i'm soledad o'brien. welcome to matter of fact, more

and more family eyes are turning their homes into classrooms as he loves homeschool. that includes this michigan mom who's now also her son's teacher allows him to be able to learn in different ways, but with little to no regulations around home schooling. are all these kids still getting the education they need? plus, i'm joined here in studio by secretary scott schwab, the head of the national association of secretaries of state. we talk overseeing the election. we'll turn in results that can be trusted by the public. and his optimism for our country. despite political divisions. we're still a great country. and i think americans still love america. and this saint louis couple is ready to tie the knot. we're very, very happy. why? they say the law is preventing them from getting married. those stories right now on matter of fact. home schooling is having more than a moment during the

pandemic. the number of kids being homeschooled jumped as many parents and guardians took on the role of educator. but now that schools are back in session, many have decided to not return. i keep saying many and not actually giving you a specific number, because the united states as a whole doesn't track homeschooled kids. in fact, nearly a dozen states don't require any sort of notice or monitoring. when a family decides to educate their kid at home. our correspondent dan lieberman traveled to one of those states, michigan, to see how an apparent rise in home schooling there has sparked a debate about whether more oversight is needed. i never planned to be a homeschool mom. that was never on my agenda. fed up with the school system in detroit, amy dickerson pulled her son aiden out of school entirely when he entered the third grade. the panic mosaic allowed me to be able to actually watch him throughout the course of the day and see how how he would really struggle and i kind of figured out he might have adhd.

i said, you know what? if i continue to put him into the school system, i'm actually just setting him up for failure. dickerson is one of many parents in detroit and around the nation who is choosing to homeschool their children. you guys have in front of you this sheet of paper. amy and her son are part of engaged detroit, a nonprofit learning center that serves homeschool families. how did he adjust to being homeschooled? he told me early on, i like being at home better because it's less distracting. he enjoys the fact that we can do our work in different ways and not just simply sit at a desk, you know, we can go outside and do work, which helps with the focus so that he really enjoys it. engaged. detroit's enrollment has increased dramatically, with nearly eight times the amount of students they had in 2020. there's no doubt that more families are homeschooling today than they were in the past, heath brown is the author of the book homeschooling the right. some of this has to do with the pandemic, but there were trends

that preceded the pandemic. it's much easier for families today to access online curriculum textbook material than it ever was in the past. i was allowed to play piano. it was like my one outlet for samantha field, who grew up in a religious household, being homeschooled was not a positive experience. my education stopped in eighth grade and there was no boundaries or systems in place to prevent that kind of thing from happening. i went over to this new friend's house and she had her math textbook open on her bed from school, and i had never seen a public school textbook before. and i didn't understand it and couldn't do it even if i tried. field now works for a nonprofit founded by homeschool alumni that advocates for regulation of home schooling. no one could really speak to the experience of the homeschooled child, but we could because we'd been homeschooled children can't think of a single subject. my mom was qualified to teach many of my peers are very

thankful to their homeschool education, but. but they also can see people like me and say that shouldn't happen. michigan is one of 11 states that does not require homeschool children to be counted or registered for a long time. one of the defining characteristics of homeschooling has been this aversion to oversight. uh, a feeling on the part of many homeschool families that it is their right to educate their kids in their home, and that anything that might intervene in that is, is an abridgment of their rights. several instances of abuse by homeschool parents has led michigan's attorney general and other lawmakers to call for increased oversight, but the legal loophole is massive, and it's exploited by people who know that their child coming in contact with mandatory reporters is the primary threat to them continuing their abuse.

and that's not a judgment on homeschool family. it's a judgment on homeschool law, but not everyone agrees that lax homeschool regulations. is the problem. fix the system that you have first. those those things have been occurring in that same system since i was going to school. you're doing a great job with aiden, but what about parents out there who are homeschooling who might not be able to do such a good job? who are those parents? who are those parents? we are people who, again, are doing this because we feel the need to see our children succeed at their best. so we're not getting into this to hide our children from the system. this is a sacrifice you make in order to have the life that you want. and this is what i want. what do you say to a lot of the new homeschool parents who see public schools as failing their kids? i would encourage them to always view it through the lens of their child. i think it should be an ongoing

conversation and children should be exposed. passing assessments to judge whether or not their needs are being met. for matter of fact, i'm dan lieberman in michigan next on matter of fact, the complexities of running an election. we had someone complain because the person didn't sign their name right, mixed with heightened public scrutiny. well, they spread it as fraud. this state election chief explains the realities of voting rules. it's a clerical error, but that doesn't discount the ballot. and i didn't go to law school to actually do anything besides, just, like, survive. how this saint louis woman hopes she can help change disability laws. plus, do you identify with any political party? what a new survey reveals about who's checking republican or democrat you're watching? matter of fact, america's number one nationally syndicated public affairs news magazine.

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with reynolds wrap, cooking becomes so easy you can feel like the chef of your kitchen. easy prep. easy cook. easy clean. reynolds wrap. the chief election officials in their state. it's their job to oversee the process, make sure people's votes are secure, and make sure those working the polls are safe, and make sure there's a transparent and fair process that the public trusts. scott schwab is the secretary of state for the state of kansas. he's also the head of the national association of secretaries of state. it's nice to have you in our studio. it's honor to be here. thank you for joining me. so i guess, first and foremost, how are you feeling about the upcoming election? well, we're feeling good. many folks are concerned because of rhetoric, and i'm really clear to explain. there's a difference between the campaign side and there's the actual election side. and we're election administrators mostly about 40 secretaries of state are we're feeling pretty good about it, because if you can go through a pandemic and and do an election, we can do this.

are there specific steps that you've been taken that you would say are the things that you're doing to ensure, in fact, that it's safe and it's accurate and it's valid? and the the, the public trusts it? yeah, it's an ongoing process. right? we're constantly working with our states on laws and also making sure things are funded to the things that they need to be. but overall we can't. we're run by volunteers. i mean, few colleges have degrees in elections. it's your elections run by your neighbors. if you don't trust your neighbors and there may be an issue with you, but by and large, it's it's we we trust what we do. and our neighbors say they may blame another state, for example, but they often like the way their state runs the election that is almost like the definition of american politic right now. i know you've been meeting with partners, including the fbi. what kinds of conversations are you having? what do you want from those partners? so, you know, while the conversations sometimes like the touch screen voting machines, that's really not our concern.

we're more concerned about our poll books and our data. what's a poll book? so when you register to vote, we have your information. we have where you live. so we know what kind of ballot you're going to get. our concern is if a foreign adversary were to get access to that and manipulate the data. so nobody has the right ballot. now all of a sudden there's a lack of trust in elections. and then when you have lack of trust in elections, you end up descending into chaos. how worried are you that the election itself goes fine. but when people there's a narrative, if you will, of people saying, well, those results are completely fabricated. yeah. so my colleagues and i wrote an op ed piece saying, you know, both parties are to blame on this because stacey abrams in georgia had five lawsuits. none of them won. and she claimed it was voter suppression in georgia. and then georgia again under trump said it was voter fraud. it seems like this pendulum always swings back and forth depending on who wins and who loses. well, was it voter suppression or was it voter fraud?

but when we audit our elections, nothing changes. i'm going to use kansas as an example. we had the first abortion constitutional vote after the dobbs decision, and it lost. and the gentleman who could not believe it lost put $180,000 on his personal credit card to have recounts, and not a single county flipped. nothing changed. and and after that happened, all the voter fraud concerns people had because they saw something on the internet, they heard a story. our phones quit ringing because they said, well, it's i mean, you can't argue with the result that's been hand counted. a lot of the narrative, though. around january sixth, which i think there is no other side counter narrative, if you will. was this election was a sham. we're going to storm it and we're going to make sure that it changes. so that's that's that was scary. i remember i was home watching that unfold and it was craziness. i cried that day. i love our capital. um, being someone who just is a

colonial history buff, knowing how that city was. built, it just it was a sad day. however, we're still america and we're still the great idea and and we always have dark points. i think it was winston churchill said the americans always do the right thing, but not till every other option has been expired and, and and it's going to be okay. sometimes bad things happen. sometimes we do it to ourselves, but eventually we're still a great country and i think americans still love america. scott schwab, a secretary of state from the great state of kansas. thank you for joining me, i appreciate it. thank you. honored to be here. coming up, i was really depressed that i was still single. this missouri lawyer deleted all her dating apps except i forgot one. the next day, she received a message from the love of her life. but why? she says she's now planning a wedding. she can't have. plus, a new study finds the

number of hispanic voters has more than tripled over the last decade. how's that reshaping politics in america? marriage rates are getting back

i thought i knew a lot about our irish roots; i was surprised to learn so many more things. there's the family name. 1892 wow. that one here is the boat they came over on. yes. wow. to normal following a dip during the pandemic. that's according to new numbers from the cdc. but one missouri couple says, pandemic or not, they still can't get married. gabriella garbero and juan johnson met in 2015, six years

later, they got engaged. and that's it. no wedding. that's because gabriella a lawyer, has disabilities and relies on social security benefits. if she and juan get married, the social security administration will consider his assets when deciding her benefits, meaning she could potentially lose her caregiver and government funded insurance. it's a predicament that many couples find themselves in, leading advocates to terms it the marriage penalty. our producer, teresa krug, takes us to saint louis to see how this is playing out in gabriela's work and life. my name is gabriella garbero and i'm a lawyer based out of saint louis, missouri. i have a disability called spinal muscular atrophy type two. it's a neuromuscular disease and that causes a lot of problems with like scoliosis and and i have a lot of problems with my lungs. two one. and i started talking on new year's day of 2015.

we had our first date at bread company, and it felt like i was talking to my best friend for three hours. don't forget, gibbs, if you post, you need to use the hashtag norway. new mo law. that one does not roll off the tongue in the slightest. if juan and i were to get married, i would lose my my social security payment, which isn't insurmountable, but i would also lose my medicaid benefits, which absolutely would be insurmountable. so i was looking at venues. the last time i did the calculations. it would be at least 100,000 just for my caregiver, not for my medical equipment or my medication. even back when these laws were written, it was assumed that if you were well enough to get married, then you were well enough to be taken care of by your spouse. but that's just not realistic. so one would be expected to be my 24 over seven caregiver, but

he has a job to pay for his share of the house and everything, as do i. and that's not even including just the stress that that puts on our relationship. we're still planning on getting married eventually. that just gives us more time to make the best wedding ever. that either of us have ever been to. so this is our ceremony room. i think it's valid in some ways to believe that marriage is becoming less and less important over time, but i will say the people who said that when same sex marriage was becoming legalized and the people who said that when interracial marriage was becoming legalized ended up being on the wrong side of history, giving us that choice is what's really, really important. and i just think we really need to push through until the marriage penalty is one of those laws that you read about on the books and say, oh, i can't believe we were like that back then. there's a proposal currently in

congress that would fix the situation that gabriella and juan are in. but it's been sitting in committee for more than a year ahead on, matter of fact, the republican party is making gains with america's registered voters. we break down who makes up both major political parties, plus ev employees wanted a look at the ongoing effort to hire people and help the environment to stay up to date with. matter of fact, sign up for our newsletter at matteroffacttv. matter of fact, sign up for our newsletter at matteroffacttv. welcome back to matter of fact. i was like shaking you know, i was so scared. when i first reached out to jacoby and meyers. i didn't know if i had a case or not. as soon as i got a hold of my attorney, she was very, very nice, very kind. because of jacoby and meyers, i don't have that pressure to worry about a medical bill or things like that. if i know of any accident, i'm like, call jacoby and meyers, they'll help you.

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we're getting a new look at america's changing political makeup. it's from the pew research center, which tracked registered voters over the last ten years. some key findings. there's now a near even split between people who are registered as republicans, 48%

and democrats 49%. that's a slip for the democratic party, which held more of an edge from 2017 to 2021. both major political parties are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, but the democratic party has seen the biggest shift, with its share of hispanic voters roughly tripling when it comes to gender. women voters tend to be democrats, 51% to 44%, while for men it's the opposite 52% aligned with the republican party, 46% with the democratic party. when you break it down by age, the youngest voting group, 18 to 24 year olds, are nearly twice as likely to be democrats, more than half of voters age 70 and older are republicans. now to see who actually turns out to vote in the general election this november, according to previous research by pew, about two thirds of the voting eligible population turned out for the last presidential election in 2020, a

record breaking turnout still ahead on matter of fact, as allocations are open, the new program, aimed at helping young people get training, education and employment in the environmental sector. (luke) so... i hear some of you are concerned about the fact that i'm taking over the company. well, rest assured, company's in great hands. marci, hit the vid'. (both lukes) homes-dot-com. we've done your home work. (luke) now, that is worth celebrating! (brad) i love it. (luke) thank you. (brad) home...work... very clever. (vo) ding dong! (luke vo) homes-dot-com. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. thanks to skyrizi i'm playing with clearer skin. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur.

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launch of the american climate corps. the idea is reminiscent of president franklin roosevelt's second new deal from the 1930s. the goal of that program was to create jobs for americans coming out of the great depression, one that would benefit the country as a whole. the american climate corps will create 20,000 jobs in its first year in roles that help the environment. that includes doing things like planting trees, clearing trails, installing solar panels and maintaining ev charging stations. about half of the american climate corps opportunities will be in low income urban communities and environmental

justice areas. the jobs pay at least 15 bucks an hour. for more information on, you can visit the website at white house dot gov forward slash climate corps that's corps with an s there you can submit what areas interest you and regardless of the job search, a reminder to all of us that april 22nd is earth day, a time we can do a little extra for the world around us. that's it for this edition of matter of fact, i'm soledad o'brien. i'll see you back here next week to watch more stories like this any time, head to matteroffacttv.

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