[dsavillian]

Follow up to my previous post:

https://www.ap.org/en-us/topics/poli...-we-call-races

Q: When is a race "too close to call"?
A: Beginning in 2019, AP’s Decision Desk started the practice of formally declaring some elections as “too close to call.” The vote tabulation in such a race has reached its primary conclusion – all outstanding ballots save provisional and late-arriving absentee ballots have been counted – without a clear winner.

AP may decide not to call a race if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 0.5 percentage points. On election night, AP may not call winners in races for U.S. House if the margin is less than 1,000 votes and winners in races for state legislature if the margin is less than 2 percentage points or 100 votes.

If an election has significant news value, such as one that would determine party control of a state legislature, AP will closely review the race to determine whether an exception to these standards may be made.

In races where tabulation remains active and ongoing, AP will not declare a race “too close to call” unless it is clear it will proceed to or be subject to a recount. That includes races where completing the vote count may take several days. In such cases, AP will describe a race in its news report as “too early to call” – an informal designation that indicates we do not have enough data to make a race call.