In states where the information is available, they look at the vote by type of ballot: cast in person at polling places, or in advance by mail or in person. They study the incoming vote county by county. Together, they are looking at far more than just the overall vote totals. The editors on AP’s Decision Team sign off on every race call for president, U.S. Senate and governor, and elections for the U.S. Race callers collaborate with analysts who focus on statewide races, such as those for U.S. In general elections and presidential primaries, the Decision Team also has access to data from AP VoteCast, our wide-ranging survey of the American electorate. They include AP’s vote count, which it has conducted in every U.S. Q: When does AP call a race?Ī: AP’s Decision Team has a wide range of tools at its disposal to analyze the state of a race. They know before polls close how each county and congressional district in their state has voted in past elections, the state’s past results for voting by mail and early in-person voting, and the state’s history of counting votes – how many are counted after polls close and how many are counted in the days after.Įvery election year, race callers also complete extensive training sessions designed to review and refresh the analytical skills required to make accurate decisions on election night. They also review and rely on information from AP’s election research group. They work with AP’s political and government reporters to sharpen their understanding of campaigns and track coverage of races from AP member news organizations and customers. Their work begins months before the day of an election, as they study election rules and recount requirements and track changes and updates to election law. Most have called declared winners in a state for many years. In doing so, we will make clear that AP has not yet declared a winner and explain the reason why we believe the race is too early or too close to call.Ī: AP’s race callers are employees who are deeply familiar with the states where they declare winners. Should a candidate declare victory – or offer a concession – before AP calls a race, we will cover newsworthy developments in our reporting. Our team does not engage in debate with any campaign or candidate. Race calls made by other organizations have no bearing on when AP declares a candidate the winner. 7.ĪP’s race callers and Decision Team are driven entirely by the facts. In the 2020 presidential election, AP declared Joe Biden the winner four days after Election Day – at 11:26 a.m. Many races are won on election night, but it’s not uncommon for it to take a few days – an in rare instances, a few weeks – to reach that point. Only when AP is fully confident a race has been won – defined most simply as the moment a trailing candidate no longer has a path to victory – will we make a call. Bush and Al Gore – we stood behind our assessment that the margin in Florida made it too close to say who won. AP did not call the closely contested race in 2000 between George W. ![]() If our race callers cannot definitively say a candidate has won, we do not engage in speculation. ![]() This hallmark of AP’s Election Day news report is produced by a dedicated team of election analysts, researchers and race callers who make up our Decision Team.ĪP does not make projections or name apparent or likely winners. general election, The Associated Press declared winners in more than 7,000 races – starting with the White House and reaching down the ballot to every seat in every state legislature.
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