# Why do they project winners with only a few% precincts reporting?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-project-winners-with-only-a-few-precincts-reporting/703691>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [November 5, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-project-winners-with-only-a-few-precincts-reporting/703691 "2014-11-05T00:56:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-project-winners-with-only-a-few-precincts-reporting/703691/1 "2014-11-05T00:56:55Z")

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I understand some candidates are expected to win in a blowout, but with closer races why not wait until, say, 90% of precincts have reported?

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**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-project-winners-with-only-a-few-precincts-reporting/703691/2 "2014-11-05T01:00:25Z")

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> [@Velocity](#):
>
> I understand some candidates are expected to win in a blowout, but with closer races why not wait until, say, 90% of precincts have reported?

Exit polls in key precincts. So far, I see no projections that I expect to be different from the vote count.