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Voters Head for the Polls; Obama Casts Vote in Chicago; McCain Votes in Arizona; Voting Emotional for Voter Recalling Unfair Treatment

Aired November 04, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My best first time voting, and hopefully, it does make a difference.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the way it should be every year, but it hasn't been. This turnout (INAUDIBLE) So many people interested in an election.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is it. The time is now. The choice is yours. And no matter how it turns out, we've never seen an election like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For years, black families have had to listen to what we were not. Now there's a vision of what we are and what can be.

PHILLIPS: The new president will make history, whoever he is. But for generations of African-Americans, this isn't just political. It's personal.

Machines can fail, mistakes can happen. It can rain, or all of the above. We're tracking your election day reports to the CNN voter hotline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get right to it.

We are all a part of history today as America votes. All of the speeches and rallies and ads and debates and primaries and caucuses and controversies lead up to this. We're following the balloting from sea to shining sea. And while we certainly don't have any results yet we see huge turnout in many places, surprisingly sparse crowds in others. We're also keeping on top of voter registration issues, machine glitches, even the weather that's affecting the voting. And we're counting on you to keep calling in to the CNN voter hotline and tell us what is going on.

Leading off our coverage this hour are CNN's John Zarrella in Florida, Jessica Yellin in Barack Obama's home base on Chicago and Ed Henry in John McCain's home base of Phoenix. Now, in Florida, more than 4 million of the state's 11.2 million registered voters -- that's more than 37 percent -- voted before the polls opened this morning. But early voting is history. Regular voting is happening, and John Zarrella is watching.

How's it going, John? I'm glad you voted weeks ago.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, I am, too. But you know what? It's interesting. Here in Palm Beach County, where we are, which of course, was the scene of, as the Democrats would call, the crime in 2000, very light. You can see behind me there's only one lady now coming in to vote. All of the voting booths are empty right now. We had about 25 people here early on when the polls first opened at 7 a.m. Eastern Time.

But now, down in Miami-Dade county and in Broward County, two of the largest counties in the state of Florida, they're reporting lines of one hour to two hours long. Right now at lunchtime, of course, you're getting that big crowd rushing in. And they expect here in Palm Beach County that we will see an increase of people after about 5 p.m. in the afternoon.

Now, a lot of the folks I talked to today were telling me, you know, this is historic for a lot of reasons: certainly, Barack Obama; certainly, Sarah Palin. But more importantly they were telling me it's important because of the facts that so many people are exercising their right to get out and the vote.

And I spoke with one young man who was motivated by a very personal, very private reason to come out today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK GARCIA, BROTHER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN: It's my brother. He was in the Army. He was in Afghanistan, and August 1 of his year he passed away. Roadside bomb. It's -- the main reason why I came to vote.

ZARRELLA: In his honor?

GARCIA: In his honor.

ZARRELLA: He would have wanted to you do this?

GARCIA: Yes. He would have wanted everybody that's an American citizen to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, he was telling me also -- that's Rick there -- that his brother Jair (ph) had only been in Afghanistan for two months when he died, but since then, all of their friends and all of their relatives, many people who had never even registered to vote before, Kyra, signed up, went and registered. And they are today out voting in places around the country. So, again, here in Florida, no lines here right now in Palm Beach County, but certainly in other parts of the state -- Miami-Dade, Broward, which are heavily Democratic, Barack Obama is counting on -- are voting heavily there. And over on the west coast, the Tampa area, we're hearing reports of very heavy voting.

And again, Barack Obama needs southeast Florida to offset the Republican strongholds in the panhandle and north Florida -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We're watching history unfold on all types of levels. John Zarrella, thanks so much.

ZARRELLA: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And if you run into problems at the polls, we do want to hear from you. Call the CNN voter hotline. Help us track the problems. We'll support the trouble. Just call 1-877-462-6608. We're "Keeping them Honest" through the election and beyond.

Well, Barack Obama was up and at 'em early this morning, casting his ballot in Chicago. He and his wife, Michelle, were among the first to vote after polls opened. Looking on were their two young daughters.

Our Jessica Yellin is in Chicago.

We were joking, Jessica, on how it took so long, then we found out he was voting for, like, 50 judges.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have a very long ballot here, and it took his wife even longer to vote. They want to be exact, I guess. It's, you know, a day when everybody here in Chicago, sort of sitting and waiting. They feel like there's not a lot they can do, the campaign staff. And so they say they are cautiously optimistic, but a little bit nervous.

Right now Barack Obama has just crossed back over into Illinois after making a stop in neighboring Indiana. That's a longtime red state that he said today he feels he can win, and he hopes he will. So he made an impromptu visit there.

We expect him to play basketball soon, because as you might recall from the primaries, that was his sort of good luck activity. There was one primary where he didn't play basketball that day, and he lost. So he ever more played basketball every primary day.

I spoke to somebody, I just got off the phone with someone at Chicago headquarters for Obama here, Kyra. And they tell me it's actually pretty quiet there, because so many of their aides have gone to Indiana and other places to help try to get out the vote, as I said. They feel there's not much else they can do. So they're helping with the ground game.

They are cheered by the numbers of people turning out to vote. They feel a strong turnout is good for Barack Obama. But, again, nervous today. And the many of Obama's top aides are busy. Some are with him, and some are just sitting in chairs, waiting to do interviews of folks like us all day long. That's really what campaign staff does on a day like this.

We're not expecting to see Barack Obama much, except for on local TV interviews, until his speech tonight -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Jessica Yellin in Chicago. Thanks, Jessica.

And John McCain cast his ballot in Phoenix, Arizona, just about two hours ago. The poll's station was swirling with reporters, but that didn't slow McCain down. He was in and out within minutes.

CNN's Ed Henry is in Phoenix.

Hey, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Kyra. You're absolutely -- absolutely right. It's really a mix of the politics and the personal. After taking care of business himself, as you said, in voting, John McCain heading now to two battleground states, sort of breaking with tradition for him. Going out on election day, going to be in Colorado and New Mexico. A rally in Colorado.

New Mexico, he's going to go to sort of one of these call centers where volunteers are working the phones, trying to get people to the polls, because they think these mountain west states will be really critical in trying to get to that magic number of 270 electoral votes.

Now, as for the personal, John McCain, after he returns later this afternoon, will be here at the Arizona Biltmore. This is a place where he's traditionally been on election night for his Senate races. He feels very comfortable here. In fact, he had his wedding reception here with Cindy McCain back in the '80s. And clearly, this is sort of in his comfort zone.

He's going to, in fact, be tonight watching returns in the Barry Goldwater Presidential Suite, another Arizonan who ran for president, obviously, in 1964. John McCain hoping he doesn't suffer the same fate, as being someone from Arizona running and not actually winning.

I can tell you he got pretty emotional last night when John McCain in the wee hours of this morning had a rally in Arizona. He and Cindy McCain both got pretty emotional as they addressed the crowd. They realize this is a big, big tonight, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ed Henry, thanks so much.

Well, straight ahead, she remembers those days when fear ruled the land. If were you an African-American now, renewed faith from a woman who's amazed that a black man might be elected president. We're going to hear from the woman who remembers the Ku Klux Klan coming to her family home when she was a young girl.

Voting irregularities are a big stain on democracy. Despite everything that's been done over the last few years, we're still hearing about plenty of problems today. We're going to speak with the head of the Government Election Assistance Commission.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Smooth sailing or polling problems? We'll hear reports of both. Where are the red flags, and do voters have any recourse? We're going to ask the experts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, many of you have probably seen video from our morning editorial meetings. We like bringing you into the fold when our discussions get heated, passionate even emotional.

Well, today it was emotional. Why? Well, I'm very fortunate to have a diverse team and, believe me, no one holds back when it comes to speaking from the heart. Which leads me to my executive producer, Tynesha (ph). That's her right there in the control room. She was telling us how emotional her mom got when she voted for president this year.

Just imagine being black and being told you were not good enough. Well, that happened to Tynesha's (ph) mom for years, working in the fields of Mississippi. But times have changed, and black voters, like Tynesha's (ph) mom, not only have voting rights; they now have the opportunity to vote for a black presidential candidate. And that has led many black voters like Tynesha's (ph) mom to tears.

Velma Pate joins me on the phone now from Glenwood, Illinois.

Hello, Velma.

VELMA PATE, VOTER: Hi. How you doing?

PHILLIPS: Good. I'm so glad that you were able to call in. I know it's a busy day for you. Tell me. I heard it from Tynesha (ph). We talked about it in our morning meeting. But why was this voting time so emotional for you?

Pate: Well, first of all, I just want to say that it was exciting, the opportunity to just be see a black man, Barack Obama, making history. Just to see his name on the ballot, No. 1 at the top, for president of the United States. That brought tears to my eyes, because it took me back for a minute, back into the '60s when my grandfather was marching to Memphis for the right to vote.

PHILLIPS: Wow. And you actually remember as a little girl the KKK coming to your house, right? Tell me about that.

PATE: Yes. We would be at home, at nighttime, and then while -- my grandfather was out marching. So whenever they'd leave and go and march in the march of Memphis, the KKK would come to the house. We did not understand know what it was all about.

But my grandmother would say don't go to the window. Don't go to the door. And we would look out and see that the KKK was wrapped up in white sheets over their heads with the sticks, with five blades burning, and we in the window. And our grandmother telling us to get from the window. You know, not knowing that our father, our parents, were trying to make it for us to be able to vote as black people.

PHILLIPS: Well, and I think about, you know, your grandfather, Tynesha's great-grandfather, and he actually got out and marched with Martin Luther King. Do you remember that? You were too young to go. Right? Do you remember wanting to go and participate in that moment?

PATE: Yes. I was young. Too young to go. Maybe like 5 or 6. My sister, Gwen C. House (ph), she was a part of that. She was 19 (ph); I was 6, and she was actually in that march with my grandfather. And me being young, I didn't understand why I couldn't go.

Well, I couldn't go, because I was too young to fight and be out and walk all over. They were walked and trampled over in order so that we could have a right to do certain things, to vote and to -- and the racial -- we was in a racial town where we had to work in the fields and -- and say, "Yes, sir and no, sir." And the "N" word was -- we were being called the "N" word, but we could not go back and say anything, because our grandparents would say, "You can't say anything," because they would come after them.

PHILLIPS: Wow. So just finally, Velma, when you worked in those fields for 25 cents, and you remember being called the "N" word and you remember the KKK coming up to your doorstep. Did you ever think that this moment would ever happen? I mean, it's taken so long. Too long, actually. But 2008 a black man running for president. Did it ever enter your mind that it would become a reality?

PATE: Yes. Now, yes, I believe, because I believe in God. I know that God is, can do anything to help, and he won't fail us. So, yes, I do believe that this time is the time that God is calling for his people to come together, for the blacks to lead the United States of America.

PHILLIPS: Velma Pate.

PATE: And I want to take it back to the -- we also could not drink water only from the coloreds fountain.

PHILLIPS: It's amazing. It's amazing how far we have come. And Velma Pate, we like to call you Prophet Pate around here, because you're such a wise woman. Thanks for calling in and personalizing a story that's close to all of us. Thank you so much.

PATE: OK. I'd just like to leave a word with the American people today. Now we see God is at work. Last week we was in coats and hats and gloves and this, today, we see God's hand. He allowed the sun to shine in darkness. We know that darkness (ph), there comes the light. And we're living in an amazing time. It is a time for great spiritual life, for God to command his love to shine out of darkness, into (ph) a marvelous light.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Our Prophet Pate. Velma, I'll be talking to you soon. Your daughter is very proud, and I know you're proud of her. We can't forget...

PATE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Oh, it was great talking to you.

We can't forget that race isn't the only historic aspect of this election. Sarah Palin's already made history as the first woman on a Republican ticket, and if that ticket wins, of course, she'll be the first woman vice president.

The first and only other female running mate from a major party was Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. Ferraro teamed with Walter Mondale to challenge Ronald Reagan and the current president's father, only to lose every state except Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

Next hour, CNN's Frank Sesno will join me to dig a little deeper into history and the history being made today.

Now before we move on, I want to show you one more thing. On such a monumental day, it sums up what we at CNN are all about. It's a full-page ad in the "New York Times." Our incredible head of marketing and promos, Scott Saffon (ph), had a vision. And I thought I should share it with you. I saw it as I was walking down the hallway today, and it caught my attention. This is what it says.

"There is a moment, a simple moment, before history gets recorded, before it goes into the books, before it appears as a question on a game show or on a mid-term exam; a moment right before the headline is written. There is a moment when history lives in the present, and we can watch it unfold in real time right before our eyes. And we can all assume our place in it. Some people live for history. We live for the moment just before."

Important electoral votes in states too close to call, which way will they swing today? We're on the ground live on the battlegrounds.

And CNN iReporters are sending us election-day pictures and videos from across the land. We have got some of them just for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Leading our political ticker, election-day breakdowns in a battleground state. As the polls opened across Virginia, there were reports of voting machines not working or not enough machines, and that caused long lines at the polls. Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and Richmond are just some of the cities where paper ballots were put to use to keep the lines moving.

Tradition lives on in New Hampshire. Barack Obama, the big winner in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location. Every four years, those two towns are the first in the nation to have their election-day ballots tallied. Voters cast their ballots just after midnight.

In Dixville Notch, Obama got 15 votes to 6 for John McCain, the first time since 1968 that a Democrat has won. In Hart's Location, Obama got 17 votes to McCain's 10.

And Democrats in the Senate are aiming for a magic number: 60. If the party adds nine more seats to its current roster, its majority will be filibuster-proof. That means that Republicans could no longer use unlimited speeches to keep legislation from coming up for a vote. Thirty-five Senate seats are on the line today; 23 of them are currently held by Republicans.

And check out our political ticker for all the latest campaign news. Just logon to CNNpolitics.com, your source for all things political.

Well, rain is part of the equation in Virginia. And while it may or may not be having an affect on turnout, it is affecting certain machines. CNN's Joe Johns is watching the voting in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Hey, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. We're getting quite a look at this area. If my count is correct, we're now at the fourth precinct of the day.

This is Green Run High School, in the Virginia Beach area. And we were told earlier today that there were very long lines outside this high school, but I can tell you right now, there's no line to speak of outside, though there are a lot of people inside. It's been very busy.

We started out the day at a heavily African-American precinct inside the city of Roanoke. I'm sorry, Norfolk, Virginia, and we talked to a number of people who were standing outside in the line. Some had been out there for quite a while in the rain. The African- American voters, as you know, really turned out in a lot of the different areas around Virginia.

Let's listen to a little bit of what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to see Barack Obama to be the first black president in U.S. history. And, you know, with my wife, you know, she's always telling me, you know, "You need to come out and vote. You need to come out and vote." And her persistence got me out here voting first thing this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's great.

JOHNS: Yes, yes. Did you ever think you'd see this day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. But we're here. It's here.

JOHNS: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't think it would. But it's here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: So, problems. There have been some problems, concerns about the number of machines at a number of precincts. We're at a precinct just a little while ago that had a huge line, around 6 a.m. this morning, when polling was supposed to start. It didn't start, because the precinct chief wasn't there with the equipment they needed to get things going. They straightened that up, we're told, by the Virginia Board of Elections, that there were really only two precincts in the state that did not open on time, due to human error. And that, of course, was one of them.

So we're keeping an eye open for problems. Of course, this afternoon, the drive time, the rush here, the last chance for people to vote. We do expect to see some larger crowds.

Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Joe. You stay in touch with us. Thanks so much.

And our iReporters are at polling station across the country and sending us pictures and video. Our Josh Levs checking in with some of them. He joins us now.

Josh, what are you finding?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are getting so much. It's a great day. We have a big team, piecing through them nonstop.

Let's zoom in here. I want to show you some stuff. First of all, if you just go to the main page of iReport, you'll see a lot that are about the election. And scroll down. We're just going to see some of the latest here. They're coming in from all over the country.

One of the coolest features, though, that I like is this. Look at this. This is a map that shows you where some of the most recent -- can we zoom way in? Shows you where some of the most recent ones came to us from. And when you look at this, you can refresh any time. Just click on any city.

So here's one that seems to be coming from Massachusetts. You see what the people are saying when they send that in. It keeps getting refreshed every time we get new ones, and it's lots and lots of stories.

Now, Kyra, you won't be surprised. Some people are saying they have these incredibly long lines. Some people, quite the opposite. We made some graphics of some graphics. Let's go to these. I want to show you these so you can see how different they were in some different locations.

This one, first of all, is coming to us -- where is this one coming to us from? From Washington, Illinois. And apparently, it was just not so bad there. Once you got in line, she was able to move forward.

Let's go through two more here. We've got one that you're going to see. That is -- this one says that Peter managed to make it through, I think, in less than an hour, which is also not too bad.

But one of the most striking ones is this last one out of Washington, D.C. Look at that. Apparently, people were lining up there before 4 in the morning, Karen tells us. And apparently, they were waiting there for quite a while before they could even get in.

We encourage you to send your photos, videos, stories now.

I've been bringing you some interesting stories from people who voted today, but I've got to tell you, we also saw this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we go. Heads Obama, tails McCain. And who will it be? It's going to be heads, Obama. So I just hope and pray, and I'm going to stick by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: That is how she made her choice, folks. She's from Washington, Illinois, by the way. That is how she made her choice, through a coin toss. I guess if that's the only way that she could come up with it, why not?

Look, we encourage you. Visit iReport.com. Send us your stories. How did you make your choice? Why did you make your choice? Interact with us throughout the day.

And Kyra, we're going to keep bringing you the words of iReporters throughout the day. And like I said, big team. We're going to keep checking on it. And we'll see you again next hour.

PHILLIPS: All right. Great. Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Umbrellas the order of the day for voters in parts of country. Our Chad Myers keeping track of election day weather for us.

Chad, a lot of people dealing with wet ballots, and that's caused a nightmare for poll workers, believe it or not.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I heard. Some of the ballots -- people were so wet by the time they got in, they actually made their ballots soggy, and the soggy ballots wouldn't go through some of the machines. I know these things are few and far between, and most of the stories are much better than that, thank goodness.

The rain showers from Baltimore through the nation's capital. The middle part of the country just absolutely couldn't be any better. Even record highs yesterday. We'll probably see some record highs again today. The west and the northwest, not the same story. There aren't too many battleground states up here, though. I think the minds are met -- made up here. From Seattle even down to Portland, there are snow showers in the mountains above 5,000 feet. And also a lot of snow into Salt Lake City and The Benches (ph) north of Salt Lake City. Could be two feet of snow in some of the ski resorts into parts of Utah and to Colorado.

And then the contrast to that, which is east of there, Mason City, Iowa, was 75 yesterday. Rapid City, South Dakota, 79. And not much different today. A nice, warm day out there. So if you're standing in line in the middle of the country, you might need sunscreen, not an umbrella, Kyra, if you stand there too long.

PHILLIPS: Wow. OK. Our wacky weather.

MYERS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Boxed (ph) out of the balloting, broken machines, late poll workers and long lines: just a few of the problems that voters have reported, in addition to those wet ballots. We'll go in-depth with a guest, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Ali Velshi, it looks like you're keeping your title of Hairless Prophet of Doom. Although, we're not talking about the economy. We're talking about voting problems.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you. There definitely are problems out there today. Many of them do seem to be related to the turnout, the number of people voting.

You know, we've got this voter hotline going, you can see it on the side of the screen there -- 877-GOCNN-08, or 877-462-6608. Kyra, we've had more than 60,000 calls to the hotline now. More than 13,600 of them just since polls opened today. We've got nine states identified at high volume problems. That's more than 95 complaints per million people. Those are New York, New Jersey, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Missouri.

I'll tell you how problems are breaking down. I think we might have a chart. The biggest single grouping of problems, that's the green bar that you see there. Those are mechanical problems; voter machine malfunction or mechanical failure. The blue line to its left are registration problems. That's voters who are not on the registration rolls. They think they're at the right place to vote.

Please, if you are not on the rolls, double, triple check that you're at the right place before you accept a provisional ballot. If you're not on the roll and you can't find where you have to vote, you may be given a provisional ballot. But, depending where you are, that may or may not count. So, make sure you're in the right place.

The third biggest problem, that's the orange bar that you've got toward the right of the screen, is poll access. And largely, Kyra, that's got to do with lines being too long. We do have a section, a complaint code called coercion and that is growing a little bit. We're investigating places where people are feeling intimidated, or somehow unable to vote.

And Kyra, we got one call from a voter in Kansas City, Missouri. That they got there and none of the voting books, the voting rolls were right. And what it turned out was that they were given -- they were bound the wrong way. So, it had the top said that it was for this particular precinct. But, the actual voting rolls were not for the right precinct. That problem has been remedied.

But, we thank people for calling us. Because if you call us, we can investigate, we can map out if there are other people calling with a similar problem. And we will call the Board of Elections or the secretary of state and try to get the problem worked out. So, please call us. If you don't know where you have to vote, this phone call you our line can actually help you find your polling place. Call us and let's get everybody who needs to vote out there today, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, you let me know when you hear from more folks, OK?

VELSHI: Absolutely will.

PHILLIPS: All right. We're standing by. Thanks.

VELSHI: OK.

PHILLIPS: The candidates blitz the battleground states. But, right up until the polls opened this morning, there were a bunch of states still too close to call. And several more potentially, still up for grabs. We've got all of them covered. Right now, let's focus on Colorado, where Dan Simon is standing by. And in Virginia, we've got Dan Lothian. They're seeing record turnout in Virginia, but also reporting problems at the polls.

We hear some of them are due to the weather, Dan. Is that right?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The problem with the weather was that people were going into these polling places. They had water dripping off of them and then these optical scanner machines, the ballots were getting wet and so it wouldn't record their vote.

So, they came up with a plan where they could take those ballots and put them in a secure box. So, they took care of that problem. And also, it stopped raining now. So, that's no longer an issue.

We also had a problem at a polling place about eight miles or so, away from here in downtown Richmond, where they had five of the seven voting machines broke down. So, they had to switch to paper ballots. They were able to bring in some additional machines. So, that situation, we are told has been fixed.

At this polling place where we are at right now it's kind ever quiet. You look behind me now, you don't see a long line here. But, earlier this morning, boy, I'll tell you. The line was snaking through this parking lot and going around the block. Folks lined up here, getting ready to vote two hours before the polls opened.

Now, a while ago when he a chance to talk to three generations of one family. One of them is a 19-year-old voting for the first time. There's a 75-year-old grandmother then a 44-year-old aunt. All of them are Barack Obama supporters and they talked about what this day meant to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIOLA GARNER, GRANDMOTHER: It's marvelous. God kept me here for some reason and I guess this supposed to be it.

SHAQUILLE JOHNSON, GRANDSON: He inspires, you know what I'm saying, a lot of young African-American men. He inspired me, you know what I'm saying. He makes me want to do better.

DENISE FORTSON, AUNT: It's just wonderful that we can have this opportunity to have somebody of color to represent the United States. And that's exactly what he's doing. He's representing everyone in the United States, not just the African-American community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: So a lot of pride from that family and pride from others, as well who just feel a good, feel good to be taking part in this process in what they're calling a historic election.

And Kyra, I should also point out that in terms of the long lines, all across the state we're being told by election officials who just wrapped up a press briefing that the lines really are not much of a problem at this point. They said we he a lot of problems with lines earlier in the day, but things have really quieted down. And what they're doing is encouraging voters to come out now during this quiet period because things will pick up as people start getting off their work -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Dan Lothian, thanks so much.

And in the last 40 years, Colorado's backed a Democrat for president just once. Bill Clinton in '92. This year Dems hoping to score again and Dan Simon is live in Denver.

Dan, we hear things are going smoothly, yes?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So far, so good here in Colorado. We're hearing that pretty much all throughout the state, we're not really seeing any lines. We are in Arapahoe County, this is a battleground within a battleground. A lot of people think this county a good barometer in terms of how the rest of the state is going to go. Let's just show you what it looks like in here. If you're watching and you live in the area, hey, look. It looks pretty good. You're not seeing any lines. And perhaps that has something to do with the fact that more than half of the people in this state have already voted. About 53 percent.

So maybe that's why we're not seeing a lot of lines. We're also getting close to lunch hour. So maybe, you know, as soon as we approach noon here, local time, we'll start seeing some more lines.

We're going to step outside here, Kyra, because you can't talk politics within 100 feet of a polling place because you don't want to influence the people who are already voting. You don't want to distract them. So we have Monique here, as we stepped outside. She just cast her ballot for Barack Obama.

And, what's going through your mind today?

MONIQUE MCDOWELL, VOTED FOR OBAMA: Well, it's just really exciting just to in my lifetime, 26 years old. And just being able to see what could possibly be the first African-American president of the United States.

And also seeing that it's not about race. It's really about the issues for this election. Just really seeing it in states like Oregon, where you have like over 80,000 people coming out, supporting Barack Obama. And just knowing that it's all about the issues here.

So just really excited about that and just knowing that we have a candidate that we can believe in and also we have people supporting him and just knowing that the nation is behind him, as well.

SIMON: A little surprised to see the short line in there? Basically no line?

MCDOWELL: Yes. Very surprised.

SIMON: Because you know, you've been watching local news. And of course, they've been expressing concern that there were going to be a lot of lines here in the state of Colorado, Kyra, because, of course, this is a battleground state.

Just in terms of the realities of what we're seeing here on the ground. And in terms of how this race is shaping up, Barack Obama up six points in the polls. And in terms of the early number votings, numbers that we have seen, more Democrats have voted than Republicans. So, it appears that by every objective measure, Barack Obama is poised to carry the state of Colorado. But, we're going to be watching the state very carefully.

Of course, John McCain holding a rally in Grand Junction, Colorado. That's a very conservative part of the state. The feeling is among the campaign's campaign is that if they can get the rural vote, particularly the Colorado Springs area, as well, which is very conservative, that perhaps they might be able to pull off an upset here in the state of Colorado. We'll send it back to you now in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: Dan Simon, thank you so much.

Well, it's a good luck strategy that Barack Obama has always done on voting day. Shooting hoops. And rumor has it our own Don Lemon may be teaching the presidential candidate possibly how to jade a three?

He's joining us from Grand Park, Chicago.

Is that true, Don? You're taking him to the courts?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra, you know what? You know that whole basketball myth, I'm not part of it. I cannot play basketball.

But do you remember a year ago, Kyra, were we in North Carolina, producer Sonya Houston who works with you now. Remember when Barack Obama made that basket, a three pointer and then we got him over live to talk about it? Do you remember that?

PHILLIPS: Yes. I do remember that. He's got some good moves.

LEMON: Here's the reason why. He's got play against a 6'5 guy today. Hopefully you'll be on team. Arne Duncan is joining us now, Krya. He is the CEO -- come in here just a little bit -- he's the CEO of Chicago public schools. 6'5. They've made this is tradition. Every primary you have been playing.

So, how does it feel now? The pressure's on.

ARNE DUNCAN, CEO, CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS: This is staggering. It's just absolutely amazing. And when we've played on primary day, we've always always won. So, we're the good luck charms and we hope this happens again today for him.

LEMON: Last time you beat Chris Duhon, the starting guard for the New York Knicks.

How did that happen?

DUNCAN: We've got some good plays. Barack's a tough, tough competitor. I think people have no idea what a great competitor he is. And he can play. So, this has been a lot of fun. And it's just absolutely earth shattering to see what might happen today.

LEMON: Yes. You know, I asked you. I said, are you guys ready? You and some other people -- who's playing? John Rogers, who's on his finance committee; Alan King, a good friend; Eric Whitaker; Marty Nesbitt, a best friend. And they said, you know what? We're old guy, we're not ready, Don.

Do you feel that way?

DUNCAN: We're all getting old. But there's this great camaraderie. These are friendships that are 10, 15, 20 years old. It's really been based around competing on the basketball court. So, just phenomenal folks who have been with him the long haul and a it's just a chance for him to relax and enjoy himself before coming out and facing the world.

LEMON: We're up against a break but I've got to ask you this. Can you believe this? You're just the guy that plays basketball with him. Can you believe that he might be the president of the United States? Might.

DUNCAN: It's staggering. I've never obviously seen anything like this in my life. And I probably won't again. It's just absolutely amazing. I'm just so proud of what he's going to do.

LEMON: Thank you. Arne Duncan, who is the CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Thanks very much.

Kyra, I'm going to throw it back to you. But, I got to tell you, that's all people are talking about, here. It's like what about this big basketball game, Don? Who's he going to play with? Where are they going to play? Do you think he's going to win? Are they going to bring in some help from professional teams? That's the talk of the town here, besides what's going on at Grant Park.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll follow it.

Don Lemon, thanks so much.

And problems at the polls, or lack thereof depends on where you're voting, We had iReporters telling us incredibly long lines, broken voting machines, general chaos is what they're dealing with. Other people, well, they're just zipping right in and zipping out. Rosemary Rodriguez chairs the government's Election Assistance Commission, which came about in part in large part because of the voting mess in 2000.

Rosemary, you're already getting tons of calls and people telling you what they're dealing with. Hoaxes. I mean, we're getting up to the -- just before I got on the air, two more hoaxes that we we learned about.

Are you seeing that as main problem right now? Or something else?

ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ, CHAIR, ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION: Well, what we're seeing right now is a lull in the polls. So, one of your reporters, one of your correspondents said now is probably a good time to vote if you haven't voted yet. And we agree.

This down time is an excellent time to vote because there will be that natural tendency for voters to vote after work. So, if you have any flexibility in your schedule and you're a voter, now's the time to go and you may avoid a line. We're going to probably see some lines at the end of the day. So now's a great time to exercise your right.

PHILLIPS: OK. So, obviously long lines. But get out there and vote. In some places, it's getting better than others. But, with regard to the hoaxes, I'm concern about this. Because people are getting e-mails, they're getting calls. There's even been some things issued in Spanish, talking about voting on November 9th.

Tell us about some of the hoaxes out there that are getting you a little worried and may confuse people?

RODRIGUEZ: Well what we really need for election officials to do is an soon as they hear mis-information or a hoax, or something more sinister, to make every effort to get the correct information out as soon as to possible. Through e-mail, through reverse phone calls, through elected officials that are trusted in their communities. It's very important that the voters realize today is their day. It's not any other day but today. It ends at a certain hour. And today is the day for them to exercise their right.

PHILLIPS: OK. And one in particular. George Mason University. Apparently someone hacked into the e-mail system, said the election had been postponed to Wednesday. So, we just want to let people know, nothing has been postponed. Today's Tuesday, get out and vote. It's your only opportunity.

Virginia, you saw two problems there. One being military voters. There was a lawsuit that was filed. And also, wet ballots. Why don't we start with the wet ballots. What happened?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, apparently it was pouring rain and some voters got wet. And in holding their ballots, once they got into the polling place, the ballots got damp. And, of course, they can't be scanned, they'll disintegrate. So the option would be to destroy that original ballot and vote again, or to somehow dry them out. And it sounds like that's what they're doing in Virginia.

With the military voters, the McCain campaign filed a lawsuit yesterday, and we are all waiting to see if it's going to prevail and if those voters will have an extra 10 days to realize that their votes may be counted.

PHILLIPS: All right. Rosemary Rodriguez. You can always log-on to your web site, too, at www.eac.gov. And I know you can call the office, as well.

Thank you so much. We'll stay in touch with you.

Also we want to hear from you, if you run into any problems at the polls. You can call the CNN voter hotline, help us track the problems and we'll report the trouble as, well. Call 1-877-462-6608. We're keeping then honest, all the way through the election and beyond.

Well, elections, always the first Tuesday of November. So, why? Well, we'll have an answer to that question of the day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, leading our political ticker, the state of Sarah Palin's health. Just hours before the election day, the McCain campaign released a letter from Palin's doctor saying the GOP vice presidential candidate is if excellent health. Palin is the last of the contenders on both tickets to release a medical history in some form.

And in parts of the country, bogus robocalls are confusing voters about when and where to vote. Sometimes what seems like a dirty political trick is simply a mistake. In Virginia, robocalls were telling people the wrong precinct at which to vote. And election officials blame the computer glitch and made new calls with the correct information.

Well, it's a rarity in a presidential election. A sitting member of Congress moving to the Oval Office. It'll happy today because both John McCain and Barack Obama are senators. The last time it happened, 1960, when Senator JFK was elected president.

Check out our political ticker for all the latest campaign news. Just log-on to CNNpolitics.com, your source for all things political.

It's great election trivia. Why do we vote on Tuesdays? We'll take a look at some logic from long ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GROUP: V-O-T-E-S, votes! V-O-T-E-S, votes!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Oops. That was the entire third grade in Oakhurst Elementary in Decatur, Georgia. They had a get out the vote rally yesterday at the Town Square. There we go. Can we listen to it for a minute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GROUP: V-O-T-E-S, votes! V-O-T-E-S, we vote!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: There you go. They gave speeches, they sang a song, they wrote about the importance about voting.

Well, we've seen the antiquated machines, the poll workers checking you off the paper with pencil. But, there's another faceted (ph) election day that's really old school and that's the scheduling. Why the first Tuesday in November?

Well, CNN's Ed Lavendera breaks it down for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVENDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Voting on a Tuesday, is a tradition that started more than 150 years ago. Back to the days when it was something like this that actually took people to the voting booth.

(voice-over): In the 1840s, America was mostly a farming society. So election day was set up on the first Tuesday in November. The thinking was, the harvest was over, people would go to church on Sundays, Monday would be a travel day to the polls, they'd vote on Tuesday, and then ride home Wednesday. To New York Congressman Steve Israel, it seems so old fashioned.

REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: It's crazy to me that we're only allowing people to vote over a certain period of hours on one day. Most nations that have much higher voter turnout, allow their people to vote over several days.

LAVENDERA: So Israel is sponsoring legislation that would make elections a two-day, weekend event in November. Of course, 31 states already have early voting, but 19 states don't. Ask your friends if they know why we vote on Tuesday. It's the $1 million stump question.

(on camera): Do you have any idea why we vote on Tuesday?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Dunce says, I'm sorry. I don't know the answer to that question, sir.

LAVENDERA (voice-over): Even the Congressman walked around Capitol Hill asking the same question. The video was posted on YouTube by a group called WhyTuesday.org.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do we have election day on Tuesdays in America?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do we have election days on Tuesdays? I guess because once upon a time all taverns were closed on Tuesday.

LAVENDERA: Of course, not everyone likes the idea of moving election day. Some say it would mess up tradition, confuse voters and possibly make elections more costly.

(on camera): Now, Congressman Israel says that making the election a weekend event would increase voter turnout. And even though great turnout is expected on Tuesday, tens of millions of people still won't be voting. Maybe it's because their horse broke down.

Ed Lavendera, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, voting in the 2008 election sure can make you full. This year, taking part in democracy is like walking around Costco when they have all of the free samples. Coming up, motivation for saving your "I Voted" sticker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: All right, everybody. That's my fantastic veejay Colleen Covino. She is one of the best. She keeps me in line up here on set. You know what else she did? She was in line this morning and these are her pictures, voting in Atlanta. And I love this story. She said, Kyra, I got up at 6:00, but these folks had been there since 3:00 in the morning. So, she got the group here -- OK. But this is what I want to tell you about this family.

These are the first people that showed up where Colleen voted, OK? Their names are Jeremy Hawkins, Tony Jordan and Dwayne Shelly (ph). And they actually let the folks behind them go first because they were elderly and they were in wheelchairs, right Colleen? Yes, and walkers. So, they actually let the other folks go first and then they went and voted.

But, could you imagine? They got there at 3:30 in the morning? Thanks, Colleen.

Well, stuffing the ballot box. Yes, that's bad. Well, stuffing your face after you cast your ballot? Now, that's a good thing. There's a shortage, or no shortage, rather, of freebies out there. In fact, democracy was never so filling or delicious.

Wear your "I Voted" sticker to get a free donut with sprinkles at Krispy Kreme. Got a Shane's Rib Shack near you? Well, get three chicken fingers, fries and a 20 ounce drink for free. Starbucks, it'll give you a tall brewed coffee. And remember, tall means small, in Starbucks speak, by the way. Ben and Jerry's will give you a scoop of ice cream.

And if that scoop overtaxes your lactose intolerance, well, no worries. One Republican commissioner in Houston is handing out Joe the Plumber plungers, a campaign tool that also unclogs, well, you know -- your home issues. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.