00:00:01.001 --> 00:00:05.088
[film projector whirs
and clicks rhythmically]

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[driving percussive music]

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[crowd begins to roar]

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CROWD: USA! USA! USA!

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KLOBUCHAR: January 6th
is not typically a day

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of historical significance
for our country.

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For centuries, this day is
simply the day that we receive

00:00:29.529 --> 00:00:32.616
each state's certified
electoral votes.

00:00:32.616 --> 00:00:35.160
And it has come and gone
without much fanfare.

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[rhythms build]

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SCALISE: I rise today to
object to a number of states

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that did not follow the
constitutional requirement

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for selecting electors.

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MCCONNELL: We cannot
simply declare ourselves

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the National Board of
Elections on steroids.

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If this election were
overturned, our democracy

00:00:56.598 --> 00:00:58.225
would enter a death spiral.

00:00:58.225 --> 00:01:00.894
The Electoral College
would cease to exist.

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[anticipation-building
music]

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[music builds in energy]

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[music crescendos,
then fades]

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[Native American
singing and drumming]

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[rifle fires]

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[eagle wings flap
over lyrical music]

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NARRATOR: In the scalding
summer of 1787,

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the framers of an infant
nation met in Philadelphia.

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There was an urgent need
to strengthen the union

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as threats of foreign
invasion loomed.

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During four months of searing
debate and fierce negotiation,

00:02:03.582 --> 00:02:06.001
they created America's
Constitution.

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It established a new and
revolutionary political system

00:02:12.466 --> 00:02:16.428
and determined how America
would choose its president

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using a device now called
the Electoral College.

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AMAR: A society that doesn't
understand its history is like

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a human being who has amnesia.

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It's very curious that most
Americans understand

00:02:37.491 --> 00:02:41.745
the intricacies of baseball
and football far better than

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the intricacies of our
Constitution,

00:02:43.705 --> 00:02:45.791
especially the
Electoral College,

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which is how we
pick our president.

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EDWARDS: The framers
gave people no right

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to vote for president.

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That's very unusual, and
most people don't have

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any understanding of that.

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But there’s no right in
the Constitution to vote

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for president of
the United States.

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FINKELMAN: Most Americans
have no idea that they are

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not voting for the candidate
they think they're voting for.

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Rather, they are voting for
a slate of electors who are

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pledged to that candidate.

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So, there are 538 total
presidential electors.

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EDWARDS: Every state gets
an elector for every member

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of the House and for every
member of the Senate that

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represents that state,
and those electors

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then vote for president.

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FINKELMAN: Almost nobody
in the United States knows

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a presidential elector.

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[pulse of the city music,
wind whips through hills]

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[pulsing music continues]

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WILBURN: We're the first
people who came along

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and said we can
do this ourselves.

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And no one believed that a
bunch of farmers, blacksmiths,

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and shopkeepers could
actually govern themselves.

00:04:01.450 --> 00:04:02.367
But we figured it out.

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They wrote a document that
has stood the test of time

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for over 240 years.

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My name is Derrick Wilburn.

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In the 2020 election, I will
be a voter, a citizen voter,

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and an elector for the
Republican candidate.

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My role as an elector is
to faithfully and dutifully

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discharge my obligation to
cast my electoral vote for

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Donald Trump if and when he
wins the state of Colorado.

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This is where the
magic happens.

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The Rocky Mountain Black
Conservatives was founded

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in my backyard and is run
out of my basement.

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We're an incredibly
lean organization.

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This is the website for
our internship program.

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So we send these kids off
to have an experience

00:04:40.780 --> 00:04:43.783
in Washington, D.C. that they
otherwise would never have.

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Speaker of the House Ryan
tweeted this picture of

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himself and an intern class.

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And I looked at that picture,
and I said, that needs to

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never happen again, and we
need equal representation.

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Here's my wife and our kids.

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This is our oldest son.

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He is now a first lieutenant.

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This is our daughter, Kayla.

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She is a 19-year-old
at university.

00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:09.100
And our youngest is Chandler,
right here, and he is already

00:05:09.100 --> 00:05:12.062
a captain in Civil Air Patrol
2 and straight-A student

00:05:12.062 --> 00:05:13.605
and superstar athlete.

00:05:13.605 --> 00:05:15.607
Our kids are all
very athletic.

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I like to think that's because
the acorn doesn't fall

00:05:17.859 --> 00:05:18.944
far from the tree!

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I take the responsibility of
participating in our system of

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self-governance
very seriously.

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We are blessed as a people to
be able to govern ourselves.

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[pensive music]

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COBB: How did we get
the Electoral College?

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That goes back to the writing
of the Constitution in 1787.

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BROOKHISER: One of
the proposals

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at the Constitutional
Convention was that

00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:49.140
there would be
a chief executive.

00:05:49.140 --> 00:05:52.435
The title “president” was
the one that they settled on.

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EDWARDS: There had never
been a model for a democratic

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selection of a
chief executive.

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Countries were accustomed
to dictators or monarchs,

00:06:04.489 --> 00:06:06.783
but they weren't
accustomed to a

00:06:06.783 --> 00:06:09.786
democratically-elected
chief executive.

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FINKELMAN: How would
you elect

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the independent
chief executive?

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They threw out all
kinds of ideas.

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WORDS OF GOUVERNEUR MORRIS:
The national executive

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ought to be elected by
the people at large,

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by the freeholders
of the country.

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WORDS OF JAMES WILSON: I say,
at least in theory, I am

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for the election
by the people.

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WORDS OF JAMES MADISON:
The people at large are

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the fittest in itself to
choose the national executive.

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FINKELMAN: So here you have
the three most active members

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of the convention, all
arguing for the same thing.

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MADISON: The people.
MORRIS: The people.

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WILSON: By the people.

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FINKELMAN: James Madison,
the father of

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the Constitution, says the
fittest thing would be for

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the people to elect
the president.

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And then he says there
are problems with this.

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MADISON: There is but one
difficulty of a serious nature

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attending to an immediate
choice by the people.

00:07:02.631 --> 00:07:04.633
AMAR: From the beginning,
the Electoral College was

00:07:04.633 --> 00:07:10.972
basically a way of
avoiding direct election.

00:07:10.972 --> 00:07:13.725
And what was the problem, in
my view, with direct election?

00:07:13.725 --> 00:07:17.187
MADISON: Then the southern
states could have no influence

00:07:17.187 --> 00:07:19.939
in the election on the
score of the Negroes.

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FINKELMAN: That is to say,
no matter how you elected

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the president by
a popular vote,

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the slaves would
never get to vote.

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AMAR: The South will lose
every time because

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its slaves won't count
in a direct election.

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EDWARDS: They thought they
needed intermediaries,

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and they didn't want Congress
to select the president.

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And they would
be wise men—

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and they would only be men—

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who would select
the president.

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[music turns dreamy]

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BACA: Hi, Grace.
GRACE: How are you doing?

00:08:02.565 --> 00:08:03.775
BACA: I'm doing good.

00:08:03.775 --> 00:08:05.944
So how is everything going?

00:08:05.944 --> 00:08:08.363
GRACE: It's a, you know,
it's a funny thing trying to

00:08:08.363 --> 00:08:10.323
get people excited about
virtual organizing,

00:08:10.323 --> 00:08:11.783
but today's been
a pretty good day.

00:08:11.783 --> 00:08:13.201
BACA: My name is Polly Baca.

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If Biden wins the state of
Colorado, then I will be

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one of the official electors
designated to vote for Biden

00:08:19.833 --> 00:08:21.501
in the Electoral College.
[uplifting music]

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GRACE: Polly Baca’s
on the call here.

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She'll be giving us some
wonderful words of wisdom.

00:08:26.840 --> 00:08:30.301
She has so many
inspirational stories about

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her lifelong journey
in politics.

00:08:32.512 --> 00:08:35.140
BACA: I'm so excited about
being with all of you.

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I mean, I've been involved
in presidential politics

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in every presidential
campaign since 1960.

00:08:41.604 --> 00:08:44.566
As a matter of fact,
this is a picture of me.

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Can you see that?

00:08:46.192 --> 00:08:51.781
That was me in 1968 at the
1968 Democratic Convention.

00:08:51.781 --> 00:08:54.951
But, you know, you are the
key to making sure that

00:08:54.951 --> 00:08:58.204
we can elect Joe Biden
and Kamala Harris.

00:08:58.204 --> 00:08:59.330
It's a pandemic.

00:08:59.330 --> 00:09:03.376
We are learning how to reach
people in a brand-new way.

00:09:03.376 --> 00:09:05.211
Without your help,
we can't do it.

00:09:05.211 --> 00:09:08.840
And you're going to be talking
about this for years to come

00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:12.218
because this truly is
an historic campaign.

00:09:13.261 --> 00:09:16.890
[gentle music]

00:09:16.890 --> 00:09:19.225
I grew up in northern
Colorado, when

00:09:19.225 --> 00:09:22.437
as a Mexican-American,
I wasn't allowed to sit

00:09:22.437 --> 00:09:24.397
in the center
aisles in church.

00:09:24.397 --> 00:09:26.483
In movie theaters, I had
to sit in the balconies.

00:09:26.483 --> 00:09:29.360
Wasn't allowed to sit
on the main floor.

00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:31.821
And there were stores
that had signs that said,

00:09:31.821 --> 00:09:34.282
“No Mexicans or Dogs Allowed.”

00:09:34.282 --> 00:09:37.452
And so it hurt me as
a child to experience

00:09:37.452 --> 00:09:39.746
that segregation
and that bigotry.

00:09:39.746 --> 00:09:42.832
And I swore as a little
girl that I was going to do

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everything that I could to
change first, the way that

00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:48.671
people treated
Mexican-Americans, and second,

00:09:48.671 --> 00:09:50.840
the way that we
treat each other.

00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:55.011
The only office in our
country where we don't have

00:09:55.011 --> 00:09:58.264
a direct vote is president
of the United States,

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and that doesn't
make any sense.

00:10:01.768 --> 00:10:05.772
[solemn music]

00:10:09.275 --> 00:10:11.152
MADISON: I contend the
states are divided into

00:10:11.152 --> 00:10:14.656
different interests, not by
their difference of size,

00:10:14.656 --> 00:10:18.243
but by other circumstances,
principally from the effect of

00:10:18.243 --> 00:10:20.119
having or not having slaves.

00:10:20.119 --> 00:10:23.373
It does not lie between
the large and small states.

00:10:23.373 --> 00:10:25.500
It lies between the
northern and southern.

00:10:26.125 --> 00:10:28.878
AMAR: It is true there
was this big debate at

00:10:28.878 --> 00:10:31.840
Philadelphia between big
states and small states.

00:10:32.465 --> 00:10:36.219
But there was an equally big
division, and most people

00:10:36.219 --> 00:10:39.806
aren't as much aware of
this, at the Philadelphia

00:10:39.806 --> 00:10:42.934
convention, basically
between the northern states

00:10:42.934 --> 00:10:44.227
and the southern states.

00:10:44.227 --> 00:10:47.981
And that was fundamentally
a division over slavery.

00:10:47.981 --> 00:10:50.984
FINKELMAN: To give you an idea
of how important this issue

00:10:50.984 --> 00:10:54.696
of slaves is, there are about
three million people

00:10:54.696 --> 00:10:56.155
in the United States
at the time of

00:10:56.155 --> 00:10:57.490
the Constitutional
Convention.

00:10:57.490 --> 00:11:00.952
About 700,000 of
them are slaves.

00:11:00.952 --> 00:11:04.372
The vast majority of
them live in the South.

00:11:04.372 --> 00:11:06.666
CODRINGTON: That's a
substantial portion of their

00:11:06.666 --> 00:11:09.961
population, and none of those
slaves are enfranchised.

00:11:11.045 --> 00:11:12.714
Do you enfranchise them?

00:11:14.215 --> 00:11:17.343
Or do you somehow figure
a way that they can count

00:11:17.343 --> 00:11:18.928
without being enfranchised?

00:11:18.928 --> 00:11:23.099
BROOKHISER: Slaves obviously
will not vote,

00:11:23.099 --> 00:11:25.560
but should they be
counted in the

00:11:25.560 --> 00:11:27.979
representation
of their states?

00:11:27.979 --> 00:11:33.192
PATTERSON: I can regard slaves
in no light but as property.

00:11:33.526 --> 00:11:37.196
Has a man in Virginia a number
of votes in proportion

00:11:37.196 --> 00:11:38.948
to the number of his slaves?

00:11:39.699 --> 00:11:41.618
FINKELMAN: And of course,
this is the great rhetorical

00:11:41.618 --> 00:11:46.331
question: How can you count
slaves for representation

00:11:46.331 --> 00:11:50.543
in Congress and in the
Electoral College when slaves

00:11:50.543 --> 00:11:54.380
are not considered to be part
of the political process?

00:11:54.380 --> 00:11:57.508
AMAR: But within the House,
there's this compromise about

00:11:57.508 --> 00:11:59.427
how slaves are to be counted.

00:11:59.427 --> 00:12:02.305
And of course, very
famously—or infamously,

00:12:02.305 --> 00:12:04.766
if you prefer—
slaves are counted as

00:12:04.766 --> 00:12:06.893
three-fifths of
free persons.

00:12:06.893 --> 00:12:10.146
FINKELMAN: The three-fifths
clause does not say that

00:12:10.146 --> 00:12:12.273
black people are
three-fifths of a person.

00:12:13.107 --> 00:12:16.903
The three-fifths clause
says that when you give

00:12:16.903 --> 00:12:20.114
a state representatives
in Congress, you count

00:12:20.114 --> 00:12:23.034
all of the free people,
and then you count

00:12:23.034 --> 00:12:24.410
three-fifths of the
other people.

00:12:25.078 --> 00:12:26.371
WORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA
DELEGATE: The representation

00:12:26.371 --> 00:12:29.999
is to be according to
the whole number of

00:12:29.999 --> 00:12:33.711
white inhabitants added to
three-fifths of the blacks.

00:12:33.711 --> 00:12:38.257
COBB: The addition of hundreds
of thousands, in some cases

00:12:38.257 --> 00:12:42.345
millions, of people who
are not given the status of

00:12:42.345 --> 00:12:46.724
citizens but who are
nonetheless counted

00:12:46.724 --> 00:12:52.146
for the purposes of
representation, is at best

00:12:52.146 --> 00:12:55.733
a contradiction for a country
that owes its origins

00:12:55.733 --> 00:12:58.069
to the idea of democracy.

00:12:58.069 --> 00:13:00.196
BROOKHISER: The most
blazing speech against

00:13:00.196 --> 00:13:03.449
the three-fifths rule was
given by Gouverneur Morris.

00:13:04.033 --> 00:13:07.412
MORRIS: I can never concur to
upholding domestic slavery.

00:13:07.412 --> 00:13:10.581
It is a nefarious institution,
a curse of heaven

00:13:10.581 --> 00:13:12.542
on the states
where it prevails.

00:13:12.542 --> 00:13:14.877
Upon what principle is it that
slaves shall be computed

00:13:14.877 --> 00:13:16.504
in the representation?

00:13:16.504 --> 00:13:17.755
Are they men?

00:13:17.755 --> 00:13:20.341
Then make them citizens
and let them vote.

00:13:21.009 --> 00:13:23.678
ANDERSON: The South was
like, we're not blinking.

00:13:23.678 --> 00:13:25.138
We're not blinking at all.

00:13:25.138 --> 00:13:28.474
We are willing to
burn this thing down.

00:13:28.474 --> 00:13:31.269
And so they pushed hard,
really hard

00:13:31.269 --> 00:13:33.229
on the three-fifths clause.

00:13:33.229 --> 00:13:34.522
WORDS OF WILLIAM R. DAVIE:
It is high time for me

00:13:34.522 --> 00:13:35.940
to speak out.

00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:38.443
I see that it's meant for
some gentleman to deprive

00:13:38.443 --> 00:13:40.737
the southern states of any
share of representation

00:13:40.737 --> 00:13:42.155
for their blacks.

00:13:42.155 --> 00:13:44.699
I'm sure that North Carolina
would never confederate

00:13:44.699 --> 00:13:46.451
on any terms that
did not rate them

00:13:46.451 --> 00:13:48.411
at least three-fifths.

00:13:48.411 --> 00:13:51.414
WILSON: They basically said,
unless we get our way,

00:13:51.414 --> 00:13:52.540
we are out of here.

00:13:53.583 --> 00:13:57.045
You can kiss the United
States of America goodbye.

00:13:57.045 --> 00:13:58.963
DAVIE: If the eastern states
meant, therefore,

00:13:58.963 --> 00:14:02.759
to exclude them altogether,
our business is at an end.

00:14:03.551 --> 00:14:07.180
AMAR: The system created
horrible incentives because

00:14:07.180 --> 00:14:13.144
if a state, for example,
sent agents over to Africa

00:14:13.144 --> 00:14:18.274
to kidnap free blacks born in
freedom and snatched up,

00:14:18.274 --> 00:14:20.818
kidnapped a whole bunch
of slaves and stuck them

00:14:20.818 --> 00:14:23.488
in a ship, and some of
them are going to die

00:14:23.488 --> 00:14:26.824
in a hellish middle passage
and be thrown overboard

00:14:26.824 --> 00:14:30.036
as food for sharks, and then
brought them to the state

00:14:30.036 --> 00:14:34.123
to put them up on auction
blocks with family separated,

00:14:34.123 --> 00:14:36.042
if a state did all of that,

00:14:36.042 --> 00:14:38.669
it would have more
slaves than it did before.

00:14:38.669 --> 00:14:41.005
And it would have more
seats in the House of

00:14:41.005 --> 00:14:44.342
Representatives and more seats
in the Electoral College

00:14:44.342 --> 00:14:46.344
than it did before.
Oh, my God.

00:14:46.344 --> 00:14:48.596
That's a horrible
system of incentives.

00:14:52.683 --> 00:14:54.685
COMMERCIAL NARRATOR: Here's
a brand new song that might

00:14:54.685 --> 00:14:57.438
help you understand the
Electoral College.

00:14:57.438 --> 00:15:01.317
It's called, “I'm Gonna
Send Your Vote to College.”

00:15:02.610 --> 00:15:04.737
WEGMAN: Why is it so
complicated to describe

00:15:04.737 --> 00:15:05.905
how we choose our president?

00:15:05.905 --> 00:15:08.199
CHILD: Well, I asked my
Granny Maxine on what is

00:15:08.199 --> 00:15:11.077
an Electoral College,
and she confused me.

00:15:11.077 --> 00:15:12.829
WEGMAN: I remember seeing
on TV a few years ago

00:15:12.829 --> 00:15:14.705
what we call “the national
popular vote” is what

00:15:14.705 --> 00:15:16.040
other countries call
“the vote.”

00:15:16.040 --> 00:15:18.126
Everyone casts a ballot,
you see who got the most,

00:15:18.126 --> 00:15:19.585
and that person wins.

00:15:19.585 --> 00:15:23.548
And our system is so much more
complicated than that and is

00:15:23.548 --> 00:15:25.174
really not even one election.

00:15:25.174 --> 00:15:27.969
It's 50 state elections
broken up

00:15:27.969 --> 00:15:29.512
and administered individually.

00:15:31.264 --> 00:15:33.558
The presidential election
maps we see show

00:15:33.558 --> 00:15:35.184
red states and blue states.

00:15:35.184 --> 00:15:38.938
In reality, all states
vote in shades of purple.

00:15:38.938 --> 00:15:42.024
Almost all states,
48 out of 50 states,

00:15:42.024 --> 00:15:43.776
award their electors
based on what's called

00:15:43.776 --> 00:15:44.986
the Winner-Take-All rule.

00:15:46.195 --> 00:15:49.073
Whichever candidate wins
the most popular votes

00:15:49.073 --> 00:15:52.326
in that state gets all of
that state's electors,

00:15:52.326 --> 00:15:53.578
and their opponent gets zero.

00:15:54.871 --> 00:15:58.499
It erases tens of millions of
Americans’ votes before

00:15:58.499 --> 00:16:01.294
the actual casting of ballots
that matters, which is

00:16:01.294 --> 00:16:03.421
the casting of ballots
by the electors.

00:16:04.255 --> 00:16:07.383
These Winner-Take-All laws
create popular vote losers

00:16:07.383 --> 00:16:08.676
who become president.

00:16:09.385 --> 00:16:12.388
States have the power under
the Constitution to award

00:16:12.388 --> 00:16:14.182
their electors
however they like.

00:16:14.182 --> 00:16:15.933
Why do it the way
they're doing it today?

00:16:15.933 --> 00:16:16.976
Why not change it?

00:16:16.976 --> 00:16:19.437
The National Popular Vote
Interstate Compact is actually

00:16:19.437 --> 00:16:21.272
quite a simple idea.

00:16:23.274 --> 00:16:27.278
[mellow Blues music]

00:16:40.666 --> 00:16:41.709
FOOTE: My name is Mike Foote.

00:16:41.709 --> 00:16:44.128
I'm a state senator
from Lafayette.

00:16:44.128 --> 00:16:46.047
I represent eastern Boulder
County, and I've been

00:16:46.047 --> 00:16:47.632
a legislator for eight years.

00:16:47.632 --> 00:16:50.218
I was the legislator,
or I should say, one of

00:16:50.218 --> 00:16:52.845
the legislators that carried
the bill that implemented

00:16:52.845 --> 00:16:55.264
the national popular vote
in the state of Colorado.

00:16:55.264 --> 00:16:56.724
I did that in 2019.

00:16:56.724 --> 00:16:59.268
-Let the people pick
the president,

00:16:59.268 --> 00:17:00.770
or the Electoral College?

00:17:00.770 --> 00:17:03.064
-Well, state lawmakers are
once again debating moving

00:17:03.064 --> 00:17:05.483
Colorado to a national
popular vote state.

00:17:05.483 --> 00:17:08.819
FOOTE: Senate Bill 42
would allow Colorado to

00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:11.113
join a National Popular
Vote Compact.

00:17:11.113 --> 00:17:12.949
REPORTER: It's the most
accessed bill on the State

00:17:12.949 --> 00:17:16.285
Legislature’s website, and
perhaps for good reason.

00:17:16.285 --> 00:17:18.746
FOOTE: It would reallocate
our electors under Article II,

00:17:18.746 --> 00:17:21.958
Section I, to go
towards the winner

00:17:21.958 --> 00:17:23.501
of the most votes nationally.

00:17:23.501 --> 00:17:26.128
REPORTER: If passed and signed
by the governor, Colorado

00:17:26.128 --> 00:17:28.339
would be the 13th state
to join what's known as

00:17:28.339 --> 00:17:30.758
the National Popular Vote
Interstate Compact.

00:17:30.758 --> 00:17:33.302
FOOTE: And what the national
popular vote stands for

00:17:33.302 --> 00:17:37.098
is simply this: one
person, one vote.

00:17:37.098 --> 00:17:39.976
REPORTER: States in the
Compact agree to award all of

00:17:39.976 --> 00:17:42.270
their electoral votes to
the winner of the national

00:17:42.270 --> 00:17:45.356
popular vote, no matter
who wins in their state.

00:17:45.356 --> 00:17:48.818
FOOTE: It's a way that every
vote is equal and every vote

00:17:48.818 --> 00:17:51.946
matters in every
presidential election.

00:17:51.946 --> 00:17:54.031
REPORTER: It only goes into
effect when enough states

00:17:54.031 --> 00:17:57.326
representing 270 electoral
votes sign on, which is

00:17:57.326 --> 00:17:58.953
what you need to win
the presidency.

00:17:59.829 --> 00:18:01.914
FOOTE: And that's why I
ask for your “aye” vote.

00:18:01.914 --> 00:18:06.669
-With 19 ayes, 16 noes,
zero absent, zero excused,

00:18:06.669 --> 00:18:08.754
Senate Bill 42 is passed.
[gavel strikes]

00:18:08.754 --> 00:18:10.381
FOOTE: You could do a
constitutional amendment

00:18:10.381 --> 00:18:12.383
to eliminate the
Electoral College.

00:18:12.383 --> 00:18:14.135
It's hard to pass a
constitutional amendment.

00:18:14.135 --> 00:18:17.054
So we just work within the
law that's granted under

00:18:17.054 --> 00:18:18.472
the Electoral College powers.

00:18:19.473 --> 00:18:23.477
[alt-pop music]

00:18:32.820 --> 00:18:37.325
MCCRACKEN: Whew, that’s that.

00:18:38.492 --> 00:18:41.037
My name is Patricia McCracken,
and I will be an elector

00:18:41.037 --> 00:18:42.872
for the Green Party
in the upcoming

00:18:42.872 --> 00:18:44.790
2020 presidential election.

00:18:45.333 --> 00:18:48.252
I've been reffing soccer
for about five years,

00:18:48.252 --> 00:18:51.005
and right now I'm in a
recording arts program at

00:18:51.005 --> 00:18:52.923
the University of
Colorado, Denver.

00:18:52.923 --> 00:18:55.968
And I don't think I'm someone
that you would typically

00:18:55.968 --> 00:18:57.845
think of when you
think of an elector.

00:18:59.138 --> 00:19:03.476
I just recently turned 18, so
I decided to register under

00:19:03.476 --> 00:19:07.063
the Green Party because
during the 2016 election,

00:19:07.063 --> 00:19:09.815
I knew of Jill Stein,
and she kind of followed

00:19:09.815 --> 00:19:12.651
what I thought of
myself politically.

00:19:12.902 --> 00:19:15.780
I got involved with the
Colorado Green Party

00:19:15.780 --> 00:19:19.950
on their Facebook page, and
eventually, it all turned out

00:19:19.950 --> 00:19:22.787
that I would be a delegate to
their national convention.

00:19:22.787 --> 00:19:25.081
And they eventually asked
me to be an elector

00:19:25.081 --> 00:19:26.457
for the party.

00:19:26.457 --> 00:19:29.251
I don't really see
myself as being like

00:19:29.251 --> 00:19:31.754
that big of a person.

00:19:31.754 --> 00:19:33.255
It's not like a huge job.

00:19:33.255 --> 00:19:34.882
I'm not actually
doing anything.

00:19:34.882 --> 00:19:38.677
I'm just basically saying in
the event that Howie Hawkins

00:19:38.677 --> 00:19:42.390
won Colorado, I would go
to the Electoral College

00:19:42.390 --> 00:19:44.392
and place a vote in his name.

00:19:44.392 --> 00:19:47.770
I don't feel it's
hypocritical to participate

00:19:47.770 --> 00:19:49.814
in the Electoral College
even though it's something

00:19:49.814 --> 00:19:52.525
I disagree with completely.

00:19:52.525 --> 00:19:54.610
At the end of the day,
it's part of the process,

00:19:54.610 --> 00:19:55.986
and someone has to do it.

00:19:58.572 --> 00:20:02.827
[country music blasts
from a car radio]

00:20:07.832 --> 00:20:11.836
[car crunches along gravel
as music continues]

00:20:22.054 --> 00:20:23.097
WILBURN: This should be fun.

00:20:24.098 --> 00:20:25.891
[alt-country-rock plays]

00:20:25.891 --> 00:20:29.103
What we in the black community
have done is we've said to

00:20:29.103 --> 00:20:33.149
one political party, you have
no competition for our votes.

00:20:33.149 --> 00:20:34.942
We're only going
to vote for you.

00:20:34.942 --> 00:20:36.444
And that's simply unhealthy.

00:20:36.444 --> 00:20:39.238
So I began saying, you know,
we as black Americans need to

00:20:39.238 --> 00:20:40.156
listen to everybody.

00:20:45.202 --> 00:20:47.955
[alt-country-rock fades
out to a solo singer]

00:20:49.206 --> 00:20:54.879
♪ Oh say, can you see? ♪

00:20:54.879 --> 00:20:59.467
♪ By the dawn’s
early light.... ♪

00:21:00.009 --> 00:21:04.763
WILBURN: Conservatives
are not racists.

00:21:04.763 --> 00:21:07.433
[crowd cheers]

00:21:07.433 --> 00:21:10.394
It's just not true.

00:21:11.937 --> 00:21:14.273
I've never been to Cortez,
Colorado, before,

00:21:14.273 --> 00:21:19.570
and this is beautiful.
This is absolutely awesome.

00:21:21.113 --> 00:21:24.783
I stand before you as
living proof that

00:21:24.783 --> 00:21:26.577
conservatives are not racists.

00:21:26.577 --> 00:21:29.580
I served as your state
party vice chairman.

00:21:29.580 --> 00:21:33.083
There were four of us running,
myself and three white people.

00:21:33.083 --> 00:21:36.212
And the Colorado Republicans
looked up there, listened to

00:21:36.212 --> 00:21:39.340
the vision, judged by content
of character rather than

00:21:39.340 --> 00:21:42.009
skin color, and said,
“We'll take the black guy.”

00:21:43.052 --> 00:21:45.346
It's just not true.

00:21:46.263 --> 00:21:48.766
I am one of your electors.

00:21:48.766 --> 00:21:51.310
So when Donald Trump wins
the state of Colorado,

00:21:51.310 --> 00:21:53.103
nine people will
cast our votes

00:21:53.103 --> 00:21:56.440
into the Electoral College
for Donald Trump.

00:21:56.440 --> 00:21:58.651
One of them, you're
looking at right now.

00:21:58.651 --> 00:22:03.614
CROWD: Yeah! Woo! Yeah!

00:22:06.492 --> 00:22:10.496
[quiet conversations
all around]

00:22:13.499 --> 00:22:16.085
WILBURN: I pledge
allegiance to the flag,

00:22:16.085 --> 00:22:18.587
ALL: of the United
States of America.

00:22:18.587 --> 00:22:22.925
And to the Republic for
which it stands, one nation

00:22:22.925 --> 00:22:27.805
under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.

00:22:27.805 --> 00:22:29.348
WILBURN: I'm not a fan
of the Confederate flag,

00:22:29.348 --> 00:22:31.559
so I don't have a
Confederate flag.

00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:33.561
But if you want to fly
a Confederate flag

00:22:33.561 --> 00:22:36.772
on your property,
that's not my business.

00:22:36.772 --> 00:22:38.649
That's not my concern.

00:22:38.649 --> 00:22:42.361
The truth is...

00:22:42.361 --> 00:22:45.197
I am
the beneficiary

00:22:45.197 --> 00:22:48.867
of the slave trade. I am.

00:22:48.867 --> 00:22:51.287
Now, people take that and
they take that little slice

00:22:51.287 --> 00:22:53.956
right there, and they email me
nasty stuff and blow me up

00:22:53.956 --> 00:22:56.250
on social media and
sometimes in the real media,

00:22:56.250 --> 00:22:58.002
that “Derrick’s saying that
slavery was good.”

00:22:58.002 --> 00:22:59.253
No, I'm not saying
that slavery was good.

00:22:59.253 --> 00:23:00.629
Slavery was horrible.

00:23:00.629 --> 00:23:03.924
What those people endured,
I can't even imagine it.

00:23:03.924 --> 00:23:06.093
But I've never been a slave.

00:23:06.093 --> 00:23:08.429
The only cotton I've ever
picked is when I go down

00:23:08.429 --> 00:23:12.057
to Old Navy and get a new pair
of jeans off the shelf.

00:23:12.057 --> 00:23:13.350
I'm not approving of slavery.

00:23:13.350 --> 00:23:14.518
I'm not saying
slavery was good.

00:23:14.518 --> 00:23:15.477
Slavery was horrible.

00:23:16.645 --> 00:23:18.230
But we got rid of it.

00:23:18.230 --> 00:23:20.774
And as a result of my
ancestors being brought

00:23:20.774 --> 00:23:26.488
to this country aboard a slave
ship, I was born in Illinois,

00:23:26.488 --> 00:23:29.491
raised and educated in
Wisconsin and in California,

00:23:29.491 --> 00:23:31.785
and now have a beautiful
life in Colorado.

00:23:31.785 --> 00:23:33.621
The country doesn't
owe me anything.

00:23:33.621 --> 00:23:35.664
If anything, it's
the other way around.

00:23:37.958 --> 00:23:41.962
[tension-building music]

00:23:46.467 --> 00:23:47.676
CODRINGTON: The Electoral
College changes

00:23:47.676 --> 00:23:49.219
history, undoubtedly.

00:23:49.219 --> 00:23:53.807
The Southerners...
end up winning, big.

00:23:53.807 --> 00:23:56.310
ANDERSON: You have folks
who are being counted for

00:23:56.310 --> 00:24:00.689
representation who cannot be
citizens of the United States.

00:24:00.689 --> 00:24:04.652
FINKELMAN: 1800: Thomas
Jefferson gets eight more

00:24:04.652 --> 00:24:08.030
electoral votes
than John Adams

00:24:08.030 --> 00:24:09.531
and is elected president.

00:24:10.115 --> 00:24:13.410
COBB: But we don't really
talk about the fact that

00:24:13.410 --> 00:24:17.665
Thomas Jefferson derived
so much of his power from

00:24:17.665 --> 00:24:20.834
southern voters who
were being subsidized

00:24:20.834 --> 00:24:23.003
by the Three-Fifths
Compromise.

00:24:23.003 --> 00:24:25.964
AMAR: Ordinary Americans take
a look at this and they say,

00:24:25.964 --> 00:24:26.965
wait a minute.

00:24:26.965 --> 00:24:30.719
Jefferson is winning by
eight electoral votes,

00:24:30.719 --> 00:24:33.847
but 12 electoral votes are
just because of slavery.

00:24:33.847 --> 00:24:35.641
Gee, if you took those
out of the equation,

00:24:35.641 --> 00:24:37.768
Adams would've won that.

00:24:37.768 --> 00:24:40.312
FINKELMAN: So if we ask
the question, does

00:24:40.312 --> 00:24:43.107
the Three-Fifths Clause
folded into

00:24:43.107 --> 00:24:46.276
the Electoral College matter?

00:24:46.276 --> 00:24:50.614
It matters very much because
it elects Thomas Jefferson

00:24:50.614 --> 00:24:53.951
president, the great
slaveholder, who spends

00:24:53.951 --> 00:24:57.996
his entire eight years as
president doing everything

00:24:57.996 --> 00:25:01.917
he can to further the interest
of American slavery

00:25:01.917 --> 00:25:06.630
and to fight against anything
which would’ve given equality

00:25:06.630 --> 00:25:11.301
or fairness even to free
African Americans, as well as,

00:25:11.301 --> 00:25:13.470
of course, fighting against
anything

00:25:13.470 --> 00:25:14.763
that would harm slavery.

00:25:14.972 --> 00:25:18.684
-Thomas Jefferson rides into
the Temple of Liberty

00:25:18.684 --> 00:25:20.310
on the shoulders of slaves.

00:25:21.854 --> 00:25:25.065
FINKELMAN: The Electoral
College becomes a vehicle for

00:25:25.065 --> 00:25:30.738
empowering southern slave
owners in electing

00:25:30.738 --> 00:25:33.866
members of their own class
to the presidency.

00:25:33.866 --> 00:25:36.368
AMAR: So that's the most
dramatic moment in

00:25:36.368 --> 00:25:39.204
American history where
Americans see

00:25:39.204 --> 00:25:44.168
the pro-slavery skew, the
pro-slavery bias, if you will,

00:25:44.168 --> 00:25:45.461
of the Electoral College
system.

00:25:45.461 --> 00:25:47.963
ANDERSON: On the backs of
the Three-Fifths Clause that

00:25:47.963 --> 00:25:50.883
gave the South
disproportionate power.

00:25:50.883 --> 00:25:54.720
CODRINGTON: Because it's
padding the electoral power

00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:56.513
of the South...

00:25:56.513 --> 00:26:00.768
ten of the first dozen
presidents are slaveholders.

00:26:03.812 --> 00:26:07.441
WEST: America.
What is America's destiny?

00:26:07.441 --> 00:26:10.110
What is best for our
nation, our people?

00:26:10.110 --> 00:26:13.781
-Kanye West will be on
Colorado's ballot in November.

00:26:13.781 --> 00:26:14.990
[dramatic music]

00:26:14.990 --> 00:26:18.160
WEST: I am Kanye West, and
I approve this message.

00:26:19.328 --> 00:26:20.621
REPORTER 1: He has members
of the Republican

00:26:20.621 --> 00:26:22.039
establishment to thank.

00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:24.082
REPORTER 2: Republicans have
assisted West in getting

00:26:24.082 --> 00:26:25.793
on the ballot in
several states.

00:26:25.793 --> 00:26:28.170
Many believe it's an
attempt to siphon votes

00:26:28.170 --> 00:26:29.254
from Joe Biden.

00:26:29.254 --> 00:26:32.549
MACLEAN: [whispering]
Got it, I think I got it.

00:26:33.634 --> 00:26:37.638
[plucky music]

00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:43.685
I'm Kit Maclean, and I am
an elector for Kanye West

00:26:43.685 --> 00:26:44.812
in the 2020 election.

00:26:46.647 --> 00:26:48.982
I'm hoping this changes
the course of my destiny.

00:26:48.982 --> 00:26:53.654
I'm hoping this is my calling,
and... maybe I'll meet

00:26:53.654 --> 00:26:56.824
a Kardashian or a West.

00:26:56.824 --> 00:27:00.160
Maybe this will be what
skyrockets my career

00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:01.161
and my life.

00:27:02.120 --> 00:27:05.999
I moved to Denver in May 2019.

00:27:05.999 --> 00:27:09.545
I eventually got into a house
with a few kids my age,

00:27:09.545 --> 00:27:13.632
and one of them has a history
in Republican politics.

00:27:13.632 --> 00:27:17.219
And his former boss
reached out to him about

00:27:17.219 --> 00:27:20.055
being an elector for Kanye
West, and he asked me

00:27:20.055 --> 00:27:21.723
if I wanted to sign
this form too.

00:27:22.432 --> 00:27:24.893
And that was that.
It was pretty quick.

00:27:24.893 --> 00:27:27.062
Yeah, I do think they're
trying to manipulate

00:27:27.062 --> 00:27:32.401
the system a bit and leverage
the Electoral College so that

00:27:32.401 --> 00:27:36.446
Trump could potentially win
Colorado, a state that would

00:27:36.446 --> 00:27:38.615
very likely go to
Biden otherwise.

00:27:38.615 --> 00:27:40.284
If it wasn't going to
be me that signs it,

00:27:40.284 --> 00:27:42.077
it'd be someone else.

00:27:42.077 --> 00:27:44.371
I can tell my friends and
family I'm an elector

00:27:44.371 --> 00:27:46.373
for Kanye West.
How weird is that?

00:27:46.373 --> 00:27:48.750
If Kanye West called me,
that’d be pretty cool.

00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:50.794
I don't know what
I'd do with that.

00:27:50.794 --> 00:27:54.464
I'd probably ask him to,
like, say something

00:27:54.464 --> 00:27:57.092
for my voicemail, so
I’d have an outgoing,

00:27:57.092 --> 00:27:59.761
“Hey, this is Kanye West.
You reached Kit’s voicemail.”

00:27:59.761 --> 00:28:00.888
That’d be pretty cool.

00:28:02.055 --> 00:28:04.850
But it is definitely
surprising to see that

00:28:04.850 --> 00:28:07.477
someone like me can
just sign my name.

00:28:07.477 --> 00:28:08.812
I’m just some guy, so.

00:28:12.608 --> 00:28:13.817
[puck hits goal post]

00:28:18.238 --> 00:28:22.242
[tension-building music]

00:28:24.703 --> 00:28:28.248
[music gathers energy]

00:28:28.248 --> 00:28:30.125
ANCHOR: More than enough
signatures have now been

00:28:30.125 --> 00:28:33.253
gathered by a group trying to
overturn a new Colorado law

00:28:33.253 --> 00:28:36.214
that would award all of our
Electoral College votes to

00:28:36.214 --> 00:28:39.301
the winner of the popular vote
in the presidential election.

00:28:39.301 --> 00:28:41.595
PUGLIESE: This is bad for
rural parts of the state

00:28:41.595 --> 00:28:44.431
because let me tell you, if
this Compact goes into place,

00:28:44.431 --> 00:28:47.017
they are going to
fly over Colorado.

00:28:47.017 --> 00:28:49.061
MAN: The right to
vote is precious.

00:28:49.061 --> 00:28:50.854
We should ensure that
every vote

00:28:50.854 --> 00:28:52.481
and every voter is counted.

00:28:53.482 --> 00:28:56.485
[music gently fades]

00:28:57.819 --> 00:28:59.071
PUGLIESE: Hi!
WOMAN: Well, hello.

00:28:59.071 --> 00:29:00.072
PUGLIESE: How are you?

00:29:01.740 --> 00:29:03.492
PUGLIESE: I know, hi!

00:29:03.492 --> 00:29:06.286
I'm Rose Pugliese, I’m a
Mesa County Commissioner

00:29:06.286 --> 00:29:09.831
and one of the proponents
of the National Popular Vote

00:29:09.831 --> 00:29:13.794
Repeal movement in Colorado,
which is on our Colorado

00:29:13.794 --> 00:29:16.296
ballot as Proposition 113.

00:29:16.838 --> 00:29:20.175
One day I leave my building,
I'm walking down Main Street

00:29:20.175 --> 00:29:22.928
in Grand Junction, and
literally on my way to lunch

00:29:22.928 --> 00:29:25.430
that day, five
people stopped me.

00:29:25.430 --> 00:29:27.849
And they said, “Rose, how are
you going to stop the national

00:29:27.849 --> 00:29:31.561
popular vote from coming
into law in Colorado?”

00:29:31.561 --> 00:29:32.938
But we hit the ground running.

00:29:32.938 --> 00:29:36.441
I mean, we had over 2,200
grassroots volunteers.

00:29:36.441 --> 00:29:39.861
I mean, we exceeded
228,000 signatures.

00:29:41.196 --> 00:29:42.531
FOOTE: We're fine with it

00:29:42.531 --> 00:29:43.699
being on the ballot,
of course.

00:29:43.699 --> 00:29:46.201
I mean, it would be kind of
weird for us to say we don't

00:29:46.201 --> 00:29:48.745
want people to vote on
the national popular vote.

00:29:48.745 --> 00:29:51.373
Now I'm working with the
Yes on National Popular Vote

00:29:51.373 --> 00:29:54.459
campaign because we want to
make sure that the voters of

00:29:54.459 --> 00:29:57.295
Colorado approve what we did
in the legislature and what

00:29:57.295 --> 00:29:59.172
the governor signed
back in 2019.

00:29:59.172 --> 00:30:00.590
PUGLIESE: So there's one
volunteer

00:30:00.590 --> 00:30:02.050
that really stands out.

00:30:02.050 --> 00:30:05.012
This woman is my friend who
is now running for Congress.

00:30:05.012 --> 00:30:07.556
I mean, this effort inspired
her to run for Congress.

00:30:07.556 --> 00:30:10.100
EMCEE: And she's gonna
take an oath to

00:30:10.100 --> 00:30:14.271
uphold the Constitution of
the United States of America,

00:30:14.271 --> 00:30:16.356
so help her God.

00:30:16.356 --> 00:30:18.025
[applause, cheers]

00:30:18.025 --> 00:30:20.152
Folks, let’s give a big
Montezuma County

00:30:20.152 --> 00:30:21.278
welcome to Lauren Boebert.

00:30:21.278 --> 00:30:23.739
[cheers, whistles]

00:30:23.739 --> 00:30:27.617
BOEBERT: You motivated me
to get involved, to save

00:30:27.617 --> 00:30:29.661
our Electoral College votes.

00:30:29.661 --> 00:30:32.748
Your votes for
president were stolen.

00:30:32.748 --> 00:30:35.959
We got the National Popular
Vote Compact on the ballot

00:30:35.959 --> 00:30:39.129
so we can repeal that
garbage legislation.

00:30:39.129 --> 00:30:41.673
[applause, cheers]

00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:46.803
[bright music, many
conversations]

00:30:49.848 --> 00:30:52.934
ALL: We, the people of the
United States, in order to

00:30:52.934 --> 00:30:57.439
form a more perfect union,
establish justice, ensure

00:30:57.439 --> 00:31:01.651
domestic tranquility, provide
for the common defense,

00:31:01.651 --> 00:31:05.697
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of

00:31:05.697 --> 00:31:10.243
liberty to ourselves and
our prosperity do ordain

00:31:10.243 --> 00:31:13.038
and establish this
Constitution for

00:31:13.038 --> 00:31:15.749
the United States of America.

00:31:15.749 --> 00:31:20.087
WOMAN: And we're here today
because at noon, from sea

00:31:20.087 --> 00:31:23.799
to shining sea, bells rang
throughout America

00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:26.968
in celebration of the United
States Constitution

00:31:26.968 --> 00:31:30.514
on September 17, 1787.

00:31:31.973 --> 00:31:36.978
[bells cling and clang,
women cheer]

00:31:43.068 --> 00:31:44.903
IN VIDEO: When Americans
go to the polls to vote

00:31:44.903 --> 00:31:47.948
for the president, they're not
actually voting for the

00:31:47.948 --> 00:31:49.407
president, instead....

00:31:49.407 --> 00:31:52.702
MCCRACKEN: Me personally,
even though I'm grateful to

00:31:52.702 --> 00:31:55.205
be an elector and be a
part of the process of

00:31:55.205 --> 00:31:59.417
getting my candidate on
the ballot in Colorado,

00:31:59.417 --> 00:32:01.128
I don't think I'm qualified.

00:32:01.128 --> 00:32:04.047
I'm an 18-year-old,
it's the first election

00:32:04.047 --> 00:32:07.759
that I'm voting in,
and nobody really

00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:10.512
has a say in who
their electors are.

00:32:10.512 --> 00:32:14.808
It's kind of a terrible system
if this random person like me

00:32:14.808 --> 00:32:18.019
can become an elector
and potentially

00:32:18.019 --> 00:32:21.565
have a say in who's
president bigger than

00:32:21.565 --> 00:32:23.859
any other voice
in the country.

00:32:24.776 --> 00:32:26.695
BACA: This was from 1967.

00:32:27.320 --> 00:32:30.031
This was when I, when
Cesar came to Colorado.

00:32:30.031 --> 00:32:32.450
I was still working at
the White House

00:32:32.450 --> 00:32:34.327
for the Johnson
administration.

00:32:35.328 --> 00:32:37.956
You know, that was
when I was young.

00:32:37.956 --> 00:32:39.624
This was when I co-chaired

00:32:39.624 --> 00:32:42.627
the Democratic
National Convention.

00:32:42.627 --> 00:32:47.424
I co-chaired the convention
in both 1980 and 1984.

00:32:47.424 --> 00:32:50.093
I was Special Assistant
to Bill Clinton

00:32:50.093 --> 00:32:51.052
when he was president.

00:32:51.052 --> 00:32:54.556
I headed the Office
of Consumer Affairs.

00:32:54.556 --> 00:32:58.393
And, of course, Hillary
Clinton, who I love dearly.

00:32:58.393 --> 00:33:00.645
And quite to my surprise,
I was able to meet

00:33:00.645 --> 00:33:04.274
Pope John Paul II who
is now a saint

00:33:04.274 --> 00:33:05.859
of the Catholic Church.

00:33:05.859 --> 00:33:11.740
So on my wall, I have a new
saint, several presidents,

00:33:11.740 --> 00:33:14.868
a Speaker of the House,
and a member of

00:33:14.868 --> 00:33:16.453
the United States
Supreme Court.

00:33:16.453 --> 00:33:17.537
And some governors.

00:33:19.456 --> 00:33:23.210
It is Alex's Halloween
birthday party.

00:33:23.210 --> 00:33:24.252
BARRIGAN: Open Zoom.

00:33:25.295 --> 00:33:27.797
BACA: [laughs]
There's our family.

00:33:27.797 --> 00:33:29.507
BARRIGAN: There's Tía.

00:33:29.507 --> 00:33:31.176
BACA: Yeah, this
is kind of fun.

00:33:41.770 --> 00:33:44.105
[laughter]

00:33:47.525 --> 00:33:48.693
BARRIGAN: He won’t read it.

00:33:49.486 --> 00:33:50.820
[guitar over Zoom]
RODRIGUEZ: So I'm

00:33:50.820 --> 00:33:54.449
going to take you on a cruise.
Here's the story.

00:33:54.449 --> 00:33:57.202
♪ The first day,
he got drunk.... ♪

00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:20.850
♪ Oh, I feel so broke up
I wanna go home ♪

00:34:20.850 --> 00:34:23.144
BARRIGAN:
♪ I wanna go home. ♪

00:34:55.218 --> 00:34:59.723
BACA: I really want to wish
Alex a happy 79th birthday.

00:34:59.723 --> 00:35:03.226
And next year, next year,
Alex, we are going to

00:35:03.226 --> 00:35:04.978
celebrate our 80th.

00:35:04.978 --> 00:35:09.024
[holds a long,
enthusiastic note]

00:35:09.024 --> 00:35:09.774
Yeah.

00:35:09.774 --> 00:35:12.110
BACA: Oh, yes.

00:35:12.110 --> 00:35:13.361
Oh, for heaven's sake.

00:35:13.361 --> 00:35:15.196
BARRIGAN: That’s beautiful.
I love it.

00:35:16.197 --> 00:35:19.617
[gentle music]

00:35:20.618 --> 00:35:24.622
WEGMAN: Black Americans have
been disenfranchised either

00:35:24.622 --> 00:35:28.293
officially or unofficially
for virtually all of American

00:35:28.293 --> 00:35:30.712
history, and the Electoral
College has facilitated that.

00:35:31.921 --> 00:35:34.799
ANDERSON: After the Civil
War, it looks like,

00:35:34.799 --> 00:35:36.801
ooh, it's better.

00:35:36.801 --> 00:35:38.470
It looks like you're
going to see

00:35:38.470 --> 00:35:40.889
the end of the
Three-Fifths Clause.

00:35:40.889 --> 00:35:42.140
COBB: And this is important.

00:35:42.140 --> 00:35:45.101
As black people have the right
to vote, they will be given

00:35:45.101 --> 00:35:48.897
their full power to influence
the way that our government

00:35:48.897 --> 00:35:50.982
operates or what
policies get enacted.

00:35:52.317 --> 00:35:57.530
CODRINGTON: But in 1876,
black people were....

00:35:59.866 --> 00:36:01.743
Mm. [nervous laugh]

00:36:01.743 --> 00:36:04.579
In 1876, black people
were sold down the river.

00:36:06.039 --> 00:36:09.376
COBB: You have Rutherford
B. Hayes

00:36:09.376 --> 00:36:11.836
competing against
Samuel J. Tilden.

00:36:11.836 --> 00:36:16.549
There are disputes about what
the actual electoral tally

00:36:16.549 --> 00:36:20.220
should be from a number of
states, including Florida,

00:36:20.220 --> 00:36:21.679
Louisiana, and South Carolina.

00:36:22.889 --> 00:36:27.560
FINKELMAN: There’s two sets of
returns for three states, one

00:36:27.560 --> 00:36:30.980
saying the Democrat wins, one
saying the Republican wins.

00:36:30.980 --> 00:36:34.526
Massive violence and
fraud, anger on all sides.

00:36:35.610 --> 00:36:40.156
Many Southern whites had
said that if Hayes wins, that

00:36:40.156 --> 00:36:42.450
they're ready to start the
Civil War all over again.

00:36:42.450 --> 00:36:46.371
COBB: With this state of
affairs, it is impossible to

00:36:46.371 --> 00:36:49.457
determine who is the winner
in the Electoral College.

00:36:50.125 --> 00:36:53.753
FINKELMAN: Congress appoints
an electoral commission.

00:36:53.753 --> 00:36:58.216
In the backrooms of Congress,
a compromise is reached.

00:36:58.216 --> 00:37:00.885
It's known as the
Compromise of 1877.

00:37:00.885 --> 00:37:05.640
And the compromise is Hayes
becomes president, and Hayes

00:37:05.640 --> 00:37:09.310
withdraws the last remaining
federal troops from

00:37:09.310 --> 00:37:12.814
South Carolina, Florida,
and Louisiana, which were

00:37:12.814 --> 00:37:14.315
the three contested states.

00:37:16.025 --> 00:37:19.529
Reconstruction has come to an
end because there's no more

00:37:19.529 --> 00:37:26.453
federal presence to protect
black voters, former slaves,

00:37:26.453 --> 00:37:29.789
new black American citizens
from violence

00:37:29.789 --> 00:37:31.166
from Southern whites.

00:37:32.500 --> 00:37:35.962
EDWARDS: That sets the stage
for what we call the era of

00:37:35.962 --> 00:37:41.384
Jim Crow, and we ended a
new era of repression and

00:37:41.384 --> 00:37:43.636
suppression and segregation.

00:37:45.013 --> 00:37:48.766
They went back to not having
opportunities, to not having

00:37:48.766 --> 00:37:53.021
access to property, to
not enjoying life as

00:37:53.021 --> 00:37:57.650
free Americans, which
lasted for generations.

00:37:57.650 --> 00:38:01.279
And they would not see that
until really the 1960s.

00:38:02.530 --> 00:38:06.868
COBB: You see the rise of a
regime of violence that is

00:38:06.868 --> 00:38:13.541
intent upon disenfranchising
black voters, re-inscribing

00:38:13.541 --> 00:38:18.171
social and political
subordination

00:38:18.171 --> 00:38:19.422
of the black population.

00:38:20.507 --> 00:38:25.303
So there is nearly a century
in which black people are

00:38:25.303 --> 00:38:29.182
violently removed from
the political equation

00:38:29.182 --> 00:38:33.520
in the South, but still
counted in the Census

00:38:33.520 --> 00:38:36.439
and thereby in the
Electoral College.

00:38:38.483 --> 00:38:43.780
It means that you are counting
100% of the black population

00:38:43.780 --> 00:38:47.033
when it comes to determining
the size of congressional

00:38:47.033 --> 00:38:50.537
delegations or the number of
seats that any given state

00:38:50.537 --> 00:38:53.122
should have in Congress.

00:38:53.122 --> 00:38:57.418
But if you terrorize those
people out of voting, you now

00:38:57.418 --> 00:39:02.048
have even more of a political
subsidy being given to

00:39:02.048 --> 00:39:06.261
Southern white voters than
they had in 1860, before

00:39:06.261 --> 00:39:07.428
the start of the Civil War.

00:39:11.432 --> 00:39:15.436
[music rises with
emotion, bells toll]

00:39:17.772 --> 00:39:20.775
[music fades]

00:39:21.859 --> 00:39:26.781
[prarie dogs squeak and bark]

00:39:27.782 --> 00:39:29.951
[traffic passes nearby]

00:39:31.786 --> 00:39:32.954
FOOTE: Well, good
morning, everyone.

00:39:32.954 --> 00:39:34.956
Thanks a lot for joining us.

00:39:34.956 --> 00:39:37.959
We'll be marching today, and
we need to make sure that

00:39:37.959 --> 00:39:40.169
one person equals one vote.
WOMAN: Yes.

00:39:40.169 --> 00:39:41.504
FOOTE: That the
most votes wins.

00:39:41.504 --> 00:39:44.090
And that's exactly what the
national popular vote will do.

00:39:44.090 --> 00:39:46.175
At the very least, we're going
to get some good steps in.

00:39:46.175 --> 00:39:47.468
[energetic music]

00:39:47.468 --> 00:39:51.264
MARCHERS: Every vote equal!
Every vote equal!

00:39:51.264 --> 00:39:55.310
Every vote equal!
Every vote equal!

00:39:55.310 --> 00:39:57.312
Every vote equal!

00:39:57.312 --> 00:40:00.440
FOOTE: A functional
democracy is at stake.

00:40:00.440 --> 00:40:03.151
The only way to make sure that
every vote counts is to do

00:40:03.151 --> 00:40:05.153
a national popular vote.

00:40:05.153 --> 00:40:08.156
Then, every single vote
goes into the grand total,

00:40:08.156 --> 00:40:09.824
and no votes are left aside.

00:40:10.825 --> 00:40:12.493
The President of the United
States should be focusing

00:40:12.493 --> 00:40:13.453
on the entire country.

00:40:13.453 --> 00:40:17.457
That's that person's job, is
to do what's best for America.

00:40:17.457 --> 00:40:18.875
That's not what's happening.

00:40:19.959 --> 00:40:22.086
Under the current system,
the winning candidate

00:40:22.086 --> 00:40:25.757
for president focuses very
much on farmers in Wisconsin

00:40:25.757 --> 00:40:27.258
because that's a swing state.

00:40:27.258 --> 00:40:29.802
Or they focus on the tourism
industry in Florida because

00:40:29.802 --> 00:40:31.220
that's a swing state.

00:40:31.220 --> 00:40:33.181
But that may not be
in the best interest

00:40:33.181 --> 00:40:34.515
of all of the country.

00:40:34.515 --> 00:40:37.268
Once people are under the
new system, and they see that

00:40:37.268 --> 00:40:39.896
their vote actually matters, I
have a hard time thinking that

00:40:39.896 --> 00:40:41.898
they're going to
want to go back.

00:40:42.940 --> 00:40:45.360
[energetic music fades]

00:40:46.361 --> 00:40:49.447
PUGLIESE: Tonight's event
is Pizza and Politics.

00:40:49.447 --> 00:40:54.118
It's a group in Montrose,
Colorado, and tonight is

00:40:54.118 --> 00:40:56.996
specifically dedicated to
the National Popular Vote.

00:41:12.762 --> 00:41:15.431
I think Colorado losing
its identity is really

00:41:15.431 --> 00:41:16.724
what's most at stake.

00:41:23.439 --> 00:41:25.817
Coloradans should be
in control of

00:41:25.817 --> 00:41:27.110
our votes for president!

00:41:28.277 --> 00:41:30.780
Our votes are personal to us,
and we felt like they were

00:41:30.780 --> 00:41:33.616
stolen by the legislature
and stolen by the governor.

00:41:34.826 --> 00:41:38.079
What it does is give our nine
Electoral College votes

00:41:38.079 --> 00:41:40.164
so that the winner of the
national popular vote

00:41:40.164 --> 00:41:41.749
would get our Electoral
College votes.

00:41:46.003 --> 00:41:48.673
When you ask people, do you
want to give your vote for

00:41:48.673 --> 00:41:51.676
president to California
and New York as opposed to

00:41:51.676 --> 00:41:54.470
Coloradans, people say,
“No, that's a stupid idea!”

00:41:55.930 --> 00:41:58.349
Why would we give up that
voice and our vote and our

00:41:58.349 --> 00:42:01.185
influence to a place like
higher population centers like

00:42:01.185 --> 00:42:02.228
California and New York?

00:42:03.479 --> 00:42:06.315
The system we have in place,
the Electoral College, is a

00:42:06.315 --> 00:42:10.361
good system, and we need to
continue to protect that.

00:42:15.825 --> 00:42:18.661
[tender music fades]

00:42:19.662 --> 00:42:23.082
BOEBERT: Liberals cheered
on March 15th, 2019,

00:42:23.082 --> 00:42:24.959
when Governor
Jared Polis signed

00:42:24.959 --> 00:42:27.128
the National Popular
Vote Compact.

00:42:27.128 --> 00:42:30.673
I fought hard to repeal
this dangerous scheme.

00:42:30.673 --> 00:42:33.509
This November, tell them,
“Hell no, they can't

00:42:33.509 --> 00:42:35.720
steal our votes
for president.”

00:42:35.720 --> 00:42:36.763
I'm Lauren Boebert.

00:42:36.763 --> 00:42:39.140
I'm running for Congress,
and I approve this message.

00:42:39.140 --> 00:42:42.435
[acoustic guitar on video
plays a country tune]

00:42:42.435 --> 00:42:44.896
SWAYNE: ♪ The way we choose
our president ♪

00:42:44.896 --> 00:42:47.732
♪ is really quite bizarre ♪

00:42:47.732 --> 00:42:50.777
♪ You see, you like blue,
but you live in a state ♪

00:42:50.777 --> 00:42:53.196
♪ where most of the
people vote red ♪

00:42:53.196 --> 00:42:55.823
♪ You might as well stay home
on election day ♪

00:42:55.823 --> 00:42:58.451
♪ and do something
else instead ♪

00:42:58.451 --> 00:43:01.537
♪ Or if you like red, but you
happen to live in a state ♪

00:43:01.537 --> 00:43:04.624
♪ where the people vote blue,
your vote won't matter ♪

00:43:04.624 --> 00:43:08.211
♪ in the final count, no
matter what you say or do ♪

00:43:08.211 --> 00:43:10.505
♪ I say everybody's
vote should count ♪

00:43:10.505 --> 00:43:12.465
♪ Everybody should count! ♪

00:43:19.972 --> 00:43:20.973
[cheery chord]

00:43:21.974 --> 00:43:25.019
[pensive music]

00:43:26.020 --> 00:43:28.773
EDWARDS: Political equality
is at the core

00:43:28.773 --> 00:43:29.899
of democratic theory.

00:43:31.108 --> 00:43:34.320
Indeed, it's virtually
impossible to imagine

00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:38.115
a discussion or a description
of democracy that doesn't put

00:43:38.115 --> 00:43:42.036
political equality at the core
of the democratic process.

00:43:44.330 --> 00:43:48.042
There is no prominent
democratic theorist

00:43:48.042 --> 00:43:52.338
who disagrees with the notion
of political equality:

00:43:52.338 --> 00:43:54.465
one person, one vote.

00:43:55.842 --> 00:43:59.428
The Electoral College violates
the principle of political

00:43:59.428 --> 00:44:03.015
equality, and it counts some
people's votes more than

00:44:03.015 --> 00:44:05.935
other people's votes, simply
depending on which side

00:44:05.935 --> 00:44:09.230
of a state line they happen
to cast their vote.

00:44:10.356 --> 00:44:14.819
California has over 39 million
people and 54 electors,

00:44:14.819 --> 00:44:16.863
while a small state like
Wyoming has about

00:44:16.863 --> 00:44:20.992
580,000 people and
three electors.

00:44:20.992 --> 00:44:23.619
That means each elector
in California represents

00:44:23.619 --> 00:44:27.456
723,000 people, and
each elector in Wyoming

00:44:27.456 --> 00:44:30.001
represents only 194,000.

00:44:30.793 --> 00:44:34.088
The bottom line is that each
voter in Wyoming wields nearly

00:44:34.088 --> 00:44:37.091
four times as much power when
it comes time to choose

00:44:37.091 --> 00:44:40.469
the president and nearly four
times as much power as

00:44:40.469 --> 00:44:44.265
a voter in Texas, New York,
and Florida.

00:44:44.265 --> 00:44:46.559
Right now, candidate
campaigning is

00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:48.102
very highly concentrated.

00:44:48.102 --> 00:44:50.563
Virtually all of it will
take place in maybe

00:44:50.563 --> 00:44:52.106
14 battleground states.

00:44:53.274 --> 00:44:56.235
WEGMAN: They spend almost all
of their time in those states.

00:44:56.235 --> 00:44:59.280
Virtually all of their money,
all of their campaigning,

00:44:59.280 --> 00:45:02.909
all their advertising dollars
gets focused on maybe a half

00:45:02.909 --> 00:45:07.038
dozen states every four years,
to the exclusion of

00:45:07.038 --> 00:45:08.831
the rest of the country.

00:45:09.832 --> 00:45:13.377
It means that nobody else in
any other part of the country,

00:45:13.377 --> 00:45:16.631
80% of Americans in all
the states that are not

00:45:16.631 --> 00:45:19.425
battleground states,
are essentially ignored.

00:45:19.425 --> 00:45:23.304
And that's the real impact
of the Electoral College

00:45:23.304 --> 00:45:25.514
on the country and
its politics today.

00:45:34.523 --> 00:45:36.692
[pensive music fades]

00:45:39.695 --> 00:45:43.240
MCCRACKEN: This election
season has been concerning,

00:45:43.240 --> 00:45:45.451
scary, exciting.

00:45:47.161 --> 00:45:51.707
We could win the presidential
election from a technical

00:45:51.707 --> 00:45:55.628
standpoint, but America
can't hear our voice because

00:45:55.628 --> 00:45:58.339
we're being shut out
of the debates.

00:45:58.339 --> 00:46:00.675
It's the same thing with
the Electoral College.

00:46:00.675 --> 00:46:04.428
You know, you have the
Democrats and Republicans

00:46:04.428 --> 00:46:10.184
working together to keep this
institution upheld so that

00:46:10.184 --> 00:46:15.314
we can mitigate any
progressive, libertarian

00:46:15.314 --> 00:46:18.192
voices and keep them
out of the public eye.

00:46:18.192 --> 00:46:19.318
[news theme music]

00:46:19.318 --> 00:46:23.155
ANCHOR: Election Day, the day
to choose a new president

00:46:23.155 --> 00:46:24.657
for a new century.

00:46:24.657 --> 00:46:25.992
DAN RATHER: Whew!
What a night.

00:46:25.992 --> 00:46:27.368
There's an old song
that might’ve been

00:46:27.368 --> 00:46:28.786
written about this
unprecedented

00:46:28.786 --> 00:46:30.913
and still undecided election.

00:46:30.913 --> 00:46:33.040
First you say you do,
and then you don't.

00:46:33.040 --> 00:46:34.792
Then you say you will,
and then you won't.

00:46:34.792 --> 00:46:37.420
PETER JENNINGS: It looks
probable that Al Gore could

00:46:37.420 --> 00:46:41.048
win the popular vote yet, and
still lose the electoral vote.

00:46:41.048 --> 00:46:45.177
ALTER: If it turns out that
Al Gore wins the popular vote

00:46:45.177 --> 00:46:48.055
nationally, there will be
intense pressure in

00:46:48.055 --> 00:46:51.559
this country to have him
become the president.

00:46:51.559 --> 00:46:54.520
Most people think the guy
with the most votes wins.

00:46:54.520 --> 00:46:56.564
REPORTER: In the end, though,
Gore did get more popular

00:46:56.564 --> 00:47:00.067
votes nationwide, he lost the
Electoral College, the first

00:47:00.067 --> 00:47:03.612
candidate to do this since
Grover Cleveland in 1888.

00:47:04.238 --> 00:47:05.865
WEGMAN: Think about 2000.

00:47:05.865 --> 00:47:08.951
The country was on tenterhooks
for more than a month.

00:47:08.951 --> 00:47:11.203
PROTESTORS: Stop the fraud!
Stop the count!

00:47:11.203 --> 00:47:13.456
WEGMAN: Trying to figure out
whether Al Gore

00:47:13.456 --> 00:47:15.708
or George W. Bush
had won Florida.

00:47:15.708 --> 00:47:18.127
REPORTER: Board members
did decide to count only

00:47:18.127 --> 00:47:20.963
the 10,000 votes
missed by machines.

00:47:20.963 --> 00:47:23.507
Republican protesters
chased after them,

00:47:23.507 --> 00:47:25.426
demanding to see the process.

00:47:25.426 --> 00:47:28.554
CROWD: Let us in!
Let us in! Let us in!

00:47:28.554 --> 00:47:30.556
MAN: You guys have got to go.
You’ve got to go.

00:47:30.556 --> 00:47:32.016
WEGMAN: We had counts.
We had recounts.

00:47:34.518 --> 00:47:35.478
We had lawsuits.

00:47:35.478 --> 00:47:36.645
We went up to the
Supreme Court.

00:47:36.645 --> 00:47:37.313
It went back down.

00:47:37.313 --> 00:47:38.647
It went up to the
Supreme Court again.

00:47:38.647 --> 00:47:40.900
ANCHOR: The nation and the
world still wait and watch

00:47:40.900 --> 00:47:43.069
for a decision by the
U.S. Supreme Court.

00:47:43.069 --> 00:47:45.613
DEMONSTRATORS:
Every vote counts!

00:47:45.613 --> 00:47:47.364
WEGMAN: It was a really
dramatic and tense

00:47:47.364 --> 00:47:49.992
and traumatic time
for the country.

00:47:49.992 --> 00:47:53.996
And yet, on election night,
we knew who had won

00:47:53.996 --> 00:47:55.414
the popular vote
in the country.

00:47:55.414 --> 00:47:58.292
PROTESTORS: Gore got more!
Gore got more!

00:47:58.292 --> 00:48:00.294
Gore got more!

00:48:00.294 --> 00:48:03.089
WEGMAN: It was Al Gore by more
than half a million ballots.

00:48:03.089 --> 00:48:05.549
PROTESTORS: Gore got more!
Gore got more!

00:48:09.136 --> 00:48:11.180
WEGMAN: The same
is true in 2016.

00:48:11.180 --> 00:48:13.057
We knew who won
the popular vote.

00:48:13.933 --> 00:48:16.185
SPEAKER: Members of the
Electoral College:

00:48:16.185 --> 00:48:19.063
You have time to
change your mind!

00:48:19.063 --> 00:48:21.524
You have time to save
this country and prevent

00:48:21.524 --> 00:48:23.609
catastrophic damage
to the world.

00:48:23.609 --> 00:48:25.694
JUDY WOODRUFF: The debate over
the value of the Electoral

00:48:25.694 --> 00:48:29.073
College has intensified
this year, in part because

00:48:29.073 --> 00:48:31.575
Hillary Clinton won
the popular vote

00:48:31.575 --> 00:48:33.619
by almost three million
votes.

00:48:33.619 --> 00:48:35.830
REPORTER: President elect,
who once blasted

00:48:35.830 --> 00:48:38.958
the Electoral College as
a disaster for democracy,

00:48:38.958 --> 00:48:40.417
now praising the system.

00:48:40.417 --> 00:48:44.213
TRUMP: I never appreciated it
until now, how genius it was,

00:48:44.213 --> 00:48:45.339
what they had in mind.

00:48:45.339 --> 00:48:47.633
REPORTER: Hillary Clinton
now says she wants the U.S.

00:48:47.633 --> 00:48:50.845
Electoral College system
abolished after losing it.

00:48:51.303 --> 00:48:54.640
REPORTER: From Washington, to
Arkansas, to North Carolina,

00:48:54.640 --> 00:48:56.684
one last attempt to
get electors

00:48:56.684 --> 00:48:58.060
to change their votes.

00:48:58.060 --> 00:49:01.647
WEGMAN: You had a whole
movement of people trying to

00:49:01.647 --> 00:49:04.275
subvert the functioning
of the Electoral College.

00:49:04.275 --> 00:49:06.944
PUNDIT: About four and a half
million people have signed

00:49:06.944 --> 00:49:09.196
that petition calling for an
end to the Electoral College.

00:49:09.196 --> 00:49:10.447
They want the College to

00:49:10.447 --> 00:49:12.741
anoint Hillary Clinton
as president.

00:49:12.741 --> 00:49:16.245
WEGMAN: What resulted was
a movement among Democratic

00:49:16.245 --> 00:49:18.914
electors who look at what's
happened, and they say,

00:49:18.914 --> 00:49:21.917
“We are the last defense
against Donald Trump

00:49:21.917 --> 00:49:23.043
in the Oval Office.”

00:49:23.043 --> 00:49:25.254
TUCKER CARLSON: Some electors
believe it is possible to hand

00:49:25.254 --> 00:49:27.756
the presidency over to someone
other than Donald Trump.

00:49:27.756 --> 00:49:28.966
Could this actually happen?

00:49:28.966 --> 00:49:29.758
Should it happen?

00:49:29.758 --> 00:49:31.427
-A lot of people are
asking that very question.

00:49:31.427 --> 00:49:34.513
Keep this in mind: In some
states, electors can do

00:49:34.513 --> 00:49:35.764
whatever they want.

00:49:35.764 --> 00:49:37.933
WA STATE ELECTOR:
To keep this promise,

00:49:37.933 --> 00:49:40.519
I believe I must cast my vote

00:49:40.519 --> 00:49:42.271
for an alternative Republican.

00:49:42.271 --> 00:49:44.315
WA. STATE ELECTOR: We believe
we have a responsibility to

00:49:44.315 --> 00:49:46.442
the Constitution, as electors.

00:49:46.442 --> 00:49:48.736
PUNDIT: Some electors say
they will break rank,

00:49:48.736 --> 00:49:50.154
and that includes Polly Baca.

00:49:50.154 --> 00:49:53.741
BACA: I'm Roman Catholic, and
I have a moral obligation

00:49:53.741 --> 00:49:55.451
to follow my conscience.

00:49:55.451 --> 00:49:57.620
Yes, I would be
willing to go to jail.

00:49:57.620 --> 00:49:59.330
WEGMAN: That's a measure
of stability that

00:49:59.330 --> 00:50:00.956
the Electoral College
undermines.

00:50:00.956 --> 00:50:03.626
REPORTER: A chaotic
scene in Wisconsin today.

00:50:03.626 --> 00:50:06.128
CROWD: Shame! Shame!
WOMAN: You’re pathetic!

00:50:06.128 --> 00:50:07.630
You don’t deserve
to be in America!

00:50:07.630 --> 00:50:08.756
CROWD: Shame! Shame!
REPORTER: Protesters

00:50:08.756 --> 00:50:10.216
shouting down
electors as they

00:50:10.216 --> 00:50:12.051
cast their votes for
Donald Trump.

00:50:12.051 --> 00:50:16.388
CROWD: Boo!!! Shame on you!
Shame! Shame! Shame!

00:50:16.388 --> 00:50:18.057
Shame on you!

00:50:19.475 --> 00:50:21.477
[playful music]

00:50:21.477 --> 00:50:23.395
REPORTER: No one really
knows what a Kanye West

00:50:23.395 --> 00:50:24.647
political supporter
looks like.

00:50:24.647 --> 00:50:26.565
We reached out to all nine
people who signed up

00:50:26.565 --> 00:50:27.900
to be Kanye's electors.

00:50:27.900 --> 00:50:29.818
We got seven voicemails, one,

00:50:29.818 --> 00:50:31.695
“Hey, talk to the campaign,
not me.”

00:50:31.695 --> 00:50:33.781
And this response, “The
democratic process

00:50:33.781 --> 00:50:35.157
in this country
should be inclusive,

00:50:35.157 --> 00:50:36.700
and everybody should
have a shot.

00:50:36.700 --> 00:50:37.493
The more the merrier.”

00:50:37.493 --> 00:50:38.827
MACLEAN: Today's the day
before the election,

00:50:38.827 --> 00:50:41.580
Monday, the 2nd. And um...

00:50:42.831 --> 00:50:44.833
nothing’s really
changed in my life.

00:50:44.833 --> 00:50:48.337
I have not heard
from Kanye West yet.

00:50:48.712 --> 00:50:50.965
Unfortunately, I'm not
on his list of things

00:50:50.965 --> 00:50:52.591
or people to talk to.

00:50:52.591 --> 00:50:54.218
WOMAN: But see, you
should, should be.

00:50:54.218 --> 00:50:55.219
MACLEAN: I should be.

00:50:55.219 --> 00:50:57.137
WOMAN: Because had he been
the most popular vote,

00:50:57.137 --> 00:50:58.347
you'd have been the one
who helped him win it.

00:50:58.347 --> 00:51:00.015
MACLEAN: Are you on Twitter?
Can you tweet him for me?

00:51:00.015 --> 00:51:01.642
WOMAN: I'm not on Twitter.

00:51:01.642 --> 00:51:03.811
MACLEAN: Unfortunately,
he has not called me.

00:51:05.688 --> 00:51:06.939
Neither has Kim.

00:51:06.939 --> 00:51:09.650
And it doesn't seem like
they're polling too well.

00:51:09.650 --> 00:51:12.027
I don't have high
hopes for Kanye.

00:51:12.027 --> 00:51:14.029
ANCHOR: People around him
say he's serious about this

00:51:14.029 --> 00:51:15.656
and that he actually is
running for president

00:51:15.656 --> 00:51:17.825
even though he has no
mathematical chance to

00:51:17.825 --> 00:51:19.827
functionally win enough
electoral votes.

00:51:19.827 --> 00:51:20.911
A lot of people
around him....

00:51:20.911 --> 00:51:22.371
MACLEAN: I did
not vote for him.

00:51:22.371 --> 00:51:25.249
Can't say who I voted
for, but it wasn't Kanye.

00:51:25.249 --> 00:51:27.668
[ballot dropbox squeaks
open and closed]

00:51:32.840 --> 00:51:36.552
[anticipation-building music]

00:51:36.552 --> 00:51:37.845
[radio turning on]

00:51:37.845 --> 00:51:39.471
REPORTER: This has been
an unprecedented

00:51:39.471 --> 00:51:40.806
and hard fought race.

00:51:40.806 --> 00:51:44.268
A year and a half of surreal
campaigning, and now today,

00:51:44.268 --> 00:51:46.812
it is up to the Election Day
voters to bring this race

00:51:46.812 --> 00:51:48.188
across the finish line.

00:51:49.273 --> 00:51:51.525
With Election Day finally
here, overnight,

00:51:51.525 --> 00:51:53.527
the candidates making
their final pitch.

00:51:56.155 --> 00:51:59.116
With a narrow path to victory
ahead of him, Trump's focus

00:51:59.116 --> 00:52:01.952
is on the electoral system,
claiming that the election

00:52:01.952 --> 00:52:03.412
could be stolen from him.

00:52:05.539 --> 00:52:09.460
They are very, truly,
cautiously optimistic about

00:52:09.460 --> 00:52:12.713
these polls, but they do
see several paths to 270

00:52:12.713 --> 00:52:13.964
that are encouraging for them.

00:52:16.342 --> 00:52:19.136
But this morning, both sides
are gearing up for potential

00:52:19.136 --> 00:52:21.638
legal battles over the
results and a fight for

00:52:21.638 --> 00:52:23.182
the White House
that could last

00:52:23.182 --> 00:52:24.850
far beyond Election Day.

00:52:27.144 --> 00:52:29.438
REPORTER: Just two more hours
before the ballot dropboxes

00:52:29.438 --> 00:52:31.023
around Colorado
will be locked,

00:52:31.023 --> 00:52:32.232
and the polls are closed.

00:52:32.232 --> 00:52:33.317
REPORTER: Yeah, it
is election day....

00:52:33.317 --> 00:52:36.111
BUTLER: I want you all
to take a deep breath.

00:52:36.111 --> 00:52:38.489
We're here. It's Election Day.

00:52:40.199 --> 00:52:43.118
And you've waited a long
time to get to this day.

00:52:43.118 --> 00:52:46.705
The hardest thing right now
is to deal with the fear

00:52:46.705 --> 00:52:48.248
and the trepidation.

00:52:48.248 --> 00:52:51.752
But what you need to replace
that with is faith and hope

00:52:51.752 --> 00:52:54.296
and love, because we’re going
to have to love on some people

00:52:54.296 --> 00:52:56.840
that we really don't
love right now, okay?

00:52:56.840 --> 00:52:58.175
REVEREND HARKINS: So
in that spirit,

00:52:58.175 --> 00:53:00.552
let's join our hearts
in prayer.

00:53:00.552 --> 00:53:02.596
Loving and gracious God,
you have sustained us.

00:53:02.596 --> 00:53:05.099
You have guided us.
You have hemmed us in.

00:53:05.099 --> 00:53:07.393
You have lifted us up
throughout this journey.

00:53:07.393 --> 00:53:08.394
[epic music]

00:53:08.394 --> 00:53:11.688
ANCHOR: Once the ballots are
added and the votes counted,

00:53:11.688 --> 00:53:14.108
there's only one number
that matters in the end.

00:53:14.108 --> 00:53:15.943
That number is 270.

00:53:16.235 --> 00:53:18.529
That's how many electoral
votes it takes to win.

00:53:18.529 --> 00:53:20.572
[news logo sting]

00:53:20.572 --> 00:53:22.825
ANCHOR: Polls are closed
in Colorado, and the first

00:53:22.825 --> 00:53:25.702
results are in on the biggest
races that we are watching.

00:53:25.702 --> 00:53:28.372
This is Proposition 113
to have Colorado join

00:53:28.372 --> 00:53:31.750
the National Popular Vote
Compact, and it currently

00:53:31.750 --> 00:53:33.752
leads 56% to 44%.

00:53:33.752 --> 00:53:36.755
MCCRACKEN: It is the
evening of the election.

00:53:36.755 --> 00:53:40.467
WILBURN: So, what you see here
is a gathering of friends and

00:53:40.467 --> 00:53:44.012
neighbors from here in
Colorado Springs, all of us

00:53:44.012 --> 00:53:47.349
politically active in one way,
shape, form, or another.

00:53:47.349 --> 00:53:48.684
MACLEAN: It's Election Day.

00:53:48.684 --> 00:53:52.438
We got a little watch party
going, and it appears

00:53:52.438 --> 00:53:54.440
Kanye West is not
doing too well.

00:53:54.440 --> 00:53:56.775
He hasn't won any
states so far.

00:53:56.775 --> 00:53:59.403
BACA: You know, in any other
election year, I would be

00:53:59.403 --> 00:54:02.781
getting ready to go to
election night parties.

00:54:02.781 --> 00:54:06.034
Because of the pandemic, it's
not going to happen this year.

00:54:06.034 --> 00:54:08.912
And certainly at my age, I
wouldn't feel comfortable.

00:54:09.496 --> 00:54:10.456
I'm staying at home.

00:54:10.456 --> 00:54:11.540
REPORTER: People are on edge.

00:54:11.540 --> 00:54:14.543
And you can see, by the looks
of it, a lot of business

00:54:14.543 --> 00:54:17.254
owners are on edge, too,
but some are still hoping....

00:54:17.254 --> 00:54:20.215
BACA: I was just notified that
our building manager has

00:54:20.215 --> 00:54:21.967
hired a security officer.

00:54:21.967 --> 00:54:26.263
And so there is real concern
about demonstrations

00:54:26.263 --> 00:54:28.140
and apparently violence.

00:54:29.600 --> 00:54:32.269
WILBURN: My prediction is
I believe Trump will win.

00:54:32.269 --> 00:54:33.770
I believe he will win with

00:54:33.770 --> 00:54:36.064
over 300 Electoral
College votes.

00:54:36.064 --> 00:54:39.651
Trump is rough, gruff,
bombastic,

00:54:39.651 --> 00:54:41.570
and a non-politician.

00:54:41.570 --> 00:54:43.280
And I think that's a big,
I know that's

00:54:43.280 --> 00:54:45.324
a big part of his appeal.

00:54:45.324 --> 00:54:47.576
Trump's a jerk,
but he's our jerk.

00:54:49.244 --> 00:54:51.914
MACLEAN: I’m pulling
for maybe an upset here.

00:54:51.914 --> 00:54:56.210
I'm thinking maybe Colorado
maybe could go yellow.

00:54:56.210 --> 00:54:59.087
Maybe Kanye can pull out
a last-minute effort.

00:54:59.087 --> 00:55:00.297
WILBURN: If Colorado
goes to Biden,

00:55:00.297 --> 00:55:02.299
then my job as an
elector is over.

00:55:03.258 --> 00:55:06.094
These guys, these guys can
follow around somebody else.

00:55:08.972 --> 00:55:10.432
ANCHOR: Yes, Biden will
also win....

00:55:10.432 --> 00:55:11.391
WILBURN: Man, they’re
calling these....

00:55:11.391 --> 00:55:12.809
It’s only 7:00!

00:55:13.477 --> 00:55:15.979
ANCHOR: Steve, I got one
you may be interested in.

00:55:15.979 --> 00:55:18.899
Colorado, nine
electoral votes.

00:55:18.899 --> 00:55:21.068
Take back what I
said about a flip.

00:55:21.068 --> 00:55:24.446
MCCRACKEN: Colorado is pretty
solid, decided for blue.

00:55:24.446 --> 00:55:26.740
So it looks like I will not
be casting my vote in the

00:55:26.740 --> 00:55:29.660
Electoral College, which
was pretty expected.

00:55:29.660 --> 00:55:30.869
I was expecting that.

00:55:31.745 --> 00:55:33.872
ANCHOR: Okay, timeout.
This is a big development.

00:55:33.872 --> 00:55:37.501
The Fox News Decision Desk is
calling Arizona for Joe Biden.

00:55:37.501 --> 00:55:41.296
Biden picking up Arizona
changes the math.

00:55:41.296 --> 00:55:44.550
BACA: I wanted it to
be a blowout for Biden.

00:55:44.550 --> 00:55:46.260
That doesn't look like
that's going to happen.

00:55:46.260 --> 00:55:49.763
I think he's still going
to win, but not with

00:55:49.763 --> 00:55:53.308
the overwhelming amount that
I wanted him to win with.

00:55:54.851 --> 00:55:56.853
ANCHOR: Well, look at this.
Sorry to interrupt.

00:55:56.853 --> 00:56:00.607
NBC News is projecting Donald
Trump will be the ultimate

00:56:00.607 --> 00:56:01.984
winner in Florida and
its 29 electoral votes....

00:56:01.984 --> 00:56:03.986
BACA: This is
getting too close.

00:56:03.986 --> 00:56:05.153
This is scary.

00:56:05.153 --> 00:56:08.156
I think I'm going to need
a drink [laughs]

00:56:08.156 --> 00:56:09.241
to get through this.

00:56:11.076 --> 00:56:14.705
Oh, it’d be so horrible
if Trump won again.

00:56:14.705 --> 00:56:16.915
That would just be the
end of our democracy.

00:56:18.792 --> 00:56:19.918
Mm.

00:56:19.918 --> 00:56:23.088
MCCRACKEN: So it's very
concerning at this stage that

00:56:23.088 --> 00:56:25.674
the polls, again,
seem very wrong.

00:56:25.674 --> 00:56:26.508
Oh my gosh.

00:56:26.508 --> 00:56:29.219
I don't, I don’t even
know what to say.

00:56:29.219 --> 00:56:31.346
I'm going to be up
for at least

00:56:31.346 --> 00:56:33.432
three or four more hours.

00:56:34.266 --> 00:56:37.352
WILBURN: Hopefully, I just
hope and pray that this thing

00:56:37.352 --> 00:56:40.856
doesn't come down to lawsuits
in one state, and it would be

00:56:40.856 --> 00:56:41.898
horrible for the country.

00:56:41.898 --> 00:56:43.191
It would be horrible
for everybody.

00:56:44.234 --> 00:56:46.820
MACLEAN: I've not seen
a good point in favor

00:56:46.820 --> 00:56:47.904
of the Electoral College.

00:56:47.904 --> 00:56:50.991
I think what happens is
that throughout history,

00:56:50.991 --> 00:56:53.035
the more I’ve looked into it,

00:56:53.035 --> 00:56:57.289
whatever political party
benefits from it, defends it.

00:56:57.289 --> 00:56:58.957
So that's kind of
what's happening.

00:56:58.957 --> 00:57:00.917
I think it's kind
of a stupid system.

00:57:00.917 --> 00:57:03.795
I'm, [laughs] I’m an elector
for Kanye West

00:57:03.795 --> 00:57:05.839
so that should say everything.

00:57:05.839 --> 00:57:07.466
It's a really stupid system.

00:57:07.758 --> 00:57:08.759
BACA: Oh, my knees.

00:57:10.344 --> 00:57:12.179
Okay, honey.
I'm going to go to bed.

00:57:12.179 --> 00:57:15.599
[conversations, news
reports continuing]

00:57:15.599 --> 00:57:17.225
-See ya, Jim.
-Goodnight, Jim.

00:57:17.225 --> 00:57:18.435
-Drive safely, young man.

00:57:18.435 --> 00:57:19.770
-Great to see you again.

00:57:19.770 --> 00:57:21.480
-Goodnight.
-Goodnight. Thanks.

00:57:21.480 --> 00:57:24.107
ANCHOR: Arnon, we're getting
a lot of incoming here,

00:57:24.107 --> 00:57:25.817
and we need you to answer
some questions.

00:57:25.817 --> 00:57:27.069
MISHKIN: Shoot.
ANCHOR: Arizona,

00:57:27.069 --> 00:57:30.280
are you 100%
sure of that call

00:57:30.280 --> 00:57:32.491
and when you made it, and
why did you make it?

00:57:32.991 --> 00:57:35.577
MCCRACKEN: It's really insane
how close the Electoral

00:57:35.577 --> 00:57:38.288
College makes
a race like this.

00:57:38.288 --> 00:57:43.210
I'm just going to call my
night here and get some sleep.

00:57:45.379 --> 00:57:48.882
WOLF BLITZER: After four long,
tense, days, we've reached

00:57:48.882 --> 00:57:51.468
a historic moment
in this election.

00:57:51.468 --> 00:57:54.805
We can now project the winner
of the presidential race.

00:57:54.805 --> 00:57:58.266
[news logo sting]

00:57:58.266 --> 00:58:01.436
CNN projects
Joseph R. Biden Jr.—

00:58:01.436 --> 00:58:04.272
LESTER HOLT: Has won the
Keystone State, Pennsylvania,

00:58:04.272 --> 00:58:06.400
and its 20 electoral votes.

00:58:06.400 --> 00:58:09.653
ANCHOR: Putting him over
the 270 electoral votes

00:58:09.653 --> 00:58:11.029
he needs to become—

00:58:11.029 --> 00:58:14.157
BLITZER: The 46th president of
the United States, winning

00:58:14.157 --> 00:58:17.786
the White House and denying
President Trump a second term.

00:58:18.412 --> 00:58:21.456
ANCHOR: Keep in mind the Trump
campaign is in the midst of

00:58:21.456 --> 00:58:24.918
waging legal challenges
in several states,

00:58:24.918 --> 00:58:28.046
but the path is clear for the
new president-elect.

00:58:29.089 --> 00:58:33.093
[marching band plays,
people cheering]

00:58:39.474 --> 00:58:43.520
[upbeat music]

00:58:43.520 --> 00:58:45.522
[crowd screams and yells
as music continues]

00:58:45.522 --> 00:58:48.525
MAN: You are a special
kind of fucking stupid!

00:58:48.525 --> 00:58:52.362
-Shut the fuck up!
-Fucking loser!

00:58:52.362 --> 00:58:54.573
-Gimme gimme
gimme gimme.

00:58:55.574 --> 00:58:59.578
[upbeat marching
band music presses on]

00:59:03.540 --> 00:59:05.041
-Woo!

00:59:12.340 --> 00:59:14.092
[honking horns,
band continues]

00:59:16.928 --> 00:59:19.431
-Donald Trump,
you about to lose!

00:59:19.431 --> 00:59:21.683
Donald Trump,
you about to lose!

00:59:23.518 --> 00:59:27.522
[“Wade in the Water”
solo on soprano sax]

00:59:39.367 --> 00:59:43.371
[rhythm and energy build]

00:59:48.585 --> 00:59:50.712
-That’s what’s
fucking bullshit!

00:59:52.422 --> 00:59:56.426
[marching band
continues]

00:59:59.179 --> 01:00:01.681
[chanting, music fade]

01:00:05.519 --> 01:00:07.938
PUGLIESE: We were glad
that it was so close.

01:00:07.938 --> 01:00:10.649
However, obviously we
were not victorious

01:00:10.649 --> 01:00:12.234
on the ballot question.

01:00:12.234 --> 01:00:14.361
What we're hoping is our
movement will inspire

01:00:14.361 --> 01:00:17.948
other people in other states
to also push back

01:00:17.948 --> 01:00:21.159
on their legislatures to maybe
get out of the Compact.

01:00:21.159 --> 01:00:23.662
But the Compact doesn't
take effect until there are

01:00:23.662 --> 01:00:26.206
270 Electoral College votes.

01:00:26.206 --> 01:00:30.460
It's my understanding with
Colorado, they're at 196.

01:00:30.460 --> 01:00:33.964
So, until they get to the
270, it won't be ripe

01:00:33.964 --> 01:00:35.590
for a constitutional
challenge.

01:00:35.590 --> 01:00:37.551
And that's where I believe
this will be headed.

01:00:44.850 --> 01:00:47.644
FOOTE: After the election,
I've been mainly relieved.

01:00:47.644 --> 01:00:50.564
The fact that now the National
Popular Vote proponents

01:00:50.564 --> 01:00:53.191
around the country can go
around and say not only have

01:00:53.191 --> 01:00:56.027
15 states plus D.C.
signed on to this thing,

01:00:56.027 --> 01:00:59.155
but also, it passed a
statewide vot e in Colorado.

01:00:59.155 --> 01:01:02.784
So we had over a million and a
half Coloradans agree with us.

01:01:02.784 --> 01:01:04.494
The legislature can pass
something and people can

01:01:04.494 --> 01:01:06.788
always question whether or
not the majority of Coloradans

01:01:06.788 --> 01:01:07.873
would actually support it.

01:01:07.873 --> 01:01:10.417
But in this case, the
speculation is over.

01:01:10.417 --> 01:01:13.211
Yeah, obviously it feels
really good that we had

01:01:13.211 --> 01:01:15.213
the majority of
Coloradans on our side.

01:01:15.213 --> 01:01:18.884
I think it really puts a big
exclamation mark on it,

01:01:18.884 --> 01:01:20.677
and that feels really good.

01:01:22.137 --> 01:01:25.640
[birds chirping as horse
walks and blows air]

01:01:28.602 --> 01:01:31.021
[anticipation-building
music]

01:01:32.022 --> 01:01:35.984
BACA: Today is a, you know,
is a special day because

01:01:35.984 --> 01:01:39.571
we really don't get, very
often, get a chance to cast

01:01:39.571 --> 01:01:41.656
a ballot for president of the
United States that’s going to

01:01:41.656 --> 01:01:43.199
end up in the archives.

01:01:43.199 --> 01:01:44.868
And that's what happens today.

01:01:46.369 --> 01:01:47.495
I think it's well-known that

01:01:47.495 --> 01:01:49.122
I oppose the Electoral
College.

01:01:49.122 --> 01:01:50.457
I see no reason.

01:01:50.457 --> 01:01:54.210
It's fun to be an elector, and
it's nice that I get to put

01:01:54.210 --> 01:01:57.047
my name on a ballot that's
going to be in the archives.

01:01:57.047 --> 01:02:00.133
But it's not right.
It really isn't right.

01:02:00.133 --> 01:02:03.553
It shouldn't happen
in a democracy.

01:02:03.553 --> 01:02:06.890
Everybody ought to
have this opportunity.

01:02:06.890 --> 01:02:09.893
[anticipation-building
music continues]

01:02:13.813 --> 01:02:15.815
[music builds]

01:02:34.709 --> 01:02:36.878
[applause, cheers]

01:02:51.768 --> 01:02:55.772
[uplifting music]

01:03:07.951 --> 01:03:11.955
[applause, cheers]

01:03:23.425 --> 01:03:28.304
BACA: I’m hopeful that they
will recognize that our votes

01:03:28.304 --> 01:03:31.266
are now being sent to the
United States Congress

01:03:31.266 --> 01:03:33.143
where they will be accepted.

01:03:33.143 --> 01:03:35.895
I have no doubt in my mind
that they will be accepted.

01:03:36.187 --> 01:03:37.522
REPORTER: This is
what the actual

01:03:37.522 --> 01:03:38.982
vote for president looks like.

01:03:38.982 --> 01:03:42.444
LEE: Donald J. Trump received
29 electoral votes.

01:03:42.444 --> 01:03:44.070
ABRAMS: Joseph R. Biden
has received

01:03:44.070 --> 01:03:46.156
16 votes for President
of the United States.

01:03:46.156 --> 01:03:47.157
[cheers]

01:03:47.157 --> 01:03:49.826
ANCHOR: 538 presidential
electors met around

01:03:49.826 --> 01:03:51.786
the country, pledged to
vote for the winner of

01:03:51.786 --> 01:03:53.663
the popular vote
in their states.

01:03:53.955 --> 01:03:57.042
This process, nearly as old as
the nation, has never before

01:03:57.042 --> 01:03:58.418
received this much attention.

01:04:07.093 --> 01:04:09.846
BLITZER: President-elect Biden
has now received a majority of

01:04:09.846 --> 01:04:12.974
electoral votes needed
to win the presidency.

01:04:12.974 --> 01:04:16.061
REPORTER: But President Trump
still refuses to concede.

01:04:16.061 --> 01:04:19.105
And today, one of his closest
advisers told Fox News that

01:04:19.105 --> 01:04:22.609
his supporters will conduct
their own electoral voting.

01:04:22.609 --> 01:04:24.069
MILLER: An alternate
slate of electors in

01:04:24.069 --> 01:04:26.946
the contested states is going
to vote, and we're going to

01:04:26.946 --> 01:04:29.157
send those results
up to Congress.

01:04:29.157 --> 01:04:31.993
RACHEL MADDOW: Republicans in
Georgia, and Republicans in

01:04:31.993 --> 01:04:36.247
Wisconsin, and Republicans in
Pennsylvania all ceremonially

01:04:36.247 --> 01:04:39.501
cast fake electoral votes for
Donald Trump today.

01:04:39.501 --> 01:04:41.836
WEGMAN: Before 2020, I never
would have thought that

01:04:41.836 --> 01:04:46.841
we would see states
attempting to erase the votes

01:04:46.841 --> 01:04:50.261
of their own citizens
and flip their electors

01:04:50.261 --> 01:04:51.429
to the other candidate.

01:04:51.721 --> 01:04:53.098
-We’re electors.
We’re electors.

01:04:53.098 --> 01:04:54.432
-We’re electors.
-We are electors.

01:04:54.432 --> 01:04:55.183
-They are.

01:04:55.183 --> 01:04:56.142
GUARD: The electors
are already here.

01:04:56.142 --> 01:04:56.893
They’ve been checked in.

01:04:56.893 --> 01:04:58.478
MAN: The GOP electors
are also on

01:04:58.478 --> 01:04:59.521
the governor’s
certificate....

01:04:59.521 --> 01:05:01.648
GUARD: I'm not going to get
into a political debate.

01:05:01.648 --> 01:05:02.440
I'm following orders.

01:05:02.440 --> 01:05:03.399
MAN: It’s not a
political debate.

01:05:03.399 --> 01:05:06.820
COBB: An Electoral College
system provides unique

01:05:06.820 --> 01:05:11.199
opportunities to subvert in
ways that we would not likely

01:05:11.199 --> 01:05:14.577
have seen in a simple
majority system.

01:05:14.577 --> 01:05:17.539
WEGMAN: But every step of the
way, the Electoral College is

01:05:17.539 --> 01:05:19.415
vulnerable to manipulation.

01:05:19.415 --> 01:05:21.918
EDWARDS: Then we have another
step, which is counting

01:05:21.918 --> 01:05:23.711
the votes in Congress.

01:05:23.711 --> 01:05:27.215
It provided an
opportunity for mischief.

01:05:27.215 --> 01:05:30.301
ANCHOR: Newly elected Colorado
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert

01:05:30.301 --> 01:05:32.679
says she will object to
the Electoral College

01:05:32.679 --> 01:05:33.972
results next week.

01:05:33.972 --> 01:05:36.599
She will join other House
Republicans protesting

01:05:36.599 --> 01:05:38.893
Joe Biden's win over President
Trump in November.

01:05:38.893 --> 01:05:44.941
BOEBERT: Well, I am one of
535 people who actually can,

01:05:44.941 --> 01:05:47.235
can have a say in the outcome

01:05:47.235 --> 01:05:49.612
of the presidential
election.

01:05:49.654 --> 01:05:51.990
[trap beat over a loudspeaker]

01:05:51.990 --> 01:05:54.617
MAN: [rapping] Ay, ay, ay
go Donald, go Donald, go!

01:05:54.617 --> 01:05:58.663
Go Donald, go Donald, go!
Eight more years!

01:05:58.663 --> 01:06:00.081
CROWD: Eight more years!

01:06:00.081 --> 01:06:02.750
MAN: Lemme hear you like,
eight more years!

01:06:02.750 --> 01:06:04.002
CROWD: Eight more years!

01:06:04.002 --> 01:06:05.378
MAN: ♪ And I really
wanna shake what your mama, ♪

01:06:05.378 --> 01:06:07.380
♪ shake what your
mama gave ya ♪

01:06:09.591 --> 01:06:11.801
Look, it’s already happened.

01:06:11.217 --> 01:06:13.428
They already count
the electoral votes.

01:06:13.803 --> 01:06:15.805
REPORTER: The Electoral
College ballots now go

01:06:15.805 --> 01:06:18.057
to Washington to be counted
in a joint session of

01:06:18.057 --> 01:06:19.225
Congress January 6th.

01:06:19.225 --> 01:06:23.188
[fast, whining
riff on guitar]

01:06:29.152 --> 01:06:32.614
MAN: Fight for freedom! 
CROWD: Fight for freedom!

01:06:48.922 --> 01:06:51.799
ALL: ♪ And I’m proud to
be an American, ♪

01:06:51.799 --> 01:06:57.013
♪ and I’ll gladly
stand up next to you ♪

01:06:57.013 --> 01:07:04.812
♪ God bless the U.S.A. ♪

01:07:04.812 --> 01:07:10.818
CROWD: Woo!

01:07:10.818 --> 01:07:13.780
MAN: Make some noise!
CROWD: Woo!

01:07:14.405 --> 01:07:16.074
WEGMAN: Look at January 6th.

01:07:16.074 --> 01:07:18.368
What they were demanding
was majority rule.

01:07:18.368 --> 01:07:22.789
They believed that they had
won more votes in certain

01:07:22.789 --> 01:07:26.084
states and that somehow
those votes were not counted.

01:07:26.084 --> 01:07:29.128
So the candidate who
should have won based on

01:07:29.128 --> 01:07:31.172
the popular vote in those
states didn't win.

01:07:31.172 --> 01:07:32.966
That's just a call
for majority rule.

01:07:34.133 --> 01:07:36.010
MAN: ♪ Everything’s upside
down, ♪

01:07:36.010 --> 01:07:38.012
♪ and that just ain't right ♪

01:07:39.389 --> 01:07:41.891
PENCE: Tellers will announce
the votes cast by

01:07:41.891 --> 01:07:43.393
the electors for each state.

01:07:43.393 --> 01:07:45.979
JOHNSON: The framers of our
Constitution recognized that

01:07:45.979 --> 01:07:47.981
elections were
susceptible to corruption.

01:07:47.981 --> 01:07:49.023
We all know that.

01:07:49.023 --> 01:07:50.483
So how did they fix it?

01:07:50.483 --> 01:07:51.693
How did they provide for that?

01:07:51.693 --> 01:07:54.487
They created the Electoral
College as a safeguard,

01:07:54.487 --> 01:07:56.990
and they expressly empowered
state legislatures to

01:07:56.990 --> 01:07:59.951
ensure the integrity of our
unique election system.

01:08:00.576 --> 01:08:02.203
MEN: Send it back!
Send it back!

01:08:02.203 --> 01:08:03.121
BIGGS: Thank you,
Madam Speaker.

01:08:03.121 --> 01:08:05.957
I join the objection to
counting votes of electors

01:08:05.957 --> 01:08:08.584
from my home state of
Arizona, as well as Georgia,

01:08:08.584 --> 01:08:11.087
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,
Michigan, and Nevada.

01:08:11.087 --> 01:08:13.464
Because election integrity
is the heart of

01:08:13.464 --> 01:08:15.091
our American
Constitutional Republic.

01:08:15.091 --> 01:08:19.053
GRAHAM: Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris are lawfully elected.

01:08:19.053 --> 01:08:21.222
If you're looking for
historical guidance,

01:08:21.222 --> 01:08:22.890
this is not the one to pick.

01:08:22.890 --> 01:08:28.062
1876: South Carolina,
Louisiana, and Florida

01:08:28.062 --> 01:08:30.440
sent two slate of electors.

01:08:30.440 --> 01:08:34.193
With these three states
you give me the electors,

01:08:34.193 --> 01:08:36.612
I'll kick the Union Army out.

01:08:36.612 --> 01:08:37.947
The rest is history.

01:08:37.947 --> 01:08:39.615
It led to Jim Crow.

01:08:39.615 --> 01:08:41.534
BOEBERT: Madam Speaker, it
is my duty under the U.S.

01:08:41.534 --> 01:08:44.078
Constitution to object to
the counting of the electoral

01:08:44.078 --> 01:08:45.872
votes of the state of Arizona!

01:08:45.872 --> 01:08:47.915
EDWARDS: Even though the
states under Republican

01:08:47.915 --> 01:08:52.837
leadership had certified those
votes as being honest,

01:08:52.837 --> 01:08:57.216
fraud free, it provided an
opportunity for mischief.

01:08:57.216 --> 01:09:00.345
ANCHOR: Sean Riley, a top
Johnson aide, telling an aide

01:09:00.345 --> 01:09:03.097
for Vice President Pence that
the senator wanted to

01:09:03.097 --> 01:09:07.143
hand deliver fake electors for
Michigan and Wisconsin.

01:09:07.143 --> 01:09:10.605
In response, Pence's aide,
Chris Hodgson, replies, quote,

01:09:10.605 --> 01:09:12.190
“Do not give that to him.”

01:09:12.190 --> 01:09:15.276
MAN: And anybody
associated with the press—

01:09:15.276 --> 01:09:18.613
MSNBC, Joe Scarborough,
Rachel Maddow—

01:09:18.613 --> 01:09:20.573
you’re on our enemy list.

01:09:20.573 --> 01:09:21.866
You're the first to die!

01:09:22.825 --> 01:09:27.789
FINKELMAN: For a democracy to
succeed—for a government,

01:09:27.789 --> 01:09:31.542
as Lincoln put it, of the
people, by the people

01:09:31.542 --> 01:09:35.380
and for the people—
it has to be

01:09:35.380 --> 01:09:38.591
a government that
the people respect

01:09:38.591 --> 01:09:42.428
and that the people
accept as being legitimate.

01:09:42.428 --> 01:09:45.556
PROTESTOR: Martial law!
Martial law!

01:09:45.556 --> 01:09:48.476
Martial law! Martial law!

01:09:49.268 --> 01:09:51.229
PROTESTOR: Martial law!

01:09:51.229 --> 01:09:53.314
WEGMAN: January 6th was all
about the Electoral College.

01:09:54.524 --> 01:09:57.693
No one could've objected
to a 7 million vote victory.

01:09:57.693 --> 01:10:01.322
EDWARDS: And so the Electoral
College provides an incentive

01:10:01.322 --> 01:10:05.284
for fraud because you can win
states with much less fraud

01:10:05.284 --> 01:10:07.245
than winning the
entire country.

01:10:08.287 --> 01:10:12.291
[tense music]

01:10:16.003 --> 01:10:18.965
AMAR: There's nothing in
the world quite like

01:10:18.965 --> 01:10:20.925
the Electoral College.

01:10:20.925 --> 01:10:23.511
But we're not going to
begin to understand it

01:10:23.511 --> 01:10:26.222
unless we understand
our history.

01:10:27.223 --> 01:10:31.185
[music turns dramatic]

01:10:31.185 --> 01:10:33.271
ANDERSON: So much of
American history is just

01:10:33.271 --> 01:10:34.397
swaddled in myth.

01:10:35.481 --> 01:10:38.651
The founding fathers who
had this great enlightenment

01:10:38.651 --> 01:10:42.405
vision of this
incredible democracy.

01:10:42.405 --> 01:10:44.824
These were human beings
who were making

01:10:44.824 --> 01:10:47.160
good choices and bad choices.

01:10:47.160 --> 01:10:49.162
Many were enslavers.

01:10:50.455 --> 01:10:53.999
But what you had from the
power of that narrative

01:10:53.999 --> 01:10:57.962
were people were aspiring
to the aspiration of what

01:10:57.962 --> 01:11:01.299
the United States of America
said it is.

01:11:01.299 --> 01:11:05.553
And it is in that battle to
make the aspiration line up

01:11:05.553 --> 01:11:09.432
with the reality that is
the story of this nation.

01:11:11.392 --> 01:11:14.854
When we treat those
aspirations as achievements

01:11:14.854 --> 01:11:18.983
like we're already there, we
have overcome, all of the mess

01:11:18.983 --> 01:11:22.320
that we have not dealt with
continues to churn in this

01:11:22.320 --> 01:11:26.491
society, dragging people down
into the depths of despair.

01:11:26.491 --> 01:11:29.702
WOMAN: They’re in recess
right now because of us,

01:11:29.702 --> 01:11:32.121
because of the “protest.”

01:11:32.121 --> 01:11:34.123
[laughter]

01:11:34.749 --> 01:11:35.833
[ram’s horn blares]

01:11:50.640 --> 01:11:52.350
CROWD: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

01:11:52.350 --> 01:11:55.394
MAN: We've lost the line!
We've lost the line!

01:11:55.394 --> 01:11:59.982
[intense screams, yells,
windows shattering]

01:11:59.982 --> 01:12:03.444
MAN: He’s got a gun!
He’s got a gun!

01:12:03.444 --> 01:12:04.445
[gun fires]

01:12:32.265 --> 01:12:37.353
[silence]

01:12:37.353 --> 01:12:40.481
[somber music]

01:12:40.481 --> 01:12:42.191
PENCE: Today was a dark
day in the history of

01:12:42.191 --> 01:12:43.401
the United States Capitol.

01:12:45.861 --> 01:12:49.073
We condemn the violence
that took place here

01:12:49.073 --> 01:12:50.950
in the strongest
possible terms.

01:12:52.577 --> 01:12:57.832
We grieve the loss of life
in these hallowed halls,

01:12:57.832 --> 01:13:00.585
as well as the injuries
suffered by those

01:13:00.585 --> 01:13:02.169
who defended our
capitol today.

01:13:06.257 --> 01:13:08.718
For even in the wake of
unprecedented violence

01:13:08.718 --> 01:13:13.139
and vandalism at this
capitol, the elected

01:13:13.139 --> 01:13:18.060
representatives of the people
of the United States

01:13:18.060 --> 01:13:19.395
have assembled again.

01:13:22.440 --> 01:13:23.691
Let's get back to work.

01:13:24.734 --> 01:13:28.738
[applause, as somber
music continues]

01:13:37.872 --> 01:13:44.337
ANDERSON: When we refuse to be
disengaged, when we demand to

01:13:44.337 --> 01:13:49.759
be engaged, we transform
this nation for the better.

01:13:49.759 --> 01:13:51.761
That's the power that we have.

01:13:54.889 --> 01:13:59.769
If you want a vibrant America,
then let America speak.

01:14:04.440 --> 01:14:07.443
[somber music
slowly fades]

01:14:08.527 --> 01:14:09.695
[heavy sigh]

01:14:12.990 --> 01:14:27.213
♪ O! say can you see by
the dawn’s early light, ♪

01:14:27.213 --> 01:14:33.803
♪ What so
proudly we hail ♪

01:14:33.803 --> 01:14:40.476
♪ at the
twilight’s last gleaming, ♪

01:14:40.476 --> 01:14:47.108
♪ Whose broad stripes
and bright stars ♪

01:14:47.108 --> 01:14:53.739
♪ through the perilous fight ♪

01:14:53.739 --> 01:15:06.585
♪ O’er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? ♪

01:15:06.585 --> 01:15:19.056
♪ And rockets’ red glare,
the bombs bursting in air ♪

01:15:19.056 --> 01:15:24.854
♪ Gave proof
through the night ♪

01:15:24.854 --> 01:15:31.360
♪ that our flag
was still there ♪

01:15:31.360 --> 01:15:38.534
♪ O! say does
that star-spangled ♪

01:15:38.534 --> 01:15:45.708
♪ banner yet wave ♪

01:15:45.708 --> 01:16:03.100
♪ O’er the land of the free
and the home of the brave ♪

01:16:11.901 --> 01:16:15.905
[emo-rock music]