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Voting Begins on Election Day in U.S.; Record Ballots Cast in Early and Mail-In Voting; All But One Drive-Through Voting Place Closed in Texas County; Most Drive-Thru Voting Locations to Close in Houston Area. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 03, 2020 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: He ripped into President Trump for his handling of coronavirus, which this morning is spiraling out of control. President Trump threatened legal action to stop vote counting in Pennsylvania beyond today, Election Day.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So overnight new fencing was put up around the White House where the president plans to host hundreds of people at an indoor election night party, as another 84,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in the country, the fourth highest daily total since the pandemic began. More than 231,000 Americans have died. There's new reporting this morning that Dr. Deborah Birx is reportedly pleading with the White House for much more aggressive action, in fact, splitting with the White House in how they have been handling the pandemic.

We begin this day with the voting that is taking place before our eyes. CNN's Alexandra Field live in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. What are you seeing, Alex?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. We saw runs of people arriving even before the polls opened this morning at this poll site in Franklin Park just north of the city of Pittsburgh. They tell me they are prepared at least for the possibility of record turnout. That would be in line with the early enthusiasm that we have seen from voters who have cast nearly 100 million ballots leading up to this. But the bulk of voting in Pennsylvania is going to be happening today.

President Trump's campaign has said he believes that his people will come out on Election Day. That's why he has been holding this flurry of rallies across the keystone state over the last few days in search of the big prize, 20 electoral votes in a state that he flipped just four years ago.

But it is former vice president Joe Biden who also believes that Pennsylvania is critical to rebuilding that so called blue wall in the Great Lakes region. He started his campaign here. He is ending his campaign here, and he is back for Election Day. We understand that he has just wrapped up at church services. He went on -- in Delaware. He went on to visit the gravesite of his late son Beau before making his way not to Scranton, Pennsylvania. Scranton has been such an important part of the campaign story for Joe Biden. He's talked often of his roots there. He has tried to appeal particularly to some of those union households that left the Democratic Party, that went to Trump back in 2016. He is trying to bring them back as he tries to turn this state to blue.

It is really up to the voters who are casting their votes today, 2.4 million mail-in ballots have been received in the state of Pennsylvania, but that is just under 40 percent of the total electorate in 2016. So there is a lot of room today. It all comes down to who turns out. We will be keeping an eye on it. John?

CAMEROTA: I'll take it, Alex. Thank you very much for all of that.

OK, now we want to go to what happened overnight, and that's when the biggest county in Texas closed all but one of its 10 drive-thru voting locations. You are looking at live aerial shots right now of cars trying to go to that last one that is open. The county clerk says that his thinking was he did not want ballots cast at those locations to be jeopardized in the future. CNN's Brian Todd is live in Houston at this one drive through location that is still open. So what are you seeing, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we have seen a lot of people coming to these polling places, driving up, trying to get in line at these places. And it's really a busy time here. The polls opening right now. This is where the energy really starts here in Houston at the one drive-thru location, downtown Houston at the Toyota Center. That's the one location that the county clerk, Chris Hollins, opened up because he closed down nine of the 10 other drive-thru stations out of concern that the votes cast at those places would not be legal.

So drive-through stations, that one drive-through station could be pretty popular today, or we'll see. Maybe people will be scared off by the fact that there are concerns about the legality of drive-in votes here in Harris County.

But there is a ton of energy here. Polls are opening right now here in Texas, and just a lot of people streaming into this location, tons of signs behind me. The sea of signs back here is impressive, and the signs go way down the street. But if you can see people streaming in here, media is here, poll workers are here. People are lining up at the doors now, lining up way over here outside this place not far from that voting location, Alisyn.

The turnout here is going to be key because almost 10 million Texans voted early in this election, whether it was absentee, drive-in, or early voting, and that surpassed the entire total of votes in 2016. So turnout is going to be key. We're going to be keeping an eye on the volume here. Back to you, John.

BERMAN: Brian Todd for us in Houston.

Let's go north now, polls are open in the key battleground state of Wisconsin. CNN's Ryan Young live in Milwaukee with a look there. Ryan? RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. The polls

just opened up in the last few minutes or so, and you can see the line that's already been established here. As you come here this poll worker will check you in, and you notice everyone sort of wearing their PPE. That's a big concern here especially with the coronavirus and how it's been spreading in this area.

[08:05:00]

We will also walk you in this direction. As they do this, you can see how they've set everything up so that the folks who have lined up then come into this room. And as they do this they've been separated by a ward, and then they will start casting their vote. Let's not forget more than 1.7 million people have already in-person voted early, and you can see how they're bringing in some of the shields for the PPE as well.

But, John, people have been invigorated. Since this morning they were here early, ready to line up and to cast their vote. We know Donald Trump was here late last night making his final pitch in Kenosha. Wisconsin is obviously a battleground state, but a lot of people will be watching. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Ryan, thank you very much for all of that.

OK, joining us now, we have CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman, she's the White House correspondent for "The New York Times," we have CNN political commentator Karen Finney, she's a former senior spokesperson for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, and CNN political commentator Mark McKinnon. He's a former senior as visor to the George W. Bush and John McCain campaigns. Great to see all of you on this very exciting morning. Karen Finney, I want to start with you, because if anyone is entitled to have PTSD today it is you and Hillary Clinton.

(LAUGHTER)

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And so I can only imagine the pendulum of emotional swings that you had back then.

FINNEY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: How are you feeling this morning?

FINNEY: Cautiously optimistic. I have been so overwhelmed, I think like so many Americans -- as John said at the opening, 100 million Americans voted early. They are not going to be stopped by a pandemic. And that is a sign to me, frankly, where I have to tell you in 2016 I was worried about our democracy, as in many times over the last four years. Today is the day to be proud of our democracy. The fact that people have said -- and they've almost gotten -- there is this sort of emotion that people have about every time President Trump tries to throw something their way to say, here's why you can't do it, you hear people standing in line saying things like, I'm going to vote no matter what. I'm standing in line no matter what. I'm dropping my ballot off no matter what. And that is a really encouraging sign.

I think the numbers look really good for Democrats today. I think it's going to obviously come down to turnout, and there will be key places like Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania, as you can imagine, that I will be keeping an eye on, and also Georgia, frankly. I worked in 2018 in Stacey Abrams race, and it was a very telling tale about how Election Day and election night you've got to be prepared that it may go past -- the counting will continue. And that's OK, that is an important sign we have to count every vote.

BERMAN: Mark McKinnon, that number, 100 million Americans have already cast their votes, and we're looking at pictures all morning along of people going today, this final day when they can vote, but 100 million people already have. How do you process that? How does that impact how you're watching the rest of today and tonight?

MARK MCKINNON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So I just want to say it does not all depend on turnout. I'm going to be the first person that ever said that, because, in fact, what has happened is a lot of people have mailed in their ballots. The one thing, as Karen was saying, is there is such a huge awareness in this election, there's been so much education about voting and voting early and how to do it right and to make sure your vote gets in on time. I think actually Donald Trump by waving the rigged election flag turned out to be the greatest GOTV mechanism for Democrats ever.

And I think we had a lot of concern about places like Pennsylvania, but I think what's actually going to happen is that a lot of people in places like Pennsylvania, because they got very educated about this, either voted really early or will be voting today. So I think we're going to have an earlier night than a lot of people imagine.

CAMEROTA: That would be interesting. So, Maggie, what's the feeling, if we know, inside the White House this morning?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, look, the president was driving very hard, Alisyn, into the final days of this week. He held some -- it was more than a dozen rallies in the last just couple of days alone. He was doing an interview with "Fox and Friends" this morning where he alternately sounded at peace and then aggrieved, which I think is, frankly, what the sentiment is right now.

People within the tightest bubble around the president have been telling themselves and him they believe he's going to win. In fact, more than they believe, they think it's a certainty. You get further out from that bubble, and there is more acknowledgment that, yes, there is a path, but it's slim, and it would take a lot of things falling into place for that to happen.

There is this prevailing sentiment around the president that they might have just run out of time, because things were closing, in their words, according to the president. I don't know what the final result is going to look like, but Alisyn and John, this has been, as you know, a very stable race for most of this year. There's been extremely little movement other than the president taking big dips after his own actions for the most part. So we will see what that all translates to today, but at the White House, look, they are very, very hopeful, but there are plenty of people who are realistic that the president has a tough hill.

BERMAN: Maggie, can I ask you about one specific piece of reporting that you put out overnight.

[08:10:00]

Quote, "In unguarded moments Mr. Trump has for weeks told advisers that he expects to face intensifying scrutiny from prosecutors if he loses. He is concerned not only about existing investigations in New York but the potential for new federal probes as well according to people who have spoken with him." What's that all about?

HABERMAN: What it's about is the fact that he's been investigated for several years, and the fact that the probe of Michael Cohen began in the Southern District of New York, which is a federal office. The president knows that he is under a lot of scrutiny from prosecutors as it is right now, Manhattan district attorney and the New York state attorney general. He is fearful that what will happen is, if he loses, that there will be intense scrutiny not just on him but on his family. And he has been very worried about that. He is very aware that the office of the presidency has protected him in a lot of ways from some of the prosecutorial scrutiny he might have otherwise faced.

Would he had faced it had he not become president in the first place? I don't know the answer to that. But he is aware of what the reality is, and there are some people around him who are trying to suggest that this is not true, that this is what he thinks. This is absolutely what he thinks.

CAMEROTA: Karen, we just watched former V.P. Joe Biden go to church this morning. We understand that he visited his son Beau's grave stone. He had said that it was Beau who had encouraged him to run for president when he, himself, with as on the fence. And, we've heard from our pundits recently that it's not -- that this campaign has not just been about Donald Trump and a vote, if you are so inclined, against Donald Trump. Joe Biden did do many things right to get to this point. And I'm just wondering from where you sit, what surprised you that he did, or what do you think was impressive?

FINNEY: I think he started this campaign talking about the soul of America with an ad that a lot of people made fun of at the time, and thought it wasn't hard hitting enough, it wasn't your typical political ad. But how right he was. In that moment we could never have guessed that we would have been facing a global pandemic that would take so many Americans' lives and impact so many, and that it would call into question the very nature of leadership's ability to do its job, or the George Floyd murder, which was such a painful video for so many of us to watch.

So I think the one thing -- and this is something I think is a character of leadership, and it is the ability to understand what is happening in the moment. In the reverse -- in the flip of that, Donald Trump understood better than our campaign did that in that moment people were afraid about their future for economic reasons and cultural reasons. They were afraid of change. And Trump understood it, and he knew how to manipulate that fear of change.

This time I think Biden understands people are afraid of this glimpse of who we might be, and I think this idea of the soul of our nation and the character of our country. I think a lot of what you're seeing in turnout is people saying exactly what Biden says. This is not who we are. It is not who we are. This is un-American that today, as we go vote that today when I drove over here, downtown Washington, D.C. is boarded up, largely because our own president is inciting violence. And so I think that has really brought a lot of Americans to question and to say I've got to do something. And so I thought Biden was incredibly prescient with that way to start the conversation of this campaign.

BERMAN: So Mark, what I want you to do is give us a guidebook to today. You've told us as an insider all you can really do on Election Day itself --

CAMEROTA: Daytime drink.

BERMAN: Day drinking and go to a movie is what you said.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: For the rest of us that might not be as much of an option. But I want to know what you're watching for today, what signs. Is it long lines in certain places? Is it the exit polls that we'll get a first glimpse of at 5:00, which will tell us what drove people to the polls? It won't tell us results. People need to know that. What are you looking for?

MCKINNON: Let me just first day in reaction to Karen's response and your last question, that the parallels between this election and the 2000 race I did with George W. Bush are remarkable in terms of the message. It was the conventional wisdom that presidential elections are usually about the economy, which was what everybody said in 2000. And yet we had a message, or Bush did, about returning honor and decency to the White House. Very fundamental about character and decency, which is so much of what Joe Biden's message. And I think on a fundamental level that's really what people are aching for, just a return to decency and honor and character in the White House.

What am I looking for today? I'm in Pinellas County right now, which is the bellwether of Florida. Donald Trump won this county by one point, he won the state by one point. So I've been here yesterday and this morning talking to people like Charlie Crist who represents this district and he says that the seniors really have COVID concerns, and that's a real problem for Donald Trump. Seniors obviously are a big part of Florida. The Trump campaign is hoping to make that up with Cuban-Americans in Miami, hopefully with African-Americans, and double down on non-college seniors.

[08:15:00]

But I'm going to be watching Florida tonight, watching Pinellas County. Listen, I think that there is a very good chance that -- I mean, the one way this election will be decisive, obviously, is if Biden wins this because then it's fundamentally over. There is no real realistic path for Donald Trump if he doesn't win Florida. So watch Florida tonight, watch Pinellas County.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, we will. We will. It's going to be a very exciting day and night.

Maggie Haberman, Karen Finney, Mark McKinnon, thank you all very much.

Great to talk to you this morning.

Be sure to join us for CNN's special coverage of "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA". It begins today at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

So as we've been telling you, Harris County, Texas, has closed all but one of its ten drive-thru voting locations today. We have the official who made that decision last night on with us next.

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CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, the biggest county in Texas decided to close all but one of its ten drive-thru voting locations over concerns that those votes could be put at risk in the future. This comes after a federal judge rejected a Republican effort to invalidate the 127,000 ballots already cast in drive-thru locations during early voting.

[08:20:00]

Joining us now is the man who made the decision, Chris Hollins. He is the clerk of Harris County, which includes the city of Houston.

Clerk Hollins, thank you very much. I know it's a busy morning.

Can you just explain to us your thought process of closing nine of the drive-thru locations and leaving one open?

CHRIS HOLLINS, COUNTY CLERK, HARRIS COUNTY, TX: Yeah, good morning, Alisyn.

You know, my job is to protect the right to vote for every single voter here in Harris County. That makes sure their votes are cast safely, conveniently but ultimately with the peace of mind that their votes are going to be counted. And so, we did the responsible thing here, we closed the voting centers that the judge yesterday expressed issue with on election day and we're keeping one open.

But we also have 800 locations across Harris County and voters can cast their ballots at any single one of them.

And so, our job is to make sure that the hundreds of thousands of folks that come out today are able to cast their votes with that peace of mind.

CAMEROTA: But, I mean, this basically happened late last night, I think about 11:00 p.m.

So what happens when voters didn't get the memo about this and show up at one of those other nine drive-thru locations this morning?

HOLLINS: Yeah, well, we thought about that well in advance and all of our drive-thru locations are co-located with a walk-in location. And so, if you show up and that drive-thru is closed, you can simply go across the parking lot and walk in. And for our members in the community with disabilities, we have curbside voting available at all 800 locations. And so, we're going to take care of our citizens today.

CAMEROTA: Do you understand why Republicans in Harris County were fighting this, fighting drive-thru voting tooth and nail?

HOLLINS: Absolutely. They were scared that the people were voting, plain and simple. Now, we know that tens of thousands of Republicans and tens of thousands of Democrats have used drive-thru voting, but their calculus was that there were more Democrats in that box and they were prepared to throw out all the votes because they thought it would benefit their candidates. That's un-American, it's un-democratic and the judge made clear that it was unacceptable.

CAMEROTA: So, it was obvious to you that they were trying to limit Democrats voting. What their rationale as you can imagine is different.

Here is what they said: Under respondent Hollins' drive-thru voting scheme, a car is turned into a polling location. It should be noted many times votes are cast by numerous people in one car, eliminating the confidentiality surrounding one's votes. The garages, tents, canopies and other covering the car drives into are not the actual polling location. The polling place is the car.

What do you say to that logic that they were using?

HOLLINS: Yeah, well, that sounds as absurd to me as it sounds to you. And the judge thought the same thing. He literally laughed and told them that he was not buying that argument. He tossed it out. He dismissed it and he made clear that those -- the votes were cast fair and square, and that all 127,000 of them will be counted.

CAMEROTA: So, Mr. Hollins, what are you seeing in your county? I mean, just give us the scene from on the ground. How popular were those drive-thrus and what are you seeing in terms of what's going on behind you?

HOLLINS: Well, they were extremely popular. Almost one in ten in- person votes was cast in those drive-thru voting centers during the early voting period. And we're hearing about a drive at our single drive-thru voting center today.

But we do have curbside voting to members of the disabilities community at all voting centers. We're here today at one of the busiest voting centers and we're seeing a line but we're keeping that line short. And we're encouraging people to go to one of the voting centers that has a short line today, of which there are hundreds.

CAMEROTA: Look, as you know, the Supreme Court there decided that the people who have already voted at the drive-thrus, the 127,000 votes are legitimate, they will be protected. And so, why didn't you just stick with that? Why are you afraid in the future these won't be counted?

HOLLINS: It's not about fear, it's about being responsible. We want every single person who votes today to vote without any confusion, any doubt that their vote is going to be counted. And so, we are going to make sure that all of the million Harris County voters who have yet to vote will be able to get to the polls today and know 100 percent without a doubt that their votes will be counted and we're going to count them tonight.

CAMEROTA: You're going to count them tonight. And if people are -- if people who were hoping to use drive-thrus because they are afraid in this pandemic of going into a building, what do you see to them this morning?

HOLLINS: They still have access to Toyota Center, which is downtown centrally located. And, again, at all 800 off our voting centers, there is curbside voting available for those who have any sort of physical condition that makes it unsafe for them to go inside a voting center, for any sort of physical disability that makes it difficult for them to go inside a voting center. And so, they still have unparalleled voter access here in Harris County.

CAMEROTA: Chris Hollins, Harris County clerk, we really appreciate you giving us all of this information this morning.

[08:25:01]

Thank you.

HOLLINS: Thank you. Have a good one.

CAMEROTA: You, too.

John?

BERMAN: All right. Just moments ago, we saw Joe Biden boarding a plane in Delaware. Democratic nominee was at church this morning. He is headed to Pennsylvania today, two stops, Scranton and Philadelphia, before heading back home to Delaware to watch returns.

CNN has learned President Trump will host as many as 400 people at a White House election party tonight.

CNN's John Harwood live at the White House with the latest on that.

John, what's that going to look like?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, it's going to look like some of these rallies. People close together, I wouldn't bet on a lot of masks in the audience, although it's possible you could see it, but really a fascinating contrast between the two men today.

You mentioned Joe Biden starting in church, then going to his hometown of Scranton, also going to Philadelphia, very strong focus on Pennsylvania, which is the state where he hopes to lock down a victory tonight.

Donald Trump will visit campaign workers in northern Virginia this morning before that event tonight, but he closed with this flurry of ten rallies in two days, Sunday and Monday, that was revealing on a couple of levels. Politically it shows all the territory in which he's got to play defense, states that he won in 2016 that he's got a hold as Joe Biden is making advances.

On a personal level, it's revealing as well. The president in those rallies as he travels around that provides him a sort of floating bubble, the unreality bubble that Maggie was referring to a few minutes ago where he is affirmed by people whatever the polls show, they affirm his handling of the coronavirus, they affirm his candidacy.

He said at one of the rallies who could be a loser with a crowd like this. On the other hand, he is aware of what the polls are showing and so he's trying to sort of construct in advance excuses for why it may not go well. He's lashing out at enemies from Democrats to China to LeBron James, Tony Fauci, even the guy who supplied the microphone at one of the events in Wisconsin.

And finally because a difficult outcome is so hard for him to accept in part because of that legal jeopardy that Maggie referred to as well, he's raising the questions of legal challenges of the vote, of even physical unrest. He talked about it being very dangerous to keep counting in Philadelphia and we see behind me all around Washington, storefronts boarded up.

The question is going to be whether or not he is close enough to Joe Biden that any of those intervention, legal or physical in the streets, make a difference. The polls raise doubt about that, but we're going to find out or begin to find out tonight, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Thank you very much, John. We sure are -- appreciate all of your reporting.

All right. Voting is under way right now in Georgia which of course could prove to be a crucial swing state today and Stacey Abrams is going to join us from there, next.

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