we have a double open. okay? we have a double open. that's how big today is. welcome to ow viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is "new day" and it is tuesday, november 3rd. election day. 6:00 here in new york. welcome to a special edition of "new day" and, yes, it's happening. don't adjust your sets. election day is finally here. the day that so many of you have been waiting for. polls are open as of this hour in these nine states. in the northeast, as you may be able to see on your screen. in half an hour polls open in key battleground states of ohio and north carolina as well as west virginia. by this time tomorrow, we might know who will be president for the next four years. or we might not. but we do know that this election is historic. nearly 100,000 -- no. scratch that. 100 million ballots have already been cast. that is a record.

joe biden closed out his campaign in pennsylvania where he began it more than a year ago. he ripped into president trump for hit handling of the coronavirus which this morning is spiraling out of control. and president trump wants to stop vote counting beyond election day. and fencing around the white house where the president plans to host hundreds of people at an election night party tonight presumably inside. this is another 84,000 new coronavirus cases were reported overnight. the fourth highest since the pandemic began. more than 231,000 americans have died so far. there's new reporting this morning that dr. deborah birx, the leader, the coordinator of the white house coronavirus task force is pleading for the white house for much more aggressive action, contradicting from the white house. let's begin, though, with this final day of voting in america. gary tuchman, live at a polling

location in the battleground state of ohio. gary, one of the most famous pieces of trivia, no republican has ever won the white house without ohio. >> reporter: great final "jeopardy" question. that's absolutely true. i want to start off the election day by thanking the people bow hind me. election workers. thank you, everybody, for being here especially during this time of covid. we really thank you for that. strongville, the ohio senior center. strongsville, ohio, 20 miles south of cleveland. in 30 minutes voters will start coming in here and all precincts throughout the state of ohio. it's really important to point out we have no idea how crowded the precincts will be because of so many up voting. 60% of the total vote from 2016 voted early. back in 2016 president trump won the state by 8.1 percentage points. right now it's too close to

call. joe biden, because of that, made a last-minute campaign stop here in ohio. now, ultimately when they count the votes here in ohio it could be fairly quick, because the early voting has been processed, at 7:30 tonight, when the polls close, they will immediately start counting the early in-person voting and the absentee ballots and then today's voting. as you pointed out, job, ohioans really know how to pick presidents. missed twice in this century and the 20th century combined. 1960 picked richard nixon over john f. kennedy and also dewey over roosevelt. all 50 states in the district of columbia as well. >> gary tuchman for us. thank foes people behind you. strongsville strong, the ultimate location for this last day of voting in america. polls open this hour in the battleground state of north carolina as well. cnn's suzanne malveaux in charlotte live with a look

there. >> reporter: good morning, john. it's cold, dark and a little early. so voters have not yet quite come out to this polling center, but it is going to be open in about 20 minutes or so. we've just started to see the door open and some of the workers come in. they're going to be setting up shop for a busy day. they do expect it to be busy, but perhaps not as busy as the last go-round. it's been quite xrordnary, text. yesterday we saw president trump and melania. i covered fayetteville, supporters enthusiastic. jill biden will be here today. look at the sheer numbers. you're talking about 4.6 million voters who have already turned out and voted early. that is more than 62% of all registered voters in this state, and if -- just to put it in perspective, 96% of all those who voted back in 2016 in north

carolina. what are they expecting? perhaps up to 1 million voters throughout the state will cast their ballots. also they have an opportunity for those absentee ballots, mail-in, if postmarked today it will actually count and be counted up until november 12th. that was an ex-tense because tef covid. time to make it to the tally. talking to election officials. they say unlike some other states, these battleground states, they believe they're going to be able to tally about 97% of the ballots cast. that they'll have a very good idea of the outcome of the election. of course, as you know, john it is unofficial, that tally, but they are confident that we will know whether or not it's president trump or biden at the end of the day. alisyn? >> really good to know, suzanne. thank you so much for all of that. joining us now, we have a

senior washington correspondent for "politico" and cnn political analyst who is a white house reporter for the "washington post." okay. here's what we know. 100 -- close to 100 million people have already voted. that's 73% of the total turnout in 2016. what we don't know, anna, is what that means for today. if the numbers today will also be record-breaking or if that early vote eats into some of the voting numbers today? what are you watching? >> absolutely. that's a big unknown question a lot of experts are shocked even by what was expected to be a historic turnout in terms of voting has broken past what most people thought it was going to. i think the real question is going to be for the president and his allies, because they need a strong ground game going into today to get the vote out in order to actually compete in some of these states.

in florida, in north carolina, pennsylvania certainly. so that, to me, is going to be the big question. i think the other side very interesting to watch in the last couple of days is democrats. really almost wearing it as a badge of honor to wait in line. voter suppression, the concept of, oh, i don't want to stand in line for hours now it's been almost something that's gone social, viral. there's block parties almost happening. you're seeing a different energy around the concept of waiting in lines right now. >> what do the numbers say to you? what does that nearly 1 million people who already voted say to you in terms of enthusiasm, in terms of where the available vote might still be, in terms of texas, where more people have already voted this time than they did in 2016. north carolina where pack tickly more people voted than last time. what does it all say to you? >> that despite the pandemic and the fears to go out and participate in the democratic process can be dangerous to your

health, everyone wants their voices heard. enthusiastic about weighing in on this election for various reasons. a large number of people unhappy with what they've seen in the past years particularly over the last year. people lost loved ones, people feel this pandemic pnd didn'did to be as bad as it was. i was at the white house when he came back from his fifth rally of the day and all of his rallies are packed with people who support them and a large number of those people already turned out to vote. the particular ed is hoping a large number of his supporters will turn out to vote today and it shows there is a large amount of enthusiastic in the country to weigh in in this election and have your voice be heard, with the idea that you can change the course of the country if you don't like the way that things are going. based on polling, there are a large majority of people who do not like the course the country is on. we'll have to see if the president can bring enough people to the polls who want him

to have four more years to account for the fact in the early vote democrats seem to have the lead and the president needs to make up a lot of ground if he's going to have a chance tonight. >> president trump is not very comfortable with vote counting beyond today. though it always happens. i mean, all sorts of election officials, county executives, keep warning us, it always happens. it's commonplace. it's how it's done, but he is not comfortable with it, and, in fact, he's resorting to, i think, basically threatening that violence could erupt if, if the vote weren't decided tonight. i mean, in kenosha, just yesterday, well, i'll play it for you. what he said. >> when the supreme court gave you an ex-tentension they made very dangerous, i mean physically dangerous and they made it very, very bad, they did a very bad thing for this state. >> sorry. that was pennsylvania. not wisconsin. he's saying that -- a dangerous,

physically dangerous situation. why? why is that his closing argument? >> this has been one of his arguments he's been making over the past week or so kind of much more frequently the concept that, you know, it's game day and once the votes are in, it's going to be over after election day, which clearly is not the case historically. in pennsylvania he's been kind of in a tit for tat with the attorney general there who tweeted saying, no, actually the votes in pennsylvania often take several days after to certify the actual winner of the state. i think this is clearly because he doesn't think that he's going to do well with some of these absentee and mail-in voting. the president has really tried to say you need to vote in-person and they're trying to really suppress the vote as much as possible, because larger numbers of voters does not look like it's going to be a good night for the president. >> and saying maybe this message is backfiring.

motivating people to go out and vote. the threat of having your vote taken away, sometimes makes you want it all the more. predictions. today is not about predictions. we'll have results, the numbers soon enough. i want to know from you, what you will be watching when as this day unfolds? >> yeah. as a floridian, watching a number of different counties in florida. they tend to put out their numbers quickly. sumpter count any florida, home to a large number of senior citizens and we've seen some movement with senior citizens towards joe biden. home to the villages, the largest retirement community. when those numbers come in and that county actually had a very high number of early votes, when we understand sort of what the breakdown is, that might give us a sense how florida's going. if biden's able to do relatively well with elderly voters in sumpter county, it may be a sign he's doing well in florida and may pick up that state.

also watching georgia and north carolina. high numbers in early turnout showing that both parties of really competing in both of those states, not only at the presidential level, also in senate races that will be key. will that high level of turnout we saw in the early vote period continue today? and will there be enough democrats turning out to vote on election day to make it harder for president trump and the republicans to make up the ground that they've been trying to make up over the course of this day. so i'll be watching sort of that sun belt, florida, georgia, north carolina and the rust belt seems it's going to maybe potentially come in later with a final vote. we 34may have a good sense how things are going once we see the numbers out of florida, georgia, and north carolina. >> anna, what are you watching? >> a good roundup. one didn't mention, ohio. i think they are able to count their early votes. so we'll have a pretty good sense of where their votes are i think fairly early.

if trump doesn't get ohio, it's hard to see his pathway between that and florida, i think that's the key for the president early tonight. where i'm kind of focused. >> guys, thank you very much. great to talk to you, and get all of your insights and be sure to join us for cnn's special coverage of election night in america. it begins at 4:00 p.m. eastern. so officials in harris county, texas, are closing all but one drive-through voting location today. why? that's next. repair your enamel with pronamel repair. our most advanced formula helps you brush in vital minerals to actively repair and strengthen enamel. so you don't just brush to clean, you brush to build. pronamel intensive enamel repair. at morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view.

♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. we see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. we are morgan stanley. (fisherman vo)ce) how do i register to vote?ential election... into strategies for the road ahead. hmm!.. hmm!.. hmm!.. (woman on porch vo) can we vote by mail here? (grandma vo) you'll be safe, right? (daughter vo) yes! (four girls vo) the polls! voted! (grandma vo) go out and vote! it's so important! (man at poll vo) woo! (grandma vo) it's the most important thing you can do!

your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c.

keeping your oysters growing while keeping your business growing has you swamped. (♪ ) you need to hire i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base so you can start hiring right away.

claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo car vending machines and buying a car 100% online.vented now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way-- at carvana. a win for more than 100,000 vote here's have already cast ballots in texas pap federal judge there ruled that votes cast over the last several weeks in drive-through voting in harris county, the most populous county in the state, those votes will count. now, officials there overnight have decided to close almost all

of those drive-through locations for today, because a different legal standard might apply on this final elaeection day. live in houston at the one drive-through location that will still be open today, i know this is complicated, brian. bottom line, vote's already past. they count, but you should vote differently today by and large? >> by and large, yes, john. except if you vote here. you can go to a drive-through place. this is, you mentioned, the only one in harris county that's going to be om. a significant development overnight closing nine of the ten drive-through locations because the county clerk from harris county chris hollins is concerned about the legality of drive-through votes. maybe even in a place, the one place here where he's opened it, because the judge in the case, when he made that ruling yesterday in letting votes that had previously been made at drive-through places count, the

judge said if he were voting today he would not do a drive-through vote, because he would be concerned about the legality of it. that caused concern among officials in harris county. the county clerk decided to close nine of the ten locations. the reason the judge said that was because he cited a texas election law that said that on election day, all polling places have to have walls and a roof, and all the other places except this one that had drive-through voting, people drive under a tent, vote, drive away. this play at toyota center of course has walls and a roof. where people come in. the parking garage here at the toyota center. sign for the entrance. walk you over here. it's kind of a long way up a ramp. they'll be directed to turn right and then go all the way up this ramp over here. you'll see that shadowy figure end of the ramp is not a shady character. that's our producer brad hodgins waving to tell you where voters drive up, turn left and the tables set up where they can stop and cast their votes are

about 50 feet from brad. so they have a system here in place. the question is, will the votes that are cast here today count later? because the republicans have mounted several legal challenges to these votes and appeals court yesterday blocked their latest challenge to deny their latest challenge, rather to block votes cast today by a drive-through, so republicans have lost these battles up to this point, but could still challenge these drive-through votes, john, and that could be signay chris holl, county clerk, told me before they decided to close nine of the ten stations that they expected 20,000 to 25,000 possible drive-through voters on election day in harris county. of course, a lot of these people may change their plans, park and walk in. we don't know how many voters that may be reduced, you know, given that nine of the ten drive-through stations are closed, but it could alter the count significantly. as we know, texas is now considered to be a fairly close race between joe biden and

donald trump and harris county is a democratic stronghold. if joe biden wants to drive up margins, this is the place to do it. >> brian todd inside a parking garage, which may be one of the most closely watched polling locations in america this morning. thank you very much for giving that terrific explanation. and joining us, reporter for propublica and a republican election lawyer who served as national counsel of bush-cheney presidential campaigning and by the way, filed an amicus brief if i'm not mistaken in this case dealing with the drive-through voting in houston. i just want your take on where it stands now. the back of the votes that have already been cast, do they count? by in large a change how it's used today. your take, ben? >> well, i think houston election officials have done wa they needed to do to preserve the votes, not only the people who voted before but who will vote today. i mean, actually, john, it's one of a sort of series of shameful

episodes where my republican party is unfortunately instead of trying to bring people in to the party with good conservative principles now come to the point as donald trump's re-election of trying to exclude people. that's not the place to be. >> ben, didn't you just tell us yesterday that there was nothing wrong with drive-through voting? >> yeah. there is nothing under texas law. i mean, what the judge said and the fear that he raised was the notion that there is a different requirement for buildings on election day. it's a really literal reading. by the way, the people who brought this case, while they are republican, they are not the republican party. kind of cab flies to the party. this is not an official republican action. >> in fact, you are a texas resident. texas already has voted in greater numbers this year than all of 2016. you also are watching election

challenges around the country. what do you see is the biggest issue this morning? >> you know, i think that the biggest issue is still some uncertainty in a couple of states over when ballots will be fully counted and the litigation that has brought up to this point and has made it more difficult for election administrators to have a clear path forward in terms of how they count ballots and when, and how many ballots count and how many won't. i think that that's something we're going to see continue to be litigated, and so the back and forth over that and the confusion that will bring to the process is really what alarms me the most. >> to that point, ben is it our imagination, or is it republicans that keep putting up these road blocks, these different road blocks to means of voting, means of counting, and if so, why? >> no, it is not your imagination. i mean, i think the "why?" really does have to do with this

great fear that we as a party have not appealed to certain groups of people, and a trumpian fear that those are the people who will cause his defeat. i think the thing to watch today in polling places is, how many challenges the trump lawyers make against individual voters, because that will determine the strength of any of these post-election actions that keep getting threatened. >> and quote from the latest op-ed you wrote over the weekend here saying, "my party is destroying itself on the altar of trump. republican elected officials party leaders and voters must recognize how harmful this is to the party's long-term prospects." clearly you feel strongly about this. >> yes. >> jessica, one of the things that might happen tonight is that someone might come out and declare victory before all the votes are counted here. and obviously, the president has the power of the federal justice system, but how far does the

federal justice system go in terms of how states decide to count their votes? >> you know, the president can declare victory tonight if he likes, but that won't have any bearing on whether or not the votes continue to be counted. he has very little authority to sort of unilaterally stay in office of his own accord. there are a lot of legal principles that go back quite a few years that walk us through this process, and so i think that if the republican party is willing to stand up to him and to make sure that their message is consistent with you know, the underlying principles of our american democracy, then i think he'll have very little suction in sort of usurping the day, and making it a clear trump victory when there likely won't be one. >> counselor, one-word answer here. who actually sets election laws for how votes are counted in the states? >> the states. >> exactly. >> hmm.

>> legislature, the governor. >> and that's the beginning of the end of it, largely. when you hear the president. >> i'm a lawyer. >> thank you both very much for all of your submissions. >> thank you. sounding the alarm about the deadly phase we are now in in the coronavirus pandemic. taking on the white house in a startling memo that came to light overnight. that's next. (burke) deep-sea driving, i see... (customer) something like that... (burke) well, here's something else: with your farmer's policy perk, new car replacement, you can get a new one. (customer) that is something else. (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

ithe first full prescriptionis pstrength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel... available over the counter. voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. voltaren. the joy of movement.

you're choosing whento get connected to xfinity mobile, to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $400 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. that's simple, easy, awesome. visit your local xfinity store today to ask, shop, discover the latest on xfinity mobile.

overnight more than -- excuse me -- 84,000 -- >> 84,000 new coronavirus cases reported. the fourth highest day since the pandemic began. >> that's just my allergy pill. everyone remain calm.

13 states reported record hospitalizations in just the last month. the number of americans hospitalized soared more than 50%. joining us now, the dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor college of medicine, but i am nervous every morning when i wake up and i feel my allergies and i wonder what is this? take an allergy pill and feel better but sound worse. doctor, one of the things i was struck by in seeing these numbers is that dr. birx said, this is not about more testing, as president trump often claims. testing, in fact, flat or declined. i didn't know that. just as we're seeing this surge and this spike, testing is actually not keeping up with it? >> well, alisyn, as we've been discussing, it's not just about the number of cases, although that's really concerning, because we're about to hit 100,000 new cases per day, if you remember, that was dr. fauci's apocalyptic prediction back in the summer and now we're hitting that, but it's also the

hospitalizations. we're already seeing surges in hospitals and places like el paso and utah and up in the dakotas, hospital staff getting overwhelmed. we're basically revisiting all of some of the terrible stuff we saw back in april in new york, that's also starting to happen and the positivity rate is going up. it's not just the number. real stuff is going on which you can't hide which are hospitalizations and icu admissions and we know what happens after that. we know the deaths will surely follow. it's so heartbreaking. we'll hit 1,000 deaths per day in a matter of weeks and horrible, horrible projections from the institute of health metrics by february 1st we'll be looking at 2,000 american deaths per day with the numbers reaching 400,000. we're looking at a doubling of the number of americans who perish in this covid-19 epidemic, all of which was predicted, all of which was

preventible, had we had some national leadership. >> interesting about this dr. birx memo reported out of the wp wpd a "washington post" and "new york times," she laying down a marker. dr. birx is someone the president liked to stand beside and have be the public face for a while, until he apparently turned on her, and now she is saying something that is completely in opposition to what the would us is saying. she's saying, professor, we are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of the pandemic leading to increasing mortality. this is not about lockdowns, she says. it hasn't been about lockdowns since march or april. it's about an aggressive, balanced approach that is not being implemented. this isn't about lockdown, she says. it's about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented. she's saying the white house isn't doing what it needs to do. >> yeah. what she wrote is absolutely correct. i wish there was a memo like

that back in -- back in june. may or june, which could have prevented that big second surge that we saw over the summer across the southern states. remember, europe never had that. we did. that could have been prevented as well. but i'm glad she's done that. up know, we've got this terrible situation now with the white house coronavirus task force that we've got stephen atlas effectively leading it, and the approach is to launch disinformation to deny the severity of the epidemic, to attribute deaths from covid-19 to other causes, fake concepts of herd immunity, still discrediting masks and seeing governors, south dakota and others, also not enfores masks. this is terrible. we are creating our own massive third surge in this epidemic which doesn't have to be the case. >> look, dr. deborah birx has clearly been marginalized, has

been for a long time and taken it upon herself to pack up her bags and go around to different states trying to sound the alarm. dr. scott atlas clearly has come to the fore. i hear you, great if we had the message earlier but the president does the messaging. the president does the messaging. the person so many americans listen to. on this election day, doctor, when millions of americans have to leave their and go inside a building and stand maybe for hours with other people, if they can somehow stay six feet apart, do you think they will be safe? >> well, i sure hope so. i voted two weeks ago, and my polling station in houston did an excellent job. i mean, they really followed cdc guidelines very rigorously. everybody had masks. there was lots of plexiglas, a really attention to social distancing, a real awareness. i don't know if the rest of the

country will be set up that way but that's the key. if you are voting, trying to maximize the amount of time you are outside. bring your own pen, even if you have a stylist, depending on the voting machine you use, any pre-registration that can be done online, do all of those things and try to minimize the amount of time you're inside, and closely connected to somebody else, and so try to maintain that social distancing. so i think the polling stations, the voting booths have really done a very good job trying to follow cdc guidelines, and i'm hoping for the best. >> that's really good advice. bring your own pen and hand sanitizer. dr. hotez, thank you very much for all of the information. >> thank you. all right. it's all about 270 electoral votes tonight. so who wins the white house, though, could hinge on just a few counties. john avlon here to explain, next. priceline works with top hotels,

to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... ♪ ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. and i want to tell you about my husband joe. i first met joe two years after a car accident injured his sons and killed his wife and his baby daughter. his life had been shattered. but as one of joe's favorite quotes reminds us, "faith sees best in the dark." joe's faith helped him channel his grief into purpose. it gave him the strength to fight hard for other people's families in the senate, and then take a two hour train ride home every day to be there for his own. right now a lot of families are hurting, and i know in my heart that if we entrust this nation to joe, he will do for these families what he did for ours.

bring us together. help us find light in the darkness. keep hope for the future alive in all of us. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message. ♪and if we win, we get to tell you how liberty mutual customizes car insurance so you only pay for what you need. isn't that what you just did? service! ♪ stand back, i'm gonna show ya ♪ ♪ how doug and limu roll, ya ♪ ♪ you know you got to live it ♪ ♪ if you wanna wi... [ music stops ] time out! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

and about 19 minutes, polls open in 20 more states on this final day of voting in america. obviously, this is about your vote. it's also about the path to 270 electoral votes. john avlon joins us now with a look at where things stand on that front. >> guys, game day and here is where we begin. the yellow states are the battlegrounds and notice that these are all states that donald trump won last time around with the exceptions of nevada, colorado and new hampshire. but here is where we actually begin. because while we have a historic early turnout and not enough could be said about that, it is still a blank slate until all those votes are counted. now, we talk about 2016 as a baseline. we talked about red states and blue states, but sometimes it's useful to take a look at how people actually voted by county. it's a more complex map. i want to take you to some of the critical battleground states

we're going to look and pivot counties that could be so crucial. more than 200 counties across the country donald trump flipped to republican. it is always the big kahuna in terms of swing states. always decided by roughly 100,000 votes as it was last time around. this time when you look at pivot counties what you look for. three big kuns. st. lucie, pinellas, jefferson and monroe. now, why do i say pivot? take a look at them. look at 2012. they change their shade. that's the mark of a pivot county. interestingly, as we look at 2018, two of these counties, democrats notably st. petersburg where pinellas is and st. lucie but monroe and jefferson stayed in the republican column. speaks to how complex the politics in florida are. but these are things to watch. also one other degree people

should pay more attention to. 26% of registered voters in florida are independents. they're not affiliated. think about states in red v. blue understand how they break could be critical. a look up the country to north carolina. this one seems to be in play, tightly decided last time around. look at these areas that flipped. tend to be up here on the border, down here in the south. the ones that could make a difference in addition to the big population centers. finally, pennsylvania. this is the one that could take a long time, but pay attention to these pivot counties. erie, down here, which includes chester and northampton, because these flipped last time around. interestingly enough, hillary clinton was able to pick up chester, pa, which historically was republican. down in the most populous region. in the suburbs of philadelphia. so we all begin here. it is going to be an

extraordinary night as we count the votes and historic election with unprecedented results. >> and florida, may give up a guide into the whole night. got to watch them very closely sclose lly. sitting here, a potential for unrest. up next we speak to the head of the federal election commission who is urging patience. at visionworks, we know it's easy to forget to use your vision benefits before the year's up. this is us making sure you don't. use 'em before you lose 'em, backed by our 100-day guarantee!! visionworks. see the difference.

that selling carsarvana, 100% online wouldn't work. but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible.

and putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you.

when the supreme court gave you an extension, they made a very dangerous situation, and i mean dangerous, physically dangerous, and they made it a very, very bad -- they did a very bad thing for this state, that's president trump railing against the u.s. supreme court over its decision to allow an extended count of pennsylvania mail-in ballots, and he's stoking fears of violence. joining us, the head of the

federal election commission. thank you very much for being here. do you understand why president trump would inject the specter of violence, or physical danger, i guess, into vote counting? >> i never try and get into the head of the president, but i think what's important for the american people to know is that everyone should get out and vote if they haven't already vote it's and all of those votes should count. there are some states where they don't even start processing the mail-in ballots until today. so, of course, they're not going to know by end of the day today what was in al of those ballots. and this is how we run our elections. it doesn't matter, in some countries they have elections where they don't count the votes. we count the votes. that's what a democracy is all about. >> president trump seems very afraid or nervous about counting beyond today. he has even gone so far as to suggest that he's not sure but maybe it's not legal. and you felt the need to put out a tweet basically saying, this

is not a reality show. what do you mean by that? >> well, we are not waiting for the big reveal that has to happen at the set time end of the hour. the important thing is that we count all the votes. we never have official results at the end of election day. that happens weeks later, and that is the way it works every single election. so there's nothing unusual about not knowing on election night. we would like to know on election night. sometimes we can tell on election night, but there have been many elections in our history where we haven't known on election night who the winner was, and as i said. the most important thing is that we count all the votes so that the will of the american people prevails. >> what's your message to voters as they head to the polls today? >> be safe. wear your mask. but by all means, if you haven't voted yet, please, do vote, because we've seen enormous enthusiasm so far. 97 million early votes. i mean, that's an astronomical

number of people who have already turned out and the voted, and we want to have a really strong and vibrant democracy where every citizen's voice and vote matters. so, please, if you haven't voted yet, stay safe, but please vote. >> i also know you talked be disinformation. how can voters know when they're stumbling upon disinformation? >> consider the source. a lot of stuff is floating around on the internet and some very inflammatory. the most inflammatory stuff is what we ought to be most concerned about. check where the information is coming from. just because some guy on the internet said something doesn't make it true. make sure it's reputable source before you believe it and share it. >> are you saying some suggest poll places are closed and you have to do it a certain way? how are people supposed to sift

through all of that? >> well, as i said. don't get your information about how to vote from some guy that you're reading about on the internet. go to trusted sources. go to the board of elections. go to the secretary of state's office. go to vote.org and that will give you links to your local election officials where you can get reliable information about where to vote, how to vote, what the hours are. make sure you check your polling station. a lot of polling stations have moved this year. i know i've been voting in the same place for 30 years but this year my polling station moved. so just be careful. you don't want to stand in a long line, in the wrong place, and make sure that you have your information from the horses mouth. from the election officials. >> ftc commissioner, ellen weintraub, thank you very much. so are you better off than you were four years ago? christine romans tells us how the u.s. economy would be different under joe biden. that's next.

my nunormal: fewer asthma attacks. less oral steroids. taking my treatment at home. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your doctor about nucala at home. find your nunormal with nucala.

askand sweetie can coloryou just be...me. gentle with the pens. okey. okey. i know. gentle..gentle new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database so you can start hiring right away. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

ithe first full prescriptionis pstrength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel... available over the counter. voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. voltaren. the joy of movement.

♪ to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. [grunting noise] i'll take that. woohoo! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. with nutrients to support immune health.

americans clearly voting for a president today and over the last several weeks but they're also voting on the economy. cnn chief business correspondent christine romans joins us now to explain. >> better off today than four years ago is the question we always ask. right? the president says he built the best economy in history through deregulation and huge tax cuts for business. best in history? no. but there were notable records. in 2019 median household income reached $68.700. highest since records began in 1967. african-american unemployment fem to a record 5.8% in february. these are ten-year-long trends, but the trump re-election argument only he can get us back to where we were before the pandemic hit, but even before covid, job growth in trump's 36

months trailed obama's last three years and 3.9 million lost jobs in president trump's presidency. the next jobs report is friday. that necessary job loss underscores the main street pain from the pandemic. but the president prefers his stock market as a personal score card of the s&p 500 that rose 44% from trump's inauguration day to friday. how does he stack up to predecessor? stocks up 75% at this point of barack obama's presidency in the midst of a recession. 62% under president bill clinton. how would a joe biden economy look? how would it xwlo? he wants to raise takes on people making over $400,000 a year. re verse tax cuts for business and invest in infrastructure and clean energy.

rewarding companies that bring jobs and production back to the u.s. and, guys, central to his argument, the biden argument for growing the economy, got to have a strong plan to beat the virus first, john. >> yeah. obviously the economy always on the ballot. this year the pandemic. very much at the forefront of people's minds knop question about that. christine romans, great to see you. thanks so much for being with us. >> you're welcome. so polls now opening across half of the united states. cnn's special election coverage continues right now. >> this is simple. power to change this country is in your hands. >> i was elected to fight for you and i fight harder than any president has ever fought. >> the biden campaign says their easiest path to nomination is through that blue wall that president trump broke through back in 2016. >> we're going to show america that michigan -- >> is trump country. >> after four years failure we

have the power to change america. >> announcer: this is "new day" with alisyn camerota and john berman. welcome to viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is a special edition of "new day." one of the most special. this is the final day of voting in america, and it is full-on under way. polls in 15 more states opening this hour including the critical battleground states of pennsylvania, michigan and florida. get this. breaking news. as of minutes ago, more than 100 million ballots have already been cast. think about that for a second. this is staggering. 100 million votes already cast

in polls just opening now on what has traditionally been the official election day. this number on your screen shatters all records and really creates new issues how to even conceive what we're about to see over the next few hours. new information and analysis on each of the candidates' past at 270 electoral vote. that term determines who wins. joe biden closed out his campaign in pennsylvania where he began it all more than a year ago. blasting the president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic which as of this morning is just spiraling out of control. president trump threatened legal action to stop vote counting in pab pa pennsylvania beyond today. he ended his night in michigan. >> an extra layer of fencing around the white house this morning. the president plans to host hundreds of people at an indoor election party there. all of this against the backdrop of a pandemic. another 84,000 new coronavirus cases were reported overnight. that's the fourth highest day since the pandemic began.

more than 231,000 americans have died so far. there's new reporting that dr. deborah birx is reportedly pleading with the white house for "much more aggressive action." let's begin with alexandra field in the key swing state of pennsylvania. what's happening there, alex? >> reporter: alisyn and john, good morning. you talked about the tremendous enthusiasm for early voting. in pennsylvania we should see that here. as we speak the first ballots cast in pennsylvania. in the past hour we've soon hundreds of people lining up inside that building behind me getting ready to do their civic duty in a place that the whole world will be watching closely. there are 20 electoral votes up for garages in pennsylvania. both campaigns remaining laser focused on it. president trump in the last few days holding a series of rallies in parts of the state most friendly to him trying to drum

up support and enthusiasm to hold on to a state he flipped by just 44,000 votes back in 2016. former president joe biden for his part started in pennsylvania showing just how important wrapping it up here today. back yet again in pennsylvania making stops in philadelphia and scranton, trying to get his voters out. the trump campaign said all along they believe their voters are the people who go to the polls on election day. the biden campaign trying to make sure that their people are there, too. we need to point out the fact 2.4 million mail-in ballots have been received by the state of pennsylvania, but that's under 40% of the total electorate in 2016. that means what we're going to see today is a lot of voting. alisyn, john? >> alexandra field outside of pittsburgh. please, keep us posted as to what you see. the polls also just opened in another critical battleground state. florida. cnn's randi kaye live near fort lauderdale with a live look.

randi? >> reporter: good morning, john. we are in lighthouse point, florida. a pocket of broward county, florida, that leans heavily republican. i can show you the numbers from 2016. donald trump won with about 65% of the vote. hillary clinton had about 31% of the vote. we don't know who's voting today, but i can tell you there's already a line here behind me. again, we don't know who is in line. we have to be back about 150 feet from those people, from that line, because of state law. so we haven't been able to speak with them, but there's already a bit of a turnout. polls opened just a couple minutes ago and donald trump needs lighthouse point and other republican areas of the state to win. this is a crucial state for donald trump, for any republican candidate. the last republican candidate to win the white house without the state of florida was back in 1924 and that was calvin coolidge. a lot of people, millions of people, have already voted here in the state of florida. about 8.9 million people have already cast their ballot, and that's about 93% of all votes

that were cast for the state in 2016. so it will be interesting to see how many people actually turn out today. the supervisor of elections here in broward county told me he expects maybe 100,000, 125,000 people to turn out. so we will see where they go. but 29 electoral votes up for grabs here in the state. donald trump won this state by about 1.2% back in 2016. about 113,000 votes. we'll be watching. we'll be here all day and see what happens this time around, john. >> randi kaye, great to have you there. please, keep us posted. joining us, michael smerconish, and the politics in white house editor of axios and put it up on the screen. the number just changed over the last hour. as of now more than 100 million americans have already voted in this election. 100 million votes cast, and this is the traditional election day.

michael, i look at that number, and all i can say is, oh, my god. it's staggering. to look at that, and to try to think what it means for how we're going to process the rest of today. >> well, and it's in the midst of a pandemic. i mean who would have believed we would have this mow meant us-sized ballot cast in advance of the election as a time we're all dealing with covid-19. for that reason however it turns out, it's a wonderful day for democracy and hoping it all runs well. i think an important message, john, for any election day in america is to remember that, aisle say it kindly, stuff happens. stuff always happens. it's the nature of the way we run elections. we're essentially creating a one-day pop-up starbucks all over america. relying on talent that gets underpaid to do it. many volunteers, and tomorrow it all goes away. so settle in, things will

happen. things that are not indicative of fraud. human factors always play a role. that's what i hope people will keep in mind. >> or it may not all go away tomorrow, margaret. i mean, part of the element of suspense and surprise is because of these huge numbers and because this is such an unusual, unprecedented year. we really don't know if we're going to have answers tonight, but you have new reporting, margaret, in terms of what former vp joe biden is planning tonight if it looks like it's going his way? >> well, yes. thanks, alisyn. we are reporting this morning that if the math looks like vice president biden has the numbers to be the president-elect, he will start acting like it. how do we know that? there's a big clue in the daily guidance, a public document that the campaign sent out the night before before. the daily guidance tell us us biden will address the nation tonight. we don't know what either trump

or biden is going to be saying, because we don't know what the numbers will look like by the end of the night, but they are laying a very clear marker down that says, look. they presume president trump is going to say something, and given his past comments he may try to put a pin in it and present either himself as the victor or say it's, you know, that the counting should stop now, and this is biden very clearly positioning himself to say, he's not going to let president trump have the last or only word tonight, but beyond that, our reporting is telling us that they are preparing, if, even if president trump were to challenge this, if biden's team believes they have the math to support this they're preparing to move very quickly on transition announcements, staffing, et cetera, to start the process of standing up the transition and the future of government. of course, let's not get ahead of our skis. none of this is relevant until

end of voting today and until we have a much clearer picture not just of who already turned out, not just in terms which ballots will be allowed to stand but in terms of in all of these key states, republicans, democrats, independents alike, who actually turns out to vote in person and how that will make the final answers to these numbers much clearer than they are right now. >> looking at live pictures of people turning out. this time at lighthouse point, florida. obviously, florida, one of the key swing states. pennsylvania another key swing state, michael. and margaret was talking about "if" the president challenges the election results. we don't have to wait for "if." he already is. he's already basically challenging what's going on in your state of pennsylvania. the u.s. supreme court essentially allowed ballots that are mailed by today to be counted for three more days, and the president, which by the way, it's the way it is in about half the states in the country.

very little controversy about that in the whole united states. but the president is suggesting that will lead to violence or he's threatening violence. listen. >> -- when the supreme court gave you an extension they made a very dangerous situation and i mean dangerous, physically dangerous, and they made it a very, very bad -- they did a very bad thing for this state. . . >> so he is arguing two things. one, don't count votes and, two, they'll be violence? what going on here, michael? >> let's be clear. the rationale of the pennsylvania supreme court was that due to the pandemic, and due to mail delays, it made sense in franchising people to allow ballots that are received as late as today to continue to be counted for three more days. that's what he's objecting to. let me say something else as a lifelong pennsylvanian. have we had aberrant cases of

voter fraud? individual knockoffs? we have. any widespread fraud in this state? go back to 1994, and i remember the race well because one of the individuals running was a very close friend of mine at the time there was a state senate race that was stolen and overturned by a federal judge. nothing since that has been widespread. there was no documented voter fraud when they tried to challenge in our court system. the commonwealth court a few years ago, whether people should have to show i.d.s. so it's just not backed up by substance. it's all backed up by whisper, we're not different than any other state in the united states. >> well, i hope president trump is listening to you, michael, because he keeps repeating and zeroing in on pennsylvania as well as philadelphia and so, margaret, that was his closing message. one of his closing messages, the specter of physical danger, if vote counting continues after today. contrasted with joe biden's closing message last night. let's listen to that.

>> so many people are worried. i've never forgotten growing up in a hard-working family in scranton. the lesson that donald trump has never learned, because he can only see the world from park avenue. he can't see what families like yours and mine have gone through. so he refuses to do the work to get this virus under control. >> interesting contrast. >> well, vice president biden's message has been for several months now that the president should be judged first and foremost on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and now finally in the last hours of voting, that remains at the top of most americans' minds, despite all of these other issues thrown out in the closing days of the campaign. we talked about the closing messages, biden is continuing to campaign through half the day and look at where he and his wife and their top surrogates are. pennsylvania, florida, michigan,

a little dash in ohio but, again that florida and pennsylvania, where he thinks he needs to really close the deal, and there are other towns for president trump if i was being contrarian, watch minnesota, watch new hampshire for trump or let's see whether biden can run the tables in georgia, but what both of the campaigns are really the most focused on in these closing hours are florida and pennsylvania. >> michael smerconish, no predictions. >> out of that game, he told us. >> exactly. because people are voting. 100 million people already have and a few million more today. what's the point? we'll know within a few hours, but i want to know your electoral canary in the coal mine. what sign are you looking for tonight to tell you things are going a certain way? >> it's entirely possible i'm a guest on "new day" on friday and we're still talking about pennsylvania. i think it's equally if not greater likelihood that florida, georgia, north carolina, ohio,

just work your way up the eastern seaboard and then go to ohio. they all close 7:00 or 7:30 eastern standard time tonight. john king could be at that magic wall before we're all anticipating it, looking at those states. frankly, if any are won by joe biden that could be a knockout blow and pennsylvania could be an irrelevancy. >> we'll book you for friday, michael. no matter what happens. we'll find something to talk about on friday. slot it in your calendar. great to have you on this morning. margaret, thank you to you as well. be sure to join us for cnn special coverage of "election day in america" that begins today at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. and i think we have live pictures from the bg bg staattl state of michigan. you can see the lines. people lining up to vote. we'll get a report from the ground there, and we'll speak to the governor of that state coming up.

it's an important time to save. with priceline, you can get up to 60% off amazing hotels. and when you get a big deal... ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. she said it was like someone else was controlling her mouth. her doctor said she has tardive dyskinesia, which may be related to important medication she takes for her depression.

td can affect different parts of the body. - [narrator] in today's trying times, we're here to help you manage td. visit talkabouttd.com for a doctor discussion guide to prep for your next appointment in person, over the phone, or online. - we were so relieved to learn there are treatments for td. when it comes to the quality of our cars: the highest. it's why only 1 in 10 cars we look at qualify to sell on our site. if it's been in a reported accident, we won't sell it. and at our state-of-the-art facilities our ase certified mechanics roll up their sleeves and get to it. inspecting, dialing-in, and fine tuning every single car inside and out, bringing all of it up to our high standards. by the time we're done, our cars are beyond "certified." they're carvana certified. so whether you have it delivered or pick it up, we do it all so you can rest easy.

i feel like we're forglet me check.ing. xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored home security built around you. no, i think we're good. good.

so when you're away, you don't have to worry. the tent. we forgot... the tent. except about that. xfinity home. simple. easy. awesome. hey look, i found the tent! get xfinity home with no term contract required. click or call today.

okay. polls just opened in the battleground state of michigan. president trump ended his campaign heavily focused on that state and senator kamala harris will spend part of today in detroit. cnn's omar jimenez is live in st. clairsville, michigan. what are you seeing on the ground, omar. >> reporter: officially off to the races for election day 2020. you see behind me this is the entrance and people are lining up to make their voices heard and now starting at 7:00 a.m. we can start counting the absentee ballots. this county is a suburb of detroit. it's a county that president trump flipped from democrat to republican in 2016. and it's a county that the winner has gone on to be the state-wide winner for both governor and president races going back seven races in a row. we always knew michigan would be

important. look no further than the campaign activity from both candidates leading up to today. of course, president trump finished his campaign last night in grand rapids. that last stop. the same last stop he made in 2016, but also held a rally in this county on sunday and another one in a separate county on friday. joe biden and president obama also made stops in michigan over the weekend in flint and in detroit, and senator kamala harris is expected to be in detroit later this afternoon. and, of course, this election day comes on the other side of what has been a record amount of absentee ballots turned in based on data we've gotten from the secretary of state. that number is right around 3 million absentee ballots. that's more than 60% of the entire turnout in the 2016 presidential election and right around 60% of the entire turnout for the 2008 presidential election which saw the highest turnout in this state's history. the next phase, of course, is going to get, going to get all of those ballots counted. it's a process of secretary of

state jocelyn benson says will take some time, but for them and other states officials, the most important part is getting that count right as opposed to getting out a result quickly. alisyn? >> omar, thank very much for that status report. omar just said, more than 3 million votes have already been cast in michigan. almost triple the number of early votes from 2016. that's when president trump edged out hillary clinton by a little more than 10,000 votes. joining us now is the democratic governor of michigan gretchen whitmer also national co-chair of the biden campaign. good morning, governor. >> good morning. >> okay. let me read what michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson just put out this morning an hour ago on twitter. good morning, and happy election day, everyone. 3.1 million michigan citizens have already voted. are you one of them? question mark, question mark. beyond that there's enthusiasm, what does that tell you about how michiganders are feeling

this morning? >> people are engaged and people coming out to the polls have a sense of optimism. this historic turnout, i think, is really a testament for that. that people are ready for some change. people want leadership to get our arms around covid-19 and get our kids safely back in school and get back to work. i'm encouraged what we're seeing. today is just beginning. polls just open add few minutes ago and they will be open until 8:00 p.m. tonight and we anticipate long lines. i've encouraged my fellow michiganders to dress in layers. ow weather can change fast here in michigan although it's supposed to be a pretty day today. and wear your mask, be patient a -- patience and have in grace. poll workers are working hard today. >> and dress in layers. that's almost -- almost year round. governor, last night as part of president trump's closing message, i suppose, he brought you up, again. you're one of his favorite

subjects. let me play for you what he said in grand rapids, and this was just around midnight last night. listen to this. >> it would be nice if your governor would open up the state, however. [ cheers ] open up the state. open up your schools. open up the state. go back -- get back to business. >> hard to tell what the crowd is chanting, but people on the ground said it was "lock her up." what's your response? >> well, i think that the closing arguments of these two campaigns tell a starkly different vision of america and where we need to be headed. the trump rallies are continuing to bring people together in the middle of a pandemic without masks, where they are projecting their voices, where they are crammed together, and contact tracing shows that they are super spreader events. meanwhile, the biden campaign is

focusing on bringing us together, a unified message. a message around integrity and empathy and an american president is the president for everyone. not just those that agree with him. these trump rallies where they talk about locking up his opponents or taking aim at dr. fauci or even lebron james yesterday, are mind-boggling. americans want and need a president that can bring us together and solve problems, and i think that's why joe biden is in such strong standing going into this last day. >> i'm told that we have new video of what former vp joe biden is doing this morning. this is him going into church. this is in greenville, delaware. you see him, i think with his family members there. so that's how he'll be spending this hour of this morning. this from just moments ago. but governor, back to what you were saying. i mean, as somebody who was, the target, of an alleged domestic terror plot, what do you want the president to know about his

words, about people like you? >> words matter. i mean, words can give comfort to and insight dangerous actions. domestic terrorism. now, when he targets dr. fauci or he targets a sitting governor, it is, it's a dangerous moment. it is anti-american. we as americans solve our differences at the ballot box. you don't like the result, solve them at the next opportunity to vote. we have a peaceful transition of power. this is what has made america an ethical leader in the world, and these actions to undermine our own democracy are damaging for every single one of us, and endanger people that are simply on the front line trying to keep others safe like dr. fauci, like me, like so many others across our country who come into that, the target of donald trump's criticism and inciteful

language. it's critical that people on both sides of the aisle take it on and i'm gratefulendoored -- endorsed joe biden. others are doing that as well. >> the trump campaign things very optimistic about winning michigan tonight. i'm not asking you for a prediction, but if president trump wins michigan what will that tell you about your state? >> well, you know, it's hard for me to game that out. i can tell you what i've seen on the ground. people turning out. people who are engaged in ways that they never have been before. we already have over 3 million ballots that have been cast. it's going to take us a little while to count, and that's why i think it's really important that we all prepare to be patient and make sure we get it right, because the will of the people will need to be, it needs to be counted in terms of our ballots and we will respect the will of

the people of this state and of every state in the nation. >> thank you for taking time. we really appreciate having you on "new day." >> thank you. okay. so dr. deborah birx sounding the alarm about the threat of coronavirus directly contradicting president trump's repeated lies that we are rounding the corner somehow. so what happens next? dr. sanjay gupta joins us. find. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. at university of phoenix, relevant life experience and eligible transfer credits can help you earn your degree faster and for less. see how much you can save at phoenix.edu.

to use your vision benefits degrbefore the year's up.s. this is us making sure you don't. use 'em before you lose 'em, backed by our 100-day guarantee!! visionworks. see the difference.

84,000 new coronavirus cases reported overnight in the united states. that is the fourth highest day ever. now, when it comes to the "washington post" reports the white house coronavirus task force coordinator, dr. deborah birx is warning that "we are entering the most concerning and deadly phase of this pandemic." joining us now, cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. sanjay, numbers are clearly awful this morning with hospitalizations and new cases and we're seeing deaths creep up across the country. the news about deborah birx is

interesting and very new. the idea she circulated this memo constitute a split, schematic lib from the rhetoric we're hearing from the white house. pretty clear. entering the most deadly phase of the pandemic leading to increased mortality. it hasn't been about lockdowns since march or april. the about about aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented. she says that the administration is not doing the job. that's pretty extraordinary, sanjay? >> yeah. i'll tell you, i'm not surprised at all at what she said. maybe more surprised at the fact that she said it, because we've been hearing these warnings from public health officials now for some time, concerned about the trends, concerned about the fact that we're going into the cooler weather, and what that all means overall for the overall trajectory of this pandemic. but you're right. this is very different.

we hadn't heard much from ambassador birx. i met with her right after she had been appointed to basically run the task force and i, you know, spoke to folks on the task force when scott atlas was brought in and she had been marginalized and we haven't really heard much from her. what she's saying is oechoed bya lot of public health officials but different from the official coronavirus task force and scott atlas. she brings up the point, look, it's not too late. we can still turn things around which is probably the most important message. you clearly saw it up in new york where you are but there have been other examples in the country where without shutdowns, things have been able to turn around significantly. i bring up arizona as a example sometimes, because i think it was really interesting what happened there. they basically had this sort of pause, if you will, and they saw numbers go down and then soon as they lifted that pause, the numbers went way up, 151% up,

over a couple of weeks, and, you know, the state health directors at that point said we have to activate our emergency plans. what were they? not a lockdown, but mask mandates, limiting public gathering and certain businesses closing down like bars and they dropped 75% within three weeks. people need to pay attention to these stories right now. it's going to be tough. weather cooler, people congregated inside but it's still possible to put the brakes on this. >> i total aagrgree. sounds like dr. deborah birx reached her breaking point. traveling around state-by-state grabbing people by the lapels and telling them to put on masks. reading another part of the memo, the message she's desperately trying to get out, president trump is the antithesis of their message. what is essential at this time, the report says, is consistent

messaging about uniform use of masks, physical distancing and hand washing with profound limitation on indoor gatherings, especially with family and friends. this is about empowering americans with the knowledge and data for decision-making to prevent community spread and save lives. i was struck by the profound limitation on indoor gatherings with family and friends. that sounds like she thinks it's time to stay indoors, or stay home, i should say. stay home. this is, i think, obviously about upcoming holidays, and that is not the message we are hearing from the white house. >> no. it's not. you know, i mean, this is based on what we've seen with this particular pandemic, but also just other infectious diseases. especially respiratory diseases that spread like this. we know they get worse when you get into the winter months, in part because people are mostly indoors. we've talked about this on this

show quite a bit, even going into the holiday season. what does that mean ultimately? what it means, this is probably not the year to be bringing in extended family or neighbors and stuff like that for indoor gatherings. it just isn't. unless you be can absolutely confident the people you're bringing in have been essentially bubbled and that you're creating a bubble around your indoor environment. it's very hard to do this here and what kind of gathering is that anyway? are you maintaining your distance? should be. wearing masks inside? you should be, if bringing others into your home. it's very different. what she's saying does reflect 99% of the public health community. the only people not agreeing with that are, you know, scott atlas, basically, and maybe a few others, but this idea of how to basically put the brakes on this, how to stall this, even if you can flatten, you trajectory. that would be a significant accomplishment. we can't do it if we're going in

the wrong direction. >> all right, sanjay. a lot more to discuss coming up. thank you so much for being with us. we want to remember some of the more than 231,000 americans lost to coronavirus. 43-year-old amanda administrative assistant for an alaska tribal development fund. her partner tells the in the in the she was an amazing mother to her five children. the pandemic is hitting alaska natives hard. fatality rate more than four times. a beloved english teacher, yearbook adviser in phoenix, arizona, wrote high school sports news and feature stories for several arizona papers. his mother said he has the ability to give others the feeling anything is possible. he was 40 years old. and just 13. in the eighth grade and youngest person in missouri to die of coronavirus. his last day of school was october 22nd. he died less than two weeks

later. his mother describes him as funny, sweet, kind and a jokester. our heart goes out to all of their families. we'll be right back. introducing voltaren arthritis pain gel. the first full prescription strength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel... available over the counter. voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. voltaren. the joy of movement. and remember the moment that things, for one strange time in our lives,

got very quiet. we worried over loved ones, over money, over our planet, and over takeout. let's remember this time when so many struggled to feel secure, and build a future where everyone can. because when the world seems like it's standing still... that's the perfect time for us to change it. (burk(customer) deep-something like that... (burke) well, here's something else: with your farmer's policy perk, new car replacement, you can get a new one. (customer) that is something else. (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ ...who takes care of yourself. so why wait to screen for colon cancer?

because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'll get on it! that's a step in the right direction. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

you're choosing whento get connected to xfinity mobile, to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $400 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. that's simple, easy, awesome. visit your local xfinity store today to ask, shop, discover the latest on xfinity mobile.

polls now open in pennsylvania. we just learned election officials in allegheny county including pittsburgh have begun opening the absentee and mail-in ballots but not yet started counting those ballots yet. more than 2.4 million ballots cast in ta state. joining me, the attorney general of that state, josh shapiro. thanks for being with us. what's going on in allegheny county now, the rules allow this. please explain this processing of ballots that will begin in some but not all places in

pennsylvania. >> well, rook, golook, good to you. what we've planned for and what the law provides. it says beginning at 7:00 a.m. on election day mail-in ballots get counted. more than 2.5 million pennsylvanians cast their ballot early through the mail, and from my reports this morning, we've got long lines and people ready to vote at the polls. i expect a historic turnout a lot of voter participation here in pennsylvania and that's exactly the way it should be. after all the talk, after all the rhetoric and all the attacks on our election system, now the people get to decide and today's the final day to vote and it seems there will be record numbers. >> a whole lot of litigation involving your state. in your mind what legal issues remain? >> well, none should remain, really. i mean, look, the president and his enablers attacked our voting system. tried to eliminate drop boxes. tried to make it harder for people to vote. tried to limited amount of time ballots could be counted and

even tried to change a 1937 law here in pennsylvania in order to be able to bring poll watchers in from out of one county into another, really, i think, just to intimidate black and brown voters at the polls. every single time they've gone to court against us, they've lost. we've protected the right to vote. and now it's time to just let the people decide. let me assure you, if they file more lawsuits, today if anyone files more lawsuits, today, we'll be prepared to defend people's right to vote and most importantly make sure that all legal, eligible votes are counted. >> he's very focused on the supreme court. which allowed the decision for ballots that are postmarked by today to arrive for three days after today and still be counted. he apparently is dead set against that and now even threatening somehow, that it will lead to violence? how does that strike you? >> well, first off, this isn't new. we count ballots that are postmarked by election day and

come in after. military ballot, for example. other states allow this to occur and it's going to occur here in pennsylvania. i don't care what the president says. look, and as for the calls for violence that i guess he was tweeting about last night, i just want to say this -- you know, i was driving through philadelphia last night. and there are storefronts already boarded up, because of this violence that the president keeps talking about, and i believe that that's similar in other cities. there is a high cost to the president's rhetoric. you know, he may have lost in court against us every single time and your fact checkers may point out routinely that he lies, but there's still an effect to his rhetoric and it is dangerous, and it is scary, and it is something that certainly we're prepared for in law enforcement, but i think all of us as americans need to come together and reject that type of cynicism. reject that type of call for

violence and destruction in our community, and recognize that we're all in this together and we've got to be together in order to meet the many challenges we face. there is no room in our civil discourse for calls for violence, especially from the president of the united states. >> is that how you perceive it? do you perceive it as a call to violence from the president? >> oh, i think his track record is clear. he routinely talks about violence. he routinely allows his words to be misappropriated by hate groups and encourages others to take to the streets. encourages others to break the law. that is dangerous and reckless for anyone to do it. it's especially dangerous when the president of the united states does it. i feel bad for these small businesses who are already struggling because of the economic effects of the coronavirus. i feel bad that they feel like on a day we should all be celebrating as americans and being together as americans, i

feel bad that they feel they need to board up their stores, and hunker down. >> let me ask you about something you wrote. you wrote the other day, if all the votes are added up in pennsylvania, trump is going to lose. that's why he's working overtime sew subject as many votes from the process. first line, if all votes add up in pennsylvania trump will lose. you've been criticized because, yes, you're a democrat but also chief law enforcement officer in pennsylvania. how appropriate is it for you to be saying, trump is going to lose" a couple days before the election? >> first off, i mean, there's a lot of nonsense coming from the other side. examine the record here. donald trump and his enablers have gone to court time and time again to limit voter participation. to, as i referred to, to subject votes from the equation. and i think it is clear that if someone felt that they had a good shot of winning the

election, and the polls are what they are, but suggest that he's not, if someone felt confident in their ability to win the election with a certified electorate, then why would they be going to court over and over and over again to try and subject votes? and that's exactly what donald trump's been doing. >> i got to let you go. when will we know the results in pennsylvania? trick question. >> look, i think you're going to have a good sense of where the precinct votes are sometime in the very late hours of tonight, maybe around midnight. and then you'll be able to see how those mail-in ballots have begun to come in, where they're outstanding. you know what the party registration is. which doesn't always dictate how people will vote but i think you'll be able to begin to get a fuller picture of what the electorate looks like in pennsylvania, in the early morning hours of wednesday. certainly it will take days to certify the election. what i want to assure people is that all of these legal, eligible votes will be counted.

>> yes. >> and finally, just to remind people. presidents don't get to pick presidents. the people pick the president. so don't worry about what folks say after the polls close. worry about what happens once all the votes are counted. >> right. we'll know when the votes are counted. as always, attorney general, thank you for being with us this morning. good luck over the next several hours, maybe days. >> thank you. all right. today's election obviously, or the election that people have been voting in for weeks, more than just about the white house. the key senate races that could flip the balance of power.

tired of overpaying for your prescriptions? try optum perks. it's a new way to save up to 80%. and everyone can do it. it's from optum, a health care company that's trusted by millions of people. you don't have to sign up for anything. just go to optumperks.com. and get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. that's it. i opted in. i opted in. you can, too. opt in and save big today.

keeping your oysters growing while keeping your business growing has you swamped. (♪ ) you need to hire i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base so you can start hiring right away. claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo ♪ i see you looking (uh) ♪ i see you looking (na, na, na) ♪

♪ i see you looking (uh) ♪ i see you looking ♪ watch what i do (camera clicks) ♪ watch what i do ♪ i see you looking ♪ watch what i do! (camera clicks) ♪ watch what i do ♪ i see you looking ♪ watch what i ... do! to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... ♪ ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. it's election day in america and not only is the presidency at stake, but also control of the u.s. senate. joining us now is cnn's senior political writer and analyst

harry enten with the key races to watch. what senate races with you keeping an eye on? >> sure. obviously the democrats are at 47 seats right now, they need a net gain of three if joe biden wins the presidency in order to get control of the state. these are the races i'm keeping an eye on. potential dem pickups, arizona, colorado, iowa, maine and north carolina. it looks like the gop has a pretty good shot in alabama, michigan is a long shot, but that essentially means that democrats will probably need to pick up four seats if they lose, say, the seat in alabama to get up to that 50. >> we've been people in the presidential election they're going to need to be patient, it will take a while to count the votes, may take a while to know whowon. what about the key senate races? >> it seems to me that the best dem pickup opportunities, the mail ballot processing will occur fairly quickly in many of those states. so in states like maine, like iowa, you are essentially going to see that the ballots should, in fact, be the -- the absentee

ballots should be processed before election day so we may know about the senate before we know about the presidency. at least the early returns will be more indicative on the senate side than the presidential side. >> we are looking at live pictures of former vice president joe biden getting on thinks campaign plane. he has two stops in pennsylvania today. >> i don't know if you have to fly there. >> no, but he's doing that. going to scranton and philadelphia today. >> harry, does it work differently in the senate race in georgia? >> yeah, so two other races that are so important are the regular election in georgia and the special senate election in georgia. what's so key here is if no candidate reaches 50% of the vote plus one on november 3rd, there's, in fact, going to be a run off, it's actually january 5th, but there will be a runoff in january. if the democrats do not, in fact, reach the 50 seats that they need these two gop seats corks in fact, be the key, but we might have to wait until january to figure out about that because if no one gets 50% of

the vote plus one tonight we will have to wait until january. >> i know there is this other tier of senate races you have at least half an eye on. what are they? >> essentially there's this slue of potential gop seats that the dems may pick up. right now they're not necessarily favored in any of them, but alaska, kansas, montana, south carolina and texas. if the democrats are able to win in any of these seats it could, in fact, be a very, very long night for the gop. and that's why there's sort of this long tale of potential democratic pickups. if the dems have a good night they could get up 52, 53 seats. i'm not predicting that at all, i'm not predicting anything, just saying there is this long tail that democrats have a shot of having a good night if things really do go their way. >> is that how it works, as goes the presidency in a state the senate races follow? >> right. so, you know, if you look back in 2016 that's exactly what happened. it was the first time since senators were popularly elected in which every race went the way the presidential rate went.

so 22 seats won by the gop and trump, 12 seats won by the dems and clinton. i'm not saying that's necessarily going to happen tonight, but what happens in the presidential race is probably going to be very indicative of ning happens down ballot. people they need to be patient, it will take time to count the ballots and that's okay. how far back in history do you have to go in a presidential election to come up with an election where crucial, decisive votes were counted and tabulated after midnight on election night? >> how about we go back one presidential election, john, just go back to 2016, we have used this slide before, but look at this. in the six closest states trump won in 2016 in all of them there were votes counted after wednesday morning. this year more than any other with all the mail-in votes patience is a virtue, it's better to be accurate than to be fast. >> harry, we will look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning, i'm sure you will be pulling

all-nighter. >> you've got that right. i just did and i'm going to do it again. >> legally insane, by the way. >> luckily it doesn't affect your mood. thank you, harry. >> thank you. okay. the polls are about to open in ten more states. cnn's election day in america coverage continues right now. we have made america proud again and we will make america great again. in this election let's vote like our democracy depends on it. the campaign is cautiously confident that they may have closed the gap somewhat with joe biden with these raucous rallies. >> we have to fight for this country we love so much and get out and vote. >> nothing is going to stop the people in this nation from voting, period. it's time for donald trump to pack his bags and go home. >> announcer: this is "new day" with alisyn camerota and john

berman. that's right, it's a two-intro morning, that's how special this morning s good morning, everybody. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world, this is a very special edition of "new day." it is election day in america. voting is now under way in more than half the country. polls are open in 11 more states at this hour, check out your screen to see where those are. by this time tomorrow we might know who will be president for the next four years, or we might not. you're going to have to live with uncertainty. more than 100 million ballots have already been cast and in states where polls are open at this hour we are already seeing lines.

joe biden closes out his campaign in pennsylvania where he began it more than a year ago. he ripped into president trump for his handling of coronavirus, which this morning is spiraling out of control. president trump threatened legal action to stop vote counting in pennsylvania beyond today, election day. >> so overnight new fencing was put up around the white house where the president plans to host hundreds of people at an indoor election night party, as another 84,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in the country, the fourth highest daily total since the pandemic began, more than 231,000 americans have died. there's new reporting this morning that dr. deborah birx is reportedly pleading with the white house for much more aggressive action, in fact, splitting with the white house in how they have been handling the pandemic. we begin this day with the voting that is taking place before our eyes. cnn's alexandra field live in the battleground state of pennsylvania. what are you seeing, alex? >> reporter: good morning, john. we saw runs of people arriving

even before the polls opened this morning at this poll site in franklin park just north of the city of pittsburgh. they tell me they are prepared at least for the possibility of record turnout. that would be in line with the early enthusiasm we have seen from voters who have cast nearly 100 million ballots leading up to this, but the bulk of voting in pennsylvania will be happening today. president trump's campaign says he believes that his people will come out on election day, that's because he has been holding this flurry of rallies across the keystone state in search of the big prize 20 electoral votes in a state he flipped four years ago, but in his former vice president joe biden also believes that pennsylvania is critical to rebuilding that so called blue wall in the great lakes region. he started his campaign here, he is ending his campaign here and he is back for election day. we understand that he has just wrapped up at church services, he went on -- in delaware, he went on to visit the gravesite

of his late son beau, then he went on to scranton, pennsylvania. he has tried to appeal particularly to some of those union households that left the democratic party that went to trump back in 2016. he is trying to bring them back as he tries to turn this state to blue. it is really up to the voters who are casting their votes today. 2.4 million mail-in ballots have been received in the state of pennsylvania, but that is just under 40% of the total electorate in 2016. so there is a lot of room today. it all comes down to who turns out. we will be keeping an eye on t john? >> i will take it, alec. thank you very much for all of that. now we want to go to what happened overnight and that's when the biggest county in texas closed all but one of its ten drive-thru voting locations. you are looking at live aerial shots right now of cars trying to go to that last one that is open. the county clerk says that his thinking was he did not want ballots cast at those locations

to be jeopardized in the future. cnn's brian todd is live in houston at this one drive through location that is still open. so what are you seeing, brian? >> reporter: well, alisyn, we have seen a lot of people coming to these polling places, driving up, trying to get in line at these places and it's really a busy time here. the polls opening right now. this is where the energy really starts here in houston. the one drive-thru location downtown houston at the toyota center, that's the one location that the county clerk, chris hollins, opened up because he closed down nine of the ten other drive-thru stations out of concern that the votes cast at those places would not be legal. so drive-thru stations, that one drive-thru station could be pretty popular today, or we'll see. maybe people will be scared off by the fact that there are concerns about the legality of drive-in votes in hair russ county. polls are opening right now here in texas and a lot of people streaming into this location, tons of signs behind me.

the sea of signs back here is impressive and the signs go way down the street. if you can see people streaming in here, media is here, poll workers are here, people are lining up at the doors now, lining up way over here outside this place not far from that voting location, alisyn. the turnout here will be key because almost 10 million texans voted early in this election, whether it was absentee, drive in or early voting, and that surpassed the entire total of votes in 2016. so turnout is going to be key. we will be keeping an eye on the volume here. back to you, john. >> brian todd for us in houston. let's go north now, polls are open in the key battleground state of wisconsin. cnn's ryan young live in milwaukee with a look there. ryan? >> reporter: good morning, john. the polls just opened up in the last few minutes or so. you can see the line that's already been established here, as you come here this poll worker will check you in and you notice everyone sort of wearing their ppe. that's a big concern here

especially with the coronavirus and how it's been spreading in this area. we will also walk you in this direction. as i do this you can see how they've set everything up so that the folks who have lined up then come into this room and as they do this they've been separated by a ward and then they will start casting their vote. let's not forget more than 1.7 million people have already in-person voted early, you can see how they're bringing in some of the shields for the ppe as well, but, john, people have been invigorated. since this morning they were here early, ready to line up and cast their vote. we know donald trump was here late last night making his final pitch in kenosha. wisconsin is obviously a battleground state but a lot of people will be watching. >> thank you very much for all of that. okay. joining us now we have cnn political analyst maggie haberman, white house correspondent for "the new york times," we have cnn political commentator karen finney, former senior spokesperson for hillary clinton's 2016 campaign, and cnn political commentator mark

mckinnon former senior as visor to the george w. bush and john mccain campaigns. good to see all of you on this exciting morning. karen finney, i want to start with you, if anyone is entitled to have ptsd today it is you. >> thank you. >> and hillary clinton. >> yes. >> and so i can only imagine the pendulum of emotional swings that you had back then. >> yes. >> how are you feeling this morning? >> cautiously optimistic. you know, i have been so overwhelmed, i think like so many americans, i mean, as john said at the opening, 100 million americans voted early. they are not going to be stopped by a pandemic. and that is a sign to me frankly where i have to tell you in 2016 i was worried about our democracy as in many times over the last four years. today is the day to be proud of our democracy. the fact that people have said -- and they've almost gotten -- there is this sort of emotion that people have about every time president trump tries to throw something their way to say, here is why you can't do

it, you hear people standing in line saying things like, i'm going to vote no matter what. i'm standing in line no matter what. i'm dropping my ballot off no matter what. that is an encouraging sign. i think the numbers look good for democrats today, it's going to obviously come down to turnout and there will be key places like wisconsin and michigan and pennsylvania, as you can imagine, that i will be keeping an eye on and also georgia. i worked in 2018 in stacey abrams race and it was a very telling tale about how election day and election night you have to be prepared that it may go past -- the counting will continue and that's okay, that is an important sign we have to count every vote. >> mark mckinnon, that number that 100 million americans have already cast o. cast their vote, and this final day that they can vote, but 100 million people already have. how do you process that? how does that impact how you're watching the rest of today and tonight? >> so i just want to say it does not all depend on turnout.

i'm going to be the first person that ever said that. because, in fact, what has happened is a lot of people have mailed in their ballots. the one thing as karen was saying is there is such a huge awareness in this election, there's been so much education about voting and voting early and how to do it right and make sure your vote gets in on time. i think donald trump by waving the rigged election flag turned out to be the greatest gotv mechanism for democrats ever. i think we had a lot of concern about places like pennsylvania but i think what's actually going to happen is a lot of people in places like pennsylvania because they got very educated about this either voted really early or will be voting today. i think we are going to have an earlier night than a lot of people imagine. >> that would be interesting. so, maggie, what's the feeling if we know inside the white house this morning? >> so, look, the president was driving very hard, alisyn, into the final days of this week. he held some -- it was more than a dozen rallies in the last just couple of days alone, he was doing an interview with fox and

friends this morning where he alternately sounded at peace and then aggrieved which i think is frankly what the sentiment is right now. people within the tightest bubble around the president have been telling themselves and him they believe he's going to win, in fact, more than they believe, they think it's a certainty. you get further out from that bubble and there is more acknowledgment that, you know, yes, there is a path, but it's slim, and it would take a lot of things falling into place for that to happen. there is this trailing sentiment around the president that they might have just run out of time because things were closing in their words according to the president. i don't know what the final result is going to look like, but alisyn and john, this has been a very stable race for most of this year, there's been extremely little movement other than the president taking big dips after his own actions for the most part. so we will see what that all translates to today, but at the white house, look, they are very, very hopeful, but there are plenty of people who are realistic that the president has a tough hill. >> maggie, can i ask you about

one specific piece of reports that you put out overnight, quote, in unguarded moments mr. trump has for weeks told advisers that he expects to face intensifying scrutiny from prosecutors if he loses. he is concerned not only about existing investigations in new york but the potential for new federal probes as well according to people who have spoken with him. what's that all about? >> what it's about is the fact he's been investigated for several years and the fact that the probe of michael cohen began in the southern district of new york, which is a federal office. the president knows that he is under a lot of execute knee from prosecutors as it is right now. manhattan district attorney and the new york state attorney general. he is fearful that what will happen is if he loses that there will be intense scrutiny not just on him but on his family and he has been very worried about that. he is very aware that the office of the presidency has protected him in a lot of ways from some of the prosecutorial skrut me he might have otherwise faced. would effaced it had he not become president in the first

place? i don't know the answer to that. but he is aware of what the reality is and there are some people around him that are trying to suggest that this is not true, that this is what he thinks. this is absolutely what he thinks. >> karen, we just watched former vp joe biden go to church this morning, we understand that he visited his son beau's grave stone. he had said that it was beau who had encouraged him to run for president when he, himself, with as on the fence. and, you know, we've heard from our pundits recently that it's not -- that this campaign has not just been about donald trump and a vote if you are so inclined against donald trump, but joe biden did do many things right to get to this point. i'm just wondering from where you sit what surprised you that he did or what do you think was impressive? >> you know, he started this campaign talking about the soul of america with an ad that a lot of people made fun of at the time and thought it wasn't hard hitting enough, it wasn't your typical political ad, but how right he was.

i mean, in that moment we could never have, you know, guessed that we would have been facing a global pandemic that would take so many americans' lives and impact so many and it would call into question the very nature of leadership's ability to do its job or the george floyd murder which was such a painful video for so many of us to watch. so i think the one thing -- and this is something that is a character of leadership and it is the ability to understand what is happening in the moment. in the reverse -- in the flip of that, donald trump understood better than our campaign did that in that moment people were afraid about their future for economic reasons and cultural reasons. they were afraid of change and trump understood it and he knew how to manipulate that fear of change. this time i think biden understands people are afraid of this glimpse of who we might be and i think this idea of the soul of our nation and the character of our country. i think a lot of what you're seeing in turnout is people

saying exactly what biden says, this is not who we are. it is not who we are. this is unamerican that today as we go vote that today when i drove over here downtown washington, d.c. is boarded up. largely because our own president is inciting violence. so i think that has really brought a lot of americans to question and to say i've got to do something. so i thought biden was incredibly brush went that way to start the campaign. >> mark, give us a guidebook to today. you've told us as an insider all you can really do on election day itself -- >> day drinking. >> day drinking and go to a movie is what you said, for the rest of us that might not be as much of an option. but i want to know what you're watching for today. what signs? is it long lines in certain places? is it the exit polls that we will get a first glimpse of at 5:00 which will tell us what drove people to the polls, it won't tell us results, people need to know that. what are you looking for? >> let me just first day in

reaction to karen's response and your last question that the parallels between this election and the 2000 race i did with george w. bush are remarkable in terms of the message. it was a conventional wisdom that presidential elections are usually about the economy which is what everybody said in 2000 and yet we had a message, bush did, about returns honor and decency to the white house. very fundamental about character and decency which is so much of what joe biden's message and i think on a fundamental level that's really what people are taking for, just a return to decency and honor and park in the white house. what am i looking for today? i'm in pinellas county right now which is the bellwether of florida. donald trump won this county by one point, he won the state by one point, so i've been here yesterday and this morning talking to people like charlie crist who represents this district and he says that the seniors really have covid concerns and that's a real problem for donald trump.

seniors obviously are a big part of florida. the trump campaign is hoping to make that up with cuban americans in miami, hopefully with african-americans and double down on non-college seniors, but i'm going to be watching florida tonight, watching pinellas county. listen, i think that there is a very good chance that -- i mean, the one way this election will be decisive, obviously, is if biden wins this because then it's fundamentally over. there is no real realistic path for donald trump if he doesn't win florida. so watch florida tonight, watch pinellas county. >> we will. it's going to be a very exciting day and night. may goy haberman, karen finney, mark mckinnon, thank you all very much. great to talk to you this morning. be sure to join us us for cnn's special coverage of election night in america it begins today at 4:00 p.m. eastern. so as we've been telling you harris county, texas, has closed all but one of its ten drive-thru voting locations today. we have the official who made that decision last night on with

us next. hey! it's me! your dry skin! i know i can be challenging... but i'm deeper than what you see. i'm craving something we're missing. the ceramides in cerave. cerave contains three essential ceramides, to restore the ones we've lost and help repair my natural barrier. so i can lock in moisture, and keep us protected. we're in this together, so we've got to have each other's backs... and fronts... cerave. now the #1 dermatologist recommended skincare brand. serena: it's my 4:10, no-excuses-on-game-day migraine medicine. it's ubrelvy. for anytime, anywhere migraine strikes without worrying if it's too late, or where i am. one dose of ubrelvy works fast. it can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks within two hours, relieving pain and debilitating symptoms. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. serena: migraine hits hard. hit back with ubrelvy.

the anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have one hundred thousand dollars or more of life insurance you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit conventrydirect.com to find out if you policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct,

redefining insurance. at visionworks, we know it's easy to forget to use your vision benefits before the year's up. this is us making sure you don't. use 'em before you lose 'em, backed by our 100-day guarantee!! visionworks. see the difference. inflammation in your eye might be to blame.ck, looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes over-the-counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. ha! these drops probably won't touch me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what is that? xiidra, noooo! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda approved treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision

when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. got any room in your eye? talk to an eye doctor about twice-daily xiidra. i prefer you didn't! xiidra. not today, dry eye. it's our sharpest ever, and while some other companies would charge more for something new, we don't. because why be like everyone else? harry's. not the same. biggest county in texas decided to close all but one of its ten drive-thru voting locations over concerns that those votes could be put at risk in the future. this comes after a federal judge rejected a republican effort to invalidate the 127,000 ballots

already cast in drive-thru locations during early voting. joining us now is the man who made the decision, chris hollins, he is the clerk of harris county which includes the city of houston. clerk hollins, thank you very much. i know it's a busy morning. can you just explain to us your thought process of closing nine of the drive-thru locations and leaving one open? >> good morning, alisyn. you know, my job is to protect is the right to vote for every single voter in harris county. that makes sure their votes are cast safely, conveniently but ultimately with the peace of mind that their votes would be counted. we did the responsible thing here, we closed the voting centers that the judge yesterday expressed issue with on election day and we are keeping one open, but we also have 800 locations across harris county and voters can cast their ballots at any single one of them. our job is to make sure that the hundreds of thousands of folks that come out today are able to cast their votes with that peace of mind. >> i mean, this basically happened late last night, i think about 11:00 p.m.

so what happens when voters didn't get the memo about this and show up at one of those other nine drive-thru locations this morning? >> yeah, well, we thought about that well in advance and all of our drive-thru locations are co-located with a walk-in location. so if you show up and that drive-thru is closed you can simply go across the parking lot and walk in. for our members in the community with disabilities, we have curbside voting available at all 800 locations. so we are going to take care of our citizens today. >> do you understand why republicans in harris county were fighting this, fighting drive-thru voting toot and nail? >> absolutely. they were scared that the people were voting, plain and simple. we know that tens of thousands of republicans and tens of thousands of democrats have used drive-thru voting but their calculus was that there were more democrats in that box and they were prepared to throw out all the votes because they thought it would benefit their candidates. that's unamerican, it's

undemocratic and the judge made clear that it was unacceptable. >> so it was obvious to you that they were trying to limit democrats voting. what their rationale as you can imagine is different, here is what they said, under respondent hollins' drive-thru voting scheme a car is turned into a polling location. it should be noted many times votes are cast by numerous people in one car eliminating the confidentiality surrounding one's votes. the garages, tents, canopies and other covering the car drives into are not the actual polling location, the polling place is the car. what do you say to that logic that they were using? >> yeah, well, that sounds as absurd to me as it sounds to you. and the judge thought the same thing. he literally laughed and told them that he was not buying that argument. he tossed it out. he dismissed it and he made clear that the votes were cast fair and square and that all 127,000 of them will be counted. >> so, mr. hollins, what are you seeing in your county?

just give us the scene from on the ground. how popular were those drive tloo throughs and what are you seeing in terms of what's going on behind you? >> they were extremely popular. almost one in ten in-person votes was cast in those drive-thru voting centers during the early voting period. we're hearing about a drive at our single drive-thru voting center today but we do have curbside voting to members of the disabilities community at all voting centers. we are at one of the busiest voting centers and are seeing a line but are trying to keep that line short. there are voting centers that are shorting lines today, hundreds. >> as you know the supreme court there decided that the people who have already voted at the drive tloo-thr drive-thrus, the 127,000 votes are legitimate, they will be protected, so why didn't you just stick with that?

why are you afraid in the future they won't be counted? >> it's not about fear, it's about being responsible. we want every single person who votes today to vote without any confusion, any doubt that their vote is going to be counted. so we are going to make sure that all of the million harris county voters who have yet to vote will be able to get to the polls today and know 100% without a doubt that their votes will be counted and we're going to count them tonight. >> you're going to count them tonight. and people who were hoping to use drive-thrus because they are afraid in this pandemic of going into a building what do you see to them this morning? >> they still have access to toyota center, which is downtown centrally located and, again, at all 800 off you are voting centers there is curbside voting available for those who have any sort of physical condition that makes it unsafe for them to go inside a voting center, for any sort of physical disability that makes it difficult for them to go inside a voting center. they still have unparalleled voter access in harris county.

>> chris hollins, harris county clerk, we really appreciate you giving us all of this information this morning. thank you. >> thank you. have a good one. >> you, too. john? just moments ago we saw joe biden boarding a plane in delaware. democratic nominee was at church this morning, he is headed to pennsylvania today, two stops, scranton and philadelphia, before heading back home to delaware to watch returns. cnn has learned president trump will host as many as 400 people at a white house election party tonight. cnn's john harwood live at the white house with the latest on that. john, what's that going to look like? >> reporter: john, it's going to look like some of these rallies. people close together, i wouldn't bet on a lot of masks in the audience, although it's possible you could see it, but really a fascinating contrast between the two men today. you mentioned joe biden starting in church, then going to his hometown of scranton, also going to philadelphia, very strong focus on pennsylvania, which is the state where he hopes to lock down a victory tonight. donald trump will visit campaign

workers in northern virginia this morning before that event tonight, but he closed with this flurry of ten rallies in two days, sunday and monday, that was revealing on a couple of levels. politically it shows all the territory in which he's got to play defense, states that he won in 2016 that he's got a hold as joe biden is making advances. on a personal level it's revealing as well. the president in those rallies as he travels around that provides him a sort of floating bubble, the unreality bubble that maggie was referring to a few minutes ago where he is affirmed by people whatever the polls show, they affirm his handling of the coronavirus, this he affirm his candidacy. he said at one of the rallies who could be a loser with a crowd like this. on the other hand he is aware of what the polls are showing and so he's trying to sort of construct in advance excuses for why it may not go well. he's lashing out at enemies from democrats to china to lebron james, tony fauci, even the guy

who supplied the microphone at one of the events in wisconsin and finally because a difficult outcome is so hard for him to accept in part because of that legal jeopardy maggie referred to as well he's raising the questions of legal challenges of the vote, even physical unrest. he talked about it being very dangerous to keep counting in philadelphia and we see behind me all around washington storefronts boarded up. the question is going to be whether or not he is close enough to joe biden that any of those intervention, legal or physical in the streets, make a difference. the polls raise doubt about that, but we're going to find out or begin to find out tonight, alisyn. >> thank you very much, john. we sure are -- appreciate all of your reporting. voting is under way right now in georgia which of course could prove to be a crucial swing state today and stacey abrams is going to join us from there next. find your rhythm.

your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c.

our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence... ...we can spend a bit now, knowing we're prepared for the future. surprise! we renovated the guest room, so you can live with us. i'm good at my condo. well planned, well invested, well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement. i feel like we're forglet me check.ing. xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored home security built around you. no, i think we're good. good. so when you're away, you don't have to worry.

the tent. we forgot... the tent. except about that. xfinity home. simple. easy. awesome. hey look, i found the tent! get xfinity home with no term contract required. click or call today.

you are looking at live pictures from anderson county, south carolina. this is outside greenville. long lines there as people show up to vote. the presidential race maybe not so much in question in that state, but there is a pretty close senate race there, lindsey graham the incumbent facing jaime harrison. we are seeing lines like that around the country. election day voting under way in georgia, which could prove to be an important swing state today. nearly 4 million people in georgia voted early and the biden campaign hopes to turn this state blue for the first time since 1992. joining me now is stacey abrams, she lost a close race for georgia governor in 2018 and leads fair fight, a group fighting voter suppression. thank you for being with us this morning, it is very nice to see you. when we put this number up on the screen nearly 4 million people in georgia have voted already. what does that number say to

you? >> well, 4 million people is 56% of the total eligible voting population in georgia and we expect at least a million more today if not higher. we know that this signals an intensity, an enthusiasm and an energy for speaking aloud and for making sure people's voices are heard. we're excited about the numbers and possibilities. >> the biden campaign wants to turn georgia blue for the first time in a very long time. why is that even possible? >> we have had dramatic demographic changes for the last 20 years, but we know that demography is a lagging indicator of electoral power. demography changes first and then the electoral power catches up. we saw in 2018 when we had record turnout and record composition of the electorate that being a battleground state was not only possible it was inevitable and we know heading into this election we have seen dramatic turnout among communities that typically are not at the top of mind for

candidates and we have seen them be engaged, be encouraged and we have seen them turn out. >> how much of a sales pitch did you have to do to the biden campaign and the former vice president himself to get him to georgia to campaign? >> well, we've been working on this since 2018. i've opinion having conversations since early 2019 with every single major candidate who was running for president. i had two messages, one, voter suppression is real and we have to plan -- we have to have a plan to fight back, and two, georgia is real, you have to plan to fight here. we were very privileged to know that by that joe biden won the nomination he had georgia on the list and georgia on his mind and we've been very enthusiastic about having vice president, his wife, senator harris, her husband and president barack obama come to georgia to solidify the fact that we are a battleground state. >> as you sit here this morning with just a few hours left for georgians, americans to cast their votes, what concerns you the most? >> one, i want people to not panic. we have heard rumors of

intimidation and challenges across the country, but the reality is this is a nation that believes in democracy and we need people to believe that their votes matter so do not panic, go and vote, and two, don't leave the lines. we know there will be long lines which is not a signal of enthusiasm, it's a signal of voter suppression, but it's important that if we want to improve that we stay in those lines, cast ballots and elect leaders who will work to improve and invest in our democracy. don't panic, don't leave. if you have any questions dial 866-our-vote. those are civil rights nonpartisan attorneys ready to help any voter who has a question. if you have questions about have russell westbrook to vote go to iwillvote.com and that will tell you where to vote and the rules in your state forecasting your ballot. >> when it comes to voter intimidation no one should ever experience that and i know it's something people do experience. panic in terms of what democrats will inevitably go through today

i'm not so sure whatever happens you will be able to keep them from panicking. i can already see t you see people lining up, you see a single republican get in line and the democrats will tell you it's all over, the republicans are coming out in force. what's your message for democrats how to get through today psychologically? >> we have to remember that more than 100 million americans have already cast their ballots. look, we are a democracy, our elections process isn't partisan, it is designed for every american to cast their ballot, democrat, republican, independent, but we know that if we show up there are more of us who are ready to be heard who did not show up in 2016. we've got to correct the record, show up this time, and not worry about what the other side is doing. our mission is to show up and wring our friends, bring our family, as i said yesterday bring people you are mad at, people you are afraid of, bring everyone you can because this is a numbers game. this is a map to victory, it's more of a show up and we can win this election, but we cannot panic.

anxiety ask natural and let's be clear, the other side has it, too. if they didn't donald trump wouldn't have been in georgia three times. we know that we can win this, but we have to show up, stay in line and not let our panic overwhelm us, but we also have to be calm and patient when it comes to the results. we may not know tonight, but when we get the answer i'd rather it be slow and right than fast and wrong. >> the president talking about pennsylvania specifically and the supreme court allowing ballots to arrive for three days after today. he said somehow it could lead to violence on the streets. some people lead this as a threat of violence. how do you see it? >> i think that it's more proof that we need a new president. his willingness to sow chaos, to encourage intimidation and to provide disinformation to american citizens is not only deeply wrong, it is highly problematic and that's why i encourage everyone today don't pay attention to the president. ignore him. make the choice for the future. ignore someone who is willing to traffic in lies and focus on the truth and the truth is you are

an american citizen, your vote counts. don't leave the lines once you are in it and don't panic about what's out there. don't let distractions and intimidation and chaos keep us from our mission and that is casting our votes and having our choices heard. >> stacey abrams, we appreciate you being with us this morning. thanks so much. don't panic. good luck, everyone, over the next few hours. >> and don't leave. >> making that happen. i appreciate your time. an urgent new warning overnight about coronavirus. what a top doctor advising president trump wants him to do next.

♪ ♪

♪ ithe first full prescriptionis pstrength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel... available over the counter. voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. voltaren. the joy of movement.

♪ ♪ who's sujoe biden.rop 15? biden says, "every kid deserves a quality education and every family deserves to live in a safe, healthy community. that's why i support prop. 15." vote yes. schools and communities first is responsible for the contents of this ad.

who'sgovernor gavin newsom. the governor says prop 15 is, "fair, phased-in, and long overdue reform", that "will exempt small businesses and residential property owners." join governor newsom. vote yes on 15. on this election day the coronavirus pandemic is raging across america. overnight more than 84,000 new cases were reported. that's the fourth highest single day since the pandemic began. 13 states are reporting record hospitalizations. in the last month the number of americans hospitalized has soared more than 50%. joining us now is cnn's chief

medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. these two things meet today in terms of the pandemic and people wanting to exercise their vote. so for people who are rightfully worried, they maybe haven't been out in big crowds for months, they have been trying to do all the right things, how can they vote safely today? >> well, first of all, i think it is possible and i actually did this myself a couple of weeks ago and checked out these voting centers, obviously they're going to be different in different parts of the country, but they actually had a lot of these safeguards in place. there's a few things just to sort of keep in the back of your mind and we created this go bag, if you will, of things that you think about before you're going to vote today, but one thing just in terms of your mindset, sort of think of it like you might think of a grocery store trip. you want to be mindful, you want to slow down, be thoughtful about things that you're touching but also plan ahead.

bring your personal id, maybe even do a sample ballot ahead of time, voter registration, obviously. masks, hand sanitizer, those are musts. that is the age in which we live. think about any surfaces that you might touch, pen, take your own pen with you, for example, and you might have to wait a little while to the extent that you can if you're going to be outside, make sure you bring enough warm clothes for that sort of thing. it's going to be a different sort of experience, for sure, but when you talk to public health officials in different places around the country i think it is quite possible to do this safely, as long as you keep some of those bhas i can measures in mind. >> it's interesting, sanjay, because the cdc says even if you have tested positive there is a way for you to go vote. they basically say wear a mask, stay socially distanced, but when you arrive make sure you tell the poll workers there that you're sick. what do you think of this, especially given that so many volunteers at polling locations

are elderly? >> yeah, i was a little concerned by that. i caught that as well, john. i mean, i think that the basic rule of thumb, i think, for most people who have active covid is that you should be in isolation. i think certainly if you have symptoms you should be in isolation. in this sort of situation if you can -- if you can go and you can truly maintain your distance, i mean, the virus can't jump that far, it's -- and if you are wearing a mask it's fairly easily contained by a mask, but you can't make any mistakes. you don't want to inadvertently potentially expose somebody. you have to let people know at that time and there are protocols in place, my understanding at many of these centers where you can actually then be in a position where you don't have to come in contact with people. sort of go to the polling place, to the voting place yourself and not come in contact, which is the key. but it's challenging. certainly if you know you have covid, if you are symptomatic for sure, then i think the bar is going to be much higher for

you to leave the house. >> that's a tough one, but obviously you must disclose it as you're saying to the poll workers. >> yeah. >> so, sanjay, we want to get your take on what is happening with dr. deborah birx. she was such a visible part of the white house coronavirus task force, she's been side lined since then it appears and it seems as though she's had enough. she is speaking out in a more low val way than at least to my ears i have heard her say before and breaking with the white house in a more public and vocal way. she's going around as you well know packing her own suitcase, going around to states and trying to get their attention and tell them what to do. there's this internal memo that was released that she wrote, the "washington post" is reporting on it, they say that she says we are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of the pandemic leading to increasing mortality. this is not about lockdowns, it has not been about lockdowns since march or april. it's about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.

her point is that, you know, the president and scott atlas keep talking about lockdowns, that's the boogie man, you don't want to lock down. there's so many things that we can do, she's saying, that don't involve lockdowns but we're not doing those, either. >> yeah, i think you're absolutely right. she's had it in the sense that she's actually saying this stuff, although i think she has felt it for a long time. i mean, i met her right after she got appointed, we were at the white house, we met, she had just flown in from kenya at that point and she was excited to start this. this is several months ago. she's been gradually and increasingly marginalized and was no longer being invited into the oval office, refused to be in meetings with the task force that involved scott atlas at one point and as you say went off on the road on her own. i'm not at all surprised by what she's saying because it reflects what most public health experts in the country have been saying for months. i guess the surprise is that she's saying it and saying it as forcefully as she is. the numbers back her up in terms

of where we're headed overall in this country and also this idea that we don't need to have lockdowns in order to stall this. there are basic public health measures that will work and she's shown that. >> sanjay, thank you very much. i am sure we will be talking to you soon because one thing is clear no matter what happens in the election today this pandemic very much here tomorrow and getting very much worse. >> that's right. >> thank you. live pictures of voters -- there we go, there they are. there are the live pictures of the voters in cleveland, ohio. tilt your head. much more of cnn's election day in america next. >> they have to be spaced out, you know. >> it's not the voters, it's the shot that's jilted. when we started carvana, they told us

that selling cars 100% online wouldn't work. but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. and putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com. live pictures from anderson, county, south carolina. voters in lines waiting. a few things i want to say on this day of days.

first of all, thank you. if you're voting today, thank you. if you voted already, thank you. if you're working at a polling location, driving someone to cast a ballot, if you set up a way to make it easier to mail in a ballot, thank you, thank you, thank you. you are taking part in the great democratic experiment. you have chosen to play a leading role on the greatest stage on earth. today you are america and america is you. in fact, this day is about you. your vote. don't let anyone take it for granted. don't let anyone demean or diminish it. your vote is a precious thing whether you cast it three weeks ago or tonight. it matters just as much. it is just as valid. whether you come from a red state, blue state, safe state or swing state, you are just as american as the next guy and your vote is just as patriotic. now, tonight that patriotism might require something a bit extra, something that doesn't

come easy to all of us, patience. patience is hard, especially now. this has been a tough year. but tonight patience is more than just virtuous, it is in itself patriotic. why? because it means you're willing to wait a little for your vote to matter, your neighbor's vote, everyone's vote. counting the votes will take some time, but counting isn't some inconvenient sideshow, it's the whole show. it's the whole point. you cast your vote in order for them to count your vote. we may all need to wait a little bit for it to happen. do you know what they call that? democracy. for you history buffs out there you know where and when votes have been counted after election night? the answer is everywhere and always. do you know what they call it? democracy. do you know what they call it when someone tries to keep your vote from being counted? undemocratic and maybe even illegal. so tonight if and when you hear complaining that it's taking a while, if someone suggests somehow they should stop

counting, if someone suggests the vote sent legally by mail doesn't deserve to be counted the same way as a vote cast in person, if someone suggests this is somehow chaos, do you know what you say? no. no. counting is not chaos. counting is the point. it's why you cast your vote three weeks ago, three days ago or tonight. thank you for that vote. thank you for your patience. thank you. >> and, john, thank you for those reminders and those comforting words. and regardless of what happens today and tonight, john and i will see you all tomorrow morning. it will be a special time, 8:00 a.m. eastern and i just look forward to it. this is an exciting time in america. >> our coverage of election day in america continues with anderson next.

serena: it's my 9:12, no-days-off migraine medicine. it's ubrelvy. for anytime, anywhere migraine strikes without worrying if it's too late, or where i am. one dose can quickly stop migraine in its tracks within two hours. unlike older medicines, ubrelvy is a pill that directly blocks cgrp protein, believed to be a cause of migraine. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. serena: ask about ubrelvy.

the anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. yoat nature's way, that startsn with quality ingredients. like our sambucus - made from elderberries grown and picked at their prime. choose the way to quality immune support, choose nature's way sambucus.

hey while the guys aren'tcatch listening. we need your help. your platforms are toxic to women who lead. we are targeted with ugly and violent language, with threats of sexual assault, coordinated bots attack women for political gain. we have asked facebook to do better, our freedom, our democracy is at risk. we are fighting back, and we're asking you to join us. we've got your back, do you have ours? you know, lean in.

♪ ♪ and good morning. welcome, i'm anderson cooper, i want to welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. this is cnn's special live coverage of election day in america. voters getting the last word today on who they want to lead this country during multiple crises and the race is historic. there you see vice president -- former vice president biden arriving near scranton, pennsylvania. let's listen. >> -- never been to scranton so we're going home. >> he visited a church, his church in