The WallBuilders Show
The WallBuilders Show is a daily journey to examine today's issues from a Biblical, Historical and Constitutional perspective. Featured guests include elected officials, experts, activists, authors, and commentators.
The WallBuilders Show
Ballot Initiatives You Cannot Ignore - with Michael Huffman and Byron Foxx
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Ballot initiatives are quietly rewriting state law while most voters are distracted by the top of the ticket. We dig into why these measures matter so much, how they bypass stalled legislatures, and why the fine print can change your community faster than any campaign promise.
We focus on Virginia as a high stakes case study with Dr. Byron Foxx and Dr. Michael Huffman, walking through three proposed constitutional amendments and why they argue every voter needs to read past the marketing labels. We talk about the “reproductive freedom” language and the concerns raised about abortion policy, parental consent, medical safeguards, and conscience protections. We also cover the broader warning: once something is embedded in a state constitution, reversing it is a long, uphill process, so the real chance to stop a bad amendment is before it passes.
Then we zoom out to the national map. From voter ID questions to keeping men out of women’s sports, from abortion rollbacks to election systems like rank choice voting, states across the country are putting major policies directly on the ballot. We share how to find trustworthy information, why turnout is everything, and how one informed voter can multiply impact by bringing friends, family, and church communities along.
If you want a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective on what your ballot is actually doing, hit play and share this with someone who votes but never reads the propositions. Subscribe, leave a review, and send this episode to one person who needs a clearer voter guide before they head to the polls.
Why Ballot Initiatives Matter
SPEAKER_02This is the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the Wall Builder Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. And today is a very hot topic. People just don't know about it. I mean, it's serious, serious stuff happening all over the country. It's what we call ballot initiatives where you get a chance to go in and vote on a specific policy. So rather than just voting for someone to be your representative and go to the legislature or to Congress and they deal with the policy issues. In this case, the policy issues have been brought home to your community on the ballot and you have a voice, and it's happening all over the nation specifically today. We're going to zero in on Virginia for part of today's program, but this is happening across the nation. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. Thanks so much for joining us on the Wall Builder Show today. Hope you're listening on your favorite podcast app or on Bot Radio or on some of our other stations that carry us, or maybe even right there on our website at wallbuilders.show. But we ask you to take an extra step after today, especially because most of your friends and family do not know about these ballot initiatives. Share today's program. Whether you're on your podcast app, wherever you're listening, share today's program. David Tim, super important program today. So many of these initiatives we just don't even know they're happening. And Virginia, of course, you have three really big ones happening there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's some huge stuff out there. And this is uh this is an opportunity to make good policy because the ballot initiatives is essentially bypassing the legislature. And some of these really good ballot initiatives are in states that have really bad legislatures, and the citizens have been able to get some things like in Colorado. I mean, that is so progressive blue, that's as bad as Minnesota in many ways, and yet they've been able to get some really good ballot initiatives there. The people can go out and say, hey, we do not want men playing in women's sports. And by the way, we don't want transgender mutilation surgery, et cetera, for our kids. So while the legislature is not about to pass that in Colorado at this point, hopefully we can have enough change that they will at some point. The citizens have gotten this on the ballot. But that doesn't mean people know about them. And so when it comes election night, all three of us are gonna be doing various election programs covering this stuff. And one of the things I've already got flagged is watching these ballot initiatives. We've got seven states where the people get to vote on whether they are going to keep men out of women's sports. I think there's seven states going to vote on whether they want to have voter ID for voters, where you're required to show uh show your voter ID. All these things that legislatures are not passing, we're being able to get there. So it's really important. And in Virginia, where you have a very blue state right now with the legislator and governor, they have got some radical stuff going through Virginia. And we're gonna talk to a couple of guys today that are right in the middle of that in Virginia, and so many people don't know about the ballot initiatives. So if you're frustrated with who's running on the ballot or you don't think it's a big deal because the president's not up this year, or whatever, it really is a big deal because you're gonna be surrounded with policy that will affect your life and change your life. You need to know about these ballot initiatives. You need to go out and vote on these ballot initiatives. This is a real opportunity to move America in a much more conservative direction. And Virginia is just a great example of what we're facing in in most of the states across the United States this election on these ballot initiatives.
SPEAKER_02Well, let's start there with Virginia. We've got two special guests coming uh on uh uh after the break, and we'll talk about Virginia. Then when we come back at the end of the program, we'll talk about some of the other ones across the country. Stay with us, folks. You don't want to miss this. You're listening to the Wild Builder Show.
How To Share And Listen
SPEAKER_02Hey friends, Rick Green from the Wild Builder Show. Encouraging you to share the program with friends and family and listen to it on the podcasts that are out there. There's so many options out there for you to listen to in the car or from home or while you're working out. You've got Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Castbox. I mean, there's so many options, and we just want to make sure you know we've worked hard to get it out there and make it available for you on all those different apps. Everybody's got their favorite app, so choose your particular app. And if it's not on there yet, email us, radio at wallbuilders.com, and let us know about your favorite podcast app, and we'll make sure WallBulder's radio is listed there. But you can listen and most importantly, share it with your friends and family. That's how the program grows, that's how we get more truth in the hands of as many people as possible. And then, of course, wallbuilders.show, super easy place uh to find all of those podcast apps and to just download right there from that website as well as be able to share it with your friends and family. So check it out today, wallboulders.show, or just go directly to your favorite podcast app, listen to the Wall Builder Show, and share it with as many people as you possibly can.
Virginia’s Three Proposed Amendments
SPEAKER_02Welcome back to the Wall Boulder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Hey, thrilled about today's program, and this is an action program, especially for our listeners in Virginia, but we're highlighting Virginia. That doesn't mean if you're outside of Virginia, you have no action. You've got elections, you've got propositions in other states across the country. This is an example of what Christians need to be engaged in today. Dr. Byron Fox is with us, Dr. Michael Huffman, the website we want to give out today. Make sure you go to V A I B dot org. That's Via's and Victors. So it's the Virginia, I shouldn't say Via's and Victors, should be Via's in Virginia. Virginia Association of Independent Baptists. It's V A I B dot org and click on that link for say no to all three. All right, gentlemen, big topic today. You've got three very important propositions on your ballot in Virginia in just 30 days. Actually, early voting starting very soon. Uh, first of all, thank you for joining us on Wall Builders today. It's an honor to be with you, Rick. Oh, we're glad to be here. Well, it's a it's we appreciate what y'all are doing. Thank you for being active. Uh, of course, uh very involved with our friend Chad Conley and Faith Wins, and y'all have been a part of this for a long time, helping to defeat bad things and win good things. And this one is huge. You've got three major issues on the ballot. Uh people can get that flyer at the website to see specifics, but let's walk through them. Uh, first of all, uh, well, actually, let's back up. Christians voting on propositions like this. Man, if there's not a stewardship opportunity, uh uh this is it. I mean, this is your chance to say yes or no to a major policy issues.
SPEAKER_03That's correct.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Yeah, Rick, Rick, this is a big deal. You know, Rick, the 11th commandment, Rick, is thou shalt not be political. And so God's people need to really be involved because God has left us as the stewardship of our of our commonwealth. And, you know, Jesus Christ was involved in government, Paul was involved in government, John the Baptist was involved in government, God is the ordainer of government, uh, along with the church and the family. He expects us to be involved in all three.
SPEAKER_03These are a big deal. These are amendments to the Virginia State Constitution. This is not a little something. It it's very hard to put an amendment in place, and it's near impossible to get it out. And these are fundamental
Abortion Amendment And Its Fallout
SPEAKER_03big issues, cardinal issues. You know, number one is the reproductive uh freedom amendments, that's what it's called. Although uh Dr. Huffman will agree with me, all these are very deviously worded to make you think it's one thing when it's really another. So the first one about life, the second one the marriage amendment, and then the last one about uh the uh restoration of voting rights for felons. I my wife Rachel and I, we're voting no, no, no. Rick, you know me. I'm a positive kind of guy, but on this, I'm very, very negative because these are wrong for Virginia.
SPEAKER_02Well, and you're right about the language. They they do this, they're so sly. Uh they do it all over the country. And and in this case, they're making it sound like it's a it's a positive that that they're protecting some right when in fact they're actually taking away the right of the baby to even have life. The very you know, life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness can't pursue happiness if you don't have liberty, and you you don't have liberty if you don't have life at all. In this case, we're talking abortion up to uh uh even into the third trimester. I mean, this isn't like you know, first few weeks. They're literally gonna put in your constitution of Virginia a right to an abortion up to all the way through the pregnancy.
SPEAKER_03That's correct. This goes far beyond Roe. Far beyond that and makes abortion a constitutional right up until birth when so-called health is cited. Whose health? The little baby dies.
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SPEAKER_02Huffman, let me ask you a process real quick, and hopefully won't distract us too far too far in this. I I I enjoy this kind of stuff. But does this mean d if this passes, in order to reverse it, this constitutional process, you've got to go through like two legislat if I've got this right, two legislative sessions and then to the people for votes. So I mean this would enshrine a abortion up to birth and make it very difficult to reverse it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh the process to get it on the ballot, it had to go through the state house, then we had to have an election, then we had to have another state house where they voted on it again, and then it comes to the ballot. Same thing to repeal an amendment like this. It is an arduous thing. We don't want it to be easy to add an amendment, but once an amendment is added, you've got to go through that entire process again to remove it so it's uh these would be in place for at least two years. So the time to stop them is right now. Brother Rick, this is a last ditch effort to stop wickedness in the great state of Virginia, man.
SPEAKER_02And this is a yeah, you I I've got a great student uh of mine from Patriot Academy that uh he when he talks about Virginia, it's almost like the heavens open. I mean, he just he he he lo he he he reminds me all the time of the importance of Virginia and the beginning of America and this, you know, uh place where our our your Virginia Declaration of Rights is what our Bill of Rights is based on and all of these things. I mean, this is a place of Jefferson and Henry and and all of these greats. I mean, for for that to be the place where where we're gonna and we haven't even gotten into the second and third uh ballot initiatives, but the second one, you know, basically completely redefining marriage to be the opposite of what uh actually means anything. It becomes anything and everything to everyone. So I mean these these first two i for Virginia to be the place that enshrines this in the Constitution, it's just uh man, it's horrible. And and and so you have a chance, as you said. This'll this is the last chance. Here we have 30 days left before the election, or I guess what, two weeks before you guys were really voting in there.
SPEAKER_03Oh no, we're already voting. We have already voting five we started September 18th or 19th. Wow 45 days of voting. Yeah, um that's a recipe for fraud right there, but that's the law of Virginia at the moment. So all God-fearing people, if you have any morality about you whatsoever, if you want to stop the wrath of God from coming on Virginia in a bigger measure, you got to vote no. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02And I I want I want you guys to speak to in action. In other words, if somebody's listening to us right now in Virginia or another state where they have initiatives like this happening as well, or even just general elections, but but maybe they're saying as we're talking about this, uh, you know, I'm not I'm not like those guys, I'm not involved, I don't know all this stuff, and I'm not involved in all that, or I'm not exactly sure what it means. So I'm just gonna I'm gonna kind of stay out of it and let other people decide. By not acting, you actually are helping enshrine abortion up to birth. You're enshrining a definition of marriage that completely gets rid of one man and one woman by not acting.
SPEAKER_04Aren't you acting? Yes. Yeah, you are you are Rick. If you if you take in action, uh that is your decision. And the thing about it is, Rick, the the constitutional amendment, the way that it reads is every individual has the right to reproductive freedom. And then it lists the whole types of things. But the interesting part about that is, Rick, is it doesn't separate women from children to minors. Any individual takes away parental consent. Uh, you know, 1.240-1 of the Code of Virginia says that uh parents have the final say in the raising of their children. But in like in all law, first thing I learned in law school, like all law, constitutional amendments or constitutional language supersedes code. And so this constitutional amendment says that every individual, that's that 13-year-old girl sitting in her guidance counselor's class who got herself pregnant, that guidance counselor can take her to Planned Parenthood, have an abortion without notifying her mom and dad of anything that's going on. It also says that any person who aids or assists in the carrying out of this fundamental right cannot be held criminally or civilly responsible. So if something goes wrong. So all of the safeguards, first thing I had to do when I was in law school was I had to read the Roe v. Wade case. And even though you the three of us would disagree with their conclusion, what they were one of the things they they raised as a concern was uh safeguards. And when I was in the Virginia General Assembly arguing with Senator uh Boisko over this, she said, we're just trying to codify Roe. And you're really not because Roe was at least to some measure concerned about women having these abortions safely. Again, even though we would disagree with the overall conclusion, they had some measure of safety. This completely takes away safety. Plus, it takes away the conscientious objection of doctors who have a who have a consumable religious exemption exemption to abortions because they're going to come back and say you're you violated her fundamental right, and they're gonna put their law, their uh license to practice medicine in jeopardy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, and I think if I hear you right, Dr. Huffman, this also means you're protecting an abuser. So an abuser that is taking advantage of a child could take that 12, 13, 14-year-old girl into an abortion clinic, get an abortion, and not be held accountable. Uh and actually, you know, let's say the parents have no notification. They're not, they they they don't get any, they're not even told that this is happening. Uh so you're literally opening the door for the kind of things that we spent decades getting legislation like that passed all over the country to protect children from this kind of thing. This literally is going to wipe that away in Virginia.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, sex traffickers are protected in this constitutional amendment by its language. Wow. Because uh you're you're a lawyer by trade, Rick, just like just like I have a law law background. You know, you and I both understand words have meanings, words have definitions. And so a lot of the things is not is not what it says, but it's what it will allow by what it doesn't say. And if I can also add this, this will also uh put into play and hinder our statutory rape laws. 18.2-263 of the Commonwealth of Virginia is our statutory rape law. And if everybody has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, that also includes with whom you have relations with. And I know some judges that would buy an argument from a defense attorney who said, Your Honor, if you convict my claude of statutory rape, you have infringed upon his partner's right to reproductive freedom.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Wow. Dr. Fox, you you know, you talk about evil. I mean, you know, Christianity has has been what has created freedom following a biblical perspective is what has allowed for prosperity and liberty and all these things. Christianity is is responsible to stop
Why Sitting Out Still Changes Law
SPEAKER_02evil. We we have a duty to stand against evil, and for Christians or pastors or others to to check out in Virginia and not participate in this and say no and and take a stand and step up here. Uh I you know, what's the it's it's almost like saying to to everyone, yeah, we really are non-essential. I mean, let's be essential here.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. You know, we cannot ask God to bless Virginia while we write the shedding of innocent blood into our Constitution. And so we cannot be silent. Um these are very cleverly but dastardly worded amendments. It's on purpose. They did not accidentally write these things this way. This was absolutely on purpose, and they must be stopped. There is good and evil. And brother Rick, this is evil. You know, say, well, Brother Fox, you you should not be endorsing candidates. I'm not endorsing any candidate. I am pointing out evil. This is absolutely against the word of God, the Bible that I do revere and try to lead my live my life by. And those who have any morality about themselves, in fact, if you just have common sense about yourself, you know that these things are wrong. This is a common sense, strong uh position that all of us are trying to take against these things and stop it right now. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02Is it fair to say, guys, this is I mean, this is not even Republican or Democrat, left or right. This is good or evil. Yes.
SPEAKER_03That is correct. That is a very strong assessment, but a very accurate assessment.
SPEAKER_04Rick, I have had pro I have had pro-choice people look at me after we discussed this amendment, and they've looked at me and they've said, Dr. Huffman, I'm still pro-choice, but I'm anti this amendment because this goes too far. Wow. When you take away parental consent, when you start protecting sex traffickers, when you take away safeguards, when you take away conscience protection, uh, when you when you when you root uh root, remove three doctors during the third trimester and say it only has to be one doctor to say that a woman's uh physical or mental health is at risk due to this pregnancy, and she can have an abortion on thy child's birthday, and that one doctor can be the abortion doctor that would that would uh stand to benefit from the procedure. Uh, this is this message has to get out, and people have to be uh wise of what is actually going on. And like as I said, Rick, I have pro-choice people telling me, Dr. Huffman, this is way too far.
SPEAKER_02Oh man, let's talk uh before I let you guys go, winability um or whatever the right word is, defeatability. Can we defeat this thing? You know, because people will sometimes say, uh, oh, we can't win on this one or whatever. If the churches show up, if Christians show up, if we get our team on the field, we absolutely can defeat this evil. We can win this. Don't you guys agree? Yes. 100%.
SPEAKER_03100%. There is a core group, a growing core group in Virginia of conservative, uh spiritually minded uh folk that have gotten engaged, that our voter turnout rate is 99%. So there is already a core group that is standing strongly opposed to this. However, all of us that are in that category have got to find three people who did not vote last time and that that also share some values about themselves and get them down to the polls, even if we have to go pick them up in our car and take them down. It's that important. The voter turnout is what this comes down to.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah, no, no, no. In fact, if you get going and getting them, I mean, I'm glad you said that, Dr. Fox, because you know, sometimes we don't realize it's not just our vote. We can we can multiply and force multiply by by by you know letting people know, posting online, telling them about this, getting them to know to show up. But then, hey, election day or during early voting, go round them up, go pick them up and say, hey, let's go together, let's do this together as a church activity, as our Sunday school class or whatever it might be. Making sure you're, you know, if you're a grandparent out there, making sure your kids and your grandkids, if they're old enough to vote, that they're going and voting. Um, you guys have the links for for people are wondering where to go and and and and where to go vote. Uh if you go to VAIB.org, you can get all of that information. So V A I B, Virginia Association of Independent Baptists.org. V-A-I-B dot org. Uh check out the flyer because it breaks down each of these three uh ballot initiatives, and then there's you know deeper uh information if you want to go there, but then also has the link for finding your polling place. Um yeah, I would say, you know, Dr. Huffman, don't just be one vote out there, uh be a force multiplier and get 10 other people to go vote on this.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely, Rick. You're exactly right. You know, like Brother Fox was saying, get in the car, take people with you. And also on the uh the uh VAIB website, there's a link there, QR code where you can scan that. And it'll if you're not registered to vote, uh then that that QR code will take you right to the Virginia Registrar's website. You can you can register to vote right there online. I have videos on there about the abortion amendment, videos on the marriage amendment, and all types of articles on all three amendments. They all three must be defeated. Again, that thank you, Rick. It's VAIB.org uh and check out all the information, it'd be very helpful to you.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you guys for leading the charge. You know, if you didn't step up and let people know about this, if you weren't didn't put this information together so you make it easy for people to go vote and to and to share the information, take that flyer, send it out to friends and family, um, you know, there's no way we'd win. Evil would would continue to march and win. This is how we stop them. This is how good actually can stand up. The old expression about the only thing it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. Well, here's a chance for good people to do something. Everybody can do something here in Virginia. And again, across the country, not just in Virginia. There's other issues going on in uh other places across the country. We'll talk with David and Tim about about that when we come back from the program. But uh man, just thank y'all. Dr. Michael, uh uh, thank you guys for being willing to stand, being willing to be a part of the solution, uh, for putting the tools out there, for investing the effort. Dr. Michael Huffman, Dr. Byron Fox, God bless you guys. Thanks for coming on today. God bless Rick. Thank you, Rick. It's been an honor. Stay with us, folks. We'll be right back with David and Tim Barton.
WallBuilders 250 Years Resource
SPEAKER_01Hey guys, this is Tim Barton from Wall Builders. I want to let you know about a special landing page we have on the Wall Builders website. If you go to wallbuilders.com, there is a little box that says Wall Builders is celebrating 250 years of American freedom and independence. Click on that little box and it will take you to the landing page for 250 years of America. And on the landing page, there are several different little boxes you can click on. One of them is for events, it will let you know of some major events that are that are coming up that are going on that you can actually come and participate in. You can come here, my dad or I give speeches telling the stories about the birth of the nation, about the founding fathers, the faith connection in America. There's also a tab for resources that you can click on, and it will take you to lots of different speeches and terms. And documents and proclamations from the founding era. And then there's also a little tab that will take you to the Wall Builder store with lots of resources, all the things that maybe a hat you want to wear, a shirt to wear, or other Wall Builders products to read. This is the place to go to celebrate 250 years.
Key Ballot Fights Across States
SPEAKER_02Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Uh, thanks to uh Dr. Fox and to uh uh Dr. Huffman. This these are these are big in in Virginia. I mean, guys, this this literally would enshrine in the Constitution a right to abortion up to birth, and then of course, you know, destroy uh the definition of marriage for Virginia as well. So uh really want the people in Virginia to get out and vote. What about some of the other places, David? You mentioned that this is uh you know, this is not just Virginia and and and m most people don't know these are happening in their states because there's not a lot of money being spent on either side uh to advocate for them.
SPEAKER_00Well, in uh Arizona, that's a state that has the the no men and women sports. Uh Arkansas is voting on on citizenship requirements for for voters. Uh they also have a Second Amendment issue up in Arkansas. On California, California's actually has a problem voting whether they should have voter ID before elections. Now you know they didn't come through the legislature, but there was enough citizens out there that said, this is crazy. We we want to get this this in place. Uh Colorado, we mentioned earlier, they've got three really big ballot initiatives in Colorado. Uh you go down into Idaho, they have one to turn back the abortion policy. Two years ago, they basically just took the limits off abortion in any way, shape, fashion, or form. This is putting limits back on.
SPEAKER_01Hey, let me point out too, like this is some of these states, you're not surprised to s to see the state moving in certain directions. Uh you don't get surprised when you see a blue state acting blue, right? It's kind of like you shouldn't be surprised when you see a non-Christian acting like a non-Christian. Uh you're like, well, that's kind of what you're supposed to do. But when you see a Christian doing ungodly things, then you're like, hey, you're not supposed to be doing that. This is a little bit like when you see a red state doing liberal things. Idaho removing restrictions on abortion? That seems crazy to me. Not reflective of Idaho. Now, obviously, they've got a couple big cities, they're left, they've got some big college uh communities. Like I I get it, but still, Idaho is not a super blue place. So the fact they've gone a direction in their state that is very antithetical to the nature of the people in their state is again reflective of why it matters that people show up and get involved in politics. Because our political leaders are not always a representation of everybody in the state. They're only a representation of the majority of people that voted in the last election. Uh, and hopefully, man, Idaho can turn this around. As with most of these ballot initiatives, hopefully we can see people show up and support the good ones and vote against the bad ones.
SPEAKER_00Well, Tim, right down that same line, Missouri's in the same situation. Last election, this pro-life state, very red state, very conservative, very God-fearing state, voted in almost no limits on abortion. They took all the limits off. And now Senator Josh Hawley is leading the way, trying to get, they've got another ballot initiative up that would roll back some of those unlimited things that they were doing and start putting restrictions on abortions again. But but you're right, Tim. I mean, you you see a state like Idaho or you see a state like Missouri. That shouldn't be happening there. Uh, and and you've also got some big things going on in states like Alaska. There's some real opportunities to change the direction of Alaska if they can get rid of that rank choice voting, which they almost did last time. We'll see if they can this time. But virtually every state, even in Maine, Maine, which we consider blue state often, Maine has is voting on whether to to keep men out of women's sports. So virtually every state has something going. And even in blue states, you have a chance here to move back in a much more red direction. And red states that are going in a blue direction, you have uh an opportunity to kind of push some of that back. So the ballot initiatives are really, really big. Not much money is being spent on them, by the way. So you may not even know they're up in your state, but you need to check and make sure you know what's there and get informed and go out and vote.
Voter Guides And Final Actions
SPEAKER_02Well, we're down to the wire, folks. Only uh only a little bit of time left. And of course, that voting is taking place already in most states. So be sure and tell your friends and family about this. Share today's program. Go to Christian VoterGuide.com, Christian VoterGuide.com, share that link with your friends and family so that they can take that with them and they can study the candidates and actually cast an informed vote. And also on these ballot initiatives where they are so deceptive, as we were talking about earlier, and how they word these things, you really do need a guide on those things. So check that out today, Christian Voterguide.com. Thanks so much for listening today to the Wall Voter Show.
