I’m under the impression the national broadcast and cable networks delay reporting any returns until the west coast (Hawaii,excepted) polling places closed. Am I mistaken?
They start reporting returns as soon as the polls close in each state. Since 1980. they have voluntarily withheld any presidential race projections until the polls on the west coast have closed.
This snippet of video from 2008 shows MSNBC reporting all kinds of results well before the polls have closed on the west coast. (You can see which states are still voting in the upper right.)
The networks refrain from reporting any returns or call any state until the polls close for that state (and not just on the West Coast). Which makes sense – you don’t have any returns until the polls are closed, anyway (other than Dixville Notch, NH – a state that allows returns to be reported if everyone has voted). Vote are generally not counted until the polls close, so there are no numbers.
They will call a state for a candidate as soon as the poll close if exit polls indicates the state will go for one candidate for another. Thus California was called for Obama in 2008 as soon as the polls closed there.
The networks took flak for calling states before the polls closed back in 1980, which was seen to keep voters at home, which affects races other than the presidency. Also in 1980, Jimmy Carter conceded the election before the polls closed on the West coast, but that wasn’t the networks’ fault.
And to add, until all the polls close in each state. My state, Michigan, has a few counties in the Central time zone, so even though most of the polling places, including my local ones, close at 8:00 Eastern, they won’t call it until 9:00 Eastern/8:00 Central. Same for Florida. Not sure which other states are affected that way.
And if you happen to live in Hawaii? Too bad I guess.
It’s ridiculous to hold off reporting. Hell, they could call California and Texas right now. For 2016, even. And so what if it affects other races? If voters stay home, whose fault is that?
Seems to me they start reporting East Coast results ASAP. Like, by 9pm, you’ll see 2% reporting. I’ll pay more attention Tues night, but I am 99.99% sure it’s ASAP!
Actually the networks called the presidential races in 1984 and 1988 well before 8pm Pacific Time. In 1984, all three networks called before 5:30 pm Pacific Time–when some East Coast polling stations were still open.
It depends on how the electoral vote is adding up.
They won’t call a state until that state’s polls have closed. But they will call the election when the total of called states adds up to 270 for one side. In 2008 that happened exactly when the polls in California, Oregon, and Washington closed, at 8 pm Pacific time. But in other years it happened earlier.
Also, IIRC, one of Clinton’s two wins was called at 10 PM Eastern.
States can be called when their polls close (in cases where most but not all polls in a state close at the same time, it’s up to the networks to decide when they can call a state, although this can backfire on them - Florida in 2000 is the prime example), and when somebody gets to 270, they “call the election”.
I opened the WSVN (local channel 7 - home of “if it bleeds, it leads” TV news) app on my phone today, and was quite surprised to find election results. Apparently ~75 million people voted, with Romney ahead 41% to 40%. 19% voted for others, and 78% of the precincts already reported.
-D/a
They use exit polling and will call states before polls close there in some cases. In 2000, some stations famously reported that Gore had won Florida before Florida polls closed, due to their exit poll numbers.
One of the complaints in 2000 was that Florida was called before voting was finished in the panhandle districts (different time zone?). This may have discouraged some voters from showing up, even though later teh state was un-called.
Canada has a rule that results cannot be published where the polls are still open, leading to the oddity that some news is blocked for nationwide braodcasts. IIRC the last election they changed the hours to reduce the 5-hour spread, the western polls close earlier and the eastern ones later. After all, you can’t stop the internet, even if you can block US channels on Canadian cable.
I don’t think the USA has any such rule, it sounds too much like a free speech violation.