Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Nevada Becomes 8th State Moving Toward Mail-In Ballots for November Election; State Senate Majority Leader, Nicole Cannizzaro, (D-NV), Discusses Mail-In Ballots, Trump's Opposition; Update on Coronavirus Responses Across the Country; Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez Discusses Startling Similarities Between Anti-Maskers and Anti- Vaxxers. Aired 11:30a-12p ET
Aired August 04, 2020 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:34:07]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nevada just became the eighth state to move toward mail-in voting for the November election. Nevada joins a growing a number of states, along with Washington, D.C., that will be sending all registered voters an absentee ballot in the mail.
The governor there in Nevada says they're making this move because of coronavirus concerns. Other states are doing that as well, but there's also a variety of reasons that states are moving that direction.
Mail-in voting has happened for decades, but it is now becoming the latest political fight. President Trump threatening to sue states, including Nevada, over these moves, claiming without evidence -- and it has been studied -- that mail-in voting will lead to widespread voter fraud.
Listen to what he told Axios.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You got millions of ballots going -- nobody even knows where they're going. You look at some of the corruption having to do with universal mail-in voting. Absentee voting is OK. You have to apply. You have to go through a process --
(CROSSTALK)
JONATHAN SWAN, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "AXIOS": You have to apply for mail-in?
(CROSSTALK)
SWAN: It's the same thing, sir.
TRUMP: Look --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Jonathan, they're sending out applications --
(CROSSTALK)
SWAN: -- applications.
TRUMP: Millions of ballots.
[11:35:12]
SWAN: No, they're not. It's applications. You can get them off the Internet.
TRUMP: There's no way you can go through a mail-in vote without massive cheating.
You know, you could have a case where this election won't be decided on the evening of November 3rd.
SWAN: Absolutely. What's wrong with that?
TRUMP: This election could be decided two months later.
SWAN: It won't be two months. What's wrong with the proper mailing count?
TRUMP: It could be decided months later.
SWAN: Have you discussed it --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Do you know why? Because people -- lots of things will happen during that period of time, especially when you have tight margins. Lots of things can happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Here with me now, the Democratic majority leader of the Nevada state Senate, Nicole Cannizzaro.
Thank you so much for being here.
I know President Trump just yesterday in an interview called on Nevada specifically. What do you say to the president when you hear what he says, and also the chair of the Republican Party who says you're "upending election rules to allow more opportunity for fraud and allow ballot harvesting?"
STATE SEN. NICOLE CANNIZZARO (D-NEVADA) & MAJORITY LEADER: Great to be here with you, Kate.
I would say this. This bill that we've passed to allow for mail-in ballots is a very simple bill that is focused on ensuring that every Nevadan, come this general election, can safely and securely exercise that constitutional right to vote.
It allows for every active voter to receive a mail-in ballot and also has expanded voting sites for both Election Day and early voting.
And this idea that this is based in some allegation of elevator fraud we know is not true, because we even had our Republican secretary of state say that, in our last mail-in ballot election, just this last June, that there weren't any cases of that.
I would say this is really just an attempt that we're seeing both nationally and here in Nevada, a strategy, really, on behalf of the Republicans to undermine this election and to decrease voter turnout.
And we know that the president thinks that if voter turnout is high, he can't win. And that's exactly what we're seeing here.
BOLDUAN: Another state lawmaker, a Republican, he says that he's concerned about what this would mean. And here's how he put it. And I want to read it to you. I'm sure you've seen it. "If Walmart and Costco and all of these large stores can do business in this pandemic, we can do voting."
Does he have a point?
CANNIZZARO: I would stress this point. We are still very much in the middle of a pandemic. And everyone, across the board, even here in the legislative building, are taking steps to make sure people are safe.
Right now, we're in the middle of a special session and we don't have anyone in the building except for legislators and staff. And that is an effort to keep people safe.
And when exercising your right to vote, we absolutely have to put those protections in place.
This bill allows for in-person voting for anyone who wishes to cast their ballot in person. But it also provides that safety measure for vulnerable populations and for people who really need it in order to exercise it by sending in that mail-in ballot.
BOLDUAN: Look, the president's threatening legal action against Nevada. As far as I know, he hasn't done anything about it yet with your state. Do you think he will?
CANNIZZARO: Kate, I can't say whether he will or he won't.
But what I will say is this. We have seen these types of lawsuit previously here in Nevada. We've been sued by right-wing groups before, claiming these false allegations of voter fraud. And those cases have been routinely dismissed because it, quite simply, does not exist.
If the president wants to sue us here in Nevada, we're ready to take that fight on again. And we're confident that we will win.
And we will do everything we can to make sure that we're protecting that constitutional right to vote, in a safe and secure manner this general election.
BOLDUAN: And it has been studied, many times. And it has been found that 99.999 percent of ballots are proper.
But can you guarantee that Nevada's election in November will be safe and secure as last year's or years past?
CANNIZZARO: I think the important thing to point out that, here in Nevada, we actually did just do a mostly mail-in ballot election in June with some of the highest turnout that we've seen in primaries. And our local election officials were able safely and securely administer that election in a way where votes were counted, people were safe, and we could vote.
And at the time, that process was acceptable for everyone here in the state. We want to utilize that same process.
Because the important point -- and I think this can't be overstated -- we are still in the middle of a pandemic. People are still at risk. I think it is incumbent upon us to make sure we can do that. And we've seen it successful, just not even a couple of months ago.
BOLDUAN: If you're wondering why the focus of the president on Nevada, just so everyone knows -- and I know you know this very well -- Nevada is a competitive state. It was competitive in 2016. It's competitive this year. That might have something to do with the political motivation and focus on this.
Thank you very much for coming on. I really appreciate it.
CANNIZZARO: Thank you very much for having me.
BOLDUAN: Thank you.
[11:39:58]
Coming up for us, Florida remains the state with the second-highest number of COVID cases in the country right now. And new two more teenagers, teenagers, have died from coronavirus complications there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: A new study just out shows that fewer people are being diagnosed with cancer due to the coronavirus pandemic. Researchers with Quest Diagnostics are reporting a 46 percent drop in weekly numbers of newly identified cancer cases.
And they warn that is actually not good news. They believe that the delay in diagnosis is going to lead to patients presenting at more advanced stages of cancer, which, of course, can mean worse outcomes.
For more coronavirus headlines now, let's check in with more of our reporters around the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rosa Flores, in Miami. Two teens have died from COVID-19-related complications in the state of Florida. This brings the death toll of children to seven.
According to the Florida Department of Health, more than 38,000 children have contracted the virus and nearly 400 have been hospitalized.
This, as we learn that some schools in Miami-Dade County, which is the epicenter of the crisis in the state, could open for face-to-face instruction.
[11:45:02]
Yes, Miami-Dade schools have opted for virtual learning, but there are 139 charter schools who could hospital for instruction.
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dianne Gallagher, in Atlanta. The convention center is now a COVID-19 overflow hospital. It began accepting patients on Monday.
Now, these are not the sickest COVID-19 patients. Instead, this is meant to alleviate some of the pressure on hospitals that, in some cases, are being pushed to the brink.
The state of Georgia is seeing about an 85 percent ICU bed capacity right now. Right at this moment, they have 60 beds inside the facility, but it can be expanded to 120 if that's needed.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Andy Scholes, in Milton, Georgia. Major League Baseball continues to have big problems with its travel style of play. And 21 games now in total have had to be postponed because of the coronavirus.
And the St. Louis Cardinals are becoming the latest team to have an outbreak spread among the team. Seven players and six staffers have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week.
And as a result, the team's four-game series against the Tigers in Detroit that was scheduled to start today has been postponed.
The Cardinals have been in quarantine in Milwaukee since Thursday. They're going to stay there and their personnel will continue to be tested daily.
Right now, the plan is for the team to resume its regular season schedule on Friday against the Cubs in St. Louis.
In the meantime, the Miami Marlins, who had 18 players test positive, are finally set to resume play later today against the Orioles in Baltimore. They've been out of action since July 26th.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Andy, Dianne, Rosa, thank you all very much.
Still ahead for us, is being anti-mask the new anti-vax? One doctor breaks down the startling similarities between these movements.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:47]
BOLDUAN: Doctors, health experts and scientists said, explained and showed the science behind, over and over again, that wearing masks helps slow and stop the spread of the coronavirus. But there's still a vocal portion of the country that refuse to believe it or go along with it.
And one doctor explains it this way in a piece for CNN.com. I'll read you just a section: "If their emphasis on personal freedom, their misrepresentation of science, and their passion to defend their position feels familiar, it is likely because the tactics have been used for years by another group, the anti-vaxxers."
The anti-vax movement is a trend of people, many parents that refuse to vaccinate, especially children, due to a variety of reasons and largely perceived fears. Perceived fears like the unfounded and disproven fear that vaccines cause autism."
Joining me now is the doctor that wrote this piece exploring this connection, Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez. She's a pediatrician.
It's great to have you here. Thank you for coming in.
You say -- I found it fascinating in reading the piece. You say to think of them as the same or one type of person is a mistake but there are similarities. Can you walk us through those?
DR. EDITH BRACHO-SANCHEZ, PEDIATRICIAN: Of course, Kate. It is great to be with you.
I think when we think of people who refuse things like vaccines, who refuse to wear masks even though they've been proven to help, I think we have to remember that these people are very diverse. They are, as I explained in my piece, as diverse as America itself.
And they arrive at the conclusions from very different points of views, different beliefs to start with. But ultimately what unifies them is a belief that they come before everyone else. Right?
My child before every other child. My rights to not wear a mask before the rights of the community, frankly, to be healthy and to not contract COVID-19. So it's a connection that they have and that, "I come first, my family comes first."
And also the passion with which they defend some of these beliefs. And the attack on science. Because sometimes it is a vicious attack on science. And I've been a victim of it myself on social media and every time I've spoken out for science.
BOLDUAN: Why is it important to call out, and, honestly, to understand? You do -- as you lay out these similarities, you can see it, in the middle of a pandemic. What do you want people to take from this?
BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Kate, you hit it exactly right. To understand. It's not that we are trying to attack and to point out. We need to understand.
If we are ever going to unify this country around a common cause, around coming together to protect one another, to bring down the levels of virus circulating in the communities, we have to understand how the fear's playing in.
And we also have to understand where the misrepresentation of science is happening if we ever are going to bridge that gap and bring people along on the journey.
BOLDUAN: You mentioned that one similarity is that casting doubt or misrepresenting and casting doubt and rejecting science. I wonder as a doctor how do you convince someone who is anti-vax or anti-mask to see and listen to the science then?
BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Kate, I actually wrote a piece for CNN, as well, about this very point because I have taken this journey with families. And I believe I titled it, "How I Convinced a Family to Vaccinate."
And the important differentiation here is that I'm not talking about the family that has a question, that has a concern, that has read something online and is bringing it to pediatrician. And you can have that kind of judgment, know what's happened online.
I'm talking, in this latest piece, about this anti-mask, about the vicious community that is trying to scare, on purpose, and cast doubt on science, on purpose. That is a very different thing.
And I think the only way we combat it is by having those one-on-one conversations outside of the Internet, right, in person, as much as we can with people that know us.
[11:55:05]
BOLDUAN: Absolutely. But understanding and seeing the similarities is a beginning. Is a beginning to that. I really appreciated how you point it out.
You can go to CNN.com right now. The doctor's op-ed is live right now. And you will enjoy it. It is interesting.
Thank you so much, Doctor. I appreciate it.
Coming up for us, President Trump insists that the pandemic is under control, even though, very clearly, as we lay out again and again, the data tells a different story. Why is he refusing to accept the facts, face the facts and continues to dismiss the gravity of this crisis still? That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:00]
