How does The Associated Press call 2026 midterm election winners? 4 things to know

The Associated Press is preparing to declare winners in close to 7,000 contests on Nov. 3, and for the first time in a major general election it is teaming with broadcasters on a new survey of the electorate called the Voter Poll. The AP says the effort is the largest single act of journalism, according to David Scott, its vice president for U. S. election services, according to PBS NewsHour.

Races range from Congress to statehouses, governorships, mayors, city councils and school boards. Roughly 4,000 AP journalists gather precinct and election-office totals, and about 1,000 clerks key the numbers in by phone. Those figures are checked against county and state postings and feeds, and the Decision Team, made up of journalists, analysts and political scientists, decides outcomes only when trailing candidates have no remaining route to win. Scott described certainty as the AP's standard. He said three of the more than 11,000 primary calls this year were wrong.

The Voter Poll replaces AP VoteCast and was built with ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, MS NOW and NBC. It reaches early and mail voters online, by phone or by mail, since most Americans no longer vote at a polling place on Election Day.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →