Which states generally report results first on election night?

[eleny]

I've been searching the net but can't find anything yet. I figured it's the New England states or maybe Delaware since their populations are smaller.

[camera obscura]

1. This might help

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/poll.closing/

[eleny]

2. They have to wait until 9 PM Paciific time to report it on tv

But I'm sure that some states will be ready to report before then.

I just can't seem to recall who the networks report earliest.

[NotThisTime]

3. I thought they reported states state by state?

[Drunken Irishman]

4. They do, yeah.

They can call a state when its polls are closed.

[eleny]

7. They don't have to wait till the west coast finishes voting?

[RL3AO]

8. Vote totals will come in as soon as the polls close in that state

Some states will even be projected to Obama or McCain the second they close.

[eleny]

11. Thx! I think I'd pass out if they had to wait until CA polls close

[rvablue]

18. They WILL NOT call a state when the polls close in a particluar state

Just trying to be factual here DI, because I've noticed that you are fan of rational and factual information.

The networks all have an agreement that they will not call a state for any candidate before 9pm west coast time.

You will not hear any of them say, "Obama wins NY" before that time.

What you will see and hear are results coming in and exit polling data. And as we all remember there were a couple of states in 2004 that exiting polling data showed Kerry won, when in fact, after the real results came in, Bush "won".

[creature of habit]

19. "projected" winner?

or has that term now been nullified?

[Drunken Irishman]

24. Where did you hear that?

I've heard that when the polls have closed, they will call the state if they believe Obama/McCain will easily win there. So when Vermont's polls close, Vermont will be projected for Obama the second those polls closed. They did this in the primary for blowout states and they did it in 2004, too. I haven't heard they're going to wait until California closes to then call every state in the union.

[rvablue]

25. OK, fine, maybe I'm worrying too much about semantics

they won't call a state, but they will project a winner if it's obvious.

maybe I'm just being a stickler on DU today about this issue because there seems to be some that are confused or new to the process.....and I still have bad, bad memories of 2000 and watching that "projected winner" blue check over Gore's face being taken off and replaced with the red check over Bush's.

[Drunken Irishman]

26. Well I think they'll wait to project a state until they know for sure it'll go to either candidate.

That was changed in 2004, which is why they didn't project Ohio for Kerry, even though exit polls suggested he'd win.

[rvablue]

6. They will start to report results and exit polling data as soon as polls close in a particular state

what they will not do, by universal agreement agreed to by all of the networks, is CALL a race for any candidate before 9pm on the west coast.

[eleny]

9. Oh, I see. I thought they had to wait for the polls to close in CA

Thx!

[RL3AO]

10. Call the presidency, or call any state?

Before 9pm PST?

[rvablue]

14. It's a little confusing, here's the deal....

No network will CALL a state for any candidate before 9pm west coast time.

Meaning, they will not say, "Obama wins NY" or "McCain wins Kentucky."

But when the polls close in any particular state, say VA at 7pm, they will begin to report results. You will see the percentage coming in for Obama, the percentage coming in for McCain but what you have to pay closest attention to are the percentage of precints reporting in that state which will be shown down in the corner of any graphic they run....that's the most important number if you want to keep your sanity. I say that because early in the evening, you might see McCain up by 20 points in Ohio, but that will be becausee the very small rural precints will get their results in a lot faster than the more populated, urban areas.

They will also report exit polls as the polls close in any particular state. Exit polls are conducted by AP with the help of other news organizations and are construed from a sampling of voters leaving polling places.

So, while they will not CALL any state for either candidate, there will be a lot of information before 9pm west coast time for a lot of inferences to be drawn, both by us and by talking heads on TV.

Hope that helps and doesn't further confuse.

[creature of habit]

17. since California is three hours behind the East Coast

the earliest that any official announcement will be made is midnight.

[rvablue]

21. Yes, that is an "official announcement"

but all night long there will be voting results rolling in from all states that will be immediately plastered on every network and they will be talking about the results of their exit polling data.

But no, you will not hear anyone say "Obama won NY" before midnight. But way before then, we will have seen the numbers, the exit polls, etc. that you will already know this (I know NY might be a bad way to explain this as we all know that Obama is going to win NY, but I'm just using it as a fill-in example.)

I'm also not saying that you won't see them playing coloring book with their maps. They will be turning things red and blue on their maps, which seems like calling it, but they won't make any official pronouncments before 9pm west coast time. That doesn't mean that there won't be enough information to draw an obvious conclusion before then.

[Old Codger]

22. YOu can go here and see results

Per state and per race as they are added

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/your.races/index.html

[indie_voter]

30. See post 23. It sounds as if they're calling states as they close? n/t

[NotThisTime]

12. Course we can add electoral votes ourselves LOL who knows maybe we will know prior to 9pm

[eleny]

13. I expect it to be so!

With multiple DU threads going a mile a minute. GD-P will be rolling like a Vegas slot machine. ++

[Pab Sungenis]

15. That might be impossible without wittholding states.

10 PM EST: "Our projections show that Barack Obama has won 282 electoral votes, but we are not prepared to call the election for him."

[Owlet]

5. Terrific!

Thanks so much..

[Alexander]

16. Indiana and Kentucky.

If Obama takes Indiana that's a really good sign.

[eleny]

28. Thanks!

[BluegrassDem]

29. Kentucky will get called for McCain quickly...Indiana might take a while

n/t

[Owlet]

20. Here's another site with closing times

http://www.swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3641

[Kira]

23. watch this

It was on this morning and Chuck todd said they will be saying who won the states.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/27485189#27485189

[eleny]

27. Thanks, I didn't see any tv this morning!