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Trump And Harris Blitz Battlegrounds As Time Runs Out; Harris Holds Multiple Events In Battleground Michigan Today; GOP Sen. Tim Scott Refuses To Condemn False Claims Of Voter Fraud. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired November 03, 2024 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:34]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Hi and thanks for joining me. I am Jessica Dean in New York.

We have finally entered the home stretch of the 2024 presidential campaign and with just two days until the election, both campaigns are barnstorming swing states today as they enter this final lap of the race for the White House.

Today, the presidential candidates are spending their closing hours warning voters about each other and pleading with their supporters to head to the polls.

So far more than 72 million Americans have already cast their vote in this historically close race. And with just 48 hours until Election Day, brand-new polls from "The New York Times" and Siena College are giving us one last-minute snapshot of how tight this race is.

You see there the polls show no clear leader in every battleground state and in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, those numbers are tied.

Former President Donald Trump will soon speak at a campaign rally in battleground North Carolina, that is the second of three campaign events he is holding today in three separate swing states.

He started the day in Pennsylvania where he continued to dial up the dark and violent rhetoric in the closing days of this campaign. He took aim at the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a piece at last over here and I don't have a piece of glass there and I have this piece of glass here. But all we have really over here is the fake news, right?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news and I don't mind that so much because -- I don't mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: CNN's Alayna Treene is joining us now from that Trump rally in North Carolina and Alayna, the Trump campaign already scrambling to clean up the former president's violent remarks that we just played for everyone. What more are they saying?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Jessica, so those comments there, this comes as he has made a series of inflammatory comments throughout that speech in Pennsylvania, but also increasingly over the last several days.

Now, I do want to read for you some of what the Trump campaign is saying in response to this trying to clean it up. This is what one of his advisers, Stephen Chong said. He said: "President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life." It went on to say that Trump's statement about "protective glass placement has nothing to do with the media being harmed or anything else." It went on to say that he was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own.

Now clearly Jessica, I only read you some of that but that was the gist of the statement. This is not in line with what Donald Trump said. You heard the audio being played there. This seems like a lot of spin from the campaign.

But look, it also comes as Donald Trump said a lot of other things during that speech. He continued to air his grievances, he mocked his political opponent, and he also talked about or tried to really begin sowing the seeds of doubt for this upcoming election, talking about so far, unfounded claims of election fraud in this current election that is going to happen on Tuesday.

But one other thing that I found very striking is one moment when he was talking about past accomplishments from his former administration and from his time in the White House. He said, I shouldn't have left, referring to saying that he should not have left the White House.

Now, this is something that is very much in line with much of the reporting we and other outlets had shortly after Donald Trump's election loss, when he had told advisers that he didn't think he should leave despite losing to Joe Biden.

So again all of this coming at a very critical moment for the Trump campaign, which has two days left to go until Election Day. And I can tell you, when I talked to Trump's team, this is not the closing argument that they want the former president to be making.

Right now, there are couple things they want to keep in mind. One is turnout. Right now, much of the message they are trying to get out to voters is to show up for him, to not think that they have this in the bag and to not turnout. They are really trying to encourage people to get out there and vote.

But the other thing is, of course, trying to continue to remind voters about the top policy issues that they believe Donald Trump is polling better on than Harris, that includes the economy, the border, the question of whether or not they think they were better off two years ago than they are now, these are all things they want Donald Trump to be talking about, and instead, so much of what we are discussing, I think the media and others are taking away from his speeches is some of this violent inflammatory rhetoric that he continues to use off script, I should say in these final rallies before Tuesday -- Jessica.

[15:05:23]

DEAN: All right, Alayna Treene there for us in North Carolina. Thank you so much.

Meantime, Vice President Kamala Harris is spending her day campaigning in the key blue wall state of Michigan. She started at a church service in Detroit and over the next few hours, she plans to make several other stops across the state before holding a rally tonight in East Lansing. This is just a few moments ago, where she was stopping by and chatting with people at a Detroit barbershop.

CNN's Eva McKend is covering the Harris campaign for us in Michigan, and Eva, how are they feeling about Michigan? Obviously. she is spending a lot of very valuable time there just two days out from the election.

EVAN MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jess, Michigan and its 15 electoral votes is part of the blue wall, still presents the cleanest possible path to victory for the Harris campaign, so that is why she has spent so much time here.

I think it is notable that the events that she has had here over the last several weeks have really been labor focused, focused on manufacturing jobs as she tries to lean into the organizing strength of local labor unions.

But she has also made very explicit appeals to Black voters. We saw that today at a Black church, a few weeks ago with the high profile event aimed at Black men with Charlamagne tha God and several other stops that she has made today, and this all comes at a time when she is warning against the possibility that the former president could prematurely proclaim victory.

Take a listen to how she is thinking about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So here we are on the Sunday before the election and I would ask, in particular, people who have not yet voted, to not fall for his tactic, which I think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote will not matter; suggesting to people that somehow the integrity of our voting system is not intact so that they don't vote.

And again, I think that it is a tactic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And just now we are learning that the vice president is among the millions of Americans that have already voted, she voted by mail. Her ballot now in route to California.

She ends today with the big rally in East Lansing, Michigan -- Jess.

DEAN: All right, Eva McKend on the trail in Detroit. Thank you so much for that.

And for more on all of this lets bring in Margaret Talev, senior contributor for AXIOS.

Margaret, good to see you.

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS: Thank you. You, too, Jess.

DEAN: All right, let's go back to what Alayna was talking about, these comments that the former president made today in Pennsylvania at the rally, that it is okay to shoot through the media that are covering his rally, that he should not have left the White House in 2020, his continued unfounded claims about election cheating.

Listen, those are not focused on the economy and immigration, which is what Republicans really want him talking about and what Alayna was saying the campaign really wants him talking about. What do you think about his closing message as it were?

TALEV: Well, it is disturbing obviously if you are a journalist or care about the free press. Both of them are troubling in different ways, sort of teasing the idea of violence against any group that you consider critical of you is problematic, but the offhanded comment that he shouldn't have left office will also be problematic and should be problematic to some of those voters, I think on the fence who are maybe center-right or former Nikki Haley voters still trying to make up their minds.

There are not many of these voters left this close to the election, but there are some and many of them are in the state of Pennsylvania, so -- but I think it is very hard to know whether this was instinctively strategic or just blowing off steam.

The former president is obviously frustrated about a poll from Iowa last night that he disagrees with and says is an outlier, but nonetheless it has frustrated him, but also, if it is strategic, if that is his instinct, it is a turn away from trying to persuade voters who are still undecided and a turn toward just trying to turn out that base that likes this kind of rhetoric.

DEAN: All right, like really gin up that base.

You mentioned this Des Moines Register poll that came out last night that just to remind everyone showed Harris leading Trump in Iowa although it is within the margin of error, by our standards, that means there is no clear leader, but nonetheless, Margaret, this was a pretty shocking result from what is considered to be a gold standard poll. A lot of people have a lot of thoughts on this, what stood out to you?

TALEV: I might be wrong, we won't know until after Election Day. DEAN: Right.

[15:10:10]

TALEV: But it may show that the race there is much closer or perhaps even that Iowa voters are ready to go back to their behavior during the Obama era, which was to support the Democratic nominee for president.

So I think we will see, but just sort of top lines suggest a couple of things and one is that the women's vote could be really, really crucial in the final day or two of voting and the other thing it shows is that we have all spent so much time completely focused on seven states, seven states that all of the data and past behavior and registration and polling and surveys of focus groups tells are the most important seven states and Iowa has not been one of them.

But you know what? it is six electoral votes and if it is that close, Iowa is going to mater matter a whole lot. So, if I am an American at home thinking, what does any of this mean? I think it does go to show that it does not only matter whether you turn out, so people who think their vote does not matter, it really matters in seven states, but hey, it might matter in more than seven states also.

So I think voters actually can individually have an impact even though we know that many of them feel that they cant.

DEAN: Yes, they certainly can and while Trump is continuing to try to appeal to his base, as we were talking about, Harris has been making sure to point out young first-time voters at her rallies in Michigan.

I want to just play a quick clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I see an incredible number of our young people, our young leaders, oh, it would inspire you to see how they are organizing for change. What I love about that generation , they are quite impatient in the most wonderful way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And that was her speaking at a church earlier today but I know you just did a piece for AXIOS in which you walk through some data showing younger voters, Gen Z, millennials, are more likely to lie about who they are voting for this election cycle. Can you walk us through that?

TALEV: Absolutely, and obviously your comments there, obviously are part meant to sort of make young voting for her contagious. She has had some trouble getting enthusiasm among young voters because of concerns over Gaza among other issues.

So, let's go to the data. AXIOS has this great series called the Vibes Poll that we do with the Harris poll, which is not related to Vice President Harris, it is just the Harris poll, but that latest survey found that about a quarter of Americans say they lie about who they are voting for to people close to them, people who they love, but that number doubles, it is nearly half of Gen Z saying that they lie about their vote.

And what we believe that this means and what our pollsters think that it means in part is just that these are voters who are coming of age and perhaps even voting for the first time in a climate where the only climate they have ever known is the Trump era of like hyper political polarization and it is dividing families and they don't want to get into it or lose a relationship with their loved one.

But, you might ask who does it help more? We don't know the answer to that. We don't know, and we saw that men disproportionately lie compared with women in this survey. Does that mean that men are lying to their wives or their girlfriends, I am voting for Harris, when they are really voting for Trump or does it mean that they are telling their dad or their brother, yes, I am voting for Trump and they are really voting for Harris? That's the 64 zillion dollar question.

We don't know, but we do know that this polarization is really having an impact on the new generations of Americans who are just withdrawing from politics, they do not want the debate because they are afraid of the conflict and the divisions.

DEAN: That is fascinating. And guess what? We are going to know next week, we are going get a lot of answers to a lot of these questions.

Margaret Talev, thank you so much. Good to see you.

TALEV: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Tuesday is election night in America and from the first votes to the critical count, nobody covers it like CNN. Special live coverage starts Tuesday at 4:00 PM Eastern right here on CNN.

And still to come, the race to win over Latino voters in the battleground state of Nevada as new polling shows no candidate with a clear lead in that state. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:53]

DEAN: With just two days to go, Nevada is proving to be a critical swing state as the race between Harris and the Trump continues to be incredibly tight. Just two points separate them in the latest poll there. Again, no clear leader.

Latino voters in the state could prove to be a deciding factor. CNN's John King spoke to voters in the state this past week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dawn in battleground Nevada, the Vegas morning rush, one week to Election Day.

ANTONIO MUNOZ, NEVADA VOTER: So it's very, very tense, you know. It's nerve wracking because you just don't know what's going to happen.

KING (voice over): Antonio Munoz owns the 911 Tacobar. He's a veteran and a retired Las Vegas police officer, undecided and unhappy with his choices when we first visited 11 months ago, leaning Kamala Harris when we returned six weeks ago, now definitely Harris.

Trump's weekend rally in New York removed any doubt.

MUNOZ: That was very, very upsetting, you know. They spoke about Mexicans and having kids like nothing, it is like, you know, where do you come up with this stuff? Why would you say something like that in an atmosphere like that? And that's very troubling.

[15:20:10]

KING: Munoz is betting on a narrow Harris win here, but says the Latino community is more evenly split than in past campaigns because of housing and grocery costs.

MUNOZ: Inflation, it's affected a lot of people here in our community. And they don't see their dollar going the way it used to go, you know?

I think they really think Trump's going to make it better, which, you know, one person can come in and just inflation is going down. It's a process.

KING (voice over): Early voting here runs through Friday and more than seven in 10 Nevada voters live here in Clark County. That's Las Vegas and its fast-growing suburbs.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KING (voice over): One big difference this cycle is the Republican embrace of early voting. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton on hand in Vegas for a Veterans for Trump event to kick off the final week.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

KING (voice over): One in five Nevada voters is Latino, and a big election year focus at Fiesta 98.1 is urging listeners to flex their political muscle.

Rafael Cerros, Jr. is one of the owners. Six weeks ago, he told us he was undecided, and that Trump was running strong among Latinos here.

KING (on camera): Anything different from the last time we were here?

RAFAEL CERROS JR., NEVADA VOTER: A lot, a lot.

KING (voice over): Cerros is now voting Harris, and he says the racist insults at the weekend Trump event exploded on social media, triggered listener calls, texts, e-mails.

CERROS: That alone fluked a lot of people that were going to go for Trump. Now saying, hey, maybe I'm not too sure, and maybe I'm going, you know, with Harris. You know, the rhetoric, whether directly from, you know, the candidate or not, it's kind of scary, especially, you know, for Latinos here in Vegas specifically, you know, my Mexican people.

KING (on camera): He says, oh, he don't know -- he doesn't know who allowed those speakers to speak at his rally.

CERROS: Oh, that's BS.

KING: That's BS.

CERROS: That's BS.

KING (voice over): John King, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: John, thank you.

And when we come back, CNN's exclusive interview with House Speaker Mike Johnson as he campaigns to save the GOP's razor thin House majority.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:37]

DEAN: This morning, two key senators weighed in on former President Trump's false claims about election fraud on CNN's "State of the Union." So, let's start with first with Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump has been laying the groundwork to challenge the election results. I just want to show one example, just one of what he is posting on Truth Social and saying elsewhere: "We caught them cheating big in Pennsylvania, must announce and prosecute now. This is a criminal violation of the law. Stop voter fraud."

Not only have we seen evidence of his claims, local officials are saying it is not true, how worried are you about what is going on? I mean that is my question? How worried are you?

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Oh, I am so -- it made me tinkle here and here.

I mean, it is -- it is the same shit that he played in 2020 and that didn't anywhere --

BASH: Well, but it also --

FETTERMAN: Our election --

BASH: But that's why I am asking you this question. How worried are you about this being a repeat because he didn't win, but it caused a lot of problems.

FETTERMAN: I am not worried about it. It is just like a thing -- it is the same thing that he tried in 2020. And you know we had an absolutely secure election. And now, there was voter fraud in Pennsylvania and it was a handful of Republicans and they had their dead moms voting for Trump.

And I'd like to remind everybody that they were all caught and they were prosecuted and now -- and again, Dan Patrick in Texas still owes me a significant amount of money for the reward that he owes from 2020.

There was no voter fraud, he tried and I would just tell him that desperation is the worst cologne and I expected that he was going to do that. It is not going to be effective just any more effective than it was in 2020.

And anyone that platform, his lies, that was a very expensive kind of habit as well, too, you know Fox had to pay over $800 million for those kinds of lies and all of his supporters, they were all dragged into court and they all turned their minds and they are like oh, no. Oh no, I am so sorry that I lied.

And remember the Kraken -- the Kraken -- you know, in her defense was nobody takes her impossibly seriously. It is -- again, it is the same sad story that he had in 2020 and I would like to remind everybody that Biden wrecked his shit by 80,000 votes and now we are going to be back in the same situation.

He is going to try to lie and claim these baseless things, but now we are going to have a new team leading America and that's going to be Harris and Walz, but it is going to be close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Our colleague, Dana Bash also pressed Republican South Carolina Senator Tim Scott on the false election fraud claims, and also the question of whether Trump will concede if he loses the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What I am asking about is what if he doesn't win? And the fact of the matter is that Trump is already spreading false claims about cheating in Pennsylvania. He has repeatedly predicted a massive victory even though polls show the race is very close.

He is setting the stage for his supporters not to believe the results, if he loses. Do you want him to stop doing that?

[15:30:00]

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): I would never tell any candidate on the ballot to talk about what happens if they lose. Obviously, they are going to lean into the victory especially when the latest polls in battleground states says that you're running forward -- BASH: I appreciate that, Senator, forgive me, but spreading false rumors --

SCOTT: -- you're running ahead of your candidate.

BASH: Totally, the same false things about fraud is not --

SCOTT: Listen, Dana, you and I will disagree on this one. Totally disagree on this one.

BASH: You think it is okay to spread false rumors about fraud and undermine the integrity of the election regardless of what happens?

SCOTT: Dana, the liberal media has done a better job of spreading misinformation that any candidate I have seen so far.

BASH: Oh come on, Senator.

SCOTT: That's true. Listen here is a fact, we are not seeing the coverage of two assassination attempts on CNN against Donald Trump.

BASH: We did wall-to-wall to coverage.

SCOTT: We are not seeing the comments about Kamala Harris talking about fascist -- calling Donald Trump a fascist.

BASH: John Kelly called him a fascist. His former chief-of-staff.

SCOTT: We should focus on giving the American people the opportunity -- giving -- giving -- giving -- and she repeated it -- giving people the opportunity to make their own decisions. That's what we, Americans --

BASH: Well, wouldn't you if Kamala Harris' former chief-of-staff called her fascist? I would guess that you would repeat it, too.

And Donald Trump has called him one as well.

SCOTT: Well, Dana, the bottom line is this, Dana, bottom line is this, we should focus on the issues that the American people are talking about. They are talking about the greatest invasion across our southern border, Black communities across this country particularly in inner cities are talking about the devastation of the presence of Venezuelan gangs leading to more crime.

We are talking about a rise in the unemployment rate of African Americans, of course Black men are now more open to the Republican Party and specifically Donald Trump because the numbers are in. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have done a terrible job addressing the issues of Black men, therefore looking at the Donald Trump years, we saw low unemployment and high enthusiasm.

BASH: I want to allow you to make your point which I just did, but I can't let go of the fact that --

SCOTT: Yes, ma'am. BASH -- you are saying it is the media spreading claims, it is not true. It is Donald Trump who is saying things --

SCOTT: It is true.

BASH: Donald Trump is saying things just about Pennsylvania, just one example that local officials are saying is not true. We saw what happened on January 6 as a result of that and many other things. You were there at the Capitol. Are you saying right now, you want to leave this conversation and say you are okay with his rhetoric?

SCOTT: Well, Dana, what I am going to tell you is the truth, the Supreme Court and local courts in Pennsylvania have ruled in favor of the Trump campaign this election cycle.

BASH: But this has nothing to do with what he said.

SCOTT: In 2020, the Supreme Court didn't -- it made changes prospectively. You are asking the question about voter integrity, election integrity --

BASH: Right.

SCOTT: I am giving you the answer.

We have seen a strong shift in the right direction and that is reasons for us to be optimistic that this election will be fair. I am of course, going to say my candidate will win because the polls reinforce that fact and the evidence I am seeing on the ground only highlights or magnifies the fact that Donald Trump is doing very well in the battleground states.

We are not just optimistic, we are going to be a motivated which will allow us to mobilize our voters, this election will be decided by the turnout.

BASH: So if you believe, you just said that you believe that the election will be free and fair?

SCOTT: Yes.

BASH: So does that mean that you are confident that if Donald Trump loses, I know you think he is going to win, but let's just play this out, if he loses, that he will concede?

SCOTT: I am confident that he is going to win without any question, and yes, I do believe that we will have a fair election. We will honor the results and celebrate the 47th president named Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: All right, our colleague, Dana Bash there.

Meanwhile control of the House of Representatives will likely be decided between competitive races in deep blue New York and California. Republican Speaker Mike Johnson telling CNN's Manu Raju, he is convinced House Republicans will expand their majority next year. Here is more from that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The office of Speaker of the House declared vacant.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (voice over): It's been a chaotic two years in the GOP-led House.

An ousted speaker in rampant in-fighting.

Now, Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to do what once seemed improbable, hang on to power and even grow their razor-thin majority.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, I'm here in New York.

RAJU: As he barnstormed more than 20 states in October alone. Johnson is hoping to turn out the MAGA base even in Democratically-leaning districts and making a pitch for unified GOP control of Washington.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Everybody in the world is watching what happens on Long Island and in the state of New York. That's not an exaggeration.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

RAJU: To keep power in the House, Republicans have to defend 16 seats in districts Joe Biden won, including in California and New York as they target five Democratic districts that Trump carried in 2020. That means, the next House majority will likely be narrow once again.

[15:35:11]

And another recipe for gridlock.

RAJU (on camera): So, why do you guys deserve another two years in power?

JOHNSON: Well, we did pass a lot of legislation, it died on Chuck Schumer's desk.

RAJU: You had trouble passing your own legislation in the House, too.

JOHNSON: On occasion, but we also had some big landmark legislation sent over there and it died because the Democrats controlled the Senate.

RAJU: But you have a narrow majority no matter what, and you had a difficult time with this last narrow majority --

JOHNSON: Well, I had the most narrow majority in US history, I'm convinced we're going to have a larger majority this time. And if we have unified government, I think everybody on my side is going to be in a much better mood, and I think they will want to be part of the reform agenda and not a speed bump in a way.

RAJU (voice over): The race for the House poised to be the most expensive ever, with Democrats spending over $476 million on the air, outpacing the GOP by more than $100 million.

The money in parts spent to help save five freshmen New York Republicans whose fate could determine the majority now vowing to improve on their track record from this Congress.

JOHNSON: We will have a very aggressive first 100 days agenda because frankly, we've got to fix everything.

RAJU (voice over): But the Speaker gave fodder to Kamala Harris this week when he said --

ATTENDEE: No Obamacare.

JOHNSON: No more Obamacare.

RAJU (voice over): Now Johnson says killing the healthcare law is not in the cards, despite the years' long GOP effort to do so.

RAJU (on camera): Does that include repealing the ACA?

JOHNSON: No. Look --

RAJU: Not repealing the ACA.

JOHNSON: No. This has been ascribed to me, that is not what I said.

We are focused on improving healthcare as we are every year here.

RAJU: But you have another plan for many years.

JOHNSON: Well, no, we do have plans.

RAJU (voice over): One Trump-Johnson plan has gotten attention.

TRUMP: He and I have a secret. We will tell you what is when the race is over.

RAJU (voice over): But Johnson now says that simply meant getting out the vote, even as Democrats fear he and Trump will try to block a Harris victory.

RAJU (on camera): I know you said that this is a get out the vote effort.

JOHNSON: Yes.

RAJU: But have you and him talked about not accepting the election results if Harris wins?

JOHNSON: Of course not. I have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. We are going to do our job. It shouldn't even be a question or a controversy.

RAJU: So, if Harris wins, you would accept the results.

JOHNSON: Yes. Look, I am going to qualify this and this will make everybody freak out again. If it is a free and fair election, I am saying the exact same thing that Jamie Raskin is saying.

RAJU (voice over): But it is Trump who once again is pushing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

RAJU (on camera): Trump is already sowing doubts about the election about Pennsylvania, does that concern you?

JOHNSON: Trump is not sowing doubts, what he and all of us are trying to do is have accountability to ensure that we don't have hijinks and irregularities.

RAJU (voice over): And if Trump wins, critics fear Johnson's GOP will do little to check his power.

TRUMP: It's the enemy from within, all the scum that we have to deal with.

RAJU (on camera): If he wins, he has talked about going after his enemies. Would you dissuade him from doing that?

JOHNSON: He is not going to go after his enemies.

RAJU: He said that repeatedly.

JOHNSON: Listen, the Democrats have engaged in lawfare.

So all this hyperbole trying to scare people, it is nonsense, that is not going to happen. We are going to follow the law.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right, Manu Raju, thanks for that.

Can you take a selfie at the ballot box? What should you do if you forget to bring your ID? What if the machines aren't working? We are going to walk through what you need to know before you head to vote. That is after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:42:59]

DEAN: It is not just the White House, voters are making a slew of decisions this election cycle. Races in the House and Senate, as well as local and state levels. There are also critical ballot initiatives. Ten state will determine the future of abortion access in their states. Others will decide whether to change the state's minimum wage. If successful, California would have the highest in the US at $18.00 an hour.

A handful of states want to implement some form of ranked choice voting, selecting candidates from first to last choice, while others like Alaska and Missouri want to repeal or ban the system entirely.

Four states are weighing in on marijuana legalization and eight states will choose whether to require US citizenship to vote even though it is already illegal for noncitizens to cast ballots in federal elections.

Joining us now to help parse through all of this is Derek Muller, a CNN contributor and Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. Good to have you here.

DEREK MULLER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Let's start first with his noncitizen ballot measure, that seems a bit redundant considering that is already illegal.

MULLER: Well, it is illegal at the federal level, but states also get to administer state elections and local elections. In a few places in the United States and some towns in Maryland and Vermont, noncitizens can vote in local elections.

So it can be a little redundant at the federal level where it is already illegal, but some states want to prohibit the practice statewide and ensure that does not happen at the local level and say, school board elections as well.

DEAN: Yes, and so let's go to Pennsylvania now. Officials said today that the state was aware of potentially fraudulent registration applications in Lancaster County. They are investigating that.

What do you think about that particular case?

MULLER: Sure, so when somebody drops of 2,500 registrations at once, it can signal something to election officials that it might be worth investigating and they will take a look and make sure there is not redundancies or looks like fraudulent signatures, that we have a valid address and things like that.

They noticed some suspicious things, but this is what election officials do. They go through the petitions, they verify that the information in there is accurate and they determine how to handle them.

[15:45:03]

So I don't have many concerns about it and it is something to be concerned about, but I think election officials in Lancaster and elsewhere in Pennsylvania are ahead of the problem and will hopefully address it in time for the election.

DEAN: Yes, and now, I want to do some questions to help separate fact from fiction as people get ready to cast their ballots if they are going to vote in person on Election Day.

So we will just kind of do these rapid fire. Let's start with can you help a friend or family member may be someone who is elderly when voting?

MULLER: It depends on your jurisdiction. In some places, you can; in some places, you might have to sign an affidavit or something like that. I encourage you to check with your Secretary of State's website to determine what the rules are in your state. DEAN: What about what you should do if you are in line and the voting precinct closes?

MULLER: The closest stay in line. States allow you to vote as long as you are in line at the time that the polls close, so stay there and wait it out.

DEAN: All right, what should you do if you see a person -- if you see a violation in person or if you see a ballot selfie online. What do you think about that?

MULLER: So if you see a problem in person, go to an election official. They want to help you and they want to keep the precinct safe. They might have an explanation or they might take some information.

If somebody shares a ballot selfie, in most states that's legal, and in fact, in a lot of states where it is illegal, there is a First Amendment challenge probably there that says it is okay to do. So just be aware of that.

DEAN: Yes, it sounds like the consistent theme is check with your local officials for sure.

Last one, what should you do if you make a mistake on your ballot?

MULLER: If you make a mistake absentee, you are going to have to go in and request a new ballot. If you make a mistake at the voting booth, go back to the precinct election official. They will usually give you a new one, maybe even a second new one if there is a problem, but get the ballot corrected, so it can be tabulated accurately.

DEAN: All right, and just a reminder to viewers, if you do experience any issue while voting, you can always call the Election Protection Hotline, it is 866-OUR-VOTE.

Derek Muller, thank you so much for walking us through all of that. We appreciate it.

Coming up, the very different approaches Kamala Harris and Donald Trump would take to make healthcare more affordable. What each candidate is proposing, that's next.

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DEAN: US drug prices are nearly triple what they are in other countries and in this final week before the general election, this sobering cost remain central in both Kamala Harris' and Donald Trump's campaigns. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Twenty-two-year-old Rose Keller has cystic fibrosis, using a combination of drugs, including Trikafta, a relatively new drug that treats the underlying cause of her disease, she's been able to do pretty well. She graduated college. She\s now on our way to becoming an attorney.

ROSE KELLER, CYSTIC FIBROSIS PATIENT: I need these drugs to survive.

GUPTA: But it turns out, survival doesn't come cheap.

KELLER: Over the past 12 months, I've spent $3,500.00 roughly out-of- pocket on all of my medications.

GUPTA: The federal report from this year found that drugs in the United States cost nearly three times more than in other similar nations.

Now, pharmaceutical companies will say that premium price reflects the research and development that takes to bring these drugs to market. And oftentimes, that means coming to the United States first and benefiting patients like Rose.

KELLER: In 2019 when the FDA approved Trikafta, the doors kind of opened. All of a sudden, I could start dreaming about, hey, maybe I want to go to law school. Maybe I have post-graduate dreams. Maybe -- maybe there's a whole life out in front of me that I could take advantage of and make for myself.

GUPTA: But on the campaign trail, the candidates both say they have plans to make drugs more affordable. The Biden-Harris administration helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which gave Medicare the largest purchaser of prescription drugs the ability to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies directly. The law also capped insulin prices to $35.00 a month for all seniors and limited out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for those on Medicare to $2,000.00 a year.

Harris says, all Americans should now benefit from those price caps, not just those on Medicare.

HARRIS: I'll lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone with your support, not only our seniors.

And demand transparency from the middlemen who operate between Big Pharma and the insurance companies who use opaque practices.

GUPTA: Donald Trump also highlights transparency as an issue, saying his administration would, "increase fairness through price transparency and further reduce the cost of prescription drugs." However, the campaign has not provided additional details.

According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, over half of all American do worry about affording prescription drugs and about 30 percent of adults skip their medications or they ration them because of cost.

And for young, people ages 18 to 29, like Rose, that figure rose to 40 percent. KELLER: I just, I could not live without them. I just can't really afford to have the same and sort of young adulthood that everybody else has. I want to spend time with my friends. I want to go out to dinner. I want to buy holiday gifts for my partner's family, you know? But as of now, I have to make sure that that money is set aside.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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DEAN: Tonight on CNN, a special programming lineup starting with Wolf Blitzer in the "Situation Room" at 5:00 PM Eastern, only here on CNN.

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DEAN: Hi, thanks so much for joining me. I'm Jessica Dean in New York and the countdown to Election Day is now down to the final two days.

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