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Voting Has Begun in Earnest; Ralph Nader Interview

Aired November 04, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It is over. Forty-four states are voting right now from polling places to the key battle grounds. CNN has you covered.
It is Election Day in America. Tuesday, November 4th. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The first votes cast and counted. All who could vote did. Right after midnight in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. And it was a landslide.

As you see there, Senator John McCain grabbed the other six votes in this tiny New Hampshire village. The last time Dixville Notch backed a Democrat was 1968, Hubert Humphrey.

Polls in 44 states and the District of Columbia now open and voters are lining up. Hopefully they're wearing comfortable shoes. So many new voters have registered, many states are bracing for record turnouts.

We've been talking about it for a while now. Extra pollsters, machines and in some cases police have been sent to polling stations across the country to cut down on Election Day problems.

CNN also watching out for your vote throughout this Election Day. Our correspondents are at polls from coast to coast. We'll be going to them as often as we can to see how things are going and what you need to know if you are headed that way.

It is shaping up to be another long day for the presidential candidates and the people covering them. Suzanne Malveaux with the Obama campaign in Chicago, Ed Henry watching McCain's every move from Phoenix, Arizona.

John McCain isn't slowing down just because it's Election Day. In fact, after a couple of whirlwind days of campaigning, he is back in his home state of Arizona right now. But he's not staying put.

CNN's Ed Henry, as we said, is joining us live now from Phoenix this morning.

So, Ed, does the McCain campaign think they have enough momentum to win some key states here?

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Heidi. The McCain camp is feeling good. They feel like they've been closing the gap in some of these battleground states over the last few days, states like Florida where it's closed to about a two-point spread.

Barack Obama is still up but it's better than where John McCain was just a few days ago.

And their basic strategy is to try and hold as many of the red Republican states that George Bush had in 2004, like Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, the ones you've heard over and over.

They think if they can hold those and get to about 260 electoral votes, 10 short of the magic number of 270, then they have one of two paths to victory, they think -- win Pennsylvania, 21 electoral votes. That would put them over the top but, again, an uphill climb there.

Or they cobble together sort of a basket of smaller states -- New Hampshire, Iowa, where he's been campaigning hard in recent days, but also Colorado and New Mexico.

Out here in the west -- and in fact, John McCain is breaking with his normal Election Day tradition of staying here at the Arizona Biltmore, resting and waiting for the numbers to come in.

He's going back on the campaign trail to those two states, Colorado and New Mexico, trying to get the vote out today. It gives you a sign of how he's trying to sprint right up until the finish here.

And also, his usual Election Day ritual was to go to the movies on Election Day, try to release some of that nervous energy. No movies for him today. He's out on the trail and also, as you know, his Secret Service detail, a little too large for the movies these days.

COLLINS: Yes. Absolutely. They'd take up the whole place.

So, Ed, talk a little bit more about the mood behind the scenes now, if you will.

HENRY: Well, two things. First, I just ran into Douglas Holtz- Eakin, who, as you know, is the chief economic adviser for John McCain. You normally see him in a button-down suit like this. But he was in his jogging clothes. He was going for a jog.

I said, what are you doing? And he said, there's a lot of nervous energy in the campaign. I'm sure that's going on in the Obama camp as well. And he said he wanted to literally run it off.

COLLINS: Yes.

HENRY: And I think that's what's going on behind the scenes. They feel good that they've -- that they think they're closing the gap but they're also realizing -- they're realistic about the fact that they've been behind for some time and it's going to be an uphill climb.

And I think it's also worth noting that in the wee hours of this morning John and Cindy McCain were here in Arizona, had a big crowd for their final rally in Arizona, and they both got pretty emotional.

Cindy McCain sort of broke up as she introduced her husband. Very emotional time for them. They realize that they're coming to a turning point in his career, in his life, frankly.

He's either going to win the White House in a dramatic comeback fashion or he's going to lose and probably go back to the United States Senate. He's got two more years on his term there. And so these are very emotional time sort of sitting and waiting for these results -- Heidi.

COLLINS: CNN's Ed Henry watching Senator McCain's every move in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ed, nice to see you. Thanks so much.

We, of course, are going to be checking in...

HENRY: Good to see you.

COLLINS: ... with our Suzanne Malveaux as well following the Obama campaign. We will get to her very shortly.

Meanwhile, we have seen where the candidates are. Now let's check in with voters. Many states expect record turnouts today even after record numbers of voters voted early.

Pennsylvania, a key battleground state. And there's no in-person early voting there, so everybody goes today. In fact, CNN's Brian Todd is live in Philadelphia this morning to give us a little bit more of an idea of how things look.

Hi there, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. You know, what's amazing about the election process here and the voting process all over the place, number one how quickly a long line can form, but also how quickly it can disappear.

The plan that we had for this hour was going to show you -- show you the long line that was snaking down here and around the corner less than an hour ago. There was a line down here and around this corner on Woodbine Avenue, all the way down this street.

Obviously, it's gone. This process here has gone very smoothly. You've got people coming in and out of this voting station. And it has worked very smoothly so far. An official here said one voting machine broke down but that it was quickly fixed.

But this is something that the Pennsylvania state board of elections is watching very closely, because in the primaries, 35 of this city's 3400 machines did break down. So they are watching this very closely.

There's also no paper trail. Voters cannot get a receipt for their vote. The paper stays in the machines for auditing purposes. So they're watching that as well. And there -- as you mentioned, there's no early voting in Pennsylvania, so officials here are trying to mitigate some of these circumstances by advising people, don't come during the peak hours, before 9:00 a.m. or after 3:00 p.m.

A lot of people still showed up here before 9 o'clock. There was a huge line here. We talked to people. They said it didn't tamper their enthusiasm for voting here today but people are seemingly adhering to that.

We are in a lull -- down period right now but we are expecting a long line here later and other places in Philadelphia -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Brian Todd with the picture in Philadelphia this morning.

Thank you, Brian.

Want to take a moment now to check out West Palm Beach where we have John Zarrella standing by to give us a little bit more of an idea of how things are looking there.

John, if you can hear me, what's it like?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, you know, I think what happened here in Florida is that the early voting took a lot of the pressure off here. You can see behind me there are a few people here at this polling place at Fire Station Number 33.

When they first opened this morning, about 25 people or so in line. They moved through relatively quickly, got in and out in about 15 minutes. And that's pretty much what you're likely to see around most of the state of Florida today, because 4.2 million Floridians either voted early or by absentee ballot. That's 37 percent of the electorate.

Now everyone that I talked to who came -- coming out today said they really viewed this as an historic day. But one person in particular, a young man named Rick Garcia I spoke with, who said what motivated him the most to vote to was the death of his brother, Jair de Jesus Garcia, who died in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK GARCIA, BROTHER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN: August 1st of this year, he passed away. Roadside bomb. And that's the main reason why I came to vote for me.

ZARRELLA: In his honor?

GARCIA: In his honor.

ZARRELLA: Because he would have wanted you to do this? GARCIA: Yes, he would want everybody as American citizen to do it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Now, Rick told me, also, that before this election, many members of his family and many of his friends had never voted. And within the last two months, they all registered to vote and they are exercising that right that we all have here in this country -- Heidi?

COLLINS: All right. What a story. All right, John Zarrella, appreciate that from West Palm Beach, Florida this morning.

We are going to be checking out polling places throughout the morning ahead. We're going to be taking you to Colorado, Virginia, Florida and Ohio. A busy, busy day, a whole lot going on, obviously.

And a lot of people just plain working off of pure adrenaline after late campaign stops and early wake-up calls. There's more in store as candidates cast their ballots themselves and meet a few more voters before waiting for the numbers to come in.

Suzanne Malveaux is standing by now with more on this from the Obama campaign.

Tell us a little bit more, Suzanne, about what Senator Barack Obama will be doing today. We know he already voted.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We saw him vote. It took about 15 minutes or so. Everybody was paying close attention. It's a neighborhood elementary school where we saw Barack Obama, Michelle, their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, him casting his vote there.

Obviously, the lines, very long, snaking around the block, around that school, really demonstrates the kind of enthusiasm, the excitement, a lot of people involved in this process.

Barack Obama is not yet finished campaigning, as a matter of fact. He's going to be heading to neighboring Indiana. And it really kind of demonstrates, Heidi, the sense of confidence that the campaign has right now because it is a Republican-leaning state.

Very, very close, the CNN Poll of Polls showing that McCain is up by one percentage point. So he feels that he is very competitive there. And that's what they've been trying to do, not only get those states that Kerry captured but also try to get some of those battleground states, win by small margins but get them, nevertheless, so that they can get the key 270 votes that he needs to win.

So that is something that he'll be doing later in the afternoon. And then he's going to relax a little bit. He's going to play a pickup game of basketball with some friends as he normally does on this kind of big days, big occasions.

Then he'll be watching the results come in at a local hotel before heading here to Grant Park. And I have to tell you, Heidi, the setup here is really tremendous. They expect 70,000 to show up here, perhaps as many as 500,000 to a million on the Lakeside alone.

There are media tents. There's at least a dozen flags that are behind the podium. The security very, very tight. It's expected to be a major celebration.

There is a sense of confidence, also a little bit of fear, a little anxiety among Obama supporters that this may not happen. But a lot of people feeling somewhat optimistic, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. So the people are feeling optimistic. What about the campaign? What are they talking about privately now this morning, the day of?

MALVEAUX: Well, the one thing that's happened is they feel that they've done their job when it comes to Barack Obama sending out his message, that he has basically been consistent about change, that he has really been able to capitalize off the anxiety that people have about their own financial situations and provide some solutions, if you will, that seem to be resonating with folks.

The only thing that they're worried about now is, are people going to get out there and vote in the kind of numbers they need? They were very confident when they looked at early polling numbers, those early voting numbers, rather, absentee and the ballots that were done ahead of today.

But they are still trying, still trying to get people out there. They've got e-mails and texts that they sent to all the people that they've gotten their information saying here's where you need to register, here's a list of people near your home. If they haven't voted, here are the addresses, go get them out of the house and to the polling stations.

Very well organized. Still very much in play, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux coming to us from Chicago this morning.

Thank you, Suzanne.

For many voters, the choice is more than just two people. We are talking with the candidate on many ballots about how he would define victory today.

But first, here's a quick look at the map. All of the shaded states are voting right now. The polls in seven more states opened at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. That leaves just six states where voters have to wait just a little bit longer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON DINANT, CNN IREPORTER: I don't trust the polls. You know when people are asked who they voted for, that's personal issue. And I don't think a lot of people are telling the truth to the pollsters.

But if you look at the real numbers, the number of people that are attending rallies, the number of people who are volunteering, the number of people who are donating for the first time, the record number of people getting out to early vote, that all points in one direction, the generational change.

And the person who brings that change is Barack Obama. I'm not saying that I voted for Barack Obama because I don't know yet but I really think that that shows a generational change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Kids on the campaign trail getting a firsthand look at the political process from the beginning to today's end.

Jacob Schroeder and Elizabeth Conway are two of the kid correspondents telling the story for Scholastic.com. They are joining us live this morning from New York.

Good morning, guys. Thanks for being here.

JACOB SCHROEDER, SCHOLASTIC KID REPORTER: Good morning.

ELIZABETH CONWAY, SCHOLASTIC KID REPORTER: Good morning. Thank you.

COLLINS: This is the big day, huh? What are your initial thoughts? I'll start with you, Elizabeth.

CONWAY: Well, it's very exciting because today is a historic election. Because no matter who wins, history will be made with either our country's first African-American president or our first woman vice president.

So I'm very excited to for this tonight to find out who wins. And it's really just -- it's just waiting now.

COLLINS: Yes. Jacob, did you get any sleep last night?

SCHROEDER: Yes.

COLLINS: You did? You think you'll get any tonight?

SCHROEDER: Probably, I hope.

COLLINS: Let me just ask you when you look back over this very long electoral season, we've pretty much been covering it for about two years, if you will. I know you guys have been out there. You've talked to a lot of the candidates. You've really played a role.

Jacob, what have you learned about the system in general that maybe surprised you?

SCHROEDER: Well, I was surprised to learn that the Electoral College officially elects the president. COLLINS: OK.

SCHROEDER: And that New Mexico is a battleground state and how important a battleground state can be to this election.

COLLINS: Yes, it could really upset the whole apple cart, can't it?

SCHROEDER: Yes.

COLLINS: And, Elizabeth, what about you? What are the events that you have covered? And feel free to run through a couple of them because, as I said, you guys have really been out there. You've really talked to a lot of candidates.

What stands out to you? What was the moment you look back on this and you'll say, wow, I can't believe I did that?

CONWAY: Well, actually, most recently, I had a sit-down interview with Senator Obama. And I had been following him the whole year and not once I hadn't had the opportunity to speak with him.

And finally at a rally in Manchester, I actually begged numerous staff people, about every staff person in sight. And finally, I said to them, you know, Scholastic has had a lot of access to the Republican candidate, Senator McCain. And I said, I would hate to be lopsided so I ended up...

COLLINS: Oh you did well with that.

CONWAY: I ended up getting a sit-down interview with Senator Obama. And it was so exciting because I kind of got to learn more about Obama's personal side. I created a format for questions called the "Five Fun Fast" which was sort of was "A" or "B," which do you prefer.

I asked him ice cream or pie. He chose pie. Ditka or Lovie. He chose Lovie. The Red Sox or the Cubs, and he said neither...

COLLINS: Whoa.

CONWAY: ... which I thought was really funny. And all his staff people started cracking up. It was so funny. And I asked him deep- dish pizza or pineapple on pizza. And he goes, oh deep dish for sure.

And then the last thing I asked him was I said, red states or blue states? And he goes, well, we're going to make them all purple. And I...

COLLINS: Wow.

CONWAY: All the staff people started cracking up. It was so funny.

COLLINS: Well, you guys have been really fun to watch. We've been keeping up with the Scholastic kid reporters throughout this process. And we sure do appreciate your time today.

It's Election Day, guys, so I'm going to let you go so you can watch everything that's going on today right here on CNN.

Elizabeth Conway and Jacob Schroeder, thanks so much guys.

CONWAY: Thank you for having us.

SCHROEDER: Thank you.

COLLINS: In fact, we are at the polling places covering all the races. Election Day 2008 with the best political team on television.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly, we want to let you see here, Senator Hillary Clinton. She is in Chappaqua, New York. She has just come out of the voting booth. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is now in the voting booth.

Guys, do we want to listen in? Let's listen for just a second.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: And it's really, for me, a tremendous opportunity and honor to be part of what I hope will be a great next couple of years for America. I mean, it's going to be really hard, but I think everybody is up to the task and we're going to roll up our sleeves. We're going to get to work.

(CROSSTALK)

CLINTON: Not at all. No. You know, I am -- I think I've done more than 75 events for Senator Obama in the last couple of months, ever since, I guess, August. And...

COLLINS: OK. There you have it. We just wanted to give a little bit of flavor. We're going to be doing this all day long, just kind of showing you some of the political figures across the country who will be going to the polling booth.

A lot of them have already done so. But again, you are seeing Senator Hillary Clinton, Chappaqua, New York. She has just come out of the voting booth. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is in there right now, casting his ballot.

So the presidential race. It's not just John McCain and Barack Obama. In fact, in many states voters will be able to consider third party candidates. Probably the best known among them, longtime activist and independent candidate, Ralph Nader. He is joining us now from Washington this morning.

Good morning. Thanks for being here. Happy Election Day to you.

RALPH NADER, INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, we hope to do well with voters who vote their conscience or who are staying home because they don't like the two parties, we want them to come out and the protest vote. There's always that great tradition of protest vote, which we hope Nader/Gonzalez will receive.

COLLINS: Well, let's go ahead and put up our latest poll, if we could, please. This is a CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll. And this is how the numbers look for likely voters, of course, their choice for president.

You see the date, October 30th, sorry, through November 1st. Barack Obama 51 percent, McCain 43 percent, you, 3 percent, and Bob Barr 1 percent. Now we spoke with Bob Barr yesterday, so now we are talking with you.

What exactly would define victory for you this time around when we are checking in tomorrow?

NADER: Well, first of all, we are fighting for the civil liberties of more choices for the voters, with more candidates overcoming these terrible ballot access obstacles, which we're litigating against state by state.

If people don't have a voice, they are not going to be able to put pressure on what looks like to be a Democratic victory big time. We're entering a period of no more excuses government, no more excuses, the American people are saying.

You now have to move on what our majority agenda on voteNader.org reflects of the American people -- full Medicare, living wage, out of Iraq, public works program, cracking down on corporate crime, and the crooks in Wall Street, changing the tax system.

All of this we have given choices to millions of voters. And now they can register it from Washington state to Florida and from California to Maine.

COLLINS: Now this is your fourth time around, if you will.

NADER: Yes. Third time.

COLLINS: I wonder how -- how you react to the term or sort of the nickname when people say -- they call you a spoiler.

NADER: Well, I think I'm the great commoner. I think I represent the majority position of the American people on all these issues of labor and environment and solar energy and clean elections and humanitarian policy and making our taxes come back to rebuild the public works of America and consumer protection, of course.

And all of these things are on our web site, voteNader.org. But what's important is watch for November5.org, tomorrow, and you'll see the next stage of the Nader/Gonzalez campaign.

COLLINS: All right. We will be watching, absolutely.

Mr. Ralph Nader, sure do appreciate your time. We know later on today you have an interesting press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. where you're going to give just one-word answers. So we appreciate you elaborating a little bit right here with us on CNN.

Thanks again.

NADER: Thank you.

COLLINS: A problem at the polls, if it happens to you today, we want to hear about it. Our voter hotline center is on the case and it's only here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: How cool is that? CNN up on the JumboTron this morning on this Election Day 2008. And a whole lot to talk about today.

Corporate earnings and economic reports are actually going to take a backseat today on Wall Street to the monumental event on Main Street today, the election of the next chief executive of the United States.

So how will Wall Street react? Well, there's your opening bell for you right there.

Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange. That was preview.

Hi there, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Excellent timing, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes.

LISOVICZ: Well, there is the call to action for the New York Stock Exchange, open for business but polls on the East Coast have been open for hours. And Wall Street doesn't like uncertainty, so investors want the results, no matter what they are.

Yesterday on election eve, the Dow did something that's been very rare of late. It made just a single digit point decline, same thing for the NASDAQ. It was up, single digits. Early indications, though, were pointing to, yes, a triple-digit Election Day rally.

You can see on the big board the Dow is up 125 points right now. First 30 seconds of trading. Dow futures are pointing to a strong rally at the open but, well, we could have trouble maintaining that rally since we're expecting another tough economic report shortly.

The Street anticipating factory orders to drop in September but in a bullish sign over the past week the market has advanced in the fact of bad economic news.

Mastercard shares are climbing. Right now they're up 9.5 percent because as the economy slows, Americans increasingly turn to plastics. The number of transactions domestic card processed jumped 13 percent last quarter to nearly $5.5 billion. Shares are up sharply. As for the major averages, yes, we've got some nice gains in the first minute of trading, Heidi. The Dow is up 174 points or nearly 2 percent. The NASDAQ up 1.75 percent. Nice Election Day rally. Let's see if it holds.

COLLINS: Yes, that's always...

LISOVICZ: It's pretty quiet yesterday.

COLLINS: Yes. It sounded a little quiet behind you right now, too, but we will check back a little later on.

Susan Lisovicz, thank you.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

COLLINS: After 21 months, the presidential campaign trails arrive at their final destination, the voting polls.

Just last hour Barack Obama cast his vote at his Chicago precinct. Also, last hour, his running mate, Joe Biden cast his at vote, Wilmington, Delaware. Biden then travels on to Chicago where he and Obama will await election results with their families.

Republican John McCain also voting this morning. Photographers are camped out at his Phoenix, Arizona, precinct. McCain running mate, Sarah Palin, is logging some miles today. She casts her vote this morning in Alaska, then travel back to Arizona. There she and McCain will attend an election night party.

Expected record turnout today could lead to potential problems for voters. CNN is the only network to set up a hotline so you can call in with problems and concerns. We've gotten an awful lot of calls already this morning.

CNN's Carol Costello is monitoring those calls to the CNN voter hotline in New York.

Good morning to you, Carol. What are you hearing?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. You're right, the phones are ringing off the hook. The top three problems we're hearing about this morning, mechanical problems, registration issues, and, of course, poll access issues. And by that, I mean long lines. And that's going to be a problem across the country.

Top three states, New York, New Jersey and Virginia, with Florida quickly catching up. Now the bulk of the calls we're getting about machine problems are coming in from Chesapeake, Virginia. That's in the southern part of the state.

I want to read to you a call that we got a few hours ago. "I live in a predominantly African-American community. We have about 500 people out here ready to vote and they're telling us at the polling place that the machines are not working." They were not working in some precincts in Chesapeake, Virginia. Those voters were given eventually emergency ballots and presumably there was someone on the way to fix those machines.

Now, in New York, the bulk of the problems have been not enough machines. Oddly enough, Heidi, in New York state they still use those old-fashioned lever machines.

COLLINS: Yes, I know.

COSTELLO: All the state in the union, go figure. But the problem with that is there just aren't enough of them. And also, in New Jersey, most of the problems are related to mechanical issues, and especially in Essex, Hudson and Burlington Counties.

I want to, like, give you some perspective, though.

COLLINS: OK.

COSTELLO: We're just getting the problems into our voter hotline.

COLLINS: Yes.

COSTELLO: That doesn't mean there's a massive number of problems across the country. I want you to keep that in mind. I don't want to scare anyone away from the polls.

Go out there and vote because there are many places in many different parts of the country experiencing no problems at all except for long lines.

COLLINS: Yes. If anything, we'd love to see those record turnout actually happen.

COSTELLO: I think we will.

COLLINS: Real quickly, just want to give that number. You see it all over your screen now. But if you're experiencing any trouble call that CNN voter hotline 1-877-GOCNN-08.

Carol Costello, we know you'll be monitoring those calls for us, thanks so much.

COSTELLO: Sure.

COLLINS: Across the country long lines are being reported at polling places. In fact, most states are predicting record turnouts today as we've been saying. Many expect 70 percent to 80 percent of their registered voters. Voting officials in Connecticut expecting a turnout of about 90 percent.

The presidential race is the headliner, of course, but voters will also decide key Senate and congressional races. Many states also have thorny and decisive ballot questions. We've included some of those here in the CNN NEWSROOM and let you see them. One of them California's proposed ban on same-sex marriage and South Dakota's proposed ban on abortion.

Let's focus now on some of those battleground states. None is more important than Ohio. Voting officials there are bracing for a record 80 percent turnout.

CNN's Mary Snow is at one polling place in the capital city of Columbus.

Good morning to you, Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And you know, we're not very far from where we were yesterday at Veterans Memorial where we saw those long lines lasting for hours.

So the surprise here today among voters is that there aren't any lines here. There are about 30 people waited when polls opened at 6:30. Checks around the county are saying, you know, things so far going smoothly.

There are scattered lines around the county and also throughout the state but so far here in Columbus, there have been no major glitches reported.

As you said, record turnout is expected. Some think that it could be even higher than 80 percent. It's estimated about a quarter of Ohio's voters took advantage of early voting. And certainly, Heidi, Ohio's voting system is being put to the test after so many problems in 2004 when the nation waited on Ohio.

The pressure is on. There have been a lot of improvements since then. The Board of Elections, secretary of state saying they are confident in what will happen here today because poll workers have been trained better, there have been differences in machines.

People here are being told they have an option of a touch screen or paper ballot but certainly being put to the test -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes. Everybody has been doing their homework for this one, that's for sure.

CNN's Mary Snow, sure do appreciate that from Columbus, Ohio.

Now we want to get over to CNN's Susan Candiotti. She is standing by in Cleveland with a look at how things are going there.

Hi, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. We're in the East Cleveland Library, historic in nature because it was built back in 1916 by philanthropist and industrial Andrew Carnegie.

Now we can tell you that right now at this hour the turnout, as you can see, is steady but light. But about 2 1/2 hours ago when the polls first opened, the lines were out the door. But at this hour it's not unusual to have this kind of steady flow until things pick up again usually in late afternoon.

Now, perhaps it is steady but light at this hour because about a third of Cuyahoga County's voters, registered voters, took advantage of early voting. They either went down in person to vote at the Board of Elections or took advantage of absentee ballots.

And about 80 percent of those requested mail-in ballots have already returned them. So when the polls close tonight they might already have a third of the ballots tabulated. They've already been scanned but they haven't tabulated them just yet.

Of course, this is a big Democratic stronghold, just under 400,000 are registered here compare to 91,000 Republicans. And about 600,000 independents. So back in 2004 you might recall that Senator John Kerry took 66 percent of the vote here in the Cleveland area.

Now, here we can tell you in the Cleveland area we have only had one report of a problem so far and it had to do with one polling station in Shaker Heights. And it involved the two-page ballot that is used here in Cuyahoga County.

One page of the ballot contains the presidential candidates, along with other issues. The second page involves state issues. And the problem was that only the second page was given out to the first four voters. The problem was discovered.

COLLINS: Whoa.

CANDIOTTI: The ballots were voided and they were given brand new ballots.

Now we will tell you finally that this information came to us through our CNN voter hotline. So we do check those things out, got to the Board of Elections. They confirmed it. And that's how we got this information to you.

COLLINS: Terrific.

CANDIOTTI: That's the story from here. And now let's turn it over to my colleague Dan Lothian in Richmond, Virginia.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're at the Bonny Bra Church of Christ about eight miles or so north from downtown Richmond.

The situation here is, well, the line is still long but not as long as it was early this morning. You can see behind me, we have cars lining up here. And then the line that's going into the front door, it spins around, snakes down to the end of the parking lot but it ends at the end of the parking lot.

Earlier this morning it was winding well into the neighborhood. In fact, at one point, I decided to time how long it would take to go from the back of the line to the front of the line, walking at a pretty good pace. It took me a little bit more than two minutes.

But everyone seems to be in pretty good spirits. Poll workers here were walking around handing out plastic bags because it is raining here, so those who didn't have rain gear they can put on the plastic bags. They also have bottled water for those who got thirsty while waiting in line.

Some had to wait in line for about an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes from the time that they got into the line to the time that they got inside the door. Some people, though, came very early this morning, two hours before the polls opened at 6:00 a.m.

That's the very latest from here in Virginia. Now I go to my colleague, Dan Simon, who's near Denver.

Dan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Dan. So far so good here in the Denver suburb of Aurora. You can see just a little bit of a line at this point. Polls opened here at 7:00 a.m. local time. And you can see, I don't know, about seven, eight people in this line.

You can see the voting machines inside here. This is one of the counties that uses electronic voting machines.

Aurora -- let me tell you a little bit about this county. It is really considered very much a melting pot. People of all stripes live here. There's an even number of Republicans, Democrats and independent voters and as some political observers have noted, people are going to be watching this county closely to see which way it goes because it often determines who is going to carry the state of Colorado.

It is a swing county and this is the first time in history that more Democrats are registered here than Republican.

We have Megan here who's in line, voting in her first presidential election.

You're running a little late for work. Excited?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very excited. Nervous and excited, thankful that the line is so short. And ready, go Obama.

SIMON: You're supporting Obama. Tell me, what's the biggest issue on your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tax cuts, of course, because I'm middle class, or what's left of the middle class, I would say. Also, health care is very important nowadays and I think companies should still enforce that very much.

SIMON: All right. Megan, thanks. I see that Megan has her I.D. with her. This is one of the states that requires you to have an I.D. in order to vote. About half of Colorado voters have already cast ballots, so perhaps that's why you're seeing not much of a line at this point. But we're going to be keeping an eye on things here in Colorado.

And Heidi, we're going to send it back to you in Atlanta.

COLLINS: Yes. I assume those lines will change, definitely, in such a hotly contested state there.

Sure do appreciate that from Aurora, Colorado, Dan Simon, thank you.

So what are you saying about Election Day 2008? IReporters check in with their spin in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: As you go to the polls today, CNN has your chance to tell the world how you voted and why. We're hearing from iReporters all across the country.

CNN's Josh Levs is joining me now with more on that.

So what are people saying?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really interesting, Heidi. Good morning to you. Good morning, everyone.

For two years, you've heard all this talk about this election. Today is all about you. It's about you at the polls and it's about you right here, ireport.com. You can send us your video, photos, stories.

We got a team of people piecing through them all day long as they come in. We're going to be sharing them on air all day.

Check out this map behind me. These are just some of the ones we've been receiving this morning from people who are voting. These are their locations.

And I want to focus in on something else. Check this out, CNN.com. We focused on the stories of 15 iReporters from across the political spectrum. Here's what I've done. I pulled out three clips for you. We're going to watch right now.

First from an undecided voter, then an Obama supporter, then a McCain supporter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE AEVERMANN, CNN IREPORTER: Within the past year I kind of realized that things, the politics do affect me personally in small ways. I may not feel it right away but eventually it does hit me.

So because of that I've been more opinionated about what I feel, which is kind of sparked a more interest in politics. JORDAN SARVER, CNN IREPORTER: He has the ability to unify this country and so improve our image worldwide. He's open to suggestions from experts in their respective fields in terms of learning what the best option is for moving forward in this country. And I think that's the kind of person we need leading our country right now.

SHERYL LANDON, CNN IREPORTER: I've never voted Republican. And this year I'll be voting Republican for the first time. I can't believe I'm voting Republican. I do believe in McCain and Palin.

I also believe in the American dream and I believe in rewarding hard work and being fiscally responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: We're going to be following their stories and those of so many others today. Here are just a few of the iReports we've been getting this morning. I'll scroll down a little bit.

You can see every few minutes we're getting new ones from people sometimes in line bringing their cameras with them. But there's something important I'm going to point out here.

Let me zoom up a little. You can see these words right here. This is important. Please be careful not to violate your states' voting laws. Some states don't allow photos and videos inside the voting areas themselves. But Heidi, for those who can, they're certainly welcome to do it.

And next hour, I'm going to talk with some iReporters, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, good.

LEVS: Yes.

COLLINS: You got to be careful with all of the rules, obviously.

LEVS: Don't break any on our account, please.

COLLINS: Yes.

LEVS: Don't do it.

COLLINS: Folks at the polling places get very, very angry.

LEVS: Yes.

COLLINS: Josh Levs, thank you. Appreciate it.

LEVS: Thanks, Heidi.

COLLINS: Any problems at the polls to talk about? Well, our correspondents are at polling stations in battleground states. We will be taking you there live.

But first let's go to the map now. Polls are open in all of the shaded states that you see there. Polls in California, Idaho, Nevada and Washington state open in about 10 minutes, leaving just Alaska and Hawaii.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We've seen long lines in early voting. So what's going on at the polls on this Election Day? We're checking out three battleground states, Florida, Missouri and Virginia.

We begin in Florida's capital, Tallahassee. CNN's Sean Callebs is there this morning to give us the picture.

Good morning to you, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. We've seen a pretty steady stream of voters come in. We're in front of the Leon County courthouse right here in the capital of Tallahassee.

Want to step out of the way and show you they go -- and voters (INAUDIBLE) you see them making in. Now if you look in the foreground there's a little placard there. That is -- marks the 100-foot area from the front door. And we as journalists are not allowed to go into that area and ask people what their concerns are, how they're voting, things of that nature.

So we haven't seen overwhelming turnout here this morning. But if you think about the early voter turnout, boy, 4.4 million out of 11.2 million registered voters, so a lot of people got it done early.

Now here inside this courthouse, if there are any troubles in this county, they're going to be resolved here. But also want to tell you, because when you talk about Florida, you have to talk about voting concerns.

Everybody remembers 2000. Now right there, the state house, the secretary of state, Kurt Browning, is holding a news conference right now actually, and he's going to brief people on how have gone this morning.

But right now we know of no problems. Things going very well. A high school was out here a while ago, Heidi. They were documenting the -- this historical election. Just one sign of a tremendous interest here in this battleground state.

Now we're going to turn it over to our good friend and colleague, Ed Lavandera, who is in the St. Louis area -- Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Sean, well, here, you know, if you're in the town of Webster Groves, Missouri, which is a suburb of St. Louis, this is a great time to vote where I'm at.

Let's me just show you. This is the First Congregational United Church of Christ, and for much of the morning the line had been down the sidewalk here and down to the street. But the line is just now, just inside this door. When the line was out to the street, took -- it was taking people about an hour and a half to vote, now it's taking people anywhere between 30 and 40 minutes. So this is probably as short as the lines you're going to get all that morning -- that early morning rush has ended.

Now a lot of people off to work. So these are some of the down times that people are talking about.

But Missouri, and in particularly the area we're in, the suburbs of St. Louis, and Kansas City will be an intense focal point today, because this is an area that has generally gone Republican in recent elections, and many people are saying that Barack Obama is enjoying a great deal of support around here.

So it will be interesting to see how the suburbs of this state play out. In fact, some political observers are saying how the suburbs go will determine how the state of Missouri goes statewide.

Traditionally, Democrats focus on turning out the vote in St. Louis and in Kansas City. Republicans focus on those rural and suburban areas. So the dichotomy of these races here changing a little bit.

Also considering 76 percent voter turnout expected here in the state of his Missouri throughout the day and some 340,000 new first- time voters have registered in this state. So if they turn out, how they turn out, many of those people, younger voters, suspect that they would be voting for Obama. But we don't know, so we'll see how all that plays out.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: We don't know. We don't know anything yet.

Ed Lavandera, sure do appreciate that. It is going to be a long day indeed, coming to us from Webster Groves.

Thank you, Ed.

School holds its own presidential race, McCain versus Obama, not in a run for the White House, but the other side of the gym. And this contest includes change.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly want to go ahead and show you one of the shots that we have seen this morning of people going out and voting. It is 10:00 Eastern Time. And you are looking at Laurel, Maryland there, our affiliate WJLA.

Kind of long line. You can sort of see underneath that protective cover there of this building. People have been waiting, getting ready to vote.

(WEATHER REPORT) COLLINS: The campaigns could learn a thing or two from kids, gravity, for example. A Colorado middle school held its own presidential race, a relay race. Of course, change was a big part of the mock election. And there were speeches, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I encourage you to vote for McCain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vote for Obama, hope for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Besides voting for their candidate, students had a referendum that really counted. Changing the time of the school dance (INAUDIBLE).