like you've never seen. >> reporter: not only to turn out their voters -- >> he's throwing out every roadblock to suppress the vote. >> reporter: to make sure each vote is legitimate and counted -- >> sometimes when there are challenges, people will say wihout that stamp, we're not sure when it got here. >> reporter: what you're about to see is perhaps the most consequential moment in the journey of a typical mail-in ballot. >> the first thing we would do is scan it in, and then we're going to just view the signature. >> reporter: oh, wow. when election workers try to verify that a vote is genuine, by checking the signature of what's on file. >> reporter: we make a ruling. >> reporter: the commissioners asked us to blur the names, we got to see how much variation they're willing to accept. >> we're looking at substantial similarities. so we're not hand writing experts saying oh, that y is slightly different, that's not going to count. >> reporter: if your ballot is

going to get hung up, though, this is most likely where it will happen. in a close election, that could be decisive. across the u.s., missing or mismatched signatures doomed more than 150,000 ballots in 2016. and sure enough -- >> oh. >> this looks very different. >> yeah. so that's an issue. >> reporter: this voter's signature sent the commissioners i search of additional documentation. >> now we'll look at her absentee application. and that one matches. >> reporter: we watched as they looked through four signatures on file. >> so it almost appears like she has a very serious signature, and a quick signature. >> it just seems like the pen strokes are different. i don't want to get involved. it's your call. >> reporter: the decision rejected. at least for now. >> they may talk to her and see. she may sign an attestation that se completed the ballot.

>> reporter: in new york and 18 other states, voters are notified if their ballot is rejected and given an opportunity to fix it. but in most of the country, this is no such requirement. so the ballots can be tossed out and not only for signature issues, we saw two other ballots set aside because the internal envelopes weren't sealed. but those were accepted with no evidence of tampering. >> this right here, this demonstrates why it's so important for people to take extreme care when they're filling out their ballots? >> that's right. >> reporter: after the initial checks, the sealed ballots are scanned in and moved to a storage room. >> it's really secure. >> there's three locks. >> a democratic lock, a republican lock, and if we were ever impounded by the court, that lock would be for the sheriff. >> reporter: in new york, they aren't actually counted until three days after the polls close. so state officials can compare a list of absentee voters against the names of those who voted in person.

>> so the point of the delay in counting is to make sure no one is double voting. >> yes. election results are always unofficial on election night. >> reporter: that's true for every state in america, where any vote can be contested or even thrown out. and this year, that fight is expected to be fiercer than most. >> why, at this busy time, did you want to show us this? >> i think it's all about transparency. we want to show the voters, first, how hard we work, that their ballot is going to be secure when it's here. and then we're concerned about their ballot and we'll take every precaution we can. >> we want to demystify it, right? people don't know when they're nervous about things because they don't know. so even though we're extremely busy, this gives us the opportunity to say to people, look, this is what happens to your ballot. we take it seriously. we want your vote to be counted. and these are all the steps we take to make sure it does. >> tony dokoupil at the rockland county elections office.

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♪ that's tom petty in the video for his song "you wreck me" from the multiplat minum 19 album. fans may be surprised to know that more than half the songs recorded for that album were never released. now, 26 years later, they've been gathered in a box set along with never before seen photos and videos. the project was a labor of love for petty, who passed away three years ago and never saw it completed. anthony mason spoke with petty's daughter and band mates about this dream project that's finally come true. ♪ >> reporter: tom petty's 1994 solo masterpiece "wildflowers," included hit songs -- ♪ you don't know how it feels

>> reporter: and petty classics. but petty had planned for it to be a double cd. >> we did much more than the "wildflow "wildflowers" album. we did 25 songs that we finished. >> reporter: "wildflowers" and all the rest includes all those unreleased songs. like "leave virginia alone." ♪ so leave virginia alone ♪ >> this is a picture of him in the little tiny studio he wrote all the songs. >> reporter: adrian petty co-cure rated the project. >> it has the master set piece where you can see all the songs. >> this is you in the studio? >> yeah, right here. i just went to a couple of sessions. >> reporter: when she went back into the archives, she found buried treasure. >> to go to iron mountain and find 16 millimeter reels of my dad i had never seen before from those sessions and find them performing these songs

unreleased, and even my sister and i in the footage in the studio, all of that stuff i wouldn't replace for anything. >> reporter: petty worked for the first time with producer rick ruben, who says petty later revealed he was afraid of "wildflowers." what did he mean? >> he was scared at that time because it was just one of those artistic bonanzas. you a really sparkly, magical, wizard of oz moment in his career. >> we always said that's the best record we ever made. >> reporter: ben and mike of petty's band the heartbreakers helped curate the unreleased material... >> there were a few things i didn't even remember at all, you know? it was a long time ago. ♪ >> reporter: petty was at a pivotal moment during the recording. his marriage to his first wife, jane, was coming apart. you describe coming home and

asking him point blank, are you getting a divorce? >> yeah. i just asked him and he kind of looked at me like, hey, not right now, if you don't mind. yeah, it was pretty obvious. >> reporter: is that the kind of thing that he would put in a song easily? >> no. no. you know, what's unique about "wildflowers" is some of that stuff is a little more revealing, vulnerable, the insecurities. ♪ >> reporter: you hear it in the previously unreleased song "confusion wheel." the release of "wildflowers" and all the rest was delayed by another rift in the petty family. last year, she and her sister had a legal dispute with their stepmother, dana, over the administration of petty's estate. in december, they reached a settlement. where is that now?

>> it's water under the bridge. >> what was that about? >> i can't say that i'm dieing to talk about it, to be honest with you. i think it was about a lot of people grieving. >> you've made peace? >> oh, of course. of course. >> what is it like for you to go through all this stuff? >> it's really ka thcathartic. it really hit me on the anniversary. i thought it was okay. anybody that's lost a part, one year it's fine, the next year brings you tears. i just miss the guy so much. >> was it hard for you to both go back and listen to that material again? >> it was for me. it was exciting and mysterious, but it was also sad. you know, we're still grieving. and it was hard to hear tom's voice coming out of the speakers and not look over and see him sitting there. >> it was also really wonderful. it keeps it alive for me, and it keeps me really proud of what we

did together. ♪ you don't know how it feels >> reporter: before his death, petty talked about touring "wildflowers." playing more intimate theaters with guest vocalists. so the question has come up for the heartbreakers. could you do it without him? >> why? >> picture this, we played together for 50 years and we were closer than any brothers could be. so i can't wrap my head around yet putting all the heartbreakers in a room, with all our instruments and going one, two, three, four and playing without him there. it would just be too damn weird. >> the rhythm came from that cat. >> if we don't e ir play live, i'm at peace with the music. and that's a treasure for me. i'm fine with that.

>> are you saying you don't like me any more, mike? [ applause ] >>

at a time when a lot of 12-year-olds are probably still mastering their multiply skags tables, a young man is sitting down with college presidents. mark strassman has the story of this boy genius. >> reporter: smart kids apply every year to georgia tech, but no one like caleb anderson. he's 12. >> i'm not really smart, i just grasp information quickly. so if i learn quicker, then i can get ahead faster. >> reporter: this elite engineering school fell over itself recruiting him. caleb saw the labs. he met the school's president. >> i have heard so much about you. welcome to georgia tech. >> thank you. >> he's a perfect candidate to come into our program and be

very successful. >> is his admission guaranteed? >> i would expect he would be admitted for sure. >> reporter: admitted to study aerospace engineering. claire and colby anderson, his parents. what is it like to be touring a college when your kid is 12? >> i don't think anything that caleb's done has been normal for us. >> reporter: by age 1, he was reading. >> fun. >> reporter: at 2, he knew sign language and how to do fractions. >> one, two, three. >> i have this distinct memory of going to the first grade class and learning there. everyone was way taller than me, because i was 2, i could barely walk. >> reporter: middle school was awful. it always is. >> the kids there, they treated me like i was an anomaly. and which i kind of am. >> reporter: he's taken college courses for a year. his parents want a university

that's the right fit. >> we want him in an environment where he's accepted and not tolerated. >> if he comes to georgia tech, he's not rushing into a fraterty? no. >> not at all. we will make sure when he is an adult, he'll make a great husband or a great father, a great friend one day. >> reporter: lots of people think they're the smartest person in the room. caleb really is. >> did it ever occur to you, i'm looking at college and i'm 12 years old? >> this is my life. this is how i am, and i've been live thing way my whole life. >> reporter: he accepts that he's different. and definitely smart. mastrassman, atlanta. >> what anssive young man. and a couple of proud parents. and that is the "overnight news" for this friday. for some of you the news continues. for others, check back later for "cbs thi morning" and follow us

online any time. reporting from the nation's capital, i'm kris van cleave. it's friday, october 16th, 2020. this is the "cbs morning news." duelling town halls. president trump and joe biden square off on different networks. the biggest takeaways and the moderator's crazy old uncle reference. health scare. former new jersey governor chris christie says he spent a week in the icu fighting covid. what he regrets not doing. loose lemur. a stolen animal from a california zoo has been found. the possible motive behind this bizarre break-in. captioning funded by cbs