With Election Day just 40 days way, 11 states have already opened their polls to those residents wishing to cast their ballot early. “And absentee ballots are being mailed now in 28 states and Washington, D.C.,” reported CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, “Early access to the polls in Iowa was not lost on the Clinton campaign today.” And neither was it lost on CBS and their reporter Nancy Cordes who touted Hillary Clinton’s get out the vote campaign in the crucial swing state.
Cordes started her report of with a clip of Clinton at a rally yelling, “Are you ready to go to the polls?” That clip was followed up with footage of Clinton campaign volunteers herding supporters from the rally to a close by polling location. “Vote this way! Come over here,” one could be heard shouting to the crowd. “Let’s go vote,” another exclaimed.
“The Clinton campaign led supporters directly from her rally in Des Moines to a polling site four blocks away,” stated Cordes, “36 States and DC now offer some form of early voting, either in person or by mail.” And according to her “40 percent of Iowa voters took advantage of it in 2012.” She eluded to what it could mean for Clinton since it was, “enough for the Obama campaign to know even before Election Day that he had won there.”
The CBS reporter explained that Clinton’s massive GOTV effort was to combat a built-in advantage that Donald Trump had in the state:
With 26,000 volunteers in Iowa alone, the Clinton campaign is hoping its superior ground game will make up for a demographic disadvantage. A larger share of working class white voters than any battleground state. They tend to favor Trump, who she painted today as a rich miser who might not pay taxes, like the Clintons do.
Closing out her report, Cordes touted the Clinton campaign’s early voter strategy as a whole. “The Clinton campaign's strategy in early voting states is to use volunteers to convince less-reliable voters -- and they know who they are-- to cast their ballots now,” she seemed to warn, “That way, the campaign only has to worry about turning out its most motivated supporters on Election Day.”
Transcript below:
CBS
Evening News
September 29, 2016
6:38:33 PM Eastern
SCOTT PELLEY: Now, to the presidential campaign. We think of Election Day as just under six weeks away, but in reality, Americans in 11 states are already voting, and absentee ballots are being mailed now in 28 states and Washington, D.C. Early access to the polls in Iowa was not lost on the Clinton campaign today, and Nancy Cordes is there.
[Cuts to video]
HILLARY CLINTON: Are you ready to go to the polls?
NANCY CORDES: November 8 is still 40 days away, but in Iowa, the election started today.
CLINTON VOLUNTEER 1: Vote this way! Come over here! You can go right on 2nd Avenue!
CORDES: The Clinton campaign led supporters directly from her rally in Des Moines to a polling site four blocks away. 36 States and DC now offer some form of early voting, either in person or by mail. More than 40 percent of Iowa voters took advantage of it in 2012, enough for the Obama campaign to know even before Election Day that he had won there.
CLINTON VOLUNTEER 2: Let’s go vote!
CORDES: With 26,000 volunteers in Iowa alone, the Clinton campaign is hoping its superior ground game will make up for a demographic disadvantage.
POLLING STAFFER: You’re going to put that inside the voter affidavit.
CORDES: A larger share of working class white voters than any battleground state. They tend to favor Trump, who she painted today as a rich miser who might not pay taxes, like the Clintons do.
CLINTON: But then it's probably true he hasn't paid a penny in federal taxes to actually support our military, or our vets, or our schools, or our roads, or our education systems.
[Cuts back to live]
CORDES: The Clinton campaign's strategy in early voting states is to use volunteers to convince less-reliable voters -- and they know who they are-- to cast their ballots now. That way, the campaign only has to worry about turning out its most motivated supporters on Election Day, Scott.
PELLEY: Nancy Cordes traveling with Hillary Clinton. Nancy, thank you.
