Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm me and

Masters, and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the extent to which MAGA Republicans would rather cheat than compete,

and how the groundwork for a playing field that is rigged against Democrats

has been laid over the last few decades by two Republican operatives,

Chris Jenkowski and Leonard Leo, with a big assist from Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Roberts. Joining us to discuss how the Democrats will need to win big in a month

from now since the deck is stacked against them, is David Daly, a senior fellow for fair

vote, and the author of Rat Eft, Why Your Vote Doesn't

Count, which helps spark a drive to reform gerrymandering. Dave's second book, Unrigged,

How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy, Chronicles the Victories and Defeats in State

Efforts to Reform Elections and Uphold Voting Rights. A digital media fellow at the Wilson Center for the Humanities and and defeats in state efforts to reform elections and uphold voting rights.

A digital media fellow at the Wilson Center for the Humanities and the Grady School of

Journalism at the University of Georgia, he's the former editor-in-chief of salon.com, and his

latest book is anti-democratic inside the far rights 50-year plot to control American elections.

We will discuss his article at The Guardian.

Two men have re-engineered the electoral system in favor of Republicans.

Then we'll examine the possibilities of various October surprises,

as well as look into the status of the many legal cases against Trump,

and speak with David Graham,

a staff writer at the Atlantic, where he covers political and global news.

He previously reported for Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and the National,

...