Judy: Tomorrow night, as polls
close and results come in, the
newshour will rely on the
associated press to call winners
as we have since the this
-- since this program began in
1975.
This year, the ap has more than
4,000 reporters on the ground in
all 50 states, monitoring vote
totals to determine election
outcomes.
Races only get called when the
ap is certain that trailing
candidates have no path to
victory.
In 2020, they were 100 percent
correct in calling state results
for congress and the presidency.
To help explain more about when
and how races are called and
what to expect tomorrow, I am
joined by the executive editor
of the associated press, Julie
pace.
Welcome to the newshour on this
night before the big night.
Thank you for joining us.
4000 reporters around the
country, an enormous operation.
Tell us, give us a sense of how
it works, how do you get to the
point where you feel confident
to make these calls?
Julie: Thanks, Judy.
We are excited and well prepared
to be able to do what we have
done since 1848 at the
associated press, which is to
declare winners in presidential
races and down the ballot
beyond.
This is really the single
biggest act of journalism in
this country.
4000 journalists across this
country making sure that as
votes are being counted, that we
are able to assess the accuracy
of the elections, look at our
models and declare winners.
Our standard is certainty.
There is no way that trailing
candidate can catch up.
We spend the whole year, this is
not just a one night effort for
us, we spend the whole year
researching what the rules
around voting are in each state,
making sure as those rules are
changing, that our teams are
across them.
We are confident heading into
this night.
We want to be cautious.
We know that when we call a
race, it matters.
That is the winner.
We want the public to have
confidence in that race call.
We feel like the work we put in
going into the night and the
explaining we will do about why
we are calling the races, how we
are making those decisions we
hope will increase the public
trust.
Judy: Who exactly makes the
decision when a race is called?
Julie: It depends on the level
of the race.
We are calling races up and down
the ballot.
I will be involved in the
highest profile races, a team of
senior editors in Washington
will be involved in this high
profile races.
We have an excellent decision
desk but will be signing off on
several of the senate and house
races.
Our team of analysts who spend
weeks and months analyzing what
is happening in the states they
oversee, some of them have been
doing this for years.
This is not their first rodeo.
It ranges depending on the level
of the race.
Judy: As you know, there is a
lot of interest and questions
this year about when races will
be called, how soon we will know
results.
We know in 2020, it took several
days to get the results from
Pennsylvania.
What should our viewers, the
American people, expect this
time?
Julie: You are right.
There are a lot of questions
about when the races will be
called and why it may take a
while.
I would say I think like 2020, I
would urge your viewers to be
patient.
That is not because anything
will have gone wrong.
I think this is one of those
things that is important to keep
in mind.
Because of the changes to the
ways that Americans are voting,
more mail-in voting, and in some
cases, it is taking longer for
states and counties to count
those ballots.
That may mean it could take us
longer at the ap to declare the
winner of those races.
If there is a large amount of
mail-in voting that has not been
counted yet and a race is close,
we want to wait for more of that
vote to be counted.
We think that is the only way to
make sure our race calls are
fair and accurate.
That could be waiting a couple
of days.
Judy: Do I hear you saying we
may not know tomorrow night
which party has won control of
the house in the senate?
Julie: It is certainly possible.
We want to wait for some votes
to come in before we again he
predictions on timing.
It is possible that we could go
to bed tomorrow night, or wake
up on Wednesday morning and not
know the outcomes.
Judy: One last thing, that has
to do with what we know is this
large, enormous nationwide
survey of voters.
Over 100,000 voters at the ap --
and that the ap will be talking
to.
Can you give us a sense of what
that will look like?
Julie: This is something I hope
a lot of your viewers will take
advantage of in the hours coming
into election night tomorrow and
coming out of it, which is
really vote cast, our survey of
the American electorate.
This allows us to not just tell
you who won these races, but to
tell you how they won.
How Americans were voting.
To be able to look at how the
electorate were participating in
this election.
Given how divided this country
is now, given how many questions
there are about which messages
are appealing to which voters,
we think this is just as
important, in tell us a lot
about where this country goes
coming out of the midterms into
the 2024 presidential election,
which will start quickly after
the midterms.
Judy: I know people will be
hungry for information to
understand how the election
turned out as it did.
Julie pace, executive editor of
the associated press, thank you
very much.
Julie: Thank you, Judy.