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CNN Live Event/Special

Americans Head to the Polls, 100 Million Already Voted; Polls Open in Critical Battleground State Michigan. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 03, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is a special edition of New Day, one of the most special. This is the final day of voting in America, and it is full-on under way.

Polls in 15 more states opening this hour including the critical battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida.

Get this, breaking news, as of minutes ago, more than 100 million ballots have already been cast. Think about that for a second. This is staggering. 100 million votes already cast in polls just opening now on what has traditionally been the official Election Day. This number on your screen shatters all records and really creates new issues for how to even conceive what we're about to see over the next few hours.

We're getting new information and analysis on each of the candidates' past at 270 electoral votes. Remember, that is what determines who wins.

Joe Biden closed out his campaign in Pennsylvania, where he began it all more than a year ago. He blasted the president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which as of this morning, is just spiraling out of control.

President Trump threatened legal action to stop vote counting in Pennsylvania beyond today. He ended his night in Michigan.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN NEW DAY: And there's an extra layer of fencing around the White House this morning. The president plans to host hundreds of people at an indoor election night party there, all of this against the backdrop of a pandemic. Another 84,000 new coronavirus cases were reported overnight. That's the fourth highest day since the pandemic began. More than 231,000 Americans have died so far.

And there's new reporting that Dr. Deborah Birx is reportedly pleading with the White House for, quote, much more aggressive action.

But let's begin with Alexandra Field. She's in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. What's happening there, Alex?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn and John, good morning. You talked about the tremendous enthusiasm for early voting. We're getting every indication on the ground here in Pennsylvania that we should see that enthusiasm extending on to Election Day itself.

As we speak right now, the first in-person ballots are being cast in Pennsylvania. In the past hour, we've seen hundreds of people lining up inside that building behind me getting ready to do their civic duty in a place that the whole world will be watching closely.

There are 20 electoral votes up for grabs in Pennsylvania. Both campaigns are remaining laser focused on it. President Trump in the last few days holding a series of rallies in parts of the state most that have been most friendly to him, trying to drum up support and enthusiasm so he can to hold on to a state he flipped by just 44,000 votes back in 2016.

For his part, former Vice President Joe Biden, who started his campaign in the state of Pennsylvania, showing just how important it is by wrapping it up here today. He will be back yet again in Pennsylvania, making stops in Philadelphia and Scranton, trying to get his voters out.

The Trump campaign said all along they believe their voters are the people who go to the polls on Election Day. The Biden campaign trying to make sure that their people are there too.

What we need to point out is the fact 2.4 million mail-in ballots have been received by the state of Pennsylvania, but that's under 40 percent of the total electorate in 2016. That means what we're going to see today is a lot of voting. Alisyn, John?

BERMAN: All right. Alexandra Field for us outside of Pittsburgh, please keep us posted as to what you see.

The polls also just opened in another critical battleground state, Florida. CNN's Randi Kaye live near Fort Lauderdale with a live look. Randi?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. We are in Lighthouse Point, Florida. This is a pocket of Broward County, Florida, that leans heavily Republican. I can show you the numbers from 2016. Donald Trump won with about 65 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton had about 31 percent of the vote.

We don't know who is voting today, but I can tell you there's already a line here behind me. Again, we don't know who is in line. We have to be back about 150 feet from those people, from that line, because of state law. So we haven't been able to speak with them, but there's already a bit of a turnout here. Polls just opened just a couple minutes ago.

And Donald Trump needs Lighthouse Point and other Republican areas of the state to win. This is a crucial state for Donald Trump, for any Republican candidate. The last Republican candidate to win the White House without the state of Florida was back in 1924, and that was Calvin Coolidge. But a lot of people -- millions of people, have already voted here in the state of Florida. About 8.9 million people have already cast their ballot, and that's about 93 percent of all votes that were cast for the state in 2016.

[07:05:00]

So it will be interesting to see how many people actually turn out today. The supervisor of elections here in Broward County told me that he expects maybe 100,000, 125,000 people to turn out. So we will see where they go.

But 29 electoral votes up for grabs here in the state, Donald Trump won this state by about 1.2 percent back in 2016, about 113,000 votes. We'll be watching. We'll be here all day and we'll see what happens this time around, John.

BERMAN: All right. Randi Kaye, great to have you there, please keep us posted.

Joining us, CNN Political Commentator Michael Smerconish, Host of CNN's Smerconish, and CNN Political Analyst Margaret Talev, she is the Politics and White House Editor of Axios.

And, friends, I just put it up on the screen because this number just changed over the last hour. As of now, more than 100 million Americans have already voted in this election. 100 million votes cast, and this is the traditional Election Day.

Michael, I look at that number, and all I can say is, oh, my God, it's staggering to look at that, and to try to think what it means for how we're going to process the rest of today.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well -- and it's in the midst of a pandemic. I mean, who would have believed that we would have this momentous-sized ballot cast in advance of the election as a time when we're all still dealing with COVID-19. And for that reason, regardless of however it turns out, I think it's a wonderful day for democracy. I'm hoping it all runs well.

I think an important message, John, for any Election Day in America is to remember that, I'll say it kindly, stuff happens. Stuff always happens. It's the nature of the way we run elections. We're essentially creating a one-day pop-up Starbucks all over America, relying on talent that gets underpaid to do it, many volunteers, and tomorrow it all goes away. So, settle in, things will happen that are not indicative of fraud.

Human factors always play a role. That's what I hope people will keep in mind.

CAMEROTA: Or it may not all go away tomorrow, Margaret. I mean, part of the element of suspense and surprise is because of these huge numbers and because this is such an unusual, unprecedented year. We really don't know if we're going to have answers tonight. But you have some new reporting, Margaret, in terms of what former V.P. Joe Biden is planning tonight if it looks like it's going his way.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, yes. Thanks, Alisyn. Mike Allen and I are reporting this morning that if the math looks like Vice President Biden has the numbers to be the president-elect, he will start acting like it. How do we know that? Well, there's a big clue in the daily guidance. This is the public document that the campaign sent out the night before. The daily guidance tell us that Biden is going to be addressing the nation tonight.

Now, we don't know what either Trump or Biden is going to be saying because we don't know what the numbers will look like by the end of the night. But they are laying a very clear marker down that says, look, they presume President Trump is going to say something, and that given his past comments, he may try to put a pin in it and present either himself as the victor or say it's, you know, that the counting should stop now, and this is Biden very clearly positioning himself to say, he's not going to let President Trump have the last or only word tonight.

But beyond that, our reporting is telling us that they are preparing, if, even if President Trump were to challenge this, if Biden's team believes they have the math to support this, they're preparing to move very quickly on transition announcements, staffing, so on and so forth, so that they can begin the process of standing up the transition and the future of government.

Of course, let's not get ahead of our skis. None of this is relevant until the end of voting today and until we have a much clearer picture not just of who has already turned out, not just in terms which ballots will be allowed to stand but in terms of in all of these key states, Republicans, Democrats, independents alike, who actually turns out to vote in person and how that will make the final answers to these numbers much clearer than they are right now.

BERMAN: You're looking at live pictures of people turning out. This time at Lighthouse Point, Florida. Obviously, Florida, one of the key swing states, Pennsylvania another key swing state, Michael.

And Margaret was talking about, if the president challenges the election results, we don't have to wait for, if. He already is. He's already basically challenging what's going on in your state of Pennsylvania. The U.S. Supreme Court essentially allowed ballots that are mailed by today to be counted for three more days, and the president, which, by the way, it's the way it is in about half the states in the country, there's very little controversy about that in many states in the United States, but the president is somehow suggesting that will lead to violence or he's threatening violence.

[07:10:03]

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: When the Supreme Court gave you an extension, they made a very dangerous situation and, I mean, dangerous, physically dangerous, and they made it a very, very bad -- they did a very bad thing for this state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So he is arguing two things. One, don't count votes and, two, there will be violence? What's going on here, Michael?

SMERCONISH: So, let's be clear. The rationale of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was that due to the pandemic, and due to mail delays, it made sense in franchising people to allow ballots that are received as late as today to continue to be counted for three more days. That's what he is objecting to.

Let me say something else, as a lifelong Pennsylvanian. Have we had aberrant cases of voter fraud, individual knockoffs? We have. Had we had any widespread fraud in the state? If you go back to 1994, and I remember the race well, because one of the individuals running was a very close friend of mine at the time, there was a state Senate race that was stolen and overturned by a federal judge.

Nothing since that has been widespread, there was no documented voter fraud when they tried to challenge in our court system, the commonwealth court a few years ago, whether people should have to show I.D.s. So it's just not backed up by substance. It's all backed up by whisper, we're no different than any other state in the United States.

CAMEROTA: Well, I hope President Trump is listening to you, Michael, because he keeps repeating and zeroing in on Pennsylvania as well as Philadelphia.

And so, Margaret, that was his closing message, one of his closing messages, the specter of physical danger, if vote counting continues after today, contrasted with Joe Biden's closing message last night. So let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So many people are worried. I've never forgotten growing up in a hard-working family in Scranton, I never -- the lesson that Donald Trump has never learned, because he can only see the world from Park Avenue. He can't see what families like yours and mine have gone through. So he refuses to do the work to get this virus under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Interesting contrast.

TALEV: Well, Vice President Biden's message has been for several months now that the president should be judged first and foremost on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. And now, and, finally, in the last hours of voting, that remains at the top of most Americans' minds, despite all of these other issues that have been thrown out in the closing days of the campaign.

We talked about the closing messages, Biden is continuing to campaign through half the day and look at where he and his wife and their top surrogates are, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, a little dash in Ohio. But, again, that Florida and Pennsylvania, where he thinks he needs to really close the deal.

And there are other towns for President Trump, if I was being contrarian, I would say, watch Minnesota, watch New Hampshire for Trump or let's see whether Biden can run the tables in Georgia.

But what both of the campaigns are really the most focused on in these closing hours are Florida and Pennsylvania.

BERMAN: Michael Smerconish, no predictions. We don't want to do that.

CAMEROTA: He's out of that game. He's told us.

BERMAN: Exactly. Because people are voting. And 100 million people already have and a few million more today. What's the point predicting? We'll know within a few hours.

But I want to know your electoral canary in the coal mine. What sign are you looking for tonight to tell you things are going a certain way?

SMERCONISH: It's entirely possible I'm a guest on New Day on Friday and we're still talking about Pennsylvania. I think it's equally, if not, greater likelihood that Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, just work your way up the eastern seaboard and then go to Ohio, they all close 7:00 or 7:30 Eastern standard time tonight. John King could be at that magic wall before we're all anticipating it, looking at those states. And, frankly, if any are won by Joe Biden, that could be a knockout blow and Pennsylvania could be an irrelevancy.

BERMAN: We'll book you for Friday, Michael, no matter what happens. We'll find something to talk about on Friday. So, slot it in your calendar. Great to have you on this morning, Michael, thanks so much. Margaret, thank you very much to you as well.

Be sure to join us for CNN's special coverage of Election Night in America. It begins today at 4:00 P.M. Eastern Time.

And I think we have live pictures from the battleground state of Michigan. This is St. Clair Shores, Michigan, where you can see the lines, people lining up to vote. We'll get a report from the ground there, and we'll speak to the governor of that state, coming up.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Okay. Polls have just opened in the battleground state of Michigan. President Trump ended his campaign heavily focused on that state and Senator Kamala Harris will spend part of today in Detroit.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is live in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, with more. What are you seeing on the ground, Omar?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we're officially off to the races for Election Day 2020. As you can see behind me, this is the entrance and people are lining up to come make their voices heard. And now starting at 7:00 A.M., we can start counting those absentee ballots.

Now, this county is a suburb of Detroit, Macomb County. It's a county that President Trump flipped from Democrat to Republican in 2016. And it's a county that the winner has gone on to be the statewide winner for both governor and presidential races going back seven races in a row.

We always knew Michigan was going to be important. You look no further than the campaign activity from both candidates leading up to today.

[07:20:01]

Of course, President Trump finished his campaign last night in Grand Rapids, that last stop, the same last stop he made in 2016, but also held a rally in this county on Sunday and another one in a separate county on Friday. Joe Biden and President Obama also made stops in Michigan over the weekend in Flint and in Detroit, and Senator kamala Harris is expected to be in Detroit later this afternoon.

And, of course, this Election Day comes on the other side of what has been a record amount of absentee ballots that have been turned in based on data we've gotten from the secretary of state. That number is right around 3 million absentee ballots. That's more than 60 percent of the entire turnout in the 2016 presidential election and right around 60 percent of the entire turnout for the 2008 presidential election, which saw the highest turnout in this state's history.

This next phase, of course, is going to get all -- is going to get all of those ballots counted. It's a process of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says is going to take some time, but for them and other states officials, the most important part is getting that count right as opposed to getting out a result quickly. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Omar, thank very much for that status report. As, Omar just said, more than 3 million votes have already been cast in Michigan. And that's almost triple the number of early votes from 2016. That's when President Trump edged out Hillary Clinton by a little more than 10,000 votes.

Joining us now is the Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. She's also National Co-Chair of the Biden campaign. Good morning, Governor.

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Okay. So, let me just read what Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson just put out this morning, an hour ago on Twitter. Good morning, and happy Election Day, everyone. 3.1 million Michigan citizens have already voted. Are you one of them? Question mark, question mark.

So, I mean, beyond that there's enthusiasm, what does that tell you about how Michiganders are feeling this morning? WHITMER: Well, people are engaged and who people come out to the polls have a sense of optimism. I think this historic turnout is really a testament to that, that people are ready for some change. People want leadership that can get their arms around COVID-19 and get us back to work and get our kids safely back in school.

And I think I'm encouraged what we're seeing, of course. Today is just beginning. The polls just open a few minutes ago and they will be open until 8:00 P.M. tonight. And we anticipate long lines. And so I've encouraged my fellow Michiganders to dress in layers. Our weather can change fast here in Michigan although it's supposed to be a pretty day today. And wear your mask and be patient. Let's give the poll workers some grace. They are doing an important top job today.

CAMEROTA: And dress in layers. Isn't that's always the message for Michiganders? I mean, that's almost year round.

So, Governor, last night as part of President Trump's closing message, I suppose, he brought you up, again. You're one of his favorite subjects. Let me play for you what he said in Grand Rapids, and this was just around midnight last night. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It would be nice if your governor would open up the state, however, would open up the state. Open up your schools. Open up the state. Go back, get back to business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Hard to tell what the crowd is chanting, but people on the ground said it was, lock her up. What's your response?

WHITMER: Well, I think that the closing arguments of these two campaigns tell a starkly different vision of America and where we need to be headed. The Trump rallies are continuing to bring people together in the middle of a pandemic without masks, where they are projecting their voices, where they are crammed together, and contact tracing shows that they are super-spreader events.

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign is focusing on bringing us together, a unified message, a message around integrity and empathy and an American president is the president for everyone, not just those that agree with him.

And these Trump rallies, where they talk about locking up his opponents or taking aim at Dr. Fauci or even LeBron James yesterday, are mind-boggling. Americans want and need a president that can bring us together and solve problems, and I think that's why Joe Biden is in such strong standing going into this last day.

CAMEROTA: I'm told that we have new video of what former V.P. Joe Biden is doing this morning. This is him going into church. This is in Greenville, Delaware. You see him, I think, with his family members there. So that's how he'll be spending this hour of this morning. This from just moments ago. But, Governor, back to what you were saying, I mean, as somebody who was the target of an alleged domestic terror plot, what do you want the president to know about his words, about people like you?

[07:25:01]

WHITMER: Well, words matter. I mean, words can give comfort to and insight dangerous actions, domestic terrorism. Now, when he targets Dr. Fauci or he targets a sitting governor, it's a dangerous moment. It is anti-American. We as Americans solve our differences at the ballot box. When you don't like the result, you solve them at the next opportunity to vote. We have a peaceful transition of power. This is what has made America an ethical leader in the world.

And these actions to undermine our own democracy are damaging for every single one of us, and endanger people that are simply on the front line trying to keep others safe, like Dr. Fauci, like me, like so many others across our country who come into the target of Donald Trump's criticism and insightful language.

And that's precisely I think it's so critical that people of goodwill on both sides of the aisle take it on. And I'm grateful that my predecessor, a Republican governor, has endorsed Joe Biden. I think he gets it. And I think that there are lots of other Republicans and independent-minded people out there who'd do as well.

CAMEROTA: The Trump campaign seems very optimistic about winning Michigan tonight. I'm not asking you for a prediction, but if President Trump wins Michigan, what will that tell you about your state?

WHITMER: Well, you know, it's hard for me to game that out. I can tell you what I've seen on the ground, people turning out, people who are engaged in ways that they never have been before. We already have over 3 million ballots that have been cast. It's going to take us a little while to count, and that's why I think it's really important that we all prepare to be patient and make sure that we get this right, because the will of the people will need to be -- it needs to be counted in terms of our ballots and we will respect the will of the people of this state and every state in the nation.

CAMEROTA: Governor Gretchen Whitmer, thank you for taking time this morning. It's a very busy day. I know. We really appreciate having you on New Day.

WHITMER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Okay. So, Dr. Deborah Birx sounding the alarm about the threat of coronavirus directly contradicting President Trump's repeated lies that we are rounding the corner somehow. So what happens next? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us.

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