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CNN Live At Daybreak
Battle for California at Starting Gate
Aired August 12, 2003 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Around and around it goes now, beginning with the letter "R" officially from yesterday. California election officials determined in a lottery-style drawing where each of the possibly 250 gubernatorial candidates in the upcoming recall vote will appear on the ballot. But the process, as we have said time and again, is as unusual as it is complicated.
Bob Franken back up early again live in L.A. to take us through the events of the day today.
Bob -- how are you? What letter does your alphabet begin with?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, my letter begins with early in the morning. But, of course, California would be a state where the alphabet begins with R, W, Q. This has been an election where that would be the case.
As far as that 250 is concerned, those are the number -- that's about the number of those who actually applied. They figure it will be around 150-160 by the time they're finished certifying. By the way, they won't even know for sure until about Wednesday night -- 96 so far have been officially certified, including, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cruz Bustamante and the big names that we know about.
Now, as for that lottery, it was like a keno game, of course. And they went around and around and they came up with an alphabet that started with R and then W then Q.
I should tell you that there is a rotation, and in each county it will be different. The R-W-Q setup works in one county, but in the next county it changes, and the names that were on the top in one county go to the bottom. As I said, it's complicated. It's been that way since 1975, when the A-B-C system was declared unconstitutional, and California came up with this. But they have never come up with this for an election like the one that's coming up.
And election officials all over the state are extremely concerned that because of the huge number of people on the ballots, there could be confusion, mistakes, long delays.
Kevin Shelley is called the secretary of state, and now we know why, because he stated the obvious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN SHELLEY, CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, let me be candid on this. There are going to be problems. You know, the normal time period for preparing an election, a statewide election, is anywhere from four and a half to six months. We have been presented with a two and a half month timetable. And, as in any situation, you play with the cards that you're dealt. And the county registrars are the individuals on the front line.
And let me just say that we have the finest group of registrars within any county anywhere in the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now, one of the things that might complicate things further is a lawsuit that's planned by the American Civil Liberties Union, so, you know, there are a lot of lawsuits out there. This one is going to be taken to federal court. And basically what it says is that because of the election machine mess and because of the fact that they're still using some of the discredited machines discredited by Florida, the election should be at least postponed until next March, when the presidential primary is going to be held.
So, that could complicate things further. There is going to be a lot of politicking involved in this. This is a jumbled mess right now, and it became probably just a little more jumbled yesterday -- Bill.
HEMMER: "P" stands for politics, we know that one well. Thank you, Bob. Talk to you a bit later today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired August 12, 2003 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Around and around it goes now, beginning with the letter "R" officially from yesterday. California election officials determined in a lottery-style drawing where each of the possibly 250 gubernatorial candidates in the upcoming recall vote will appear on the ballot. But the process, as we have said time and again, is as unusual as it is complicated.
Bob Franken back up early again live in L.A. to take us through the events of the day today.
Bob -- how are you? What letter does your alphabet begin with?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, my letter begins with early in the morning. But, of course, California would be a state where the alphabet begins with R, W, Q. This has been an election where that would be the case.
As far as that 250 is concerned, those are the number -- that's about the number of those who actually applied. They figure it will be around 150-160 by the time they're finished certifying. By the way, they won't even know for sure until about Wednesday night -- 96 so far have been officially certified, including, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cruz Bustamante and the big names that we know about.
Now, as for that lottery, it was like a keno game, of course. And they went around and around and they came up with an alphabet that started with R and then W then Q.
I should tell you that there is a rotation, and in each county it will be different. The R-W-Q setup works in one county, but in the next county it changes, and the names that were on the top in one county go to the bottom. As I said, it's complicated. It's been that way since 1975, when the A-B-C system was declared unconstitutional, and California came up with this. But they have never come up with this for an election like the one that's coming up.
And election officials all over the state are extremely concerned that because of the huge number of people on the ballots, there could be confusion, mistakes, long delays.
Kevin Shelley is called the secretary of state, and now we know why, because he stated the obvious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN SHELLEY, CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, let me be candid on this. There are going to be problems. You know, the normal time period for preparing an election, a statewide election, is anywhere from four and a half to six months. We have been presented with a two and a half month timetable. And, as in any situation, you play with the cards that you're dealt. And the county registrars are the individuals on the front line.
And let me just say that we have the finest group of registrars within any county anywhere in the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now, one of the things that might complicate things further is a lawsuit that's planned by the American Civil Liberties Union, so, you know, there are a lot of lawsuits out there. This one is going to be taken to federal court. And basically what it says is that because of the election machine mess and because of the fact that they're still using some of the discredited machines discredited by Florida, the election should be at least postponed until next March, when the presidential primary is going to be held.
So, that could complicate things further. There is going to be a lot of politicking involved in this. This is a jumbled mess right now, and it became probably just a little more jumbled yesterday -- Bill.
HEMMER: "P" stands for politics, we know that one well. Thank you, Bob. Talk to you a bit later today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
