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Voting In The U.S. Electoral College; Exploring Ancient Rock Paintings; Planning For Future Offices; Schooling Santas. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired December 15, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz. Welcome to CNN 10 on this December 15th. Across the United States votes were cast yesterday in the
2020 U.S. presidential election. But Carl, you might be asking.
Didn`t that happen on November 3rd? Yes. But Americans do not directly choose their president, they choose electors. Members of the Electoral
College who cast the final votes for president and those electors met nationwide yesterday to formally certify each state`s results. This is all
part of the Constitutional election process that happens every four years. It`s getting more attention this time around because the results of the
2020 presidential election have been disputed.
Former Vice-President Joe Biden won the projected vote on election day. States were expected to certify this Electoral College win on Monday and
those Electoral College votes will be sent to Congress which will formally count them next month. So is he officially the president-elect? Some
experts say yes.
That a candidate formally gets that title when the 50 states electoral votes are certified but others say that happens when Congress officially
counts them. Either way, Congress will have completed that step on January 6th.
When we produced this show yesterday though, President Donald Trump had not conceded the election. He says he`s the rightful winner though he has
authorized the government to start the transition process to the next administration. The lawsuits that the president and his supporters have
filed have not been successful in overturning the results from several states. And yesterday, those states moved forward in making their results
official.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the United States, the popular vote doesn`t directly determine who becomes president. Under the Electoral College system, each
state gets a certain number of electors based on how many representatives it has in Congress and those people cast the official votes for president.
Historically, electors have overwhelmingly voted for the candidate who won the popular vote in their state but they can stray. If they do, they`re
called faithless electors. Faithless electors have never changed the outcome of an election but they have popped up over the years.
For example in 2016, 10 electors didn`t vote for the candidate who won their state. There are 33 states with laws that require electors to vote
for a pledged candidate but most of them don`t have any penalty for voting another way. Some states impose a fine. Some cancel the vote and replace
the elector. Then some count it as a criminal charge. In July 2020, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states could enforce these laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these nations is the only one that`s covered partially by the Amazon rainforest? Colombia, Panama, Chile or
Paraguay. On this list, Colombia is the only nation that`s touched by the Amazon rainforest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly there`s an overlap between people and these mega herbivores. It tells us that this artwork was drawn at that time period. So
this is a great chronological marker that leads to some of the earliest people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Couple weeks or a couple months maybe. That`s how long we expected to be producing this show from our remote studio when we were sent home in
March. But as the coronavirus pandemic has stuck around, we`ve more or less settled into a very different workflow.
And one question being asked by people across corporate America and beyond is how long will this continue? Some companies tried this long before the
pandemic struck. Yahoo once had a work from home option that the company did away with in 2013. Same thing for some IBM workers who were asked to
come back to the office in 2017 but will the changes of 2020 become more permanent even after the pandemic finally goes away?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This will be a working from home went mainstream right around the world. This was a how to work from home video that I made all
the way back in March. I thought this might be the way of things for a couple of months. Wow, did I get that wrong. As we reach the end of 2020,
many of us haven`t returned to the office.
We`re still on Zoom, Skype, Webex, (inaudible). While video conference fatigue has set in for some, others are happy with this new way of working.
Twitter is one company that`s embraced the change and is allowing some employees to choose to work from home permanently.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Had about 80 percent of our employees working four or five days in the office, so pretty much full time in the office. And one,
very small percentage, single digits of people who were working full time remote and that`s almost flipped.
We`ve done these surveys coming back out of it. We have in the single digits people want -- who want to spend four or five days in the office and
much more in terms of almost a third of our workforce want to be actually full time remote. Actual productivity has remained pretty steady but
people`s perception is increasing as they figure this out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Productivity is critical. Ninety percent of workers surveyed in the UK said they would like to continue working from home often
or all the time. However, only 70 percent felt they were as productive or more so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we`ll be moving to more -- more hybrid forms of working. But people do actually work a lot more at home than they used to
be before the pandemic. So it has ushered in a major change, I think, in the landscape in terms of how we work, when we work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The shift to remote has had a devastating impact on local economies. Cafes, bars and shops are reliant on office workers who
may never go back to their offices from nine to five, five days a week. Companies could reduce their office space or give up expensive leases all
together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we`re seeing from many of our clients are people choosing to work from home perhaps two maybe three days a week. That`s
(inaudible) requirement (inaudible) office. But people will come into it for a different reason.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The great work from home experiment has sparked long term change in the way that we work but isn`t for everyone whether it`s
unsuitable home environments, noisy children or in my case wayward pets. Some of us will be hoping to get back to the office in 2021.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Crazy to think of 2019 as a simpler time. When kids could just walk up to Santa, sit on his lap and get their pictures taken while they told
him what they wanted for Christmas. Now there are masks, face shields, plexiglass, sometimes computer screens between jolly young people and the
jolly old elf. But as everyone involved hopes this is the first and last year for scenes like this, they`re still finding creative ways to drum up
Christmas magic.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do have my Merry "Christmask". So what when I`m out and about I can mask up then make everyone else feel safe as well.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He`s been "iceolating" in the North Pole for 11 months. Now, Santa`s ready to get back to business with a little
help from his friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ho! Ho! Ho!
STEWART: This year many of Santa`s grottoes are closed due to COVID-19.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- we`re through. We`re through.
STEWART: Which means Santa`s helpers, who kindly step in when he`s busy, are having to learn some new skills.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to a slightly different but still wonderful Santa School.
STEWART: Santa HQ is an app allowing to Zoom chat with Santa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ho! Ho! Ho! Very good indeed. Now what we need to do is just scale it down slightly. Ho! Ho! Ho!
STEWART: It`s run by the Ministry of Fun, one of the biggest Santa recruitment firms in the UK who see plenty of benefit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get to see Santa in his home. You get longer with him because normally there`s a queue and there`s lots of people who want to
see the great man and it`s much more personal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it will be slightly different but by using video, our oldest technology, we can see our family no matter where they are in
the world.
STEWART: And you can see Santa too, now he`s Zoom ready. Anna Stewart, CNN, reporting from Santa`s London Office in the UK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ho! Ho! Ho!
(END VIDEO TAPE)
AZUZ: One of them says he always wears gloves and uses "Santatizer". That`s "Santastic". You could say it "sleighs" me. Now he probably won`t catch
coronavirus up on the house top but Mommy better not be caught kissing him. Because whether you have a White Christmas, a Blue Christmas or a Holly
Jolly one, "Navidad" would be anything but "Feliz" about that.
I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10. Pine Forest High School sounds pretty picturesque, especially this time of year. Shout out to our viewers in
Fayetteville, North Carolina. We have three shows to go before we wrap up for 2020.
END
