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Trump & Clinton Battle For North Carolina; Dozens of Ballot Measures Face Vote Today; Justice Dept. Sends Election Monitors to 28 States. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 08, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:03] DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And Trump in 2012 could say that but that was difficult to achieve in the Republican Party. But the opportunity cost of Trump with a strong populist demagogic message in 2016 is he alienates a lot of these college educated voters who are normally Republicans who were looking to break for Hillary Clinton.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This fracture is going to continue.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Especially if he doesn't win, if he does better than Mitt Romney in the Electoral College, he'll have a better case to say my path is a better path. That's going to be a big divide in the Republican Party.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, ANCHOR: All right. It will be very interesting to have you all back tomorrow with these thoughts.

Stay with CNN all day and night. We'll have every race covered. You can join us on NEW DAY tomorrow. We start at 3:00 a.m. Eastern for complete results coverage.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. No matter whether or not you're angry and going to the polls or you believe in a better America and you're going to the polls, you better go to the polls.

We're showing you Ashburn, Virginia, right now with that signature white basketball court. All those people lined up behind those screens. Who knows what their race, what their gender. All have American flags. All are exercising the franchise.

There are 100 ballot measures. Actually, more of them, for voters to decide on in all of these different states, including recreational marijuana. There's assisted suicide. Really big issues. And many of them citizens put on the ballots of states like yours.

We'll take you through 'em when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:36] CUOMO: NEW DAY is being shown all over the world, but for you in the United States, hopefully, this is part of your reality. Forget about the inconvenience, forget about the weather. This is about voting. This is about your chance to act on what you've been talking about for over a year.

These are live pictures of people getting ready to go. These must-win battleground states. This is North Carolina that we're looking at, Raleigh specifically. It could be a nail biter, 15 electoral votes at stake.

We have CNN's Victor Blackwell live in Raleigh bringing us this shot this morning.

What's it like so far? The polls just getting ready to open down there. What's it been like so far, my friend?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the line started just after 5:30 this morning, Chris, and the line has more than 100 people in it. People have been driving up all morning.

Let me tell you why we're here. This is precinct 1310 on the north side of Raleigh, one of the larger precincts here in this area in Wake County. Wake County being the battleground in this battleground state. In the last six elections, Democrats have won this county three times, Republicans have won this county three times.

Take a look at the line. This is a precinct that went for Romney in 2012, McCain in 2008. And the candidates and the campaigns know how important this precinct and in county is. How do we know? They were here within the last 18 hours of their campaign. Fifteen electoral votes on the line for North Carolina. The big story out of North Carolina, early voting.

Setting record this year. More than 3.1 million early and absentee votes counted this year so far. We know that there are some demographic questions about who is showing up. The Hispanic vote here, more than 79 percent increase over 2012, but still, a small percentage of the electorate.

White voters have 22 percent. Black voters down 5 percent in early vote. We'll see who shows up today -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: We sure will, Victor. Thanks so much for that.

Voters are also packing precincts in the battleground state of Ohio. The Buckeye State offers 18 electoral votes. Ohioans want you to know they've picked the winner in every presidential election since 1964. That's where we find CNN's Martin Savidge.

He's live in Parma, Ohio, with more.

Hi, Martin. What are you seeing?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn. Well, one of the reasons we're here is this is one of the areas in the Democratic stronghold of Cuyahoga County that could see a crossover vote going in favor of Donald Trump. It's a working class kind of neighborhood. We saw people lined up outside.

The voting is under way. It started at 6:30. About 75 people immediately walked in to this elementary school. Early voting has been under way in the state of Ohio for the last 29 days. It only ended yesterday afternoon.

And the indications there are as follows. There are about almost 1.8 million votes that were cast in early voting. That's nearly a quarter of the registered voters in this state. It's up slightly from 2012 but not up a lot. In fact, the secretary of state said he was rather surprised, given the fact that early voting is popular and now more accepted.

In Cuyahoga County, early voting down across the board about 15 percent. That does not bode well for Hillary Clinton because, of course, Cuyahoga County is her strongest point in this state. If you didn't get a lot of votes coming out of Cuyahoga County, it could mean she may not do well in this state. We'll have to see. Polls close at 7:30 -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Martin. That's the right analysis.

But as you well know, the x factor is always turnout -- how many will come out and where. That's what we'll be following all day long.

Now, voting is not just important because you're going to get to pick the president, although that should be more than enough. You have senator. You have legislators going all the way down.

You have ballot measures, 162 of them across the country. And they range from everything, from background checks on guns to recreational marijuana use. Minimum wage is a very big deal in different ways across the country. And many of these initiatives were brought by you, not legislators.

So, will the people have a referendum? Will they come out and take their own action?

Let's discuss some of these issues with CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and CNN business correspondent Christine Romans.

Jeffrey, first one for the legal mind. The advancement of the proposition of legalized marijuana in Colorado, legalized assisted suicide. How do you see these two playing out?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this is -- you know, Colorado was one of the two states, Washington state being the other, that legalized marijuana for recreational use. These have proven popular in these states.

[06:40:02] The assisted suicide has passed in other states. Marijuana has passed. We're going to see how well it does around the country today. But -- I mean, the polls are showing that it has a very good chance of passing today in Colorado.

CUOMO: All right. Let's hop quickly to minimum wage. Very big deal, Christine, on different levels. Take us through some of the contrast between the politics and the reality when it comes to minimum wage. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So, you're going

to see this in four states. It looks like they're going to pass. Every minimum wage ballot initiative since 2000 has passed.

So, the people -- even in red state two years ago in the midterms, you saw several red states that are red states passed higher minimum wage. That's traditionally been something Republicans have said, you know, don't tell us what to do. That's only going to raise costs for us and we're going to have to cut jobs.

The reality is people across the country have consistently voted for raising the minimum wage. There's this fight for 15 you've heard from the progressives. They'd like to see $15 an hour. That's not on any of these ballots. It's more like $12 an hour or $13.50 an hour and easing it in slowly so businesses can adjust.

One of the reasons why it's becoming more popular, I think, is because there's this realization that the minimum wage today when you adjust for inflation, it's not -- you don't make as much as you did a generation ago. So, people feel like they're not making as much. And the taxpayer is subsidizing the company who is paying those wages by food stamps.

I mean, there's some studies that show that more than half the people who are getting the minimum wage, if it's just a one minimum wage job, they're getting other, you know, government subsidies for their life taxpayer subsidies. So, it's the company that should have to bear the cost of that.

CUOMO: That's an interesting point many voters won't think about. They'll think about what's right and wrong versus their own interests. Who's going to pay for this difference between the wage and what you need to live? The company or you?

Jeffrey, gun laws. Those are a big deal. The federal government gets a lot of heat, but most of it needs to be done at the state level. What do you see with advancements of checks across the country in these ballot measures? Is anybody trying to make it easier to get a gun?

TOOBIN: Well, the -- you know, after the Newtown massacre, President Obama threw all his effort into tightening gun laws in the United States, most specifically trying to establish background checks. He failed and the Senate didn't even get a vote in the House of Representatives.

These are state-by-state efforts, almost exclusively to tighten background checks. The problem with background checks at the state levels is how portable guns are. You know, most of the crimes in New York state are committed with guns that are purchased originally in other states. Several states are trying to pass gun control laws, but gun control laws are not politically all that popular. It's why it didn't pass in the House of Representatives.

So, I think it's a very unclear scenario about how many gun control laws will pass around the country today. CUOMO: Also, quick point, Jeffrey, people are going to see there's

going to be controversy about people showing up to the polling station with open carry permits, with weapons that are visible. Some will say that's scary, but for others, it's a political statement as well. The basic law is, correct me if I'm wrong, if you have open carry, then you can carry it unless there's a specific law which many people haven't made to protect polling places differently. True?

TOOBIN: That's right. And open carry laws have become much more popular since our last presidential election. So, we will undoubtedly see, as you see in open carry states, people going into the polling places with guns.

Just on criminal justice, let me give you one more so of very weird fact about today. In California, there are two ballot initiatives about the death penalty. One ballot initiative says ban it altogether. Another ballot initiative says make it easier to impose the death penalty.

So, voters could go dramatically in one direction or the other or go in contradictory directions. That's just one of the weird things about having these ballot initiatives. There are 17 of them on the ballot in California.

CUOMO: And a lot of them are citizen generated. And, you know what? It reflects this real divergence in the country right now, what kind of country do you want to be.

A lot of people believe we've lost things we should restore that made us America. Other people are saying, no, we have to move forward and embrace who we are now. What's going to happen? We'll see today.

Let's end in California.

TOOBIN: You might even say, Chris, that some people want to make America great again.

CUOMO: Yes, yes. I have heard that. I've seen it on lawns near my house.

So, Christine, let's end in California. Proposition 67, this is an unusual one. It's the first of its kind. It's about plastic bags.

ROMANS: Yes. So, a couple years ago, the state banned plastic bags. You have to pay 10 cents to get a paper bag at a store. So, for example, if you're in San Francisco, you cannot walk into a Walgreens and get a plastic bag anymore.

This puts Prop 67 to the people. The people can decide. Now there's an industry push from the plastic bag association, you know, saying, look, people should have the right to be able to have a plastic bag.

[06:45:03] But the environmentalists say, no, the bays are full of these plastic bags, we don't want them. The state has already voted -- the state has decided not to have them. This puts the measure to the people, getting rid of the plastic bags. CUOMO: Unlike a lot of laws, it goes to the formation of culture. I

noticed the other day that when someone offered me a bag, I said no. This is not something that's on my mind. Yet, you see the culture changing. People are walking around with their own shopping bags so you don't have the plastic ones. People say they care about the environment. That's been a big deal in California. Let's see how it does on the referendum.

ROMANS: And California has led on things like this. There are other cities and states around the country who have looked at that plastic bag ban or at least charging a lot of money for a plastic to try to diminish the use of them.

CUOMO: Christine Romans, Jeffrey Toobin, thank you for making us smarter on this Election Day. Now, we all have to get out and vote and see what becomes a reality in this country -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well, the Department of Justice is deploying hundreds of election monitors across 28 states to make sure that your vote will count today. So, what you should know as you head out to the polls. We bring in our experts to discuss.

First, let's take a look at your voting Instagrams.

CUOMO: What do we have? What kind of pictures do we have?

CAMEROTA: Check it out.

CUOMO: Nice. Medical field, respected. Very nice. Covered up his sticker, but we know it's there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:31] CAMEROTA: OK. You're looking live at a polling place here in Raleigh, North Carolina. Voters are lining up across the country this morning, in Raleigh, North Carolina, is just seen the lines stretch all the way down the block. There's a lot of battleground states, obviously, that could decide this election. North Carolina being front and center.

So, as you head out to vote, you should know that extreme measures are being taken to protect your vote. More than 500 Department of Justice election monitors will fan out in 28 states to make sure this process works.

For more, let's bring in Michigan's secretary of state, Ruth Johnson, and election law professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law, Josh Douglas.

Great to have both of you with us this morning.

Secretary Johnson, let me start with you. How can voters in your state know that the process is legitimate and not rigged?

RUTH JOHNSON, MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, we have a very unique system here in Michigan, where we take many different positions with what we do to make sure that they are going to have integrity. First of all, we have paper ballots, which I think is very important, so we can always recount.

We've cleaned up our qualified voter file by taking off 889,000 died or moved from Michigan. And then we also have a canvas board at the county and canvas at the state. So, 1,603 local clerks conduct the elections and do a great job and name some of the best in the country.

CAMEROTA: Well, that's interesting, Secretary, because I mean, it does sound like you're a model of cleaning up the rolls so that dead people are no longer on there and obviously, there can't be voter fraud in that way. Do you think other states do it as conscientiously as you do?

JOHNSON: I can only speak to Michigan and tell you we've done a lot of things to make sure that we have integrity. We started out with initiatives called safe, secure and fair elections and have put many things in place to ensure the integrity in Michigan.

I can tell you that we have great elections here. We've not had problems. We have everything in place. We're ready. I'm encouraging people to vote today. It's so important to have your voice heard.

CAMEROTA: Professor, you study this and specialize in this for a living. Do you feel as though since 2000, our system has gotten better and we've fixed what ailed us then?

JOSH DOUGLAS, ELECTION LAW PROFESSOR, UNIV. OF KENTUCKY: I do think it's gotten better. Although, there's certainly more we can do. We've gotten better in that there's more scrutiny in the process. We've also had a lot of judicial scrutiny as to protecting the right to vote.

And so, there's certainly more we can do, but, you know, certain things like a federal law that was passed after 2000 that says that if you show up to the polls and for some reason, there's a problem, your name is not on the voter rolls, you don't have the proper form of ID, you can't be turned away. The voter -- the poll workers have to give you a provisional ballot.

And we'll let you cast that and then we'll set it the aside and see if it should count after the process, outside of the heat of Election Day.

So, things like that, fail safe measures which really protect the individual right to vote, are really important.

CAMEROTA: So, Secretary Johnson, what are these federal election monitors who are fanning out across the states going to be doing today? What can they do at the polling places?

JOHNSON: Well, I can tell you in Michigan, we already have a system set up so that we already are monitoring as we go. So, I suppose if the election monitors were to be in Michigan, they would just be another addition to that. But we already have poll watchers. We already have challengers. We

already have things in place, rules and policies. Michigan follows those, so we're very fortunate.

We haven't had problems like you might see in other states. I'm very proud of our local election officials, and we have 30,000 poll workers that work two or three times a year. They do a great job too. And for people that would like to see their ballot or know where to vote, they can go to Michigan.gov/vote.

CAMEROTA: Fantastic plug for Michigan there.

Professor Douglas, part of why this issue has been raised is because Donald Trump has been talking about it on the campaign trail and saying that the system is rigged and the people need to be very vigilant at the polls. Let me play for you what Donald Trump said a couple of weeks ago in Colorado.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hear these horror shows, and we have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us and is not taken away from us.

(APPLAUSE)

And everybody knows what I'm talking about.

[06:55:00] And this crooked media -- you talk about crooked Hillary -- they're worse than she is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Professor, but how big of a problem -- give us some context here. How big of a problem is election fraud in all of its different permutations?

DOUGLAS: Yes, I think that statement is really unfortunate because election fraud, voter fraud does not happen very often. I'm not going to say that voter fraud never occurs, but it's pretty rare. It's a pretty small part of our system.

And it typically happens, you know, for local elections, small jurisdictions. The other thing that's important to realize is the kind of voter fraud that he seems to be talking about is people voting 10, 15 times on the same day or in-person impersonation. I show up and pretend I'm someone I'm not.

That simply doesn't happen. That's not the kind of voter fraud that we see that exists. The small instances of voter fraud that do sometimes happen go through absentee balloting or through complacent poll workers. In-person voter fraud, things that voter ID laws would root out, simply just don't happen. There's been a lot of studies that have looked at this and there hasn't been the evidence.

CAMEROTA: Yes. So, the bottom line is voters should feel very confident when they go to the polls today that their vote will count.

Professor Douglas, Secretary Johnson, thanks so much for joining us.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

DOUGLAS: Thanks for having me.

CAMEROTA: Chris?

CUOMO: Problems happen, but we've never had anything widespread. Certainly nothing that would justify the notion that the entire thing is rigged. The better message is the reality of today. People are getting out and lining up to vote, especially in the battleground states, specifically North Carolina.

The race there is expected to be a nail biter, got 15 electoral votes at stake.

CNN's Victor Blackwell, he is live in Raleigh.

But you are in the county that is the battleground within the battleground which you said very well earlier. What's the situation?

BLACKWELL: Well, the line has gotten even longer now, hundreds of people in this line. Started about 5:30.

Let me give you a look here. It stretched all the way back into the parking lot here. This is a county that inside the state that set a record for early voting, Wake County set a record for early voting with more than 300,000 people casting those early votes.

Let me put that into context for you. More people cast those votes early than the total number of registered voters in 97 of North Carolina's 100 counties. So the expectation was that quite possibly there would not be these long lines with the voter turnout already before the polls opened today of about 43 percent.

But we see that that people here in this community of Bedford on the north side of Raleigh are in line. And this is going to be what we expect, I guess, for the few hours starting this day. Polls open until 7:30 tonight. But in just a few minutes that the polls have been open, lines across Raleigh extending -- Chris, Alisyn.

CUOMO: Hey, Victor, you're in the place where history will help be made today. You're going to be in this place. It's going to be part of the tapestry of history. Thanks for being there.

He also points something else out. You have to check when your polls open locally and when they close locally. States are different.

CAMEROTA: OK. Meanwhile, we're following a lot of news this morning, including a live interview with r Democratic VP nominee Tim Kaine. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are finally going to close the history books on the Clintons. We will open a bright new chapter.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We face the test of our time. What will we vote for?

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is November 8th, the day we make America great again.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: This election is on us. It is in our hands. If we get out and vote, Hillary Clinton will win.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Are you ready to go make history?

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: Republicans need to come home.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After eight years as your president, I'm asking you to trust me on this one.

TRUMP: We're hours away from a once in a lifetime change.

CLINTON: This election will end, but our work together will be just beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY, and it is Election Day in America.

CAMEROTA: I never thought we'd get here.

CUOMO: You look better. I look worse. Nothing unusual there. But this is an historic day any way you look at it.

The end finally in sight for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It is now up to the voters. Both candidates battling late into the night.

During this hour, polls are going to open in 17 more states across the country. Many millions having their opportunity to have their say. Those states include some of the key battleground races. Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania. They could decide this race.

CAMEROTA: So, we're already seeing long lines across the country. Take a look at some live pictures. There's so much at stake. You're looking at North Carolina here.

Let's begin with CNN's Phil Mattingly. He's in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Phil, what's the latest?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Obviously, a crucial swing state here, a state that both campaigns say really is still a tossup.