The following is the transcript of the interview with David Becker, CBS News election law contributor and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, which aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on November 1, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re joined now by our CBS News election law contributor and Center for Election Innovation and Research Executive Director David Becker. David, I’m glad to have you here. So each state– they have their own systems, their own timetable for closing polls–
DAVID BECKER, CBS NEWS ELECTION LAW CONTRIBUTOR: That’s right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: –and for the vote count. In some places, early voting has already taken place, but when will we know the results?
: Well, we’re going to know the results, not because of how quickly the states are counting the results. Look, election officials in every county in every state are going to be working all night trying to get the ballots posted. The biggest variable is how close the election is, because when you talk to someone like Anthony Salvanto, who will tell you if the election is really close, they just need more ballots before they can call to say for sure that the person in second place can’t get in – can’t win the race. So in many states where we’ve never seen a close election before, we’re very likely going to see a close election, and that could take days. On a day like in a state like Alaska in particular, where they’re already way behind Eastern time, they’re voting remotely everywhere. They’re going to bring in ballots from everywhere to count them. And if the election is really close, it could take several days. It’s normal. And everything that happens in election offices across the country is under observation. There are Republican and Democratic observers at all times monitoring the counting of ballots, the opening of absentee ballots, et cetera. So people should know that nothing is happening. This is just a normal process and the election could be close. This may take a few days.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And who are these monitors?
: Typically party appointees, whether the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, who represent candidates on numerous occasions or campaigns. This is very normal. That’s how it was in 2020. Even during COVID, there were literally thousands and thousands of monitors and observers everywhere. The parties are therefore well represented. They see everything that’s happening, and as soon as the results come in and we see them, they know about them.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Let’s talk about Alaska. This is a preferential vote. It’s a little different that way. This morning on CNN, Republican Dan Sullivan, an outgoing senator, said he would accept the results of the election if he lost. As we discussed last Sunday on this show with Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Justice Department is seeking to prevent the certification of a possible Democratic victory because of the poll’s confusion with what the New York Times reported was this Democratic scheme to stack ballots in a confusing way to disadvantage the senator. Yesterday, just to let everyone know, the Republican-led state government of Alaska urged a federal judge to reject…
: That’s correct.
MARGARET BRENNAN: –the DOJ lawsuit. They said it was baseless.
: That’s correct.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So shouldn’t this be resolved by a federal judge before Election Day?
: It really is, and I mean, it would be nice if a federal judge threw out the DOJ lawsuit, as so many courts across the country have done in these last-minute lawsuits that were filed seemingly, primarily to create a sense of chaos. They’re failing, but in Alaska in particular, it would be nice if we got a federal court ruling. We could get one, but Alaska courts have ruled on this, including the Supreme Court.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s right.
: They ruled that both Dan Sullivans could be placed on the ballot. We showed… saw the ballot. You have already shown the ballot. It’s pretty clear that the Alaska Division of Elections, led by the lieutenant governor-governor, a Republican, has done a very good job of making things as clear as possible. And with this ranked-choice voting, if – even if someone was still unsure and ranked Dan Sullivan first and second, in the runoff, all of those votes would go to the – to – whichever candidate got the most, presumably the incumbent senator. I am not surprised that Senator Sullivan says he will accept the results. Of course, this is about Alaska defending its state sovereignty and its right and authority over elections in the State of Alaska, as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. It’s good to see Alaska’s Republican governor and Republican lieutenant governor defending their sovereignty as forcefully as they are.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But even the Democrats, as I said before, said it looked bad. It looks like a dirty swimming pool. Looks like they’re playing dirty.
: There is a dirty swimming pool. Both sides do this. This shouldn’t happen. Right now in Nevada there are two candidates named Ford running for governor, we don’t know what the circumstances are. One of them is the leading Democratic candidate. We saw Elon Musk fund Cornel West’s presidential campaign in 2024. This sort of thing shouldn’t happen, I think there’s no doubt about it, but it’s unfortunately pretty normal politics. And the Alaska courts and Alaska state law have already ruled on this.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There are other states, California, Washington state, where we’re seeing increased scrutiny from the federal government. What are you monitoring here?
: Well, what’s really remarkable is that there is so much last-minute litigation alleging non-citizens on the voter rolls, alleging problems with the process coming from the DOJ. This Ministry of Justice has been in power for almost two years. They have full powers from the federal government to investigate any claim. And as Governor Shapiro told you, when they made political statements about this in the press, when they were asked to show their work, they held the ball. They have not shared information with California, Pennsylvania or other states. And now they’re filing these last-minute lawsuits, and they’re being rejected outright by every court, including by Trump-appointed judges in most cases. I think that’s a good sign. I think this is a good sign that the administration is running out of gas in its efforts to sow election confusion, and the courts are holding firm. And above all, electoral officials are holding firm. As you and I speak right now, the last time I checked, more than 53 million ballots had already been cast across the country.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Wow.
: We’ll see, in fact the record for a mid-term election is 118 million votes cast. We’re definitely going to get well over half before Election Day. We could see record participation. It seems to be highly possible. We’re certainly seeing it in places like Texas, where 7.7 million ballots have already been cast as we speak.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Wow.
: And their balance sheet for a midterm election is 8.375 million in total. So they’re about 600,000 ballots away from their highest turnout ever, and we’re just days away from the election. Election day hasn’t even arrived yet. It’s remarkable.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s a fascinating level of participation.
: Yeah.
MARGARET BRENNAN: David, thank you for analyzing it. And I know we’ll be talking to you in the days and weeks to come. We’ll come back in a moment.
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