The Takeaway

After serving 27 years on the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday from complications associated with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to be appointed to the highest court in the land. Early in her career as a lawyer, she was a champion for gender equality and in the time since has been elevated to a feminist icon.

Clara Spera, Ginsburg's granddaughter said her grandmother dictated the following statement before her death: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."

While the race for the White House had already morphed into a turbulent, hyper-partisan event there's no doubt that Ginsburg's death underscores how consequential the November 3rd election will be.  

In a statement issued on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Trump's nominee "will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” That statement exists in direct opposition to his stance on Barack Obama's 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland. 

Professor Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, and Sahil Kapur, national political reporter at NBC News, discuss Ginsburg's legacy and how her death could change the trajectory of the election cycle. 

Arizona has been a reliably Republican state at the presidential level in every election since 1952 — except when Bill Clinton won in 1996. But a rapidly growing population has chipped away at the Republican advantage. In 2020, Arizona is rated a toss-up.

The state has had no-excuse absentee voting since 1991 and the numbers of voters who use this method continue to grow. As the president continues to malign the U.S. Postal Service and absentee ballots and question the integrity of the upcoming election, we hear from Katie Hobbs, Arizona Secretary of State, KJZZ Phoenix host Steve Goldstein, and Professor Lisa Sanchez from the University of Arizona.

Latino voters are a growing share of the population in states like Florida, Texas, and Nevada. In Arizona, they account for about a quarter of voters in the state according to Pew. 

While national polling indicates that Joe Biden is ahead of President Trump when it comes to Latino voters, he hasn't been able to match Hillary Clinton’s margins from 2016. The Trump campaign is appealing to Latinos with a message centered on crime and the economy. The Biden campaign is using President Trump's response to the pandemic to illustrate that he's unfit to lead. 

Daniel Garza, president of the conservative Libre Initiative, and Carlos Odio, co-founder of democratic Latino polling and analysis firm Equis Research, share their insights as to what's at stake for this electorate.  

These conversations are part of a series called Every Vote Counts.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

While the bedrock of democracy is free and fair elections, the President has been sowing seeds of distrust throughout the course of the campaign. He's used his platform to spread conspiracy theories about the integrity of absentee ballots to his millions of followers.

The consequences of those lies can be seen in a recent Monmouth University poll that found almost 40 percent of Americans don’t believe that the elections will be conducted fairly and accurately. A majority of Americans say that they think the Trump campaign will try to cheat if necessary to win in November, while 39 percent say the same of the Biden campaign.

Aside from Barack Obama in 2008, North Carolina hasn't voted for a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter in 1976, but polls show President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are neck and neck there. A contentious senate race is also on the ballot in the state. 

North Carolina began sending out absentee ballots on September 4th. The more than 700,000 mail ballots that have been requested has shone the national spotlight on the Tar Heel State. 

Chair of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Damon Circosta, Michael Bitzer, a professor of Political Science at Catawba College, and Rusty Jacobs, politics reporter at WUNC North Carolina Public Radio, walk us through the state's electoral process.

Many credit Barack Obama’s win in North Carolina to strong turnout from African American voters. Exit polls that year showed African Americans making up almost a quarter of the electorate and they gave Obama 95 percent of the vote. Congresswoman Alma Adams of North Carolina’s 12th Congressional District and Professor Kerry Haynie, Political Science and African & African American Studies at Duke University, describe how the Biden/Harris ticket is working to convince Black voters to turnout. 

As part of our continuing series on how the pandemic has changed campaigns, we checked in with Chase Gaines, Coalition Director North Carolina GOP. He describes what it's like to organize at this moment and what he's heard from voters while knocking doors.

These conversations are part of a series called Every Vote Counts.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.