While the presidential race is going on between them Donald Trump And Kamala Harris While still too close to call, some winners of down-ballot races have already been announced as polls close in those very states.

FOX Television Stations rely on election calls from the Associated Press. The AP reported the results of the US election long before the internet, smartphones or social media. He first did this in 1848 by calling the White House for Zachary Taylor, and continues to do so in 2024.

How does the process work?

The AP says it may seem counterintuitive to determine the winner before any votes are counted, but race calls at poll closing time in closely contested or overwhelming races have been a routine part of election nights for decades.

RELATING TO: Live election results map: Presidential and Congressional races

Hotly contested races can take hours, days or even weeks to decide and are therefore the most memorable and attracting the most attention.

The AP said it considers multiple factors and analyzes all available data before deciding whether to declare a winner when the polls close in a particular state.

More importantly, the organization says it will never announce the result of a competitive race until enough votes have been counted to net a winner.

Most of the races called closing polls are uncontested races

Most of the races called as the polls close are uncontested elections, with only one candidate on the ballot and thus the only possible winner of the race.

The AP had previously announced that it would announce the winners of approximately 2,000 races in the 2024 general elections, compared to approximately 4,500 contested races.

RELATING TO: Watch live: State election results change

In some parts of the country, voters live in multi-member districts for offices such as the state legislature, where more than one candidate is elected in a district. In these districts, an uncontested race is where the number of candidates on the ballot is equal to or less than the number of available seats in that district.

What does the AP call non-competitive contests?

According to the AP, it is sometimes possible to declare winners at poll closing time in noncompetitive races with multiple candidates, in regions where a single political party has a history of unbalanced victories.

In these cases, the organization analyzes multiple available data sources to verify the outcome, including results from AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of both voters and non-voters that determines who voted, how they voted, and why.

If AP VoteCast results indicate a departure from the state’s longstanding political trends and voting history, AP will not call the race when the polls close. AP VoteCast results are available for all 50 states, but only a small portion are considered potential poll close calls.

There is no AP VoteCast poll in the District of Columbia, so no contests are announced when the polls close, even though the nation’s capital has a long history of landslide victories for Democratic candidates.

For example, AP’s close poll results in the 2020 presidential election include Wyoming, which last voted for a Democrat in 1968 and where Donald Trump won by 44 points over Joe Biden; and Massachusetts, which last voted for a Republican in 1984 and where Biden won by 34 points over Trump.

What if a state has more than one time zone?

A handful of states and territories have more than one poll closing time because they are located in more than one time zone. In these cases, AP does not declare the winner in that state or territory before the final poll closing time.

Florida, Texas and some other states begin reporting vote results from most of the state shortly after polls close in the previous time zone. Votes already counted from regions in previous time zones will also be taken into account when determining whether a winner can be declared as soon as the last polls close.

Other election data the AP considers includes a county’s voting history in recent elections, voter registration statistics and pre-Election Day polls.

When the above data points confirm the expected outcome in a state where either major party has an electoral edge, the AP says it can call the race as soon as voting ends.

When will we find out who won the 2024 presidential election?

With a razor-thin race between Harris and Trump, it has been rumored for weeks that we won’t know who won the presidential contest on election night.

Different states have different counting rules, and returns in key swing states may take longer as early voting and mail-in voting are now a regular part of the process.

“My only prediction going into election night was that we wouldn’t know who won this race on election night,” Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha said. I previously told FOX 5 DC.