Voters turn out in large numbers on Election Day to make their choice for the next president, governor, state legislature and local officials. The process of counting those ballots can take days or even weeks to ensure every vote is counted accurately. News outlets track the results and provide updates.
In many states, election offices start reporting unofficial results soon after polls close on Election Night. Some states have centralized, statewide reporting systems while others rely on local jurisdictions to report results. Jurisdictions also vary in how quickly they process and report mail ballots, early in-person, and Election Day in-person ballots. Some states require a certain minimum margin of votes for a candidate to win. If a candidate falls below that threshold, they may request a recount. The process of a recount can involve hand or machine examination of each individual ballot by elections officials and representatives of both candidates. Then the ballots are fed back through a scanning system to see if the initial count was accurate.
While the media often calls a race once their analysis shows a clear lead, it is important to remember that this is only an unofficial prediction. News outlets continue to give updates as workers continue counting votes until all ballots are counted and the official results are certified. As a part of that process, reporters check projections against full results for each race. This is often done long after the news outlet has called a race based on their prediction and may include the results of all types of ballots including mail, military, and provisional ballots.
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