10 months ago Pelosi: Attacks have ‘no place in a political process’ By Erica R. Hendry Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday former President Donald Trump’s continued attacks against her, Vice President Kamala Harris and others have “no place in a political process.” “I don’t know why people just think that’s funny — when my husband was attacked, he made a joke of it,” she said on the PBS News Hour, referencing how Trump mocked a 2022 burglary where a man entered her home and attacked her husband with a hammer. Pelosi said she worries about a chilling effect on “other people who want to engage in politics.” “If you want to run for office, you don’t want to think you’d jeopardize the health of your family,” she said. WATCH LIVE: Election 2024 PBS News special coverage
10 months ago 13 states gained or lost electoral votes since 2020 By News Desk The most recent U.S. census was conducted in 2020, and more than a dozen states lost or gained their congressional districts and – along with them – electoral votes. (Reminder: Each state’s electoral votes are determined by adding the state’s number of U.S. House of Representative members and their two U.S. senators.) States that lost an electoral vote include Michigan and Pennsylvania. Florida and North Carolina gained an electoral vote each, while Texas gained two votes.
10 months ago Why we use the AP to call races By News Desk Many newsrooms – including PBS News – rely on The Associated Press on election night. The AP gathers and standardizes data from local and state election agencies to make it publicly available as quickly and accurately as possible. Using a combination of vote totals, AP VoteCast survey data, historic voting and registration patterns, journalists at the AP will declare a winner in more than 5,000 contested races this year. The AP has a history of accuracy dating back to its first vote count effort in 1848. PBS News Hour correspondent Lisa Desjardins recently took a closer look at how the AP keeps track of thousands of competitive races.
10 months ago Why is the media calling races? By Robert Yoon, Associated Press It’s election night, the polls have closed, and chances are you’re waiting on The Associated Press or one of the major television networks to say who will be the next president. But why does the news media play that role in the first place? Shouldn’t that be the government’s job? State and local governments do run and administer American elections, including the race for president. They are responsible for counting the votes and maintaining the official record of who won and by how much. But the official process — from poll close to final certification — can take the states anywhere from several days to more than a month. In the race for the White House, it’s not until early January that the formal process of picking the president via the Electoral College is complete. No federal agency or election commission provides updates to the public in the meantime about what’s happening with their votes. “That’s a gap in the Constitution left by the founders that AP stepped in to fill just two years after our company was founded,” said David Scott, a vice president at AP who oversees the news agency’s election operations. “It was essential then, as it is today, that Americans have an independent, non-partisan source for the whole picture of the election — most critically of the very vital news of who has won the election.” Read more about how the news media makes race calls.
10 months ago More than 80 million people voted early By News Desk As of election day, nearly 86 million Americans had voted early, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. A record number of people voted early in some states, including Georgia, Michigan and Florida — surpassing even those who voted early during the 2020 election, which occurred during a pandemic. This year, early voters were almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, 37.5 percent and 35.7 percent, respectively. That’s a sharp change from 2020, when nearly 45 percent of early voters were Democrats, compared to 30 percent Republicans, and 24 percent with no party affiliation. Read more about what early voting data could tell us about this year’s election.
10 months ago 270 votes is the number needed to win the White House By News Desk Remember, the presidential election isn’t decided by the national popular vote; it’s decided when one candidate gains a majority of Electoral College votes. There are 538 electoral votes available. To be elected president, a candidate needs to win 270 of these votes.
10 months ago Join us for Election 2024 coverage, starting now By News Desk We’ll be sharing the latest news and context right here late into the night and through the week as election results unfold. For more coverage, watch the PBS News Hour at 6 p.m. EST. And starting at 7 p.m., anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett will host on-air special analysis with a group of expert panelists and special guests.
10 months ago What the final PBS News/NPR/Marist election poll found By Matt Loffman On the eve of the 2024 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris held a 4-point lead over former President Donald Trump among likely voters nationally, according to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll. Harris has the support of 51 percent of likely voters to Trump’s 47 percent – a lead just outside the poll’s 3.5-point margin of error. A little more than half of independents support the Republican nominee, a 5-point lead over Harris. INTERACTIVE MAP: Create your own projections for the 2024 presidential race, based on race ratings from Cook Political Report “It has been and remains a close election,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. “As far as the popular vote is concerned, it’s hers to lose.” Graphic by Jenna Cohen Read the full story here.
10 months ago PolitiFact is doing live fact-checking Americans go to the polls Tuesday for the final day of voting in the race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Senate and House contests that will determine the balance of power in Washington. Our partners at PolitiFact will be providing live fact-checking here.
10 months ago Welcome to Election 2024 Follow us here for live updates and insights on election night as the U.S. waits for results in the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, along with Senate and House contests across the country. Join us at 5:30 p.m. EST.