In the last US election, after the Associated Press (AP) and the US cable news network announced that the presidential election was in favor of Joe Biden, Former President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter:: “Since when does Lamestream Media start announcing who the next president will be? We’ve all learned a lot in the last two weeks!”
However, presidential elections in the United States are, in principle, carried out by the media. Why does this happen? And how do media companies conduct elections? Let us explain.
long tradition
The Associated Press, which has been the definitive standard for determining U.S. election races for decades, explicitly says it will “declare a winner,” and “will not make any predictions or make any predictions about the clear winner or likely winner.” “This is not to name a winner.”
The AP’s call is independent and professional, with “our decision-making team having no discussions with any campaign or candidate,” the paper said, and there is little disagreement.
“If there is no way for subsequent candidates to catch up, and there is no legal or mathematical way, then the race is essentially decided,” Associated Press Editor-in-Chief Sally Buzbee wrote in a 2020 New York Times article. said in an interview. And if there is uncertainty or if there are enough votes to change the outcome, we will stop the race. ”
Has the Associated Press always called US elections? What about other organizations?
The Associated Press has called elections since 1848, when Zachary Taylor was sworn in as the 12th president of the United States. Unlike India, the United States does not have a central or federal mechanism for conducting elections. “Besides setting some broad guidelines, the Constitution leaves the details of actually conducting an election to each state. That means there are 51 (don’t forget the District of Columbia) different ways in which to conduct an election. There will be rules,” says the Associated Press article.
This means it could take several weeks for actual results to be compiled. It is therefore up to the “decision desks” of American media organizations to “call” elections for one candidate or the other in each state and ultimately the nation. Broadcasters Fox News, NBC, CNN, CBS, and ABC have their own decision-making desks.
“Since 1990, most major American media organizations have established the National Election Pool (NEP), which uses exit poll data to provide news organizations with live updates on all races on election night. NEP still exists today, with a longstanding agreement in place with market research firm Edison Research, which provides data to media outlets ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Reuters. has spun off from this group and developed its own product called AP VoteCast, which is currently used by several other news organizations, including Fox News, NPR, PBS, Univision, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. “DW published the results in line with the Associated Press,” the DW article said.
How does The Associated Press decide who won?
In the 2020 general election, The Associated Press tracked more than 7,000 elections, including the Trump-Biden contest. Senate, House, and gubernatorial elections. And thousands of down ticket races. More than 4,000 freelance local reporters collect the tallies from counties in each of the 50 states and call them to The Associated Press’ vote entry center, where the data is processed by about 800 clerks before being entered into the organization’s central computer system. The results were evaluated and cross-checked by members of the public. According to a NYT report.
In an FAQ posted on its website, the Associated Press says: “AP race callers and decision-making desks are driven entirely by facts…AP race callers declare winners. Our staff is knowledgeable about the states that…they…research election rules, conduct recounts’ requirements, and track election law changes and updates…[,] They work with Associated Press political and government reporters.[, and] See and trust information from The Associated Press Election Research Group. ”
The Associated Press Race Voters utilize tools such as “The Associated Press Vote Count, which has been conducted in every U.S. presidential election since 1848,” and data from extensive surveys of voters. “Race callers work with analysts who focus on races across the state; [and] …The Associated Press Decision Desk editors approve all presidential, Senate and gubernatorial campaign calls. ”
When is a race “too close to call”?
This is an expression heard repeatedly from November 3, 2020 to November 7, 2020 as the count progresses. “If the difference between the top two candidates is less than 0.5 percentage points, a candidate may decide not to run a race,” the Associated Press said. “The Associated Press cannot call the winner of a House election if the difference is less than 1,000 votes, or the winner of a state representative election if the difference is less than 2 percentage points or 100 votes.” There is.
