From Washington: Campaign Trail Closing Arguments
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Hey folks, I'm John Rich. Just as wokeness and censorship have subverted the music industry, they've also crushed free expression on social media. Censors have suspended social media users, canceled entire news channels, obliterated online discussion platforms, and even banished a sitting American president.

from big tech platforms. Well, I'm here to say there's a place for you. A place where patriots can speak freely without fearing some unknown unseen speech enforcer that wants to shut you down. That place?

It's called True Social, a free speech social media platform that hosts breaking news, TV streaming channels, and powerful commentary on all the issues facing our great nation. Break free of big tech and make your voice heard. Join me on an uncancellable platform where I like to debut my songs and where you can read exclusive commentary from our 45th president, Donald J. Trump.

I'll see you on Truth Social, where freedom lives. Download the Truth Social app or visit truthsocial.com. Sunday, November 3rd, 2024. I'm Jessica Rosenthal.

The final countdown has the presidential candidates jamming through the swing states holding rally after rally, hoping to get out the vote with their final messages. I mean, this is an election that's more about turnout, frankly, than persuasion. Partly Republicans trying to turn out the low propensity young men. I'm Jared Halpern. Don't be surprised if Election Day drags on as states count ballots in very close contest.

The constant message that we as secretaries of state have been trying and are currently trying to hammer home and will do in the post-election period is, hey, you know, before you jump to a conclusion about a delay in results, meaning someone's up to no good, just understand that every state is different. This is the Fox News Rundown from Washington.

Vice President Harris chose to make part of the closing argument of her campaign at the Ellipse, the site at which former President Trump spoke on January 6th before the Capitol riot. She said if he wins, it will mean more chaos, division and policies that help only those at the top. Unlike Donald Trump, I don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I'll give them a seat at the table.

But after that, it was President Biden's remarks that got attention on a call with Latino voters when he called Trump supporters garbage. The White House later clarified that that comment was targeted at one supporter, a comedian at the former president's Madison Square Garden rally who joked about Puerto Rico. But former President Trump seized on the comment. My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple. You can't lead America if you don't love Americans. You just can't.

And then in Wisconsin, ahead of a rally, he put on an orange construction vest and hopped into a garbage truck with a Trump campaign sign on the side of it.

How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden. In Wisconsin, he said he wanted to address women by telling them that he'd protect them. And he was advised, he said, by his campaign not to say that. I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not. I'm going to protect them. I'm going to protect them from migrants coming in. I'm going to protect them from foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles and lots of other things. Vice President Harris later reprimanded him during a brief press conference.

It's just, it actually is, I think, very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority. And while the focus has been on swing states, both candidates have strayed. Harris visited Texas the week before. This week, the former president stopped in New Mexico to highlight the border. And of course, as the sitting vice president, Harris' speech at the Ellipse was in Washington, D.C. Well, look, it was a closing message.

the election. I think it's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a very important part of the election. It's a

in these final weeks trying to build on the broadest common denominator among her supporters who ranged by the way from aoc to liz cheney uh but they don't agree on a lot of policy but they do agree that trump is a threat to the health of our democracy to the constitution and that was above the vice president's speech but she also you know didn't just talk about uh

the kind of vibes, but she did talk about policy. She talked about the economy. She talked about abortion rights. She, she, she went into the standard stump speech that we've heard from the vice president across the country as we've been listening and following all of her speeches. So, you know, look, was it an effective closing message? It was as effective as you've seen from her. I think still that there's a lot of Democrats that wish you put a little more meat on the bones, a little less vibes, a little more substance, a little more detail perhaps.

But that is the art. The strategy from the terrorist campaign is not to get into the nitty gritty, but to make this a race about Trump and to make this a case about building the broadest possible anti-Trump coalition in this election.

I want to bring in Fox News Radio's Washington, D.C. correspondent, Jared Halpern. Jared, you were at the ellipse for the speech. What were the vibes there? Yeah, I mean, I think Josh is right. This was trying to do a couple of different things. One was to build that big tent. And one of the demographics that the Harris campaign is really going after here in the closing days are never Trump Republicans. This is not undecided voters deciding which candidate they're going to vote for. These are undecided voters deciding if they are going to vote.

Both campaigns are making a big play at voters who haven't really engaged in previous elections, maybe deciding if they want to engage in this one. I will say on the policy side at the ellipse, and this actually even surprised me a little bit, was the biggest applause line or one of the loudest applause lines was not about Trump, was not about abortion or democracy. It was when Harris

talked about, as she has for a few weeks now, this idea of expanding Medicare coverage for in-home care. This is a big cost burden for a lot of elderly folks who need in-home care. And it is something that seems to really be resonating with folks in a lot of different age groups. Certainly, you talk about that sandwich generation, you know, folks of a certain age who are caring for their own kids, caring for their elderly. Yeah.

That's right. They're both doing that one. And it shows, again, to Josh's point, kind of the populist strain, right? That this isn't necessarily party demography, right? We're not talking about like Republicans are in favor of this and Democrats are in favor of... There is... The way that people...

view politics and view their own party identity is not what it was a quarter century ago. And that's why there is a lot of overlap, especially on these economic issues that aren't really Republican or Democrat, but more kind of in that populist vein. Now, obviously, the details are going to matter. You'd have to pay for this. And I haven't seen either campaign talk an awful lot about that. But on broad strokes, it does seem to be a pretty popular message.

I just would add just to that. One of the things I've noticed, and this is reflective of the Harris campaign messaging, is that.

she's closed the gap with Trump in all the latest polling on the economy. So, you know, when I'm looking at, we're going to be, you know, looking at the map, looking at the results on Tuesday, but if she does well, and if she kind of closes strong late, I think we're seeing some smoke signals from her messaging. And, you know, some of the pundits criticized her criticism of price gouging and the populist themes that have come up

from her policy uh proposals as Jared has been talking about uh the Democrats who are really plugged into the politics understand why she's talking about that it it is a a smoke signal a reassurance to some of the working class middle class voters who've had trouble uh paying their bills even if policy-wise it may not make a whole lot of sense the politics of that has been Crystal clear and she's been very consistent with that that message as part of her proposals

And Josh, tell me a little bit about your reaction to seeing the former president. He's done a few things in response to, I guess, the name calling or some of the verbiage that's been used.

driving a garbage truck in response to, I guess, former President Biden's comment that Trump supporters are garbage. Jared, can you clarify for us what is the White House said about that, that that he meant to just say the comedian was was saying that that that he was just making that comment towards the comedian, not towards everyone? I mean, even before we get to that, I think part of the problem is just

it was not communicated well, right? It, you know, President Biden was not real clear in what he was saying. And then they put out this transcript that had an apostrophe and the stenographers say they did not approve of that apostrophe. That apostrophe is actually doing a lot of heavy lifting in this because it is a difference of whether or not he was speaking in the

plural or the singular. The White House insists that President Biden was speaking only about the remarks made by this comedian at Madison Square Garden, that he does not believe that everybody who supports former President Trump is garbage.

But clearly, they knew that this was a damaging comment because the clarification was instantaneous. Like within an hour, the president posted on X on social media that this isn't what I meant. Here's what I meant to say. The White House has spent two, three days trying to clarify it. There are now congressional investigations about what the stenographers approved, what they didn't approve. It clearly was something that was –

viewed very badly. The other issue with this is it was delivered while the vice president was giving this unifying speech on the ellipse. President Biden earlier that day said the reason he was not attending that event is that he didn't want the attention to be focused on him, that this was, quote, her night.

It wasn't her name once he gave those remarks. And the next morning, the Harris campaign and the vice president herself had to distance itself from what the president said. So listen, whether the president meant what he said or didn't mean what he said, he said what was said. And that is obviously having a big impact in the closing argument here, not just for the vice president who's had to go off message.

But it has been a big opportunity for former President Trump to kind of lean into it and say, see, they said the quiet part out loud. We've been saying this for four years. Well, Josh, that's what I want to get your thoughts on is how did how do you think the former president handled it? Right. Just to inform our listeners, he said you can't love you can't lead America if you don't love Americans. Right. That was his response.

to the garbage comment. And then he gets in a garbage truck in Wisconsin and puts on the orange vest. Right. In terms of campaign optics, in terms of PR, in terms of messaging, how do you think he handled this moment? Well, just to close the gap with Biden, like, let's get real here. Like, that was...

Joe Biden being 80 some years old and and that's why the Harris campaign would love to put him in a lockbox this final week instead of no joint appearances to find on the trail he should he should understand that uh for the party's sake um there's a reason she was standing literally you know feet away yards away from the White House and he was not invited on that stage uh

It's a gaffe. He meant what he said. I mean, it was clear as day. If you watch the video, what he said, I don't think he meant to say it, but he's been making a lot of these gaffes because he's in his 80s and because that's what really old people do. They say things that they don't mean to say. All right, Trump. Let's talk about Trump. It's been the best of times and the worst of times politically for Donald Trump. I thought

Donald Trump, who understands image and, you know, just capturing the kind of media attention as good as any politician. And that's part of why he's been so successful. We're wearing that vest, you know, the construction vest and going on stage with Brett Favre in Wisconsin and capitalizing on the blunder by Biden was masterful. That is like the best. And he seemed joyful, if you will, to borrow a phrase from the Democrats.

In doing so, I watched that. I don't really enjoy watching a lot of Trump rallies, but I was tuned into that rally just because of the sheer kind of, you know, the zeitgeist of it all. Him not wearing his suit, but wearing this construction vest and actually having a lot of fun with it. That's Donald Trump at his best. We also saw Donald Trump at his worst this week, both the MSG rally where we had racist, bigoted Democrats.

really awful things being said in the, in the, in the heartland of, in the heart of America's media, New York city at Madison square garden. They were lucky that Biden gave them a gift, um, because that would have been a closing message. And it still is an argument that the Harris campaign is trying to get at in the final week. And just, uh, you know, a few days before election day, the, the violent, uh, comment he made, uh, in Arizona about Liz Cheney, uh,

trying to call her like a chicken hawk and saying she never served, but really raising some violent imagery and just an ugly, ugly comments that the former president made about the former Republican congresswoman who has endorsed Harris is a reminder again of his worst impulses and his anger and his desire for vengeance, getting the better of his own best political, his own self-interest. So those are the two sides of Trump. We should tell people what he said. This, he, he,

proposed this image or talked about this image of Liz Cheney that she should be put in a situation where she has to hold a gun and go to war and she said she's a radical war

Yeah, he called her a radical war hawk and said, let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face. So, again, like these are the things that, you know, there was the joyful Trump in Wisconsin, which I think was a great closing moment for one of the closing moments for the campaign. Brett Favre was in Wisconsin. I mean, it was just a great event. And then you have that kind of trampled upon once again by Trump's own lack of self-discipline.

Josh, at this point is the – Jared made this point, and I just want to bring that home. Is this race less about the dwindling number of undecided voters, right? Early voting's wrapped up in most cases here. You can vote on Election Day. Most people have probably made a decision. Is this less about – is all of this, all the last-minute campaigning, the rallies, the effort, less about –

you know talking and decided and more about low propensity voters getting people out who have made a decision but haven't actually physically you know made the vote or made a plan to go vote on election day

Yeah, I mean, this is an election that's more about turnout, frankly, than persuasion. Partly Republicans trying to turn out the low propensity young men, young Black men, Hispanic men in particular, that may like Trump and his policies more, but don't vote usually. And the battle between the couch and the voting booth in those cases. You know, and also it's about Democrats trying to turn out their, you know, I think a lot of

A lot of attention will be paying to on Tuesday is the turnout in the cities, Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee. Black. There's been some signs that black voter turnout is not where it should be for Democrats. Forget about this, just where the margins are going to end up being. But just overall turnout for Democrats among their core base isn't where it should be. So that that's another part of the story on the Democratic side.

But yeah, like this, I mean, look, there are there are I think it's those Nikki Haley Republicans, the people I would be more specific. It's people who want to see more policy from they're not reassured that that Harris has really given anything on policy grounds to moderates. Her idea of moderation is rejecting her very far left positions that she embraced in 2020, 2019.

They would like to see probably more moderate policy, but they don't want to stomach voting for Trump. And I think there's a small slice of suburban voters, suburban women in particular, that are in that camp.

I mean, I think to that point, that's bared out in the schedules, right? There was a lot of criticism about why is Trump spending all of this time in Texas? He did three hours on Joe Rogan in Austin. That is not a swingy state. But that is a podcast that is listened to by a lot of young men. And those male voters support Trump.

former President Trump, but are not engaged traditionally in politics, are not high voter turnout populations historically. That could be the difference in margins. Conversely, to Josh's point, Harris is going to spend these last few days in the suburbs really trying to win over what we used to call maybe country club Republicans or Mitt Romney Republicans who really have grown weary of politics

all of the drama connected to former President Trump, but are not sold if they want to pull that lever or fill in that bubble for a Democrat. And that's her closing message. And again, we're not talking about huge numbers of voters, but we are talking about populations that could be tipping points if these elections, if these states are as close as polling suggests.

And no levers will be pulled this election, just as a reminder. Both of you, all of us pay attention. I'm showing my age. All of us pay attention to the polls. So I got to ask, this isn't about Trump or Harris.

Have the Senate races basically all tightened up in all of these swing states? I remember just a month ago there was a three alarm fire among Republicans that they weren't putting enough effort or energy. It was not even close in places like Wisconsin. Pennsylvania, McCormick was not close to Casey. Nevada are.

Is that tightened up? Both of you, are you seeing that? Well, I've said this on these airwaves, but it's foolish to look at a Senate race or House race in the summer before people know who the candidates are, especially the challengers, and assume that's where the race is going to be in October. The reality is that Senate races have tracked very, very closely to the presidential races in recent elections to the point where, you know, you could have only I think there are only two or three senators left in a state that

The presidential race went for the other party. Susan Collins, you know, maybe the last one left actually after this election. So the notion that, you know, somehow.

Trump was competitive and running closely in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and somehow that the Republicans wouldn't be running close for the Senate races in those states was always a little hard to swallow. And now you've seen Republicans come home now that they know who the candidates are, now that they've seen the ads on the airwaves. These are all these Midwestern states and Pennsylvania put that in the mix, the blue wall. These are all like tight as a tick. These are all I mean, I am fascinated by.

by these three states. They have a lot of non-college voters, blue collar voters, if you will. They are the ones who are going to be making up their mind late. Every constituency in these states matters, union voters, Hispanics, African-Americans, Jewish voters. And it's going to come down to the wire. And the Senate races, the closest Senate races are also in these three battleground states. And Republican- Wait, Josh, are we paying attention to New Hampshire too? Or was that one poll just an outlier?

Well, I think it's an outlier. But but look, if New Hampshire goes Trump, then ballgame. I mean, that's that's a sign that there's a landslide across the board. I don't think there's not a situation where Trump wins like a New Mexico or New Hampshire and loses any of the true battleground states. If that happened, we would be looking at a real landslide election. OK, Jared Halpern, Josh Kassar, thanks for joining. Thank you, Jess. Thanks, Jess.

Hey folks, I'm John Rich. Just as wokeness and censorship have subverted the music industry, they've also crushed free expression on social media. Censors have suspended social media users, canceled entire news channels, obliterated online discussion platforms, and even banished a sitting American president.

from big tech platforms. Well, I'm here to say there's a place for you, a place where patriots can speak freely without fearing some unknown unseen speech enforcer that wants to shut you down. That place?

It's called True Social, a free speech social media platform that hosts breaking news, TV streaming channels and powerful commentary on all the issues facing our great nation. Break free of big tech and make your voice heard. Join me on an uncancellable platform where I like to debut my songs and where you can read exclusive commentary from our 45th president, Donald J. Trump.

I'll see you on Truth Social, where freedom lives. Download the Truth Social app or visit truthsocial.com.

The campaign's come to an end in two days, but Tuesday is just the beginning for thousands of election workers around the country tasked with keeping voters and the votes secure. And in the absence of hard data and information, there is a risk of misinformation and misunderstanding, a challenge for election officials made even harder by how quickly images, real or not, and rumors, real or not, can spread online. You

U.S. intelligence agencies are already warning of Russian influence actors working on behalf of the Kremlin to stoke divisions among Americans and call into question the integrity of the election. So in this final From Washington segment, before Election Day, we wanted to separate fact from fiction and bring in an expert on how elections are run and ballots counted.

Steve Simon is the Secretary of State for Minnesota. He is also the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, working with colleagues from both parties. My own wish for this election cycle is two things, high turnout and low drama. That's nationally and that's in the state of Minnesota as well. So for those two, with those two things in mind,

I think about yes, voter turnout. Are we going to have people who want to vote voting? And then I think about the low drama part, meaning both on the way to the election as a matter of physical security, cybersecurity, pushing back against mis and disinformation, and in the post-election period, I'm thinking about how can we have a soft landing here so that ultimately we get to the goal. And the goal is that we all accept the outcome of the election.

whether or not it was consistent with what we personally would want as Americans. I think that's what we're all looking towards. There have certainly been some

some incidents in the last several days that have raised concern. We saw, for instance, the arson fires in the Pacific Northwest, voters being urged to revote sort of protectively. We have seen just in recent days in Pennsylvania, voters turned away from long lines and judges having to extend early voting periods. Do you worry that all of those incidents, even if they're isolated,

raise a level of alarm for voters, raise a level of distrust from the American people.

You know, there's always that possibility, but I have to tell you, I am more of an optimist about that. I see the glass as more half full. And I tell you that because I know my colleagues in all those states. And by the way, at this point in the election, I can assure your listeners, party labels go absolutely out the window. They're meaningless. We are talking a lot now with one another. Our staffs are talking with one another. And in all the states you mentioned and others, regardless of party affiliation,

I know that my colleagues as Secretary of State, they're on these issues. They are reassuring the public in their states. They are enlisting trusted voices to let people know what the checks and balances are in the system, how they can overcome those problems and those challenges. So we've got a good team. And by that, I mean all the Secretaries of State and others

election officials in the states who are really rallying folks to to get beyond these challenges and there's no question they're challenges you've named some there are others too but but i really am optimistic as we approach this election that we have the right people doing the right things the somebody who has um kind of been on the forefront of this at least from sort of an anchor perspective over the last couple of cycles one thing that is hard i think to explain

is that we don't have one presidential election. We have 50, right? Every state has their own way of doing things. And states report how ballots come in differently. As an organization, the national organization here for secretaries of state, how do you message that to voters? Does that need to be made clear well ahead of time? Does there need to be kind of a

daily press conference to let people know here's what we're doing today and here's what the numbers are telling us. I mean, communication seems to be so critical in these moments, doesn't it? Absolutely. And I'm so glad you raised this issue. You're right. There is no one federal standard. And that, I think, is mostly a good thing. We as states run our elections more or less on our own.

And that means there are different standards. So you raised one in particular. Let me just amplify it if that's okay. So different states have different rules about when ballots can be counted and when ballots are even gathered at all.

So, for example, in Minnesota, that's where I'm Secretary of State, our rule is all ballots have to be in by the close of polls on Election Day. So that's 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Everything's got to be in. That's it. But there are other states of varying political complexions, by the way, California and Mississippi, for example, and several others.

who have a different rule. And their rule is, for example, that as long as a ballot is postmarked by Election Day, you could pop it in the mail on Election Day. It might arrive five days or more than that later and obviously won't be counted until it arrived. And so I understand how misunderstandings arise. I understand how someone might look at ballots being added to the count after Election Day and might at first believe that's a sign that something bad is happening or there's misconduct. But I think

The constant message that we as secretaries of state have been trying and are currently trying to hammer home and will do in the post-election period is, hey, you know, before you jump to a conclusion about a delay in results, meaning someone's up to no good, just understand that every state is different. It's a patchwork of 50 different systems. The

rule in my state of Minnesota may be different from the rule in Pennsylvania or Georgia or Arizona when it comes to the timeline. So we're really trying to get people for the sake of that low drama, again, that I wish for,

We're trying to get people to understand that reality. There have been calls, though, for a more uniformed national federal system. We have heard candidates say that we should have only voting on Election Day. It should be all paper ballot. It should be no no computers involved. And that would make everything, you know, on the up and up. What do you make of those those proposals?

I think that's a very, very tall mountain to climb because there's a long tradition of state independence when it comes to elections. Now, obviously, we do have certain things that bind all the 50 states, the obvious things. You've got to be 18. You've got to be a citizen. You've got to be a resident.

And then, of course, you go back to things like the Federal Voting Rights Act in 1965, which did set certain standards nationally. But those are more the exception than the rule. The rule in our country, and one that states are pretty proud of and I'm predicting will guard pretty zealously, is the idea that mostly states have the authority. They have the autonomy to do things that...

the way they want to do it. And I think having a blanket and complete federal standard as to those issues and more would be a tougher sell. That's not to say that maybe we can't, as states, come to a consensus on those things and on our own move in the direction of things that are more uniform. I think that's probably the better course overall. But I myself favor

particular standards nationally on some issues. But the problem is saying that every state must be the same on all those issues. That's just a tougher sell. How much concern have you heard from your colleagues about the safety of election workers on November 5th and in the days following?

What I have heard from colleagues, and I don't want to speak for anyone in particular, what I've heard from them is that their constituents, their residents of their state, have voiced some concerns in light of the intense political atmosphere that we have. But what I've also heard in the same breath from so many of them is they and their state legislators and their partners in local government have really taken steps.

for this particular election cycle to reassure voters, whether that's collaborating on physical security arrangements, whether that's passing laws that up the penalties for people who harass or threaten or intimidate election workers. I think

Pretty much everyone in this space, secretaries of state and others in the states are on it. They're sort of on this issue, and they're really seeking to reassure voters that they can expect, and they have every reason to expect a calm experience at the polls. That's not a guarantee that nothing bad could happen. Of course, that would be foolish to promise. But I think secretaries feel that they're in a really good position, having heard these concerns.

And they've really acted on them. But these aren't just voters. I mean, what about people who are counting the ballots, the poll watchers and all of those people? I think most of them are volunteers in most states. Yeah. And there again, I think many state legislators have really legislatures have acted. Ours, just to give you an example, in Minnesota, where I'm from, we have new laws on the books that strengthen not only the penalties for voters,

harassment threats, intimidation of those who are administering the election, but have also allowed for some new security features just to make sure that people, we want transparency, of course. I think every secretary of state across the country, they want the public to watch what they're going to watch and invite the public on in to watch things. We just want to make sure that the people doing that work aren't themselves individually the subject of

threats, harassment, intimidation. And so we've got to make sure there aren't that they aren't because those are the folks who are running the show. And I should point out in almost every state, that's a real local process. It's not done in one place at the state level, at the secretary of state's office. It's done in hundreds, in many cases, thousands of places across a particular state. It's often your friends and neighbors who are doing the counting. And so that ought to reassure people as well. You mentioned, uh,

Mail-in balloting, which is becoming very popular. You said in Minnesota, your standard is it has to be received by Election Day. Other states have different deadlines. Talk me through the chain of custody, because I do hear concerns from folks about, geez, I put my ballot in a mailbox and then the postman takes it. And what happens next?

Yeah. So the good news is, and then in almost every state I'm aware of, including my own in Minnesota, your ballot is something you can track. You don't just have to pop it in a mailbox and say a prayer and hope and wish that it arrives on time. You can track it like an Amazon package or a UPS package as a code. You can know not only that it arrived, but when it arrived. So that's a good thing. Chain of custody. Well, if it's in the U.S. postal system, it's the same as anything else.

It's delivered. But then once it's delivered, and I'm speaking from experience in Minnesota and what I know of almost every other state, there are pretty strict laws in the states, very strict in the case of Minnesota, about physical custody. It's, in essence, got to be under lock and key. It's got to be our language is secure at all times.

That means locks. That means they're guarded. That means they're in a place that's, you know, protected or has restricted access, that sort of thing. I can't speak for every particular state. Obviously, the laws differ. But I can tell you there's a commitment to chain of custody in general. And the key thing there, again, is that you can track that ballot. You don't just have to wonder what happened to it.

So if it's election morning, you track your ballot, shows maybe it hasn't been delivered, do you get to vote provisionally?

So I can tell you what the law is in Minnesota and my understanding of what the law is in most states, which is not only can you vote potentially provisionally in states that have provisional ballots in states like Minnesota, you can just vote at the polling place. And what will happen since we can track every ballot to an individual before they vote, not after they vote, obviously, because it's a secret ballot, then if someone votes by absentee, it doesn't get

there in time, they can go in on game day and vote. And of course that will trigger the automatic cancellation of the ballot that is on its way by mail. So that when that arrives, it won't be counted. The person won't get to vote twice. - In your time as Minnesota's Secretary of State, which is going on what about 10 years, right?

Almost. Has the job become more difficult is kind of being a top elections official different? I mean, I would imagine there was a time you were in office that maybe people didn't know what Minnesota Secretary of State did. Right. I'll tell you, I've said this a lot. When I first ran for this office, which was 2014, believe me, I had to do a lot more explaining than I now do about what the office even is.

In recent years, and you alluded to this, this post, I don't mean me in particular, obviously, but the post, the job of Secretary of State has really become much more front and center. People have come to realize and understand it. I would say appreciate what the job is when it comes to election, that it's really consequential, that it really matters who are in the folks who are in those positions. I don't have to do as much explaining today, but has it become more difficult? I would say, you know, it's become a different kind of job.

than when i first had it in the first part of my first term for sure things like cyber security i could never have imagined when i ran for this that would be a big part of the job or physical security or things like that or even things like some of the strains of disinformation that we see but it's still a labor of love it's still um a key part of our election process and i wouldn't have it any other way you mentioned the cyber security component of this

Is it possible for election systems, for ballots, for counting any of that to be hacked and votes changed? In a philosophical sense, anything is possible, but it's extremely unlikely. And a lot of that has to do with what's been done on the national level and with states in the last few years.

The election system now enjoys a certain status in the national security world where we get know-how and attention and advisors from the federal government, from the intelligence community. We get threat briefings and the like. And we've just all gotten a little bit smarter. I say that cybersecurity is sort of like a race without a finish line. You have to stay ahead of the bad guys all the time. There is no end. There is no tape that you cross.

It's a race that never ends. You just have to stay ahead. And with that in mind, I think my colleagues and I across the country have really devoted a lot of time and attention and resources to that issue. So I think the risk is very low. It's not zero, but it's not zero for a media organization or a university or a bank either. So we just have to stay one step ahead always. And I think we are right now.

And you're right that there has been a lot of money and investment put into that infrastructure and hardening it. Mr. Secretary, I appreciate your time. This was good. I think as voters are heading to the polls here this week and my best to you. Hopefully you get a little bit of rest between now and November 5th. Thanks so much.

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That will do it for this episode of the Fox News Rundown from Washington. Be sure to join our Fox News Audio election night coverage on Tuesday. Brett Baer, Martha McCallum and Dana Perino get us started at 6 p.m. Eastern. Jessica Rosenthal, Josh Crosshour and I will lead our Democracy 24 election night beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern time, updating the results and taking you around the country with our team of reporters.

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