Podcast Summary: "Protecting The Franchise: How Can We Secure Our Elections?"

Podcast: What A Day (Crooked Media)
Host: Jane Coaston
Date: November 26, 2025
Guests: Mark Elias (Democracy Docket), Justice Allison Riggs (NC Supreme Court), Cisco Aguilar (Nevada Secretary of State)

Episode Overview

This special episode, recorded live at CrookedCon 2025, centers on defending and securing U.S. elections—especially as the 2026 midterms loom. Jane Coaston leads a substantive discussion with three key figures actively involved in safeguarding voting rights and election integrity: Mark Elias, Justice Allison Riggs, and Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. Together, they address election threats, rampant disinformation, recent wins, systemic challenges (like gerrymandering and poll worker safety), and, critically, what listeners can do to help protect democracy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The State of U.S. Elections: Current Threats & Rising Alarm

• Erosion of Trust and Dangerous Narratives
  • Jane opens (01:17) by highlighting growing alarm about election integrity, driven by a party that attacks any loss as a sham and by intimidation tactics from Trump and his allies:

    "...a political party that believes that any election they don't win is a sham. We have an orange would-be dictator...who wants to make it harder for people to vote using intimidation tactics like deploying federal agents at polling places..." [02:00]

• Increasing Barriers
  • Strict voter ID proposals, threats to voting accessibility, and targeted legal attacks add complexity to routine participation.

2. Personal Stories from the Frontlines

• Justice Allison Riggs: A Six-Month Fight to be Seated
  • Riggs recounts her election, where her opponent tried to toss out 68,000 ballots (mostly Democratic and military/overseas) in four blue counties. The process delayed her certification by over six months, cost $2 million, and caused major personal stress—but ended in victory with cross-community mobilization and legal wins.

    "It cost me $2 million. My hair fell out from stress. And it was the most encouraging, affirming experience..." [06:39]

  • Key takeaway: “We’ve got leaders, litigators, election administrators who know what’s right and are willing to fight...” [07:53]

3. How Voters Feel—and What Election Officials Are Hearing

• Cisco Aguilar (Nevada Secretary of State)
  • Despite political turmoil, voters in Nevada are determined, especially youth and rural/tribal voters.

    “Are we going to have an election in 26 and mostly in 28? Absolutely.” [09:06]

  • He underscores the new role of the Secretary of State’s office as part law firm, given constant legal attacks:

    “We are running law firms to ensure that we are prepared for any attack that comes against us.” [10:22]

• Voter Disinformation Challenges
  • Misinformation is rampant, particularly about proof of citizenship, student voter rights, and basic election processes. Aguilar discusses Nevada's proactive efforts, like texting young voters and keeping polls open late:

    "...we implemented a text messaging program which allowed me to reach more young voters for the first time than ever..." [17:17]

4. Litigating for Democracy

• Mark Elias on the Scale of Legal Battles

  • “There is a right-wing voter suppression war machine that just grinds on.” [11:40]
  • Elias’s firm is litigating more than 60 election-related cases, reflecting an aggressive and continuous effort to suppress votes and manipulate outcomes.

    "My team and I, we won 64, 65 cases for President Biden in 2020." [13:20]

• Proof of Citizenship Lawsuits & Future Battles

  • Trump’s push for national proof of citizenship is about disenfranchising new and marginalized voters. Elias details how these laws primarily affect young, transient, and married women voters.

    "The reason why they are pushing proof of citizenship is because the populations that this would most impact are first time registrants, which are mostly young voters..." [14:56]

  • Ongoing and expected litigation in federal and state courts; Republican-led states already enacting restrictive laws. [15:55]

5. The Role—and Peril—of Poll Workers

• Increasing Danger, Need for Protection
  • Jane tells a personal story to illustrate the crucial and selfless role poll workers play, even amidst rising threats.
  • Mark Elias urges everyone to consider volunteering as a poll worker and stresses the need for legal and physical protection:

    “We need to treat their safety and security as important as any other aspect of the voting process.” [24:38]

  • Cisco Aguilar describes Nevada's new law making it a felony to harass poll workers:

    "In 23, I introduced legislation to make it a felony to harass or intimidate election workers in Nevada. It passed the legislature..." [26:03]

  • Despite lawsuits from Republicans attempting to block these protections, the law stood firm and improved poll worker morale and retention. [27:28]

6. The Subtle Mechanics of Voter Suppression

• Small Barriers Add Up
  • Mark Elias details how voter suppression isn’t always dramatic—sometimes it’s about slow, painful bureaucracy or banning food/water for people waiting in long lines, which disproportionately affects voters of color.

    "You have to look at it at putting barriers in their way...The racial disparity in wait times." [31:05, 33:07] "If you lived in...Atlanta...90% or more registered voters that were black, you waited in line an average of 51 minutes...in precincts...90% or more white, your average wait time was six minutes." [33:07]

7. Election Denial and Future Subversion

• Will Trump Deny Others' Victories?
  • Both Aguilar and Elias agree Trump’s tactics—denying results, refusing to certify winners—will intensify and infect down-ballot races.

    "Absolutely. I think this is his playbook." — Aguilar [36:02]

  • Elias:

    "If you think Donald Trump won't do something, it is only because you are refusing to acknowledge that he's already saying he will do it." [39:04]

    • Details 2020 attempts to seize election equipment, and warns the constitutional crisis is already underway, not hypothetical. [39:04–40:30]

8. Gerrymandering: The “Arms Race” Escalates

• Both Parties Escalate Redistricting Battles
  • Jane introduces the topic as “hot right now”—with states like New York and California joining in, lawsuits in Virginia and elsewhere, and the potential for major Supreme Court rulings to reshape the playing field, especially in the Deep South.
  • Mark Elias is explicit:

    "The only way this arms race is going to end is for Republicans to realize they can't win it." [46:57]

    • He urges Democrats to counter every Republican gerrymander decisively.
  • The SCOTUS decision on the Louisiana Voting Rights Act could enable vast, rapid map changes by GOP legislatures (with potentially 12–19 seats at stake). [48:23]

9. Fighting Doomerism: What Gives Them Hope

• Justice Riggs: Find and Support Voters—Everywhere
  • "If North Carolinians can find voters in the South Pole, we can defend the franchise." [51:44]
  • Urges listeners to stay hopeful, make plans beyond each cycle, and recruit new leaders. “We got stronger. They fought us like hell and we got stronger.” [52:48]
• Cisco Aguilar: Collective Resistance
  • Emphasizes collaboration among Secretaries of State, defiance against federal intimidation, and strategic unity:

    "...we are working collectively, together to say we are going to stand up not as one, but as a team to push back and say what you're doing over there at the White House is bullshit." [54:58]

10. Action Steps for Listeners

• Mark Elias: Take Action—Every Voice Matters
  • Volunteer for campaigns, donate, support pro-democracy media, push accurate information in your circles.

    "Every one of you has a town square...text your friends, families...every day, think about what they could be doing to help protect democracy." [60:04]

  • Reiterates that supporting Democratic candidates and media are “the most important movements” right now.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Staying in the Fight:

  "Ultimately, the lawyers, we're playing whack a mole...You all have to stay in the fight." — Mark Elias [12:32]

• On the Cost—and Value—of Fighting for Democracy:

  "It cost me $2 million. My hair fell out from stress. And it was the most encouraging, affirming experience because people worked together." — Justice Riggs [06:39]

• Elias on Trump’s Playbook:

  "If you think Donald Trump won't do something, it is only because you are refusing to acknowledge that he's already saying he will do it." [39:04]

• Riggs on Hope:

  "We cannot live election cycle to election cycle anymore. We have to plan...and we played from that book in my election in 2024. We got stronger." [52:23]

Key Timestamps

• 02:00 — Opening framing of U.S. election dangers and threats.
• 05:25 — Justice Riggs recounts her protracted certification fight.
• 09:11 — Secretary Aguilar reassures Nevada voters.
• 11:11 — Elias describes the legal landscape: scale, urgency, tactics.
• 17:17 — Aguilar discusses youth outreach and combating disinformation.
• 24:38 — Poll worker safety: threats, legal protection, and recruitment.
• 31:05 — How "small" barriers systematically suppress the vote.
• 36:01 — Will Trump deny down-ballot election results? (Yes.)
• 39:04 — Constitutional crisis: “We’re already in it.”
• 46:57 — "Redistricting arms race" and why Democrats should fight back.
• 51:44 — Justice Riggs on hope and building long-term plans.
• 54:58 — Collective Secretary of State resistance.
• 60:04 — Concrete action steps: volunteering, speaking out, supporting media.

Tone & Final Takeaways

The conversation is candid, energetic, and sometimes darkly humorous, full of frank language ("bullshit," "fuck you," and more). All speakers emphasize urgency and realism, but they reject despair. Their central message: the fight for democracy is ongoing, the path is hard, but committed action—at every level—can and does make a difference.

Call to Action:
Volunteer, support candidates and media, communicate with your community, become a poll worker, and never stop defending the franchise.

[End of Summary]