Here, Washington Bureau Chief Sally Buzbee, explains why AP plays such a critical role for both the public and the press.
How does AP count the vote?
On election night, AP assigns stringers in nearly every county in the U.S.,
and in towns and cities in New England, to gather vote tallies from
county clerks and other officials. They phone in the results to AP vote
tabulation centers, where an AP election worker enters the results. Web
teams check for election results on county and state sites, and the AP
also processes direct feeds of election results in some states from
secretaries of state, and from some counties. The returns are filtered
through myriad checks and verifications before being transmitted to AP
members and customers, and ultimately the public. The results are
updated throughout the evening.
AP’s vote count operation, headed by Director of Election Tabulations and Research Don Rehill, is considered by many news organizations to be the definitive source of race results. In fact, formal government announcements of results often don’t come for weeks after an election.
Who makes the call?
Experienced journalists in each state are responsible for calling races.
They’ve got on-the-ground knowledge that no other national news
organization can match, as well as detailed data on voting history and
demographics. The race callers in each state are assisted by experts in
AP’s Washington bureau who examine exit poll numbers and votes as they
are counted. A “decision desk” in Washington, overseen by myself and
Political Editor David Scott, and headed by David Pace, AP news editor for special projects and elections, has final signoff on all high-profile calls.
When do you make the call?
In states with exit polls, we call top-of-the ticket races at
poll close only if we’re confident the leader’s margin is sufficient to
overcome any potential error in the exit poll, which is conducted by
Edison Research for AP and the broadcast members that make up the
National Election Pool (NEP).
In races that we can’t call at poll close, we make the call when we’re convinced that the trailing candidate can’t catch the leader, given the size of the outstanding vote and the voting history of those counties. We never make a call if the margin between the top two candidates is less than the threshold when a state would require a recount.
This is a key detail: AP does not call any race until all the polls in that jurisdiction have closed.
Does speed trump accuracy in the social media age?
Speed has always been important in elections, but AP values accuracy above all else. We’re proud of our long history
and well-earned reputation of being the gold standard for election
calls. For example, in 2012, AP called 4,653 contested races with a
remarkable accuracy rate of 99.9 percent.
Calling races, from the national level to state legislatures, is a
vital function AP provides to members and customers. Being able to
accurately and quickly call those statewide and state-level races is
critical to their ability to provide strong election night coverage for
their audiences around the world.
Where can I find AP’s election coverage?
Member newspapers, websites, national and local broadcasters
and major portals all carry AP election results, as well as text
stories, photos, videos and interactives. The AP Mobile news app features election coverage from AP as well as member newspapers. Our reporting and statistics also drive conversations on social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Does AP tweet results?
The AP and our individual journalists share information that’s already been reported on the wire on Twitter and Facebook,
but we don’t break news there. We’re going to share our calls in all
races for U.S. Senate and governor from @AP and @AP_Politics on Twitter,
but in a way that ensures the calls reach our members and customers
first.
