05 November 2024 21:05 • Last Update: 05 November 2024 21:05

Caitlyn Person of Brattleboro, Virginia, surrounded by her two children, Ellie Person, 9, and Wyatt Findlay-Person, 1, votes at the polling station in Brattleboro on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Kristopher) Radder/Brattleboro Reformer via AP)

Washington—Associated Press winners announced Polls had just closed in some states on Tuesday, and in some cases the votes had not yet been announced.

How is this possible?

Although hotly contested races that take hours or days to count attract the most attention, the EP has been called landslide or uncontested races for decades. poll closing time.

That’s what happened Tuesday, when the AP declared former President Donald Trump the winner as the final polls closed at 8:30 p.m. ET in Arkansas. The AP also announced winners as polls closed in earlier states and some races for U.S. Senate and governor.

The AP considers many factors and analyzes available data before determining whether a winner can be declared when the polls close in a particular state. However, the AP will never announce the result of a competitive contest until enough votes have been counted to net a winner.

Most poll closing time calls are for uncontested elections

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

In the 2024 general elections, the EP is declaring winners of approximately 2,000 uncontested races compared to approximately 4,500 contested races.

It is sometimes possible to declare winners at poll closing time in noncompetitive races with multiple candidates in districts where a single political party has a history of lopsided victories.

In these cases, the AP analyzes multiple available data sources to verify the result. This includes 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.

Only a small number will have poll closing calls

AP VoteCast results will be available for all 50 states, but only a relatively small number of less competitive races will be considered as potential poll-closing calls. There is no AP VoteCast poll in the District of Columbia; so no contests there will be 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 calls for poll closures 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.

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 will never 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 can call the race as soon as voting ends.

A woman votes at the Canyon Lake Events Center on Election Day in Rapid City, SD, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 (Darsha Dodge/Rapid City Journal via AP)

Pennington County voters head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, at the Valley View Elementary School Gymnasium in Rapid City, SD (Madison Willis/Rapid City Journal via AP)

A voter holds an “I Voted” sticker after voting for the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, at Sunnyside Health and Multi-Service Center in Houston. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)