now, in a swipe, potentially a swipe directed at president trump, last week president xi said the following words -- in the contemporary world no amount of unilateral im, protectionism or extreme egotism could work. russia hedging but so is israel and prefer trump. >> we're all watching. unilateral. thank you, christiane. i welcome back our viewers here in the united states and indeed around the world. we are happy to have you here with us today. i'm erin burnett and it is our special coverage of "election day in america." a day filled with lines, lots of voters, in a country on edge. tens of millions of americans

are heading to the polls, and good afternoon to you, chris cuomo. >> doing a great job. good to share history with you, my friend. that's what it is. never seen anything like this before. there is already cause for celebration in america. such a hard time. people have come out in a way we've never seen before. that was before election day. how much bigger and better will it get for this country? we'll see. we're watching both campaigns. the president just thanking staffers at the rnc offices in virginia. across virginia and the nation, we have seen americans casting their ballots in this year's race for the white house. a race upended by a deadly pandemic. we are literally living in crisis, and that is in part why more than 100 million decided to act and act early. early voting casted in a way that we've never seen. the number is stunning. especially in the midst of such

difficulty and hardship and misgivings about government and whether anybody has their interests in their heart and head. both sides now incredibly nervous, because we are counting down until the first polls close just four hours from now. we will learn our collective fate, erin. >> it is incredible. chris, four hours. four hours, everyone, and president trump will be watching the returns at the white house tonight. as for joe biden, he has been in philadelphia. he's going to return to wilmington, delaware where he will watch returns tonight. chris and i are going to be with you the next two hours. trust us. we're here. trust us, here with all of you eagerly awaiting results like everyone else is. polling stations across the country, checking in. reporters are everywhere. from florida to nevada where we begin. erica hill is live in las vegas. a lot of eyes on nevada. what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: we are seeing

lines. everyone i talk to in lines says they're fine with waiting a little bit. where i'm standing now, one of 125 different polk locations in clark county and from here it's about an hour to get into the polling station. speaking to folks in there when doors open at 7:00, already had about 150 people in this line. walk a little bit, you can see it goes all the way around the corner here. again, everyone i talked to in line, no problem with waiting. keep in mind, in nevada, there were two weeks of early voting that ended on friday. in addition to the fact that for the first time ever this year because of the pandemic every active voter in the state was sent a mail-in ballot. thus far, turnout, counted mail-in, mailed, dropped off also early in-person voting, the numbers surpassed what we saw for all of 2016. just over half of the ballots cast so far are those mail-in ballots. 52%, about. seeing that more democrats returned those mail-in ballots,

but when it comes to early in-person voting we're seeing across the state more republicans turning out for that. you mentioned here in clark count county, home of state. not just because of population and number of voters, obviously the county that will lean heavily democratic and why it's getting a lot of attention along with a county in the north part of the state, home to reno. early reports, erin, technical glitches with our affiliates. none here. told by tech managers a software update overnight caused hiccups in the morning. everything was fine when doors opened. other issues have been resolved as well. >> thank you. checking back in. minnesota first. a little update. you want to know when we are all going to know. north carolina has had delays in a few polling stations this morning. delayed voting by more than 15

minutes allowing them to go ahead and say they are going to actually delay election results by about 45 minutes. at least 45 minutes. they would start reporting results in north carolina around 7:30 p.m. eastern. they're now saying that's delayed at least 45 minutes until at least 8:15 eastern. significant because it's a swing state. both candidates have been campaigning extremely heavily there and count their early ballots early. we were going to get perhaps a very early sense what happened in north carolina. now that's delayed by at least 45 minutes. and we're going to be going to the ground there in north carolina in a couple moments. as i give you that headline, though, i go to minnesota, a state hillary clinton barely won in 2016. our adrienne broadus is live in minneapolis there. what are you seeing now in terms of turnout and turnout for whom? >> reporter: hey there, erin. i can tell you mother nature is serving a sweet treat when it comes to voting here in the twin

cities. many of the voters walking through the doors behind me, some we saw wearing shorts. like you mentioned. hillary clinton did win the state of minnesota back in 2016, but donald trump won more than half of this state's counties. by a relatively large margin at that. nevertheless, historically minnesota is blue. up for grabs, ten electoral votes. when people walk through these doors and at other polling sites around the state, george floyd is on their mind. remnants of what happened to george floyd here. we can't underscore enough, minnesota is where george floyd died at the hands of police. on this marquee just over my shoulder there's a sign that says "justice for george floyd" black lives are beloved. over here a black lives matter sign at this polling place outside of a church. when i talked to voters today many told me george floyd influenced them and led them to the polls.

for example, 22-year-old louis mccaleb, first time voting this year. he turns 23 next year. he was among the thousands who were protesting after the death of floyd and now is taking his passion and anger from the streets to the ballot box. >> i don't feel safe as a black man living in america. i don't. but i understand the lay of the land and i understand that a lot of these things are systematically organized. so we must systematically make changes. so that is why i'm going in to here, exercising my right to vote. >> reporter: and he create add rap song called "why vote?" meanwhile, you might have noticed he was wearing a hoodie that says, "we will breathe." he says that's his way of protest and changing the narrative after so many black and brown people have died at the hands of police saying, i

can't breathe. erin? >> thank you. monitoring polling stations. so many states matter this time, extremely exciting for everyone watching this. one of them, though, matters every single time, floridano less crucial tonight. randi kaye is live at lighthouse point. randi, two counties in florida reporting technology challenges this morning. given what we injured heart from north carolina, they're actually going to delay reporting results because of keeping polls open another 45 minutes, because they had challenges. how significant were the challenges in florida? what could their impact be? >> reporter: as of now, erin, there will be no delay in reporting of results. i mean, florida is used to the mail-in ballot process. they're used to the absentee process and are very used to the early voting process in general. so we're not getting any reports from the secretary of state's office in terms of delays in processing the ballots.

let me share with you just how many ballots there are to process even so far. state-wide, 9.1 million people have early voted, and that means that, that's about 95% of the 2016 total vote which is remarkable. here in broward county, where we are, just near fort lauderdale about 70,000 people that have already voted. and there's 850,000 people that have voted early. so 77,000 in addition voted in-person today on election day. 850,000 that voted early is more than the 2016 total. a lot of passion. in terms of issues having here, i talked to a bunch of voter here. there was a line earlier. i talked to one guy who said he went in to vote and they didn't have his name and said he'd voted here five years. he left. called the broward voter registration hot line and able to vote in the end.

someone by the same name was listed to vote in tampa and why they told him they couldn't find him here. got it resolved. good news. a red pocket in a very blue county. donald trump won lighthouse point in this area 65% of the votes but hillary clinton won the county with about 66% of the vote. an interesting pocket, part of the reason we came here to talk to voters. >> thank you very much, randi kaye. kamala harris is on the screen speaking in michigan. listen in for a moment. >> please, please do everything you can and talk to everybody you know and let's start giving back. [ cheers and applause ] and let's elect joe biden the next president! [ cheers ] i'm at the point we're i'm like,

i'm done talking about the guy currently in the white house. you know? we don't need to do that. let's talk about the opportunity that is in front of us right now. which is to elect joe biden. right? we're in the middle of coronavirus crisis. in the middle of a public health pandemic and it's killed over 225,000 people in our country. people sadly, so many had to die, live their last days on earth by themselves because the nature of this pandemic. no family members to hold their hand. i've been through that process with someone and if any of you have, to not be able to be with your loved one, in those final days, to look at the fact that we're in a pandemic that has infected 9 million people, and thank god -- god only no what

kind of lifelong health crises for those who survived and we have the option to elect a president in joe biden who understands sadly more than most what it means to go through being in a hospital with somebody, losing someone you love, understanding the dignity of life, the dignity of love and the importance of caring for all human beings! [ applause ] we have at our hands and in ow power the choice of electing a president who in the midst of a mad casualty event of a proportion similar to world war ii, who will lead with a sense of compassion and care in joe biden. somebody who says, look, yes, president obama and i pushed through the affordable care act

that brought health care to over 20 million people. let's build on that. not take it away. [ cheers and applause ] joe biden says we need to continue protecting people with pre-existing conditions. clab clap or honk if you know somebody with diabetes. [ cheerschr[ cheers ] so joe understands that, and he says we got to extend it. we have to bring down the cost of drug prices, bring down the cost of premiums. we should bring eligibility for medicare down to age 60. joe said, i understand that when we're talking about health care, the body doesn't start from the neck down. it includes the neck up. [ cheers and applause ] the choice we have right now is

in our hands. the power is with us, the people. think about this economic crisis. it has hit michigan so hard. gary and debbie, they talk about it all the time. we're looking at, in america, over 30 million people applied for unemployment in the last several months. we're looking a the folks standing in food lines, one in five mothers describing their children under the age of 12 as being hungry. so many people i think the number's like one in six who are describing not able to pay rent last month and concerned they can't pay it next month. and joe understands this. right? joe understands that you don't deal with america's economy by doing what these other guys did, which is passing a tax way bene for the top corporations in

america and the wealthy. joe asks how is the economy doing? he said, well, tell me how our working people are doing? [ applause ] how are working families doing? that's why joe says we're not passing any taxes on any making less than $400,000 a year. joe says, we're going to bring down middle class taxes. joe says we're going to -- >> [ inaudible ]. >> thank you. all right. mr. vice president, how are you feeling about the pennsylvania race so far? >> deciding not to take questions there. you just heard kamala harris in michigan and vice president biden in philadelphia. president trump addressed his campaign at his headquarters in virginia.

vice president maines been doing radio interviews today as his final day. kamala harris there wrapping up her remarks in south field, michigan. i mentioned breaking news coming out of north carolina. if you just joined me, glitches and now delaying close of polls when we'll get the data, in about 45 minutes. live in charlotte. suzanne malveaux, north carolina a crucial state and a state we may know a lot earlier than most other places but not as early as we thought. tell me what you know. >> reporter: that's right. voters are going to have to be a little more patient about this. a 45-minute delay or so. north carolina state board of elections actually held an emergency meeting this afternoon and voted 3-2 strictly along partisan lines. democrats for, republicans against, extension for four locations, three different counties. circumstances are different for each one of them. guilford county extended for 34

minutes. cabare, 20 minutes. and one for 24 minutes and another delay for 45 minutes. the 45-minute delay happened at a local church. the printer wasn't working. trying to figure out the printer. couldn't it to work and finally got it settled. each precinct, those four locations, they have to give those voters equal time to participate in the voting process. you'll see that staggered time, extended time, for those four precincts, those four locations. so instead of the 7:30 target, to get those numbers out, it's going to be at the very earliest 8:15 and important to remember what those numbers are. it is the 4.6 million early voters that voted before today, that 62% of north carolina registered voters, that participated before election day. they have been tallied. they've been counted. that is going to just kind of spin out, if you will, around

8:15 at the very earliest to get a good sense, a pretty good sense where north carolina might be leaning, but, again, the unofficial numbers, and then after they put those numbers out, that's when they're going to be dealing with county and tallying up those moo prwho participated in the election today. >> it's not the order elsewhere. different in every state. suzanne, thank you very much. i'll note, this is one of the things that make this so great. right? 17 minutes here. 24 minutes there, because they want equal time and will provide that down to the minute. that is what makes this system so great. all right. go to our senior political analyst mark preston live at the magic wall. mark, you talk about suzanne in north carolina counting mail-ins first come out and then will go to the votes tabulated today. but this mail-in vote has completely transformed this election. it is going to impact how we'll get the results tonight. what, which ballots we'll hear first. so walk us through it. how does it work tonight?

>> well, there's a lot of talk about blue mirages, red mirages, start with the blue mirage. it really has to do when the counting of these mail-in ballots or these early in-person ballots were, when that occurs. let's take a first look here. here. t the blue mirage. texas. right here. and as you said, there we go. north carolina right there. north carolina was supposed to has been recorded. they will now close at 8:15. the issue with these three states. they've had overwhelming interest in early voting, and they are able to count and process their votes before election day. so that means we could see a very big dump of probably voters who supported joe biden, reported first. physically in states like texas, florida and in north carolina, because the state legislature

gives those states the ability to do so. but -- when you head up here, when you talk about the red mirage conversely, when you look here in pennsylvania, and you look here, in michigan, and you look here in wisconsin. same could be true as well. the reason being is that these do not, these states will not vote or rather tally their in-person votes or their early votes until today. now, michigan was able to do a little bit of it yesterday, but the bulk of it, most of it, will be done today in all three of these states. means voting today is likely, the votes cast today, tend to be more republican is more likely to be reported first, which could show a donald trump lead. that's what we're talking about the red mirage. however, when these mail-in and in-person votes are added in later, that's when we could see things switch. so that is the red mirage and the blue mirage. really what we're trying to say to you is, don't worry about not

getting an answer tonight. let elections officials do what they're supposed to do. count the votes. >> right. count the votes. everyone should understand it's a counting. whether counting what goes in first or comes out first make as different. so okay. the other aspect of this is when the campaigns put their time and money. in the final hours we know, mark, spending a lot of time in pennsylvania. in terms of ad spending, where did they actually put their money? they thought the money on the screen could impact turnout in this final day? >> show you that there. i look the top 14 media markets in the final week of the election here. you see that basically it comes down to this money has been dumped into nine different states. 14 different media markets, nine different states. florida alone, 15.6 million between three media markets.

philadelphia, saw more than $12 million spent and this is interesting as well. mush mish $7.3 million. even look at las vegas. they put $2.1 million over in las vegas. we've seen $3.4 million in the final week for this presidential election spent in georgia. amazing. georgia has been a republican state for so long. yet democrats are trying to wrestle that back. follow the money that will show you where the candidates think they can win. >> all right. thank you very much, mark preston. and next, time to wait for president trump and vice president biden, waiting, waiting. the president saying just an hour ago winning is easy but losing, he said, is never easy for him. what did he mean by that? and arizona could be a nail biter. long voting lines formed early in the state's traditional republican strongholds as you see here. this is a republican stronghold and a long line earlier. what does it mean?

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welcome back to cnn special coverage of "election day in america." we are here with you and for you

for the duration. i'll tell you what, man. a two-part day. part celebrate, part wait. celebration comes first no matter who you're for. holy cow. this country's made its voice known already. already set records in terms of what it means to have a stake in your future. over 100 million votes. what will the ultimate tally be? what will it mean? get through the noise together, keep our poise and get answers as they come. check in with both campaigns for their feeling of the state of play. jeff zeleny covering the biden campaign. good to see you, brother. thank you for sharing history with me once again. we just saw the vp in philadelphia. pennsylvania has been his focus. what's do we know about his schedule and what's reflected about the priority? >> reporter: of course, joe biden is in philadelphia right now in the west oak

neighborhood. just walked into a restaurant a short time ago. vice presidented by lan bied b. the votes in pennsylvania are central to all of this going forward. the former vice president has worked throughout the day visited his childhood home in scranton, pennsylvania. a part of his narrative and biography of course. today a part of his electoral future. he knows he needs those votes in pennsylvania. striking the degree to which this campaign, this democratic ticket, is working today. senator kamala harris we saw a short time ago is in south field, michigan. oakland county, michigan, just above detroit. a central place they're trying to turn out democratic voters. for all the talk, more than 1 million people cast votes aird. that's true. tense of millions of americans more will do so today and that is what the biden-harris campaign is focussing on. trying to get all the votes out.

we'll see them throughout the day. the former vice president focusing on groups in north carolina, in florida and in wisconsin. that gives you a sense where they are keeping their focus on. then coming back here to will ming tong mi mington and will be with his family. he's going to address the people regardless of the outcome. so much history in this for him. third time running for president. never gotten this close before. >> for sure. any goouidance when here addres or is it soft? >> reporter: that is unclear. of course, they're going to watch to see how the results come in and talking to campaign advisers, they believe they'll get a sense how the election is shaping up. no one believes there will be a winner tonight. almost impossible that will happen because of the crush of early votes. they believe they'll have a sense of that. could be early morning hours. we'll have to see.

p his headquarters here in wilmingt wilmington, spent so many years in the senate. for now at least keeping that focus on pennsylvania. because that could be for all the marbles, chris. >> jeff zeleny, appreciate it. keep the energy up. see you throughout the day and night. it's not a throwaway question when they're planning to address. if gives an insight what they think will happen. earlier in the night they go the more confidence they must have. you don't want to put joe biden out there with a non-message. interesting. address the country in the early morning hours? something odd about that in terms if you reach. strategy when they think biden should be out there is a nice window into their perspective on the state of play. we'll keep tracking that. we heard from the current president last hour to break it all down what's going on in that campaign inside their moves in these last hours, cnn's white house correspondent kaitlan collins. good to see you and again spending history together is something that makes all

difficulties of this business worthwhile. good to share it with you, kaitlan. what are we hearing from the campaign about the state of play? >> reporter: they're waiting just like jeff said. the biden campaign is waiting to see what happens. we saw the president, one trip made outside of the white house today. it was to the campaign headquarters in arlington earlier today. before he addressed staff on camera like you saw and took questions from reporters, chris, he huddled with top aides in a conference room about 20 minutes going over numbers. seeing what they're seeing in states like florida and pennsylvania. watching these states closely. the president says he wasn't thinking an acceptance speech or a speech if things don't go his way. he's waiting to see what will lap. this is a president deeply superstitious. four years ago he did not have an acceptance speech written on election day in 2016 da 116 didt to jinx it. started to write one when it

looks like he might pull off the election. he didn't look. doing the same. he ended his night last nice in grand rapids, michigan. the particular ed is trying to replicate. the question, can they replicate the outcome? things look a lot more difficult than when going up against hillary clinton. we should talk how the president is viewing things and whether or not there will be legal challenges to come. you heard him say earlier, he believed they are entitled to know who the president is by tonight. of course, state officials have said that's very unlikely. >> absolutely. entitled is the wrong word. the way the system works and laws work, any sense of entitlement is vacated by the reality. we know voting takes time and see what's happening in north carolina now and must remind people at home that this president, won arizona and michigan, and did not get them on election day or night or the early morning hours thereafter.

if he really wanted that to be the rule he would have had to surrender those two states by his own reckoning. we know what's going on here, kaitlan. thank you for bringing us to us and a missed opportunity for this president. a good chance when he left the white house or letting you see where his head is by his actions he would have been meeting about the pandemic. meeting with advisers being the president. in realtime on election day, showing you, showing everyone, what this job is about. instead, just like the rest of us. waiting around to see if he is the winner. talk now with harry enten, cnn politics senior writer, analyst known on primetime at the wizard of odds. let me ask you something, brother. early now. polls don't close for hours. campaigns are basically quiet. working us for information. where does an analyst like you go in hours like this in terms of what you watch? >> i go to sleep.

no. look, chris, on my couch. exactly. i'm just -- impressed continuously by the turnout. right? that's really what we can take away from this. we know there was a record early turnout. everything we're hearing, granted some anecdotal, some is realtime, that the turnout's going to be high. you and i discussed this. traditionally, historically in this country we haven't had the turnout we necessarily wanted. right? people weren't taking part in the processare. for whatever reason this y s it it's a good thing to see win or lose for either side, that people are going to have their say. >> and, look, your favorite words, "i was wrong." when i heard about early voting my supposition was, seriously? in the middle of a pandemic? you think people will go out? early? before they have to? in a campaign where people are almost exclusively focused on what they're against than what

they're for and everybody is disheartened about government, you think tear goihey're going ? i thought an afterthought and 100 million-plus. what can you tell us about the why? is this more about i want change for trump or i see trump as change and want to keep him? >> not sure necessarily which side it is. but i think you hit the nail on the head. it's trump. that drove the midterm results and driving this year. you either love him or hate him. not a lot of in between with this president and you see it in the numbers when it comes to biden supporters say is motivating them. coming on opposition to trump than necessarily for biden although the for biden numbers are going up. while republican voters, trump voters, saying comes out for trump than guess against biden. look at election polls you think biden will win. we have to wait and see. >> i was going to say that north carolina would have been the

first really interesting state to see. they just extended their deadlines there. just by minutes. but i wonder if they'll come out before florida? florida has part of that state in the central time zone. those two states, we'll be watching to get a feel for state of play. together with people throughout the night whenever needed. harry enten as always, thank you. checked in with the states. checked in with the campaigns, a sense where analysts are. where is the action in states and why? iowa, texas, next. plus, what i was just talking about in north carolina. a glitch. what happened? what does it mean? what is the remedy? what's the controversy? live update, right after this. ♪ ♪ rakuten!

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all right. key battleground state of iowa already moor than half the total amount of ballots cast in the state in 2016 cast in this election. there are now, though, reports of robocalls in parts of the state trying to get people not to go to the polls. the iowa secretary of state spokesman confirms to cnn that the office shared information with the fbi regarding a recorded phone call that urged iowans to "stay home and stay safe." martin savage is out front. what can you tell us about who was trying to put something like this out? which, of course, is disinformation and could disenfranchise voters?

>> reporter: right. we don't know. there's a lot of finger-pointing going on on the part of democrats and republicans. some republicans in iowa claiming that this was orchestrated by democrats and democrats in the state immediately came out said, no. had nothing to do with this. some reports of these calls were coming from the cedar rapids area, but not just iowa. a number of other states reporting these robocalls as well. neighbors nebraska had reports of similar calls. in michigan, there, too, warning people to ignore those calls. some southern states as well. it's clear this is targeted amongst a number of different states here. the fbi is reportedly investigating. we haven't heard he they think is behind it. those who received the calls told cnn they felt it as a kind of voter intimidation especially on election day. >> when every vote counts. martin, where you are in des moines what have you seen in terms of turnouts and lines and who is turning out?

>> reporter: first of all polled opened at 7:00 a.m. could be a long day. close at 9:00 p.m., central time. of course, 10:00 eastern time. it's been extremely busy at this particular polling place. many polling places throughout the state reported long lines when the polls opened. lines quickly dissipated. here there isn't a line, kind of in an afternoon lull but steady and just voter after voter. hundreds sometimes, every hour. so the numbers have been stacking up. the concerns with the record of early voting, a lot of states did, it might diminish the number of voters turns out on election day. here, no seign of that. >> thank you, martin savage. the president visited with his campaign staff back at the white house. and joe biden went to a restaurant, just come out that. we'll show you. what just happened moments ago as the former vice president is trying to add in a couple more stops here in the final hours

before the polls formally close. [ cheers ] what you saw. addressing supporters there outside a restaurant in philadelphia. all right. going to texas now. reliably a red state. democrats are pushing hard to try to make joe biden the first presidential candidate to win texas since 1976. brian todd is in houston. largest city in that state and, brian, you say you've been seeing a lot of energy and passion. in fact, even heated exchanges between voters waiting in line today? >> reporter: that's right, erin. this place is pulsating with energy. these people are not content to just come out and vote. they want to engage in the art of duelling rhetoric and duelling campaign speeches and duelling shouting matches. some supporters on the other side of the street and democrats and other supporters here shouting each other down all day. look over here. a lot of people over here with

signs, music, chanting, everything. duelling each other aday long. talk to one gentleman at the heart of it. john smith. people heave chanting "four more years." john has been shouting them down saying, "no more years." what's driven you to come out here? >> enough is enough. i'm tired. i'm old, i'm 63 and not concerned about me but i got grandkids and i'm worried about their future. you know? we can't have no more of that. the man think -- i think he want to be king. i really do. i think if he get in there and win again that he might change the amendments and wearas unlimited terms on the president. >> a lot of these people, again, a lot of shouting back and forth and a lot of, like. insulting each other and all that. some taunting. police come and tried to get people to tamp it down. but you a few minutes ago went across and hugged some of the trump supporters. you wanted to kind of say, hey.

despite all of this we're all in this together. what was it's message you wanted to get to them? >> let it know there's only run ways. it's the human race. we all in this together. you don't got to be belittling us, bring us down and everything else. i can show you love. i get this all over with we going to have to have love anyway. letting them know it's all about the love. >> reporter: john, thanks for talking to us. toss it back to you. >> thank you, brian. all right. sorry to interrupt you. want to listen to joe biden here speaking in pennsylvania. [ cheers and applause ] >> by the time i started this as senator, philadelphia with me. great to me my whole career! [ cheers and applause ] and so go philly, so goes the state of pennsylvania! [ cheers and applause ]

>> tell you what -- turnout's been incredible. the job you're doing is incredible. i really mean it. i really mean it. i can't thank you enough. i want to introduce you to two ladies with me. come here. i want to introduce you to -- this is my son beau biden who a lot of you helped elect to the senate in delaware. this is -- my granddaughter natalie -- wait. got the wrong one. this is natalie. this is beau's daughter, and we're out campaigning together, and hunter's number two who goes to school here in philly. this is my granddaughter finnegan biden. thank you. got another grad here. anyways -- so, folks, i can't thank you enough. look -- look, the country is ready. the country is ready! [ cheers and applause ]

we're going to have more people vote this year than anytime in american history! [ cheers ] they expect over 150 million people to vote. guess what? between the ages of 18 and 30 are turning out in big numbers. that's going to be a big deal. and by the way, you guys that understand, 54% of the vote so far is women. i tell you what. [ cheers ] the president's got a lot of things backwards. one of which is, he thinks that he can decide who gets to vote. well, guess what? the people who are going to decide who gets to be president! look, folks, i'm not going to keep you standing there long, but i want to say one thing. we have an enormous opportunity as a country.

we have an enormous opportunity. i want everybody to understand. the public nationwide figured it out. not only are we going to be able to overcome this virus by taking some smart moves, but, for real, we're going to do it. but secondly, we're going to rebuild the middle class. [ cheers ] and by the way, built this country and unions built the middle class! [ cheers and applause ] and, thirdly, i promise you this. i'm running as a proud democrat. if you elect me, i'm going to be an american president. there's going to be no red states or blue states. just the united states of america! [ cheers and applause ] i really mean it. we're going to pull together. we are in a better position than any country in the whole world in the 21st century.

more great universities in america and that all the rest of the world combined. just have to remember who we are, dammit. this is the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ] folks, everyone knows who donald trump is, you got to know who we are. we choose hope over fear! we choose truth over lies! [ cheers ] we choose science over fiction! we can take this. i promise you. i promise you. i'm going to take responsibility. when i make a mistake, i will admit it. tell you what,ill never break md you, and by the way, back to your service, pal. back to your service. okay.

last thing i'll say. the president said a lot of really not sew goo good things, the one that bothers me the most as i'm seeing an air force guy here is when he said that vets are suckers and losers. let me tell you something. no president has ever said anything like that before. now we're not joking. and by the way, my son beau biden was attorney general who gave up that seat to go fight in iraq. he won the bronze star, he was no loser! [ cheers and applause ] all of you who served, all who served, this guy doesn't understand. he doesn't understand sacrifice. he doesn't understand, talks about being a tough guy, and what a macho man he is. when's the last time you ever heard when a president shows up, shows up at the united nations and the whole u.n. laughs as him? that's never happened before.

or when he shows up at a nato meeting and they make fun of him. ladies and gentlemen, that's the reason why. six generals, resigned, left, said he wasn't fit to be commander in chief. folks, i'm so happy to have you all, i tell you what. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. >> joe, joe, joe, joe, joe, joe! >> already 102 million have voted in the united states. they're expecting 150 million, the largest turnout ever. by the way, folks, if you

haven't gotten everybody out, get them out. it ain't over 'til it's over, and when it's over, we're going to win pennsylvania because of you. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. former vice president biden there talking to supporters, rallying supporters in these final hours, the polls closing in just a few hours. as i said, he was there in philadelphia jur philadelphia, just a couple more stops. >> i'm leaving here to go to delaware. i'm going back home to the east side to work because that's where i started. as much as i love pennsylvania, and i'm a pennsylvania guy, i am a delawarean and i have to go home. thank you, thank you! [ cheers and applause ] >> there he is leaving, referencing the other side of the river for those familiar with the geography of the area.

obviously everyone there knows. as you see, the vice president there in philadelphia leaving to go to delaware. president trump in his white house have already met with campaign staffers in virginia, and now we are moving into the wait, wait, wait. and one of the states that we will be waiting for, a crucial state, no state is more important than arizona. trump won arizona in 2016. biden has a slight lead, though, in our poll of polls. now, arizona crucial. hasn't voted democratic presidentially since 1986. the secretary of state for arizona democrat katie hobbs joins me now. secretary of state, i appreciate your time. you already started counting votes. every state is different, when you count the earlies, when you can start counting them. have you started counting in

your vote polling or in your polls today? >> no, i've been saying this since early voting started four weeks ago. things have been going so smoothly and we're seeing the same thing today. i'm so happy to see that. we made a commitment that voters in arizona were not going to have to choose between their health and their right to vote. that's what's happening and i'm really happy about that. >> we have seen long lines, obviously. early today we saw some in arizona's traditional republican strongholds and president trump said -- i don't know if you heard, but about an hour ago he was speaking to his campaign staffers and he talked about arizona and texas specifically, singling them out, saying he thinks he's going to do tremendously in your state. which, again, he won in 2016. final polls giving biden a very narrow lead. do you, secretary of state, see reason for trump's optimism right now? >> well, you know, wearing my official lahat, i try to be

nonpartisan, but we've seen biden leading in most of the polls that have been done here for arizona. the margins vary, but he's been ahead, and i think that we've seen so much voter enthusiasm this year compared to the 2016 election. arizona could really go either way, and i don't think that it belongs to one candidate or the other right now. >> and, obviously, you've still got people voting, and that leads me to this question, then. when you put together all the early votes you're counting and the votes you're getting today, when do you think we'll actually know who won the state of arizona? >> we'll have a good number of results available tonight after the polls close at 8:00 arizona time. what we won't know until really late tonight is how many outstanding ballots there are left to count, and those are the early ballots that were returned in the last few days, yesterday, today at polling places. and that is the number that's going to tell us, like, what

percentage of the results have been reported to know how close it is and if there's enough votes left that -- >> that change the margin of victory. >> right, right. >> the bottom line is you won't know until later tonight how many mail-in ballots. you still don't know, right? >> yes. >> i appreciate your time, secretary of state katie hobbs from arizona. thank you very much. right now you see on your screen las vegas. we see lines there, lines across this country. and, you know, i think one of the most fascinating things is going to be what are the actual in-person turnout numbers? so many places still have lines, so many places had long lines early in the day, and now a bit of a lull and we're waiting to see if there will be another surge. you heard joe biden say we could have 150 million people turn out.

either way, it would be a record for eligible voters voting in this nation that we are all lucky to live in. next, in-person voting resulting in some lines in pennsylvania. and arizona, we'll go to different polling stations there right after this in both battleground states. we'll be right back. not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa we're made for. keeping your oysters growing while keeping your business growing has you swamped. (♪ ) you need to hire i need indeed

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and hello, welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world.

we know so many people around the world are watching this. i'm erin burnett and this is our special coverage of election day in america. an historic day filled with a lot of anxiety, and, chris, a lot of long lines for people who elected to vote in person today, election day. >> no question there is a mix of positive and negative going on in this country, but i will tell you, erin, it's great to share a day in history with you, and we've never seen anything like where we are right now. we've never seen this kind of buy-in by the american people in advance of election day. we are expecting record turnout on election day, so the idea of having a hand in your own fate has never been more the case than today. maybe since 1908 when you had then-president taft get 65% of eligible voters in the tent. that's how long it's been since we've seen anything like this, and that was before people 18 years old could vote. >> hello, it was before i could vote.

only people who looked like you could vote back then. >> right, it was the only handsome people can vote rule, it was really weird. we've come a long way. we haven't realized our potential the way we're realizing it today. what's it mean? who will lead us? in what direction? we don't know. but in less than three hours we'll know much more because the first polls will close, parts of indiana and kentucky will start to go counted, and from that point on, it will be a steady march of information that we'll give you in the best context we can. but, again, let's put some meat on the bones here. over 100 million americans have already voted and millions and millions, tens of millions, are still heading to the polls and at the polls right now. so it will be a record day. what kind of a record we'll see, but a truly remarkable number underscores how this pandemic has created a crisis mode that people are taking their fate into their own hands, erin. >> it certainly does. you talk about how many places in this country are so crucial today.

all of these swing states, and in these final hours, president trump went to his campaign headquarters in virginia, thanked his staffers. his message, winning is easy, losing is never easy, and especially for him, he said. joe biden, meantime, just moments ago greeting supporters in philadelphia, and he is going to head back soon to delaware where he will watch the results tonight. so we have reporters in crucial battleground states that are going to decide this election. whether we find out the result tonight or not tonight. i want to start with kyung lah who is in phoenix, arizona. arizona, crucial state. kyung, what are you seeing this afternoon in terms of turnout and turnout for whom? >> reporter: let me start with where i am. i am essentially in the belly of the beast in the county that matters most here in arizona. this is where the counting is taking place. at the maricopa county elections department. take a look over my right shoulder. what you're seeing over there, you see these people sitting side by side, two per table.

they are adjudicators. if there is a ballot that can't be scanned by the machine, basically what they're doing is trying to decide what did the voter intend if there is a line instead of filling in the entire bubble, if they wrote someone's name in. one democrat, one gop, they try to figure out the voter intent. if they can't figure out the voter intent, a tiebreaker is brought in to figure that out. over to my left, because counting has been taking place here, you see those cardboard boxes? they're already sealed. those votes are already counted. they're going to head their way into a vault. in regards to what it's looked like at the polls, take a look at this picture of what it looks like at these polling placesy t morning. not so much right now anymore, but there was this rush of interest as polling places opened up, lines as long as 45 minutes to an hour. they tended to be concentrated in gop strongholds.

i caution you, we can't read that much into it, but turnout in those particular districts this morning were quite strong. what the state gop sources are telling me is that this is something they want to see, that this is good news for the president. but what the democratic side is saying is that they anticipated this, this is typical behavior, and they believe they came in because of the strong early vote, that they believe they are in a good position, still, to win this state. as far as overall turnout, erin, the early vote here has been exceptionally strong, very good for democracy, already exceeding the 2016 total. erin? >> kyung, thank you very much. by the way, can i just say how amazing that is to see that, right? for those of you who say, how do they know, who decides what a signature is? two people at a table and an adjudicator, someone to take it to if they can't agree. this is the transparency that gives everybody confidence in this system. i want to go to florida now.

another crucial state just like arizona, and trump's best path, his easiest path to the white house is in florida. drew griffin is live in tallahassee. drew, florida secretary of state reporting no security issues so far. some minor technical challenges, but so far it appears to be a smooth day in the state of florida. >> reporter: the broward county supervisors of elections. broward county just called today boring, there's so few problems in this state, and under this great florida sun, you really can't complain. we are in one of the busier voting spots in florida right now, which is these drive-up places where you have to drop off your mail-in ballots. unlike other states, florida, they have to be in these boxes by 7:00 tonight, so these people are making sure to drive them in. they've been telling them to drive them in for a week now and not take them to the post office. but just in case there are some mail-in ballots still at the post office, mark early, who is

the supervisor of elections here, is going to have his people going to the post office all day today, and at the end of the day, 6:30, 6:45, his election workers are going to collect every single mail-in ballot at the post office, and then they're going to be driven with a police escort here to the supervisors of elections so they can be counted. unlike other places, it's got to be in the office of the election supervisor by 7:01. that ballot delivered anywhere is not going to count. that's why it's so crucial, that's why we have a continuous crowd here coming in to drop off these ballots. it's been a really easy day of voting here in florida, and you can still get out the vote. there really aren't very many long lines just about anywhere. >> that's exactly what you want to hear. beautiful weather, not long lines, boring. that's what it needs to be all about, everything to give people the confidence they need in these results. thank you so much, drew. vice president joe biden, i showed him to you a couple moments ago, he spent most of

his day in pennsylvania which is where sara murray is standing by in harrisburg. sara, what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, you know, erin, we love to hear about a boring election day, don't we? that's kind of what we've been hearing so far in pennsylvania. there have been some sporadic accounts of some polling places maybe open late, and we know there are long lines in philadelphia and some of the suburbs. i'm in harrisburg, pennsylvania. there is a little bit of a line here at this voting location, but it's not too bad. things have been moving pretty quickly, so all in all, i think people had a lot of concerns about how things would be going today on the ground, and things have been going pretty much according to plan in the counties we've talked to. of course, the big x-factor is what's going to happen to these mail-in ballots? it wasn't until 7:00 a.m. today until this county could start counting the ballots. they had to take them out of the secrecy envelope, flatten them, put them in the scanner.

they'll be working 24/7 to move this county along. we know there are some counties who don't start this process until tomorrow. when they started earlier today, she said, this shouldn't really impact the vote. it's these big counties that will have the brunt of the more than 2.5 million mail-in ballots that have already been returned. we just don't know when we'll get the results. the polls close at 8:00. it may take a while to count these ballots. we may know later tonight, but we may not know until tomorrow or days after that. >> what is happening, sara, in terms of who is showing up? have you seen trump voters in person as everyone had anticipated, or is it more split? >> reporter: we've seen a handful of trump voters, but to be honest, since it's not that long of a line right yet, it's kind of hard to gauge what the mix is. i think certainly when we're

talking to republicans in this state, they want voters to turn out here. that's why president trump was in this state so much over the weekend. he knows he needs to energize the vote to get them out because he does realize that there will be democrats. what the trump campaign is really betting on is some of these deep red parts of the state where they can drive up their numbers. >> the counties that delivered the victory for the president last time with a 44,000-vote margin in pennsylvania. sara, thank you very much. i want to go to the secretary of state kathy boockvar. i appreciate your time. we're at 3:10 eastern. a federal judge ordered the u.s. postal service to have postal inspectors sweep processing facilities, basically, in election districts for the mail

by 3:00 p.m. that included pennsylvania a, i philadelphia. did you find a lot of them? are they going to be handled on time? >> reporter: so i don't have reports, it's too recently after 3:00, but we're very pleased, obviously that, that order was entered and that that's what the u.s. postal service is doing. and happy to report more later when we have that information. >> okay, so let me ask you about those ballots because we all now know the numbers here. 3.1 mail-in absentee ballots requested in your state, 81% returned. that could mean anything for 600,000 votes, that people put them in drop boxes late, or they went in person, or they didn't vote at all. do you have any sense of what the real number is? >> i mean, so i'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but i just want to be clear. when we talk about mail-in and absentee ballots, you never get 100%, right? in normal elections prior to

this year, we've generally seen between 70% and 80% of absentee ballots that are received get cast by those voters. averaging somewhere in the 70% to 80% range. we already have 80% and the rest of the day is yet to come, not to mention the late-arriving ballots. we are already above average normally what we would see from mail-in ballots being cast. >> president trump, you heard that he's railing against the supreme court decision to not get involved, right, allowing your state to go ahead and count your ballots that are postmarked, you know, extension to count the ballots. he said, though, today at his campaign headquarters, secretary of state, quote, we should know what happens on the night, railing on pennsylvania. and you know he has said that decision by the court could lead to, quote, tremendous cheating in your state. what do you say to the president? we need to know tonight and there is tremendous cheating in

pennsylvania. >> well, as you know, and i think the overwhelming majority of voters know, races have never been decided on election night. ballots have never been counted on election night. and if we did, we would be disenfranchising the men and women serving our country overseas. their ballots are not due until a full week after election day. so i really want to be clear, we want every voter's vote, every valid vote to be counted, and that takes some time. i don't want to disenfranchise the members of our military and i don't want to disenfranchise the millions of pennsylvanians who took advantage of act 77, historic bipartisan legislation that gave us the ability to all vote by mail. counting ballots takes time. it's going to be a couple of days and then i expect the overwhelming majority of ballots in pennsylvania to be counted. >> thank you very much, secretary of state boockvar. i appreciate your time.

>> thank you. up next, north carolina. election results will be delayed by about 45 minutes. the board of elections extending voting at four specific location that it had some problems, some glitches this morning. we'll go there live to michigan and ohio. and the white house, the president going to be there tonight. he keeps saying he wants to know the results tonight. look, everybody wants to know them tonight, but what should we really expect to know and when? there are ordinary eggs... and then there's the best. we like cage free, and which ones just taste fresher and more flavorful? only eggland's best. we prefer organic, and which ones have 6 times more vitamin d and 25% less saturated fat? only eggland's best. my family deserves the best, and which egg is the best in so many ways? only eggland's best.

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welcome back to our special coverage of election day in america. joe biden spending these final hours on the campaign trail in philadelphia. earlier he spoke to a reporter about the election and whether he is concerned about violent protests tonight and in the coming days. >> can you ever think of an

election in your lifetime where people worried about unrest in an election? look, it's not going to happen, because the american people, their voices are going to be heard. over 100 million people have already voted, already voted in the united states of america. they're going to determine no matter what the president says or anybody outside says, they're going to have their voices heard, this is going to be a peaceful transition, it's going to move forward. >> chris, that's what everybody hopes, right, that there just is whatever happens. a deep breath and a respect for the fact that, you know, more americans than ever, eligible americans, have had their voices heard. >> if hope is a function of what you're doing to create the expectation, that's one thing. but just empty hope, the thought of optimism, sometimes that's defined as yet undiscovered disappointment. this president is going to stick with what he believes is best for him. so if he wins, he wins.

if it doesn't look like he's going to win, we have to expect that he will be -- and this is going to complicate our job. he's going to be in a state of mind, erin, where whatever needs to be said, whatever needs to be pressured or pushed, he will do without reservation. it really puts the onus on us to allow the system to work free of that kind of contamination. it won't be easy. easy for joe biden to say, tough to have happen. how do we do this? apparatus? for example, a federal judge has ordered the postal service to sweep underperforming districts for election mail processing facilities. what does that mean? that's a lot of words. it means they have gotten reports that there are too many places not doing the job well enough. and the u.s. postal service has not policed this themselves well enough. so this judge is saying theyll p.m. eastern time in a number of states, including some critical background states, what you are

doing to get up to par. now, why this isn't happening is going to be food for political spin. so let's go to ana cabrera for the latest. what is the state of the facts? >> right now the postal service has been struggling to move ballots in time, and now ballots are at risk to not make it to the election offices to be counted. so a federal judge ordered these last-minute sweeps to happen in these underperforming districts to, quote, ensure that no ballots have been held up and that any identified ballots are immediately sent out for delivery. this comes after we learned today that it is now the fifth day in a row that ballots are moving slower through the mail than the day before in critical battleground states. this is according to court filings. in five of the states with these low processing scores, michigan, georgia, new hampshire and maine, they do not allow ballots to be received after election day. that is critical here.

the secretary of state of georgia, for example, saying this morning they still had a quarter of a million outstanding mail-in ballots that had not been returned but had been requested. why the delay, you ask? the usps is blaming the pandemic. they said it's largely due to staffing shortages due to covid-19, but they are instituting overtime, they are moving things around. the usps has ordered to get mail-in ballots to these states before the cutoff times, and there should be massive sweeps as we speak. >> the basic rule of jur jurisprudence here means you can't afford everybody to have a right. these states are going to be made to do things the right way and they'll have to accept these ballots. not necessarily. it's much more likely it will have to be judged state by

state. that takes us to our breaking news in north carolina where election results will be delayed by at least 45 minutes tonight why? because the state board of elections there decided to extend voting at four locations that opened late this morning. what are the details on this? >> we're all going to have to hold our breaths just a little bit longer tonight. north carolina, of course, is one of our battleground states we've been covering. it was supposed to have earlier results, now we're just going to have to wait for them. here's what happened. the state board of elections decided to extend the voting at four precincts. at one of the precincts there was a printing issue, at another one employees arrived late. they can delay voting by 15 minutes or more or if voting is interrupted by 15 minutes. voting can be extended by 15 minutes, so where these are affected, the voting time ranges

from 17 minutes, at one precinct 47 minutes at a polling place. this extends to when all states can run late. they've been processing mail-in ballots as they come in, and they could be an early indicator of where this race is headed, chris. >> right now this is a good problem. north carolina has handled something that seems discreet. we'll see what else develops there. this larger issue we're identifying with the usps and the federal courts is a bigger issue. suzanne malveaux in charlotte. suzanne, what are you hearing and what are you seeing where you are about the efficiency? >> reporter: well, the efficiency here for the most

part they feel very positive about how the voting has been handled. about 620 votes have come in so far. it's been a steady stream of voters, and the atmosphere, the mood here is quite festive now. we just had the alpha fi alpha fraternity brothers playing music. at one point everybody was doing the wobble with voters and volunteers outside this precinct. if you take a look and you break it down, they feel like from each part of the process, it has been an orderly one, from the authorization process in north carolina, there is no voter i.d. you simply put your signature down, your name and your address, you take it to the bank where they have the poll books, and that is the list of those who are registered who have not yet voted, about 38% or so, so those books much smaller than normal, and if you are not registered or your name is not on that list, they actually have a help desk where they can sort

out and figure out if there is a misspelling or if your name isn't on the list, you get a provisional ballot so you will be able to vote. you go to that voting booth. you're able to push in the ballot, the paper. it is a touch screen system that they are using. it spits out and goes to the b tabulator. they expect all of that will be wrapped up in this county by 6:30. but you mentioned that delay that is happening, so nobody's results will actually come out until, at the very earliest, 8:15 and that is from the people who voted early, not today, the 62% who participated before tuesday. chris? >> suzanne, appreciate the perspective. at this point north carolina is a good problem. we see a state making its own recommendation to address a shortcoming. and the reason that formula is very important is because, as you see, issues emerge, and we don't know how the states will deal with it, specifically these states that are battleground states that we know a federal

court has recognized that the usps is underperforming there. so that there is a likelihood that they won't get ballots in time. what will those states do? if you rely only on the federal courts for remedy, it is susceptible to appeal and overrule, because election law is largely state domain, and the farther you get away from a state making its own determination, the bigger the problem you'll have. let's go to michigan right now, okay? because it's going to be key and it's in this line of fire of are they getting the ballots through the post office? detroit, michigan is where omar jimenez is. you're in the right place, my friend. what type of enthusiasm, what are you hearing about the efficiencies there? >> reporter: well, lots of enthusiasm to begin with. right when the polls opened, you couldn't find many poll places that didn't have a line waiting just to get in at the opening bell of sorts.

places not just in detroit but in the suburbs as well, including one county that flipped from democrat to republican in 2016. on efficiency, this has been the big question. how quickly are people going to be able to get through what seems to be a big amount of return on election day. we actually heard from mayor bensen who said she expects to have absentee votes counted soon after polls close, which is much sooner than we had heard previously from officials here and much sooner than expected to begin with, especially because last week they were trying to temper expectations that carrying these votes could go all the way until friday, november 67th f. of course, saying it now is what we see, so we'll keep an eye on that. there are also 70 million

spoiled ballots, and those are canceled ballots, but it could happen for a number of reasons. one, it could be a misprint but it's corrected before it goes out to voters. and there are plenty of people who maybe sent in their absentee ballot but didn't feel confident that it would arrive at 8:00 p.m., so they decided to come out and vote in person. at that point you spoil and the absentee is running for this. it's going to be a tightly contested and closely watched state. >> that's why this is one of the things on that list of things to watch. how many of those it 77. right now the authorities say they can't tell us. 77,000 out of 3.1 million may not sound like much right now, but remember, the margins cannot very tight here. let me know if you hear anything

else on that topic. let's turn now to hawaii. michigan is the state we have to watch to see if biden can turn it blue again. ohio is like, how red is -- he has picked the winner since 1964. fwut has gone through what we've seen as a topic. >> reporter: that's right, the last time this state won was in 1960. it picked nixon over john kennedy. this is the very pleasant suburb of strongsville, ohio. this is the strongsville senior center. when we were here at the senior center yesterday checking it out, they had a good bingo game going. now they're voting for president of the united states. this area here is where voters come in and register. has the water been treating you

okay? >> yes, no problem. >> no problems? >> no. >> reporter: that's an important thing to point out. a lot of us were worried when we went out voting. people came in and didn't know what they were going to see. this is almost like you're coming for a dog catcher election. it's been very quiet and mellow a and. there were 30 to 50 people in line at all times. the last hour it slowed down a little bit but it was very crowded in the morning. it was hard for us to figure out how crowded it would be because so many people have early voted here in the buckeye state. 3.4 million people, that's 60% of the total vote count in the 2016 election. back in 2016, donald trump won this by 8 percentage points. but it's a dead heat and that's why president trump came here to

campaign. everybody is going to keep a close eye on what happens here. voting takes place, it's paper ballots. they stick them in these scanners and then the votes are officially counted once it gets inside the scanner. >> i'll be your proxy, brother. you've been teaching me things for years. i can give you a little insight into experience. i finished at 2:00 this morning, went home, my big shot, bella, woke us up at 5:30 to go vote at the polls which opened at 6:00. we get there. the lines are around the block. i say, it's just because they haven't opened yet. i get into the voting booth -- this is in upper manhattan. this place shouldn't even have been at play in the election. there were people all over the place. couldn't keep a social distance, couldn't keep it straight, ton of workers, ton of activity. everybody was working their way through, and in the 50 minutes i

was in there, i didn't see any problems. very important topic, okay? focus on polls, focus on fact. in iowa, and now in new york in every pocket that matters, you start hearing suggestions. people calling and saying stay home. homeland security rkts don't vot vote. let's get after it. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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breaking news at this hour as we are getting near polls starting to wind down here. the attorney general receiving robocalls warning to stay home on election day. i mentioned earlier that the fbi was investigating similar calls in iowa. they confirm with us that the office has shared things with the fbi. it was basically a phone call going out urging iowans to stay

home and stay safe. our understanding is this has happened in multiple states, and now we can confirm it in the state of new york. what can you confirm about these robocalls and where is there an investigation? >> they are looking for the source of these robocalls, but what you discussed, the message seems to be the same from state to state, and that is to stay safe and stay home. officials say do not stay home. go vote if you haven't done so already. ignore these robocalls. this is essentially disinformation that is going out to voters that could result in suppressing the vote. so the new york attorney general saying her office is now investigating, and let me read a quote from her today saying, voting is a cornerstone of our democracy, attempts to hinder voters from exercising a right to cast their ballots is disturbing and wrong. what's more, it is illegal and it will not be tolerated. every voter must be able to

exercise their fundamental right to vote without being harassed, coerced or intimidated. not just new york where this is happening. iowa, as you mentioned. we've also heard reports in michigan, nebraska and north carolina. i do want to, real quick, button something up from my last appearance. absentee ballots in north carolina can still keep coming in after the election, they just have to be postmarked by election day, but in that state specifically, because i don't want to spread disinformation, those voters have up until nine days to get their ballots in after election day, erin. >> it is hard. people know we have these reams of data to go through in every single state and all the changes and all the different rules. ana, thank you very much. i want to go to wisconsin. two national guard troops have been deployed in the states to assist with poll worker responsibilities. as of this morning, you had already 2 million early votes cast in the state, which is about 64% of the total votes

cast in 2016. so we'll see when you add it in person, do you get over that mark? do you see the full election? ryan, you've been talking to voters there. what have they told you? >> that's a big number when you're talking about people who already voted. such enthusiasm on saturday and sunday as people were coming in. we were laughing about this as a crew, because on sunday, the only time is really tailed off is when the packers game started here and it's a big-time city for football. you can see that sort of happening. it's just one of those things. right now at this polling center, they've had about 500 people so far. but look, there's really no line. that's where you check in right now if you wanted to vote. what's important about this date is you can register today for voting. we're going to walk down this direction in the room where it happened. let's not forget, president

trump was here friday, ivanka trump was there the saturday. this is the room where people go in to vote. you can see everyone wearing ppe. that's so important because in this state they've been dealing with covid-19 and the explosion of covid-19. in fact, there were over 300,000 positive new cases just yesterday. the business owners who have been greatly impacted by this, they were upset by all the shutdowns. they're also concerned because they don't see covid-19 ld. >> we're in the city of milwaukee, and we've been getting way behind. i feel like the republicans and

democrats aren't seeing eye to eye, and i just want us to go back to normal sometime soon. they did a great job here. i wasn't comfortable doing the absentee vote, so i wanted to come in person. we had no issues with the location at all whatsoever. >> one thing to go over, we heard that over and over from voters, people saying they want some sort of change, whether it's positive or negative, especially when it comes. they've been great about making sure it stays sanitized because people are worried about covid-19. >> i want to bring in now harry entin entin, our senior writer and analyst. harry, everyone wants to know on election night. however, in general, it takes a

long time to actually count all the ballots to actually know the answer, and tonight, it could be even more so than ever, right? >> how do you expect it to happen tonight rkts to transpire. >> were -- look at when they say the nail votes blackberry in. wisconsin, arizona, florida, it could is a some time for those votes to be counted. arizona, florida, north carolina and parts of michigan, that is in the sunbelt. i believe we'll get a better idea in the sunbelt swing states than the midwest swing votes as to who has won that margin this evening. >> states do, harry, have different reporting times for mail-in and in-person ballots.

i was trying to say earlier it's like a counting, right? what do you consider in many. and we're looking for those votes to be counted first, where in the midwestern states we expect that to be second. those votes will differ very much here. this is the florida vote by method. it doesn't include election day, obviously. you can see the in-person vote was much more democratic than by mail, and we're expecting to see that continue through by lathe mail. if you're in the south, they might be much more pro briden

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welcome back to election day in america. just hours away from the first results coming in to cnn. both campaigns probably watching us right now, and we are all collectively waiting. jeff zeleny in wilmington, delaware where biden will be tonight. kaitlan collins at the white house where the president will be. jeff, let me start with you, joe biden, kamala harris both campaigning very aggressively today. where and why? >> reporter: well, chris, it's all about the math. it's all about those 20 electoral votes in pennsylvania and 16 electoral votes in michigan. that's exactly why joe biden spent the day there in pennsylvania and also starting in scranton, and it's also why kamala harris was sent to michigan at the very end of this campaign, trying to drive out that democratic vote here.

and there's no question, chris, that the 2016 campaign different in every way, different candidates, different circumstances, but the ghost to that campaign has hung over this campaign certainly in the final hours as well. they wanted to be out there on the road campaigning. those are two of the three states that if they win them, that blocks the president's path to any re-election, his so-called blue wall he won four years ago. that is the central test here. yes, there's florida, yes, there's north carolina, a variety of other states. but it is pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin as well that is so important. that's why joe biden went home for those 20 electoral votes in pennsylvania and senator harris went to michigan. donald trump spent so much time in pennsylvania and in michigan. that's where he ended his night last night, so he has his eye on those states as well, chris. >> in fact, he was trying to convince people from pennsylvania that biden isn't from there, that he's from delaware, he's not from

scranton, pennsylvania. it was a very interesting play by trump,cuno something that usually he would ignore. jeff zeleny, thank you. let's go over to the white house. there was a thought, kaitlan, .. wrar there was a thought they might show the president on the job today i'm president right now and working with the pandemic and i'm working on the economy and doing this and that. no, they are in full campaign mode and a lot of questions in-house there as well. why is that, kaitlan? >> this is a white house that is often blurred the lines between political activity and official government business and we are seeing it happen right now. the campaign is defending what they have set up inside the building next to the white house where the vice president's office is and eisenhower executive building. a war room that they have set up. basically, it's got campaign staff and computers there to monitor what is happening in these states, these crucial states that are crucial to president's re-election tonight

but the staffers providing information to their bosses who are then providing it to president trump. they have set it up here on white house grounds, the campaign is defending it saying it needed to be in close pr proximity to the president. they say it's not anything at the americans taxpayer expense. we are saying this is a white house often blurred those lines as they did today where the white house press secretary has been acting as a trump adviser the president he wanted more people defending him on tv not just the white house officials that we have seen. that is the reason why but, of course, that is only being set up a few hundred feet from the oval office. we are told the president is being regularly updated by those staffers on what they are seeing in states like pennsylvania, arizona, florida, everything that is critical to him coming out in his favor tonight. >> he has got a ton of

infrastructure, his people all over the place and he also has the benefit of the only rule that matters for this president all the time is what is best for me right now. so he is going to do what he has to do. kaitlan collins, thank you very much. we will be looped in all night long with the trump campaign and the biden campaign. the big question looming over us right now is when? when? when? look. here is the good news. if you don't find out tonight this election would be no different than just about every one in the past just in 2016. biden wasn't in it but trump was. he won arizona and michigan but we didn't find out on election night. that is not unusual. that given, we will take a look when the results come in and when the picture will start to be shaped. stick with cnn next.

welcome back to cnn special coverage of election day in america. joining me to talk about what he

is watching for tonight is our political director david chalain. we are here two hours from now and a couple of minutes, we are going to have the first polls closing. i know you're looking at ways during the night to get hints of where we are going. key voting blocks and demographics and turnout. what are you watching? >> happy election day, erin. i look at three different demographic groupings. i look at where did hillary clinton win, like, with women. and does joe biden do even better than hillary clinton did with female voters? or groups that donald trump won last tight but joe biden may be poised to actually win this time like seniors and independents. then like the groups that donald trump did really well with and that i expect he'll do well with again today like his very base white noncollege educated men but i'm looking to see he is doing as well? he is doing better with this kind of group than he did four years ago or is joe biden also

eating into some of donald trump's strongest categories. i'm going to be looking across those demographics. >> and those are real crucial, right? you got to outperform in some areas to make up for losses perhaps in others, seniors. by the way, just as we are talking, joe biden is at a community center with unscheduled stopped in wilmington on his way back to home where he will be watching the results. let's go through watching the results, david. you have how many polls close at each hour and then, obviously, some of them we may know the answer to right then and others we may not know for quite sometime because of these lags in counting votes. >> exactly. take a the look the poll closings in the most critical battleground states. you see right away earlier in the evening you've got north carolina and georgia, georgia at 7:00, north carolina at 7:30 and ohio 7:30 and florida at 8:00. though most of the state closes at 7:00. just those first four states there all states donald trump won four years ago but states

that actually can get the count out, erin, and will be counting early preelection absentee, mail vote that will be infused into the results. if we see joe biden doing really well in those states, that could indicate that perhaps it's not going to be some long dragged out for days just waiting on pennsylvania. now if we see donald trump holding that territory, then perhaps it will indicate we may be waiting on the midwestern rust belt states that will take longer to count. the early sun belt states there that close are going to give us the indication are we in for a long haul here or might this thing actually make itself clear sooner than we initially expected? >> right. as you point out, you know, even if trump wins one of those states, but it's extremely tight and to your point about demographics and may give you an indication where another state is going. >> without a doubt. you look for patterns, right? if you see sort of demographic

groups in the suburbs are behaving one way in north carolina, perhaps the suburbs are behaving similarly in georgia or elsewhere. >> right. this is going to be the crucial thing as we are now just a couple of hours away from those first polls closing. kentucky is among them. thank you very much, david chalain. thank you for joining us. our special coverage of election night in america continues right now. ♪ >> it's election night in america and a nation in crisis as at a crossroads. >> we are counting down to the first exit polls and first results as our coverage begins now. >> announcer: across the nation in blue and red and swing states voters are delivering their verdict on two starkly different visions of america's future. >> the president of the united states lied to the american people and he is unfit for this job. >> if biden wins, your country is