The media typically plays a crucial role in American elections. As voting takes place across the nation, Americans rely on private news companies to “declare” the election results of each state based on proprietary polling data and the results of the night. However, according to a recent Gallup poll, trust in the mainstream media has reached a new low.
According to the Financial Times, the Associated Press (AP) has been responsible for tallying and announcing US election results since 1848. Anna Johnson, the president of AP’s Washington bureau, stated that the organization is prepared to address any allegations of inaccuracies in the election results they announce.
“Ten years ago or even earlier, when the AP announced election results, it was taken for granted and no one questioned it too much,” she said. “Of course, there was not as much false information circulating as there is now.”
In order to address this challenge, the AP plans to engage in “more explanatory work.”
The US election counting process is quite complex due to differences in procedures and technology among states, and even within different counties within the same state.
David Scott, a senior editor at AP responsible for overseeing the election night team, stated that the AP will not announce any candidate victories until they have full confidence in the results.
“We will never take the risk of declaring a winner without clear evidence of victory,” Scott added.
In 2020, Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch, was the first to announce Joe Biden’s win in Arizona, a move that drew criticism from supporters of Donald Trump.
Arnon Mishkin, in charge of Fox News’s “decision desk,” mentioned steps taken by the network to ensure their anchors are not caught off guard by decision desk announcements on election night. “We have taken measures to ensure that such a situation will not occur this year,” he said.
CNN’s political director, David Chalian, stated that CNN will deploy a “strong reporting team” to key states to track voting trends.
ABC has also enhanced its “election monitoring team” to oversee vote counts nationwide.
Rick Klein, political director at ABC, stated, “Some of the issues that arise on Election Day are simply part of the inherently chaotic process, not an indication of problems.”
According to polls, the race between Harris and Trump is tight, with no clear winner emerging on election night.
Mishkin predicted that clarity on the results may not come until Saturday morning, November 9th. “When you look at the national map, it’s hard to imagine either candidate reaching 270 electoral votes without Pennsylvania. So, I’ll stick with that estimate, even though I think Pennsylvania’s count will be done better and faster, they are still going through the same counting process. So maybe by Friday.”
Klein noted that a closely contested election could prolong this time frame, “If the margin is only a few thousand votes, determining the winner will take a long time.”