judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. judy: on "the newshour" tonight, one day more. the candidates deliver their closing messages to voters in critical states on the final day of the campaign. then, a troubling resurgence -- covid cases continue to rise across the u.s., threatening the capacity of hospital intensive care units. and calling the race. we have an inside look at how the winners are declared by the associated press once the votes are cast. >> we have called the winner of every presidency without fear or favor or partisanship or any opinion of any person in our ganization. we've called it on the facts and math. year after year after year.

judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the "newshour" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular school has been to provide wireless seropce to help pele communicate and connect. we offer a varie of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer serhece team can lp find one that fits you. to learn more, verit consumllular.tv. >> when the world gets complicated, lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a c dedicated advis tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. >> johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. bnsf railway.

the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 tiars, advancing ideas and supporting instis to promote a better world at hewlett.org. the chan-zuckerberg initiative. just, and inclusive future fory, everyone at czi.org. thand the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

thank you. judy: the last minutes are ticking away ithe presidential campaign. nearly 100 million americans have already voted -- more than 2/3 of all the votesast in 2016. today offered a last chance to gin up tomorrow's turnout. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports. yamiche: the campaign's final day and both candites rushing to rally supporters, each in his own way. prident tru mounted a blitz, hopping across four states to help deliver him the presidency in 2016. wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania and northarolina. >> remember what i said four years ago. i said i am your voice and we willake america great again. yamiche: former vice president joe biden focused his attention first ohio. >> my message is simple. the power to change the country in your hands. yamiche: but today, pennsylvania

is the key state that gotnt atn. >> we will cover a lot of ground today. joe is going to be here. yamiche: biden's running mate, senator kamala hars, rallied residents in an effort to flip back an area that last cycle help to president trump. s i think you all know and that'y we are all here and keep coming back, because we care about pennsylvania and because pennsylvania will determine the outcome in this election. yamiche: the president also visited the rally. he replete it claims that the nation would soon round the corner on the pandemic. >> we did such a great job with the whole thing. you look at europe, they are spiking. we will quickly esdicate the vi and wipe out the china plate. in yamiche: crisis appears to be getting worse. the top u.s. infectious disease expertau dr. anthony told the washington post over the weekend that the nation "could not poss poorlyas we head into the

er the white house fired back in a stateme, accusing dr. fauci of "playing politics." lastn night in front of enthusiastic crowd in florida, the president suggested dr. fauci would soon be fired. >> do't tell anybody, but let me wait until little bit after the election. yamiche: today, biden hammered the president's pandemic response at own rally in beaver county, pennsylvania. >>o he refuses to the work to get this virus under control. >> he>> refusetoto do the work et our schools and small businesses and resourceshey needed to stay. opened f and cops.s, teachers yamiche: vice president pence warrant biden's policies be a drag on the economy. >> joe biden is talking abn t shutting de economy. right at the time we are beginning to get back on our feet as a country. yamiche: while the btle on the trail draws to a clause --

close, another fight over the county is brewing and pennsylvania also in the middle of it. the states winter -- winter might not be decided untild tuesday night me counties might not even begin counting until the next day. president trump criticize the delay even though no state has ever reported complete final results on election day. >>t' i thin's terrible when we can't know the results of an election the night of an electionn the modern-day age of computers. yamiche: he says he's already gearing upor a legal challenge. >> as soons as it' over, we are going in with our lawyers. yamiche: today biden try to assure people their votes would be counted > i don't care how much donald trump tries, there's nothing he will do to stop the people of this nation from voting. folks, he hasn't figured it out folks, he hasn't figured it out. voters deserve -- presidents don't decide who gets to vote. voters deserve to choose who

ll be president. yamiche: last week, a convoy of trump supporters and vehicles swarmed a biden campaign bus on the highway, leading the campaign to cancel some events. president trump letter tweeted that "these triots did nothing wrong." but business owners throughout the cotry are bracing for the possibility of postelection violence, boarding up windows anerecting fences. judy: a federal judge in texas today refused to toss out nearly 127,000 ballotcast at drive-thru polling centers in houston.iv republican ats argued the practice was illegal. the judge ruled they had no legal standing to sue. we turn now to yamic lisa desjardins. both of them are following this closely. we just heard some of what the president is saying on the trail . what is then thrust of his closing argument? yamiche: o this day bore election day, the president is

focused on making closing messages, focusing on a motion more than policy. he makes t case people should of black lives matter protests for racial justice and agnst police brutality, than of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 americans and infected millions. he has said in rally after rally that we are rounding the corner. of course, cases are spiking across the country. the president says he believes this is the way forward, that he knows best better than his infectious disease expert, including dr. fauci, who has been attacked different speeches. the president is also making the case and campaign advisers say they feel confident they will win in critical states including carolina, states the president won in 2016 which surprised the political atmosphere. . than the president also making the case that if we don't know the results by midninit tomorrow

t, that the election is rate. . at is not true. there' fraud.vidence of voter in several elections, we did not know who was the psident at midnight including 2016. is his closing message andhatat do we know about the game plan here? lisa: vice president biden had an interesting closing message hase is still campaigning as we speak. one thing he said ending a e speelier today is i will be the most pro-union president. he seems to be appealing to white working-class voter democrats believed ey lost and 2016, barnstorming across pennsylvania. the biden campaign feels very good about this idea. they think they have many more votes.to getting 270 electoral they also like this, that the early vote count in many states seems to fav democrats if you look at registered voters and

submitting ballots and atates that aouncing those numbers. they say they are ahead in wisconsin and michigan by amounts that mean president trump would have to win with 60% or more two. those states two. those states. -- all sense of cfidence for the biden campaign. the biden campaign says the idea of election related fear is in of itsel suppression, and people need to be very aware it may just be perception, not reality. they want people to go out and vote. they also say by their math, there's no way president trump will be able to declareerimself the wiy midnight on election night. storieso differe here you have followed the president throughout his time in the white house. what are you watching for? yamiche: i'm wching for the same thing t trump campaign is watching for. they are bracing for physical confrontations as well as legal.

on thesi pl front, the president, as we noted, the president is egging on in some ways his supporters who have physically been intimidating pro-biden supporters. there are people on campaign who say that it is ok for the president to do that. someone today said these are people who did not break the people, even drive up to people to intimidate them with your vehicle, so we watch that. . another thing is that the donations going alway automatic until mid-december. he's doing that because he wants to have money in the bank for a prolonged legal fight. the p rnc has alrea aside $20 million to fight legal battles that they think ll happen soon after election. esthe ent is also promising to he several lawsuits already filed so the president is saying in states like pennsylvania, possibly north carolina, that he's already getting his lawyers ready to file something as earliest tomorrow. judy: and we know both campaigns

are gearing up if necessary for legal fight. finally, lisa, you are watching senate and house races. what are you specifically looking out for tomorrow night? lisa: quickly for the house, let's talk about that. speaking tond democrats republicans, no one is talking k out a likely path republicans have to taking be house. in fact, there's more of a question of how many gains democrats might make. then lat's look at the sen telet's look at the se chamber. 53 republins and 47 democrats and independents i think the situation is such that we have a dozen perhaps senate races on the board. we may find out who will be presidentd before we ft who controls the senate. judy lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor, you will both be busy tomorrow, as are we thl. thank you you have heard a lot about pennsylvania. ct could well be the keystone for any path to y in this presidential election. on the ground in philadelphia tonight is our own daniel bush.

hello, daniel bush. you have been watching the state pennsylvania following all the goings-on of the campaigns. how important is philadelphia to the outcome? daniel: philadelphia is critical. one out of every three votes will be cast in philadelphia and surrounding suburbs. the biden campaign knowns -- knows they need to do well with lack voters ansuburban voters. at's why they have spent precious time down the stretch here. kamala harris will be speaking a little while from now. the trump campaign is also isvoting a lot of time to state. judy: so much focus in recen days, weeks even, on the voting process. in pennsylvania and how they count ballots, what theare doing with early voting, you spoke to county officials. whatre they tellingou?

daniel:ad they are as as they can be. they have a plan in place. i was inside one electionshe building today they were receiving mail in and absentee ballots. they cannot start counting them however until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. it will be a long process of the biden campaign says they don't expect to have a clear picture results in pennsylvania until 1:30 a.m. it will be a long night. in york county and central lvpennia, a republican stnghold, a lot of voters saying that silent majority is real and they are excited to vote for trump. judy: certainly something we will watch very closely and that is where you will be for us. daniel bush in philadelphia, thank you .

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour" west. we will return to judy woodruff and the rest of the program after these updates. on the eve of the election, former vice president joe biden campaigned out the first of two rallies he's holding in pittsburgh tonight while prident trump held a rally in traverse city, michigan and goes to kenosha, wisconsin. in other news, covid-19 deaths popped 1.2 million worldwide including more than 230,000 in the u.s. in europe, the italian government announced it's closing shopping malls on weekends, and limiting people's movements. germany began a 4-week partial shutdown. >> all things considered, we had a relatively relaxed summer where people could make e of a vote of leisure activities. -- a lot of leisure activities, but now the autumn has crashed in on us. i can understand that it is

difficult and that there is some atsistance, but it isn't a political thing e created. b stephanitish prime minister boris johnson imposed a new lockdown effective thursday and he faces criticism he should have acted earlier. the death toll in an apparent terrorist attack in vienna has lifted. authorities in vienna, austria say there's been an apparent terrorist attack in vienna tonight. one of the attackersle was k and e other was on the run. it happened near a jewish synagogue which waclos at the time. in afghanistan, islamic state attackers stormed kabul university today, touching off a gun battle that peft at least 22 le dead. security officl said three gunmen struck during a bl k fair, and re killed, after the hours long fight. families of students waited anously for word of their fates. at least i want to know if he died. i just want to know something about him. police and the security forces don't allow us to go into the hospitals and still i have no

news. stephanie: the ambassador to afghanistan from iran was supposed to be at the book fair. it is unclear if the attackers knew that. emergency workers inurkey have rescued two children three days 94 people.arthquake that killed plause broke out today as crews in izmir carried a 3-year-old girl wrapped in a foil blanket to an ambulance. efforts to find otheivors continued. ngpotentially catastrophic hurricane is beaown on central america tonight. eta is already a category 4, and could get even stronger. it is on track to strike nicaragua overnight with winds of at least 130 miles an hr -- miles an hour and up to three th150 feet of rain across region. still to come on the "newshour" with judy woodruff, raising covid cases threatening the capacity of hospital intensive care units. what to expect as the campaign draws to a close. take an inside look at how

the winners the races will be announced. plus, much more. >> this is the pbs "newshour" from weta studios in washington and from walter cronkite scho of journalism at arizona state university. judy: severalhemerican public th leaders warned this weekend th the coronavirus is spreading unchecked throughout the country and is likely to get significantly worse in coming days and weeks. faces a daunting path ahead. states reported more than 80,000 new cases in the u.s. yesterday and more than 445 deaths. william brangham loothe urgency of the situation with dr. ashish jha, dean of brown ty's school of publ health. william: dr. jha, great to have you back on the news hour again.

former fda commissioner scott gottlieb said recently that thanksgivingt the end of this month could be an inflection point for this incredible surge that we are seeing across the country. he also said the december mightu be theest month yet. does that sound right to you? dr. jha:k unfortunately, i th dr. gottlieb is right abt this. we are in a very difficult situation already. here we are, the beginning of november. we are identifying about a 100,000 infected people a day n across theion as opposed to the spri and summer or those those surges which were located in specific regions. right now, every part of the country is seeing increasing number of cases. 49 states actually are seeing increasing numr of cases. we're probably missing 70%, 80% of all the casesut there. so the real number of infections is substantially greater. and we're not doing the thingsto low this down. and so by the end of this monthx ct things to start looking much worse unless we act now so we can avoid a horrible december. but we've got to make some changes right now.ll

m: and we are on the cusp, of course, of this enormous national election, one that's really been so of transformed d deformed by this virus. every aspect of our sohas been. t and yet, president on the campaign trail recently has been saying that we'reounding the corner. he also suggested at ahaally recentlyhe might consider firing dr. anthony fauci. lp us put this into perspective. do you think, is this just bluster? the president sometimes is known to do. isor should we take ore seriously? dr. jha: so, first of all, i think it's worth noting that dr. fauci has been and continues to be the most important voice for fighting this pandemic. the president ca choose to get rid of dr. fauci from his coronavirus task force. that is his decision. he can choose not to listen to the most expert voices in the country. it's not clear that he cod fire him from his nih role. but either way, it so undermines the national confidence inic scientxpertise for the

president to even suest that he would fire someone like dr. fauci. i obv'sly hope that he doesn' carry through with it. it would leave the american people much worse off. william: all right. dr. ashish jha, brown university's school of public health. thanks as always. dr. jha: thank you. p judy: sident trump and former vice president joe biden teke their final pitch to inhe closing hours before election day, let's check in with both campaigns. first up, erin perrine. she is the communications director for president trump's re-election campaign and she has been on the trail with him for days. she jos us now from grand rapids, michigan. thank you for joining us. we know this is an uphill challenge for the president.

one of the challenges is he has lost support, according to the polls, among suburban women and among senior citizens. how do you make up for that? >> at this point, polls are pretty useless and we are looking at voter data modeling. . that data infrastructure we have in an -- conjunction with the republican national committee has been the cornerstone of the ground game. we are looking at voter turnout propensity and ballots left to be cast. when we look at that and key battleground stes, we are showing state after state that president trump is well on the way to victory. let's take when they started early voting, they were all over 12.5% on late. deling with democrat we cut it down to about 5% on a democrat lead. on election day 2016, they had a 9.5% lead, with votes that left to be cast,urontacts and

phoneee calls, we are sg our modeling is saying wesiill win wiscby 100,000 votes. thjudy: let me ask about a state the president won in 2016, arizona. a few days ago, the head of the republican senate campaign committee, why martha mcsally is ndbe and he said "the president is losing arizona, and think he and martha mcsally are tied together," acknowledging the president is ng down senator mcsorle how do you explain this? >> m polls don'tter at this point, it's about ballots cast. in arizona, we have cut substantially into a dt voting lead and our modeling is showing about 100,000 vote advantage for president tru, election day. at thi it doesn't matter at this point. what we see is our ground game. the door knocks, the pho calls

and grassroots army for president trump will help put us we have the candidate and the message. judy: excuse me, i want to quote ben ginsberg, long-time republican activist lawyer going back many seasons. he said in a column over the weekend, my column -- party is this is from someone wholi devod hi to the republican party. republican party. my life i'm a proud woman for trump. i'm proud to be part ofhi army for the president. i am proud to be part of hhis. changed this and i wait no modern candidate has ever ne. you will see record-breaking numbers and turns of black outu for president trump, latino turn out for president trump, a republicach the

presidenged the republican party for the better and i'm sorry other folks feel left behindy a president who has made us a bigger and barter -- judy: the president is suggesting that unless the results forle theion are known or declared tuesday, they may not be legitimate. does he know a number of elections have not been called until the succeeding days? in 2000, it took 37 days for the election to be clear. how aware is he of history with regard to elections? > i would point to the history and 2016 of president's first election were he won in the wee hours of the following morning whe he got to come out and make that acceptance speech as becominheext president of the united states. what democrats want to do this so chaos and call it a read barrage and a smokeat scrn. demoare already trying to so dips informaon -- so

disinformation and told the american people that they can't believwhat's in front their own eyes. it is democrats who are trying to accept election results tomorrow when president trump wins again. judy: we will leave it there. ron paris -- communications director for the trump campaign, thank you. and for the biden campaign's perspective, we're joined by symone sanders, one e the former vesident's senior advisors. thank you very much for being with us again. i don't know if youere able to hear that, but the trump campaign saying there are very there voters are there and theyt are doing whathey ll voter data modeling, a look at voter turnout propensityrynd they feel ood about it. >> well. [laughter] news to me. there is in fact a path, but i will note our campaign manager and election and legal expert

bob bauer d b aefing in this very room where they talked about our path and noted how much ground president trump and his campaign would need to me up if they are to be victorious in this election cycle. there is still a path. not to say we don't have it in the bag. that is why today, vice esident biden and senator harris, doug emhoff and dr. biden were barnstorming across the commonwealth of pennsylvania because we are fighting turn every vote. judy: penylvania. is that a state joe biden has to have in order to win this election? >> it's a state where we believe we are very competitive. i know s that the pol in a number of places across the country that we are up very far. i am here to tell voters and folks watching at home that this race is a lot tighter than the pundits might make it seem. i'm no longer a pundit, so i can talk about it.

we believe we have put togetr a very goo campaign operation and we are meeting the voters where they are, and we have hit our early vote goe s ande looking forward to seeing those returns come in tomorrow. we think we will win because we have done the work. judy: i hear even democrats saying they are concerned they look at president's travel itinerary. he's hittingive or six states a day many days. they see joe biden'schedule and he's not going to as many places and not having as many raies. they worry he's not showing as much energy as president trump. what do you say to those who point this out? >> first i would say what the president is doing is irresponsible and dangerous. he is holding super spreader events, deadly even. we know the virus israel. -- is real as the president shld well know, he got this

disease, covid-19. these are packed rallies where there is no social distancing and little mask wearing. 's endangering those folks not just at the rally but people in the surrounding areas. enwhat vice pres biden is doing is campaigning safely. we are reaching voters. i'mery excited about the work our campaign has done over the course of this weekend, folks were phone banking and texting, and our principles were out physically campaigning. we have held in-person and virtual events. i think the voters ite resonating what we are doing. i know the president would like folks to believe just because he touches down in the city and holds a rally with a couple hundred folks, that is indicative of some typ of super strategy. i'm here to say that coronavirus is still very real.

that is what folks are dealing with and we are confident in our strategy a i remember nouple weeks or months ago and folks suggested we should "get out of the basement." our strategy has worked. wekire t directly to the american people and we look forward to continuing to do that through tomorr. wjudyknow at some of these rallies, thousands are showing up in terms of numbers and that's why ask you that question. >> you got it. it's not safe. judy: simone sandersh withe joe biden campai, thank you very much. concerns about election securi, voter intimidation, foreign interference and the ability of election ofcials across the country to secure the vote have been a major focus of the 2020 election. r correspondents william brangham and nick schifrin have been following these issues closely and join me now.o

he both of you. william wt are election officials mainly worried about? william: there is certainly the concern about cyber intrusion, into the eleion infrastructure where the votes are cnted. so far, we have sn really minimal instances. the's another question of in person threatso voters. yamiche touched in her piece about these very aggressive events that happened over the weekend. the trump campaign has been recruiting with a call the trump darmy, these are volunteers who are being deputized to go to the polls tomorrow to watch out for what they think are irregularities. the question about that is, how much training do these people have? do they knew what the rules are? how much of this could bleed into voter intimidation? there areulpecific against

that/you could get into a lot of trouble sthe doj todd they will send coal monitoring group to 18 different states to look at this -- poll monitoring groups to different states to look at this. there are hotlines to alert authorities. for the most part, it i state and local police who respond to those instances. judy: so important to be watching all of this. . nick, you meanwhile have talked to the military. what are officials saying about the election? ck: theit primary responsib for election security will fall of the highest levels are trying not to get involved in the election. they are trying to avoid the president federally thing the national guard or invoking the insurrectionhi act, would

allow active-duty troops to conduct law enforcement duties in theoury in the case of postection violence. the national guard can be called up by governors. . al are seeing governors already call up the natiuard. we will see pulling workers in civilian clothing and unarmed. we will see guardsman helping with cybersecurity and a handful of statesond a the guard having a regional response unit in casete there is violence the election. that would be conducted again by federal authorities.the but in washington, d.c., the national guard is controlled by the pentagon and the predent. there's a lot of concern since this image in june. that's a d.c. national guard helicopter hovering over protests.

the d.c. national guard tells me today they have no intention of doing this again and that ty areot on any special standby for the election. judy: certainly feels like a higher level of security than anything we have seen bore an election. nick, you have also talked to the old -- intelligence community about election interference. what is the latest? nick: we got a tour from the department of homeland security cyber divisionem trying to asize this is the largest effort to secure a u.s. eleision in u.s.ry. the intelligence community is most concerned about russia, but also iran spreading misinformation, false claims votes were altered or the defacement of a website to spread false results. there's also worry about cyber attacks designed to temporarily disable voting computers.

but the intelligence community emphasizes there is no attack the vote nationally.uld alter a senior defense official tonight trying to instill that confidence as well, saying "there is no evidence a foreign adorsary has gained access election infrastructure, and given the size, complexity, and diversity of america's electora system, no country has the ability to change the outcome of the election," trying to instill confidence before election day. judy: certainly reassuring, at least to this point. nick schifrin, thank you. william, finally, domestically, a lot of concerns about violence and voter intimidation. what is your sense of that right now? william: that's right there there is this militia or so-called patriot groups and what they might do, whther they hear the presid is called -- the president's call to watch the polls and then there's this plot against

governor whitmer. there's been an increase in tensions. there was a report about a militi seeming group in oregon stopping people trying to drop off their ballots at a mail dropbox and questionin them. they were wearing weapons. according to all legalts exp that is clear and demonstrable voter intimidation and the police were notified.to it is importantress that we shouldn't let these isolated cases be exaggerated in any way. ase have talked about, tens of millions have already cast their balance. plyes, a lot of phad to wait in long lines, and that is a t'problem, bu's important to note we should not keep fear from -- we should not let ep fear -- we should not let fear keep people from the b. judy: so important wed rem people that by and large in the vast majority of cases, it is safe to go cast your ballot.

william brangham and nick schifrin, thank you both. the pandemic and potential record turnout are making for an election like never before. but what hpensfter the votes are cast? amna nawaz has more on how and when winners from each race will be called. >> welcome to this special election report.io amna: on eleday, viewers like you tune in for the answer to one key question -- who won?e thision, there's some uncertainty about when we'll have those results. >> it's really sort of math and analysis. that's the way i think of it. it it really is two plus two equals four. amna sally buzbee is the executive editor for the associated press. the ap has been counting t vote for almost two centuries >> now the associated press, we can report, has officially amna: "the newshour" has relied

on the ap count since the today more than 1500 news organizations do the same. >> we've actually been doing literally pony express, literally telegraph lines to states and reported for eastern newspapers. i mean that's one of the first thin the ap did. amna: voting's come a long way since then bu , which is covering the count and calling winners for about 7,000 races this yea-- the fundamentals haven't changed. >>ne we treat every singlef these race calls with the same level of standard. what we do is that we have for each state a race call who has done a lot of research, who has done a lot of studying, who understands our analytical models. an analyst based in washington, who is helping them look toughe ta, and then we have two decision desk editors who sign off on essentially every major call. it involvea lot of people. amna: what's different this

year? tens of millions of people have already voted, continuing a trend set inotion decades ago. back in 1972, only about 5% of americans voted early. by 2016, roughly 40% voted before election day. this year, some estimate that number could reach 60%, meaning more americans voting before election day than on it. how and when those votes are counted, depends on which state you're in. and the sheer volume could slow systems down, leading to later >> the weirdness of american politics is that many states actually count then-person on the dayin v first, and that's then they go back and they cnt e early voting. amna: wisconsin and pennsylvania, for example, don'y begin countingallots until election day. michigan begins counting the day before election day. florida and arizona both begin weeks before election day, and some states, like ohio and minnesota, accept ballots ter election day -- as long as they're postmarked by november 3rd.

it's been true in elections past that races are cled right after polls are closed, and some take many more hours or even days to call. do you expect that to be the same this year, or do you expect more races to take longer call? >> a very good question. i mean generally speaking, i would sa going to be exactly like in the past. e single biggest indicator is if a race is close, it is going almost always take longer to call. if a race is not close at all, we are not going to call any winner until we are sure there u no path for the trailing candidate to cat so if you've got a lot of uncounted early vote that could inact impact, you might ho off on a race call until that early vote is counted and released.amna: the changes in hw americans are voting mean some changes tohat you'll hear on election night. votes are counted, "the newshour" will report how muchec

of the ed vote is in. that's an estimate based on historical, registration, andng early voata. and even that number will change, as more of the vote is counted. also instead of exit polls -- which were limited to in-person interviews as voters left th polls we'll report information , from votecast, a survey of about 140,000 people leading up to election day.lu that is in-person, early, and mail-in voters. >> barack obama may be on the brink o becoming the black first president of t united states. amna: historically, the hallmark of election night has been calling the big race. and even though there have been years that hasn't happed on the night -- >> earlier in the evening, and then they changed their gore minds. oh my goodness mercy. amna: and in 2016 -- >>he donald trumpew

president. amna: -- sitll unclear how long it will take to determine the 2020 presidential winner. >> i think it rely depends on how close the race is. in 2004, the winner was not known until the next day. obviously in 2000, the winner wasn't known until december. and even in 2016, we called donald trump the winner i think at like 2:30 in the morning on wednesday. so some people have gone to bed. my parents had gone to bed for example. but if is you know, if it is a race where one person is very far ahead, then it is more likely that it will be called on election night or shortly after midnight. >> the democrats are trying to rig this election. amna: and despite president trump and others sowing doubt in the election process, buzbee says ap's record speaks for itself. >> we have called the winner of every presiden without fear or favor or partisanship or any opinion of any person in our organization. we've called it on the facts and year after year after year. election night in le. rs on

this is not a magic show. tsis is betting based on f and math and state law. and all we're doing is reporting at's happening. amna: work done with caution, precision, and most importantly -- reflecting e will of american voters. for the "pbs newshour," i'm amna judy: both presidential candidates are saying this is the most important election in modern history. but in most recent elections, about four in ten eligible voters stayed home. we talked to a fewo f the people e not voting this time around. >> my name is clifford genece and i'm from brooklyn, new york, currently residilo in denver, do. >> hi, i'm ellie pana. i am a greek american dual citizen, born and raised in america. but living in greece now >> my name irodger weir. >> my name is maryam alaniz. i'm not voting in this election.

>> i would have never thought that i would not be voting or would even csider not voting. i never, like, i've always like, it's my civic duty or it's my patriotic duty or even myke desire, want to do it. >> this year is the first year where i just don't feel like i don't feel represented or hed. >> earned it. no one has eard my vote. if i can't have a candidate that i feel is going actually represent me, then why should i vote? >> i don't feel like anyone is doing anything that's really going to create change and kind of bring us back to a place continual tensions and issues that we've been having for centuries. >> if there was a candidate that spoke to my concerns, spoke to my interes, shared my consider voting.ybe i would >> because i am overseas and i waited too late in the game for an absentee ballot, en it's like, okay, should i get on a

plane, fly to new york for a couple days, cast my ballot, then come back? because neither candidate inspires me that much. i'm like, i'll just sit this one out. >> if we live in the land of the free, the home of the brave and we have freedom to choose then , give me that freedom, give me the choice instead of just giving me these two steaming piles of waste on whicroto decide >> this past year there it's leen a really, really vola year. a lot of countries are facing political crises. and really it's a lot of young people like myself who a really, really dissatisfied and are realizing that, like, voting is not the only way to make our voices heard. if we want to actually organize ourselves, like we shouldn't

cede electoralism as our only option. we should be empowered to go to the streets. >> i understand that there ir pod there is a necessity in voting. but if it if i know that voting has no impact on what i want for change, then it's a it isn't it ltruistic act. 's just it's just doing it again just to do it. i think not voting and not participating sends more of a we're not happy. s that. we're not happy with what's going on. judy: and with that, amna is back with our politics monday analysts on this election day eve. amna: that's right judy. that team of courses amy walter of the cook political report and host of public radios politics with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. she also co-hosts the npr politics podcast. you just heard from tho nonvoters, people sharing the reasons they choose not to vote this year. . seems like the surgely voting indicates there will be fewer people this year. when it comes to groups your

watching, groups tora, critical for either vice president biden or president trump, who were you watchi? >> we have been talking a lot in this most recent time about the burbs, ever since trump's win in 2016. there's be tremendous movement among suburban voters that are true --rationally in the republican camp. we saw that we are seeing continuing deterioration for republicans in and arounduburbs across the country, texas a prime example. lbut i'm alking at how some of the voters that were traditionally in trump's coalition, older voters, men, especially white men and white noncollege voters, voters with a lower le al of educati are white, all of those in the polling, we have seen somfo deterioratiothe president. can he get those voters back?th e are the folks i will pay a

whole lot of attention to. f thes we know, each groups become different in different states. some states have ageigher percenf voters that are white. some states you are going to have a much mo robustla poon that is nonwhite, so voters of color playing a bigger role. amna: amy, you have an out with president trump recently, he continues to hold big rallies. what is his message to some of those groups in this final stretch? >> he makes a very explicit appeal to suburban women and older voters. it'll obvious and ham-handed -- it is a little obvious and ham-handed. it is like, hey demographic group i'm having trouble with, listen to me.

but it boils down to he is still running as an outsider even president of the ited states and he saying joe biden is an insider and establishment figure and that is the choice people need to make. the other te's running on is embodied in like the ones i covered over the weekend. these big, in person gatherings were a lot of people are not wearing masks and everyone is close together. the preden's message is get out, live your lives, don't , rry about the coronavirus are turning the corner. and he is saying joe biden will leep you locked up and can christmas.that is the pitch he'. the question we continue to have throughout the election season is, as the coronavirus c ae numbers ri hospitalizations rise, as deaths rise and there are new records for hospitalizations and cases, is that message that everything is fine and it will all go away, this that resonate with people, or are they living in fear of the coronavirus that would make

it not resonate? amna:er anohing to follow-up with you on. briefly, there's another of ths president'ssage about has to be some kind of result by the end of the night tomorro what do you make of that? >> he has been laying the groundwork for this for months. he was trashing the whole idea of absentee voting or vote male -- vote by mail even though they are basically the same thing. his supporters listened. more trump voters are expected to vote on election day itself. it's a really big gamble. they are betting that their ground game will turn out voters and that they will have this, as president trump calledt, a great red wave that comes through on electionay. aves a weird message to from a campaign of someone who expects to winrg, to beng

the system is rigged, especially when you are the president. it's not a common thing for a president of the united states to argue. amna: as we have noted, there have been a number of races over the year where we did not know the winner on election day. that has been true of other races, not just at the presidential level, but also down ballot races. and it comes to senate res, what are you tracking? >> the battle for control of the senate is the whole back -- ballgame when it comes to down ballot races, at least for me and what i'm attention to. the house is almost certain to stay in democratic hands. we know some of the states that closed the earliest on the east coast, like north carolina, also have really competitive senate races. hthe noarolina senate races between first-term incumbent

thom tillis and democrat carl kline. thom tillisas been behind cunningham for the entirety of the campaign and it is also a state of course that joe biden and donald trump are fighting hard to win. if we have the results of that lysenate race relatively en the evening, in other words if that can beou called, it tell us something about that. if democrat' win that, is a good sign they can pick up enough seats to flip control. if they lose that and the republican holds on, it doesn't mean that control of the senate is known, and republicans will keep it. but it is a better f sign them going into the rest of the. evening. amna: is there a particular thing you will be watching? a state or a group of voters? >> i'm looking at arizona and georgia and florida and north carolina, states in tlory that we w get results relatively

early. if joe biden is doing well in those states or has won those states, the focus on the upper midwest and pennsylvania won't that significant anymor because those states will show a real change in the tide. amna: and we will be tracking all of thosresults as they me in. that is our politics mondayin tm jous on isiothctindele thennews" will not call any of those races until they are fue y called by sociated press. we will have those and in special coverage tomorrow evening. thk you to you both. judy: that's right. we will not call them until the la does. pleaseto stay with us all tomorrow night for our special live coverage of election 2020. >> an historic election. >> this is the most important election in our lifetimes. >> i feel so powerful walking through that organs. -- audience. >> a test for democracy.

>> the white house transformed. >> a time like is, a trusted voice. >> a moment unlike any other. >> election 2020, a pbs "newshour" special, tuesday, november 3 beginni a6:00, 5:00 central. judy: join us. we will 'l be here. t's "the newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us again here tomorrow for r election coverage. thank you, please stay safe, and we will see you soo >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been proved by -- >> architect. beekeeper. a raymondjames financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. ellife planned. >> johnson & johnson. nser cellular. bnsf railway.

the kendeda fund, committed to meaningful work through investments and transformative aders and ideas. re at kendedafund.org. ♪ >> the alfred p sloan foundation, driven by the promise of great ideas. >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic ement, and the advanceme of international peace and security at carnegie.org. supported by the john dee and catherine t macarthur foundation, committed a to buildiore just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with ongoing support of ese institutions.

this program was made possible by the corporati for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> this is pbs "newshour" west from weta studios in washington and our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. by[captioning performehe national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪ >>

♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ y,-today on "cook's coun julia and bridnet make a streamlid recipe for cheesy stuffed shells. adam reveals his top pick for broiler-safe baking dishes, and bryan makes julia the perfect eggplant pecorino. that's all right here on "cook's country."