Election results are the ultimate test of democracy. Voters have a right to know what’s happening with their votes, and election officials have a duty to provide that information as quickly and accurately as possible. In the United States, voters are able to follow the progress of their local races in real time by following news outlets’ “calls” (a prediction of a winner in a race).
While the results may differ slightly between outlets because each one allocates its resources differently, all work on an effort to collect unofficial results in real time from various sources. This helps to ensure accuracy in their predictions of winners, often referred to as a “call.” This collection process continues for days or even weeks after election day until all ballots are counted and the official results are certified.
When a media outlet calls a race, it’s important that they continue to report on the ongoing process of counting ballots. This includes reporting the number of votes that have been counted, which can be useful to help people track progress towards completed vote counting. It’s also important that they check their projections against the full count to ensure it is accurate.
Previous research has found that electoral expectations are strongly influenced by partisan biases and that these biases may contribute to the surprise of an unexpected outcome (Delavande and Manski 2012; Dolan and Holbrook 2001). Therefore, a key challenge for election officials is to reduce misinformation during an elections, particularly through efforts to ensure that polling information is free from partisan distortions.