Mike Hurst, RNC General Counsel Joins!

**Nigel** (0:00)
Yeah, hi, I'm Nigel Hammer, right over there with a very special guest on the hotline.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:05)
Mike Hurst, General Counsel for the RNC. He's also the Chairman of the Mississippi GOP.
Mike, we were talking a little bit earlier. You know, I don't think it makes you some sort of weird conspiracy theorist, some sort of tinfoil hat guy to look at what's going on in California and go, that doesn't seem normal. You see what I'm saying here?

**Mike Hurst** (0:31)
We see exactly what you're saying, and I appreciate you guys having me on the show. Yeah.
I mean, people expect our election day to mean election day, and that's what we've been fighting at the RNC. That's what we've been fighting around the country. You know, if voters want their votes to be counted, to be secure, and to have some finality and some certainty on election day, that's not a crazy request. It's between common sense and crazy. And right now, the Republicans are the party of common sense.

**Nigel** (0:57)
So what happened exactly in California? Why does it take so long in California to get those votes? I mean, I remember last week seeing the third place candidate crying up there, and almost, I think she conceded to Spencer Pratt. Now it's totally different. What, I mean, big picture, if we zoom out here, what takes so long?

**Mike Hurst** (1:19)
Well, you see around the country, there are states that allow ballots to be received and counted after election day. And that's what the RNC recently went to the United States Supreme Court to fight here in my home state of Mississippi, where after COVID, they passed a law that allowed absentee ballot as long as it was postmarked by election day, it could be counted up to five days after election day. And you've got some states like Washington state that has no deadline. Anytime an absentee ballot comes in after the election day, as long as it was postmarked, it can still be counted. New Jersey, this is crazy. New Jersey, if you receive a ballot in New Jersey within 48 hours after election day, it doesn't even have to have a postmark to be counted.
This is what the RNC has been fighting around the country. And this is what we're seeing. We're seeing the Democrats and their policies coming home to roost in California.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:14)
Mike Hurst is our guest general counsel for the RNC. Spencer Pratt, the Republican candidate for the mayor's race in LA, kind of put out a passive-aggressive tweet hinting that homeless people in LA were bribed to vote against him. Quote, a net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday. 43,000. Where have I seen that number before? And he shares a story, I believe from the LA Times, that Los Angeles has a homeless population of 43,000.
Like, again, that's either one hell of a coincidence here, Mike, or it's something crooked.

**Mike Hurst** (3:00)
I think that is one hell of a coincidence, guys. Yeah, that's absolutely crazy. And when you have states that have such lax registration laws, such lax voting laws, election laws, this is what we see. We see complete chaos and anarchy when it comes to our election days. You know, what the RNC is doing right now is they're trying to go after states and make sure that they're following the law. As we sit here today, I counted this morning, the RNC has 151 election integrity lawsuits across almost 40 states in the nation. Everything from mailing ballots to defending voter ID laws, to crazy things, guys, to crazy things like, let's stop non-citizens from voting in our elections. I know that's nuts, right? I mean, we want American citizens to determine American elections.
It's sad that our Democratic colleagues on the other side can't understand that, other than they just want to maintain power and control.

**Nigel** (3:57)
All right, I'll just ask, would the Save America Act prevent any of the things that you just mentioned here?

**Mike Hurst** (4:04)
Absolutely. I mean, the Save America Act, I love when our chairman, Joe Gruders from Florida talks about it. This is not like just a political talking point. This is a national consensus.
Eight out of 10 Americans support having a photo ID to vote. Eight out of 10 Americans support having a photo ID to register to vote. I mean, this is not something that the Republicans are just pushing. This is something that every ordinary, if there is such a thing, every ordinary Democrat wants is their elections to be secure. And this is the only way to do it, is to ensure that American citizens are determining American elections and voting for American politicians and elected officials. This is what the Save America Act is all about.