07-15-24 Interview - Josh Findlay from the Texas Public Policy Foundation

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
My next guest is Josh Finley.He's the director of National Election Protection Project
from the Texas Texas Policy Institute TexasPublic Policy Foundation. I just sold Josh,
I'm like, Josh, we're reallytired right now, so I'm sorry
if I if I really do doa wonderful show, I promise, but
we'll sleepy right now. But that'sokay. What are you guys doing with

(00:22):
election integrity? What is happening rightnow? Well, you know, we're
really focused on election process right.One thing we saw in twenty twenty is
that the left will not hesitate toweaponize election process to defeat the other side.
Right. We saw that with thelast minute changes that they did under
the pretext of COVID, and theyjust implemented crazy changes to the election process,

(00:42):
you know, twenty four hour votingvans that would go around and pick
up ballots, drop boxes that werebasically cardboard boxes, no locks, anything
like that. And we're committed thistime around to make sure that the right
has an answer to this, thatthey can't weaponize the election process, that
if they make changes, they haveto increase transparency and security so that we

(01:03):
can all have confidence that our votesare being counted in the correct way.
You know, I think a lotof people don't realize because you know,
you see memes flying around on socialmedia, but a lot of people don't
realize that a lot of the stuffthat we do here in the United States
of America, they don't do inother countries because they've done it and it's
ended up in corruption. Why isit that message more readily available or why

(01:26):
are we not talking about the fact, like, look, nobody else does
it this way because they know thatit's rife for corruption, and yet here
we are, Well, we shouldbe talking about it a lot more.
I mean, just a couple ofweeks ago, speaking to a group of
members of the Brazilian Congress, wewere talking about our election integrity operations.
And remember Brazil is not always themodel of democracy. They have their issues.

(01:48):
But when we talked about our voterID laws, for example, they
thought we were just crazy. Theyrequire finger printing in Brazil to be able
to vote, and they thought thefact that in places we don't even have
to show an ID to vote wasjust insane. So we really do need
to draw attention to the way thatin some ways our laws are far behind
other countries. So in what waydo you ensure easy access for people to

(02:13):
be able to cast a ballot?Because what happens from the other side is
they come on and say you're justtrying to keep black people from voting,
as if black people don't have identification, which in and of itself is insulting
and racist. But how do youmake sure everyone can vote while also ensuring
the integrity of the process. Well, so you're exactly right, this is

(02:35):
all about accessibility, and we needto check three things with every election,
every time people vote. First ofall, we need to know who is
voting. We need to know whothe people are right. Second of all,
we need to know that they areeligible to vote. And then third
we need to know that their votesare counted and processed in the proper way.
And there are mechanisms out there tobe able to verify all of these

(02:57):
things. To your point about anID, it's easy to get ID for
anything, right, I mean,there's so many things in this country that
we know you need an ID for. Just about everybody has one, and
even if you're not driving, ifyou're not doing whatever else, you can
still get an ID. And soit's really just a matter of making sure
that when people go to cast theirballot, the process is secure and transparent,

(03:19):
because I'm convinced that just about everybodyhas what they need to vote right
now. We're just not enforcing itand asking for it when they show up
at the ballot box. In Colorado, I don't know if you're familiar with
our election rules. They send aballot to everyone, and if you're an
independent, you get two ballots.You get a Republican and a Democratic ballot.
And a friend of mine who ownsor runs a think tank in Colorado,

(03:42):
sent one of his people around toapartment complexes and they found gobs and
gobs of ballots just laying because thosepeople have moved right, you know,
they didn't change your address. Andhe said, in a small local election,
those were enough ballots out there toswing a small local election one way
or the other. Maybe not thepresidential vote, right, but small elections

(04:04):
that are decided by a handful ofvotes. It would be so easy to
just go and swing the election foryou, and the chances of you getting
caught are so slim. That's thefrustrating part. So you guys are advocating
for specific policies or what are youdoing to in this election ensure the integrity

(04:25):
of the system. So in thiselection, we are advocating for specific policies,
but one thing that we're really doingin our target states is we're working
with election administrators. One thing thatwe've found is that the election laws in
a state that the legislature passes thekind of like the blueprint for a house,
but those election administrators on the groundat the county level are the ones

(04:46):
that build that house, and sometimesthey don't follow the blueprints exactly like they're
designed. So what we're really doingis getting in on the ground with these
election administrators and making sure that theyare implementing best process. So, for
example, another mail in voting stateis Nevada, where we do a lot
of work. It's a target stateand they have a highly transient population with

(05:09):
the casino workers in Las Vegas.And what we worked with the county officials
there on was a project where wecould send people a form that they could
fill out and say, you know, this person is registered at my house,
but they no longer live there,and I certify that, and then
instead of getting them removed from thevoter rolls, which you know, nobody.
The other side doesn't want The leftalways fights against that. We get

(05:31):
them moved to an active status sothey don't get a mail in ballot.
You don't have all of these extraballots. But they're also not removed from
the ballot process, so if theyshould vote to the vote, they can
still vote. That's exactly right,which is important because people do move,
they and they do have situations likethat. See that, And this is
one of those things where John,I just heard you say that. I'm
thinking to myself, who could possiblyhave a problem with that? That's right,

(05:56):
But I'm guessing you guys run upagainst some opposition all the time,
Yeah, all the time. Youknow. The thing is the other side's
not looking for common sense solutions,right, and that's a problem. Well,
the other side, I don't wantto cast as versions. We're trying
to we're unity today, our unityright. How can people find out more
about what you're doing and get moreinformation Go to Texas policy dot com Texas

(06:17):
Public Policy Foundation where the Election ProtectionProject. We also have a podcast out
on you excellent yeah on YouTube thatwe have a lot of really interesting guests
talking a lot about what the leftis doing as far as campaign finance,
Yeah, the right needs to catchup. There's a lot of things happening
with the weaponization of government right now, both through Biden's executive order turning government

(06:39):
agencies into get out the vote operations, and an issue an initiative by the
left to take away the power fromcertifying elections from local governments. I had
not heard about that. Well,we need to talk about that. If
you've got a minute, let's dothey do that. So down in Georgia,
battleground state that everybody's concerned about,the Democrat Party has sent three letters

(07:01):
to election administrators telling them that theycannot ask questions about certifying the election.
Right, they're saying that it isthe term of art that they're using is
that it is a ministerial task.That you don't have the opportunity as a
Board of Elections member to ask questionsabout your election before you certify. And
that's a problem because then who's askingquestions if issues arise, And in fact,

(07:27):
an issue arose in Bibb County andthe recent primary election there that's down
in Macon, Georgia, right wherepeople were mailed the wrong ballots and this
was written about in the news.Everybody kind of knew that they were mailed
the wrong ballots. A Board ofElections member just asked the simple question of
how many people were mailed the wrongballots? Seems like a basic, basic

(07:48):
question. Yeah, right. Theleft had a lawyer from a nonprofit group
down there to advise the county attorneyto tell this Board of Elections member,
you don't get to ask this question. We just need to certify this election.
Are you kidding me? No,then what's the point of having the
Board of Elections? That's exactly right, that's what we're fighting about done there

(08:11):
now. Luckily, we just hada new Board of Elections member elected to
the state board down there. Itwas a conservative member, and they are
working on some rules to combat thisinitiative by the left to keep control local
certification process. But this is abig initiative that the left is working on
to i think, federalize control ofour elections. That is something to pay

(08:33):
attention to you, John Finley.I appreciate you stopping by and giving us
the information the Texas Policy Texas PublicPolicy Foundation, you thank you, thank
you for bailing me out again onthat one. I'd love the work you're
doing and I appreciate it, sothank you so much for making time for
us today. Thank you. It'sgreat, all right, that's John Finley.