One Person, One Vote?

♪ [Drums beating] ♪ Man: U.S.A.!

U.S.A.!

U.S.A.... Amy Klobuchar: January 6th is not typically a day of historical significance for our country.

For centuries, this day is simply the day that we receive each state's certified electoral votes, and it has come and gone without much fanfare.

[Rhythms build] Steve Scalise: I rise today to object to a number of states that did not follow the constitutional requirement for selecting electors.

[Drums continue beating] Mitch McConnell: We cannot simply declare ourselves the National Board of Elections on steroids.

If this election were overturned, our democracy would enter a death spiral.

The Electoral College would cease to exist.

[Anticipation-building music playing] ♪ [Music builds in energy] ♪ [Music crescendos, then fades] [Native American singing and drumming] [Rifle fires] [Eagle wings flap over lyrical music] Narrator: In the scalding summer of 1787, the framers of an infant nation met in Philadelphia.

[Distant bell tolls] There was an urgent need to strengthen the union as threats of foreign invasion loomed.

During four months of searing debate and fierce negotiation, they created America's Constitution.

It established a new and revolutionary political system and determined how America would choose its president, using a device now called the Electoral College.

Amar: A society that doesn't understand its history is like a human being who has amnesia.

It's very curious that most Americans understand the intricacies of baseball and football far better than the intricacies of our Constitution, especially the Electoral College, which is how we pick our president.

Edwards: The framers gave the people no right to vote for president.

That's very unusual, and most people don't have any understanding of that.

But there's no right in the Constitution to vote for President of the United States.

Finkelman: Most Americans have no idea that they are not voting for the candidate they think they're voting for.

Rather, they are voting for a slate of electors who are pledged to that candidate.

So there are 538 total presidential electors.

Edwards: Every state gets an elector for every member of the House and for every member of the Senate that represents that state, and those electors then vote for president.

Finkelman: Almost nobody in the United States knows a presidential elector.

[Pulse-of-the-city music playing] [Wind whips through hills] [Pulsing music continues] ♪ Man: We're the first people who came along and said, "We can do this ourselves."

And no one believed that a bunch of farmers, blacksmiths, and shopkeepers could actually govern themselves, but we figured it out.

They wrote a document that has stood the test of time for over 240 years.

My name is Derrick Wilburn.

In the 2020 election, I will be a voter, a citizen voter, and an elector for the Republican candidate.

My role as an elector is to faithfully and dutifully discharge my obligation to cast my electoral vote for Donald Trump if and when he wins the state of Colorado.

This is where the magic happens.

The Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives was founded in my backyard and is run out of my basement.

We're an incredibly lean organization.

This is the website for our internship program.

So we send these kids off to have an experience in Washington, D.C. that they otherwise would never have.

Speaker of the House Ryan tweeted this picture of himself and an intern class, and I looked at that picture and I said, "That needs to never happen again, and we need equal representation."

Here is my wife and our kids.

This is our oldest son.

He is a-- now a first lieutenant.

This is our daughter, Kayla.

She is a 19-year-old at university.

And our youngest is Chandler, right here, and he is already a captain in Civil Air Patrol 2 and straight-A student and superstar athlete.

Our kids are all very athletic.

I like to think that's because the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree!

I take the responsibility of participating in our system of self-governance very seriously.

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

[Pensive music playing] ♪ Cobb: How did we get the Electoral College?

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

Brookhiser: One of the proposals at the Constitutional Convention was that there would be a chief executive.

The title "president" was the one that they settled on.

Edwards: There had never been a model for a "democratic" selection of a chief executive.

Countries were accustomed to dictators or monarchs, but they weren't accustomed to a democratically elected chief executive.

Finkelman: How would you elect the independent chief executive?

They threw out all kinds of ideas.

Morris: The national executive ought to be elected by the people at large, by the freeholders of the country.

Wilson: I say, at least in theory, I am for the election by the people.

Madison: The people at large are the fittest in itself to choose the national executive.

Finkelman: So here you have the three most active members of the convention, all arguing for the same thing.

Madison: The people.

Morris: The people.

Wilson: By the people.

Finkelman: James Madison, the father of the Constitution, says the fittest thing would be for the people to elect the president.

And then he says there are problems with this.

Madison: There is but one difficulty of a serious nature attending to an immediate choice by the people.

Amar: From the beginning, the Electoral College was basically a way of avoiding direct election.

And what was the problem, in my view, with direct election?

Madison: Then the Southern states could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes.

Finkelman: That is to say, no matter how you elected the president by a popular vote, the slaves would never get to vote.

Amar: The South will lose every time because its slaves won't count in a direct election.

Edwards: They thought they needed intermediaries, and they didn't want Congress to select the president.

And they would be wise men-- and they would only be men-- who would select the president.

♪ [Music turns dreamy] ♪ ♪ Woman: Hi, Grace.

Grace: How are you doing?

Baca: I'm doing good.

So how is everything going?

It's a, you know, it's a funny thing trying to get people excited about virtual organizing, but today's been a pretty good day... Voice-over: My name is Polly Baca.

If Biden wins the state of Colorado, then I will be one of the official electors designated to vote for Biden in the Electoral College.

Grace: Polly Baca is on the call here.

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

She has so many inspirational stories about her lifelong journey in politics.

Baca: I'm so excited about being with all of you.

I mean, I've been involved in presidential politics in every presidential campaign since 1960.

Now, as a matter of fact, this is a picture of me.

Can you see that?

That was me in 1968 at the 1968 Democratic Convention.

But, you know, you are the key to making sure that we can elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

It's a pandemic.

We are learning how to reach people in a brand-new way.

Without your help, we can't do it, and you're going to be talking about this for years to come because this truly is a historic campaign.

[Gentle music playing] ♪ Baca: I grew up in northern Colorado, when, as a Mexican-American, I wasn't allowed to sit in the center aisles in church.

In movie theaters, I had to sit in the balconies.

Wasn't allowed to sit on the main floor.

And there were stores that had signs that said, "No Mexicans or Dogs Allowed."

And so it hurt me as a child to experience that segregation and that bigotry, and I swore as a little girl that I was going to do everything that I could to change, first, the way that people treated Mexican-Americans, and second, the way that we treat each other.

The only office in our country where we don't have a direct vote is President of the United States, and that doesn't make any sense.

[Solemn music playing] ♪ I contend the states are divided into different interests, not by their difference of size, but by other circumstances, principally from the effect of having or not having slaves.

It does not lie between the large and small states.

It lies between the Northern and Southern.

Amar: It is true there was this big debate at Philadelphia between big states and small states.

But there was an equally big division, and most people aren't as much aware of this, at the Philadelphia convention, basically between the Northern states and the Southern states, and that was fundamentally a division over slavery.

Finkelman: To give you an idea of how important this issue of slaves is, there are about 3 million people in the United States at the time of the Constitutional Convention.

About 700,000 of them are slaves.

The vast majority of them live in the South.

Codrington: That's a substantial portion of their population, and none of those slaves are enfranchised.

Do you enfranchise them?

[Scoffs] Or do you somehow figure a way that they can count without being enfranchised?

Brookhiser: Slaves, obviously, will not vote, but should they be counted in the representation of their states?

Paterson: I can regard slaves in no light but as property.

Has a man in Virginia a number of votes in proportion to the number of his slaves?

Finkelman: And of course, this is the great rhetorical question: How can you count slaves for representation in Congress and in the Electoral College when slaves are not considered to be part of the political process?

Amar: But within the House, there is this compromise about how slaves are to be counted, and of course, very famously--or infamously, if you prefer-- slaves are counted as three-fifths of free persons.

Finkelman: The Three-Fifths Clause does not say that Black people are three-fifths of a person.

The Three-Fifths Clause says that when you give a state representatives in Congress, you count all of the free people, and then you count three-fifths of the other people.

North Carolina Delegates: The representation is to be according to the whole number of white inhabitants added to three-fifths of the Blacks.

Cobb: The addition of hundreds of thousands, in some cases millions, of people who are not given the status of citizens, but who are nonetheless counted for the purposes of representation is, at best, a contradiction for a country that owes its origins to the idea of democracy.

Brookhiser: The most blazing speech against the three-fifths rule was given by Gouverneur Morris.

Morris: I can never concur to upholding domestic slavery.

It is a nefarious institution, a curse of heaven on the states where it prevails.

Upon what principle is it that slaves shall be computed in the representation?

Are they men?

Then make them citizens and let them vote.

Anderson: The South was like, "We're not blinking.

"We're not blinking at all.

We are willing to burn this thing down."

Anderson: And so they pushed hard, really hard on the Three-Fifths Clause.

Davie: It is high time for me to speak out.

I see that it's meant for some gentlemen to deprive the Southern states of any share of representation for their Blacks.

Now, I'm sure that North Carolina would never confederate on any terms that did not rate them at least three-fifths.

Anderson: They basically said, "Unless we get our way, we are out of here."

[Scoffs] "You can kiss the United States of America good-bye."

Davie: If the eastern states meant, therefore, to exclude them altogether, our business is at an end.

Amar: The system created horrible incentives because if a state, for example, sent agents over to Africa to kidnap free Blacks born in freedom and snatched up, kidnapped a whole bunch of slaves and stuck them in a ship, and some of them are going to die in a hellish Middle Passage and be thrown overboard as food for sharks, and then brought them to the state to put them up on auction blocks with families separated... [Whip cracks] if a state did all of that, it would have more slaves than it did before, and it would have more seats in the House of Representatives and more seats in the Electoral College than it did before.

Oh, my God.

That's a horrible system of incentives.

♪ Commercial narrator: Here's a brand-new song that might help you understand the Electoral College.

It's called, "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College."

Wegman: Why is it so complicated to describe how we choose our president?

Girl in cartoon: Well, I asked my Granny Maxine on what is an Electoral College, and she confused me.

Wegman: I remember seeing on TV a few years ago what we call "the National Popular Vote" is what other countries call "the vote."

Everyone casts a ballot, you see who got the most, and that person wins, and our system is so much more complicated than that and is really not even one election.

It's 50 state elections broken up and administered individually.

The presidential election maps we see show red states and blue states.

In reality, all states vote in shades of purple.

Almost all states, 48 out of 50 states, award their electors based on what's called the Winner Take All rule.

Whichever candidate wins the most popular votes in that state gets all of that state's electors, and their opponent gets zero.

It erases tens of millions of Americans' votes before the actual casting of ballots that matters, which is the casting of ballots by the electors.

These Winner-Take-All laws create popular-vote losers who become president.

States have the power under the Constitution to award their electors however they like.

Why do it the way they're doing it today?

Why not change it?

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is actually quite a simple idea.

[Mellow blues music playing] ♪ [Chickens clucking] ♪ Man, voice-over: My name is Mike Foote.

I'm a state senator from Lafayette.

I represent eastern Boulder County, and I've been a legislator for 8 years.

I was the legislator, or I should say one of the legislators that carried the bill that implemented the National Popular Vote in the state of Colorado.

I did that in 2019.

Reporter: Let the people pick the president, or the Electoral College?

Reporter: Well, state lawmakers are once again debating moving Colorado to a national popular vote state.

Foote: And Senate Bill 42 would allow Colorado to join a National Popular Vote Compact.

Reporter: It's the most accessed bill on the State Legislature's website, and perhaps for good reason.

Foote: It would reallocate our electors under Article II, Section I, to go towards the winner of the most votes nationally.

Reporter: If passed and signed by the governor, Colorado would be the 13th state to join what's known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

Foote: And what the national popular vote stands for is simply this: one person, one vote.

Reporter: States in the Compact agree to award all of their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, no matter who wins in their state.

Foote: It's a way that every vote is equal, and every vote matters in every presidential election.

Reporter: It only goes into effect when enough states representing 270 electoral votes sign on, which is what you need to win the presidency.

And that's why I ask for your "aye" vote.

Lawmaker: With 19 ayes, 16 noes, zero absent, zero excused, Senate Bill 42 is passed.

Foote: You could do a constitutional amendment to eliminate the Electoral College.

It's hard to pass a constitutional amendment.

We just work within the law that's granted under the Electoral College powers.

[Alt-pop music playing] ♪ Woman: Whew.

[Chuckling] That's that.

My name is Patricia McCracken, and I will be an elector for the Green Party in the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

I've been reffing soccer for about five years, and right now, I'm in a recording arts program at the University of Colorado, Denver.

And I don't think I'm someone that you would typically think of when you think of an elector.

I just recently turned 18, so I decided to register under the Green Party because during the 2016 election, I knew of Jill Stein, and she kind of followed what I thought of myself politically.

I got involved with the Colorado Green Party on their Facebook page, and eventually, it all turned out that I would be a delegate to their national convention, and they eventually asked me to be an elector for the party.

So I don't really see myself as being, like, that big of a person.

It's not, like, a huge job.

I'm not actually doing anything.

I'm just basically saying, in the event that Howie Hawkins won Colorado, I would go to the Electoral College and place a vote in his name.

I don't feel it's hypocritical to participate in the Electoral College, even though it's something I disagree with completely.

At the end of the day, it's part of the process, and someone has to do it.

["Hillbilly Deluxe" by Brooks & Dunn playing on car radio] Brooks: ♪ Hillbilly deluxe, slick pickup trucks ♪ ♪ Big timing in a small town ♪ ♪ Stirrin' it up ♪ ♪ Right about sundown ♪ ♪ Black denim and chrome to the bone ♪ ♪ With a little homegrown country girl ♪ ♪ Cuddled up ♪ [Alt-rock music playing] Wilburn: This should be fun.

♪ Wilburn, voice-over: What we in the Black community have done is we've said to one political party, "You have no competition for our votes.

We're only going to vote for you."

And that's simply unhealthy, so I began saying, you know, "We as Black Americans need to listen to everybody."

♪ Woman: ♪ O!

Say, can you see ♪ ♪ By the dawn's early light... ♪ Wilburn: Conservatives... are not...racists.

Man: No.

[Crowd cheering] Wilburn: It's just not true.

I've never been to Cortez, Colorado before, and this is beautiful.

This is absolutely awesome.

[Crowd cheering and whistling] Wilburn: I stand before you as living proof that conservatives are not racists.

I served as your state party vice chairman.

There were four of us running, myself and three white people, and the Colorado Republicans looked up there, listened to the vision, judged by content of character rather than skin color, and said, "We'll take the Black guy."

[Cheering and applause] Wilburn: It's just not true.

I am one of your electors, so, when Donald Trump wins the state of Colorado, nine people will cast our votes into the Electoral College for Donald Trump.

One of them, you're looking at right now.

Man: Yeah!

Crowd: Whoo!

Woman: Oh, yeah!

Man: Yeah!

[Distant, overlapping chatter] Wilburn: I pledge allegiance to the flag All: ...of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Wilburn: I'm not a fan of the Confederate flag, so I don't have a Confederate flag.

But if you want to fly a Confederate flag on your property, that's not my business.

That's not my concern.

The truth is...

I am the beneficiary of the slave trade.

I am.

Now, people take that, and they take that little slice right there, and they email me nasty stuff and blow me up on social media, and sometimes in the real media, they'll go, "Derrick's saying that slavery was good."

No, I'm not saying that slavery was good.

Slavery was horrible.

What those people endured, I can't even imagine it.

But I've never been a slave.

The only cotton I've ever picked is when I go down to Old Navy and get a new pair of jeans off the shelf.

I'm not approving of slavery.

I'm not saying slavery was good.

Slavery was horrible, uh, but we got rid of it, and as a result of my ancestors being brought to this country aboard a slave ship, I was born in Illinois, raised and educated in Wisconsin and in California, and now have a beautiful life in Colorado.

The country doesn't owe me anything.

If anything, it's the other way around.

[Tension-building music playing] ♪ Codrington: The Electoral College changes history, undoubtedly.

The Southerners... end up winning, big.

Anderson: You have folks who are being counted for representation who cannot be citizens of the United States.

Finkelman: 1800, Thomas Jefferson gets eight more electoral votes than John Adams and is elected president.

Cobb: But we don't really talk about the fact that Thomas Jefferson derived so much of his power from Southern voters who were being subsidized by the Three-Fifths Compromise.

Amar: Ordinary Americans take a look at this and they say, "Wait a minute.

Jefferson is winning "by eight electoral votes, but 12 electoral votes "are just because of slavery.

Gee, if you took those out of the equation, Adams would have won that."

Finkelman: So, if we ask the question, "Does the Three-Fifths Clause folded into the Electoral College matter?"

it matters very much because it elects Thomas Jefferson president, the great slaveholder, who spends his entire eight years as president doing everything he can to further the interest of American slavery and to fight against anything which would have given equality or fairness even to free African Americans, as well as, of course, fighting against anything that would harm slavery.

Woman: Thomas Jefferson rides into the Temple of Liberty on the shoulders of slaves.

Finkelman: The Electoral College becomes a vehicle for empowering Southern slaveowners in electing members of their own class to the presidency.

Amar: So that's the most dramatic moment in American history, where Americans see the pro-slavery skew, the pro-slavery bias, if you will, of the Electoral College system... on the backs of the Three-Fifths Clause that gave the South disproportionate power.

Because it's padding the electoral power of the South, ten of the first dozen presidents are slaveholders.

♪ America.

West: What is America's destiny?

What is best for our nation, our people?

Reporter: Kanye West will be on Colorado's ballot in November.

[Dramatic music playing] West: I am Kanye West, and I approve this message.

Jake Tapper: He has members of the Republican establishment to thank.

Reporter: Republicans have assisted West in getting on the ballot in several states.

Many believe it's an attempt to siphon votes from Joe Biden.

Man: Got it.

I think I got it.

[Plucky music playing] ♪ I'm Kit MacLean, and I am an elector for Kanye West in the 2020 election.

I'm hoping this changes the course of my destiny.

I'm hoping this is my calling, and, uh... maybe I'll meet a Kardashian or...um, a West.

Maybe this will be what skyrockets my career and my life.

I moved to Denver in May 2019.

I eventually got into a house with a few kids my age, and one of them has a history in Republican politics.

And his former boss reached out to him about being an elector for Kanye West, and he asked me if I wanted to sign this form, too, and that was that.

It was pretty quick.

Yeah, I do think they're trying to manipulate the system a bit and leverage the Electoral College so that Trump could potentially win Colorado, a state that would very likely go to Biden otherwise.

If it wasn't going to be me that signs it, it'd be someone else.

I can tell my friends and family I'm an elector for Kanye West.

How weird is that?

If Kanye West called me, that'd be pretty cool.

I don't know what I'd do with that.

I'd probably ask him to, like...say something for my voicemail, so I'd have an outgoing, "Hey, this is Kanye West.

You reached Kit's voicemail."

That'd be pretty cool.

But it is definitely surprising to see that someone like me can just sign my name.

I'm just some guy, so... [Puck clattering] [Puck hits goal post] [Tension-building music playing] ♪ [Music building] ♪ Anchor: More than enough signatures have now been gathered by a group trying to overturn a new Colorado law that would award all of our Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote in the presidential election.

Woman: This is bad for rural parts of the state because let me tell you, if this Compact goes into place, they are going to fly over Colorado.

Foote: The right to vote is precious.

We should ensure that every vote and every voter is counted.

[Music gently fades] Hi!

Woman: Well, hello.

How are you?

I know.

Hi!

Voice-over: I'm Rose Pugliese.

I'm a Mesa County Commissioner and one of the proponents of the National Popular Vote repeal movement in Colorado, which is on our Colorado ballot as Proposition 113.

One day, I leave my building, I'm walking down Main Street in Grand Junction, and literally on my way to lunch that day, five people stopped me and they said, "Rose, "how are you going to stop the National Popular Vote from coming into law in Colorado?"

But we hit the ground running.

I mean, we had over 2,200 grassroots volunteers.

I mean, we exceeded 228,000 signatures.

Foote: We're fine with it being on the ballot, of course.

I mean, it would be kind of weird for us to say we don't want people to vote on the National Popular Vote.

Now I'm working with the Yes on National Popular Vote campaign because we want to make sure that the voters of Colorado approve what we did in the legislature and what the governor signed back in 2019.

So there's one volunteer that really stands out.

This woman is my friend, who is now running for Congress.

I mean, this effort inspired her to run for Congress.

Emcee: And she's gonna take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, so help her God.

Man: Yeah!

[Applause and cheering] Emcee: Folks, let's give a big Montezuma County welcome to Lauren Boebert.

Woman: Yeah!

[Cheering and whistling] Boebert: You motivated me to get involved, to save our Electoral College votes.

Your votes for president were stolen.

We got the National Popular Vote Compact on the ballot so we can repeal that garbage legislation.

Yeah!

[Cheering and whistling] [Bright music playing] [Overlapping chatter] ♪ All: "We, the people of the United States, "in order to form a more perfect union, "establish justice, "ensure domestic tranquility, "provide for the common defense, "promote the general welfare, "and secure the blessings of liberty "to ourselves and our prosperity "do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Woman: And we're here today because at noon, from sea to shining sea, bells rang throughout America in celebration of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787.

Woman: Now!

[Cowbells clanging] ♪ [All cheering] [Clanging fades] Video narrator: When Americans go to the polls to vote for the president, they're not actually voting for the president.

Instead, they're... McCracken: Me personally, even though I'm grateful to be an elector and be a part of the process of getting my candidate on the ballot in Colorado, I don't think I'm qualified; I'm an 18-year-old, it's the first election that I'm voting in, and nobody really has a say in who their electors are.

It's kind of a terrible system if this random person like me can become an elector and potentially have a say in who's president, bigger than any other voice in the country.

Baca: This was from 1967.

This was when I-- when Cesar came to Colorado.

I was still working at the White House for the Johnson administration.

You know, that was when I was young.

This was when I co-chaired the Democratic National Convention.

I co-chaired the Convention in both 1980 and 1984.

I was Special Assistant to Bill Clinton when he was president.

I headed the Office of Consumer Affairs, and, of course, Hillary Clinton, who I love dearly.

And quite to my surprise, I was able to meet Pope John Paul II, who is now a saint of the Catholic Church.

So, on my wall, I have a new saint, several presidents, a Speaker of the House, and a member of the United States Supreme Court.

And some governors.

Baca: It is, um, Alex's Halloween birthday party.

Man: "Open Zoom."

Heh heh!

There's our family.

There's Tia.

Yeah.

This is kind of fun.

Woman: Make your comments.

Man: All right, well... [All laugh] [Guitar playing over Zoom] Man: So I'm gonna take you all on a cruise.

Here's the story.

♪ The first day, he got drunk ♪ Baca: That's right.

Alex: ♪ Oh, I feel so broke up ♪ ♪ I wanna go home ♪ Barragan: ♪ I wanna go home ♪ Baca: Oh.

Man on Zoom: Ha ha!

I really want to wish Alex a happy 79th birthday.

And next year, next year, Alex, we are going to celebrate our 80th.

[Holds a long, enthusiastic note] Oh, my.

Good.

Alex on Zoom: Yeah!

Oh, yes.

Oh, for heaven's sake.

Barragan: That's beautiful.

I love it.

[Gentle music playing] ♪ Wegman: Black Americans have been disenfranchised, either officially or unofficially, for virtually all of American history, and the Electoral College has facilitated that.

Anderson: After the Civil War, it looks like, "Ooh, it's better."

It looks like you're going to see the end of the Three-Fifths Clause.

And this is important.

As Black people have the right to vote, they will be given their full power to influence the way that our government operates or what policies get enacted.

Codrington: But, in 1876, Black people were... Hmm.

[Nervous laugh] In 1876, Black people were sold down the river.

Cobb: You have Rutherford B. Hayes competing against Samuel J. Tilden.

There are disputes about what the actual electoral tally should be from a number of states, including Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina.

Finkelman: There is two sets of returns for three states, one saying the Democrat wins, one saying the Republican wins.

Massive violence and fraud, anger on all sides.

Many Southern whites had said that if Hayes wins, that they're ready to start the Civil War all over again.

Cobb: With this state of affairs, it is impossible to determine who is the winner in the Electoral College.

Finkelman: Congress appoints an electoral commission.

In the backrooms of Congress, a compromise is reached.

It's known as the Compromise of 1877, and the compromise is Hayes becomes president, and Hayes withdraws the last remaining federal troops from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, which were the three contested states.

Reconstruction has come to an end because there's no more federal presence to protect Black voters, former slaves, new Black American citizens from violence from Southern whites.

Edwards: That sets the stage for what we call the era of Jim Crow, and we entered a new era of repression and suppression and segregation.

They went back to not having opportunities, to not having access to property, to not enjoying life as free Americans, which lasted for generations, and they would not see that until, really, the 1960s.

Cobb: You see the rise of a regime of violence that is intent upon disenfranchising Black voters, re-inscribing social and political subordination of the Black population.

So there is nearly a century in which Black people are violently removed from the political equation in the South, but still counted in the Census and thereby in the Electoral College.

It means that you are counting 100% of the Black population when it comes to determining the size of congressional delegations or the number of seats that any given state should have in Congress.

But if you terrorize those people out of voting, you now have even more of a political subsidy being given to Southern white voters than they had in 1860, before the start of the Civil War.

[Music building, bells tolling] ♪ [Music fades] [Squeaking and barking] [Traffic passing nearby] Foote: Well, good morning, everyone.

Thanks a lot for joining us.

We'll be marching today, and we need to make sure that one person equals one vote... Woman: Yes.

Foote: that the most votes wins, and that's exactly what the National Popular Vote will do.

At the very least, we're going to get some good steps in.

[Energetic music playing] Marchers: Every vote equal!

Every vote equal!

Every vote equal!

Every vote equal!

Every vote equal!

Foote, voice-over: A functional democracy is at stake.

The only way to make sure that every vote counts is to do a national popular vote.

Then, every single vote goes into the grand total, and no votes are left aside.

The President of the United States should be focusing on the entire country.

That's that person's job, is to do what's best for America.

[Car horn honks] That's not what's happening.

Under the current system, the winning candidate for president focuses very much on farmers in Wisconsin because that's a swing state, or they focus on the tourism industry in Florida because that's a swing state, but that may not be in the best interest of all of the country.

Once people are under the new system, and they see that their vote actually matters, I have a hard time thinking they're going to want to go back.

[Energetic music fades] Pugliese: Tonight's event is Pizza and Politics.

It's a group in Montrose, Colorado, and tonight is specifically dedicated to the National Popular Vote.

[Keys clatter] [Horse snorting, overlapping chatter] Pugliese, voice-over: I think Colorado losing its identity is really what's most at stake.

♪ Coloradans should be in control of our votes for president!

Our votes are personal to us, and we felt like they were stolen by the legislature and stolen by the governor.

What it does is give our nine Electoral College votes so that the winner of the national popular vote would get our Electoral College votes.

[Metal gate clanging] Woman: Good.

Pugliese: When you ask people, "Do you want to give your vote "for president to California and New York, as opposed to Coloradans?"

people say, "No, that's a stupid idea!"

Why would we give up that voice and our vote and our influence to a place like higher-population centers like California and New York?

The system we have in place, the Electoral College, is a good system, and we need to continue to protect that.

♪ [Music fades] [Keyboard keys tap] Boebert: Liberals cheered on March 15, 2019, when Governor Jared Polis signed the National Popular Vote Compact.

I fought hard to repeal this dangerous scheme.

This November, tell them, "Hell no, they can't steal our votes for president."

I'm Lauren Boebert.

I'm running for Congress, and I approve this message.

[Acoustic guitar on video playing a country tune] Man: ♪ The way we choose our president ♪ ♪ Is really quite bizarre ♪ ♪ You see, you like blue, but you live in a state ♪ ♪ Where most of the people vote red ♪ ♪ You might as well stay home on election day ♪ ♪ And do something else instead ♪ ♪ Or if you like red, but you happen to live ♪ ♪ In a state where the people vote blue ♪ ♪ Your vote won't matter in the final count ♪ ♪ No matter what you say or do ♪ ♪ I say everybody's vote should count ♪ ♪ Everybody's vote should count!

♪ ♪ [Plays a cheery cord] [Pensive music playing] ♪ Edwards: Political equality is at the core of democratic theory.

Indeed, it's virtually impossible to imagine a discussion or a description of democracy that doesn't put political equality at the core of the democratic process.

There is no prominent democratic theorist who disagrees with the notion of political equality-- one person, one vote.

The Electoral College violates the principle of political equality, and it counts some people's votes more than other people's votes, simply depending on which side of a state line they happen to cast their vote.

California has over 39 million people and 54 electors, while a small state like Wyoming has about 580,000 people and 3 electors.

That means each elector in California represents 723,000 people, and each elector in Wyoming represents only 194,000.

The bottom line is that each voter in Wyoming wields nearly 4 times as much power when it comes time to choose the president, and nearly 4 times as much power as a voter in Texas, New York, and Florida.

Right now, candidate campaigning is very highly concentrated.

Virtually all of it will take place in maybe 14 battleground states.

Wegman: They spend almost all of their time in those states.

Virtually all of their money, all of their campaigning, all their advertising dollars gets focused on maybe a half-dozen states every 4 years, to the exclusion of the rest of the country.

It means that nobody else in any other part of the country, 80% of Americans in all the states that are not battleground states are essentially ignored.

And that's the real impact of the Electoral College on the country and its politics today.

[Pensive music playing] ♪ [Distant shouting] McCracken: This election season has been concerning, scary, exciting.

We could win the presidential election from a technical standpoint, but America can't hear our voice because we're being shut out of the debates.

It's the same thing with the Electoral College.

You know, you have the Democrats and Republicans working together to keep this institution upheld, so that we can mitigate any progressive, libertarian voices and keep them out of the public eye.

[News theme music] Anchor: Election Day, the day to choose a new president for a new century.

Dan Rather: Whew!

What a night.

There's an old song that might've been written about this unprecedented and still undecided election.

First you say you do, and then you don't.

Then you say you will, and then you won't.

Tom Brokaw: It looks probable that Al Gore could win the popular vote yet and still lose the electoral vote.

Commentator: If it turns out that Al Gore wins the popular vote nationally, there will be intense pressure in this country to have him become the president.

Most people think the guy with the most votes wins.

Reporter: In the end, though, Gore did get more popular votes nationwide, he lost the Electoral College, the first candidate to do this since Grover Cleveland in 1888.

Wegman: Think about 2000.

The country was on tenterhooks for more than a month... Protestors: Stop the fraud!

Stop the count... Wegman: trying to figure out whether Al Gore or George W. Bush had won Florida.

Reporter: Board members did decide to count only the 10,000 votes missed by machines.

Republican protesters chased after them, demanding to see the process.

Crowd: Let us in!

Let us in!

Let us in... Man: You guys have got to go.

You've got to go.

Wegman: We had counts, we had recounts.

Man: Let us stay.

Wegman: We had lawsuits.

We went up to the Supreme Court.

It went back down.

It went up to the Supreme Court again.

Anchor: The nation and the world still wait and watch for a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Demonstrators: Every vote counts... Wegman: It was a really dramatic and tense and traumatic time for the country.

And yet, on election night, we knew who had won the popular vote in the country.

Protestors: Gore got more!

Gore got more!

Gore got more... Wegman: It was Al Gore by more than half a million ballots.

Protestors: Gore got more!

Gore got more!

Woman: I believe in Democracy!

Woman: So do I!

Wegman: The same is true in 2016.

We knew who won the popular vote.

Woman: Members of the Electoral College, you have time to change your mind.

You have time to save this country and prevent catastrophic damage to the world.

Reporter: The debate over the value of the Electoral College has intensified this year, in part because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost three million votes.

Reporter: President-elect, who once blasted the Electoral College as a disaster for democracy, now praising the system.

Trump: I never appreciated it until now, how genius it was, what they had in mind.

Hillary Clinton now says she wants the U.S.

Electoral College system abolished after losing it.

Reporter: From Washington to Arkansas to North Carolina, one last attempt to get electors to change their votes.

Wegman: You had a whole movement of people trying to subvert the functioning of the Electoral College.

Reporter: About 4.5 million people have signed that petition calling for an end to the Electoral College.

They want the College to anoint Hillary Clinton as president.

Wegman: What resulted was a movement among Democratic electors who look at what's happened, and they say, "We are the last defense against Donald Trump in the Oval Office."

Tucker Carlson: Some electors believe it is possible to hand the presidency over to someone other than Donald Trump.

Could this actually happen?

Should it happen?

Reporter: A lot of people are asking that very question.

Keep this in mind-- in some states, electors can do whatever they want.

Elector: To keep this promise, I believe I must cast my vote for an alternative Republican.

Elector: We believe we have a responsibility to the Constitution as electors.

Reporter: Some electors say they will break rank, and that includes Polly Baca.

Baca: You know, I'm Roman Catholic, and I have a moral obligation to follow my conscience.

Yes, I would be willing to go to jail.

Wegman: That's a measure of stability that the Electoral College undermines.

Reporter: A chaotic scene in Wisconsin today.

Crowd: Shame!

Shame.... Woman: Every one of you, You're pathetic!

You don't deserve to be in America!

Reporter: Protesters shouting down electors as they cast their votes for Donald Trump.

Man: Shame on you!

Shame!

Shame!

Shame!

Protestors: Shame on you!

[Playful music] Reporter: No one really knows what a Kanye West political supporter looks like.

We reached out to all nine people who signed up to be Kanye's electors.

We got seven voicemails, one: "Hey, talk to the campaign, not me," and this response: "The democratic process "in this country should be inclusive, "and everybody should have a shot.

The more, the merrier."

Maclean: Today's the day before the election, Monday the 2nd.

And, um...nothing's really changed in my life.

I have not heard from Kanye West yet.

Unfortunately, I'm not on his list of things or people to talk to.

Woman: But, see, you should--should be.

MacLean: I should be.

Because had he been the most popular vote, you'd have been the one who helped him... MacLean: Are you on Twitter?

Can you tweet him for me?

Woman: I'm not on Twitter.

MacLean: Unfortunately, he has not called me.

Neither has Kim.

And it doesn't seem like they're polling too well.

I don't have high hopes for Kanye.

Rick Klein: People around him say he's serious about this, and that he actually is running for president, even though he has no mathematical chance to functionally win enough electoral votes.

A lot of people around him... Maclean: I did not vote for him.

Can't say who I voted for, but it wasn't Kanye.

[Drop box door opens] ♪ [Radio turns on] Reporter: This has been an unprecedented and hard-fought race.

A year and a half of surreal campaigning, and now today, it is up to the Election Day voters to bring this race across the finish line.

With Election Day finally here, overnight, the candidates making their final pitch.

♪ With a narrow path to victory ahead of him, Trump's focus is on the electoral system, claiming that the election could be stolen from him.

♪ They are very, truly, cautiously optimistic about these polls, but they do see several paths to 270 that are encouraging for them.

♪ But this morning, both sides are gearing up for potential legal battles over the results and a fight for the White House that could last far beyond Election Day.

♪ Reporter: Just two more hours before the ballot drop boxes around Colorado will be locked and the polls are closed.

Different reporter: Yeah, it is election day... Butler: I want you all to take a deep breath.

Woman on Zoom: We're here.

It's Election Day.

And you've waited a long time to get to this day.

The hardest thing right now is to deal with the fear and the trepidation.

But what you need to replace that with is faith and hope and love, because we're going to have to love on some people that we really don't love right now, OK?

Rev.

Harkins: So in that spirit, let's join our hearts in prayer.

Loving and gracious God, you have sustained us.

You have guided us.

You have hemmed us in.

You have lifted us up throughout this journey.

Anchor: Once the ballots are added and the votes counted, there's only one number that matters in the end.

That number is 270.

That's how many electoral votes it takes to win.

♪ Polls are closed in Colorado, and the first results are in on the biggest races that we are watching.

This is Proposition 113 to have Colorado join the National Popular Vote Compact, and it currently leads 56% to 44%.

McCracken: It is the evening of the election.

Wilburn: So, what you see here is a gathering of friends and neighbors from here in Colorado Springs, all of us politically active in one way, shape, form, or another.

Maclean: It's Election Day.

We got a little watch party going, and it appears Kanye West is not doing too well.

He hasn't won any states so far.

Baca: You know, in any other election year, I would be getting ready to go to election night parties.

Because of the pandemic, it's not going to happen this year.

And certainly, at my age, I wouldn't feel comfortable.

I'm staying at home.

Reporter: People are on edge.

And you can see, by the looks of it, a lot of business owners are on edge, too, but some are still... Baca: I was just notified that our building manager has hired a security officer, and so there is real concern about demonstrations and, apparently, violence.

Wilburn: My prediction is I believe Trump will win.

I believe he will win with over 300 Electoral College votes.

Trump is rough, gruff, bombastic, and a non-politician.

And I think that's a big--I know that's a big part of his appeal.

Trump's a jerk, but he's our jerk.

Maclean: I'm pulling for maybe an upset here.

I'm thinking maybe Colorado maybe could go yellow.

Maybe Kanye can pull out a last-minute effort.

Wilburn: If Colorado goes to Biden, then my job as an elector is over.

These guys, these guys can follow around somebody else.

Anchor: Yes, Biden will also win... Wilburn: Man, they're calling these.

It's only 7:00!

Anchor: Steve, I got one you may be interested in.

Colorado, nine electoral votes.

Take back what I said about a flip.

McCracken: Colorado is pretty solid, decided for blue, so it looks like I will not be casting my vote in the Electoral College, which was pretty expected.

I was expecting that.

Anchor: OK, timeout.

This is a big development.

The Fox News Decision Desk is calling Arizona for Joe Biden.

Biden picking up Arizona changes the math.

Baca: I wanted it to be a blowout for Biden, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

I think he's still going to win but not with the overwhelming amount that I wanted him to win with.

Anchor: Well, look at this.

Sorry to interrupt.

NBC News is projecting Donald Trump will be the ultimate winner in Florida and its 29 electoral votes... Baca: This is getting too close.

This is scary.

I think I'm going to need a drink--ha ha!-- to get through this.

Oh, it'd be so horrible if Trump won again.

That would just be the end of our democracy.

Mm.

McCracken: So it's very concerning at this stage that the polls, again, seem very wrong.

Oh, my gosh.

I don't--I don't even know what to say.

I'm going to be up for at least three or four more hours.

Wilburn: Hopefully, I just hope and pray that this thing doesn't come down to lawsuits in one state, and it would be horrible for the country.

It would be horrible for everybody.

Maclean: I've not seen a good point in favor of the Electoral College.

I think what happens is that throughout history, the more I've, like, looked into it, whatever political party benefits from it, defends it.

So that's kind of what's happening.

I think it's kind of a stupid system.

I'm--ha!-- I'm an elector for Kanye West, so that should say everything.

It's a really stupid system.

Baca: Oh, my knees.

OK, honey.

I'm going to go to bed.

[Indistinct conversations, news reports continuing] Man: See ya, Jim.

-Good night, Jim.

-Drive safely, young man.

-Great to see you again.

-Good night.

Good night.

Thanks.

Anchor: Arnon, we're getting a lot of incoming here, and we need you to answer some questions.

Mishkin: Shoot.

Anchor: Arizona.

Are you 100% sure of that call and when you made it, and why did you make it?

It's really insane how close the Electoral College makes a race like this.

I'm just going to call my night here and get some sleep.

Wolf Blitzer: After four long, tense, days, we've reached a historic moment in this election.

We can now project the winner of the presidential race.

♪ CNN projects Joseph R. Biden Jr... ...has won the Keystone State, Pennsylvania, and its 20 electoral votes.

Anchor: Putting him over the 270 electoral votes he needs to become... ...the 46th president of the United States, winning the White House and denying President Trump a second term.

Anchor: Keep in mind the Trump campaign is in the midst of waging legal challenges in several states, but the path is clear for the new president-elect.

[Marching band plays, people cheering] [Upbeat music] ♪ Man: You support that?

You are a special kind of [bleep] stupid!

Shut the [bleep] up!

[Bleep] loser!

Oh, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme.

♪ Whoo!

Whoo!

[Cheering, horns honking] ♪ Crowd: Donald Trump, you about to lose!

Donald Trump, you about to lose!

♪ ♪ Woman: That's what's [bleep] bull-[bleep]!

♪ [Chanting, music fade] Pugliese: We were glad that it was so close.

However, obviously, we were not victorious on the ballot question.

What we're hoping is our movement will inspire other people in other states to also push back on their legislatures to maybe get out of the Compact.

But the Compact doesn't take effect until there are 270 Electoral College votes.

It's my understanding with Colorado, they're at 196.

So, until they get to the 270, it won't be ripe for a constitutional challenge.

And that's where I believe this will be headed.

Foote: After the election, I've been mainly relieved.

The fact that now the National Popular Vote proponents around the country can go around and say not only have 15 states plus D.C. signed on to this thing, but also, it passed a statewide vote in Colorado.

So we had over 1.5 million Coloradans agree with us.

The legislature can pass something and people can always question whether or not the majority of Coloradans would actually support it.

But in this case, the speculation is over.

You know, obviously it feels really good that we had the majority of Coloradans on our side.

I think it really puts a big exclamation mark on it, and that feels really good.

[Horse nickers] [Birds chirping] ♪ Baca: Today is, you know, is a special day because we really don't get-- very often get a chance to cast a ballot for President of the United States that's going to end up in the Archives.

And that's what happens today.

I think it's well-known that I oppose the Electoral College.

I see no reason.

It's fun to be an elector, and it's nice that I get to put my name on a ballot that's going to be in the Archives, but it's not right.

It really isn't right.

It shouldn't happen in a democracy.

Everybody ought to have this opportunity.

♪ Polis: We are all so excited about continuing our... the traditions of our democratic republic, and that includes casting Colorado's nine electoral votes for President of the United States for the candidate that won the popular vote in the state of Colorado, Joe Biden for President and Kamala Harris for Vice President.

[Applause] You know, in 2012, my friend, the late John Lewis, said, "My dear friends, your vote is precious.

Sacred.

"It's the most powerful non-violent tool we have to create a more perfect union."

♪ Colorado casts its nine electoral votes for Joe Biden.

[Applause and cheering] ♪ Baca: I'm hopeful that they will recognize that our votes are now being sent to the United States Congress, where they will be accepted.

I have no doubt in my mind that they will be accepted.

Reporter: This is what the actual vote for president looks like.

Woman: Donald J. Trump received 29 electoral votes.

Stacey Abrams: Joseph R. Biden has received 16 votes for President of the United States.

[Cheering] Anchor: 538 presidential electors met around the country, pledged to vote for the winner of the popular vote in their states.

This process, nearly as old as the nation, has never before received this much attention.

No one in the past really paid any attention to this whatsoever.

Reporter: It's been broadcast live here across the U.S. as we speak.

It's like a football match, you know.

President-Elect Biden has now received a majority of electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Reporter: But President Trump still refuses to concede.

And today, one of his closest advisers told Fox News that his supporters will conduct their own electoral voting.

An alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote, and we're going to send those results up to Congress.

Rachel Maddow: Republicans in Georgia and Republicans in Wisconsin and Republicans in Pennsylvania all ceremonially cast fake electoral votes for Donald Trump today.

Wegman: Before 2020, I never would have thought that we would see states attempting to erase the votes of their own citizens and flip their electors to the other candidate.

-We're electors.

We're electors.

-We're electors.

We are electors... Guard: The electors are already here.

They've been checked in.

Man: The GOP electors are also on the governor's certificate... Guard: I'm not going to get into a political debate.

I'm following orders.

It's not a political debate.

Cobb: An Electoral College system provides unique opportunities to subvert in ways that we would not likely have seen in a simple majority system.

Wegman: But every step of the way, the Electoral College is vulnerable to manipulation.

Edwards: Then we have another step, which is counting the votes in Congress.

It provided an opportunity for mischief.

Reporter: Newly-elected Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert says she will object to the Electoral College results next week.

She will join other House Republicans protesting Joe Biden's win over President Trump in November.

Boebert: Well, I am one of 535 people who actually can-- can have a say in the outcome of the presidential election.

[Trap beat over a loudspeaker] Man rapping: ♪ Ay, ay, ay ♪ ♪ Go, Donald, go, Donald, go!

♪ ♪ Go, Donald, go, Donald, go!

♪ ♪ Eight more years!

♪ Crowd: ♪ Eight more years!

♪ Man: ♪ Lemme hear you like, "Eight more years!"

♪ Crowd: ♪ Eight more years!

♪ Man: ♪ And you really wanna shake what your mama ♪ ♪ Shake what your mama gave ya ♪ It's already happened.

They already count the electoral votes.

Reporter: The Electoral College ballots now go to Washington to be counted in a joint session of Congress January 6th.

♪ Man: ♪ Fight for freedom!

♪ Crowd: ♪ Fight for freedom!

♪ Man: ♪ We love America!

♪ Crowd: ♪ We love America!

♪ Man: ♪ Fight for U.S.A.!

♪ Crowd: ♪ Fight for U.S.A.!

♪ Man: ♪ No socialism!

♪ Crowd: ♪ No socialism!

♪ Man: ♪ Fight for Trump!

♪ [Singing with recording] ♪ And I'm proud ♪ ♪ To be an American ♪ ♪ And I'll gladly stand up next to you ♪ ♪ God bless the U.S.A. ♪ Crowd: Whoo!

Man: Make some noise!

Crowd: Whoo!

Wegman: Look at January 6th.

What they were demanding was majority rule.

They believed that they had won more votes in certain states and that somehow those votes were not counted, so the candidate who should have won based on the popular vote in those states didn't win.

That's just a call for majority rule.

Man: ♪ Everything's upside down ♪ ♪ And that just ain't right ♪ Tellers will announce the votes cast by the electors for each state.

Johnson: The framers of our Constitution recognized that elections were susceptible to corruption.

We all know that.

So how did they fix it?

How did they provide for that?

They created the Electoral College as a safeguard, and they expressly empowered state legislatures to ensure the integrity of our unique election system.

Men: Send it back!

Send it back!

Biggs: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I join the objection to counting votes of electors from my home state of Arizona, as well as Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada.

Because election integrity is the heart of our American Constitutional Republic.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are lawfully elected.

If you're looking for historical guidance, this is not the one to pick.

1876: South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida sent two slate of electors.

"With these three states, you give me the electors, I'll kick the Union Army out."

The rest is history.

It led to Jim Crow.

Boebert: Madam Speaker, it is my duty under the U.S. Constitution to object to the counting of the electoral votes of the state of Arizona... Edwards: Even though the states under Republican leadership had certified those votes as being honest, fraud-free, it provided an opportunity for mischief.

Anchor: Sean Riley, a top Johnson aide, telling an aide for Vice President Pence that the senator wanted to hand-deliver fake electors for Michigan and Wisconsin.

In response, Pence's aide, Chris Hodgson, replies, "Do not give that to him."

Man: And anybody associated with the press-- MSNBC, Joe Scarborough, Rachel Maddow-- you're on our enemy list.

You're the first to die!

Finkelman: For a democracy to succeed, for a government, as Lincoln put it, "of the people, by the people and for the people," it has to be a government that the people respect and that the people accept as being legitimate.

Protestor: Martial law!

Martial law!

Martial law!

Martial law!

Do it!

Protestors: Martial law!

Wegman: January 6th was all about the Electoral College.

No one could've objected to a 7-million-vote victory.

And so the Electoral College provides an incentive for fraud because you can win states with much less fraud than winning the entire country.

♪ Amar: There's nothing in the world quite like the Electoral College.

But we're not going to begin to understand it unless we understand our history.

♪ Anderson: So much of American history is just swaddled in myth.

The Founding Fathers, who had this great enlightenment vision of this incredible democracy.

These were human beings who were making good choices and bad choices.

Many were enslavers.

But what you had from the power of that narrative were people were aspiring to the aspiration of what the United States of America said it is.

And it is in that battle to make the aspiration line up with the reality that is the story of this nation.

When we treat those aspirations as achievements, like "We're already there, we have overcome," all of the mess that we have not dealt with continues to churn in this society, dragging people down into the depths of despair.

They're in recess right now because of us, because of the "protest."

[Laughter] [Blowing horn] Man: Mike Pence!

Mitch McConnell!

Lindsey Graham!

Bernie Sanders!

AOC!

Pocahontas!

And [bleep] Harris!

Joe Biden!

Sniffing kids in your basement with your crack-smoking son!

Come out of the basement, pedophile!

Crowd: U.S.A.!

U.S.A.!

Officer: We've lost the line!

We've lost the line!

[Intense screaming, windows shattering] Man: He's got a gun!

He's got a gun!

[Gun fires] Man: Your bull-[bleep].

You'll twist it and spin it and use it against us!

Every patriot out here, at this point, came here totally prepared to die!

Don't mess with us 'cause we've had it!

Do I make myself clear for the last time?!

Woman: We told her five times.

We do not want fake media out here!

Woman 2: 'Cause you don't give a [bleep] about us.

Do you, lady?!

Woman 3: Cover your face!

Cover your face!

Cover-- [Recording cuts off] [Somber music] Pence: Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.

We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms.

We grieve the loss of life in these hallowed halls, as well as the injuries suffered by those who defended our Capitol today.

♪ For even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism at this Capitol, the elected representatives of the people of the United States have assembled again.

♪ Let's get back to work.

[Applause] Anderson: When we refuse to be disengaged, when we demand to be engaged, we transform this nation for the better.

That's the power that we have.

♪ If you want a vibrant America, then let America speak.

♪ Man: ♪ O!

Say, can you see ♪ ♪ By the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ What so proudly we hailed ♪ ♪ At the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ Through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched ♪ ♪ Were so gallantly streaming?

♪ ♪ And the rockets' red glare ♪ ♪ The bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ Gave proof through the night ♪ ♪ That our flag was still there ♪ ♪ O!

Say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ ♪ [Singers vocalizing] ♪