[Music]
hello and welcome to this election day
edition of CNN 10 I'm Ki wire it's
Tuesday November 5th
2024 election day who will become the
next president of the United States
today America decides the two main
candidates for US president have covered
some serious ground over the past few
days crisscrossing the country on the
hunt for votes the Republican former
president Donald Trump and Democrat
current vice president Kamala Harris
held similar schedules in the remaining
days of the campaign visiting key
contested States in their final Sprint
with their final pitches to American
voters this year vice president Harris's
team said she planned to vote by mail
while former president Trump is said to
be voting in person today of course
their race is hardly only one 34 of the
100 US Senate seats are up for
re-election this year all 435 voting
seats in the House of Representatives
are up for election as well 11 states
are holding gubernatorial or governor
elections and people are voting on
ballot measures which are laws or issues
that citizens decide themselves all of
this is happening today for those who
didn't already participate in early
voting and when it comes to the
presidential race the number we're
looking for is 200 70 that's how many
electoral votes the candidate needs to
win the presidency each state gets a
different number of these based on its
population most of the attention this
year will be on seven key Battleground
states that could go for either
candidate those are Arizona Georgia
Michigan Nevada North Carolina
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin with a total
of 94 electoral votes up for grabs in
that group as we've stated before though
we may not have the answer tonight some
states may still be counting ballots and
in a close race results from some states
may not be known for days so the results
of the election may not be either and
there are other complications with the
election process that may also delay
results now as the results come in on
Election night everybody's waiting for
news of the call now appears President
Reagan has won and he has called Reagan
and congratulated him that's when the
losing presidential candidate calls the
winner to concede the election a few
minutes
ago I called president bu president bar
OB congratulated Donald Trump to ensure
the smooth transition of power now of
course that's not always how it goes
down the vice president has recalled the
governor and retracted his concession
he's not ready to give this up just yet
election night is just the start of what
can actually be a very lengthy process
to officially pick the president now
let's back up for a second when you vote
for president you're not doing it
directly that's why a candidate can win
the popular vote but not the presidency
what you're actually doing you're voting
for electors those are people who are
appointed in each state to then choose
the president and the vice president
federal law says all election disputes
at the state level need to be wrapped up
by December 8th so the electors can cast
their ballots on December the 14th now
each state Governor has got to certify
the elector votes and then send them on
the Congress so the results aren't
official until the new Congress Council
those ballots on January the 6th now
it's usually a straightforward process
but let's say one of the candidates
questions the legitimacy of the state's
count the governor could choose not to
certify the elector votes or though this
is really unlikely the state legislature
could decide to contest the election and
send a different count to Congress
meaning Congress could end up with no
results or with competing results from
the same
state now that's a violation of federal
law so Congress would no longer have to
honor that State's electors at all now
the house and the Senate can then decide
which result is valid or throw out the
votes from that state all together now I
know you think I'm crazy but this
actually happened it was 1876 shortly
after the Civil War Samuel Tien won the
popular vote but there were 19 electoral
votes in dispute Congress had to step in
and broker a compromise Rutherford Hayes
was eventually named president in
exchange for the end of reconstruction
and the withdrawal of federal troops
from the south here's where things get
even more interesting if a candidate
still doesn't have a majority of
electoral votes by the end of this
process the 12th Amendment says the
House of Representatives decides who
will be president and each state
delegation gets one vote the Senate
picks a vice president
no matter what happens somebody has got
to take the oath of office on January
20th if both the president and the vice
president are still undecided the
Speaker of the House temporarily gets
that
job as we have said polls this year say
the race for the white house looks to be
very tight in the final Nationwide CNN
poll before votes are counted get this
the poll finds that 47% of likely voters
support vice president kamla Harris and
an equal 47 % support former president
Donald Trump how that election map plays
out will make all the
difference the data tell us it is the
closest race in the 10 this is my 10th
presidential election and there's never
been one this close according to the
numbers but they do sometimes break late
so you should prepare yourself for any
possibility of outcomes a a split back
and forth between the states or you
could prepare yourself that one
candidate does have late momentum and
runs up most of the Battleground States
either one of those scenarios a sort of
a split decision a boxing match or
somebody sweeping most of them is
possible so let's go through some of the
numbers and why do I say that let's
start in the blue wall States right look
at these forgive me for turning my back
just want to stretch this out a little
bit so people can see it more clearly at
home this is the CNN poll of polls
you're right there were some new New
York Times data out today there are some
hints of maybe a little bit of Harris
momentum in there the Sunday before the
election I always laps back into caution
mode right let's be careful let's let
people vote let's be respectful of the
process and let's look at the average of
the polls that's the safest way to do it
4946 in Wisconsin so you could Harris is
a lead that's so close it's you know
that's a statistical tie but 4846 in
Michigan 4848 actual an actual tie in of
course Battleground Pennsylvania so let
me just shrink this down and take it off
to the side a little bit and put it down
here and then we'll do this one so
that's the blue wall States what about
the sun Bel States right so forgive me
again I just want to stretch it out
North Carolina Trump with a onepoint
edge that's the statistical tie no clear
leader Georgia same thing Trump 49
Harris 47 so the Trump campaign say
weree a little bit I would say then that
means who turns out is going to affect
that in Arizona again Trump consistently
has had a tiny lead in Arizona Small
lead in Arizona 4947 again uh certainly
advantaged Trump by the numbers but
within reach for the vice president it's
that close so let's take this literally
as in let's assume it played out exactly
like our averages say on the Sunday
before right so you have Harris gets
Wisconsin Harris gets Michigan
Pennsylvania is an actual tie right
Donald Trump would get North Carolina in
that scenario there we go make it ready
red Donald Trump will get Georgia in
that scenario make it red Donald Trump
gets Arizona in that scenario make it
red where does that leave you look at
this we don't have any recent polling we
don't have enough to have a poll of
polls in Nevada so we're leaving that
one as a tossup but under that scenario
just giving them as we have them in our
Battleground poll of polls right now 262
for Trump 251 for Harris doesn't matter
really who would win Nevada in that case
it would get Harris to 257 it would get
Trump to 268 so let's for the sake of
this argument leave it yellow as a
tossup because the point is
it all comes down to Battleground
Pennsylvania in this scenario if
everything plays out exactly the way it
averages out right now whoever wins
Pennsylvania wins 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue and gets to be president of the
United States all right Superstars thank
you for watching this special election
edition of CNN 10 for the latest
upto-date info as the polls close
tonight you can head to cnn.com and
we'll see you right back here tomorrow
but before I go my favorite part of the
show our shout out goes to College
Preparatory School of America Lumbard
Illinois we see you and we appreciate
all your efforts to be part of the show
and you should be very proud of every
effort you put in each day to be the
best you can be I'm Coy wire thanks for
watching CNN 10