| Frequently Asked Questions
The Associated Press has been counting the vote and covering presidential elections since the cooperative was created in 1846. From the Statehouse to the White House, no other news organization covers elections on such a scope. Here are answers to some questions you may have about AP’s election coverage. If you have additional questions please e-mail info@ap.org
How many people are involved in covering elections for AP?
Who does AP count the vote for, and what is involved in doing that?
How does AP assure the accuracy of the count?
When and how does AP call a race?
If AP supplies the vote count to networks, how do media organizations like CNN sometimes call races before AP does?
How do you ensure that your elections and political coverage is balanced?
How does AP’s Statement of News Values and Principles apply to coverage and vote counting?
Who directs AP’s political coverage?
When AP labels a political story “analysis,” what does that mean?
Ron Fournier has come under criticism for what some say are links to the McCain campaign and for being listed with a speakers’ agency. What is this about?
There
has been discussion of AP’s new focus on accountability
journalism. What is this?
What was the impetus for the AP poll on racial attitudes and
the presidential election?
How does AP cover race in politics, especially
during an election year?
How many people are involved in covering elections for AP?
More than 500 people at AP help count the votes and cover national and state elections. The staff includes managers, technology developers, researchers, reporters, photographers, editors, videographers, technical support staff and a host of others. In addition, on election night, some 4,600 stringers join AP to call in votes from the field to our four election centers, where votes are tabulated.
Who does AP count the vote for, and what is involved in doing that?
AP is the sole source of vote count for the American media, counting the vote for its members and customers using data gathered from local election officials. The effort in a General Election involves a team of about 4,600 stringers across the nation phoning returns to vote-entry clerks at AP’s four tabulation centers, two of them in Spokane, Wash., a third at AP headquarters in Manhattan and a fourth in Brooklyn. In addition, votes also come in via electronic feeds from some secretaries of state and some state and county Web sites. The votes are entered into AP’s computer election system, tabulated and distributed by satellite or Internet to AP members and other customers.
How does AP assure the accuracy of the count?
Before results are entered into AP election computers they are run through an extensive system of software checks that look for reports that exceed parameters based on voter registration and voting history. In addition, a team of experienced analysts examine returns after they are entered for accuracy and thoroughness. Visit the “Calling the Winners” page to learn more.
How is exit poll data used?
Exit polling is conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and the television networks. Exit polls provide information used by news organizations and scholars to help analyze voting patterns by demographics like gender, age, income, race and religion, and by attitudes about issues and other campaign factors. The information helps explain how and why people voted for or against particular candidates. AP does not call election winners based solely on exit poll data.
When and how does AP call a race?
The Associated Press calls races at scheduled poll close when our political experts and analysts are satisfied a candidate has a significant winning margin. They weigh a number of factors, including voter turnout, previous voting patterns, Election Day exit polling, telephone polls of absentee or early voters, and the experience of AP journalists who have covered the campaigns. When our analysis indicates a candidate has that significant winning margin, we will call the race at the scheduled poll close hour even if voting has been extended briefly in selected precincts.
As always, we do not call races until we are confident of that winning margin, whether at poll close or many hours or days later.
If AP supplies the vote count to networks, how do media organizations like CNN sometimes call races before AP does?
The National Election Pool is a consortium of ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News. It was formed in 2003 in order to provide information on Election Night about the vote count, election analysis and election projections. NEP contracted with Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International (Edison/Mitofsky) to conduct exit polls and collect vote results at a sample of precincts in each state. In addition, the NEP retained the Associated Press to conduct a tabulation of the vote throughout the country. Edison/Mitofsky transmits the results of the exit poll and sample precinct vote counts, and the AP vote count to each of the NEP members. Edison/Mitofsky does not provide its information to the public. Each of the members has its own analysts who review the exit poll results and the tabulated vote data as it is collected. Each news organization makes its own decision about what to report to the public. All decisions are made after careful review by the analysts and are not automatic decisions made by a computer.
How do you ensure that your elections and political coverage is balanced?
Every journalist involved in political coverage, from the reporter on the plane to the editors at the main office, has a responsibility to assure balanced coverage. It is a fundamental ethic of journalism. Balance involves many things. Each story must be fair minded. Moreover, the body of coverage over time must reflect the totality of the race. Each candidate must be fully represented and portrayed. But our obligation is not to the candidates. It is to our audience, which looks to us for the full story.
How does AP’s Statement of News Values and Principles apply to coverage and vote counting?
Election coverage, like all of our journalism, must adhere to our highest standards. AP has inarguably the strictest ethics and news values policy in the industry. These guidelines lay out in great detail that AP reporters and editors must avoid any political activity, whether they cover politics or not. AP journalists may not perform any kind of work for politicians and may not donate money to political organizations or campaigns, or any other organizations that take political positions. They must avoid any activity or behavior that constitutes a conflict of interest. You can read AP’s Statement of News Values and Principles
Who directs AP’s political coverage?
Ron Fournier, AP Washington bureau chief, directs AP’s political and election coverage. Fournier started in political reporting in Little Rock, Ark., covering Bill Clinton, who was governor at the time. He covered Clinton's presidential campaign and moved to Washington in 1993, where he spent 13 years covering politics and the White House. He has a strong reputation among his peers for honesty and even-handedness. In 2000, Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz described Fournier as one of the “most dogged shoe-leather scribes around,” but one who “avoids the spotlight himself.” Fournier was AP's chief political writer when he left in 2006 to edit Hotsoup.com, a site that was founded by a bipartisan group of prominent political strategists. He returned to AP the following year as online political editor, charged with developing new approaches to AP's online political and election coverage and to lead new coverage on accountability and governing. He was named acting bureau chief in May and bureau chief on Aug 1.
Is it usual for a Bureau Chief to also write stories and analyses?
The dual role of AP Washington Bureau Chief and political writer has long roots in AP history, as well as that of other Washington bureaus. Walter Mears, who won a Pulitzer for his 1976 presidential coverage, served in both capacities at AP from 1977 to 1984. As bureau chief he continued to write news copy, usually analytical pieces. Likewise, other leading news organizations have often had their bureau chiefs serve in both capacities.
When AP labels a political story “analysis,” what does that mean?
The tag “analysis” signals that a story reflects the judgment of the reporter about the meaning of an event. It is an effort to explain why or how something happened or what its long-term significance might be. These judgments must be based on reporting and historical experience. They are not, under any circumstances, opinions.
Ron Fournier has come under criticism for what some say are links to the McCain campaign and for being listed with a speakers’ agency. What is this about?
When Fournier left AP in 2006, to start up a new Web site, he was briefly listed with a speakers’ agency as part of a book tour to publicize a book he had written. This is routine practice for authors. His relationship with the agency ended long before he returned to AP in 2007.
It is not uncommon for journalists to be approached by political campaigns, elected officials, government agencies and other organizations about possible job opportunities. Long before Fournier returned to AP in 2007, he considered several different career options, including a position with the political Web site, Politico.com. The McCain campaign also approached him. Fournier turned them down. The McCain campaign has said they were interested in Fournier’s professional skills and had no knowledge of his political leanings.
There has been discussion of
AP’s new focus on accountability journalism. What is
this?
AP’s mission has always been, and will always remain,
to report fairly on how government and politicians are serving
the people who elect them, and to hold them accountable for
their successes and their failures. This does not in any way
change AP’s long legacy and strict adherence to fairness
and nonpartisanship.
What was the impetus for the AP
poll on racial attitudes and the presidential election?
One of the hardest challenges in American political reporting
has been to capture with any precision the impact of racial
attitudes on voting. Books have been written on the subject.
Polltakers have lost sleep over it. In a number of major elections—
for the Senate in North Carolina, Governor in Virginia, Mayor
of New York City—a black candidate seemed to be running
strongly, according to pre election polls, only to see this
supposed support evaporate when voters pulled the curtain
behind them on election day.
Given the importance of the racial question in this election,
the AP, working with its partners at Yahoo, carefully designed
a survey to answer
the question of how racial attitudes were influencing support
for Senator Obama. We brought in Stanford University as
a partner and got input from some of the top experts on the
subject. The Poll was based on the latest research findings
and new capabilities of poll takers. We attempted to measure
racial attitudes using several different techniques to make
sure we did not rely on one tool. While no poll is foolproof,
this one was designed to get more honesty from likely voters
on how their attitudes on racial questions influenced their
choice of a candidate.
Specifically, the poll was built on the finding that many
people are more honest when answering questions on a computer
than to a stranger on the phone. Pure internet polling is
still a cutting-edge territory. So this poll combined old
and new techniques. The respondents were identified and contacted
through traditional telephone survey techniques. But instead
of being given a survey over the phone, the respondents were
asked to go to the computer and fill out the survey on line.
People who were recruited and did not have internet access
were set up with access free of any cost to them. Additional
details about how the poll was conducted and full poll results
are available on online at http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-methodology-race.
The result was a deeper and, we believe, more accurate look
at how racial attitudes are shaping voting patterns. Given
the sober, scientific nature of this work, we endeavored to
write the story in the calm tones of careful research. The
importance of the work was paramount in our presentation.
Obviously, the poll was not our first effort to understand
the role of race in American politics nor will it be the last.
How does AP cover race in politics,
especially during an election year?
Earlier this year, AP named prize winning journalist Jesse
Washington to become the AP
National Writer for Race and Ethnicity. During this election
year, Washington has been a key member of AP's election team
and has been closely following the issue of race in the presidential
campaign. Among the stories he's done are ones on the accuracy
of polling in measuring support for black candidates, the
national dialogue on race spurred by the Obama campaign and
the backdrop of race relations in Mississippi as the first
presidential debate comes to the state's flagship university,
in Oxford.
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