FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
State Rep Matt Simpson Guest Hosts - Midday Mobile - Tuesday 8-13-24 hour 2
There will be no personal nor direct attacks on anyone and I would ask that you please try to keep down the loud cheering and the clapping. There will be no booing and no unruly behavior. With that, this is painful and it will be for a long time. After all, these are a couple of high-stepping turkeys and you know what to say about a high stepper. No step too high for a high stepper. This is midday mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 1065. Well, Sean's a tough guy. I mean, I think everybody knows that. You know, Sean, he took some licks, he hangs in there. Yeah, what's wrong with the beer we got? I mean, the beer we got drank pretty good, don't it? Did you hear what I said? So this is a great council. I had no dollar bounds in. That doesn't shock. If you don't like it, you're banned. Last question. Were you high on drugs? Last question, kiss my ****. Good afternoon. You're listening to FM Talk 1065. This is midday mobile with Sean Sullivan. Only I am not Sean Sullivan. This is state representative Matt Simpson. Filling in for Sean today, he's on vacation. He should be back soon. One of the reasons I'm excited about being today and if you guys are have listened all day all morning so far and if you're going to stay on, we're going to talk about good news. We're going to talk about things that the general public may not understand, may not get the message across. Our messaging in Montgomery should be better to come to you guys to let you know what's going on in our areas. And with that, I wanted to bring one of my good friends, somebody I'm happy to serve with in the Alabama state legislature. Ladies and gentlemen, state representative Margie Wilcox. You there, Margie? I'm here, man of many talents. Not only you're a prosecutor, a state legislator. Now you're a radio personality. Well, I'm just trying not to get canceled today. So far, they let me come back for hour two. We'll see if I can keep the moment I'm going. Sounds like you've had a busy day today. Tell everybody would talk about good news Tuesday. Tell everybody what you've been doing this morning. Oh yeah, I have been able to be on the team of legislators that has accompanied the governor to mobile. She had some great go Mesa announcements for the coastal area. And that's the fund that does some of our boat ramps, parks. So she has a lot of announcements all over Mobile and Baldwin County. And then I got to accompany her to St. Mary School. So it's been a great day with the governor here in South Alabama. Outstanding. And that's awesome for you to have that time with her and to be involved in these projects. I think the announcement that came out with go Mesa was over $30 million coming to our area for the project that you're talking about. And is St. Mary's in your district? No, it's not. But I have family that attend there. And my priest is the priest there at St. Mary's. And I guess I'm well known for being a Catholic in the Alabama House of Representatives. So well me and a couple of Chip Brown came and so did Representative Shane Stringer. Outstanding. See, we all work together. We all come. We go across the lines. It doesn't matter where these lines are drawn. We're going to work for the benefit of our region and we're part of a team to do that. Margie, one of the main reasons I wanted to have you on as we talk about the good news. We talk about some of the stuff that people may not know about. I was very happy that you were successful with your bill on removing the sales tax from hearing aids. Can you talk about where that bill came from and what all you went through to get that passed? Well, some of the best bills and my best bills come from my constituents. So last summer, my constituents, Dink Stevens called me. He had just purchased an hearing aid and was shocked at the amount of tax he had to pay. It was over a thousand dollars between his co-pay and his tax. So I, probably like most, was unaware that there was a tax on hearing aids and found out as I did some digging that we're one of only three states that tax hearing aids. It's a durable medical device and treated as such in so many other states and that none of our surrounding states, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia or Florida, they don't tax hearing aids. So I was successful at removing the state portion of the hearing aid, but where I need your listeners and the citizens of Mobile, Baldwin County, and all the counties, is you need to contact your city and county to get them to consider removing the local portion of the sales tax so that our citizens can be treated just as kindly as our neighboring states and most all states. And our small businesses that sell hearing aids aren't put at a distinct 10% disadvantage in some areas. You know, our citizens in Mobile and Baldwin County, they can go 45 minutes one way or 45 minutes the other and escape that 10% tax altogether. So I'm trying to look out for my friends that are getting older, trying to keep them in the workforce. You know, as I was researching this bill, one of the two top reasons why people leave the workforce is hearing loss, because it's not safe not to be able to hear. And it fosters communication with your coworkers if you can actually correctly hear what they're saying. So there's many reasons to pass this bill and I'm so happy and proud of my state senators and representatives that help me get this across the finish line. But there's a lot more work to be done on the local level and that has to come from the citizenry. And you've already started working on the local level. As soon as we got out of session, you went to a Mobile Republican Party and would you tell the Mobile Republican Party? Well, actually, you know, in the the Mobile County Republican Executive Committee did a resolution to the city of Mobile and to Mobile County encouraging them to to get rid of this tax on our citizens. And, you know, I don't have a problem if a city has a robust discussion about it and find that there is too much of too much income for them to be able to do without. But Madison County, or the city of Madison was the first city that analyzed their income from the hearing aid tax and realized it was about 19,000 a year. And in the scheme of their budget, they felt like the benefit to their citizens and the benefit to their hearing aid dealers was greater than what the income they were bringing in. So the city of Madison, Alabama, has already done it. The city of Mobile is talking about considering it. I've had some members, you know, some mayors this past week have just found out told me they're not even going to consider it. That I have a problem with, they ought at least have a robust discussion with their city council about it. And that's a great opportunity for this show to let the listeners know, reach out to your city council, reach out to your mayor and tell them I'm getting texts from Chris and Orange Beach on the text line who's talking about some of the issues that he's having and trying to make sure that this goes. The city tax is removed to help everybody come through this process. So what we're trying to do is spread the word about Representative Wilcox passed this great bill, fought hard to pass this great bill. Oh, yeah. And she's stubborn and stood next to it and fought to get this bill passed. Anytime you're talking about a tax decrease, it sounds great in theory, but a lot of people struggle with the budget chairs have to make sure that they're not cutting too much. But what you did should be commended and people should understand and know you fought hard for the people of your district and of our area to be able to get that tax cut. And now there's still work to be done to be able to get the cities and the counties moved to go in that direction to get it completely removed. And I wanted you to be commended for that because Margie, I'll be honest with you. I haven't seen a lot of stories about your bill. Well, I appreciate you asking me on here and talking about it further because that's what we need to do is spread the word and get it out there that, you know, the fight is not done. The state tax comes off at the first of October and people need to get busy now contacting their locals to get the rest of the tax is taken off of it, the local taxes. Speaking of get busy, you know, people tell us in the legislature, oh, this is just a, you know, citizens, oh, that's just a part-time job. You only work three, four months out of the year. You're not really doing anything. You are one of the hardest working legislators. You've got a lot of work this off season. Do you want to tell the listeners about what you do? Oh, right. I am fortunate to have voted to be the chair of the Joint Transportation Committee. And that's an oversight committee. And we meet on transportation issues quarterly. And I have to plan, you know, I plan those meetings, execute those meetings, and also meet with ALDOT on a separate quarterly meeting. So I'm on committees that meet year round, and my work is year round, you know, in addition to the Joint Transportation Committee, which is a very, well, let me step back and talk more about, we're going to have the, we have the Alabama Roadshow in the off-season where we go and study different transportation issues. Our first year was making sure that we knew who our local planners were in the area. The second year we did bridges and ferries and went and saw a bunch of bridges and looked over some of the two ferries that we have in Alabama. And then this year we're going to be looking at the inland ports. So we are partnering with the Ports and Waterways Committee Chairmanship Brown and his group. And we're going to be going and looking at all the inland ports because that is a strategic part of our transportation. And it's something that we as legislators need to know more about. And that's what the Joint Transportation Committee does is we make sure that we see issues that our counterparts, the House Members and Senators need education on, and that we need more information on. And this is that time where you can do a deep dive into those subject matters. Because when you're in session, your time is limited on what you can spend on any individual thing. But in the off-season you can take time and give a comprehensive look at an issue and educate those that have the time and can come to the seminars. To have somebody from our region and our area to have the gavel and be the chair of that committee is so important for us to be able to draw the attention just like you're talking about just what you're doing to let the rest of the state be aware of. We've got some really good things going on down here. We do. And then the other full-time year round is the Sunset Committee. I am privileged to, we call it Co-Chair, Senator Barfoot Nye, because we were just on the phone not 10 minutes ago. But we oversee and the whole committee, which I'm proud to have you as a member. I did strongly ask you to stay on the committee with me because you're such a great contributor. We oversee all of the workforce development, all your boards, and occupational licenses boards, agencies, and commissions. So we oversee their audit. We ask the board questions. And quite honestly, this Sunset Committee has become more and more vital as we strive to cut red tape and make it easier for our citizens to work in the state of Alabama. And you've been leading the charge with some of this stuff. People hear the word Sunset and they don't. What is a Sunset Committee? You all go look outside and try to find something environmental. No, we're really talking about the issues that affect our workforce, the licensures, the fees, the fines, everything that they have to pay for their trade and their skill. Since you've become involved in the committee, it's actually got some attention and actually closed some things down. Do you want to talk about what happened last year? Well, we did have a couple of boards. You know, when you look at these boards, sometimes, you know, you get accused of just giving cart blanks because it's always been that way. You know, I'll just renew them. And I guess the name of the committee sometimes, like you said, can be deceiving. But it's to Sunset or to keep the board. And quite often, we just kept the boards. Well, now we're doing a deep dive into their financials and to the rate at which they find their membership. And we've had the board of massage therapy. We deemed that there was just so many problems in that particular board that it needed to be reconstituted. So in the meantime, we've had it combined with another board until they can actually get back in shape to do it themselves or we can come up with a different alternative form. We had another board that we went to Sunset and I guess I can say the board of behavior analysts, what we realized is that they weren't really being given the proper support from the Department of Mental Health. So instead of sunsetting them, we went in and codified some of the things that we as a state should be doing to support that board. So when you do these deep dives and you find out, you know, we're not a punitive committee, but we are, in my opinion, when Senator Barfoot and I over it, we're here to make things better for the citizens. Sometimes that means we've got to make things better for the board. Sometimes that means we've got to do away with boards, but I'm open-minded and I really love our committee members. We've got, you know, specifically requested that we have a CPA member on there to help us. And Representative Underwood has been just a little superstar on that on analyzing their financials. And we have found things that really did need to be improved upon. So I'm real proud with what you bring to it as an attorney and what all our members bring to it as far as questions. And I can't help but think we're doing some great work. I know we're doing some great work in the citizens. Although, like you said, people may be unaware. I'm pretty sure they'll feel the results of our hard work. Absolutely. We're no longer just a rubber stamp. We're looking for good government to make sure government is run efficient and make sure that people have to answer to these boards. That these boards don't just take money from people as part of their fines and fees and license your fees and not do what they're supposed to do with that money. So I'm happy to serve with you on that. Madam Chair, because you're madam chair to me, it's a pleasure to serve with you on that committee. Thank you for taking the time today. I know you had a busy morning and I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule today. It is 1.20 p.m. and you are listening to FM Talk 1065 Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan. Only I'm not Sean Sullivan. This is State Representative Matt Simpson. [music] This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 1065. Good afternoon, everybody. It is 1.25 p.m. and you are listening to FM Talk 1065. This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan. Don't change the radio. This is not Sean Sullivan. This is Matt Simpson. State Representative filling in. You guys have picked up the theme. If you've listened to the show for the first hour and a half, we're talking about good news of things that you may not have heard. You may not have gotten the message for what we're working on. People don't know some of the important roles that members from Mobile and Baldwin County serve in the State House. When the speaker comes in and talks about the leadership that we have of Speaker Pro Tem Chris Pringle, Margie Wilcox, who's got the chair of two different committees going on this afternoon, Joint Transportation and the Off-Season Sunset Committee and what that does. When you talk about hearing aids and how we can take the state tax off of that, people just don't get that message. Much of the complaints about Montgomery is, how are you really affecting the people? How are you trying to make change? How are you making a difference with the job that you have? That's what I went up there for. That's what I believe in. I'm not just getting elected for the purpose of getting reelected four years later. I went up there to make a difference and make a change. When you hear from the fact that we got four new judges from our area, so Mobile is going to have a new district judge, and Johan Abuchi is going to be the new judge in District Court Judge in Mobile. Michael Hoyt is going to be the District Judge in Baldwin County. Carol Kemp is going to be the Circuit Court Judge in Baldwin County, and we have another Circuit Court Judge in Baldwin County coming in 2026. That's great things for the people of our area. That's wonderful news that you may not have been able to pick up on, so it's not the media's fault. Everybody pays attention to if we're fighting about something or we're arguing about gambling or we're arguing about other issues, that takes the oxygen from the room, and that's what people will take away from the session, and that's when we go on interviews. That's anybody wants to talk about is let's talk about gambling, but today I wanted to use this opportunity to talk about some of the lesser known things that you may not be aware of. I'm super excited to please stick around for this next half hour, the last half hour, if they don't kick me off the radio so far. We're going to have Secretary of State, Wes Allen. We're going to be able to talk about some of the legislation that we've passed, including this past session, and how we're making sure that our elections keep the integrity that they need. Election integrity is so important, and I can't think of a better person, couldn't think of a better person than Secretary of State, Wes Allen, to come on and talk about it. You guys are going to hear what we're doing and what we're trying to do. The text line is open. It's 2513430106. Again, this is FMTalk 106.5, Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan. I am Matt Simpson, State Representative, gladly sitting in. I've seen a number of the texts that have come across. You hear about what about this specific, why can't we get more money for this area? Well, that's stuff that we can ask for next time. I think Chick-fil-A-Bote Park was one of the big issues that people would ask about. We're going to see if we can get some money for Chick-fil-A-Bote Park. We're going to see if the next, that is a yearly occurrence that that Go Mesa funds have to stay in Mobile and Baldwin County. So next year, when they're asked for Go Mesa, they can ask through that. I do want to commend Senator Chris Elliott, who passed a bill to make sure that those Go Mesa funds stay in Mobile and Baldwin County. So when we work together and we work across the aisle, we work throughout the region, I've been mentioned Republican today, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention working across the aisle with Representative Barbara Drummond, who's worked tirelessly on a vaping bill. Representative Drummond and Representative Stringer, when they first came in, they fought together to pass the Stringer Drummond Vaping Act. That was a 2019. When you see Representative Adeline Clark and what she does to fight for her district and fight for her area, when you see what we're doing with Mayor Sam Jones, Napoleon Bracy, Gossip, we're working to fight for the region, and it's time for us to be able to take this message back to you of we're fighting and we're winning. Ladies and gentlemen, it is 129. FM Talk 10065 Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan. I'm State Representative Matzoms. This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 10065. Good afternoon. You're listening to FM Talk 10065 Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan. Sean's not in today. This is State Representative Matzomsom filling in and so far they've let me stay on the air. I'm very happy I haven't been canceled yet. Dalton hasn't pulled the hook out like the Showtime at the Apollo, so I think we can finish this session up strong today. We've talked about some of the lesser known issues that you guys may not be aware of, the constituents may not be aware, but there's some things that you may be aware of. There's something that does get some good press, some good because it's a priority for this people. It's a priority for the constituents. And on the front lines, some of the leadership, the person that has taken the lead role in a lot of what we're doing on election integrity is my good friend, Secretary of State, Wes Allen. Secretary Allen, are you on the phone? I'm here, brother. How are you? Hey, man, I am doing well. So happy you could take time out of your day to talk to us. I'm certain at the station today and as it comes across, a news press release comes across, so we're very happy to have you. I think we've got to be one of the first interviews you've given since this press release is going out, right? Oh, yes, sir. Mat, matter of fact, you've got a great radio voice. You sound like a professional like you've been doing this forever, first of all. Second of all, yes, this is the first interview since that press release went out about what we found and one thing that we've been working on for a very, very long time. So let's break some news to the listeners. What have you found? Well, we have implemented a process to remove non-citizens registered to vote in Alabama. And, Matt, since you've known me for a very long time, you and I came in the house together in 2018 as freshmen. And you know, my values, my principles are just like your yours that we want to be strong with election integrity. And after I was sworn in on January 16, 2023, we started to work extremely hard initiating strategic efforts to ensure that Alabama has the cleanest and most accurate voter file in the country. And we've identified a little over 3,200 individuals who are registered to vote in Alabama who have been issued non-citizens identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security. And then so we found that, and then we have announced today that we are instructing all the boards of registrars and all 67 counties to immediately inactivate and initiate steps to remove all these individuals who are not U.S. citizens. You've been able to identify 3,200 individuals who are registered to vote who've been issued non-citizens IDs? Yes, who have been issued non-citizens identification and we call them alien identification numbers when they're here legally in the United States by the Department of Homeland Security. And now we have been hitting a brick wall after brick wall after brick wall dealing with the federal government trying to get the information that we were trying to piece together this information. Of course, the federal government, Matt, as you know, is difficult to work with. And just the bureaucracy and red tape is just, you know, is unbelievable. And so, you know, we just said, all right, we're going a different direction. And the team we have here in our office has been relentless from the get-go. You know, I've been very clear. I'm not going to tolerate participation of non-citizens and our elections. And, you know, I even testified before to this subject to this issue before Senator Britt's U.S. Senate Rules Committee back in March about this issue and how, you know, for one, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 needs to be reformed. You know, we've talked about the Save Act in the past about how we need to have the tools as election officials and fellow public or fellow secretaries of state from around the country to verify citizenship. But yes, we've identified a little over 3,200 individuals that are registered to vote that have been issued non-citizens and identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security. Wow. I want to thank you for your efforts and your hard work put on this. And I didn't expect anything less from you when you got an office of knowing you, the way I've known you, where the way you represented not only as a former probate judge, a former House member, but one of the things, add people text me and people call me and like, "Hey, man, you've vouched for Wes. Is Wes really one of the good guys? Is he going to fight and stand up for what we believe in?" Talk to the listeners about what you did on your first day in office with Eric and what you went through. Sure. So I made the promise on the campaign trail that I would remove Alabama from the Electronic Registration Information Center. That was a third party vendor that was out of state that was started by a bunch of liberals. And really, it's a data mining operation, and it was sold to a bunch of states. We're going to help you manage your voter files and help you identify those who need to be removed and help you identify this and that. But it was a data mining tool, really, for the left, and they identified those who were eligible but unregistered to vote through the driver's license system. And as you know in Alabama, when you go to get your driver's license, they ask you if you want to be registered to vote. There's a lot of people that decline that. And of course, that's a First Amendment issue. They have a right to decline. And then, of course, the Eric system had Alabama spend taxpayer money, your money, my money on sending a letter to these individuals who had already declined to register to vote, send them another letter and ask them to register to vote. And then, of course, it also sent information on minors, those who are approaching 18 years of age, the voting age in Alabama. And I just didn't think that that was the right fit for Alabama. And so, we removed Alabama from that. And then, a bunch of states followed suit. And we started out the course and the journey of developing an Alabama-based solution, which is avid the Alabama voter integrity database. And we're very, very proud of what the work we've been able to do, especially the bilateral agreements between our sister states, our border states, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi. Of course, we've added Arkansas and Louisiana. We've already identified over 8,000 individuals from Tennessee when we exchanged data with them that they are registered in Tennessee and also registered in Alabama. And so, we have been working those lists as well to put them on a path for removal, put them on an inactive list. So, we can clean that up. And it takes really too long to remove someone. It takes four years, mad, according to the NVRA federal law, and to remove. So, we're going to keep pushing on this issue. And we're going to do everything that we can to make sure Alabama elections process is the strongest in the country. And that's amazing to me that you take office day one and you start protecting our citizens' private information and making sure that doesn't get into the wrong hands. Already working with other states to make sure that y'all communicate, to make sure people on the same states or multiple states as they vote. Your stance for election integrity, this isn't something that you started just after you got elected or when you started campaigning for Secretary of State. This is something you've stood for from the beginning, even when you were serving in the house. And I want to talk about your bill that you passed for the... to ban on curbside voting when you were there. Sure. And you remember, I was ill that day sick. And there, I know a certain guy on the phone with me right now that had to handle that bill on the House floor. And as you know, anytime election integrity bills come to the House floor or Senate floor, you know, it's going to be a long day. So, you know, we recognize that an issue, you know, we believe in election day. I believe in election day, not election month. You know, I believe in photo identification. Y'all have done some other things in the legislature as well, Matt, to further solidify and fortify our elections, like making sure that we have a state law that says we'll always have paper ballots. You were the lead on that and talking about tabulators, not being able to be connected to the Internet and no mode of no Bluetooth technology, to give the confidence to the people of this state that our elections are strong and secure and fair and transparent and accountable. And, you know, I know and listen, I know there are a lot of people out there that watch the national news and we get frustrated watching these other states. But one thing I am very proud about is when we came into office, we were ranked number six on Heritage Foundation, the election integrity scorecard from around the country. Number six, that's not bad. It's great. But the things that we've been able to do, like what I just talked about, paper ballots, tabulators not connected to the Internet, SB1, one that prohibits ballot harvesting, that these bills that strengthen us have moved us to number two in the country. And we are one point behind Tennessee and we're going to go get it. And so, we're excited about the days ahead and yeah, it's been good and we've been relentless in what we've been doing since day one. Well, Secretary Allen, I know this. The people may not know, but you're a former Alabama football player and we don't like being number two and especially not Tennessee. Is that right? Right. Right. I don't want to hear Rocky Top anymore. You had mentioned SB1. You have been a staunch leader on this bill even back when it first started in the House under Representative Keel two years ago. Can you talk about what SB1 did and some of the, I think the general public may hear some negatives about it, but it's false. It's not, it's a fake news story that they're telling you. The real story about SB1, that's why I wanted to have you on because we're talking about good news from the legislature and SB1 was a great one. Can you talk about SB1? I certainly can and I want everybody to hear me. absentee voting is important. There are a lot of people that depend on absentee voting and that's why we must protect it. And we must make sure that these third party political activists are not out there manipulating the absentee process because we've seen when you see voter fraud in Alabama, normally it's in the orbit of absentee voter fraud. And so we crafted a bill that really went to where it started. All the genesis of this is with the application portion of the absentee process. And that's really where the problem has been all along. And we set out on a path to craft a piece of legislation with your help and the help of your colleagues in the House and Senate to strengthen the absentee process. Number one, any voter can receive assistance from any person that they want on the application, any person. Now the person providing the assistance to the voter cannot be paid or compensated. Number two, the application cannot be pre-filled so you can't have these liberal third party groups from out of state that are funded by who knows who and dropped into Alabama. So they cannot be pre-filled and mailed into the state. So that's important. We put felony provisions in place to be a strong deterrent for absentee ballot fraud. That is really, really important. And number three, or number four, we protect those that are disabled with this bill, with this law. Those that are disabled are protected. Per federal law, we took the federal language out of the Voting Rights Act, put it into this bill, put it into this law to say anybody who is disabled can receive help from start to finish. And those that are overseas and military voters as well. So this is a strong prohibition on absentee voter fraud. Matter of fact, you may have saw in some of your listeners may have seen recently where we had seven count indictment from Clay County on a county commission candidate that falsified applications in the primary this past spring. So listen, this sends a strong signal to anybody that is contemplating absentee voter fraud or voter fraud in general. We will find you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. And that's so important for the people to understand is, is when you hear these talking points that come from, from a certain viewpoint where they say, nobody's even, nobody's doing this. This is just a makeup, make up law that y'all are trying to get for a press release. This isn't really an issue. This bill just went to an effect this year, and you already have an arrest in Clay County. Yeah, yeah, our opponents, they agreed with us. And on one point, sitting state senator from the other side of the aisle stated that when you have voter fraud is normally in, like I said, while I go to normally in in the absentee process, and they're like, well, show us all the prosecution. Show us where it's going on. Show us the investigation. Well, you know, the provisions were there were the old law we had trying to prohibit this practice. There was no teeth in it. So no DA or the AG was not going to bring a case when it had no teeth in it. And it was great in certain areas. And so we really strengthened it. Y'all strengthened it in the House and Senate Governor Ivie. Of course, I'm not in the law. I appreciate her so much. But no, we feel very strongly about SB 1 and making sure that it strengthens absentee voting protects those who truly want to vote absentee. And you know, nobody's vote is for sale. And you hit the nail on the head with a lot of what you've talked about with your points from there. Many people were saying, oh, this means I can't help my aunt. If my aunt, if I want to help my aunt vote, I can't do that. It's not about not being able to help someone. It's about not being able to get paid for helping someone and to be able to make sure no, this doesn't make it more difficult for those who are disabled to vote. No, this doesn't make it more difficult for people to just help their family members. This is just a common everyday sense solution. And then unfortunately, the press gets ahold of something and they decide to run with their slant through things. But the everyday citizen that really cares about what's going on may not hear the truth of the story. Absolutely, absolutely. And now it's, uh, the misinformation is just mind-boggling at times. But we have really strengthened Alabama elections with that bill, among others, and the team we have here in place inside this office, coupled with the legislature's work across the street. I just want the people of Alabama to understand we're here, we're vigilant, we're working, we're watching, and it's a top priority in our office election integrity. Well, you are certainly an individual who believes in that. That is, you fought for that. You're in career since I've known you. This isn't just a talking point. It's something you believe in. And Mr. Secretary, I want to tell you, in the, in the audience right now, everyone listening, we are better off today as a state because West Allen is our secretary of state. Well, brother, I appreciate that. Thank you so much for that and it brings you up. It means a lot and, uh, just, and you have enjoyed being on, uh, in this discussion and this conversation, it means a lot. Absolutely, brother. Anything I can do to help you, let me know. Ladies and gentlemen, it is, you're listening to FM Talk 106 five. This is midday mobile with Sean Sullivan. We've got about 10 minutes left. Come back. [MUSIC] This is midday mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 106 five. [MUSIC] Good afternoon, everybody. It is 1.55 p.m. on Tuesday, August the 13th. You are listening to FM Talk 106 five midday mobile with Sean Sullivan. Sean Sullivan hadn't been here today. This has been state rep Matt Simpson. I'm sorry. I'm just so excited about listening to Alabama basketball final four preview that you got to the radio station. I'm a huge Alabama basketball guy. When I went to school up there, basketball was the thing. We went, I was there during the, uh, unfortunate Mike's situation of, of Dubos and Price and, you know, the way Shula went. So basketball was where we were with, with Mark Godfrey and to have Alabama basketball in the final four, that just got me all excited real quick. Sorry about that. Um, it has been a pleasure being on today. I, I really wanted to take today to use this as an opportunity to get the message out of we're doing a lot of good things in Montgomery. We're doing a lot of good things for our area. We're doing a lot of good things that people care about, that people send us up there to make a difference. They send us up there so that we can come back and say, listen, your elections are stronger today than they were before I got elected. Your elections are stronger that we focused on election integrity and removing 3200 names of non citizens from the voter ID roles. Little things like that. Little things like making sure that the ballot harvesting bill that we passed, even though there was a ton of negative articles, a negative press that comes through it, even though we come through and we can say, that's not really what the bill does. That's not really how the bill works. What it really does is it stops people from being able to make money and to use, to buy votes and to harvest those votes and be paid for that. And when you say, well, y'all are just making it up. This is a Republican talking point. No, no, it's not because as soon as the bill passed, they were already able to make an arrest over seven and count indictment for fraud, for ballot harvesting in Clay County with the county commissioner. You've got some of these counties where one vote makes a difference. I know in the state legislature, we had a state Senate race in Auburn, then the Auburn area that came down to one vote. I know we have a sheriff's race. I want to say and connect a county that came down to one vote. So when you hear that these races are that close, what can we do to make sure that every person gets one vote and it's only one vote? What can we do to make sure that our citizens know that when they go to the polls, when they vote, that their vote is going to count? That's why we required, and you hear Secretary Allen talk about, we required that there be papal paper ballots in Alabama so that it's not something that can be hacked or the election thrown off. Our machines must stay non-connected to the internet. They're not connected to Bluetooth. That's what we're trying to do to make sure that our elections stay as election day, as what we're doing to make sure that your vote counts every day. And unfortunately, in the the buzz of what goes on, the buzz of everybody wants to talk about gaming, I happily carry the ethics bill. I'm bringing it back next year. But when we start talking about ethics and gaming and some of the other things that take oxygen out of the room, the general public, you guys, the constituents, the people don't hear about the good things that we had. So that's what I wanted to do today. I wanted to talk about what we've done. I want to thank Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter for coming on. I want to thank Michael Hoyt, new judge coming in Baldwin County. I want to thank Margie Wilcox, and I want to thank Secretary Wes Allen for helping us today. It has been a pleasure. Thank you guys. Thank you F from Talk1065. Sean, I'll be back soon. (upbeat music)