Inside How the AP Calls Elections

You'll know who your next president is soon—meaning hours or days. Newser will announce winners in various races when they're declared by the Associated Press, which has been calling US elections for 176 years. All about the AP's process:

• How counting is done: Some 4,000 reporters stationed in state and local election offices around the country gather vote counts from direct feeds, websites, even counties' Facebook pages. They then report to a team of 800 that verifies the numbers. Separately, a quality assurance team "makes sure we're as confident as we can be that the results are accurate," AP Vice President and Head of News Strategy and Operations David Scott tells the Guardian.

• Calling a race: Since there aren't usually official counts of votes cast, the AP estimates turnout to gauge how much of the vote has been counted at a given time. "The question we ask ourselves before we declare a winner is: Is there any chance the trailing candidate can catch the leader? If there's a chance of that, then we don't call it. We wait," says Scott.
• AP VoteCast: The outlet also uses a state-by-state survey of registered voters to gauge opinions. "Data from AP VoteCast makes it possible in some cases to call noncompetitive or less competitive races as the polls close or shortly afterward with the initial release of votes," according to the AP.
• No debate: "AP's Decision Team is driven entirely by the facts," per a statement. "Race calls made by other organizations have no bearing on when AP declares a candidate the winner. Our team does not engage in debate with any campaign or candidate."
• Reporting delays: While some states, like Florida, prioritize efficiency in election counts, other states, like California, prioritize maximum participation and count mail ballots postmarked by Election Day, lengthening the time it takes to report results. But overall, "how long it takes us to know who the next president will be is entirely dependent on how close the race is," Scott tells the Guardian.

(More Election 2024 stories.)