| VOTE COUNT
11/03/04 — 5:41 a.m. EST
Ohio Provisionals, Advisory
The Associated Press will undertake a canvass of Ohio's 88 counties to gauge provisional votes, absentee ballots and other outstanding issues. The survey should begin as soon as the county offices resume business this morning, and AP will expedite the results of the statewide canvas as soon as it is completed.
11/03/04 — 4:40 a.m. EST
Presidential Count, Advisory
Here is an update of the uncalled states in the presidential race:
In Iowa, there are an estimated 65,000 votes still to be counted, including provisionals and absentees. Bush holds a 15,000 vote lead in Iowa.
Bush holds a 5,822 vote lead over Kerry in New Mexico. Still outstanding are 6,000 absentee votes in Bernalillo County that must be counted by hand plus several thousand absentee votes in Dona Ana County. Election officials will count those votes through the night. There are also 13,000 provisional votes in Bernalillo, which will be counted later this week. Another 1,200 absentees in Sante Fe County will be counted Wednesday morning. Sante Fe also has about 800 provisionals that will be counted later this week.
In Ohio, where Bush holds a 145,000-vote lead, there could be as many as 180,000 provisional ballots. There are also absentee ballots still to be counted in at least 54 of 88 counties.
11/02/04 — 6:00 p.m. EST
Q: How and when AP will call the top races?
A: The Associated Press will factor together a variety of points of information before calling any race, and will call a race only when a victor is clear. In the field, thousands of AP stringers are collecting raw vote numbers at precincts across the country. Their information will be phoned into a battery of 450 vote entry clerks at one of AP¡s 16 vote collection centers. Meanwhile, more than 1,500 specially trained interviewers, working for the National Election Pool (run by The AP, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox News Channel) will be conducting exit surveys of voters leaving the polls. Historical data about voting patterns and detailed political information from every state will also be used. All these strands of information will be used by AP analysts as they study the numbers. A "decision desk" in Washington will then determine when races can be called. The process is designed to ensure accuracy. In the 2000 presidential race, The AP was the only major news organization which did not prematurely declare George W. Bush the victor in Florida on election night.
"The AP uses a variety of tools to call races: counted votes, exit poll data and other projection models based on our deep understanding of the voting patterns, and the judgment of AP journalists who know the states," Kathleen Carroll, AP senior vice president and executive editor said Tuesday. "The AP has been counting votes since 1848 and we have bureaus with experienced journalists in every state — so we bring a lot of experience to each of those race calls."
10/22/04 Associated
Press To Count The Votes On Election Day
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