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CNN Live Event/Special

Trump Says He Feels "Very Confident" Going Into Election Night; GA Secy Of State Gives Update On Voting, Bomb Threat Probe; Jocelyn Benson, (D), Michigan Secretary of State, Gives Update On Election & Threats; Cambria County, PA, Voting Hours Extended Due To Software Glitch; Voting Underway Across U.S. and Soon, First Exit Poll Results. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 05, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it looks like Republicans have shown up in force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: So do you think they're really as confident as he claims to be?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, everything is within the margin of error. So it can certainly go either way. But there is a split decision in the Rust Belt states, a split decision in some Sun Belt states. And many -- one of the campaigns effectively sweeps all seven states.

One of the things he said also earlier today was that he would accept the outcome of an election if he lost, he said, if it was a fair election. Well, he didn't accept what happened in 2020 that he lost.

What you can expect tonight is, if he is on track to losing, he will probably come out and declare he won or say something similar to what happened in 2020.

How does the Republican Party respond in the immediate aftermath of that potential scenario? So there is so much that could happen here. But, you know, this race is -- could be historically close. And we won't have the results for days.

BLITZER: People are bracing for him to declare victory even if the votes are not counted yet. We'll see what happens on that one.

Guys, thank you very much.

And our special coverage of Election Day in America continues in just a moment. Well talk to the Michigan secretary of state to get an important update on how the vote is going in that crucial battleground state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:08]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, right now, we're getting an update on the non-credible bomb threat in many polling stations in Georgia from the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. Let's listen.

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, (R), GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: -- today. Just kind of pro rate that out to the rest of the day, the over 1.1 million, which gets us to probably right now 5,,150,000. We don't know if the trend will continue. It could actually come up a little bit. We have more work today.

That's really what the big news should be. I'm not telling you what to print. That's your right. That's your job. But I think that is pretty darn awesome.

Then we have a few things that happened that we can explain. And one of them, in the weeds. But in Peach County, it was a little cold down there. Someone plugged in the space heater that was also serving the county EMS for the election management system. So it fried that. So it was replaced this morning.

Those are the kind of things you don't expect. But a very minor issue.

And another really minor issue that, so far, two precincts had an illegal link of about 30 minutes, so we'll extend those.

But what is really interesting is that fakes calls coming into our call center. So far, we've had 1,374 calls on our call centers. And answering an average of 16 seconds. And the oldest was about 42 seconds.

So really responsive getting back to people, answering their questions, what do they do, where do they go, things like that.

We have actually even gotten some great feedback. Already, 40 emails, sending us 40 emails telling us they had a great experience.

We want everyone in Georgia to know that I have led on making sure that we lead the nation on having fast, secure and accurate elections. And we say fast, so much of that is about the voter experience, the customer, which is the voter today.

And we are just really grateful we are getting feedback. We're just really grateful that we're having a check-in time right now under a minute. And we're having line time right now under a minute. And we're having line time two the three minutes.

So in four minutes or less, on average, people are voting in Georgia. And we think that is good news, too.

We have a lot to be proud of. And that's what you have to be proud of. You live in a great state.

You know, I talked to you a little bit earlier about that Russian bomb hoax and that bomb scare. I just want to make sure everyone understands this. That Georgia is not going to be intimidated.

Russia has just decided they picked on the wrong Georgia. They need to pick on the other one in the Black Sea because we will not be intimidated.

But we are just excited about where we are right now.

I don't know if anyone had any questions.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You talked about some precincts in Cobb County that will be held up in late. Are you aware of others? And also, you talked about equipment issues --

BURNETT: All right, you just heard the secretary of state there in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, talking about the non-credible bomb threats, saying that Russia should meddler elsewhere, referring to, of course, the election it just intervened in, in the country of Georgia.

Also talking about a record turnout on track in Georgia, saying they're on track to more than five million votes, which would be a record. Obviously, still going on. We'll see if that actually happens.

Let's go to the Michigan secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson.

Secretary Benson, it's good to speak to you.

I don't know if you just heard your colleague there in Georgia, Secretary Raffensperger. He was talking about the threats that Georgia has dealt with. But he is saying that votes are on track. But a couple of places may be open 30 minutes longer because of earlier delays.

What are you seeing in Michigan right now? Have you had any places with any massive disruptions or a massive delay at this point?

JOCELYN BENSON, (D), MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATES: We have not. Similarly to my colleague in Georgia, we have seen both extraordinary engagement and turnout.

All across the state, I have visited polling places throughout the day. And there are literally parties at the polls. People dancing, people celebrating, which is kind of what today should be.

And people standing in line next to each other voting with different candidates with very different opinions but still proud to respect each other's right to vote. So that is what we are seeing above all else.

And like Georgia, we had a few non-credible bomb threats that were attempted, we believe, sources back to Russia as well. But working with law enforcement to debunk these things so nothing deters anyone from participating in this historic election.

BURNETT: I'm glad to hear things are continuing. That you are just plowing right on through it.

Can I ask you, you talk about the record turnout in Georgia that he is talking about, Brad Raffensperger, that he believes there will be a record for Georgia and certainly on track for that right now. Although, we'll see.

Are you seeing record turnout in Michigan, all in?

BENSON: Yes, we are. Leading up to today, already 3.3 million Michiganders have voted. Our highest turnout election ever was in 2020 where 5.5 million Michiganders voted. So we are on track to match and possibly surpass that based on the energy and the turnout I have seen at the polls.

[14:40:03]

We will know more, of course, later today. But I'm very optimistic that, at the very least, we are seeing very high turnout, breaking -- continuing to break records in many different precincts, which is all great to see.

And it's not really any particular location. It is all across the state of Michigan where people are voting, proud to be voting, and really celebrating today, which, again, as election officials, is what we hope to see.

BURNETT: So can I ask you whether you think you will have presidential results, whether you'll be able to project a winner tonight?

BENSON: That's the hope. The biggest determining factor of that will be the closeness of the race, of course. We still have 7,000 military and overseas voters. The ballots can be returned up until Monday or Tuesday of next week. As long as they are postmarked by Election Day, they will count.

So we'll see. It depends on the margin of victory for any particular race.

But that said, I have been very encouraged by how efficiently and securely our largest communities are tabulating those votes that came in through the mail.

Detroit has already said they will probably be done by tonight, probably around midnight. So we should have an update by 9:00 p.m. Eastern. But we do expect results to be in sooner than they were in 2020, which was midday on Wednesday.

BURNETT: All right, well, I know that is something everybody will celebrate if that happens.

I want to ask you one other thing.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: Because you talked about the celebration at the polls. But there had been reports of one Trump supporter threatening violence at a polling location.

Is there anything more you can tell us about that? Obviously, it appears it was isolated from what else you told me.

BENSON: Yes, indeed, it was isolated. I did talk to some folks who were there. Law enforcement came by just to check on things and are still monitoring.

We had a field team in place, 100 people all across the state as well, to respond to things like this. And what we are seeing in this incident and others is that they are very isolated. And they are not deterring anyone from voting.

And for every, you know, one issue like that, we have an abundance of joyful stories and experiences as well. That is what we are particularly proud of.

BURNETT: All right, Secretary Jocelyn Benson, thank you very much. We appreciate your time.

As the voting continues in Michigan, as you heard what she said, perhaps on track for a record there. Georgia as well.

Let's go from one battleground state to another in the Blue Wall. An update now on issues in polling stations in Pennsylvania, that there had been struggles with earlier.

Let's see where we are now with Paula Reid at the voting desk.

Paula, what are you learning?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So we have been looking into what is going on in Cambria County. Because here, polling locations will be open until 10:00 p.m. after a software malfunction disrupted voters' ability to scan their ballots.

We learned this issue was caused by a printing error. The bar code on the ballot was printed incorrectly and machines couldn't read them.

So county employees have traveled 70 miles west. They are expected to bring back and distribute reprinted ballots across the county this afternoon.

Now ballots that voters cast already that cannot be read by the machine will be hand counted.

We've also learned that mail-in ballots are not impacted by this issue.

Election officials said in a statement, "At this point, our focus is getting people to vote. And their votes will count."

Now let's go to Allegheny County. Because, here, we have learned that the mail-in ballot return rate has exceeded 2020. As of last night, more than 219,000 mail-in ballots we're returned. That's a return rate of 85.2 percent compared to 84.8 percent back in 2020.

Interestingly, officials have already begun counting the mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. Because remember, in that state, they come in multiple envelopes so officials started by extracting the ballots from their outer secrecy enveloped and then started extracting the ballots from the inner envelopes to begin scanning.

Results are not expected to be posted until after 8:00 p.m. in Pennsylvania because officials cannot start tabulating those mail-in ballots until Election Day -- Erin?

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Paula.

[14:44:04]

And our special coverage of Election Day in America continues. We'll go live on the ground in North Carolina, a crucial state. The Democrats trying to fall back from Trump. He really needs it to win in his map. So what are voters saying now?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Well, here we are, just under five hours away from polls closing in North Carolina, which has become a crucial battleground state.

Top election officials saying there have been no reports of any disruptions in the state's more than 2,600 polling places so far.

Our Miguel Marquez is at one of them this afternoon in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Where, Miguel, you have been talking to voters all day. What have you heard?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, this is a purple county, as purple as it gets. This is a county Trump won in 2016. Biden won it in 2020. And both parties are working very hard.

There's been big lines for most of the day today. There's been a lull throughout the afternoon here. But you know, we have talked to Democrats, Republicans. There's a ton of unaffiliated voters in New Hanover County as well.

Across the board, everyone we spoke to, there's one common theme. Whatever the result tonight, they want it to be definitive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: For the world, I think, no matter where we're at right now with Kamala or him, it doesn't matter to me. The world will choose or the United States is who is the president.

But for me, it is what I believe is the best thing for our country. And what I have to choose from, I believe he's the best one.

MARQUEZ: Right. And do you think -- I mean, you've seen the rhetoric on both sides.

UNIDENTIFIED NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: Sure. MARQUEZ: Do you think we can get back to a normal sort of way of operating?

UNIDENTIFIED NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: I believe we can, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: So look, he is voting for Donald Trump because he says the economy is driving his vote.

[14:50:00]

But we have spoken to a lot of women. There's a lot of women who are bringing their kids to the polls as well, kids too young to vote.

But they want them to see that -- see the process because they believe that -- they hope Kamala Harris will be elected tonight and in the days ahead, and they want their kid to see what is happening.

Let me show you, there is a lot of energy here. This is just one polling site here. There is a Republican and a Democratic tent out here. They are handing out information as voters go into the polls here. High energy.

They -- most voters in early voting in this county and across the state had already cast their votes before today. But talking to elections officials here, they said they expected it to be extremely early.

There we're huge lines all day, all this morning, and they expect very big lines this evening before polls close at 7:30 p.m.

Back to you.

BURNETT: That's right. As people come after work.

All right, Miguel, thank you very much.

Wolf?

BLITZER: Erin, I'm back with my excellent panel.

And, Nia-Malika, let me start with you.

Other than simply looking at the people waiting in line right now, what can the campaigns really do to try to figure out if they are getting their people out there to vote before the polls close?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, they're getting data back about who is showing up, are the voters they contacted, did they already cast their ballots?

And they can send folks to areas where they feel like they are not getting the numbers they need. These campaigns -- and the Democrats have a better operation than the Republicans at this point -- they have specific numbers they want to see in these areas. They had a certain number going into Election Day. A certain number of

voters and votes they wanted to bank going in. And now they have another one.

You know, you think about what Democrats we're doing going into this, they we're sending high-profile surrogates all over the place. The Obamas, Bill Clinton, you know, Wes Moore, Jasmine Crocket.

Everybody was out and they were trying to connect with voters and get voters to the polls during the early Election Days.

And listen, we obviously don't know what is going to happen. But the Democrats certainly have a superior ground game. It is more data fueled.

We had Bryan Lanza on at some point earlier today and he was saying, oh, they didn't have any data. Maybe he didn't have any data.

Ideally, the Trump campaign has some data. And they can sort of figure out where they need to juice the numbers and maybe send some door knockers out to the different counties to kind of juice up the numbers.

So listen, obviously, these campaigns are very engaged in trying to get voters to the polls even at this late date.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Just to talk about, as we are going to Pennsylvania.

(CROSSTALK)

GANGEL: Pennsylvania. Their ground game was so extraordinary that in the last couple of days I spoke to a volunteer who said they had more volunteers than shifts to send young people --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: You're talking about the Harris campaign?

GANGEL: The Harris campaign did.

Also, the other thing we are hearing -- and this is just anecdotal, you know, looking at lines. But we are hearing in Philadelphia from a Democratic Party official who thinks the day of turnout is very impressive.

That is important for the Harris campaign. Because there was concern about getting out enough young voters, black voters, in Philadelphia.

And again, just anecdotal, I spoke to one person from the Harris campaign who is knocking on doors in Pennsylvania, western Pennsylvania. Three weeks ago, this person said to me, they knocked on 30 doors, one person said they were enthusiastic for Harris.

They went back this past weekend, completely different picture. This person attributed a lot of it to Donald Trump's rhetoric in the last week.

These were undecided voters who seemed to have returned for Harris.

(CROSSTALK)

RAJU: There is some concern from Trump quarters about what's happening on the ground. There was a tweet from Charlie Kirk, one of the people who are in charge of the ground operation, that the Trump campaign has outsourced to some of these outside groups.

He said the turnout was mixed right now for -- and he is calling on their supporters to come out to the polls. We'll see. Maybe that is a motivational tactic.

(CROSSTALK)

RAJU: Maybe that's something they say to the voters, you've got to get out there because we could lose this election. Remember, this was real that was happening on the ground.

That would be one of the big things that, at the end of the day, if the Harris campaign does eke this out, the decision that Trump made to decide to allow the Elon Musks of the world and the Turning Point USAs of the world to do that ground operation.

Because of their criticism of the way the Republican National Committee had dealt with this in the past. You heard Bryan Lanza telling you, Wolf, the senior Trump advisers, saying that they didn't like the way the RNC was doing things.

That is why they changed this to the outside operation. That was a big gamble. Will it be successful? We'll see.

BLITZER: Manu, if the Harris campaign were to lose Pennsylvania, where do you think their best chances of picking up those 19 electoral votes would be from other states?

[14:55:06]

RAJU: Look, it will be really hard because you are seeing, in the Sun Belt states, according to the polls, perhaps not as tracking as well as they would hope at this late juncture. Places like Arizona and in Georgia.

But you know, they would have to find out a way. North Carolina being one of them. This is why Trump has spent so much time in North Carolina in the last several days.

A few times per day, stumping across that state, worried that Harris could pick that off and block his ascension to the White House.

But no doubt about it, I mean, if Harris gets the three Blue Wall states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, she is likely the next president.

BLITZER: All right, guys. We will continue this conversation. And our special coverage of Election Day in America continues next. Voting continues across the country with the first polls closing in just about three hours.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:06]

BLITZER: Election Day in America is here. All across the country, tens of millions of Americans, some braving long lines, have been making their voices heard --