Transcript of What to know about mail-in ballots as Republicans challenge mail-in voting in battleground states

Three more states are making mail-in and absentee ballots available to voters today: Montana, Arkansas, and Alaska. Voting by mail is now underway across most of the country, and in some key battleground states, the process is being challenged by Republicans. Cnn's Paula Reid went to North Carolina to take a closer look at those lawsuits and how mail-in voting works.

We're here at the Wake County Board of Elections Operations Center, where in just a few minutes, they're going to begin processing mail-in ballots that have already arrived. This process is open to the public, it's open to the media. So let's head inside and see how it works. This box contains one of the first batches of mail-in ballots to be processed in the county. Officials review each envelope to make sure it's properly sealed and signed. Look at those instructions. Follow them carefully. Sometimes there's missing witness information or missing notary information or the voted in the line.

So these are things that we catch.

You can see behind me, the committee is hard at work. They are processing ballots that have already been mailed in. This is a bipartisan committee, two Democrats, two Republicans, and a chair appointed by the governor. Roughly a dozen members of the public came to watch the proceedings. So once ballots are reviewed and approved by the Board of Elections, they come back here to this goldfish bowl situation where they are then further processed. And I'm whispering here because this is very quiet. This work may seem mundane, but these envelopes, and whether they have been accurately filled out, could decide the election. As Democrats have traditionally been more likely to use mail-in ballots, Republicans have already made this the subject of litigation in multiple battleground states. In Pennsylvania, a pivotal state in the 2024 race, the RNC has sued to challenge procedures that allow voters to fix issues like missing signatures or incorrect dates so their ballots can be counted. Concerned, the Harris Walls campaign back the DNC and state Democratic Party quickly intervening. Ultimately, the State Supreme Court rejected this challenge and another, over counting ballots that arrive in envelopes without handwritten dates or have incorrect dates.

But these types of issues could be revived after the election. We knew that he would try his same old tactic politics again.

And in fact, we've already begun to see some litigation to try and make it harder for certain people's votes to count.

Officials are working to educate voters about how to properly fill in their mail-in ballot through videos like this. Make sure you sign it and write the current date in the right spots on the larger envelope. Back in North Carolina, election officials are preparing for the litigation over these ballots to ramp up, especially if former President Trump is behind in the vote count.

If you have close elections, I think both major parties are lawyered up and they're ready to go to court if they feel like there's something to be gained strategically from it.

How likely do you think it is that the election, anything related to North Carolina, will end up in court?

I think it depends on how close it is. That's always the case.

Paula Reid, CNN, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Our thanks to Paula Reid for that report. I'm back now with our political panel. Guys, there's a new interview in the New York Times with our CNN contributor, Lulu Garcia-Narvaro, in which she talks to JD Vance, and she asks him five times whether Trump lost the 2020 election. And he repeatedly dodged that question from Lulu. Let's take a listen to some of that. Do you believe he lost the 2020 election?

I think that Donald Trump and I have both raised a number of issues with the 2020 election, but we're focused on the future.

Senator, yes or no? Okay. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election? Let me ask you a question.

Is it okay that big technology companies censored the Hunter Biden laptop story?

Gloria, that exchange went on like that for two more minutes. So what does that say to you?

Well, it says to me that he is speaking for one person, mainly, and that's Donald Trump. His vice presidential candidate cannot admit that Donald Trump lost the election. We saw this in the vice presidential debate where he refused to tell Tim walls that Trump had lost, and he's going to continue doing this. I mean, that's a perfect example of Stonewalling, and he's not going to budge. He's trying to pivot and turn the question back on her and the media and Hunter Biden's laptop. But it's a simple question that deserves a simple answer, and she didn't get it.

Actually, there's been a couple of moments when Trump himself has admitted that he lost by a whisper, and then he would walk that back later. Mandela, there was this long-awaited moment on the campaign trail when President Obama would actually start getting out there for Kamala Harris. We saw that yesterday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But there was also another moment where he essentially scolded Black men who were hesitant about supporting Kamala Harris. Let's take a listen to some of that.

I'm speaking to men directly.

Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president. And so now you're thinking about sitting out or even supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you? That's not acceptable. Mandela, do you think there's truth to what Obama was saying there, and do you think that that message will have an effect?

I think President Obama is answering America's dad era, especially as it relates to talking to the voting population and people who might be hesitant. This is a real lesson for folks who are thinking about voting for Donald Trump or, for whatever reason, are considering not showing up for Kamala Harris as they would for somebody else. The reality is Donald Trump has been not just a threat. In act, in service, he has been completely against everything that the people that I represented as a state legislator and the communities that I represented as lieutenant governor, everything we stand for, everything that would help improve our quality of life he stood for, no less than undermining our democracy itself. So I'm grateful that President Obama, as the messenger he is, said what he said about this issue, someone who has served as president, someone who has seen his successor completely try to not just destroy his legacy, but destroy everything that he sought to do to help people in this country. And with Kamala Harris and all her qualifications and achievements, it is unfortunately a little bit harder for her to make the case with just a sliver of men.

It's not, not to say not all men, but unfortunately, we're at a point where it is enough where this could be mission critical.

Yeah, Obama is saying this because he's seeing some trend lines, and Trump has been trying to appeal to young black men in particular in this campaign. But a pure researcher told the Philadelphia Enquire, quote, Black people under 50 are virtually no more likely to vote Republican in 2024 than they were 30 years ago. So, Scott, is this less about Trump and more about those voters staying home?

Well, I do think the Republicans and the Trump campaign specifically believe they are going to make inroads with a lot of men, male voters of all races, white, black, Hispanic, you name it. And so I think the Democrats, quite obviously, when you look at their campaign activity and their spending activity, are pretty freaked out about it. I don't know that Barack Obama's message was particularly inspiring. When Democrats get upset that they can't convince you of something, or they're disappointed in you, they begin to insult you. You're stupid, or you're a misogynist, or you're racist, or you're a knuckle drager, or whatever. I mean, that's essentially what Obama was saying to these people, Why aren't you on board with Kamala Harris? I'm so disappointed in you. I'm here to scold you. And there are good reasons why they may not be on board with Harris or the Democratic Party. I don't really see them as having a conversation with a persuasion conversation with them. I see them as saying, Shut up and show up. And I'm just not certain that's going to be persuasive this time around. So if Trump can cut into some of those margins with male voters that are black or Hispanic or working class all over the country, good for him.

And we've never heard Trump insult anyone either. I mean, he's out there calling Kamala Harris dumb and questioning her intelligence every single day. But to your point, Scott, and at least the first part of your point, there is data to back that back. Republican Polster, Sarah Longwell, did confirm that to Politico that Trump is making inroads with all male voters across the board. She said that the more bro-y male-dominated campaign that he's running does seem to be resonating. Gloria, what's the impact of that?

Well, look, I think we may see the largest gender gap we've ever seen in this election, particularly if you look at the numbers closely between young women and young men. When Donald Trump came out and said, I'm going to be your protector, I think there were a lot of young women in particular who were offended by that. They didn't need a protector. Actor. I think that we're going to see a huge gender gap. I mean, the abortion issue, of course, plays into this. But as Scott says, I mean, Donald Trump has been going out of his way to appeal to men, from Hulk Hogan at the convention to young men. I think what Obama was doing, and yeah, he was a little scolding about it, he did play the dad role there, was saying, Wait a minute, guys, take a closer look. It may work and it may not work. I mean, she's got a lot of work to do with men, and she's trying, both white and black.