CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Interview with Chris Sununu

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Governor Chris Sununu is with me now. And Governor, I appreciate your time. Thanks so much for being with me on this Friday. So, I know last fall you vetoed a bill that would have let voters vote by mail. Back then, you know, your comment was sort of that widespread absentee voting would erode part of what makes New Hampshire so unique, but obviously now you think it's necessary to have a change. Why?

[22:20:07]

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): Well, obviously the COVID-19 pandemic changes everything for everyone. So, the bill I vetoed last year is probably a bill I would still veto because that would change the rules permanently to a no-excuse absentee battle process.

You know, here in New Hampshire with our first in the nation primary, we take that incredibly seriously. We have a lot of integrity in the process and we let it go off without a hitch every single year.

So, we always have about 10 percent that vote absentee. This year we understand that regardless of where we are in the epidemic, we'll likely have a greater number than 10 percent, could be 20, 30 percent.

And all we've really done is expanded guidelines, the secretary of state and the attorney general just expanded the guidelines where you check that box that says that you want to get an absentee ballot for disability or health issue.

And, again, you don't want public health to stand in the way of somebody's ability to cast a ballot. That's what this is all about. These are very extraordinary times. So, we've stretched that and opened that up just a little bit. It's just absentee voting for this year and then we go back to a system that has worked very, very well and tried and true for decades.

BURNETT: So, you know, obviously we all saw the pictures out of Wisconsin, governor, right? The health department now there is tracking new cases to see if the virus was spread among voters. You know, we saw the lines. People waiting for two and a half hours in the rain trying to social distance as best they could.

But you know, it was pretty unsettling to see those images, given what the rest of the country and they are also going through when they weren't waiting in line to vote. Did those images and those scenes affect your thinking on this?

SUNUNU: No, because Wisconsin is very different than New Hampshire. I mean, we take our elections incredibly seriously. Not that they don't, we just run things very, very differently here.

So, we'll have a lot of time between now and September and November. I mean, they were really crunched trying to figure out what to do a couple of weeks into a massive pandemic.

So, in terms of presenting guidelines or new protocols for town halls or polling locations, we'll have a lot of time to be able to manage that, kind of go through the processes. There will be funds out there that will allow our towns and polling locations to step up for the potential extra absentee ballots that may come in --

BURNETT: Yes.

SUNUNU: -- or take time to, again, practice, you know, spacing out the polling locations or practicing the different social and physical distancing that has to happen as part of that process.

BURNETT: So, a lot of people may think about what you're saying and say this makes complete sense, and it is obvious. Others might note you're a Republican governor and what you're saying is very different than what we're hearing from the president. Just to remind anybody who did not hear him say it at the briefing,

here's what he said on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Mail ballots, they cheat, OK? People cheat. Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country because they're cheaters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: What's your response to that, governor?

SUNUNU: Again, you know, just speaking for New Hampshire, we have a very secure tradition when it comes to absentee voting. People take it very seriously. We have a way of making sure that there is not fraud within the absentee system. We've never had real issues around that whatsoever.

So, by expanding it a little bit and allowing people to have a little more flexibility during this pandemic makes perfect sense for the state of New Hampshire. I can't speak for other states and where there might be fraud and issues in other states. Here in New Hampshire we get it right.

BURNETT: But you guys aren't, you're not full of a bunch of cheaters?

SUNUNU: No.

BURNETT: So.

SUNUNU: No. Look, I'm not going to comment on the president's comments. You know, I can only speak for what happens here in New Hampshire. There's a reason we are the first in the nation primary. There is a reason you get the results at night. There is a reason we don't have a lot of the issues a lot of other states have.

You have a pen, a piece of paper, there is a ballot, it gets counted that night. We get it right every time. We're very proud of that. And that gives that integrity in the system that public trust that we've built and earned over decades allows us to, again, to make this slight change where we're just expanding a little bit, allowing towns to expand a little bit what they offer for an absentee ballot with assurance that there won't be fraud or any of those issues that might be discussed nationally or in other states.

BURNETT: So, your stay-at-home order in your state when it comes to actual where you are right now is in place until May 4th. You're obviously saying you're going to give people the option even in November, no matter what the situation is, there are going to be a great many people absent a vaccine that is been wildly given out in the population which is going to happen by then are not going to feel comfortable returning to normal life.

The president says he has great authority, but you are ultimately the chief executive of your state. That's your job to make a decision. Your state epidemiologist says your peak in New Hampshire is still several weeks away. Has there been a change in that or do you anticipate extending your order past May 4th?

SUNUNU: No. Again, I plan on probably extending a lot of the orders past May 4th even though the surge may come. Remember, it's not going to be a smooth bell curve that you see. This is going to be a long tail here. We're going to be in this for months possibly bouncing around.

And hopefully the numbers continue to drop, but they're not going to drop to zero, as you mentioned without a vaccine. My guess is sometime over the next few months. Hopefully we see some type of pharmaceutical intervention that help suppress the viral spread and suppress the symptoms in the elderly population to a place and, again, get that mortality rate much farther down than it is right now.

[22:25:06]

That's what this is all about. It's all about a run on the healthcare system. That's why we stretch and bend that curve, as you know.

So, bending that curve means really stretching it out over a much longer period of time. Will it go to September or November? It very well may. And either way, whether you -- unless you get down to zero, you're still going to be in a position where it's reasonable to assume that people are going to have a lot of fear and trepidation, potentially, especially the elderly, about getting up and going out to their polling places they've been year after year.

This year is very different. And so then, we as governors have to operationalize, not just the opportunities coming out of Washington with funding, but operationalize the opportunities we have to create for that individual.

That's what this is all about. It isn't about a big government solving everybody's problems, it's about actually empathizing and realizing what does the individual go through on voting day, or where do they go when they go to the supermarket, what do they go through when they have to decide whether to go to church or not and congregate with large crowds.

And by doing is that as a governor on a localize level, we can make the best decisions for the citizens.

BURNETT: All right. Governor Sununu, I appreciate your time. Thanks very much.

SUNUNU: Thank you.

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