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Ken interviews Politics Reporter for NJ Advance Media, Brent Johnson. · The Mark Simone Show

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  Speaker 1: It's the Mark Simone Show Live from the wr Life
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  Speaker 1: Bax Studios. Guest hosting for Mark Today, here's Ken Rosato
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  Speaker 1: and so nice to be with you on a beautiful Friday.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: Brent Johnson is the politics reporter for Njadvanced Media. That's
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  Speaker 1: NJ dot com and the New York Star, a Ledger,
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  Speaker 1: and they have a Trenton newspaper, Jersey City. They're a
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  Speaker 1: monster in a good way for New Jersey. And he's
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  Speaker 1: here to talk about New Jersey Governor Mikey Cheryl's recent
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  Speaker 1: admission that at least sixty six hundred illegal aliens or
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  Speaker 1: illegal migrants were in fact registered to vote in that
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  Speaker 1: at least four hundred actually voted in local and federal
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  Speaker 1: elections in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. First off,
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  Speaker 1: let's say good morning to Brent.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: So nice to have you on and all the years
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  Speaker 1: that I've been, you know, a New Jersey resident and
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  Speaker 1: an anchor reporter in New York City and now back
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  Speaker 1: in New Jersey. I feel terrible that we've never crossed paths,
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  Speaker 1: but it's nice to actually get to speak to you
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  Speaker 1: on the air. Here our mutual friend. We have a
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  Speaker 1: very good friend, Tom Bergerand who said, no, I got
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  Speaker 1: the guy you got to talk to. I want to
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  Speaker 1: have Tom I said no, no, no, no, no, you said I
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  Speaker 1: got I got the right guy here. But so, Brent,
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  Speaker 1: first of all, why do you think Governor Cheryl released
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  Speaker 1: this information?
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  Speaker 3: Now, that's a great question. That's that's one of the
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  Speaker 3: many questions that are surrounding this whole thing. Basically, people
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  Speaker 3: who I spoke to who know her say that she
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  Speaker 3: learned of this and instead of keeping it silent, which
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  Speaker 3: might have been more politically.
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  Speaker 2: Expedient, she you know, wanted to.
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  Speaker 3: She had military training un told you have to be transparent.
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  Speaker 3: And it goes along to her campaign promises of being
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  Speaker 3: upfront and that, you know, especially all that's going on
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  Speaker 3: in the national debate over election integrity, that it was
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  Speaker 3: the right thing to do to come forward. That's what
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  Speaker 3: people around her say. But yeah, I mean there are
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  Speaker 3: even some who go that she she even if this
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  Speaker 3: didn't happen under her attenure, now she owns this issue
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  Speaker 3: and that that's going forward.
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  Speaker 2: That's going to be interesting to see how she walks
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  Speaker 2: this tightrope.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, yes, it makes sense. It's to get
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  Speaker 1: ahead maybe the US government and then the Save America Act.
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  Speaker 1: But now doesn't that kind of give the Republicans and
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  Speaker 1: the Save America Act exactly what they were looking for?
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  Speaker 1: Now they could say, hey, look, don't take our word
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  Speaker 1: for it. Governor CHERYLN. New Jersey said, sixty six hundred
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  Speaker 1: people were registered. So for all the people who say no,
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  Speaker 1: illegal migrants don't get to register, well they did.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And Democrats are privately lamenting this even publicly, that
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  Speaker 3: this gives fuel to the Republican arguments and that for
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  Speaker 3: years the discussion has been that, you know, statistics show
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  Speaker 3: voter fraud is very widespread, voter fraud is very rare,
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  Speaker 3: and that this, you know, gives a little bit of
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  Speaker 3: credence to their argument. Whether now you also hear Democrats
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  Speaker 3: say that they're exploiting this, that this is a small
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  Speaker 3: set of numbers that she released. But yeah, this definitely
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  Speaker 3: intensifies the debate. It makes it harder for Democrats to
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  Speaker 3: push back.
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  Speaker 1: And just everybody might make sure everybody knows because this
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  Speaker 1: is radio. I always forget for my TV days, Brent,
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  Speaker 1: where people could see whom I'm talking to. I want
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  Speaker 1: to remind it when this is Brent Johnson, the politics
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  Speaker 1: reporter for NJ Advanced Media, and we're talking about New
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  Speaker 1: Jersey Governor Mikey Cheryl's recent admission that at least sixty
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  Speaker 1: six hundred illegal migrants were in fact registered to vote.
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  Speaker 1: And by the way, I'm can Rozotto went for the
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  Speaker 1: great Mark Simon on this wonderful Friday. So the other
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  Speaker 1: question is, and this is something I'm sure is being
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  Speaker 1: looked into, the individuals who registered to vote. Were they
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  Speaker 1: the actual people who voted, or did somebody with more
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  Speaker 1: nefarious intentions have them register and took those names and
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  Speaker 1: cast the ballots themselves. That's something we don't really know yet,
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  Speaker 1: do we no.
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  Speaker 3: And there's a lot of open ended questions here about
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  Speaker 3: things we don't know, And the state is conducting an
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  Speaker 3: internal investigation, and Republicans are calling for a independent robe,
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  Speaker 3: and the US Justice Department is also conducting investigation. So
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of people looking into this, and there's
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  Speaker 3: many things we probably will learn a slow drip of news.
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  Speaker 2: As this comes out.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, basically, what they said was that six
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  Speaker 3: hundred pace people non citizens were registered and four hundred
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  Speaker 3: of those went on to cast ballots. Cheryl said that
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  Speaker 3: it's Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters and it stretches all
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  Speaker 3: across New Jersey. But that four hundred took this case,
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  Speaker 3: but we don't know who this four hundred are. They
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  Speaker 3: have not released those identities. Cheryl said she's not going
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  Speaker 3: to give the Department of Justice those identities either, because
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  Speaker 3: the thought is now that someone might get prosecuted. And
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  Speaker 3: Cheryl said that would be hypocrisy if they did so.
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  Speaker 3: But the Trump administration saying, you know, they broke the
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  Speaker 3: law and we have to go after them. So yeah,
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  Speaker 3: we're going to keep learning more about this. This is
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  Speaker 3: one of those things where there's we know a little,
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  Speaker 3: but there's probably more we don't know, and we'll find
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  Speaker 3: out when it happens.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, there are over thirty states and or
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  Speaker 1: there are thirty states and the District of Columbia not
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  Speaker 1: willing to share their voter roles with the Department of Justice,
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  Speaker 1: and included among those thirty states Republican states too, So
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  Speaker 1: it's not strictly a Democrat state thing in terms of
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  Speaker 1: refusing to submit that information. What do you think that is?
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  Speaker 1: What is what is there to lose for a state
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  Speaker 1: to share their voter roles with the federal government.
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  Speaker 2: That's a good that's a good question.
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  Speaker 3: This is this is a touchy topic and always has been,
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  Speaker 3: you know, election integrity. You know, you have all the
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  Speaker 3: questions about voter ID and it's you know, it's it's
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  Speaker 3: one thing where it's it's a it's considered a right
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  Speaker 3: in the Constitution that people have a right to vote,
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  Speaker 3: and you want to make sure as many people can
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  Speaker 3: participate as possible, and you don't want to suppress any
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  Speaker 3: of those votes. So I believe there are probably some
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  Speaker 3: states who believe that the integrity elections mean they should
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  Speaker 3: hold onto the roles. This is a state's rights issue.
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  Speaker 3: So it's not a cut and dry thing. It's you know,
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  Speaker 3: it's one of those things where there are strong opinions
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  Speaker 3: on either side, and it seems to be that's the
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  Speaker 3: case in politics a lot these days, is that there
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  Speaker 3: is no middle ground. That people stand to their stands,
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  Speaker 3: to their own side, and this is one of those
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  Speaker 3: topics that's just a heavy debate.
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  Speaker 1: Seven to ten, w o are the Voice of New
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  Speaker 1: York can Risotto in for the Great Mark Simone on
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  Speaker 1: a Friday, And there are there are numbers that range
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  Speaker 1: from one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand and
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  Speaker 1: possible illegal migrants throughout the country who may be improperly
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  Speaker 1: registered to vote, and is high in one case, and
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  Speaker 1: this I think is a little extreme on the high end,
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  Speaker 1: but of up to four million, and that was from
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  Speaker 1: one organization that is admittedly more right wing, and they've
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  Speaker 1: set as many as four million, basing it on the
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  Speaker 1: numbers of states where illegal migrants tend to settle, and
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  Speaker 1: those states almost entirely are states where it doesn't matter
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  Speaker 1: what your legal status is. You can get a driver's license,
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  Speaker 1: and those states automatically allow you to register to vote
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  Speaker 1: when you get your driver's license. So now, of course,
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  Speaker 1: the big argument is do we now make it illegal
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  Speaker 1: or at least change the rules so that you're not
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  Speaker 1: automatically or do you don't have the automatic opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: register to vote when you get your driver's license.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, this goes back, This issue goes back that
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  Speaker 3: six or seven years. This is under former Governor Phil Murphy.
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  Speaker 3: He signed two laws around the same time that Republicans
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  Speaker 3: warned about. One allows undocumented immigrants to get driver's license,
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  Speaker 3: which supporters say is for the safety of everyone's driving,
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  Speaker 3: to make sure that everyone's license on the road, and
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  Speaker 3: to the law that automatically registers people to vote once
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  Speaker 3: they apply for a driver's license, which is supporters say,
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  Speaker 3: you know, opens up democracy and makes it easier to
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  Speaker 3: register and takes one of those hurdles away.
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  Speaker 2: But Republicans said.
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  Speaker 3: That this is a this is a gonna be open
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  Speaker 3: season for the possibility of fraud here, and they said
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  Speaker 3: they've been vindicated now that basically their fears have been confirmed.
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  Speaker 3: So they say they want to automatically or immediately suspend
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  Speaker 3: automatic voter registration install voter ID laws. And the problem is
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  Speaker 3: that Republican or their lowest number they've ever been in Trenton,
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  Speaker 3: and that Democrats are in control. Democrats had basically said,
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  Speaker 3: the ones who control the legislature that they're waiting for
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  Speaker 3: any investigation to play out before they take out their steps.
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  Speaker 2: So right now it's just a lot of talk.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, again this lends fuel to the argument
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  Speaker 3: you're gonna hear Republicans continue to use this as a cudgel.
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  Speaker 1: Man. I'm sure this is not going away anytime soon,
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  Speaker 1: but we could talk about it on and on. He's
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  Speaker 1: the politics reporter for NJ Advance Media. Brent Johnson, I
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  Speaker 1: appreciate you coming on the Mark Simon Show this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, my pleasure.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me you bet.
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  Speaker 1: Brent, have a great day. This is Ken rozottoin from
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  Speaker 1: Mark on your Friday. When we come back, we will
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  Speaker 1: take more of your calls. The numbers eight hundred three
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  Speaker 1: two one zero seven ten, eight hundred three two one
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  Speaker 1: zero seven ten for wor