Transcripts For CNN Election Day in America 20240706 : vimar

CNN Election Day in America July 6, 2024

The polls have just opened in hawaii meaning voters in all 50 states are making their voices heard. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and Around The World. Im wolf blitzer. And im erin burnett and this is cnns continuing coverage of election day in america. Take a look. Weve got live pictures. This is a Polling Location were showing you just outside the philadelphia. So far only minor glitches with officials reporting no major Voting Issues so far, wolf. Heres whats at stake today, erin. All 435 seats are up for grabs, republicans need to turn five seats red to take it back. Over in the democratic controlled senate, 35 of the 100 seats are also in play today. All republicans need there is a net gain of one seat to change the Balance Of Power in the u. S. Congress and here in washington. As always we have our correspondents all over the map covering all the key races along with our entire cnn election team. Lets get straight to pennsylvania where there is an issue right now were told with several thousand mailin ballots in philadelphia. Cnns Jason Carroll is just north of the city. Jason, what can you tell us about this . Reporter well, of course, wolf, were talking about some 3, 600 ballots now in question, this after the state Supreme Court as you recall last week ruled that undated or improperly dated ballots cannot be counted. So as a result of that, what you this is the city of philadelphia put out a list of 3,600 names, on ballots they say, hey, look, your ballot at this point is ineligible and if you want it fixed come down and you can fix it. Yesterday when we were in philadelphia, we saw some folks lined up waiting in line to come in and try to fix their ballot. Well, today we now have the numbers of who came in to fix their ballots. Democrats really disappointed by this number. Its just 250 people so far, of course, people can come in today. They can vote by provisional ballot to try to change their ballot but these numbers very disappointing to democrats who as you know in the State Of Pennsylvania vote by mailin at higher rates than republicans do, so just 250 people so far out of the 3, 600. A lot of democrats feel a number of them will be disenfranchised as the vote gets under way. Youre in Lower Bucks County, an area that will be key to tipping the scales one way or another in that critically Important Senate race right now. Its quite a swing area were told. We did some checking. It went for obama in 2012. Trump in 2016 and then biden in 2020. Give us a little bit more. Reporter well, yeah, its bensalem, Lower Bucks County. If you look at the area of bucks county, population of 650,000 people or so, a lot of swing voters, i mean, these counties around here, talk about bucks county, Montgomery County loaded with swing voters. You can imagine theres been a lot of attention on from both sides trying to get these voters into their camp so we were out here all morning as weve seen them come out here. A steady clip to talk to them about what issues matter most to them. As you can imagine at the top of the list you have the economy, crime, and a womans right to choose. I know from previous years ive swung both ways. It really depends on what the person stands for. Thats what i vote for. This go around, a womans right to choose drove you to the polls. Absolutely. Okay, and again you identify as republican but this is the issue that this one stood out to me the most, yes. Crime is big, you know, its really big in the city of philadelphia. I would hate to see it come to the suburbs here in bucks county. The second thing is inflation. You know, theres so many people that cant afford daytoday. Its sad. Reporter so, again, a lot of diverse opinions there. Wolf, as you just heard when you think about Lower Bucks County where i am now think about a place loaded with a lot of swing voters that are sure to make the difference. Wolf. Jason carroll in bensalem, pennsylvania, thank you very much. Lets go to georgia right now where the senate race is close, a runoff is very much possible and early turnout has been high. Cnns Nick Valencia is in atlanta for us. Nick, i understand youre at a Polling Place in kirkwood, a neighborhood of atlanta. Where you say turnout has been steady at least so far. Reporter yeah, its been consistent over the last hour or so. It has considerably slowed down but they expect that to pick up later this hour as lunch has started. It has been a steady stream of people, though inside i just got out from inside and the Election Supervisor says so far theres only been about 366 people that voted and according to her thats low and attributes that to high number of early voters in the county, dekalb county, it may song fwam to some of you. In 2020 it was instrumental in handing a decisive victory for President Biden as well as Raphael Warnock and jon ossoff. Hes not on the ballot but warnock has a tough fight on his hands with Herschel Walker here and we wanted to talk to voters here in this area. Tom wilson, youve been here for 20 years. You think this is such an important election why . Just the fact that the state turned blue and we need to reinforce that fact. You are know, the election was debated. It was disputed by a lot of people. Election integrity is a big issue. For us we need people to understand this is what happened. This is what the numbers say and this is what it is, you know, so we need to come out and Support Warnock and support our mayor. We dont need to say who they are. I know you said that but we need to smore the people we believe in. Why was it so important for you to turn out to vote here . You know, theres always this thought of people being harassed at the polls, long lines holding you up. Well, you know, if you come out to vote with the intent to vote this is how its going to be. We always come to vote on election day and never had to stand in super long lines. The barack election was a little different. Lines were everywhere but in most of our elections you can come in and get your vote in. Come in and get your vote. The secretary of States Office called this process so far boring, they said its in and out. No drama to report. Nothing significant, no major outages. What was the process for you. Two minutes in and out. There was no crowd. Do you think this is a Battleground State . Living here i know it is. Tom wilson, thank you so much. Really appreciate you taking the time. God bless you, man. You heard from tom wilson and other voters. Some of the most important issues for voters here weve heard abortion, what happened with the Supreme Court, weve heard inflation, weve heard the economy and weve heard people here, democratic voters really wanting to deliver another victory here for the democrats in georgia. Erin . Interesting conversation. Nick, thank you very much. Lets go to john king and see where we stand. Lets talk about the senate since thats what nick and that voter were talking about in that case, Walker Warnock race. Democrats currently obviously have that narrow majority but the senate is totally up for grabs. Republicans need that net gain of only one seat, only one seat to get control. That would be the net gain required. What are you seeing right now . So lets go through it, 35 senate races in all, but as you noted nick is in one of the eight that with our partners at inside elections defined as competitive races up for grabs, the eighth includes georgia, four held by democrats four by republicans and that battleground pretty safe. You mentioned democrats cant afford to lose any. Lets switch maps just to get to how complicated this chessboard is when it comes to senate race, 5050 because the available breaks the tie. Democrats cannot afford. If they do they have to pick it up somewhere and thats complicated in this map. Nick in georgia, thats one of the blue states biden won. The good thing for democratic incumbents in this field is all the democratic incumbents are running in states biden won. Now they have the head winds of inflation that nick just talked about so just think about the chess game here, early on in the night when we get results republicans think they have a chance to pick up this seat in New Hampshire. Right . This is a hypothetical. This is how hard this is for democrats, the average in a president s first midterm since Ronald Reagan you lose two senate seat, the incumbent president s party loses two. What if they lose New Hampshire early on . Then what happens . They have to pick up this state in pennsylvania, currently republican incumbent not running for reelection. Fetterman would have to win and would get them back to 50 50. Thats just on the east coast. New hampshire and pennsylvania flip, then it matters what happens in georgia. Republicans think they can pick up this seat out in nevada. This is where it gets complicated. If republicans can pick up in nevada and one other in this hypothetical i said nevada and New Hampshire where do the democrats go . Thats why its so important they hold the georgia and flip pennsylvania because if they lose a couple then it gets hard then youre up to 5149. Where would they get that seat back . Long shot hopes in North Carolina, in ohio and wisconsin but most democrats would tell you if youre losing New Hampshire and if youre not winning pennsylvania, then youre probably not winning these so that is why the math is so challenging for the democrats, again, you come back to 50 50. Well watch this throughout the night. If a party loses one they currently hold woe scour the map to see if theres a flip somewhere else. So you talk about what youre going to be doing tonight but obviously, you know, were not going to know everything tonight . I know what we see in the first few hours after the polls close starting at 7 00 when a lot start to close may not be what sticks. Right and thats very important, because weve been through this and a lot of Conspiracy Theories are borne of what happened in 2020. We live in a different system. That was the covid system, more mailin ballots. What we went through, this is where we ended. This is where we ended in the president ial election in 2020. Joe biden won with 51. 3 to 46. 8 for donald trump. Thats where it ended. Remember, different states count their votes in different way, some states count those mailin early ballots first, other states dont and count Election Day Ballots first and know Election Day Ballots tend to favor republican, the mailin ballots tend to favor democrats. If you look at 9 00 on Election Night back in 2020, donald trump was leading in maine, donald trump was leading in michigan. Donald trump was leading in georgia. Joe biden was leading in ohio and in texas. It didnt turn out that way because, erin, it takes time to count the votes. Play it out over time and look at it. Trump still here at 10 00 at night. Trump estimate leading in michigan and maine. You have to go forward as they kept counting the votes and even then, you know, joe biden, 12 00 midnight on thursday, november 5th, thats when biden starts to take the lead and not until we get to this is friday and then saturday we called pennsylvania. We need to be patient tonight. You will see red mirages and blue mirages, those are legal votes but some states will count the election day first, others count the mailin ballots first and it can get confusing, just have patient. Theyll all be counted by the end and then well know the winger. John, thank you very much. Next, wisconsin where the republican senator considered by many to be the most vulnerable is neck and neck with his democratic challenger. The first time your sales reached 100k was also the first time you hit this note. screams in joy save 20 with e lowest Transaction Fees and ke more of what you make. With aartner that always puts you first. Godaddy. Tools and support f every Small Business first. 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And with their insurance, it was no cost to them. Woman really . Tech thats service the way you need it. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. President biden turned wisconsin from red to blue in the last president ial election. This time republican senator ron johnson is facing a very strong challenge from the states Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes and the states democratic governor is trying for a second term. Lucy cavanaugh is talking to voters. What are you seeing and hearing, lucy . Reporter well, wolf, this is one of the most unique voting Polling Centers here in w milwaukee. Its an art museum but there are much bigger issues drawing voters to this location. One of the most tight governors races and an incredibly Important Senate race. Weve been talking to voters throughout the day. Theyve been talking about pressure they feel to cast ballot in this particular election because of the issues that are at stake. Take a listen. I dont know. Im at work and my friends are, did you vote, did you vote, okay, yeah, im going. Im going. I just feel like a lot of pressure. So the issues for you in this election are womens rights, i dont want to ruin your thing but legalizing marijuana. Guns, you know, all the violence and stuff, thats not how america should be, right . But i think about taxes, for me religious freedom is a big deal and that actually goes hand in hand with abortion because to me thats tied from my personal beliefs and i believe inflation is a big topic of conversation and how we can combat that. Reporter and you know at the beginning of the year wisconsin was considered one of democrats top opportunities to flip a Republican Controlled Senate seat. Mandela barnes had a slight lead in the polls but we have seen that evaporate somewhat in recent weeks amid a barrage of negative advertising and so this is a truly competitive state in a truly competitive race in a truly purple state which President Biden won by less than 21,000 votes. A lot will depend on turnout. A lot will depend on how these ballots are actually cast, erin. Thank you very much. Lets bring in our panel for our first conversation, bacardi sellers, former democratic member of the South Carolina house of representatives. Ana navarro our capitol hill contributor, Ashley Alison served as National Coalitions director for the biden harris 2020 campaign and with me the Georgia Republican Lieutenant Governor jeff duncan. Okay, thanks to all. So, actually lucy is talking about wisconsin and the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal went back and only in the past 40 years one race has been decided by fewer than three points and in a hundred years its only been two so it doesnt usually go this way. This is unusual. Are you surprised by how tight some of these races are . Im not. I think that democrats for the last two years had a clear agenda. They tried to get as much done. They had obstructions by republicans and theyve run really good races. We have seen turnout be so high both on the republican side and democratic side so im not surprised every race is super tight but i do think it actually is a strong sign for democrats. We were supposed to get womped. Like everyone a year ago, theres no chance for democrats. Its clear that people are aligned with what the values of the Democratic Party is. Its just a matter can as many candidates pull it out. Lieutenant governor, how do you see it . I think theres this overwhelming batch of voters on an island on their own trying to figure out fact from fiction and continuing to be barraged by the economy and all kinds of other issues and have a president currently if youre a democrat trying to figure out how far and fast can you run from him and its just this mixed bag of how do you figure out fact from fiction when you show up. I think were not good at polling anymore. Yes. I think we have this early accelerated Voting Pattern and folks have gotten used to voting early so i think the polling is abstract and inaccurate and do a deep div

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