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It Is Less Than An Hour Away From Election Day In America; Key Legal Battles Playing Out That Could Impact Which Votes Get Counted; It May Take Days Or Weeks To Tally Winners In Key Races; Twitter Owner Recommends Voting For Republicans; CNN's Pedram Javaheri Discuss How The Weather Could Impact Election Day's Turnout. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired November 07, 2022 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: We are now less than hour away from election day, and candidates are making their final pitch to voters tonight in an election that really could change the entire future of this country.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: There are razor-thin margins in multiple races that will determine who controls Congress. Here's what's on the line: 435 House seats, 35 Senate races, 36 governor races.

Let's bring in CNN's John Berman. We also have CNN political commentators Karen Finney and David Urban. So, Karen, welcome.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: And we were just talking to Jon Meacham, who basically said, if history is any guide, it's usually the opposite party of who controls the White House that wins in the midterms, as we all know, which would mean that tomorrow will be good for Republicans, bad for Democrats. Are you seeing any signs to the contrary that you would like to share?

(LAUGHTER)

FINNEY: I am. I have to say I am very optimistic. I can just feel it!

(CROSSTALK)

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The two most optimistic Democrats in America!

FINNEY: Okay, but 40 million people have already turned out. That is -- and 36 million by this point have turned out in 2018. That is just good for democracy.

URBAN: That's great. Absolutely. That's great for democracy.

FINNEY: So, you know, and we're seeing high turnout among women in a number of key states as well. So, look, I think let's have the voters have their say. Let's not tell them what they're going to do. Let's let them tell us what they're going to do.

And I do feel optimistic about the fact that I don't think it's going to be a shellacking, I just don't buy that, and I think we know that a lot of Democratic voters, including young people, show up on election day. So, I'm optimistic. I know that seems kind of crazy give all the gloom and doom, but I think it's going to be an interesting day.

I'll tell you the races that I'm watching. The last thing I'll say is, actually, the state attorneys general, because that is going -- in addition to the governor's races, that is going to tell us a lot about 2024, actually, because they will control the levers of democracy in those states.

COATES: Such an important point on that notion. Also, I mean, we're talking about the optimism. Maybe seem crazy to people, we're also talking about 2024 already, before we get to tomorrow's race.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're literally just talking about 2024.

COATES: We're literally talking about 2024, right? The idea of how much these midterm election results are going to be maybe instructive in some respect of what to expect in 2024. I mean, some of the names of people who are actually on the ballot tomorrow, Alisyn, are already being floated as possible 2024 candidates. I mean, look down in Florida, for example. Pennsylvania as well.

When you think about that, John, what do you think about the idea that we are already, not just the tabulation part of the midterm, that people are thinking what will this mean for 2020?

BERMAN: Look, David Urban and I were talking about Josh Shapiro who hasn't even been elected or not governor of Pennsylvania tomorrow about whether he would be leading candidate in 2024 should Biden not run. I think it's the perfect time to speculate about the next election before this is over.

URBAN: It's the only reason you can be optimistic, right? We can talk about the future of the Democratic Party starting tonight.

BERMAN: But I also think, in addition to the candidates who may or may not win tomorrow, there's also the dynamic with Donald Trump who announced he's going to make an announcement on November 15th. You can see the dominos starting to fall.

So, Trump announces on the 15th, I happen to think that if Trump runs, Biden runs, or at least doesn't announce he's not running, stays in it for a long time, so freezes a little bit of democratic field, or does he?

Then the Democrats are going to primary him to any Republicans who have the guts to say that they're going to run against Trump. I happen to think that a number of these Republicans like Ron DeSantis have to. He has to run if he ever wants to be president.

So, things get very interesting. And like you said, in an hour, in 56 minutes, things will get very interesting. CAMEROTA: As if things weren't interesting in the right. As if these midterms weren't interesting enough. Case in point, Georgia. You know, all eyes on Georgia. That has been such a hot spot.

[23:04:57]

So, here are the not necessarily closing arguments of the candidates thee, Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker, but certainly their predictions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): Everybody is asking me, what's going to happen tomorrow? Listen, I am making the case, it is really in your hands.

CROWD: Yes.

WARNOCK: If the people show up, I win.

CROWD: Yes.

WARNOCK: If the people of Georgia show up, I win.

CROWD: Yes.

WARNOCK: If the people of Georgia show up, we win. Are you ready to win this election?

CROWD: Yes!

HERSCHEL WALKER, GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: And they're talking about runoff. And I'm, like, runoff? Runoff? Are you talking about runoff? No, we are winning this. We're not talking about a runoff. We are winning this. When we leave tomorrow night, we are leaving as winners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

URBAN: I didn't hear (INAUDIBLE), by the way.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Is Senator Warnock right, if there is high voter turnout, he wins in Georgia?

URBAN: Look, I would think yes, right? I mean, I think that was the model that the Democrats are looking for. They are trying to get enthusiasm up. Obviously, you know, they pump up enthusiasm, they get the vote up. I think he will squeak it by.

But, look, I do not think he gets the 50%. So, does he win? I don't know if he wins, right?

Unfortunately, Herschel (INAUDIBLE) runoff. I heard our colleague, Scott Jennings, earlier tonight talking about how this third-party candidate who had been running, the Republicans kind of microtargeted, kind of (INAUDIBLE) away in his lead and nibble down the percentage that he was taking so that Herschel may garner some more of that and get to the 50.1% needed so there won't be a runoff. But we could be here into December 6th just talking about this race, right? Here we are again, right?

COATES: Once again, Georgia is part of the entire fabric of why we even have the balance of power we have right now for those very reasons.

I want to bring in Cedric Richmond right now, a senior adviser to the DNC and former senior adviser to President Biden. Cedric, you know, it is interesting be we are all talking about the idea of whether optimism is warranted or whether (INAUDIBLE). How are you feeling about the Democrats' chance of maintaining the majority in both chambers of Congress tonight, let alone the down ballot races?

CEDRIC RICHMOND, SENIOR ADVISER TO THE DNC: I am optimistic. It will be tough to hold if you look at what has happened over the last 100 years. The first-term presidents usually lose a lot of seats. We think that we have reversed that trend, and we are looking forward to what happens tomorrow. But right now, everyone is focused on closing strong and getting the vote out tomorrow.

The other thing that I would just say is that we know that this will not be settled tomorrow. It will be days and days to make sure that every vote is counted. We believe that when every vote is counted, our candidates are going to prevail.

COATES: Is that why you think that President Biden had his closing arguments about democracy and the prospect of people engaging in election denialism throughout the midterm elections? Are you concerned that this will be something that not only is the long haul in the general tabulation, but more importantly that this will be another reflection about the strength of our democracy if that denialism continues?

RICHMOND: The president has been --

COATES: I think we have a problem. I do not here his audio.

RICHMOND: I think part of what -- I think part of what this president has done is being very consistent. He has always talked about democracy that we have and the need to protect it.

If you look at current events, this democracy needs attention, and I think that he is just pointing that out while not ignoring the fact that people are facing real pressures at the dining room table concerning costs. He has highlighted in his work to bring down those costs at the end of the month that families face.

COATES: He indeed is being consistent, but that consistency of not focusing maybe as a higher priority to the economy does have some people in the Democratic Party's feathers ruffled. In fact, Dana Bash was speaking to Hillary Rosen, who is a longtime democratic strategist, and she is pretty tough with your party. I want to play for a second what she had to say and get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I am a loyal Democrat, but I am not happy. I just think that we are -- you know, we did not listen to voters in this election, and I think that we are going to have a bad night. When voters tell you over and over and over again that they care mostly about the economy, listen to them. Stop talking about democracy being at stake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: So, I've heard this criticism a number of times now, and I'm wondering if you can address the idea that there are some who believe that President Biden, by focusing on democracy in peril, that he has exclusively focused on that as opposed to being able to even walk and chew gum at the same time from the Oval Office.

[23:09:55]

Can you address whether you think the president of the United States and the Democratic Party more broadly has done a good job of persuading voters that they are focusing on the breath of issues around that kitchen table?

RICHMOND: Well, I think Democrats should be highlighting and talking about the accomplishments to bring down those costs, whether it's capping the price of insulin, whether it's bringing down the costs of prescription drugs, whether it's bringing down the cost of health care, which we all know people look at the end of the month in terms of their spending, if you look at what he did with student loans to give college graduates more breathing room. All of those are things that he is doing to bring down the cost that people face.

And then if you reverse that, Republicans are saying that on day one, they are going to repeal all those things that reduces household costs. So, they're going to bring up costs.

Let me just say one thing about President Biden, which I think is very serious. Political pundits and politicians only concern themselves with the next election. Statesmen concern themselves with the next generation. If we look at what happened to Speaker Pelosi's husband, Paul, we would be irresponsible to not talk about the danger that we face in protecting this democracy.

So, while some people have the ability to just sit back and talk about strictly a next election, I think that that would be irresponsible, and I think it is important for voters to know the different extremes that the parties represent. I think it is a good closing argument when you highlight differences in the parties.

COATES: Cedric Richmond, thank you so much. Nice talking to you.

RICHMOND: Thanks for having me.

COATES: You know, I think about the idea of the closing argument. You know, just by nature of being a lawyer, I think about, well, that also means that they had to actually develop an entire case. This is just the end. So maybe voters are convinced. Who knows?

CAMEROTA: Yes, we will not know, possibly even tomorrow --

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: -- to get very comfortable.

COATES: I asked for a Murphy bed.

(LAUGHTER)

COATES: But I was turned down.

CAMEROTA: You're going to need it. You are on very early and late hours. There are already, believe it not, some legal battles playing out that could impact which votes get counted, and we are going to explain where and what, next.

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[23:15:00]

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COATES: We are just a few hours away now for the very first polls opening on election. But already, lawsuits and challenges are already in play. Experts say they have the potential to impact the outcome of the crucial battleground races. So, what should we be looking out for as votes begin to be counted tomorrow?

Joining us now to discuss, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams. Elliot, I'm glad you're here to help us unpack all these things. So, where are the key challenges happening as we get ready for these votes to start being counted?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: You know, council, there is

nothing new about challenges being made to election to the United States. Look, it is 50 states. Each of them has their own system. There are civil rights at issue here. Of course, people are going to bring lawsuits.

The issue now is that they happening before election day, and that is a very big deal. So, let's look at some of the states. Pennsylvania is really one to watch right now. In Pennsylvania, what you have, in order to cast an absentee ballot, voters have to sign an envelope and put their ballot in it.

Now, look, thousands of people got this wrong in the state of Pennsylvania. It is minor error relatively. But at the end of the day, that might have invalidated their ballots. There is litigation right now over what to do with them. Now, they won't be counted on election day, but will they be treated as valid? So, that will be one to watch. And look, you have a very, very close Senate races for governor and senator. At the end of the day, those votes may not be counted. That could be the difference in Pennsylvania.

So, moving further west, which takes you to Michigan, there was a suit there where the Republican secretary of state nominee in Michigan sued and invalidate thousands of ballots in Detroit. Now, a judge that looked at that one really shredded the lawsuit, saying it wasn't based in really much, if any, evidence, and raised the question of why this candidate was targeting Detroit.

Look, Michigan has 10 million people in it. Why are you focusing your election challenge on just the one highly democratic city in the state of Michigan? So, there were questions about the partisan makeup or the partisan backdrop of the lawsuit there. So, that one is not likely to succeed, but it is out there and a big one.

Moving to Wisconsin, further west, I think we are moving from east to west here, but in Wisconsin, also a big battleground state, what happened there? There is this question of curing a ballot, right? When someone makes a mistake on their ballot, what do you do with it? Wisconsin allowed election workers to cure or fix in effect signature information on ballots, and that created a series of lawsuits. Republicans ultimately won that one.

Finally, Arizona, another battle. These all seem to be happening in battleground states, Laura.

COATES: Funny how that works.

WILLIAMS: -- rather curiously. But in Arizona, there are questions of state workers, election workers, the partisan makeup of them. A number of states have rules over the number of Democrats and number of Republicans who can be election workers. There were challenges there and those are going to continue.

COATES: We've got these challenges, as you lay out, the idea of how to cure the ballot, ideas that could be clerical in error in terms of the date on the envelope, whether it is on the outside, as required in some states, whether those can be cured before the election day. We are hours away now so the curing period is probably not there.

But we are seeing as well for election day, Elliot, we've already seen in places like Arizona, for example, that there have been acts of possible voter intimidation.

[23:20:05]

I am wondering, given that we've already seen this, are you concerned at all or are there legal challenges surrounding the presence of people who are outside the polls trying to possibly intimidate voters either not to show up or to persuade how they actually vote?

WILLIAMS: I think I would look for those tomorrow in particular and beyond as people start showing up to vote. Now, certainly, there have been a number of suits certainly in past elections, but already in this election cycle, there are sort of armed security guards who claim to be deputized by the state patrolling people as they vote. So, that is going to keep coming up.

Certainly, this is going to continue to be an issue. This idea of, can voters -- what does it take to secure the ballot box? What does it take? At the end of the day, there is the possibility that the voters might be intimidated and have legal challenges to raise there.

COATES: It is so important to keep an eye on all these things. These issues are going to likely arise continuously, Alisyn. I'm thinking about where things stand because -- thank you, Elliot. I'm trying to make sure this is very holistic approach in a way because we are going to have challenges. Already, there have been lawsuits filed about the counting. In some of these battleground states, it might turn on the ballots that are already been challenged.

CAMEROTA: So. let's zero in on the one that Elliott was just talking about. Let's turn to the ballot playing out in Pennsylvania, where a decision on whether to count ballots with a date error on the outer envelope, that could have a big impact. CNN's Brian Todd has the details for us. Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Laura, Alisyn, it is a real scramble to count all of the absentee and mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania because between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh where we are, about 4,400 of those are in danger of being rejected. Why? Because they were incorrectly dated on these envelopes. These are the voter declaration envelopes. You sign here, and then you date down here.

Well, in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, about 4,400 people either didn't date this properly or they put no date on, and those ballots are in danger of being rejected. That is according to a new ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

You can go into your county election office and fix that, meaning cure it and fix the date. You had all day today to do that. You had all day tomorrow to do that, or you could vote provisionally on election day to collect that, and those provisional votes will be counted later. But it is crucial because in Pennsylvania, in 2020, mail-in and absentee votes accounted for about a third of the votes. Laura, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Okay, Brian, thank you very much. Joining us now to discuss this is Al Schmidt. He is the former city commissioner of Philadelphia. Al, thanks for being here. How big of a problem is it, these 4,400 ballots between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia that somebody forgot to put the date on the outer envelope?

AL SCHMIDT, FORMER CITY COMMISSIONER OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, for a state like Pennsylvania, which is very much a swing state, which will likely have a race for the United States Senate that will determine control of the Senate, it is distressing mainly because it is a transparent and cynical attempt to prevent voters' votes from being counted.

CAMEROTA: And what makes you say that? I mean, how do you know that this is a cynical attempt?

SCHMIDT: Having run elections for the past 10 years in Philadelphia, the Board of Elections knows when they mail the ballot out to voter, and they know when they receive that ballot back on or before election day by 8:00 p.m. So, whether the voter puts their birthday instead of the date or something like that really has nothing to do with whether it is a registered voter who is eligible to vote or whether that's that voter's vote. It is a meaningless technicality.

Unfortunately, the way the law is written, the courts have deferred to the way the law is written. Consequently, we are going to see thousands of voters' votes in jeopardy as a result.

CAMEROTA: Are election officials going to be able to remedy this? If there are 4,400 of these outer envelopes that do not have the right date, are they calling voters? How are they going to fix this?

SCHMIDT: Yeah, they are really hustling to let them know in time. It does not allow the voter to cast two votes. Their first vote ballot rather is not going to be counted. It gives them an opportunity to still have their vote count.

And they are both notifying them by email if they provided an email address, and also posting lists of voters who for one fatal defect or another have their ballot brought into question, whether it is not signing it, whether it is not dating it, or whether it is not putting it in what is called the secrecy envelope that the ballot goes inside of, and then the secrecy envelope goes in the outer declaration envelope.

[23:25:05]

CAMEROTA: The fact that the majority of these are out of Philadelphia, do you think that is indicative of anything?

SCHMIDT: Yes. It is pretty conspicuous. And all of those is being done in the name of election integrity. There is no evidence of a single fraudulent vote that would have been blocked by any of these measures. But there is plenty of evidence of legitimate votes cast by eligible voters that will not be counted as a result of this.

CAMEROTA: Well, they have their work cut out for them. We will see if they can reach these 4,400 voters and what happens tomorrow and this week. Al Schmidt, thank you very much for explaining this challenge to us.

So, Laura, his point is that they are qualified voters. They are registered voters. Their votes should count. But the law, the courts have decided that you have to date accurately that outer secrecy envelope.

COATES: It is part of the concern when this was first put in place, the idea of how we should get the message out to voters to ensure that they were doing it correctly because there is always this concern that people would get it wrong, that human error would come into play, and even very enraged, frankly, about not having their votes count. But that has been part of the whole plan. The get out to vote campaign strategies have tried to include the here is how you actually vote and have it cleared. So, not a lot of recourse, but we will see what happens tomorrow.

CAMEROTA: I can't tell you how many of my checks have the wrong date on it.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: I also forgot to sign them, routinely.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: And then they get returned.

COATES: That might be a different problem.

CAMEROTA: It is a different problem.

COATES: If those checks are rubber, that is a whole different problem. But you know what? The votes might not be tomorrow. If the 2020 election showed us anything, it could be that we got quite a while to go before we actually know the full election results, and also the dates of Alisyn's checks. So, when can we find out this time? We'll talk about that timeline and the when, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: All right, in less than a half an hour now, Alisyn, in less than a half an hour, it will be officially election day in America. But even after millions of voters cast their ballots tomorrow along with more than 41 people who have already cast their votes in early balloting -- 41 million, it may be days or even weeks before we know the who the winners are in some key races around the nation.

Back with us now, John Berman, Karen Finney, and David Urban. I mean, I felt we are constantly trying to manage expectations with very good reason because we know that the process by which votes are counted in a variety of states have people believing, when they go to bed, it is one thing, when they wake up, it is something different.

It is a very vulnerable period in our country for our democracy because we know there is room for the talking point and the seed planting to come in that says, oh, what happened overnight, right?

BERMAN: Well, look, if people are led to believe that, they are being told dishonest things. Your vote counts as much if you voted three weeks ago as if you vote tomorrow, and you need to know that. You need to know that and you need to believe it. Your vote counts as much if it is tabulated tomorrow or if it is tabulated on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. You need to know that and believe it. Everybody should be saying it out loud.

Now, there are a few states that count slowly. One of the problems that we have is that a few of these states happened to be some of the closest states in the country. David Urban is from Pennsylvania. Some of my best friends are from Pennsylvania.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: You do an awful job.

(LAUGHTER)

URBAN: Why me? Let's make it clear, I'm not counting those.

BERMAN: By choice, though. Pennsylvania has chosen not to start counting the early votes until election day. They could have it all buttoned up so that at 9:00 tomorrow, when the polls close, we could find out what the results are in Pennsylvania. But no, you've chosen not.

URBAN: Why me personally again, John?

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: This is David Urban and his friends --

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: -- have done this. Arizona, also, this is a largely mail ballot state, they take some time to count all -- Arizona is going to be very close. Nevada also has changed and they are now a very mail- heavy state and it is going to take a few days, too.

You have three key Senate races there that could dictate control of the Senate, so it's going to take time and people need to know it is going to take time.

COATES: Look at the screen. It can actually tell you just how long it did take, as a reminder for people back in 2020. Look at this. Sixteen days in some areas. The next day, in some other areas, four days, eight days, or in the case of some people, it has been almost two years.

CAMEROTA: There is one theory that we should stop calling it election day and start calling it election month because that is more realistic. And so --

URBAN: Or maybe we just fix it and get it all done in one day.

CAMEROTA: But how do you do that nowadays?

URBAN: Look, we can -- I bank by phone, right? I move money. I do not even go to the bank.

CAMEROTA: Wait a second.

(CROSSTALK)

URBAN: This is my point, Alisyn. This is my point. America's most people bank by phone. They don't -- how many people -- have you seen a cue outside of bank lately?

CAMEROTA: You do not think that is going to arouse suspicion of conspiracy theorists?

URBAN: My point is, if people are comfortable in America doing everything on their app, on their phone --

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

URBAN: -- ordering food, getting a car, paying their bills on phone, but they distrust somehow the election system?

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

URBAN: If you trust all your money in the world --

CAMEROTA: I don't know, David. There is a lot of distrust about election systems right now.

FINNEY: You are going against -- you're totally going against republican orthodoxy because as I recall --

URBABN: Shocking. Shocking.

FINNEY: -- we were trying -- well, I'm a little shocked.

[23:35:00]

FINNEY: We were trying to make voting a national holiday so it would be easy for people to vote.

URBAN: Listen, I think it should be a national holiday. Let's get it done on one day. Let's not linger. Let's not have it going for months.

BERMAN: You want the counting done.

URBAN: Let's have it done. If they could do it in Brazil, right, we can do it in America.

FINNEY: But there is no practical reason not to give people a month of voting, let them do it at their leisure based on --

URBAN: Why can't we do it in a day?

COATES: You mean count in a day but vote in a month?

URBAN: Count it in one day. We should -- we go to bed. We should know the results.

FINNEY: But can we put our big people pants on and just chill out and let the vote --

URBAN: We can do hard things. We put people on the moon. We can count votes.

CAMEROTA: Well, it is not going to happen this year. I mean, we are not there yet. It is not going to happen. I think, John, what is interesting about -- what you are saying is that you are saying everybody needs to know that their vote counts, yes, however, on election night, there is momentum that happens. So, there is a surge --

BERMAN: There is a perceived --

CAMEROTA: There is a perceived. Yes, there is a perceived surge and people call it a mirage.

BERMAN: Mirage.

FINNEY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And that is real. I know that is in oxymoron, that the mirage is real. But there is a feeling when you go to sleep that something has happened. And sometimes, some candidates seize that momentum and run with it.

BERMAN: Well, they are being disingenuous.

FINNEY: Yes.

BERMAN: And it is on, frankly, people like us when we are describing what is happening as these votes are being counted to make clear which votes are being counted first and how it could change as time goes on. And you're absolutely right. I mean, some of us have made a concerted effort over time not to say, oh, tomorrow is election day or eight days until election. No, eight days left to cast your ballots. Right?

That's what we should be talking about. And then the counting begins. In some cases, it just began in some states.

URBAN: I think Americans deserve better.

FINNEY: I think we just have to change our -- I mean, look, during COVID, we had to change the way we voted, right? We just now have to change the way our anticipation about when we are going to go to the big wall and have all the answers. It could be two weeks.

But here's the thing. It is messy but at least that tells us it is working. I agree with you that it should absolutely be -- there should be an overhaul again.

URBAN: Say that again, you agree. I want to hear you say that.

(LAUGHTER)

FINNEY: Only once. Only once.

(LAUGHTER)

FINNEY: Once tonight, brother. Once tonight. BERMAN: I try that at home. It never works.

(LAUGHTER)

COATES: I'll tell you what, the only thing about is, you know, we are assuming that when people make claims that elections are fraudulent, they actually believe the claim, which we know is not always the case.

CAMEROTA: Who knows what people believe? They seem to certainly doubt lots of things that we take as facts. But we are going to assume that tomorrow, everything goes smoothly and all counting works beautifully for the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, as you know, there is a major upheaval at Twitter at a time when election security, of course, is more important than ever. And now, Elon Musk is giving his recommendations about who people should vote for. We will tell you about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Today, Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, taking to Twitter to advise people to vote Republican. Musk writing -- quote -- "to independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a republican Congress, given that the presidency is democratic."

The panel is with us now. John, does Elon Musk's recommendations matter? Do his recommendations matter?

BERMAN: Look, again, I think any endorsement at this point, you would rather have it than not. Elon -- I think the question with Elon Musk is, is this the right thing for a guy to do who just bought a media platform and has been out there for some time saying, I'm going to make this neutral, I'm going to make this down the middle finally, and then one of the first things he does -- well, one of the first things he did was spread misinformation about the beating of Paul Pelosi. One of the second things he does --

CAMEROTA: Well, that was fire half of the staff. The third thing he does --

BERMAN: The third thing he did was to come out and endorse. Now, it just incongruous with what he is portraying. I will say this --

COATES: And what he said, he also said in the past he would not, you know, go in this way. He would not talk about politics in the same way.

BERMAN: Every newspaper in America endorses. It depends on what you consider Twitter to be. I know it's different than a newspaper. Every newspaper does endorse every other thing. It is not unusual for someone who runs some kind of a thing --

URBAN: -- the Republican Party, by the way. He said, you know, to my independent-minded voters, right, if you want to have a balance of power in America, consider voting for Republicans with democratic executive branch, we will have a republican-controlled legislative branch, then power will be equally shared, and there will be a better outcome. I think that's what his intent was here on this tweet.

FINNEY: He didn't say it quite eloquently, but yes.

URBAN: Thank you, Karen.

FINNEY: I think that's what he was trying to say. Look, I think he's going to tweet himself out of relevance here because what's going to happen for a lot of folks like myself, the concern is exactly what John was saying, which is, wait a second, I thought you said this was meant to be the Town Square where we all get a voice. And remember, the people that he fired were the people who actually do --

CAMEROTA: The moderation.

[23:45:00]

FINNEY: Moderation three days before the election. So that, as you say, it's incongruent with what he said he was going to do. And I actually know about a dozen people who've already quit Twitter because they just assume that he is not going to be good to his word.

COATES: Forget the messenger for a moment, though. Does the message resonate? Is he correct? It's the sentiment that you can have a good check and balance on power if you do not allow to have the same party in control of the House, the Senate and Oval Office. That to me at its core --

URBAN: I think this is the past 40 years of midterm elections show us, right? The party in power loses seats in the House and Senate. I think the American public has done that by itself without Elon Musk telling them to do this.

FINNEY: I think the challenge is, as we know -- think about Jim Jordan. He wants to do hearings about the FBI's investigation of white supremacy. That's his agenda. So, the agenda of investigation, which I think the Republicans are going to overreach, I think absolutely, a balance of power is an excellent thing. We do not live in that reality anymore. We do not live in reality anymore where you can count on a balance of power resulting in a better result for the American people.

CAMEROTA: And then there is also the factor of election deniers. That is also a new wrinkle where there are 300 running for different roles, and that changes everything. I mean, if somebody suddenly becomes the secretary of state and is in charge of elections in their state or the attorney general, that changes everything. So, Elon Musk didn't mention anything like that.

BERMAN: Also, we are talking about the pendulum swing. There is a pendulum that tends to swing between complaints about divided government and then complaints about single party rule. If you have --

CAMEROTA: Is it gridlock or it is moving too fast?

URBAN: I do not think government has ever been accused of moving too fast.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Well, you know, Republicans think that Joe Biden is running away with his agenda right now. That's what I mean by moving too fast.

COATES: Thank you so much.

URBAN: I have nothing to add, Alisyn. I have nothing to add.

CAMEROTA: I like it.

COATES: They agree. Nothing to add.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Isn't that interesting? Is that like a note about America tomorrow? We will see. It is all about turnout. How and where could the weather impact who shows up to the polls? We are going to give you the forecast, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Guys, we are all going to have to wait a little longer to see if we are billionaires. Just in to CNN, the 1.9 billion-dollar Powerball drawing is not happening tonight. The Powerball folks say it has been delayed because a participating lottery needs time to complete security protocols. Whatever that means.

COATES: Whatever that means. That's bizarre. Did you win, and then it's not fair?

CAMEROTA: This is a cover story because I don't want anybody else poking around. I don't know what that means, but I never heard a security breach at the lottery or security protocols.

COATES: Or protocol not being done.

CAMEROTA: So, we will update you as soon as we have more.

COATES: And who is the one -- that is where my mind goes. Who is the one person holding up Alisyn's billions?

CAMEROTA: Yeah, figure it out.

COATES: Also, over 50 high temperature records broken or tied today in cities around the northeast and the south. But now, those are supposed to drop soon. What else can we expect when we head out to the polls tomorrow? What will the weather mean for voter turnout? Pedram Javaheri joins us from the CNN weather channel. Pedram, what should people expect tomorrow at the weather center?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, we got lots going on in the weather here across the western U.S. In particular, you're looking at Arizona, you're looking at some of these key battleground states across Nevada, in particular, pretty broad disturbance diving right in that will bring quite a bit of weather across the western U.S.

So, wet weather is in place here. Rain showers, snow showers across higher elevations. Reno certainly gets in on the wet weather as well. And really, the best piece of advice, when you look at the forecast over this region in the coming 24 or so hours, get out to the polls early because the weather really kind of goes down here rather quickly into the afternoon.

Places such as Reno, you are already going to be running into snow showers. Seventy to 80% chance, we will begin to see snow accumulated into the afternoon hours. In places like Las Vegas, notice the increase in probability of rainfall by we say 3, 5, even 7:00 p.m. going up to 50, 70 plus percent chance the rain is going to be in place, gusty winds are going to be in place as well.

And studies have looked at how weather plays a role into voter turnout. It typically favors the Republican-leaning voters. In fact, they come out in more likelihood numbers in previous studies than Democratic-leaning that are typically impacted and reduced in turnout there when it comes to wet weather.

But here it comes across the Western United States. Again, the activity shifts a little further towards the south and east. Even Southern California gets in on some of these rain showers. Parts of areas around say Northern Arizona, notice what happens. Again, 3, 5, 7 p.m., the winds pick up here in intensity and the temps go downhill very quickly with this incoming front.

Eastern U.S., generally quiet conditions. There is a tropical system offshore. It will be well offshore for any significant impacts. But places like Atlanta, temps well above average, which studies have looked the temps above average on election day, that does increase voter turnout, but it also has also been seen to be more likely to keep the incumbent power in play there and keep it more likely to continue forward there.

So, the temps remain above average across the southern U.S. parts of the eastern U.S. Cool air is going to eventually arrive. And again, the subtropical feature that is offshore, guys, is going to remain well offshore. No impacts there for our friends in Florida.

CAMEROTA: Pedram, thank you for all of that.

[23:54:59]

I just learned from Pedram that Democrats need better foul weather gear. That is what I took away from that weather forecast. Thank you for that news you can use.

All right, we are minutes away from election day in America. We will go through all of the critical races and what possible surprises to watch out for, next.

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COATES: All right, sit up straight. We know what that music means. We are here, everyone.

[00:00:00]

It is election day officially in America. It means that people are about to cast their ballots with control of the House and the Senate now at stake.