When you settle in to watch the presidential debate tonight, the very first one-on-one confrontation

between President Trump and Joe Biden, maybe you're going to be listening for how the candidates

talk about Trump's newly released tax returns, or maybe you'll want to hear what they

have to say about the Supreme Court.

But Rick Hassan, an election law expert at UC Irvine, he's going to be listening for

something else.

I'm especially interested in this debate because among the topics that Chris Wallace

announced he was going to ask about is the integrity of the election.

The topic that's at the forefront of my mind is that we have a safe and fair election,

one that the losers will accept as legitimate.

And so I'll be listening to see what the candidates say about accepting election results

and about peaceful transitions to power, especially after President Trump's recent comments.

He's talked about this with Wallace before, and Wallace keeps pressing him on it and being

like, are you going to accept the transfer of power?

It's hard to tell if Trump's wait and see answer is more of a troll or an actual warning.

But Rick knows where every weak spot is in the American election system, and there are

a lot of them.

He says, you got to take what the president is saying on its face and plan accordingly.

You've described yourself as an engineer, like an engineer at a nuclear reactor.

Like worried about the smallest little risk in an election.

Do you allow yourself to feel any optimism about what's about to happen?

Yes, I'm optimistic.

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