AP Explains How It Calls Election Races Across the US

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The Associated Press (AP) has been determining the winners of US elections for nearly 180 years. The AP compiles vote tallies from thousands of local election offices across the country to provide up-to-date results, even before states officially certify their final counts. The AP's team of election analysts carefully examines factors like outstanding ballots, voting patterns, and past election data to call races as soon as a clear winner emerges, rather than waiting for 100% of votes to be counted.

Why it matters

The AP's election calls provide critical information to the public in the period between Election Day and the official certification of results, which can take weeks. Without national standards for reporting election data, the AP's independent vote count and analysis helps ensure consistent, reliable information is available to voters and the media.

The details

The AP hires dedicated vote count reporters who work directly with local election officials to collect results as soon as they are available, submitting them electronically or by phone. The AP continuously updates its count as new results are released, sometimes making up to 21,000 updates per hour during a general election. In analyzing the data, the AP considers factors like outstanding ballots, voting methods, and historical trends to determine when a race can be called, even before 100% of votes are counted.

• The AP has been determining election winners since shortly after the news organization was founded nearly 180 years ago.