[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

More importantly, we are honored to welcome Lieutenant Governor of the great state of New Jersey, Tahesha Way.

Now, Lieutenant Governor, thank you for joining us.

- Thanks for having me, Steve.

- You got it.

Explain to folks exactly what your role is as lieutenant governor.

But also, you're the Secretary of State?

- Yes, yes.

As lieutenant governor, of course, I work alongside our governor, Phil Murphy, second in command, and I'm here to further his agenda of stronger and fairer New Jersey.

Whenever he is unavailable, like by way of example, out of the state on business, that's when I will become acting governor.

But you did mention my cabinet position that I still hold since 2018 as New Jersey Secretary of State, serving as the Chief Election Officer among other portfolios, which buttress, if you will, our state's culture, arts, history, and business outreach.

- Let's talk about your role as Secretary of State, making sure the elections in the state are done the right way, et cetera, et cetera.

The graphic will come up.

It says 2024: Democracy in Danger, and I'll tell you why.

The question of election integrity and people trusting the results of elections matters.

When 70 to 80% of Republicans polled multiple polls believed that the 2020 election was not legitimate and that Joe Biden was not elected legitimately, and Donald Trump was, the election was stolen from him.

What the heck message does that send about people's faith in elections A and B?

Give people a reason to have, Ds, Rs, Independents, have more faith in elections, please.

- Well, that's an important question because election security for me and my team here in New Jersey is always top of mind.

And I can even think back through the pandemic, you mentioned 2020.

And I can honestly say that that was one of the most secure elections in our history.

So the way we approach election security is with the belief that we want our voters to have confidence in our electoral process.

We want that public trust.

And in doing so, that is why we have different approaches, if you will.

The first will always require us having a collaborative team approach, and that is extensive security training and workshops for our county and local election officers.

In fact, in 2019, we actually hosted a statewide tabletop exercise on election preparedness.

Steve, we had 14 out of state delegations.

We had our federal folk there and of course our own county and local election workers in which we just doubled down on election preparedness, emergency situations, just because you wanna make sure that there's integrity for our voters that they witness and see this and get educated upon this.

And that's why in 2024 next year we're actually going to host another statewide tabletop exercise.

Now, other partnerships that we have on a daily basis is with our state New Jersey Office of Homeland Security that shores up all of the infrastructure, if you will, from a cyber point.

We also partner with the state police, with the state attorney general's office.

And in fact, our Homeland Security and Preparedness office in my division of elections, we just established the election security task force, which includes all of these different layers of governmental partners and even some non-governmental organizations.

Just making certain that we remain proactive instead of reactive.

That we identify and mitigate any threats to our elections.

- I'm sorry for interrupting.

Does that also include the concerns about artificial intelligence influencing, impacting, affecting, infecting election results?

- Well, what I do know is on a national level, the Department of Homeland Security, they have a division called CISA.

Not the singer but the CISA.

- And it's an acronym for what?

- Yes, and they're really the ones who are in charge of overseeing the cyber threats nationally.

And they partner with our local, our state homeland security.

And of course everyone, these various, how can I say, enforcement and legal and just cyber homeland preparedness entities are laser focused on the AI too.

- Before I let you go, people wanna know who our lieutenant governor is by way of background.

Tell us about your family real quick.

- Okay, well, my husband and I, proud Passaic County residents.

He was a running back for the New York football Giants.

We have four daughters ranging from the ages of 26 to nine.

And our nine year old, along with our dog, our Maltese, they run the house and I think they run it well.

I was born in the Bronx, so while we're in the suburbs, I'm still a city girl.

- Right.

- And I am just so humbled and blessed to be part of Governor Murphy's administration.

- Real quick, I'm gonna take that back.

I do have a follow up real quick 'cause I know you're on a tight schedule.

We're doing a series called Reimagine Childcare, importance of childcare.

How high a priority for you, quality, affordable, accessible childcare?

- Oh, most definitely.

I am so, again, thankful to be part of an administration which understands the need for affordable and quality childcare.

This of course, is personal to me as a mom of four kids.

But recently, as we saw the governor announce 51.9 million in federal grant funding to expand 30 preschools.

Then I think it was last month, I had the privilege of announcing pre-K expansion in Cherry Hill with the additional 14,000 seats in the 195 districts as a whole.

So that's a good thing to be part of this because our kids are our future and we understand that the preschool years are the formative years and we wanna make sure that they excel on all fronts.

- Lieutenant Governor, we thank you for joining us.

Won't be the last time.

We look forward to having you again and best to you and your family.

- Likewise, thanks again for having me.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato Is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Rowan University.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Johnson & Johnson.

IBEW Local 102.

PSEG Foundation.

Newark Board of Education.

Veolia, And by these public spirited organizations, individuals and associations committed to informing New Jersey citizens about the important issues facing the Garden State.

And by Employers Association of New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

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