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CNN Live Event/Special

Ella and Celeste Bean Share their Vote in Wisconsin; Voters Cast Ballots in Michigan; Keisha Lance Bottoms is Interviewed about Georgia Voting; Brian Schimming is Interviewed about Wisconsin Voting. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 05, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

ASHLEY REICHERT (R), WASHINGTON COUNTY, WISCONSIN, CLERK: I definitely think we'll have a high, conservative turnout. And so we'll have to see after the polls close what that means for the state of Wisconsin.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Ashley, thank you so much for joining us this morning and sort of giving us a look into a very important county here, Washington County, Wisconsin. I appreciate that.

I am now going to bring in a first-time voter. She came with her mom, mother and daughter. There's Ella. Come over and visit me. And this is Ella and this is Celeste.

You are both here. First of all, what made you decide to vote for the very first time in 2024?

ELLA BEAN, WISCONSIN VOTER: I think women's rights are very important for - especially for being a biracial African American. I stand for everyone behind me. And this is for women's rights. And I think it's important. So, lets win. Let's do this. My mom raised me very well. And this is really important.

SIDNER: What has this been like for you? I see you getting emotional. What is it like for you to come in here with your daughter, side by side, and vote together here in Cedarburg?

CELESTE BEAN, WISCONSIN VOTER: It's an incredibly spectacular thing. It's the first time in the history of our country that she's being able to vote for a woman. And not just a woman, but one that looks like her. And I think that's an incredibly emotional thing. I've been - I think the reality of it didn't set in until this morning when we was getting - we were getting ready to walk out the door. But it's a phenomenal - like, it's an historic moment. I think in particular in consideration of the election and just how decisive it's been and how - well, I mean, it's a little chaotic, right? It hasn't been clean and friendly. And I'm not OK. I'm quite overwhelmed. And also incredibly proud.

SIDNER: Yes, you said it's been chaotic. It certainly has not been Wisconsin nice. We can all agree on that.

C. BEAN: No, I don't know if it's been nice anywhere at all, has it?

SIDNER: Can you give me a sense of, for you, compared to 2020, what your feelings are? And, obviously you're here with your daughter. This place votes like almost none other. It's about 90 percent of registered voters come in and do their duty. For you, how important was it to show up today?

C. BEAN: I think it's always important to show up for all of our elections, this one in particular. It was incredibly important for me, again, I think just because of this moment I'm sharing with Ella. And it's also historically significant. And as she said before, we're both big women's rights advocates and we believe in just the power of regular people. And, you know, we've talked about this quite a great deal and how we just need to kind of go in the direction or pick that person that aligns most with the life that we're trying to go towards. And so, it was just a clear, I think, decision for both of us as women, young women, and old women alike.

SIDNER: Girl, you ain't old. You look great.

C. BEAN: Well -

SIDNER: Celeste, Ella, thank you so much for sharing your stories with us.

C. BEAN: Absolutely. It was a pleasure.

SIDNER: And congratulations on your very first-time voting.

E. BEAN: Thank you so much.

SIDNER: Appreciate you both.

E. BEAN: Thank you.

C. BEAN: Thank you so much.

E. BEAN: Enjoying seeing you.

SIDNER: All right, have a great day.

C. BEAN: You too.

SIDNER: So, you heard - there are people clapping for them just because they came out, they voted and they're very proud to see another member of the city of Cedarburg out here voting.

All right, Michigan, of course, is another one of the important swing states up for grabs. We will take you there live to see how the voting is going there this morning.

And, take a look at this line of people waiting to hand in their absentee ballots just outside of Atlanta. Election Day in America, my friends, is off to the races.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:37:20]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome back. You're taking a live look right now of two polling sites in America today. Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are voting. Boston, Mass, voting as well.

And we're also going to show you a live look at Atlanta, Georgia, and Wilmington, North Carolina. Voting happening across the map. North, south, east, west. Voting is happening. The polls are open.

And right now voters are lining up at polls across Michigan, as we were just showing you, Grand Rapids, one - and Michigan is one of the seven battleground states that will decide who becomes the 47th president of the United States.

Michigan's secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, says that she is hopeful that Election Day in Michigan will be peaceful, but that officials are prepared for anything.

CNN's Kylie Atwood is joining us now from a polling site in Grand Rapids. We're keeping an eye on it all.

Kylie, what are you seeing? What are you hearing? And what are officials telling you?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, last night Jocelyn Benson said that she expects to see the unofficial results here in Michigan by midday tomorrow if not sooner, expressing optimism that this state is going to be able to swiftly produce the results statewide. And one key reason for that is because they're now allowing preprocessing of those mail-in absentee ballots up to eight days before Election Day. So, that takes off some of the pressure, some of the work that the county clerks are going to have to do tonight.

We just got an update from her office, and 3.3 million voters in Michigan cast their ballots before Election Day. That makes up 48 percent of registered voters in the state. That's a pretty big chunk, Kate.

But we should also note that voting is obviously happening here today. I want you to listen to two voters that we spoke with here at this church in Kent County, Michigan, who told us why they're voting for Harris and why they're voting for Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Who did you cast a ballot for today?

LINDA TALLEY, RETIRED NEONATAL NURSE: For Donald Trump.

ATWOOD: What's your reason?

TALLEY: I think I just believe in his values.

ATWOOD: Which ones? TALLEY: Mainly all of them. I don't agree with how he comes across at

times, but I think he gets the job done. I think he did it before. And I believe he can do it again. I do.

ATWOOD: Who did you vote for today?

JASON FAASSE, LOCAL UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE: I voted for Kamala Harris.

ATWOOD: Why is that?

FAASSE: I have three daughters, four children overall. And women's rights is pretty important to them and my daughters - sorry, I'm getting a little emotional about that. I didn't think that I was going to do that. But, you know, just their bodies, their choice type of a mentality. You know, I want them to grow up in a world that's welcoming to everybody. So, yes, that's why I cast my vote today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:40:04]

ATWOOD: Now, Kate, here at Brookside Church, just eight miles south of Grand Rapids, Michigan, I want to show you what we're seeing here. These are voters who are checking their information with the clerks. They're then getting their ballots. And then they are going over to cast their ballots and put them in the tabulator. It's a process that really only takes a few minutes.

Lines here haven't been really long today as far as we have seen. Obviously, we know that a lot of people in Michigan have cast their ballots early. That could be one of the reasons for that. But we'll continue to watch what happens here in Kent County, particularly because it is a county that both the Harris and Trump campaigns are watching closely. It was one that Trump won in 2016, that Biden won no 2020, mirroring the results across Michigan.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Another critical county in that critical state. Great to have you there, Kylie. Thank you so much, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

John, I'll send it back to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's just so great to see what was happening there in Grand Rapids behind Kylie. The process at work there, as it is across the entire country.

Now, the first swing state where the polls close is Georgia. It happens at 7:00 p.m.

With us now is the former mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Also a senior adviser now for the Harris-Walz campaign.

Mayor, thanks so much for being with us.

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), FORMER ATLANTA MAYOR: Thank you for having me.

BERMAN: What's the vibe in Georgia?

BOTTOMS: You know, people are excited. They - a lot of people voted early. Nearly half of the eligible voters voted early. We are close to passing those 2020 numbers.

But I think, in Georgia, and across this country, people are ready for this election to be over. And we are ready to move on as a country. And we've heard that in the closing messages from the vice president.

BERMAN: You know, I guess there's no real way of knowing, but four years ago Georgia wasn't actually called - we weren't able to project a winner until after we projected the winner of the presidential race. It took a long time.

Do you feel like it will take that - this long in Georgia this time?

BOTTOMS: I don't think it's going to take that long. And the secretary of state has been very adamant in making sure that the elections run smoothly. Although, as I was sitting here, I got a text from a friend who said her polling place has been evacuated because of a bomb threat, which is really unfortunate.

But there's been this elections board in Georgia that's tried to call for a hand count of millions of votes, et cetera. And at each turn the secretary of state has pushed back. So, early voting went very smoothly. And I expect that we're going to get results early in - from Georgia.

BERMAN: And again, you know, we've heard there have been stories like that about polling places, about threats being called. And we're trying to track them down right now. Hopefully it will turn out to be nothing and people can get back and cast their votes as necessary.

Fulton County, Atlanta, where you were mayor, turned out in just huge numbers for President Biden four years ago. There had been a sense, up until the final weeks of this campaign, that maybe Vice President Harris wasn't getting the numbers she needed to in some of these urban centers. What changed or didn't change in regards to that in the closing days?

BOTTOMS: Well, you know, the vice president has been to Georgia, I lost count, somewhere around 25 times. So, she's probably closer to 30 times during the entire time that she's been vice president.

She was just there a couple of days ago. So, she is pushing hard in our state. We know the vice president. She has very close personal ties in Georgia. But on top of that, she's really leaned in to making sure that people in our state know her, know what she stands for, how she has delivered for our state. And I think that's going to pay off.

BERMAN: You know, since 2020 there have been Republicans who have won in Georgia, there have been Democrats who have won in Georgia statewide. Has anything really changed over four years that might point in a certain direction? BOTTOMS: Well, I'll just remind you, Trump has not done well in

Georgia. He lost Georgia in '20. We sent Senator Ossoff and Warnock to the Senate.

BERMAN: Warnock twice.

BOTTOMS: And then Warnock back again. And Donald Trump backed the other candidate. He backed the other candidate in the governor's race, who didn't win. So, he doesn't do well in Georgia.

But again, as we remind people what's at stake here, I believe that people will - will support Vice President Harris. And she's done a great job. She's done all that she can do. We've knocked on more than a 1.5 million doors in the state of Georgia. People are still phone banking and knocking on doors as we speak. And she's been there to make the case for herself.

BERMAN: Just a few hours to go. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, great to see you in person. Thank you very much.

BOTTOMS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, we're going to show you live pictures of Burke, Virginia, a suburb of the nation's capital. You see people heading into vote. We're going to have many more live pictures for you as we are watching people turning out across the country to have their voice and their vote heard.

[09:45:04]

Also this, some of Donald Trump's final message and mood just before Election Day. We saw last night, it was dark, even revisiting his old grudge with Nancy Pelosi. What that means today?

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right, thank you for joining me back here again in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. It is a picturesque town where people vote in large numbers. They're expecting potentially about 95 percent of registered voters to come and vote in this city. It is, of course, a town in one of the blue wall states, or so-called. We're - so we're paying very close attention to what is happening here.

This is one of the states Trump won in 2016, then Biden flipped in 2020. And in Cedarburg alone, they have not voted Democrat until 2020. They had always voted Republican back to 1936. So, we are watching this very closely as a potential harbinger of what's to come for the entire state.

Joining me now, chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, Brian Schimming.

Thank you so much.

We've seen the crowds come in. People are very enthusiastic, especially here in Cedarburg. What are your hopes and worries today when it comes to your candidate?

[09:50:05]

BRIAN SCHIMMING, CHAIRMAN, WISCONSIN REPUBLICAN PARTY: Well, a lot of it for us, Wisconsin's not a party registration state. We're one of the few, I think, that aren't. And so we've been pushing very big early vote campaign for the past two years. We saw a pretty substantial early vote throughout the state of Wisconsin. You know, not as big as you saw four years ago because we were in the pandemic, but - but still larger in Republican areas that I think a lot of people anticipated. So, we're encouraged about that.

But the truth of the matter is, and the reason I pushed early vote traditionally the last two years is Republicans, and I've been blunt about it and outspoken about it, Republicans can't, you know, keep going into Election Day 100,000 votes behind and expect to make it up in 13 hours. It's just simple in my mind. Simple arithmetic.

So, the truth of it is, we're seeing big turnout, early turnout throughout the state on mail-in and early vote. We're seeing - I'm hearing anecdotally a pretty big turnout from around the state. I've been traveling. I was with the president twice last week. I was with J.D. Vance yesterday in - in Lacrosse. So, we feel good, but I - we - we've had 12 races in 24 - this gives you an idea about why we're a blue wall state. We've had 12 races in 24 years in Wisconsin that have been decided by less than 30,000 votes. So, it - turnout's important.

SIDNER: In 2020 it was 20,000 plus votes.

SCHIMMING: Right. Right. Right.

SIDNER: I do want to quickly mention, we just heard from one of the tabulators that one of the machines is down. They are fixing it as fast as they can.

SCHIMMING: Yes.

SIDNER: But they have two machines here, so people will just have to wait a little bit longer, so we should mention that.

I do want to talk to you about Donald Trump. He is, again, sowing this doubt that there's going to be tampering with this election. Do you share that concern with him when it comes to Wisconsin? Because I know there's like a 42-step process just to count the absentee ballots here.

SCHIMMING: Yes, Wisconsin, we don't actually have voting machines here. We have tabulators, as he mentioned. So, they literally count the paper ballots statewide.

One of the things that we did at the state Republican Party here, we put 6,000 poll workers together. In Wisconsin you have to recruit poll workers the year before. So, we recruited almost 6,000 poll workers across the state. A they're - a lot of them are shifted out, thousands of them today, also thousands of poll watchers, who people literally watch and observe, and a couple hundred lawyers.

So, we're in a much better position, I think, than we were in 2000 or 2022 to ensure that it's a safe election in Wisconsin. That's my focus. I've done some statewide recounts. I don't want to do another one. And we will if we have to. But really our focus is making sure the process is open and transparent and there are records there. If we have all of that, I don't have the concerns that some do.

SIDNER: You were not charged, but you were named in the Georgia indictment when it comes to trying to bring fake electors to mess with the election. Is that going to happen again this time?

SCHIMMING: The only reason that - that - well, so the issue with the electors is separate than what's going on today. I'm confident about the process that we've got here. I really am. I know lots of clerks statewide.

Wisconsin is very local election oriented.

SIDNER: Right.

SCHIMMING: We have over 1,850 polling places across the state.

SIDNER: And they count them in each polling place, so they don't go anywhere.

SCHIMMING: And they count them in each polling place. They - you do have several counties, about 36 or so, that have central count, that the clerks use for their efficiency more than anything else. But I've always said, I'm more comfortable in the - in the results if the process is open, if places like this can be observed by our observers, and that we're in the room when the count is done. If I have those three factors, I feel a lot better. But, you know, close elections tend to get recounts. I've been involved in some before, as have the Democrats, so we've - we've both had that issue.

SIDNER: We have seen it before and everyone's hoping we wont see it this time.

SCHIMMING: Yes. Right.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, Brian Schimming. I really appreciate you coming in and hanging out with me here in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. It's a great town.

SCHIMMING: Welcome to Wisconsin.

SIDNER: Thank you.

All right, back to you, John.

BERMAN: All right, we are standing by as the polls - the in-person polls are about to open out west in several states, including the key battleground of Nevada.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:58:09]

BERMAN: Polls open almost everywhere. Our reporters on the ground almost everywhere.

Let's start in CNN's Miguel Marquez in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Long lines here, John, all day long. 6:30 the polls opened here. This is the shortest we've seen them so far, with election officials expecting much, much more. Out in the parking lot, lots of energy out here. The Democrats have a tent out here. Republicans have a tent out here. Lots of signs and lots of information for voters as they go into vote. Officials inside say they expect it to be busy all day long, despite the fact that most people have already voted early.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm here in Fairfax, Virginia, and also seeing a steady flow of voters coming out here. They are being met by both sides. Fairfax Democrats and Fairfax Republicans as they head into cast their ballot. I've spoken to many Harris supporters, but I've also spoken to several Trump supporters.

And when you talk to the Harris supporters, they say abortion and democracy are their top issues. When you talk to the Trump supporters, they say economy and immigration. But they're all here. High energy, but also stress levels high.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Isabel Rosales in Atlanta as we enter this third hour of Election Day voting. At this particular polling site, all smooth, no line. The longest we saw this was just after polls opened with about 20 people back. Right now, very good. All smooth.

I did speak to the first person in line who said she wasn't sure if she was going to vote, but ultimately decided to do that. And her one reason for doing it, reproductive rights.

BERMAN: All right, Isabel Rosales in - out there in the field.

Kate Bolduan, to you.

[10:00:00]

BOLDUAN: Oh, to me. Oh, well, hello.

We are in Pennsylvania. This is the - I don't know why I was surprised. But we're