, I had three kids. I can do it. I can do it just like they did to me. Yeah. It would be interesting. Do you remember the outcome we had on our prop one flagpole? Like a week ago? We said, do you think it's going to pass or fail? And more people said they thought it would pass probably 6,070%.

Yeah. I wonder if they're feeling a difference. I don't I would say there's, I can't say if it's good or bad. Yeah I can 100% say those who want to defeat prop one were late to the game and that's as a whole. Yeah. But there's an upside to sometimes being late to the game I agree. And so that's why I can't say that's good or bad, because I think it was them thinking that it wouldn't end and that we know we've got a stronghold.

And then they were kind of blindsided. Yeah. So I but it might have actually been a good thing that they were late to the game. Yes. We don't leave him enough time to score another touchdown. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yes. Yeah. Agreed. I do think there was a shift. It happened. It was about the time you released your documentary.

I think that's a portion of it. I think that some of the advertising really started to kick in appropriately. They decided to play tough. I think that that was part of it. I think people started talking about it more. The combination of all of it, I think is has really made a difference in the last 3 to 4 weeks.

Yeah. Oh, well, Senator Crapo is sending us something. Oh good. All right. We'll take the last couple of calls here.

All right. 955 on Newstalk 107. And let's just jump right back to the phones. We, have time for a couple of calls here. Caller go ahead. How are you today? So 950 is going to start with to seven, and let's just jump right back, okay. You'll want to turn your radio down. All right. You're how are you today I'm good.

How are you caller you want to turn your radio down? Okay. Want to turn your radio right here. This is the second time we've had to do this today. Tyler. Go ahead. Okay. There it is. Can you hear me now? Yes, I can hear you. Okay, how about the story of the squirrel and the raccoon? What is wrong with people?

People like that in New York or wherever, even in Idaho, you know, they don't. They don't have a place to live here. I think they need to get out of Idaho or better people than that. No. If he was abusing them, animals or something like that, then maybe euthanize them. But then take them away from him. But that's the way I heard it.

He was taking care of them. He even tried to turn back into the, you know, the wild. You know, these people would complain about trivial things like that. And he has no place in a good state like Idaho. Keep them up. Okay. Well, thank you, for the call. Yep. And thank you for your passion. There was some some people who pointed out online about the story of peanut the squirrel and Fred the raccoon, that where's Peta?

Yeah. Why aren't they speaking up about this? Yeah, yeah, it's good point. All right, let's go to our next caller. Welcome to the show caller. How are you? I'm doing great. How about you guys? Good, good. What's up? Yeah. Well. Hey. Yeah. So, you know, I'm, moved over here from one of those neighboring blue states to get away from all the craziness.

And it's great to be in a, place that allows you to have reasonable conversations about this stuff. That said, I am not a Trump guy. I'm definitely not a Kamala guy. Now, I'm just wondering how with 350 million people to choose from in this country, we're stuck with these two out there, that these are choices.

This is what we're left with. And we've kind of come to the point in society where there's no accountability for anything that you do or you say, you know, you got one person calling the other one Hitler, you've got the other one calling the other one dirty names. And it's just it's a back and forth. How can we make the other person look terrible while we're really not doing anything to move our country forward?

In regards to your comment about having the porn epidemic and stuff like that, you know, I think back to when I was younger and if somebody's mom was, you know, doing porn, you're not pretty, pretty low of that. Yeah. Person in their family. Yeah. And nowadays. Yeah. People with that thumbs are doing only and yeah I know thank you for the call.

We're absolutely out of time. That's going to do it for the show on this Monday. And we'll see it tomorrow on Election Day.