Transcript: David Becker on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Nov. 1, 2026

November 1, 2026 / 1:11 PM EST / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with David Becker, CBS News election law contributor and the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Nov. 1, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And we're joined now by our CBS News election law contributor and the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, David Becker. David, good to have you here. So each state- they have their own systems, their own timeline for poll closings–

CBS NEWS ELECTION LAW CONTRIBUTOR DAVID BECKER: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: –and for vote counting. Some places, early votes already in, but when will we know results?

: Well, we're going to know results, not because of the factor of how fast states are counting- look, the election officials in every county in every state are going to be working all night long trying to get the ballots reported out. The biggest variable is how close the elections are, because when you talk to someone like Anthony Salvanto, who will tell you if it's really close, they just need more ballots in before…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/world/