- This is a great conversation.

Could you talk more about Ken Paxton's actions in Bear County?

- Yeah, yeah.

So he's challenging the ability of Bear County to mail out mail voter applications.

He's saying that somehow it's gonna lead to non-citizens voting.

So again I mean, there's nothing that's gonna lead non-citizens to voting.

But they just keep saying this over and over, and over.

And just basically to try to adopt policies that are gonna make it more restrictive.

And I think this is a theme, right?

I mean there's basically two Texases right now, Evan.

You know this better than me.

There's the people in charge of Texas, then there's the place where people live in Texas, the largest urban counties.

And this is increasing this fight.

And my thinking is that people like Ken Paxton understand the way that Harris County and Bear County, and Travis County go.

That's the way that Texas is gonna go ultimately, as well.

And so they're doing everything they can to try to stop that from happening.

- Got it, sir?

- Just as y'all were coming on the air there was something from "The Texas Tribune" about Ken Paxton suing Travis County on the same grounds of sending out voter registration material.

Can you talk about how that has an immediate chilling effect and that the remedy in fighting it, how do we do that?

But that probably comes after the election, so?

- Yeah, I mean well it's gonna be...

I mean, it's gonna be decided in court.

I mean the problem is that Texas has such restrictive voting laws relative to the rest of the country.

I mean first off, 40 states have online registration.

Texas has no online registration.

Then you have, most states allow you to get a mail ballot.

If you're under 65 in Texas, you can only get a mail ballot if you're out-of-town or have some physical condition.

Which they specifically said wasn't COVID to be able to get a mail ballot.

So it's- - [Guest] Right.

- Very, very difficult to get a mail ballot.

And a lot of polling places are in rural areas that could be far to get to.

Also you have to have ID to vote that can be hard to get to if you live in a county that doesn't have an accessible DMV office.

So they just make voting so much more restrictive.

And any time someone makes it, attempts to try to make it easier to vote, like we saw with Houston and Harris County doing things like drive-thru voting, right?

Or 24- - [Guest] 24 hour voting.

- Because there were people that got off work at 2 a.m. You know, work night shifts that couldn't get to the polls during regular hours and couldn't vote by mail.

There's just immediate efforts to try to counteract that.

I think just not regards to mail voting, but think the single biggest change that could happen in Texas politics, and it's not gonna happen anytime soon, but just theoretically, would be if Texas had automatic voter registration.

Because there's three million unregistered voters in Texas.

Which is larger than half the states in the country.

And if you register them, they're disproportionately young, they're disproportionately people of color.

They're not the kind of people that are likely to vote for Ken Paxton or Greg Abbott.

(group chuckling) - We'll take the last question right here.

- Okay and actually it's two questions, I'll make it quick.

So I'm looking at the Senate map and you mentioned Sinema and Manchin.

Now Manchin's seat we're gonna lose for sure.

I, We- - [Panelist] It will flip.

- Collectively.

- [Panelist] Let's just say that, it will flip.

- Where else can we pick up another Senate seat?

Do you see that happening?

- Well the idea is that Democrats will hold the Arizona Senate seat with a more progressive Democrat in there.

They will then have 50 votes.

Kamala Harris, well, Tim Walz will break the tie-breaker if she's elected.

So they'll be able to do these kind of things.

- But they only have 50 if they hold Montana.

- Yeah- - [Guest] Yeah, Montana.

- They have to hold all their seats and then they'll have 50, and then she can break ties.

They're all... That's why they're trying to flip a place in a state like Texas or Florida, that's not really on people's radar.

It's gonna be tough, it's a very tough Senate map.

Simply holding it will be extraordinary.

But if they hold it and elect a Democratic President, they'll be able to pass everything with the Vice-President breaking the ties.

- Thank you for your question.

- Yeah and I don't know if there's a question in here, but the comment about the un-Democratic aspect of the Supreme Court... We have found that in the hearings when they have the confirmation hearings, they just lie.

- [Panelist] Yeah.

- With Roe v. Wade they talked about precedent and there doesn't seem to be any checks.

So like what's the point of even having a confirmation hearing when they say whatever they need to say to get confirmed?

- Well I mean presumably it illustrates to the public what the stakes of this.

But I think that's why the backgrounds of these people matter a whole lot more.

And I believe that not only should Supreme Court reform be elevated, but I think Democrats who are in charge of the Senate could be doing a lot more to hold the court accountable.

I mean, they control the Senate Judiciary Committee.

They control the Supreme Court's budget, for example.

There are things...

This would spark fights!

- I would say, "For now."

- For now.

But- - For now.

- So there are things they can be doing to make this a bigger issue.

'Cause I think the court right now feels like there's no accountability for them.

And if there's no accountability, they can do whatever they want.

And that's a dangerous place to be for one of the most powerful, arguably the most powerful political branch to feel like they can just do whatever they want regardless of how the public feels about that.

- Thank you, give Ari a big hand, we'll see soon guys.

(audience applauding) - Thank you!

- Thank you!

(audience applauding)