Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240712

Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Consumer cellular. Johnson johnson. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems. Skoll foundation. Org. The lemelson foundation, committed to improving lives through invention in the u. S. And developing countries, on the web at le. Org. Supported by the john dee and Catherine T Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at mac found. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Judy a divided nation is still waiting tonight to learn who will be the next occupant of the white house. The tide has apparently tued in favor of former Vice President joe biden, after the Associated Press put wisconsin and just moments ago, michigan, in his column. That gives him 264 electoral votes, just 6 away from the 270 necessary for victory. But President Trump, with 214 electoral votes, was having none of it. White house correspondent Yamiche Alcindor reports. Yamiche an undecided election, votes still being counted, and President Trump, prematurely claiming victory. A day after polls closed, the president spent the morning casting doubt on the vote tallies from the white house. In a flurry of tweets, he blamed mailin ballots for why he lost leads he had last night in michigan and wisconsin. President trump wrote that his margins there, quote, started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. There is no evidence of that. And twitter hid that post, and a number of others from users, flagging them as misleading. The tweets underscored what the president has long been laying the grndwork for. In a speech at the white house after 2 00 a. M. , he charged that legal mailin balloting was fraudulent. Frankly, we did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So well be going to the u. S. Supreme court. We want all voting to stop. Yamiche the voting has stopped. Its the counting that continues. And former Vice President joe biden urged his supporters to be calm as the process goes on. Today, he spoke in wilmington, delaware. Im not here to declare that we won. But i am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. Yamiche the Biden Campaign says it is fully prepared to fight any legal challenge by the Trump Campaign. We have lawyers ready to go, papers ready to go, within an hour of hearing of any step they take. Yamiche legal experts see the potential for litigation coming, largely targeting mailin ballots in michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. Today, the Trump Campaign vowed to request a recount in wisconsin. It also filed lawsuits to stop the counting in michigan and pennsylvania. Campaign officials claim that they are not being given access to the counting sites. Its a charge that state Elections Officials denied. But officials in all those states insisted, the process is playing out as it should. At this point, i ask for patience, out of respect to the will of our voters and the work of our election workers, who are volunteering in communities all across the state. I just feel so confident that every single valid ballot was counted in the state of wisconsin. Yamiche in philadelphia, city commissioners said they are working as fast as they can to tally the votes. If you are going to get it right, and youre going to prevent problems, which jeopardize voters votes, its more important that we do it right than meet artificial deadlines. Yamiche outside, protesters gathered, calling for every ballot to be counted. State senator sharif street, vicechair of the Pennsylvania Democratic party, echoed that demand. I am more concerned, as Governor Wolf has said, about getting an accurate count than getting a quick count. It is incredibly important that we count each and every vote, and that we do so accurately. Yamiche in nearby bucks county, gop chair Patricia Poprik said she is skeptical of ballots counted in cities, but that the loser should concede. I just know theres been problem in the past in the big cities, and i think thats where well be most of having our problems. I think whoever ultimately is found not to have been the winner, i think that person should then concede. But until we know that fact conclusively, i dont think they should. Yamiche pennsylvania Officials Say it will likely be a few days before they have even an unofficial result. But a clearer picture of the next congress is already emerging. I am going back to the senate with a purpose. Youve given me the honor of a lifetime. Yamiche Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell held off his challenger. Republicans also look poised to retain their majority in the senate. In the lower chamber, House Democrats appeared likely to maintain control, but with a sharplreduced majority, ensuring a divided legislative branch no matter who becomes president. Judy we turn now to yamiche outside the white house, and our john yang is again in wilmington, delware. Hello to both of you. Yamiche, what is the president saying right now . What is his campaign saying about the state of this race given the fact that the ap is getting closer, it appears, to being comfortable calling it for joe biden . We dont have other states in yet but it is moving in that direction. Yamiche the president continues to do what no u. S. President has done in history, declare victory prematurely and seek to deal legitimate it delegitimize a u. S. Election. He says he won states that trusted sources say he didnt. He claimed victory several times today. He says he won pennsylvania, North Carolina, georgia, states that havent been called. He says he won michigan, and possibly one arizona. Those are states that have already been called for joe biden. We saw a flood of misinformation. Twitter has been labeling tweet after tweet with labels that say this is information that is not true. If you look at the president s timeline on twitter, it is a collage of labels warning people against listening to the information the president is putting out. I have talked to people who want to see the president win and even they are concerned that the president has gone too far, he is threatening u. S. Democracy and being dangerous. There is really in some ways, the campaign has been more cautious with the president , saying not that he has won completely but he has multiple pathways to get there. They now say he may not announce that he is a victory in the election. That is in some ways remarkable rhetoric coming from the president , but he is doubling down and showing no signs of doing this. Joe is urging patients and saying he feels like he will win, but not saying he has won all the way yet. Judy john, tell us what the Biden Campaign is saying. How are they responding . John you might not be surprised to realizethat they have a different take. As you heard the Vice President , the former Vice President say, they firmly believe that they are on track to win the election. With this call in michigan a few minutes ago, this puts them within six electoral votes of the 270 they need. There are four states outstanding. They feel, or four big states outstanding. Any one of those will put them over the top. They are not so much looking at North Carolina anymore, but georgia, nevada, pennsylvania. Any one of those would give them victory and they feel they are going to get that within the next day, most likely nevada tomorrow but they are bullish about georgia, they have been since last night. Ballots, mostly from atlanta and the atlanta suburbs. They feel that is Fertile Ground for joe biden. They have been winning the mailin ballots by about 78 and they think that margin will continue and they could win georgia, but they believe firmly that they will win nevada. Judy interesting. Yamiche, the president s path to victory is more difficult, narrower than the path is potentially for joe biden. That they see something. What are they looking at . Yamiche they are really looking at the state of pennsylvania, claiming victory there without the ap claiming victory for President Trump. They are leaning in on a strategy thats a legal strategy to try to wrestle back some of the states they think were wrongly called. Without evidence that voter fraud or any sort of issue was happening in tse states. The president says he is going to be fundraising areas we saw the Vice President last night who was a little more cautious, he didnt prematurely declare victory but Vice President pence put out of fundraising email saying democrats were trying to steal the election and you needed to give money to the Trump Campaign. The president wants to get to the Supreme Court. Critics say it is nearly impossible for him to launch a successful bid to try to win this in the courts. That said, the president is feeling really good still, and Campaign Aides say they are looking at demographics, saying the president up his numbers with latinos and black men, finding new white voters, but the path is so narrow. They are feeling anxious. The president is continue would continuing to put on a brave face, saying he can win this. Judy john, what are the biden folks doing . How do they see their next moves . John they are waiting to see. They say they are waiting for the votes to be counted. They are confident those votes are going their way. They point out they are winning the popular vote and the electoral vote. They say they are on track to have the most votes cast for any ticket in american history, for biden and harris, and they are in dissipating these Court Challenges from the Trump Campaign, which they say have no basis, as you heard in the tape, the Legal Advisor the Biden Campaign says they have won the votes and are prepared to defend the votes in the courts when challenged by the Trump Campaign. He said if trump goes to the Supreme Court, trump will be embarrassed. Judy strong words from the biden camp. John yang and Yamiche Alcindor, thank you both. Lets turn to our dan bush, who is in philadelphia, in the key state of pennsylvania. He has been washing watching the returns. We heard about the wait for votes in pennsylvania. How is the process going . What is known about the votes that are not counted yet . Dan behind me, there is a heightened Police Presence and protests in pennsylvania as the state continues to count its mailin and absentee ballots. The state received 3 million of those ballots and has counted 1. 7 million but there are a lot to go. These ballots being counted now are not fraudulent, as the president claimed. They are also not late. They were received under state law by 8 00 p. M. On election day yesterday and are now being counted. Its just a matter of resources in larger counties like philadelphia. They can process 30,000 of these ballots. Smaller counties, only a few thousand so it will take time. Officials are not putting an official time on it, but i have spoken to several who say they hope to finish counting the ballots in pennsylvania violate tomorrow or possible by late tomorrow or possibly friday. Judy the Biden Campaign says they feel good about pennsylvania. We know the president is saying he has won pennsylvania. What evidence is there on the ground of the Trump Campaign efforts, legal efforts . What do you see . Dan eric trump, one of the president s sons, and Rudy Giuliani were in philadelphia a little while ago. Eric trump claimed there was, quote, rampant corruption in philadelphia and in pennsylvania. Giuliani says there was strong antidemocratic activity, as he put it. The Campaign Said these ballots need to be found. But these ballots are not lost. In fact, they are in the building behind me, in a room being counted. The county is Live Streaming this. Have let the media in. I have been in the room. It is closely guarded. The ballots are there, they are being processed but the filed a lawsuit today the Trump Campaign filed a lawsuit today, the Biden Campaign received it 20 minutes ago, in which the Trump Campaign is seeking to intervene in the Supreme Court decision to try to halt ballots being counted right now. That is what the Trump Campaign is trying to do. I spoke with a Biden Campaign attorney who said, we are prepared. We know this is what they are going to try to do and we will be ready. Judy dan bush right there. I was looking at the livestream of the vote counting in pennsylvania yesterday so we know that has been taking place. Thank you, dan. Separately, our William Brangham has flown to michigan, and he joins us now from detroit. William, thank you for being here. As you know, moments ago, the Associated Press called michigan and said joe biden is the winner. This is even with both campaigns having spent a lot of effort there. I know you just recently arrived, but what are you hearing from the campaigns about this . William well, i think as folks have laid out, the campaigns have staked out their traditional positions. The Biden Campaign sees this as part of their consistent path to victory. The Trump Campaign is arguing this whole case. Im standing here in a huge Convention Center in downtown detroit. This is where the votes are being counted. Regardless of what the Associated Press or any News Organization says, philadelphia, im sorry come all of michigan will continue to count the votes. They are very nearly done, but as we came into this facility today, there were protesters outside similar to the ones we saw on the videotape. People on the biden side saying count, people in the trump side saying stop the count. I talked with a few of the trump volunteers outside and asked them, what about, at that point there were rumors that the count had been finalized and biden had one michigan. None of the Trump Supporters believed it. They said they dont trust the media. They think there is chicanery going on behind me. Judy is there any evidence of that . What about people who are watching the process closely . What are they saying about the counting, whether they have had problems . What are you hearing . William there is no documented evidence of any kind of fraud going on. There are ballots that get rejected because voters make the stakes, that is totally common. The process is slow because malein ballots take longer to open and unfold and scan and confirm the signatures. Again, those are normal procedures. It was simply state elections rules that didnt allow them to start counting those ballots until yesterday morning. So there is no evidence of fraud, but there is an incredible deal of distrust. The Trump Campaign tried to file a lawsuit today saying they dont have proper access to this kind of counting, they want more volunteers in here. As far as i can tell, the biden then Trump Campaigns have dozens and dozens of people standing at these tables, watching the process unfold. The vote is nearly done. If it has been called, the Trump Campaign has less and less opportunity to challenge what is going on. Judy i hear you say both campaigns have had eyes on, and still do come on this process as the votes are being counted. William reporting from detroit, thank you. Another state, wisconsin, was one of the keys to President Trumps winng the white house in 2016, but as we reported, the a. P. Has called a victory for joe biden this year. To give us a sense of all thats happening there, im joined by zac schultz, reporter with pbs wisconsin. Thank you very much for joining us. Tell us the status of counting, and whether there are complaints. What is your impression over all of the ballot counting process . Zac we are done counting ballots in wisconsin. We wrapped up earlier this morning. It took through the night for quite a few of the larger cities to count the absentee ballots, similar to what we see around the country. There was an abnormally large number of absentee ballots in wisconsin, and it took longer to count. The last few batches of votes came from a small township in western wisconsin where the clerk went home sick yesterday and wasnt able to deliver the final count, but those were 300 ballots. We are talking about a 20,000 vote margin and that is where it stands until we get to the canvas, which happens later, where they might find errors but that never changes anything beyond a few hundred votes. Judy what are you hearing from both campaigns are in wisconsin or washington or around the country in reaction to the call in wisconsin . Zac the Trump Campaign put out a statement saying they found irregularities. There is no evidence of that here on the ground in wisconsin, none we have heard from the clerks or from the Wisconsin Elections commission or either of the parties in wisconsin. They did say they would request a recount. If the margin is it within 1 , which it is, the second place runnerup can request a recount. That would be couple weeks away from going through with the process. We are not at that point yet but that is something the Trump Campaign threatened. Judy we knew wisconsin would be close. Again, this is a state President Trump narrowly won in 2016. Is there general acceptance of the result that joe biden has won, or are people saying this was impossible . What is the reaction . Zac both sides seem to be understanding that this is a real result in this case. A number of the republican officials i follow from around the state have tweeted out their acceptance of this result, and we have been through this so many times in wisconsin. Every president ial election, unless it involved barack obama, is a close one. Al gore, 5000 votes. Donald trump, 20 2000 votes in 20 16. This time 20,000otes. Both sides understand we do transparent, clean, Fair Elections in wisconsin. Judy that has to be reassuring to people across the country as we get closer and closer to declaring a winner. Thank you so much. We have had a uniq view of how things have been going down in the state of georigia. Our miles obrien continues to explore how the te is being counted there. Miles on the day after in atlanta, Fulton County election workers were hard at work scanning and counting the last of the mailin ballots. They began the day with 45,000 left to go. They are among 200,000 untallied mail in ballots statewide. Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger is vowing to have the lions share of it done by days end. Were pushing really hard for that. If we can get that down, if we dont get it there, but we get the numbers so small that there is no question of who actually the winner is, i think thatll be helpful, really remove a lot of those questions that people might have. Miles georgias election might garner the most improved award. The primary in june was a disaster. They rolled out a complex new Voting System in the midst of the pandemic. It led to a meltdown. And that was not the end of the trouble. In october, more than two dozen Fulton County elections staffers contracted covid, early voting was disrupted by hurricane zeta power outages, and on election eve, a moving company assigned to deliver Voting Machines backed out. So very early on election day, Fulton Countys election director, rick barron, came to work in the Emergency Operations center, dreading a replay. And at about 6 00 a. M. , he got word a pipe burst in the room where the mailin ballots are scanned. So, they were trying to assess whether any of the equipment was damaged, whether any of the ballots were damaged. They didnt find any damage on any of the ballots, but i think theyre going to be able to get the equipment up and running now. Miles it led to a 4hour delay. But once the inperson voting began, their stars became uncrossed. Voters breezed through voting sites with barely a line in sight. Once we got past that poll opening, about 30 to 40 minutes, and we realized that all of our polls were open, i felt like the day was gonna go smooth. We looked at, we looked at june, and we looked at everything that happened in june, and i think the thing that i said is that you cant be too timid to ask for help. Miles as the focus turns to outstanding mailin votes here and elsewhere, georgia has another bit of luck on its side. The state changed the law to allow mailin ballot processing weeks in advance of november 3, unlike wisconsin, michigan, and pennsylvania, legally constrained to wait until virtually the last minute. So now, were all on tenterhooks, despite repeated warnings from election systems experts, like Amber Mcreynolds of the National Vote at home institute. So in a sense this was a slowmotion train wreck you saw coming. Yeah, i mean, we we flagged this, we flagged this policy issue and frankly, its the fact that these three state legislative bodies refused to respond to the needs of Election Officials, because it was Election Officials of all sides, all party stripes, that were asking for this very technical change that would speed up the Election Results process. Miles Election Security experts say this is a particularly dangerous time. Potential adversaries can now hone their attacks on the integrity of the Voting System. University of michigan Computer Science professor Alex Halderman says this underscores the need for states to audit their results. We now have a target painted on the back of certain particular states that are going to be close, and mischief in those states could take the form of attacking the integrity of the paper ballots, could take the form of attacking the computers that are going to be used to count them. What we need to do is wait for states to perform the necessary checks and postelection audits and recounts, and make sure that those checks are done accurately enough, that we can all have confidence in the results. Miles in the meantime, the professor will be watching closely to see if any hackers attempt to get in the middle of this process and cause mischief. So far, the federal agency, assigned to track all of this, says there is no evidence of any threats, domestic or foreign, to the process that have affected any votes. Behind me come alive pictures here of the state farm arena in atlanta as Fulton County election workers get through a pile of about 38,000 ballots and counting. They say they will be counting tonight until they finish. Statewide, they are promising it will be done by tomorrow, but in other places, the weight could take longer. They may take more time than we have patients. Judy . Judy in atlanta, where you have been for several days, this is the kind of reporting that is so important. Miles, thank you so much. Turning to another state. What happens in vegas does not always stay in vegas. The odds now show it as a pivotal state in this election. Joining us is john ralston, longtime political reporter now with the nevada independent. John, good to see you again. All eyes are on nevada right now since the ap has given joe biden 264 electoral votes, only six more he needs to get to 270. Coincidentally, six votes would come his way if nevada goes his way. Let me start by asking, what is the vote counting looking like right now . John the margin is 7500 votes in joe bidens favor. The issue is, there are so many outstanding male ballots. Tensf thousands, in clark county, which is las vegas, a democratic stronghold, and where democrats in the preelection mail balloting one by more than two to one. So they are confident once those are counted, the advantage will grow even more in bidens favor. A lot of people are asking why are these votes counted yet . This is a new ballgame for nevada. We have never had this kind of volume of mail balloting before. The legislature in a special session controlled by the democrats mandated that every active registered voter get a ballot. That has caused the mix of votes to be very different than usual, and they dont have the staff and they are a bit overwhelmed, especially in urban areas, especially in clark county. Clark county is las vegas, and Washoe County is reno, and they said they will announce results at 10 00 a. M. Tomorrow. There may be rural numbers that come out today, but those will be a very small number of votes. It wont move the needle that much. Judy they say 10 00 tomorrow. They put a time on it. Any problems or complaints about the voting process other than the fact that, as you said, it is new and there are a lot county . John the republican party, which objected to the mail balloting since it was passed in the legislation, filed a series of lawsuits and complained about the opacity of the process, saying they want to bring more transparency, but coincidentally, they only brought these lawsuits after it came out that they were getting crushed in the mail balloting in clark county. Those have been frtless lawsuits. If it is still close after those ballots are released tomorrow, you can be sure we are going to see more lawyers here in nevada talking about this. The democrats, i think, hope that biden will have a much larger lead after the ballots are released and all of that will be unnecessary. Judy we will wait and see. As you are saying, as of now, the plan is tomorrow morning we will see an announcement. John ralston with the nevada independent, we appreciate it. In this critical moment, context matters. Thankfully, our amna nawaz and Lisa Desjardins are here to offer some clarity. Amna thanks. We pick up on the national picture,ake a look at where we are across the country in the electoral votes. Vice President Biden with 264, President Trump with 214, a few states left to be called. Lets talk about wisconsin, it went to biden. He wanted back from trump. Won it back to trump. Lisa if you compare this to the 2016 map, it is the same except for two counties. Door county is known for its cherries and lake fronts. Another county is outside in the middle, we are going to go to sauk county, someplace joe biden took away from donald trump. Trump barely won it, by 109 votes, and it is a rural place. We are talking about white workingclass voters. This is where he won. Lets look at what happened in sauk county. We have the results. Look at that. Joe biden 50 to 48 , 600 14 votes that joe biden is winning this pivotal county. This county keeps flipping back and forth but it is an example of a workingclass county that joeiden won that helped swing the state. Amna you have been tracking 35 senate races across the country in this election cycle. Republicans, fighting to keep when we look at those races, what stands out . Lisa the path for democrats to take over the senate has gotten very narrow. Right now, we democrats need to pick up two or three seats depending on whether joe biden wins the presidency, and there are only two states they can draw from, georgia and North Carolina. Lets look at the big race that was called today. In maine, susan collins, republican, survives a very rigorous challenge from sarah gideon, the house speaker. This is a big win, talking to her campaign, they are very pleased. No one thought, lots of people didnt think she would win and they didnt think she would win by this much. This is a big deal for republicans. Mitch mcconnell is breathing a sigh of relief. Amna what does this mean for the balance of power in the senate . Lisa this takes a seat of the board for democrats they were trying to get, and this is actually looking at the house. Amna lets talk about that, because a number of races are yet to be called in the house. Democrats hope and they can open up their majority. Lisa there are 435 members of congress. Each one is important and individual. 203 are democrats and have won the races. 188 republicans have won the races. We have 44 races left in the house. As the night was going on, the president ial race was so pivotal , i think what was lost last night is something very big in the house, democrats expecting nancy pelosi to win 5, 15, 20 seats. They are going to lose seats it looks like. Looks like one of the places where there is still a possibility for a democratic nor loss, this is abigail spanberger. We have been focusing on her, a freshman democrat from virginia. She is a former cia operative, National Security kind of democrat, and last night viewers might remember, this race she was down by 20 points. It appeared most of the voting was in, but it turned out hundreds of thousands of mail in votes hadnt yet encountered at all. This is the story of the election. Theyre trying to figure out which votes are in. The mailin votes have gone for her so much that she has made up 20 points. She was within striking distance of retaining the seat in a republican district. Lets talk about the house in general. Lisa house of representatives, for your friends and family, you can tell them this is what is going on. Democrats likely keep control, nancy pelosi likely to be speaker of the house unless something unexpected happens. The republican game, looks like 512 seats. There is half a dozen incumbents that have been unseated, more on the board, and finally, how did republicans do it . A lot of the gains are republican women, who were a ve small minority of the Republican House membership. The republican women added 12 to their numbers. Looks like we will see a Record Number of republican women in the house this year. Still, that is fewer than democrats have. That is something republicans are working on. It helped republicans by putting women on the ballot. Amna we heard republican Officials Saying this is how we did it, not the way democrats thought. Lisa lot of people not sure what happened, both sides say they didnt see this in the data and th sides are surprised. Amna and a number of races yet to be called. The election continues. Judy a lot of surprises. Thank you both. She was by my side here all last night. Now, shes safely back at home. But we turn to amy walter of the cook political report, and host of the podcast politics with amy walter, to deepen our understanding of the Election Results. As much as we have them. Hello, amy. I hope you got some sleep. My first question is about one thing you have looked at very hard, who the voters were that each candidate attracted, including what happened in the suburbs. What are you seeing . Amy we talked about the suburbs in 2017, 20 18, democrats made many gains there. Abigail spanberger is one of those emerging suburban areas where democrats did really well in 2018. Democrats were hoping that that suburban surge was going to help them pick up seats across the country and of course, especially for joe biden. It looks like it worked in some places. Arizona, flipping that state from republican to democrat thanks to bidens strength in the phoenix suburbs as well as omaha, the one congressional district, so winning that congressional electoral vote. That is a suburban district. It only got them so far. Texas was supposed to be a place where that suburban sprawl that we have been seeing in the metroplex around dallas and houston was going to bring in a lot of new democratic members of the house. That didnt happen. It wasnt enough to flip those sunbelt states that have been fast suburbanizing, florida, texas. We are unclear about georgia and North Carolina but certainly, on pins and needles as we wait for those. But the suburban surge, only to only taking down a couple. Judy you mentioned texas and florida. Democrats were reaching for victories in these states. It didnt work out. What is our understanding of what happened and why it didnt happen . Amy back in between back in 2008 and 2012, democrats talked about the emerging majority, that they were going to combine their strength in those blue wall states with the growing latino vote in the sunbelt. That was going to give them basically a permanent majority in the electoral college. That hasnt come out to play in part because in this case, donald trump did pretty well among latino voters, getting 45 of the latino vote in floridaa lot of that from south florida. But also, doing well in texas, where he was able, President Trump, to get 38 of the vote. Democrats, really hoping to pick up a seat down in the Rio Grande Valley that they came up short in in 2018, but once again, they were thwarted. This heavily latino area in the Rio Grande Valley, voting for a republican in congress and many supporting auto trump. Judy separate from all of this, we saw in the surveys come almost half the americans who voted who were interviewed in the surveys said the coronavirus, the pandemic affected their vote. What are we seeing about how it affected what they did . Amy it is a mixed bag. Remember, we have been talking about the places that were really hard hit at the end of the campaign, places like ohio and iowa, and wondering if that was going to dampen enthusiasm for the president or other republicans in the state. That doesnt look like that happened. Although in wisconsin, estate biden just carried, that may have been a factor. It seems like covid, the biggest impact it has had on this race is the issue of us spend we are spending so much time on, early and absentee bit balloting. Democrats pushed voters to vote early in part because of worries about a covid surge that would deter their voters from showing up at the polls, and that balloting of course looks like it is putting joe biden over the top and some of these states, but it also means that we are waiting for those votes t be counted right now. Judy no question about it. Amy, we will continue to come to you for questions about what voters did and why they did it and a lot more than that. Amy walter, thank you so much for tonight and last night. Thanks. Amy thank you. Judy the push to drive voters to the polls is one aspect to winning an electon, but tonight, we are witnessing a different tack. Amna is back to unpack the legal challenges ahead. Amna thanks, judy. To help us make sense of this moment, im joined by tammy patrick. She is an expert on Election Administration with the democracy fund, and a former Elections Official in arizona. And nate persily, a professor at Stanford Law School and the cofounder of the healthy elections project, which has been tracking coronavirusrelated election litigation. Welcome back to you both. Thanks for being here. Tammy, i want to start with you because the process is still unfolding. One thing we have noticed is, transparency has been the name of the game for many Elections Officials. From wisconsin, they were tracking tweets and explaining what they were doing and what was going on, and philadelphia has a livestream up where you can watch the ballots being counted if you choose to spend your time that way. Take us inside these states where the county is continuing. What is going on . How does that unfold and why is it taking the time it is . Tammy it is great to see you all. What we are viewing is, this looks like it is the philadelphia processing center. There were a number of states that Election Officials, at the state and local level, asked if they could have some additional time to process the ballots for election day and that is a very standard protocol in many states, where you can actually open up the envelopes, do your verification of the voter and make sure it is in fact the voter that voted that ballot, then get it ready for processing and scanning. On election day, totaling up all of the votes. Unfortunately in this moment, there were too many states, some of the ones we are waiting on, that their legislatures and others stepped in with court orders and prevented them from really processing before election day. If you think about what we are seeing in these pictures, contemplate when you open your mail at home. Magnify that by millions of envelopes. In pennsylvania, we heard a lot about naked ballots. And multiple envelopes for every ballot packet that comes in. We are literally watching in the case of detroit, about 900 or so individuals opening up envelopes, getting the ballots out, flattening them out, making sure they are ready to go through the tabulators and that takes time. Amna let me ask you about what we have heard from trump and his campaign that the vote should stop. The campaign filed suit in michigan and pennsylvania to halt the vote. Give us a sense of what the impact of those kinds of legal challenges could be, in states where the vote has already been called and where it has yet to be called. Nate lets be clear, the vote has happened. The vote cant be stopped. The question is whether the accounting will be stopped. Right now, they are processing the ballots and then they count them through the machines and if necessary, by hand. Right now, all we are seeing is the normal process of tabulating the absentee ballots, figuring it what the final totals are, if there is a dispute over how those absentee ballots were handled or wther some of the more legitimate or not, then we have either through a recount or other litigation, you will have some contest of the results. There are many Different Cases that have either been threatened or are already in court. They have several common themes. The first is that they are trying to sort of wring up a lot of dust to cloud the Election Results. It is not clear what the issues will be with these absentee ballots that are leading to alleged fraud. The themes you see in these cases are allegations that the local officials allowed some people to cure their absentee ballots, meaning if there were defects, they allowed them to correct those mistakes. Allegations there may have been even political preferences that got into the mix, as to how they allowed certain voters to care depending on the locality and the like. One of your reporters mentioned before, there is the allegation at they didnt have adequate observation of the process. That is what they were suggesting was happening in philadelphia and elsewhere. Amna tammy, nate mentioned the recount issue, which lots of people have questions about, the Trump Campaign said they will request a recount in wisconsin. What does that look like . Can a recount be triggered just like that . Tammy absolutely. There are a handful of states where there is an automatic trigger for a recount. If the measure of victory is within a certain percentage, there is automatically a recount. It is also the case that in some states, they have where you cant ask for a recount. They have what they refer to as sore loser laws because often, we know individuals who didnt receive as many votes as they thought they should or they thought were cast for them, it is difficult for them to believe such a thing. States have protocols in place to trigger an automatic recount if it is a closeace, others prevention of frivolous lawsuits. There are some if you want to pay for it, you can have a recount. That is where it is really quite the landscape, but it is important to know that there are no new ballots being cast. These ballots being cast are just being counted. Many of these ballots have been in the possession of the local Election Officials for days, if not weeks, they just werent allowed to process them. Amna an important clarification as folks look for that information. That is nate and tammy joining us tonight. Thanks to you both. Tammy thank you. Judy we turn now to a key official in a key state where there are already lawsuits, and where joe biden was just declared the winner this evening. Jocelyn benson is michigans secretary of state, and she joins us now from detroit. Thank you so much for talng with us. We know the ap within the hour called michigan for joe biden, but there are still votes being counted. Where does the accounting stand right now . Jocelyn we believe we are close to seeing a full and complete unofficial tabulation in the state. We certainly are on track to have those full results tonight. We are in the final stages, and some of our largest jurisdictions are wrapping things up, which is really a success story. We thought it would take us longer, but the efficiency and meticulous work of our election workers has put us in a position where we are proud to be able to have it near complete, if not fully complete sults in the next few hours to report out. Judy we heard some of the folks who keep track of how ballot counting goes, and where there are difficulties, speaking out about the challenges a county may face, like naked ballots. What problems have you had in michigan . Jocelyn certainly, lots of our problems were dealt with prior to election day, with regards to just litigation around ballots and we saw this in a number of different states. Also, the challenges with the Postal Service and the unreliability. We were focused on making sure every vote got in by 8 00 p. M. Tuesday and voters who were voting absentee for the first time new the rules, particularly the importance of signing and validating their identity on the envelope in which the absentee ballot was placed. On election day, smooth sailing. There were some effort to misinform voters about their rights and we were able to quickly debunk those. Here we are after the polls close, tabulating the votes. The biggest challenge has been misinformation. We knew that would be the case, from the minute the polls closed until we had the full tabulation of results, there would be significant efforts to sow seeds of doubt about the integrity of our elections, but we are here to say our elections are secure and the results will be a full and accurate reflection of the will of the people. Judy the Trump Campaign already filed a lawsuit to stop the counting in michigan. What effect does that have on your work . Jocelyn the count continues. We are confident in our processes and the transparency and security and methodical nature of our work. Because of that, i want to be abundantly clear, no campaign, no politician, no political party, no candidate is going to stop the count in michigan. We are committed to getting this right, making sure it is accurate, and really trying to stay above the political fray to deliver results to michiganders across the state so no matter who they voted for, they can have faith in the accuracy of the results. Judy im asking because of the lawsuit and the fact the president is saying, since the election has taken place, he is saying i won michigan. He put that statement out there. Jocelyn we fully expected, and we know candidates can say things at any point in the election cycle, but candidates dont get to deteine who wins an election. The voters do. The election workers who work tabulate every ballot ensure every valid vote and only valid votes are counted. That is the work we are doing in michigan. That is what democracy requires. That is how elections work. We are continuing to do that work at a very efficient speed. We have been very inspired by our workers who have been committed to this work. We recognize the importance of our state and the importance of getting this right. When we have those full tabulated results to announce, im confident and have full faith they will be a full and accurate reflection of the will of our voters that i hope everybody respect. Judy michigans secretary of state jocelyn bench and, thank you so much benson, thank you so much. Jocelyn thank you. Stephanie im stephanie sy at newshour west with the latest headlines. One more senate race to call this evening. Democrat gary peters wins reelection in michigan, defeating republican challenger john james. This race equalizes the balance of power in the senate, currently at 48 seats for each party. Also, in addition to lawsuits the Trump Campaign filed in pennsylvania and michigan, it has now filed a lawsuit in georgia. Beyond the president ial, congressional, and state races, a variety of issues, from marijuana to ridesharing, were on tuesdays ballots. Five more states legalized marijuana, and oregon became the first to decriminalize small amounts of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. Voters in california exempted uber and lyft from making their drivers full employees, eligible for benefits. They also refused to reinstate affirmative action for College Admissions and public hiring. The march of covid19 across the United States shows no sign of slowing, with another 92,000 infections in the last 24 hours. Among the places seeing a spike in cases, the najo nation. A Health Advisory warned the virus is out of control in dozens of communities. In europe, england braced for a new lockdown tomorrow. But the continents hottest spot, belgium, reported hospitalizations are slowing for the first time in a month. Overall, european nations recorded a nearly 50 increase in virus deaths in the last week. Central america has spent a long, dangerous day in the grips of Tropical Storm eta. It lashed northern nicaragua and honduras, after making landfall on tuesday as a category 4 hurricane. The weakened storm dumped torrential rain, triggered mudslides, and tore up towns, killing at least 3 people. It could swing toward south florida this weekend. The u. S. Formally exited the landmark paris climate agreement today. It fulfills a longstanding pledge by President Trump, but its not clear how long it will last. Former Vice President biden has vowed to rejoin the global pact to fight Climate Change if he wins the election. Stoxx scored on wall street, stocks scored sizeable gains ain, as investors bet republicans will block new taxes and regulations if they hold their Senate Majority. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up 367 points, to close at 27,847. The nasdaq rose 430 points, and the s p 500 added 74. Judy and thats the newshour for tonight. We know elections are times at unite this country. We share a civic duty to determine how we govern ourselves. No matter how you cast your ballot, it is the right to do so that provides the bedrock of our democracy. We are now waiting for the final votes to be counted, and patience is part of the process. Im judy woodruff. With that, join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. 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